Philip rode until the sky turned dark. There was no sign of the ogres at all. For being such large creatures, they were impressively fast.
Knowing that traveling in the dark was futile, Philip swung off his horse and began to make a camp. He started a fire and laid out a blanket on the ground. Philip stared up at the stars and sighed.

"I will find you, father. No matter how long it takes." He felt his eyes burning with tears and he just let them fall. There was no point in saving face at this point. He was exhausted and he could not even save his father. The fate of the kingdom rest on his shoulders and he was scared to rule. His father would have passed the throne down to him but he would still have been there to help guide him. If he was dead, Philip would have no mentor. Yes, his father raised him with the courage, braveness, strength, and maturity he would need to be a king, but Philip needed his father.

Tears ran down his cheeks and he wiped at them. Addy's face floated into his mind and his heart ached. He knew she did not realize how much he loved her and it broke his heart. He yearned for her. Philip hoped to wake up to her sleepy smile and her red hair flowing over the pillows on the bed. He wanted her to be the mother of his children. She was independent, stubborn, kind, and strong. She was the exact opposite of all the women he ever flirted with. Adelaide was a challenge.

Philip sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. There was no use in wishing for what he did not have. She would never be his. She had made that very clear when he left her.

"She will marry a man and bear his children, not mine. Her husband will end up fat and bald, and with nothing to his name. Their children will have the kindness and courage of her." He laughed. "They will be the best children around. And they will have the prettiest mother in all the land." Philip sneered at the ground. "Damn that lucky man!"

A noise to his left brought him out of his mood and he grabbed his sword quickly. Philip crouched over to a pile of fallen logs, where he could stealthily hide and see who caused the noise. He steadied his breathing and sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity.

Another noise sounded, followed by two more. Something was walking in the woods along where he was camped. Philip prayed they wouldn't see him, or his horse, who had the mind to lay down and sleep. The crunches of sticks and leaves got louder and so did a foul odor. Philip scrunched up his nose and tried not to breathe through his nose. The smell was horrible, a mix of rotted meat, manure, and filth.

"Where is he?" A deep voice bellowed. It was not a human voice.

"I don't know. I didn't see anyone, Nigel." A smaller voice hissed.

"Don't call me Nigel, you moron. And there is a man here, I can smell him." The thing Philip assumed was Nigel sniffed in the air deeply. "He isn't far. Look for his horse. I'm tired of eating rabbit. A nice plump horse leg sounds divine."

Philip's eyes widened. Ogres. If the smell did not give it away, their hunger for his horse did! He slowly peeked over the logs and saw where they were at. The bigger one stood near the fire, consuming the stew Philip had been warming over the fire. The smaller one was scouting near the far shrubs, hoping the seek the horse.  If he kept coming, he would run into Philip.

Philip waited quietly until the smaller ogre started to approach him. When it got close enough, Philip sprang and plunged his sword through it's chest. Without making such as a squawk, the ogre fell to the ground in a heap. Philip pulled out his sword and began to crawl closer to the bigger ogre,  concealed by the large piles of brush.

The ogre stopped eating and stood up taller, smelling the air. "Aker? Did you find the horse?" He waited but heard no reply. The ogre dropped the pot and looked around, the club in his hand held tighter. "Aker? Answer me, ninny!"

Philip stood up, only ten feet away from the creature, and held out his sword. "I am afraid Aker is no longer available. He seemed to have run into a sword." 

The ogre growled and bared his teeth, lunging at Philip. He swung his club at Philip's head, but missed his mark greatly. He swung again, but tripped over his own feet.

Philip whacked him on the back of his head with his sword and knocked him to the ground. He held his blade at the ogre's neck and pressed the point into him. "Where are the others?"

"What others?" The ogre spit at his feet. "There are no others."

"You have been raiding villages for weeks. Your group kidnapped the king." He pressed the sword even more. "Where are the others?"

The ogre shook out a sinister laugh. "You will never find them. We are everywhere."

"If you tell me, I might have mercy and spare your wretched life."

"Like you would save my life. If you take my life, your pretty little woman and her babe will be dead before morning. We know where she is."

Philip's blood ran cold. "You are lying. Now where is the king?"

"Don't know what good it will do you. They are more n likely gone. Last place I heard of was the Edenborough Falls."

"Are you keeping him for ransom?"

"Don't know. They might of already killed the old man by now." The ogre laughed, but it was short lived, as Philip sliced off his head.

He wiped off the blade in the grass. Edenborough Falls. That was still a days ride ahead. He doused the fire and guided himself in the moonlight. Philip packed up his things and mounted his unhappy horse and rode to the north, to the Falls.

A/N:

Hey guys!

How do you like this chapter? I might write up Chapter Thirteen tonight because I am in the mood to write!

Please vote, add, comment, follow, and yada yada yada.

Thank you so much for reading!

-Red