It was a beautiful day in the Matis woods … a silent and peaceful atmosphere pervaded the wide green rides of the sleeping forest, as slowly Prince Stevano of the Matis rode through the huge trees. Having successfully managed to escape the stress of the palace once more, he ambled totally at ease with the woods and the greenery that surrounded him.

He knew, of course, that his mother, Queen Lea, would be angry with him, since once again he had ridden out without his escort. He was also fully aware that the queen had every right to be angry with him, because it was very careless to sneak out like this on his own, but he felt instinctively that no harm could come to him amongst these stately trees in this calm and lovely setting. Besides, King Yrkanis, his father was at some important meeting in Pyr, and the court was thoroughly boring at the moment.

Deep in thought he continued on his way, not really paying attention to his surroundings. As he was soon to discover, this proved to be an expensive mistake, for had he been a bit more attentive, he would doubtless have seen the three dark figures hiding behind the trees, ready to pounce....

The next thing Prince Stevano felt was a sharp pain in the back of his head and then he was lost to the darkness.

At about the same time, back in the palace, Queen Lea was pacing up and down in front of her throne waiting for the search troop of guards to return and to bring back the errant runaway prince. She wasn’t even sure if it was still worth being that angry about these incidents, but of course she was concerned about the security of her only child and the sole heir to the thrown of the Matis.

Somehow, deep inside, she was able to understand her son, since she know just too well how stifling formal life in the palace could become and how exhausting it was never to be able to just spend one minute on your own … but this could not be an acceptable excuse to run away like this. Yrkanis would be furious if he found out about this new incident. He was a great husband, father and king; and did not suffer easily such misbehavior and lack of self control.

If only the guards would return safely with her son, she might not even have to bother the king with it, and could deal with Stevano herself.

Right at that moment however, the commander of the guard troop she had sent out was announced; entering the thrown room a few moments later.

By the look on his face the Queen could already tell that the news was bad. “Your Majesty”, he said, “I am terribly ashamed of myself and my men, but we were unable to bring his highness the Prince back to palace. In fact we have not found one single clue as to where about he might be at the moment. We will continue our search, but it will soon be dark and I don’t think we are going to find him before the morning.” The commander kneeled in front of the Queen and waited for her response. The Queen sighed and set down on her throne.

This was the stuff of her darkest nightmares come to horrible reality. Her son had vanished into thin air, and her husband was out of the country.
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