44Prologue: The Lost Angel
"Papa! Papa! I-I'm scared!" a little girl screamed in her father's arms as she clings on him as tight as she possibly can.
"Don't worry dear! We'll escape from them somehow. Just believe in Papa. Okay?"
March 18, 1814. The snow and cold of the last winter had gone. New life bloomed from the ground and the trees in the form of newly sprouted grass and leaves. The cool breeze that gently blew was very comfortable to the skin. And the moonlight glowed brightly in the night sky. The cloudless night sky was filled with the innumerable stars that complement the moon.
It was the perfect time to enjoy a night of stargazing with one's family.
However, a father and his daughter cannot enjoy these simple pleasures that night had brought. They were running away from several people armed with swords that for some reason were very determined to seize them at all costs.
"It looks like we lost them for the moment." the father said as he sat on the ground beside a big rock. As he placed down his daughter beside him, he checked the little girl for any injuries that she might have.
The father of the girl was a man somewhere in his late 20's to his early 30's. His clean-shaven angular face and rounded eyes stood out above all of his features. He wore a dark blue Prussian military coat and white trousers. His boots were covered in mud from running.
Slung around his body was a peculiar looking satchel, not one that would typically be carried by a soldier. By the markings and design of his coat, one can tell that he was a relatively young officer in the Prussian military.
"Are you alright Elise?" he lifted his daughter's arms. The father saw very slight impressions of rope on her wrists.
The little girl's face contorted in terror.
"Do they hurt?" he asked.
"No." The little girl named Elise gently shook her head. Her eyes let out small spheres of tears as she looked upon her father's exhausted expression on his face.
"I can't believe that he would do this to us…" the father voiced out in a depressed and hateful tone "…and he would say that he didn't know that we have a daughter?"
"Why did he do it?" the little girl asked in return. "It's the very first time I was able to see him."
"I don't know." the father shook his head, but in his mind he has an idea of what's going on.
But I can feel that he did this because he hates me, especially because I was not able to save your mama.
"Papa… will we be alright?" Elise asked.
"Don't worry dear, we'll be safe soon. We just need to find someplace to hide so…"
Just as he was talking to his daughter, a figure suddenly appeared from behind the rock.
"Papa!" the girl pointed at the man behind her father. It quickly alerted him to the danger.
The other man that suddenly appeared looked like a proper gentleman from an educated background with the waistcoat around his torso and the bicorne hat atop his head.
At first glance anyone would not imagine that such a dashingly handsome figure would have antagonistic tendencies and motives against the father and daughter.
Yet this was exactly the case in this man's situation. He quickly lifted up his sword, threatening to strike the father and his daughter where they sit.
"I won't let you lay another finger on my kid!" the little girl's father screamed out as he dove straight for the man's sword arm. Clutching it with all his might, he managed to prevent the aggressor from swinging his sword.
"You little spies need to learn a lesson!" he then began to punch the man, which turned out to be spy, repeatedly in the face before disarming him and taking the weapon for himself. He delivered a quick kick on his chest. The spy tumbled backwards, and fell to the ground on his back.
"Let's go Elise!" the father picked up his daughter once again. He sprinted away from the scene as fast as he can… he knows that the French spy was not alone.
"They're here! Everyone! The Prussian officer is here!" the downed spy yelled from the top of his lungs, trying to call the attention of his fellow spies.
Why is an entire spy ring in this part of Silesia? And why this late in the war? How come they have not been detected earlier? Elise's father thought as he looked behind him when he heard the spy yell.
"Where is the Prussian!?" a tall man of about 5'9" in height with an outdated looking tricorne hat arrived with a pistol equipped in his right hand along with five others and asked the downed spy. He was surrounded by the other spies in a formation that was top guarantee his safety.
Like his other companions that looked like properly dressed gentleman. This man looked like a very dangerous person that had seen many actions. The difference was his long curly gray hair that stretched down past his shoulders from his head where a tricorne hat is firmly in place.
"Over there! They ran over there! The Prussian took my sword." the spy said as he pointed at the direction the Prussian officer ran in a bid for escape.
"Then get up from there and give chase you useless dimwit!" the tall man said as he picked up the spy with one hand and tossed him forwards on his feet to pursue their target "And why is that the rest of you are still standing here!? Chase that man already and get me that thing!"
Dammit! We're not gonna make it if it continues on like this! I need to find a way to at least save my daughter! Continuing to run away from their pursuers as fast as he can, Elise's father looked around for a place to hide.
He does so in the form of a wooden bridge.
The bridge stood over a wide stream almost the size of a proper river where there is still a bit of the bank under the ends of the bridge. He quickly ran under it.
"Elise…" he said as he puts down his daughter to the ground. "I'll come back for you ok? If morning comes and I'm still not back, get out from under this bridge and find someone that you can trust."
"W-what!? Papa, you're leaving me here?" the little girl replied as she grabs her father's coat.
"I'm sorry dear, but I need you to stay safe under this bridge. Stay quiet okay?"
"B-but Papa… I… I…"
Elise's father hugged her as tight as he can. The strong embrace of her father made the little girl feel at ease yet at the same time saddened by her father's seemingly final goodbye.
"Please dear, I need you to stay as quiet as possible… I will come back for you."
"Papa… don't go away… please…"
"I'm very sorry dear, please be a good girl and stay under this bridge okay? Do not let them see you. Just hide under this until it is safe. Do you understand?"
As he hugged his daughter, he heard the voices of the group of spies that are pursuing them. They were all screaming in French which the Prussian officer only moderately understood.
The father removed the satchel that was slung on his shoulder and gave it to Elise. "Take this but do not open this bag whatever happens okay?"
"O-okay…" the little girl replied with a nod.
With another tight embrace, the father kissed his daughter on her forehead.
"I love you Elise…. Papa loves you so much." her father uttered as he continued to embrace her even tighter.
"Stay safe Elise… stay strong. I love you." With those words Elise's father stepped out into the open. Sword in hand, he ran towards a direction leading as far away as possible from the bridge to mislead their pursuers.
Elise, I'm sorry that I would not be able to see you grow up. Use that bag so that you can put to justice these people that have done you wrong. I know someone will find you and raise you as their own. I'm sorry Elise.
Out in the open, he lured his pursuers away from the bridge and away from his beloved daughter.
"Over there! They're over there!" one of the spies in pursuit of the Prussian officer yelled.
As the group of spies gave chase to her father. Elise heard their steps as their feet struck hard on the wooden bridge that was over her head.
Tears flowed from the frightened little girl's eyes as she saw the shadowy figures run off into the distance. She rolled into a small ball, covering her ears to shield herself from the loud steps.
Elise was left alone in the darkness, under the bridge where her father's words continued to resound in her ears.
The little girl hugged the satchel that her father had given her. She brought her face down to the bag and she let out her tears as she began to cry silently.
Just then, a person's legs appeared full view of Elise. Her heart felt like it would jump out of her chest. Her hands trembled and her legs shook as she sees the figure closing in on her.
Her terrified eyes widened when she saw the face of the man.
"Y-you… it's you…" she uttered with a shaky voice.
The man was clearly one of the spies chasing them. He bent down on one of his knees and reached his hand out to girl. Though he did not do so to grab her or anything, but to seemingly politely ask for the satchel she was holding.
"Little girl…" the French spy uttered in fluid German, "…give me the bag. It's all that we need. Then run away as far away as you can. I'm terribly sorry. I didn't know."
Elise refused to give the bag, pulling it towards herself and out of reach of the man. She quickly ran out from under the bridge, tears flowing down her face, into the dirt road that led somewhere into the woods. The moon shined just brightly enough for her to see where she was going. She looked behind her fearing that the man would follow her, he wasn't.
The man didn't even bother to give chase. He actually let the little girl go, or maybe just something within him was preventing him from chasing the girl.
Either way, he just turned around and ran towards the direction where his fellow spies began to chase the lone Prussian officer.
Relatively dark as it may be, Elise ran as fast as she could towards a random direction deep into the woods that surrounded the river where the bridge stood.