Kris Kringle

Princess Eva had Kris sit down by the fireplace through which he had just entered. She sat across from him, leaning forward in her chair, eager to hear all that he had to say.

“Did you deliver the note to Rudy?” she asked him with urgency.

Kris nodded. “Yes, and in fact, he ended up making me a member of the Shepherds because of it,” Kris replied, “We have been trying to decipher its meaning, but I’m afraid we still have no idea what is meant by Percy’s Parchment. From what you overheard Renier say, it seems your father is the only one who knows of its whereabouts.”

Eva thought about what Kris had said. “Yes, I think so too,” she replied, “I didn’t approach my father about it before he left, and now I fear…” Her voice began to choke with emotion, and Kris instinctively placed his hand upon hers.

“He’s alive,” Kris promised, “I can feel it. But we need to find him before your brother takes power. Is there anything you can tell me? I need more than that note to help you save the kingdom. Have you noticed anything else peculiar going on with the prince?”

A very serious look suddenly appeared on Eva’s face. “You won’t believe me,” she stated quietly.

Kris chuckled. “With all due respect, Your Highness, I would not have risked my life venturing into this castle to have a conversation with someone whose word I did not trust. Please tell me what you know.”

Eva took a deep breath and let it out. “Only one guard from Father’s caravan survived the attack in the forest,” Eva started, but then stopped. “Do the Shepherds know about the attack in the forest?”

“Yes, Paul shared with us what he had overheard. Something about a terrible beast taking them by surprise…”

Eva nodded. “According to the survivor, this beast wreaked havoc on the men, nearly killing him and—as far as we know at this point—leaving no survivors. All he remembers from his battle with the beast is that he was able to injure the claws of the beast…”

She looked at her own fingers and bit her lip, as if hesitating to finish her thought. “This is the part that will make me sound foolish. My brother’s hand has been bandaged for the past few days; an injury that he will not explain to me.”

Kris’ eyebrows furrowed with concern. “You think…you think Prince Renier is the beast that attacked your father?”

Eva looked Kris directly in the eyes. “I do,” she answered sincerely, “He is a man obsessed with the supernatural, with dark magic. Much of his time is spent alone with wizards and sorcerers that he has secretly summoned from faraway places. I do not how it all works. I do not wish to know. But I fear Renier did not just orchestrate this attack. I believe he was directly involved in it.”

Kris had not expected to hear such a story as this. If the princess’ fear was accurate, the Shepherds had a greater threat facing them than they had ever imagined before.

“Could his attacking the king have something to do with Percy’s Parchment then?” he asked her.

“I’m not sure,” she replied, “What I wrote on that note is as much a mystery to me as it is to you. I do not know what the Parchment is or why Renier wants it. But it does seem that my father has some connection to it. And if my brother is trying to lay hold of it, I can only assume it is because it would strengthen his power in some way.”

Although Kris had been listening attentively, now that he was able to sit for a moment, he was beginning to feel the pain in the foot he had injured from his jump off the bell tower. He stood and started to pace around the room, trying to gage how bad an injury it was.

“Are you hurt?” the princess asked with concern, noticing the winces on Kris’ face.

“We must find your father,” Kris concluded, continuing to gingerly test his foot and ignoring Eva’s question, “If he is still in those woods, we must find a way to rescue him.”

“Renier has sent a search party,” the princess replied, though her voice trailed off as she realized how unconvincing that was after just accusing him of murder.

Kris raised his eyebrows. “Yes, forgive me if that idea brings me no comfort or confidence, Your Majesty. If the king is going to be found, it will have to be through our own efforts. If I have your blessing, I will return to the Shepherds and tell them—“

Kris’ voice was suddenly drowned out by the loud ringing of the bell tower. The clanging of the bells was rapid, and Kris could picture the guard pulling wildly on the rope to make such a sound.

Eva and Kris looked at each with fear in their eyes.

“They’re signaling an alarm!” she stated, “They know you’re here!”

Before Kris could respond, a loud pounding at Eva’s chamber door now accompanied the clanging of the bells.

“Princess, are you in there?” came a muffled voice from the other side of the door.

Kris did not hesitate. He pushed Eva back into the chair from which she had just stood up upon hearing the bells sound. Ripping off one of the thin curtains by her balcony, he wrapped it around her tightly, using it as a kind of rope to trap her to the chair.

“What are you doing?” she demanded of him with distress in her voice. Kris looked around the room and saw a large handkerchief resting next to a book on the table by her bookshelves. The princess was clearly an avid reader, as a corner of her room served as a small library, with tall shelves lined with books, some that could only be reached with the assistance of a ladder that rested in the corner.

Kris grabbed the handkerchief as the pounding at the door became more urgent.

“They can never, ever suspect that you and I were talking about the prince,” Kris explained, “They can never know that I came here specifically to speak to you. We must act—you must act—as though I am a madman who snuck into your room, tied you up, and stole your treasure.”

Eva looked at him, her heart pounding. “Then steal something,” she said calmly with a smile.

Kris smiled as he leaned in, and before tying the handkerchief around her mouth, he obeyed his princess’ directive, and stole a kiss. He then ran to the corner of the room and grabbed the ladder.

Suddenly the door of the chamber burst open, revealing three guards standing at the door. Their immediate attention was brought to the princess, silenced and bound to the chair by the fireplace. They rushed to her aid and began untying her, not even noticing Kris, who was standing by the books in the corner, holding the ladder.

As the guard undid the handkerchief around Eva’s mouth, she started to scream.

“He’s here!” she cried out, “The villain is here!”

The guards looked around the room, and as they did, Kris darted from his hiding spot—ladder in hand—to the open balcony. He threw the ladder over the edge, and looked back for a brief moment before he jumped over himself. His eyes met with Eva’s before the rushing guards blocked their view of each other. Even as she put on her show to fool the guards, he could see the concern in her eyes for her new friend, and she could see the love in his.

Kris leaped daringly over the edge of the balcony, landing feet first into the deep waters of the moat after a long fall. He swam to the ladder that had started to float away and tried to plant it into the ground nearest the muddy walls of the moat, but the ladder kept forcing its way back to the surface. Kris submerged himself in the water, and tried to create a secure anchoring for the ladder. As he did, he felt something hit him hard against his back, pushing his body against the wall. The water was somewhat murky, but as Kris looked around for the culprit, he could make out a giant reptile in the water.

The crocodiles had not been a story.

As his new enemy swung its body around in order to go in for the kill, Kris grabbed the ladder again, and stood upon its bottom rung, forcing the ladder to sink the bottom and lodge itself somewhat into the mud. As he did so, the crocodile lunged toward Kris, who quickly ascended the ladder, now partially above water. The crocodile crashed into the ladder, momentarily pinning itself between the rungs and thereby further pushing and anchoring the ladder against the wall of the moat. Kris took advantage of this brief moment of stability and finished his ascent up the ladder, summoning all his energy to pull his body onto the open grass above the moat.

He lay on his back for a moment, trying to catch his breath. From this new position, he could see the princess’ balcony, which now had close to a dozen guards gathered upon it. Several were armed with bows, and Kris suddenly realized that arrows were flying down toward him.

He rolled over and pushed himself off the ground, his heart racing and his injured foot throbbing. He ran clumsily for the protection of the forest’s trees to the south, arrows landing in the ground all around him, with the alarm signal of the bells still ringing in the air.