"You'll see. Who is this shadow guy," The girl asked once she realized it wasn't them that where the bad guys.
She led them to the castle, making sure everyone was following her. There was guards everywhere, letting them pass and giving her a nod.
"My name is Cherry, at least that's what everyone calls me. I suggest being quiet when we tell the king the news or he has the habbit... well it's not good. Please don't try anything or I'll kill you, blah blah blah, be good," Cherry said with a smile, "Anything you guys want to say before we enter where the king is?"

"Are you positive I can't talk? I like talking. I can't not talk for a long time. it's impossible." Austyn says. "And the shadow guy had this awesome name he went by that was completely more awesome than he really was. He said he would kill me if I kept talking. I still talked and he didn't kill me, though he stabbed me so I guess that counts? Said something about a gate and only him being able to open it. Blah blah blah."
Azrail stays quiet. Being quiet was his thing. He rocked at being quiet.
"Let's get this over with." Riley says, slightly irritated with this whole thing.

Zio nodded, agreeing with Riley. She hadn't done anything wrong, so she hoped this would be over soon.
Cherry sighed, "Unless you want to be punished like the last person was I would suggest only to talk when spoken to. Otherwise you might annoy the king, which is something you do not want to do."
She led them inside, Zio looking around blankly, already being here once before. The king was sitting at a chair, looking a bit bored. He looked a lot like Will, with the same black hair. His eyes where a darker brown though, looking almost black. He watched them for a moment.
"Your Majesty, I bring news. Your son is missing. I h-"
"He's what," The king cut Cherry off, standing up, looking shocked, "Where they the ones who did it?"
"Um, no your majesty. They where there when it happened so I th-"
"Why arn't you sending out search parties. Send some out now and let me deal with them," Cherry nodded and hurried away, "So tell me, what happened?"

"Wait, does this means I can talk now? I can talk? Yay! So, there were shadows and this guy with shadow magic-" Austyn was cut off by Riley.
"No. You'll annoy everyone in this room if you have permission to talk. This assassin from the other kingdom calls himself Blackout or Shadow Master." Riley says before proceeding to give a short summary with all the important details in there, cutting out the part where he let it slip that he was a dragon and the whole plan part of things.
"And the shadow dude tried to kill me after your son disappeared into shadows. Here's the dagger he got me with." Austyn says, showing the king the dagger.

He listened carefully, taking the dagger in his hand as he studied it. He looked tense.
"Cherry! Get ready to send some troops to Hariso," He said as she popped her head into the room briefly before leaving again, "How do I know you guys are not assassins? What if this is all a trap?"
Zio smirked, "If it's a trap you would already be dead plus there is better methods to taking you out then by kidnapping your son."
"That's true, but you might have been involved. I'll give you two weeks to figure out where my son is and save him. If you try to run away or do anything I'll kill you," He said like it totally seemed like a reasonable solution.

(Me: I need plot! My brain: *Shoves mess over* Here you are)

"And save him? Wow. This is an epic adventure!" Austyn says bouncing in place.
"More like an epic mess we just got shoved into." Riley sighs through his nose. "I really wouldn't be teaming up with you if it wasn't something other than my life - or my treasure or my boyfriend but they're not in danger at the current moment. And I'm guessing you're sending someone with us to make sure we don't run away but still figure this out?"
Austyn pipes up, "And if you kill us for doing anything, we should technically already be dead by now."
"And you say that because?" Riley questions, wondering if Austyn was trying to get them in more trouble.
"Well, breathing and living is something, right?" Austyn asks.
"Something. Not anything." Riley says.
Azrail knew that he wouldn't be able to stay sane if the two of them kept this banter up.

"Yup, you sure catch on quickly! Cherry! Your watching them," He said with a smile as Cherry came back into the room, nodding, "See, there you are. You can do it! Have fun!"
He left the room, leaving them with Cherry.
"Well that was productive... not. I can't believe I have to save him," Zio said with a sigh as she rolled her eyes, "Let's get this over with quickly."
"Ok chatty child, quiet down," She patted Austyn's head, a smile on her face, "I'm just here to watch you and help if needed. So where do you want to start? Any place of interest?"
"Well not here," Zio grumbled ignoring the two as they bickered, she didn't really care about anything that was happening, "Nothing happens here because of all the guards."
"But it's safe here at least. I honestly think we should go pay our neighbors a visit! I'm sure they would know what's happening, it would be big news if they caught the prince and we might be able to figure out their plan. Just an idea of course," Cherry suggested.

'It was said that Will was being taken to a gate since he was the only one to open it or whatever. Maybe start there? Look it up in a library? Any important gates opened by magic?' Azrail signs a suggestion.
Austyn pounces on him, figuratively, "What did you sign? What does it mean? Did you agree to teach me sign language?"
Azrail backs away from Austyn, somewhat moving to hide behind Riley.
Riley ignores both Azrail and Austyn, "Sure. Going to the other kingdom sounds like a good plan."

Cherry nodded, "Maybe we can find out what the gates are in Hariso. That seems fine, but magic? Will doesn't have magic. I must be confusing the signs, I'm still new to sign language."
She repeated what Azrail signed for Austyn. She then led them all out of the room.
"Don't we need disguises then," Zio said casually as Cherry nodded, "And pretend to have powers."
"Well then make some up. It's easy for me to make one up because I have one," She winked, smiling at them, "I can... well let's not spoil it! It's a secret!"

"Not everyone in Hariso has powers? I thought it was a chance thing. But if I can learn magic, I'd love to do that." Austyn says. "Blackout did say something about Will having magic and how only Will's magic can unlock the gate."
"You just want to learn everything, don't you." Riley says. Austyn nods.
"Knowledge is power." He says in the same chipper mood as ever.
Riley laughs, "Not always."
"Ok... why do we need disguises, though? Aren't the two kingdoms similar enough so that we can pass between them pretty much unobserved? I'm sure we don't need code names either. My name's pretty common." Austyn says.