Milo continued his flirtation with the lovely, Millicent. She met most of the people in the castle, and it turned out that she knew some of the wait staff already. Often when she and Milo were walking on the castle grounds, Millicent would leave him temporarily to go say hello to this friend or that. She was welcomed with open arms. Milo even saw Fortan pass a sack to Millicent. When he asked her about it, she explained it was a welcoming present from Fortan. All seemed well for the young couple.

But Queen Fesora was still tormented in her search for an heir. Now that there was a chance the baby still lived, she was eager, perhaps even desperate, to find the child she longed for and the heir she needed. She pressed the staff to return to the search for her heir. But she herself was at a loss as to where to search. After all, they had already pursued all who were known to be present in the Kingdom at the time of the birth and who were living now. They found out very little. The queen's sister Isabella had been seen traveling toward Whitmohr and had never been seen again. The midwife Silvera had been killed in Whitmohr after she was seen in residence there with an infant.

The village of Whitmohr had been plagued by wolf attacks and the Queen wondered if perhaps her child had been killed by the wolf. Had the wolf killed Silvera? Sentira explained that Silvera had died from a blow to the head, not a wolf attack. And no infant body had been found.

Fortan brought up the idea that there may yet be clues in the castle. After all, the King had erased the Queen's memory, but he could not erase the memories of all who had been there. Many people kept records, even the King had left many papers behind. Perhaps there were written clues somewhere. The Queen charged all citizens to find what they could in the castle records. And, indeed, there was information to be found.

Questor ¤˜NZTîgere§§˜¤ was the first to explore the Royal Archives. There she found a set of volumes describing the years of King Plentur's reign. Only volume VI was missing. According to the Archivist, it had been taken long ago by King Plentur himself and never returned. The Archivist pointed to a strange indexing system of these volumes that the King himself had created. Each book index included a number that referred to the year of the King's reign and a lettering system that seemed quite random.

Royal Archives

Questor PurklePixieBoywas the first speak to Zelda, the Queen's maid. Zelda lived in the same room where previous personal servants of the Queen lived. In fact, that room had once been occupied by Silvera, the midwife. Zelda explained that all the things belonging to previous occupants had been placed in a sack on the shelf. In that sack, PurklePixieBoy found a faded letter written in a weak script.It seemed to indicate that perhaps Silvera had been up to something and was hired by a 2nd party.

There was also another letter in the room found by Questor Sentinel Artcher. Zelda explained that she had only found this letter recently and could not explain why she didn't find it sooner. It was also from Silvera, but the handwriting was much stronger in style.This letter distinctly referred to the Queen's child as a daughter.

Questor Sir Link saw these letters also, and when he left the maid's chambers, he could swear he saw Millicent just disappearing down the corridor. He walked past the entry to Queen Fesora's chambers and into the King's salon. He hunted there until he found a hidden doorway that could be opened by the White Knight chess piece he had carried from the Maid's room.

King's Salon

The door was a secret entry into the old rooms the King had used while a Prince. In the study, Sir Link found the missing volume VI from the Archives. In that volume, he found this entry of note:It seems the child was born on November 3rd in the 6th year of King Plentur's reign, and that the given name of the child began with M. The child's gender was obscured. Apparently King Plentur attempted to remove the record entirely.

Dragon Portals

Questor Smew passed the security system of Dragon Portals that the King had set up to find a map. This map led to a room where the king had hidden other records that might remind the Queen of her great sadness. In this chamber Smew found a portrait of Isabella wearing a purple necklace.

There was also brooch containing a miniature of this portrait and a letter from King Plentur. The letter explained that the King had hidden evidence of the birth for the sake of his wife's great sorrow and delicate state of mind.

The Queen commanded a summary of the findings. They now seemed to believe the child was a female, born in the 6th year of the reign of King Plentur. The child's name began with M. It was known that wolves had been somehow associated with the child's disappearance. Milo and Millicent were both born in that year, however, Milo was male and Millicent often spoke of her parents although Milo had never met them himself.

Millicent brought up a 3rd possibility ... what about Mildrede the Sorceress. The royal party was shocked! How could one so evil ... one who had brought so much trouble to the kingdom .. how could such a one even be considered as Fesora's child?

Milo remembered that Millicent had seemed fascinated about his stories of the sorceress. He had known Mildrede since they were children and although he found her a bit impetuous and untamed, he had never thought her evil. She had shown great promise as the apprentice of Fortan until she met Gast. Gast had persuaded her to use her powers for evil. Millicent seemed to believe that Mildrede's evil was perhaps due to the fact that she had had such a poor start. After all, she had been found abandoned with only wolves nearby for company. No wonder she had turned into such an untamed child. No wonder she was so easily influenced by Gast.

The guards and Fortan protested this line of thought. They remembered how Mildrede had turned Milo into a dog .. how she had assisted Gast in kidnapping Milo and Fortan ... how she had helped Fortuno in his ploy to put Willis the Bold on the throne.

But Millicent had questions of her own. But what if Mildrede turned Milo into a dog to keep Milo near her ... to keep him safe ... to protect him from a worse fate from Gast? What if she cared for Milo so much that she even lured him away from the castle to protect him from Gast's attack in the recent weeks?

Milo was shocked! It wasn't Mildrede who had lured him from the castle .. it had been Millicent!

And at that moment, Millicent revealed herself to be Mildrede, the Sorceress! Milo was dumbfounded! The guards went to a position of alert and moved to Queen Fesora's side.

Mildrede tried to assure them that she would never hurt her mother now that she had found her.

Queen Fesora was in shock .. but she managed to say that even though the girl had the right gender, age and name, more evidence was needed. Mildrede pulled from her pocket a necklace. It was quite similar to the one worn by Isabella in her portrait. The queen knew the portrait necklace to be a favorite of Isabella's given her by their aunt. She almost always wore it. And here was this wild Mildrede wearing a necklace that might be the very same one. Perhaps she was her heir. Perhaps she was her own dear lost child ... the daughter she had longed for.

The Queen's heart took control of her suspicions. She commanded that if Mildrede wanted to return to them, she should have her chance. And she took Mildrede with her to her sitting room.

Milo was still in shock at the deception by the woman he had believed to be his true love. But still .. this was a woman he had known since childhood. Perhaps ... perhaps ... his mind was spinning!

Dorran and Sentira went into alert mode. They could not countermand the wishes of the Queen. But it was their duty to protect. They agreed more investigation should take place. After all the quest had turned up a few new names ... a few new leads. There were documents to be investigated. And they all instinctively knew ... Mildrede had to be watched!