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PRISON BREAK
Yegra relaxed on a pillow, eyes tracking Arara as she helped Sels into a snug set of pants and tunic in preparation for his nightly lesson with Elric. Sels yawned as he shrugged his arms through the tunic sleeves. After getting back from Roel’s the night before he’d gotten less than a claw mark of sleep before a page had come in to wake him at dawn. In addition to the lessons with Elric, Sesay had set him up with a scholar on Empire law, and they’d spent the day together looking for a way to block the execution. From the dark circles under Sels eyes and his foul mood which was leaking through their bond, Arara knew they hadn’t had much luck.
“How do I look?” Sels turned and extended his arms. The black silk clung to Sels like a second skin. After he’d caught his own robes on fire the night before, Elric had suggested the change of clothing.
<You look odd without your robes.> Arara shrugged.
“Very nice, your Highness,” Yegra murmured from across the room when Arara didn’t respond, although she couldn’t have known that Arara had given her feedback silently through the bond.
“Good luck on your—” Sels flushed and glanced about. They’d been careful what they said aloud. Sesay or the Queen could have placed any number of spells about the room to spy on them, with them none the wiser. “Good luck, anyway.”
Arara nodded, on impulse throwing her arms around Sels’s middle. He ruffled the hair between her ears before pushing her gently away. He strode out of the room confidently. Yegra stood and stretched, trotting out behind the Prince. Arara made sure to stand in view of the two guards at the door, wagging her tail as she waved Sels and Yegra goodbye.
As soon as he’d shut the door behind him Arara dashed over to her pile of bedding. She’d pre-fluffed some pillows to make her general size and shape and now she covered them with a blanket. The blanket was coated with her fur from long use, and the scent would mask the fact that she wasn’t actually in the bed if anyone came in to check on her. Arara touched the wall and the sun flower above her curled closed, extinguishing the light.
The last few rays of twilight sun lit the room up pink as the sun slipped behind the horizon. Arara waited impatiently for a time after, until it was full dark.
While she was waiting Arara pulled on a thick gray cloak. It would disguise and hide her distinctive white fur. She’d thought about dying her fur, but wasn’t sure she could remove the dye before having to be seen around the palace tomorrow morning. After a moment of thought she stuffed a second cloak into her bag for Ottont to use. Then she tiptoed to the balcony, making sure to latch the doors firmly behind her.
The plan was simple. She took a deep breath, trying not to hyperventilate. The guard wouldn’t catch Yegra letting Ottont out of his chains and Ottont would cooperate. Everything would be fine. Yegra would be safe, she had to be.
However, the other complication was Arara’s ability to get out without being seen. Together she and Sels had settled on the balcony as the best point of exit. Getting back in would be trickier, and involved Arara using her powers to sneak past the guard at the door. She’d thought about doing that going out as well, but without training she wasn’t confident in her ability to cloud the guard’s mind without knocking him unconscious or hurting him, as she’d accidentally done before. Hopefully Ottont would be able to at least provide her minimal instruction before she returned.
From the corner of the balcony Arara retrieved a set of climbing hooks. In the north during the winter sometimes the powder got very deep, and if you fell through it you could freeze to death before you could claw your way free. So they used these special hooks on the trees to pull themselves up and out of the snow. Arara’d had a hard time finding some at such short notice in the city, but luckily she’d discovered that Yegra had packed some for her trip. They were a bit too big for Arara’s smaller paws, but they’d have to do.
Arara climbed up on to the railing and reached out, digging the hook into the bark. It was thicker and tougher to penetrate than she’d expected, but she managed to get it set well enough to hold her weight. The climb was slow going and by the time she’d reached the halfway point her arms were trembling with exhaustion from pulling out and resetting the hooks in the thick bark.
<Where are you?> Yegra gefired her as she reached down to secure the next hook. <I’m with Ottont. He’s agreed to the plan, but we need to make sure you are close to being in place before he makes his move.>
<Still climbing down.> Arara dug in the next hook. It caught on something, only going in partway, but she swung over to it anyway, impatient at knowing she was already late. The hook jerked as it took her weight, but held. Arara reached out and pulled out the other hook, but as she did the hook she’d just set shifted, then popped free.
Arara felt herself falling, sliding down the outside of the tree. She let go of the hook, tossing it aside as she dug her claws into the tree in a desperate attempt to slow herself down. It worked, to a degree; wood chips pelted her face as she gouged at the bark. She landed hard on her rump, her tail partially caught under her. Agony radiated out from the end of her tail and she had to clamp her paws around her muzzle to keep from crying out.
Clouds blocked out the light of the moon, and she hadn’t brought a lantern with her, so she couldn’t see what was wrong. She curled onto her side and pushed up to one knee, reaching behind her with a paw to feel her tail. Each brush of her paw sent a fresh wave of pain up her tail until she reached the place it had been broken. The last half of her tail hung limp in her grasp, and pulling on it made her want to scream. But there was nothing she could do for it now. At least her misadventure had gotten her the rest of the way down.
<Moving into the garden now,> Arara sent back to Yegra, each step jolting her dislocated tail. Keeping one paw on the tail and holding it steady seemed to help, but it meant she couldn’t drop to four legs to run. By the time she’d reached the small garden where she was to meet Ottont her back legs were buckling and her tail was a throbbing, screaming mass of pain.
Ottont stepped out of the shadows of an old oak tree as she staggered through the arch. His white fur shone ghost-like in the misty rain that Arara only now realized had begun to fall sometime during her miserable walk through the maze.
Arara bobbed her head at Ottont and pulled her cloak aside to get to her pack. The edge caught on her tail. Next thing she knew she was curled on her haunches, shaking uncontrollably while Ottont held one of her paws. Her hood had fallen off and the rain was soaking into her fur.
Sels sent a surge of comfort and love through the bond. <I felt your pain, I tried to help but you fought me.>
<I did?> The bond had been quiet since she’d fallen from the tree, but perhaps she’d reflexively pulled her shields tight with the pain.
<Let me help you.>
Arara relaxed her shields. As Sels promised the shooting pain from her limp tail faded away to a dull ache. Ottont silently helped pull her to her feet. She shivered, nearly falling again. The rain carried a biting chill that penetrated down to her bones. She pulled up her hood before getting her spare cloak out of her bag and offering it to Ottont. He was naked except for the iron-wood cuffs that still bound his front paws together, and he gave Arara a gefir of gratitude before awkwardly pulling the wool around his shoulders.
Arara got Sels’s amulet of her pocket and carried it over to the oak tree that dominated the center of his part of the garden, pressing it against the bark. A section of the tree slid away to reveal a stone staircase leading down. The tunnels were spelled to only allow the Royal Family entrance. The amulet was one of the same ones that had been used by the rebels to break into the palace. Inside was a piece of Sels’s vines, which tricked the magic guarding the passages into opening for her.
The rest of the trip to Roel’s was quiet. Despite Sels’s assistance, her tail still ached and screamed at her with each step. A couple of times she gritted her teeth and tried to strike up a conversation with Ottont, but he merely shook his head and refused to talk to her. Without lanterns they had to feel their way along the tunnel and it was slow going. Once they reached the end they faced an even longer walk across districts, since they’d been forced to use a different tunnel than the one Sels had used the previous night. It had been too well guarded and they didn’t want to raise suspicions by trying for it again.
Roel’s clinic was dark as they limped up. The sky was the deep dark of night; dawn would be soon. With Arara’s injury and Ottont’s chains they hadn’t been moving fast and they were well behind schedule. As promised the door swung open at Arara’s touch, unlocked.
Claws clicked on the wooden floor as they filed into the dark vestibule. Water dripped from their sodden fur and cloaks to pool in muddy puddles on the scuffed floors. Poy shut and locked the door behind them, standing on his tip-toes in order to reach the high wooden bolt. Ideally placed for a full size Jegera or Kin, but too high for such a small Jerling. Arara had a flash of sympathy for him until she remembered that he still had a lot of growing to do and in a few years he’d be taller than her.
“What’s wrong? Why is he all covered in iron-wood chains like that?” There was movement in the dark that was probably Poy pointing at the Yaka.
“So many questions,” Arara bit back a snarl; he was just a puppy after all. “This is one of the Yaka that the Queen ordered killed. Didn’t Roel tell you we’d be coming?”
“Yeah,” shuffling in the dark and a sun flower lantern lit up in the corner. Poy lifted it up and studied them. “But you’re late. And she didn’t say nothing about cuffs.”
Ottont settled down onto his haunches, cuffed paws held out before him. He was panting hard and she knew this effort had cost him. He was malnourished and must be near the end of his strength, but he hadn’t uttered a single word of complaint.
Actually, sitting sounded nice. Arara crouched next to him but her tail brushed the floor and she was unable to hold back a yelp.
Poy jumped and stared at her.
Arara winced and grabbed her tail, pulling it from under her cloak. “Could you splint my tail before I leave?”
Poy nodded and cocked his head. A moment later Niq rolled a cart towards them, its wooden wheels clacking on the floor.
“Now, I suggest you lay down. This will hurt.” Poy cautioned her. Tools rattled together on his cart. Arara gulped and lowered herself gingerly down to the floor, onto her stomach, trying not to jostle her injured tail. Her wet cloak tangled under her, but she left it there, not wanting to move more to fix it. The lump pressed awkwardly into her stomach and the wet fabric smelled.
She wished Yegra was here to hold her paw. To her surprise Ottont shifted over and took one of her paws between his. The cuff on his wrists made it awkward, but Arara appreciated the gesture.
A paw gripped her tail and Arara bit back a scream, squeezing Ottont’s paw with all her might as pain shot through the dislocated section. Sels’s gasp could be felt through the bond, and Arara knew he was keeping yet more pain from her. She’d owe him big after this.
“Niq and I are going to set the tail back into place.” Poy warned her. “It will hurt, but you need to keep still.”
Agony shot through her as another paw grabbed the end of her tail and pulled. Her claws popped out involuntarily and she shuddered; her paws convulsed. Then it was over and she felt the boys strapping her tail to a piece of wood with a thick cloth bandage. Arara almost wept in relief, but her body took over and vomited all over the floor in front of her.
Ottont pulled his paw free of Arara’s grip. Blood dripped from it; the smell made her oddly hungry.
“I hurt you. I’m sorry.”
“You brave. Keep your word. Small hurt worth,” Ottont’s sullen expression softened as he looked around the clinic. “I am safe.”
*****
A BURST OF PAIN STABBED through the bond and caught Sels by surprise just as he was gathering magic in his palm. Sels cried out and fell back to the ground. The ball of magic tumbled through the air, exploding as it hit the ground with a crack. Chunks of mud and rock pelted Sels.
Sels shook the debris off of himself and opened his eyes. Dead petals dropped from his vines and were quickly whisked away by the wind. A light rain had begun while Elric had been walking him through that night’s exercises and he’d landed in a puddle when he’d fallen. His pants had quickly soaked through at the rear and his hands were coated with mud.
“You must pay more attention!”
Elric continued to berate him from the edge of the circle, stamping his cane as he spoke, while Sels wearily pulled himself to his feet.
“Arara contacted me through the bond and broke my concentration,” Sels bit back saying any more.
“You think that Recka does not speak to Sesay while she casts? No excuses. You and your bonded are one. Her thoughts should be as yours. It should not be possible for her to break your concentration.”
Sels lowered his head and wiped mud from his face with the back of his hand. Honestly, it had never occurred to him before since Arara’s thoughts caught him off guard all the time.
Even now the bond convulsed. Sels winced and mentally reached out for Arara, but a wall of agony pushed him back. She’d been hurt. He closed his eyes and counted to ten, breathing in a steady rhythm, trying to calm his racing heart. He had to pretend nothing was wrong, lest he give away their plot and get Ottont caught. The pain subsided, just a bit, enough to allow Sels to know that she was still moving. A painful injury, but not a serious one.
“Sels, attention!”
A pine cone smacked Sels in the nose as he glanced up at Elric. Sels ducked and threw a hand up to protect his face from a second missile.
“Hey!” Sels glared at the Elder.
Elric casually juggled a third pine cone up and down in one hand. “Got your attention, didn’t it? Now, again.”
He was cold, tired, and irritated with Elric, close to snapping. On top of that Arara’s phantom pain came in waves whenever he let his guard down, tormenting him and straining his control. Many of his shots exploded before hitting the target or went wide when he was caught by surprise by a stab of agony.
After long claw marks of work Elric was finally satisfied. Sels trudged through the mud, weary to the bone and knowing he still had to walk all the way back up to his suite before he could rest. As he left the circle, however, Elric motioned for him to stop.
“Yes, Speaker Elric?” Sels said, swaying slightly as he stood before the elder. Arara was still in a lot of pain and Sels was having a harder time keeping it at bay.
“Prince Sels, you understand I push you for your own good.”
“Of course, Speaker. I appreciate all you’re doing to help me.” He really did. Even after just a couple of days Sels could already see the improvement he’d made and marveled at how much easier it was to get the magic to do what he wanted.
“Good, good.” Elric shuffled his feet and reached into a pouch at his side, pulling out a small wooden box, no bigger than Sels’s palm. “Now, you are to keep this a secret. Especially from the Queen.”
Sels raised an eyebrow at this. “I can’t promise you that. Mother has uncanny ways of finding things out.”
“Don’t I know it,” Elric grinned and winked at Sels. “But if you reveal what I tell you now, I will inform the Queen about your part in tonight’s little jailbreak, hmm?”
Sels felt like he was fainting and his eyes widened. “What, I, I, I don’t know what you-”
“Save it,” Elric pressed the box into Sels’s hands and forcefully closed Sels’s numb fingers around it. “You have your secrets, I have mine. What the Queen doesn’t know won’t hurt her. Frankly, I don’t care what you do with your little savage.”
Sels nodded, still in shock.
“I’ve been experimenting with metal. After seeing the Yaka use it in battle against us so effectively, I know it was the right thing to do. This box,” he tapped Sels’s fist, “contains a small chunk of the rarest type, star-metal.”
“Why give this to me?” Sels finally managed to work words out of his mouth, although he still felt like he’d been punched in the gut.
Elric chuckled. “Do you know what metal does?”
A memory came to him, of his Mother’s strongest spells getting pulled out of the air and sucked into the sword of an invading Yaka. He nodded. “It negates magic.”
“No, no,” Elric tapped a finger on the box then on Sels’s chest, “It absorbs it, changes it. Open the box.”
Sels held up his hand and unclenched his fingers. He was shivering violently in the cold now, although Elric seemed unaffected by the chill. The lid flipped up easily, revealing a dull gray, uneven chunk of rock and a blast of moon magic so powerful Sels cried out in surprise. It swirled up from inside the box, pounding against his veins and filling him with warmth. Only his practice of the last few nights allowed him to keep control of the waves of power that flooded through him. He opened his second sight. So much magic was concentrated in the stone it was like looking directly into the sun.
Elric reached over and flipped the lid shut. The magic vanished as fast as it had come, cutting Sels off so abruptly that he dropped over backwards, feeling like he was a puppet whose strings had been cut.
“What...was that...?” Sels gasped, clawing his way back to his feet.
“As I said, that stone stores moon magic and turns the rays of the sun into something you can use.”
“And the box?” Sels panted, barely able to breathe. Without the pulsing heat from the box the icy wind cut right through his sodden silks again.
“Spelled to keep the magic contained and hidden.” Elric smiled at him, clasping his shoulder. “It is my gift to you, my son. Our secret.”
Sels stumbled into the maze, clutching the magic box tight to his chest. He was steps into the maze before he realized he’d forgotten his lantern back at the training circle. But he refused to go back for it; to face Elric again. He’d been wandering this maze since he was a sprout, its twists and turns were as familiar to him as his own room.
Set throughout were small gardens decorated with patios, benches, and gazebos. Two turns and a moment of walking brought him to the closest of those. He stumbled over a couple of loose cobblestones in the dark, but dared not reach out to feel his way forward, lest he prick himself on the deadly thorns of the hedge walls.
Still shivering he gratefully sank onto the stone bench and cracked open the box, just a sliver, letting a quick burst of magic to warm him. He tightly shut and latched the box after, setting it carefully in his lap while he took a meditative pose that Sesay had taught him. He waited for his mind to quiet before he reached out mentally to Arara. Despite his best efforts she didn’t respond to him, but he could still feel her pain as a dull ache in his rear in the phantom sensation of a tail. A flash of lightning lit up the sky, and through the bond Sels got a glimpse of a dark street and a hooded companion walking at her side.
Sels remained on the bench, alternating between doing his best to lessen Arara’s pain through the bond and occasionally cracking open the box holding the metal to warm him. By the time that Arara responded to him Sels was shivering violently and suddenly aware that he was dangerously cold. The magic might have been warming his soul and blood with its singing power, but as he took stock of his stiff limbs and aching hands that refused to work properly he realized it hadn’t really been providing him with any real warmth. As he stumbled his way through the maze it felt like he was walking with bricks on the end of his legs instead of feet.
Sels emerged from the maze as dawn broke the horizon. He was met at the door to the palace by a concerned looking Jegeran guard.
“Your Highness?” the guard said, cocking one ear as he took in the sodden and shivering prince.
“C-c-c-old,” Sels forced out through clacking teeth.
The guard lifted his chin, and swung open the door behind him. Warm air puffed out, taunting Sels as he shuffled slowly towards its tantalizing warmth. Inside, he collapsed to kneel directly in front of the closest heating pod.
The box and its precious cargo dropped out of his stiff, frozen hands and skittered across the floor. The top popped open and the star-metal piece tumbled free, bouncing erratically across the hall before rolling to a stop at the paws of the guard who had let Sels in. A burst of Moon magic licked at Sels’s tattered senses and he barely got control in time to stop his hands from bursting into flame. Oddly, after the initial flare, the steam of magic from the thing slowed to a trickle.
Curse Elric for giving him the thing. Now the guard would report to his mother, and Sels would get a lecture about how the laws applied to everyone. Worst of all she’d ask where he got it, but if he confessed then Elric would tell the queen about his part in the escape of the Yaka. Sels groaned and sunk down to lie on the floor.
“Sire,” the guard’s eyes flicked across the metal shard, then to Sels. “Are you injured? Shall I fetch the healer?”
“No,” Sels shook his head, almost more than he could manage. The guard obviously hadn’t realized what Sels had just dropped, but if they summoned a healer now, with the shard out of its warded box, they’d catch him for sure. Arms trembling with effort Sels pulled himself across the hall and wrapped a hand around the metal. It was cold to his touch and its irregular edges dug into his palm.
“Hand me that box,” Sels pointed to the wooden box which still lay forgotten near the heating pod.
The guard picked it up with an amused snort and handed it to the Prince. Sels replaced the star-metal inside and snapped it closed, making sure to reset the clasp.
“Anything else, Sire?”
Sels sighed, hating himself for asking. “Help me to my rooms.”
To his surprise Sesay waited outside his doors. She took in his muddy silk training clothes and the way he leaned on the guard with an arched eyebrow, then waved off the guard and stepped forward to steady Sels’s elbow.
“Late night?” Sesay said as they made their way inside.
“Elric pushed me hard during lessons last night and I,” Sels over-tired brain was fogged and he struggled to come up with a reason for having stayed in the garden all night. “I sat on a bench to think and I guess I fell asleep.”
“Bad night for it.”
“Yeah, I woke up half frozen,” Sels shook off Sesay’s hand and fell heavily against the wall, using it to keep himself upright as he stumbled towards his sleeping soil. He really should remove his sodden and filthy clothes first, but he couldn’t summon up the energy.
Sesay tisked. “Not just that.”
Sels stopped and closed his eyes. The last thing he needed right now was a lecture from Sesay. Especially as he still held the contraband metal and its protective box.
“What then?”
“Aren’t you wondering why I’m here?”
Sels shook his head, not opening his eyes or turning around. He could tell, she was going to say something gloating.
“One of the Yaka escaped last night. The Queen has moved up the execution to today; high noon in the courtyard.”
Sels’s eyes flew open and he spun around, making sure to hold the box out of Sesay’s view behind his back.
“You and your Sedyu are expected to attend.”
He stared at Sesay in shock. Sesay held her hand towards him palm up. “The Queen said, and I quote, ‘Royals do not shirk responsibilities. Sels and his Yaka will attend, in their best attire, and there will be no disruptions in the proceedings.’ Is that clear?”
Sels nodded, eyes wide, heart racing.
