They did not stop until noon the next day. Throughout the entire time, they avoided all major known routes and stuck to the back roads. But they had to stop because Annie needed to perform maintenance on the engines, so they chose to stop at a secluded lookout point.

Elizabeth enjoyed the view from the point, which was vital as it gave both Luna and Baldric a good vantage point from where they were currently. After they covered the landraider with camouflage netting, they decided to have lunch as well. As they finished their meal, Baldric nudged Luna to ask the child.

Here goes nothing.

"Elizabeth." The child looked up as she gave the willowbear a piece of fruit. "Can you tell us who you are?"

They all felt something changed in the child. Luna recognized it right away that she wanted to run. Annie picked up on it too. She calmly changed seats and sat beside Elizabeth. She held her hand gently and stroked it to calm her.

"Sunny." Baldric was the next one who spoke. "We need you to tell us, and you need to tell us the truth, otherwise we can’t help you."

All three of them waited in silence for her to reply. The willowbear licked Elizabeth’s hand as she squeezed Annie’s hand with the other.

"My mama told me that if I tell you who I am, bad things will happen.” Elizabeth did not look at them when she said it. Annie looked at Baldric and Luna with concern.

"Trust us, Elizabeth." Luna said, softly. "Didn’t we protect you so far?"

"You won’t get mad at me?" The child looked only at the willowbear who rubbed its head on her.

"We won’t sunny." Baldric said.

Minutes passed by, but none of them pressed her. All three of them knew that she would tell them when she was ready. Elizabeth finally met their gaze and found all of them looking at her with concern.

"My name is Elizabeth Balder Van Stahlblut II."

Annie looked at Baldric and Luna. Baldric’s eyes widened as he looked at Luna. Luna just stared at Elizabeth. Elizabeth looked at the three of them as none of them said anything.

Baldric was the first to break the silence. "Wait, wait, wait, wait. Elizabeth Balder Van Stahlblut II? Who is your mother?"

"My mama’s name is Alicia Balder Van Stahlblut." Baldric and Luna studied Elizabeth’s face and found no trace of lying on her. Luna exhaled from her nose.

"Elizabeth Balder? So you are… Princess Elizabeth Balder Van Stahlblut II?"

"Uhm... yes." Luna looked at her intently and studied her face.

She is not lying. Oh Maker.

"Oh Maker." Baldric said as he buried his face in his hands.

"You are Princess Elizabeth Stahlblut II? The second in line for the throne of Aspana? The third in line for the throne of Braenarim?" Luna continued.

"Uhmmm, yes?"

"Mystery solved." Baldric looked up.

"Are you mad?" Luna and Baldric looked at each other.

"No, we are not mad." Luna assured her. "Surprised and blown away, but not mad."

"Sunny, can you tell us everything? How did all of this happen? How did you get separated from your mother?"

After a long silence, she took a deep breath and Elizabeth began to tell her story while all of them listened closely. She told them everything from their departure from White Harbor all the way until she was put in a lifeship, then she continued to tell them about what happened after her lifeship crashed and she was found by an ork.

"- I broke my arm, but when I woke up, he was using red magic that was wet and covered my entire arm. He kept using the red magic until my arm was healed then the magic went inside the wounds of his arms."

"Blood magic..." Luna said softly.

"After that, we started to go back to his house. But before we got there, some people were already waiting for us. Before they could see us, he carved things on his arms and used more red magic, which came out of his arms and hands. It covered me, then it turned me into a boy, but he kept saying it was not stable and would only last for a short time."

"He made you into... a boy? Wait. I mean, I know they can change what they really look like, but to change genders? A mage can do that?" Baldric said, confused.

"Blood magic can create a more complex form of appearance manipulation. But it is an advanced skill that requires a steady amount of mana and concentration. To completely change someone’s entire gender must have taken a massive talent to perform." Luna answered. "What happened next?"

"They saw us and attacked my friend. He told me to run away as fast as I could, but there were bad guys everywhere. My friend fought back, but there were too many. They struck him down again and again, and then they put us in trucks.

While we were travelling, we met Coren and many others. He asked Coren for his hair and made us look the same so we could trick the bad guys. He also said that Coren’s hair was making the magic last longer. After that, when we got to the mines, me, Coren, and my ork friend stuck together, but they put heavy collars on us and asked us to go down into the mines."

"You don’t need to tell us anymore, Elizabeth." Luna stopped her.

The three of them heard Elizabeth sniffle. Annie gave the child a hug while the Willowbear rubbed gently on her legs.

"I’m sorry I did not tell you." The child said as she buried her face in Annie. Annie responded by hugging her tighter. They waited for Elizabeth to finally let go, then Baldric offered her a handkerchief so she could wipe her face.

"Do you mind if I ask a few more questions, sunny?" Elizabeth weakly nodded. "Well, first, you mentioned someone named Kinney?"

"She was her personal guard, a former bounty hunter." Luna was the one who answered. "Elizabeth told me before that Kinney was a former council shadow, but I had never heard of anyone with that name before.

"Alright, I’ll look into that. I’ll message Tia when we get to a town with a secure connection. Next question, Elizabeth, do you know if your mother-" Baldric brought out the mage collar that was given to him and showed it to her." "-is a mage? Because if she is, we can use this to find her."

"No. I have never seen my mama use magic."

"Are you sure?"

"I’m sure. But when my magic came out, my aunty Cath was the one who taught me how to hide my magic. She showed me how, not my mama."

"What?!" Luna and Baldric said it together.

"Sunny, you’re saying your aunty Cath, I mean, heir empress Catherine, is a mage?!"

"Yes, is that bad?"

Baldric and Luna exchanged troubled looks.

"Alright, new question, Did your mother, Aunty Cath, or anyone else ever tell you what to do if you got lost? Did they tell you who to go to? Who to tell in case you get separated from them?" Luna continued.

"Mama only said never to tell anyone who I am or who my family is. She said that I can only tell those who we can trust because people will do bad things if they find out who I am. Mama also said that if I ever get lost, I should say I am from Braenarim and I live near the city of September.

When they bring me there, mama said the guards would know who I was. But Kinney said that if I ever need help, I should find a bounty hunter and show them this." Elizabeth brought out her shadow’s mark and handed it to Baldric.

"She said that if I show this to a bounty hunter, they will help whoever is holding this coin. She said to mention the right… the right of... the right of cons...cription."

"Your friend Kinney is smart, I will give her that. Smart but not wise." Baldric replied.

"What about your family? Your grampa and gramma? Your other aunt? Did they tell you anything? Did they tell you maybe how to contact the sentinels?" Luna asked.

"I have an aunty in the sentinels, my aunty Diana. Mama said she is super important. But I don’t know where they are. But mama said they live far to the north in a mountain shaped like a dragon."

Baldric looked at Luna with wide eyes and a horrified and pained face.

"Wait, your Aunty Diana is in the sentinels?" Luna said as she felt Baldric’s stare piercing into her. "Can you tell us what she looks like?"

"My Aunty Diana is super tall, taller than my Aunty Cath and is really, really strong. She can lift a carriage all by herself! She always wears this crown that looks like a helmet and turns into a mask. And she always wears these really big gauntlets that cover all of her arms and makes her-"

"-really scary…"

Baldric looked at Luna with a very disappointed look, but she could not meet his gaze.

"Does she have black hair like mine?" Luna asked, hoping it was not the same person. "Err... Brown eyes? Tan skin? Does she have a black dot underneath her left eye?"

"Yes! She is super pretty too. She also has really big muscles, and her gauntlets let her do amazing things. She used it once when she visited us and she punched down a wall."

"Does she talk really formal? Like really strictly?"

"Yes! That’s her! Have you met my aunty Diana?"

Baldric shook his head at Luna.

"Elizabeth, are you sure your aunty Diana is in the sentinels? Because I know that your aunt was on an expedition in Afrua, She has been in Afrua ever since she was fifteen, right? Acting as the Braenarim Ambassador?"

"No, I’m sure she is in the sentinels. She visited us once, and she wore this really shiny armor with a cape!"

Baldric gave Luna a look that clearly chastised her. She rubbed her face in exhaustion.

"Sunny listen. Everything you told us stays a secret. You can trust me, Annie, and Luna. But for now, no one else alright? From here on out, never tell anyone else what you told us. Don’t tell them who you are or who your family is, or about your aunties or your magic. Got it? Absolutely no one." Elizabeth nodded at Baldric. Luna joined in as well.

“Elizabeth, from now on until we get you home, make sure you always stick with us, alright? Never go anywhere without any of us. We will also try to send a message to your aunties Diana and Cath when we find a secure way to reach them. Until then, we can only trust ourselves." She looked at Annie and Baldric as well.

"Now I think it’s time we all prepare for dinner. Annie, why don’t you and Elizabeth bring down the traps so we can go hunting. Me and Baldric just need to talk about something."

Annie nodded. She stood up and guided Elizabeth and the willowbear away. Once they were out of earshot, Baldric was the first one to speak.

"Well, I was expecting something, but clearly not that."

"Who knew Commander Manslayer was actually Princess Diana." Luna chuckled. "Oh Maker."

"I knew that alcohol rotted your brain! How could you not have known that she was royalty?!" Baldric snapped. "I thought information gathering was your job!"

"Oh yeah, I’m going to assume that every Diana in the world I meet is royalty."

"Not Diana, you cumber world drunk! Elizabeth! How could you not have known that she was the Princess of Braenarim and Aspana?"

"So suddenly this is my entire fault now?!"

"It is your fault, you swillbowl!" Baldric shoved her. "Because this is your job! Your job is to know things."

“I'll say it right now, so you can put it in your thick head!” Luna shoved him back. "I honestly did not know alright. Everyone knows that the Braenarim royal family was very private, to the point where they stopped releasing portraits or any pictures of the princesses. And if there were, there were so many versions of it that no one knew what they really looked like.

You think there will be official pictures of them that are plastered on every wall outside of Braenarim when there are none even in their own city?! So you tell me, how am I supposed to know that she was Princess Elizabeth when I do not even know what she looks like?!"

"Are you saying to me this is the best your information network can do?!" Baldric shoved her again. "I thought this is what your tea parties with Solomon and those idiots were for?! To know secrets and other nonsense?! Are you telling me you didn't know what the Princess of Aelmion's most powerful kingdoms looked like?!"

"So we are just supposed to know every secret that is out there?! Even the ones that are purposely hidden from the world apart from members of the royal family?!"

"Yes!" Baldric yelled, but Luna took a step forward.

"You worthless klazomaniac! If you're so good, why didn't you know it? " Luna shoved him back. "So what should we know next? Tomorrow's Lottery Numbers? Or maybe where Excalibur is buried?! Even we have limits! You think we know everything?"

"Yes! Yes, you should! Because that is your job! To know things! Maybe you should spend less time getting drunk off your ass and do your job for once."

"You think it's easy to be a-"

Luna stopped as she looked past him. Baldric looked behind him and found Annie and Elizabeth were watching them. Both of them took a deep breath.

"Don’t worry, we’re not fighting. Right, Luna?" Baldric put his arm around Luna’s shoulder.

"Of course, See?" Luna did the same.

Annie shook her head, then guided Elizabeth away. Once they were gone, they both removed each other’s arms.

"So what now? Because I’m calling it, this is way beyond our price range." Baldric watched both of them in the distance. "I don’t suppose Silvus is looking for them to build relations?"

"Doubt it. If they have good intentions, why the need to kill the ones accompanying her? I can feel this is rotten from the inside out, all the way to the top." Luna crossed her arms. "If this gets out that they are trying to capture the princesses of Aspana and Braenarim, I can guarantee you this will end in open war."

"And if we make one wrong move, we put Ablan in the way of that as well." Baldric rubbed his forehead with both hands. "What if we try to contact the Sentinels or Braenarim?"

"Both might not work as well as you think. It was Braenarim enforcers who led the attack on their convoy. And no way could they have organized something like this without inside help. How did an airship on a pre-planned route with two princesses make it all the way across the continent without anyone knowing?

There is a high chance that if we send messages it will be intercepted by those who help make this happen, and we cannot risk that. We can try sending a message to Ferris and Professor Egbert again when we have a secure connection, but until then, I’m not taking our chances."

"Fair enough. How about the Sentinels? If it's Commander Manslayer’s niece, surely they will conduct a rescue mission. I mean, she will fillet us alive, but at least the kid will be safe."

"I like the idea, but there is no way to contact them or meet them face-to-face. Last time I checked, the sentinels were heading deep into the under empire, and her aunt is probably somewhere far in the north, either fighting the separatists or heading down as well. We can try to send a message to Mount Jargyr, but that will take weeks. Trying to find the sentinels would also be a problem, especially with Silvus soldiers crawling around all over the south. Plus, Silvus and Jargyr do not have friendly relations with each other, so that’s another issue."

Baldric sighed heavily. "Are we really doing this? Do we really believe that she is Princess Elizabeth? I feel like this is a bad dream."

"As much as I don’t want to admit it, it all matches. The cripple mother, a former council shadow bodyguard, the timing from the mines all the way up to the Theris rose even matches the ones from the newspapers days ago."

"What if all this is just a coincidence, Luna? What if... you know, she is just pretending to be the princess? "

"You really think a seven-year-old child would purposely do all this? To even go as far as exposing herself as a mage to bounty hunters? To let herself be kidnapped again and again just so she could pretend to be a princess? Beyond that, this came from Silvus's high command. Why would they tell every state on the east side to look for her if she was not the princess?"

He sighed heavily again and rubbed his eyes.

"But this all still makes no sense. If she is really the princess, shouldn’t all of Braenarim and Aspana be mobilising to find them both?"

"Vhlad did say there was a blockade of the entire Silvus border. But you’re right, though. Something is wrong with all this. There should be broadcasts, newspapers, projections, and yet there is nothing. If the two princesses vanished, you would think Emperor Aurelius and Chancellor Nikolaus would be sending their fleets into Silvus, but look around us. It’s as if they don’t even know."

"I still can’t believe your information network did not know Princess Diana was a sentinel. And she was the sentinel that hunted us both for years! How did it slip past you?"

"I know." Luna sighed. "It seems the royal family is hiding the fact that one of their heirs is in the sentinels. I mean, it does make sense though, if you think about it. I will give their family credit though; they are good at keeping secrets."

"What about her mother?" Baldric handed her the collar. "Think we should find her too?"

"We should. If Silvus catches the next chancellor of Aspana and the Coalition of Nations, that is one hell of a bartering chip. But we already have a problem with her daughter, and we can’t go deeper into Silvus looking for her as well. If we see her, we save her. If we don't, then that’s a problem for another day. I’ll try contacting Solomon, Alexander, and Fenia. Maybe they can help us as well."

"Think that’s a good idea?" Baldric looked at her, surprised. "Bringing in more people into this mess?"

"Probably not. I mean, not yet. We need to do it discreetly."

"What will we do about Asterion then? He still has Elizabeth’s collar." Both of them watched as Elizabeth played with the willowbear. "As long as he has that, he can hunt her down no matter where she hides. Plus, by leaving those soldiers alive, sooner or later they will talk, and if he finds out, he can hire other hunters to take the kid."

"Yes, they will talk, so I say we beat them to the punch. We need to level the field and make sure that they can’t track the child so we can smuggle her safely across Silvus until we can get to a safe zone. Asterion wants his contract fulfilled. I say, as bounty hunters, let’s do our job then. You got any ideas on how we can fulfil our contract?"

"Not one that will start a war."

Neither of them said anything.

"Wait. Remember that ham scam we pulled back then?"

"The one with the dog? Or the one where we used cat meat for sausages?"

"I was thinking of the one with the crate. Still remember that?"

Baldric shook his head. "That’s risky. "Bold, but very risky"

"We can pull this off. We can get paid, clear our name, and take the collar at the same time."

"This does not have my patented seal of approval, Luna."

"Got any other ideas then?"

Both of them stood in silence for a while as they watched the willowbear chase Elizabeth and Annie.

"Luna. Why don’t we contact Merlin?"

"I’d love to, but I don’t even know where he is. The last time I talked to him was months ago. And he is already busy with Chimera and the college."

Baldric sighed. “Damn, he would really come in handy right now."