Page 120 - RotalTutor

head back. They still had most of the day left, and she didn’t want to waste it. She had asked Duke Reginald, Captain Johnson, and Lieutenant Richins to accompany her. As they followed the army officers back to camp, the king rode in the lead, followed by Louise, then the others. Captain Johnson and Lieutenant Richins stood guard outside the door to the king’s make-shift headquarters. Louise and Duke Reginald hid behind where the door would open, and the king moved to the middle of the room, where Alexander would see him when he came through the door. The men were just coming off of a march. Louise could hear a man bellow out, “Alexander of Bernodia, you are to report to headquarters.” A few moments passed before, from her hiding place, she heard the general’s voice outside. “Alexander of Bernodia?” “Yes, sir.” “I have been informed,” the general said, “that you have disobeyed a direct order from the king. He awaits you inside.” The military officers were nonchalantly hanging around outside, wanting to know what was happening. Inside, Louise grinned to herself. Oh, how she would have loved to have seen Alexander’s face when the general spoke to him. She was glad he was young or his heart probably would have stopped on the spot. Slowly, surely, the door opened. She could not see Alexander from her 118