"Aw man, I can't believe you guys got to go to a hot spring while we were looking for possible routes." Mark complained to Katie while Theo looked off to the distance. 

"Sorry guys," Katie said patting Bandit's head, "I only found out after the others told me." 

"But did you go?" Theo asked Katie quietly and she slowly nodded her head.

"I kinda was pulled along." She said and he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Did anyone see?" He whispered, leaning closer to her ear and she shook her head.

"I don't think anyone saw but I'm not too sure on Keith." She whispered, blush creeping up to her cheeks when she remembered the events that happened yesterday but Theo drew back surprised.

"What happened to being careful?!" He whispered, wanting to shout but with Mark with them and the knights ahead, he couldn't.

"Well he just found me so I couldn't do anything- " She started to defend herself but was cut off by Mark.

"What are you guys whispering about?" He asked and both their heads turned to him.

"I was just telling Pidge how much I wanted to go to the hot spring." Theo replied fast and Katie nodded.

"Cool but we really gotta pick up pace now." He said making both of them look forward. 

The other knights and the Prince were already a mile away from them and they were the ones behind the rest. While they whipped their horses to go a little faster and caught up with the others, Theo sighed and turned to Katie.

"I'm sorry. You're right, it's not  your fault." He said and she turned to him.

" It's okay.." She said and continued up ahead. They were silent on the rest of the way to the Kingdom. 

Keith led his knights to the next nearest Kingdom, Emeraldis. He didn't particularly like this Kingdom but he wanted to make sure he wouldn't miss the kidnappers. The Kingdom was a great place to go sightseeing during vacation but the people living there were mostly greedy and rotten.

Once when Keith and his family had went there, a greedy couple tried to steal their jewels and goods. He had a knife to his throat when he was just 8 because the couple wanted to make sure his parents wouldn't do anything while they were stealing their things.

He groaned just thinking back to the bad memories when he was helpless and shook his head. When he looked ahead, he saw the protective walls of the Kingdom.

"We're here." Keith mumbled just loud enough for the knight next to him to hear so he could announce it to the others.

"We're here!" The knight yelled to the others, getting their attention.

The walls were beautiful, they were filled with gems and all types of jewels showing off the wealth the Kingdom had. When Keith saw that there were many people in line in front of the gates to get in, he sighed. 

'Guess we'll have to wait.' He thought to himself and led his knights in line.

When they finally got to the front of the line, a man asked for their I.Ds.

"Let me see them!" He said harshly and Keith immediately felt annoyed. 

He got out his golden symbol of royalty from Galraen and showed it to the man.

"I'm Prince Keith from Galraen and these are my knights." He claimed and the man widened his eyes and sank down. "I wish to have an audience with your King."

" Here are your guest badges." The man said in a nicer tone than before, handing them 13 badges quickly. "Have a great time in Emeraldis!"

Keith scoffed putting his guest badge on and put the golden symbol back in his bag.

They opened the gates and he nudged his horse to go forwards. As they rode through the streets, he noticed that the place was beautiful but the people living there weren't as happy as the Dorian citizens. There were also many beggars and homeless people on the sides of the street.

"You'd think for a Kingdom so rich, they would have a better system for their people." He heard Mark behind him whisper to Theo and Pidge. 

They passed by a woman in rags and her daughter who looked only 5. The woman looked too tired to get up but the child immediately locked eyes with Keith and she ran up to his horse, her eyes hopeful.

"Mister, you look just like the Prince Charming from the storybook my father showed me before he disappeared." She said, her soft voice faltering a little when she talked about her father.

"Are you gonna save us?" She asked again, hopeful. 

Keith didn't want to reply, feeling worse than he ever felt and got out something from his bag. It would be too cruel of him to just leave them.

"I cant save you but I can give you this." He said and put a bag of gold coins in her hands. 

Her eyes widened when she looked inside and she ran back to her mother with a bright smile, almost dropping the bag because it was heavy. The mother was surprised from seeing her child returning with a bag of coins but when she looked inside, joyful tears came out of her eyes. The child pointed to Keith and the mom smiled and bowed making Keith smile back. 

They continued up ahead to the palace and were greeted by a lean looking man with blonde hair and green eyes.

"Prince Keith." He said and Keith recognized him as the Prince of Emeraldis.

"I heard you were coming." He said, his emerald green eyes glimmering.

"Welcome to Emeraldis."