Teen Ink

March 2, 1,100 A.D.

Today I woke up at the bitter hour of three to fulfill my duties as herald. I rushed to see the King because, indeed, I was late. As I ran to the the King’s castle I whipped out my notepaper and quill to give to the scribe so he could write down my assignments for the morning. This left my bag swinging from my shoulder, threatening to fly right off, but in the hurry to get to the king on time I forgot to alarm my son to get ready for his schooling session. “ Oh no!” I shouted hastily, “Now we are both going to be late!”
I hurried back home to wake my son, but when I got there he was nowhere to be found so I assumed that he had awakened, gotten himself ready and went to his schooling session all on his own. I was proud at the thought of my son being so independent. I hurried back to the castle to get orders from the king, deeply hoping he would not be angry at my absence.
Once I got there I was informed by a palace guard that the king did not need me that day.
“This is because the King just discovered he had developed some sort of illness. King Fitzgerald needs time to be treated by a doctor. As a result of this, the King’s barons were ordered to take control of the land. The Queen divided up the land between the the three barons and they were to serve the king by temporarily ruling their part of Varrok. However, if something happens to go wrong and the baron cannot fix it, they will then call upon you to help them. King Fitzgerald is counting on you to do the most important task of performing this job for him.”
As soon as the guard had finished telling me about this, I automatically had a sinking feeling. So many things could go wrong and if they do, it is my job to fix them.
Since the guard had been talking on and on about the situation, my work day was over and it was time to pick up my son Cedric from his schooling session. But when I arrived, Cedric was not waiting as usual. I waited hours on end for Cedric. I searched high and low for him inside the schooling house and I could not find him anywhere. “This day is a never ending nightmare!” I shouted up into the sky. No one answered. I went home assuming again that Cedric already went home and was asleep for at least an hour.
When I got home I soon discovered that Cedric was not in our house. He was nowhere, no- where to be seen, nowhere to be found and certainly nowhere to be heard from. I ran out of my house, knocked on every door, and asked every person in the city if they had seen Cedric. Every person I asked said they had not seen him. Just as my hope was fading on ever seeing Cedric again, I realized that I had skipped a house on my long journey through Varrok. I swiftly ran back to the house I thought I had forgotten. It was three doors down from my house. The residents were a little old lady and her husband and they both claimed they saw Cedric. First, the little old lady said that a robber had taken Cedric but, she did not know were he had been taken to. The old man yelled over her, “No, no, no! The robber got Cedric, but Cedric fought the robber off and ran past the town square and into the woods.”
At this point I ran past the town square and to the fringe of the woods. This is where I stumbled across an envelope. It clearly stated my name, BLYTHE BALDING, in all capital letters. I started to get excited when I saw this because whenever my son tries to write, he finds it easier and faster to write in all capital letters. I stumbled to my feet to get the envelope, then quickly opened it. It said:

Good-bye, father. Someone tried to come after me. I got away ,but I have decided to leave Varrok so this cannot happen again . Be careful and thank you for everything.
- Cedric

At this, I searched through the woods for hours but found nothing. At about midnight I went back to my house to catch a few hours of sleep before my duties as herald would resume.