[Lauchenoiria]

Princess Mina, third child and eldest daughter of King Shapur, was by far the most concerned in her family about her younger sister’s disappearance. Her father was not wholly unconcerned; however, his vision-granting god had apparently assured him that she was just fine, and that seemed to satisfy him. Mina, on the other hand, did not believe in his god, and therefore found no solace in her father’s alleged visions.

She had been attempting to investigate herself for months now, and had uncovered some disturbing pieces of information. Firstly, was that Leila had apparently been sneaking around the city disguised as a boy for months before her disappearance. A young boy was caught in the edge of a photograph of a market-day crowd whose face matched Leila’s on a facial recognition algorithm she had finally talked one of her father’s spies into providing her with access to.

The “boy” was also seen in the vicinity of several Zoroastrian temples in the poorer districts of the city in the company of a white woman – which was odd on so many levels. While Castle Zargo of course had white visitors, and even residents, they did not enter these districts often if at all. Mina had her suspicions about the identity of this woman – she knew fine well that Project Belle operated in her country fairly openly, since the government did not particularly care to stop them.

There her research had stalled. She had managed to get in touch with Project Belle through one of their legitimate front organisations. Naturally, this got passed back to the Kerlian government. At first, they did not want to assist Mina in any way, however, after looking through their own records, they decided it would not harm them to tell the 15-year-old princess that no woman of that description worked for them, and they were unaware of the location of her sister.

Was this true? Mina almost hoped not. Leila running off with Kerlians would at least explain a large percentage of the issues, and would result in her relative safety compared with some of the fates which could face a wayward girl in Zargothrax. Her sister, turned 12 in her absence, was much too naïve to get by alone – at least, as far as Mina knew. She was beginning to realise she had lost track of who her sister was since the Cat Laws began to be written by their father.

Mina had one more line of enquiry to follow. Leila had mentioned in passing on multiple occasions her suspicions of the many palace cats. At the time she had written it off as childish fantasy, akin to their father’s madness but more acceptable by manner of age. But without other leads, Mina had decided she would too follow some of the cats and see what they were up to.

Khordad was one of her father’s twelve feline disciples, or at least that was what they had come to be referred to as. Her father’s cats and Chief Advisor Hashemi’s cats did not get on with each other, tending to hiss when they passed in the corridors. The rest of the twelve stayed away from the upper floors, which Hashemi’s cats stalked. Khordad was different, and so Khordad was who Mina chose to follow.

Khordad appeared to be allowing the Princess to follow. Indeed, he paused before slipping behind a tapestry, allowing Mina to discover a secret passage she had never before seen. The cat led her through a network of dusty tunnels, up into the attic beyond even some of the old servants’ quarters. The cat paused, turned, meowed almost in warning, then shot out of the tunnel and hissed.

Before Mina could move forward, answering hisses and yowls started up, and there was the sound of cats running and snarling in the corridor outside. By the time Mina had poked her head out of the tunnel, there were no cats present. It appeared almost as if Khordad had led other cats away from the location.

Mina stood in front of an old wooden door. Hesitantly, she reached out to turn the handle. It was locked. Hmm. Mina pulled out they odd key she’d found in Leila’s room and inserted it. After some wiggling, the lock turned and she stepped into the room.

“Ahura Mazda!” she exclaimed. “Grandfather!?”

She stepped forward and pulled the gag off his mouth; a move which Leila had failed to do on her own turn at making this discovery.

“Little Mina,” he whispered. “Is that you?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” she asked.

“Always so blunt, little Mina,” he chuckled softly. “I am afraid that reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated, to wicked aim.”

“Did my father do this!?”

“No; that honour goes to Jared Hashemi, liar and traitor,” he shook his head. “My dear, if I recall, you used to carry a smartphone with religious fervour. Perhaps, if you would not mind, you could film this before he returns and get it out?”

“Oh, I can livestream; the whole world will know you’re alive before Hashemi can so much as blink,” Mina shrugged, already getting out her phone and logging on to the same streaming platform that Samara’s @qita_qanun account had gained fame. “How’s your English? Videos in English go viral quicker.”

“I think I can manage,” he said in heavily accented English. “Would you mind?” he nodded towards the ropes.

“Sure,” Mina said. “We’re live by the way,” she said, pulling out a smartphone tripod from a pocket and placing it on top of a dusty cabinet so that Navid was fully visible. She stepped into the shot and began to untie him. “Hello everyone,” she began in English, “and welcome back to Mina’s Magic! Something different for you today – evidence of a treasonous plot! This is my grandfather, King Navid III of Zargothrax. And he is alive!”