Young Writers Society

Elias/Eloise | Lein's Kitchen

Elias and Eloise stared up at the ceramic jar. Their old master had one just like it, and they knew exactly what was kept in jars like that. They had only once before managed to sneak some of the treats from their master's jar, and ever since Elias had a craving for another cookie. Eloise was giving him that look again, he hated that look. It meant she was going to try and give him a hard time about it.

"You know--"

"Don't even," Eloise cut him off. Neither of the twins moved. Both remained perfectly still with their arms to their sides as they looked up at the jar. "Well, he did say anything, but it feels wrong," she mumbled, more to herself than her brother. After a few more moments of silence she turned to the boy, "Okay, lift me up."

Elias smirked to himself as he crouched low to let the girl up on his shoulders, once she was up the two inched their way towards the cupboards and stretched for the cookies. It was just out of reach-- barely-- Eloise could brush the tips of her fingers against it. Elias was struggling to stay standing under her. The girl was already standing on his shoulders, there wasn't much more he could do to help reach their goal.

"My god, have you gotten--"

"I am not fat," she snarled before giving him a boot in the cheek. The two nearly fell over with Elias' stumble. "Hey! Be careful!"

"Just grab the jar!"

The two were unaware that the man and the other boy had joined them in the room. Of course, until the old man cleared his throat-- making the two stumbled to the floor.

(I had to. Cassy made me do it. [excuses] *hides*.)

Leinad | His Home

The boy wanted to run. This wasn't a surprise, of course- a slave with that much spunk would dream of little else. Leinad's short victory wasn't one he let himself get his hopes up about; the child may very well run yet, when Leinad wasn't awake or around to talk him out of it. Nonetheless, he was staying for now, and that was a start.

He kept the smile sewn to his mouth as they wandered down the hall, kept his pace as even as the walking stick would allow, kept his head up higher than be had the will power to.

Sounds from inside the kitchen made Leinad pause, and he motioned for Blake to do the same. The twins were whispering back and forth- rather loudly, if you asked him. He pushed the door open gently, just enough for he and Blake to slip trough silently. Eloise was standing on her poor brother's shoulders, arms stretched up for a cookie jar. One that was hidden for a reason.

"My god, have you gotten--"

"I am not fat." The words were out of the girl's mouth before Elias could even finish. Leinad felt an eyebrow quirk as the girl kicked her brother's cheek in retaliation. He stumbled for a moment before regaining his balance. These two could be acrobat's in the palace itself with the right training.

"Just grab the jar!"

Leinad shuffled into the room a bit more, expression severely unimpressed despite the fact that he was the exact opposite, polished with his single arched eyebrow. He cleared his throat.

The twins stumbled, landing on the floor with two thuds and grunts.

"When I said help yourselves to anything..." He strode into the room, straight past the two fallen soldiers and towards a stool that the two had somehow missed. "I had assumed that you two would've known I meant everything that I hadn't put out of reach. He winced, using his walking stick to the best of its abilities as he came back round to where the cookie jar was.

Within moments, with minimal amounts of pain in his leg, Leinad had the jar down, open and extended towards the twins, who had by now scrambled to their feet. Eloise smiled brightly.

"One each- wouldn't want to spoil supper." However late it was for supper by now- the light in the room announced proudly that the sun was going down, and not wasting its time with it, either.

The twins each took their cookie, and Leinad extended the jar towards Blake, who seemed to have no intention of moving any time soon. The old man felt his eyebrow arch as he reached into the jar, pulling out a cookie that he extended instead. No movement. "You're just as entitled to them as these two are, you know."

Lein tossed the cookie, which made swift contact with the boy's nose. He bit back a laugh, one that would have been directed at himself, and managed a brief apology as the boy muttered something under his breath and pulled the cookie out of his top.

"My aim's been off for some time now," Leinad added, "you'll have to forgive me." And with that he put the jar back, promising himself that he'd hide it somewhere else at a later date, and hobbled over to the kitchen hearth. Soup tonight- he hadn't the energy to prepare a typical Pashan feast. So long as he added some cheese, bread and some form of fruit, he should be able to get away with it.

The longer he sat there, the more forced his smiles became, the more exhausting holding his head up and keeping his shoulders from slumping got. Thoughts of Lura began drifting up with the vapors from the soup, and following Lyra was Rein and Louarn- where were they? And what of Maura? She may already be cut down, dead by a city guard following orders. A city guard who could very well be panting at his master's feet, begging for his next order. And, like any other obedient dog, he'd be rewarded- good food, money. All for taking another life that, in the eyes of Pash, was unimportant and unworthy of breath.

The fire had been if ignited again, but this time, it did more harm than good. He served with his fake smile, thankful for the momentary lack of questioning. He didn't scoop himself a bowl, choosing instead to glance longingly at the door.

"There's plenty left, should you still be hungry afterwards- help yourselves, please, and perhaps retire for the night..." He frowned a bit. "I'll have rooms prepared for all of you come tomorrow, but you'll have to share tonight. I'll be retiring early myself." He left without another word, an effort at hiding a tear that ha slipped down his cheek just as soon as he had turned his back. He didn't check on Kayla, as he usually did, choosing to dissolve soundlessly and without detection into his room.

The door closed behind him, and Leinad crept to his bed without bothering to lock it. His knees buckled before he could crawl under the covers, and so he knelt instead, hands clasped on the bed, head resting in his arms. Someone had set a slab of granite on his heart, weighing it down, destroying even the last hints of will to keep his composure. It didn't matter of anyone heard, and it didn't matter if anyone didn't- Leinad felt defeated, like a failure in not one, but four lives.

The sobs came without him trying to stop them. At the very least, they were muffled by the blanket. He didn't know how long it took for him to fall asleep like that- kneeling at his bedside, with his head between his arms in the comforter. The last words of the night to roll off his tongue were a prayer. A whispered plea to Eidonias for Rein's life, for Maura and Louarn's life, and for his own strength and will to return. He had people to look for come morning.

Blake | Lein's Home

Blake inspected, sniffed, and knocked the cookie before finally risking a bite -- he had to make sure it wasn't a trick! He chewed that first bite slowly, letting it sit in his mouth, allowing the saliva to take over, and waiting for any sort of bad sign that would have him spit it out.

Nothing happened.

So he took another bite. And another. And before he knew it, that cookie was gone. His stomach was already completely happy with the food it now had to digest. In fact, it got different nutrients than usual, and it made weird noises and movements as it tried to figure out what Blake just ate.

He didn't care. Looking weak wasn't his thing, so he sat at the table and waited impatiently 'til he was free to leave the kitchen. The twins were goofing around at the table, and it made him more irritable. He didn't understand how they could have so much fun. Were they knew to the whole slave thing? Slaves don't laugh in the kitchen while being served by their master.

They just don't.

His bowl of soup appeared before him. The twins squealed a thank you and enjoyed their meal instantly, proclaiming how delicious it tasted. Blake went through the usual procedure of inspection before taking the first bite. He'd never openly admit it, but the old man was a pretty good cook. In fact, it reminded him a lot of his mother's cooking -- she would give him a meal whenever she could manage to sneak some out to him. Something about a homecooked meal always makes things just an ounce better. And Lein didn't fail him there.

Elain's elbow knocked his own spoon, flinging soup at Blake across the table. Both the twins laughed, but Blake growled. He shoved the half-full bowl of soup away and left the table without another word. He wasn't putting up with those shenanigans anymore.

Well...

He stopped when he got off the chair, turned around, and snatched his soup back. He left the kitchen with his food in hand and went to find a place to eat it peacefully. The food was good. It was worth staying for the meal.

The sound of muffled crying drifted from down the hall. Blake assumed it was Lein, and his curiosity did strike him a bit. So he followed it, keeping his ears strained for where it came from. The closer he got, the more he sensed that it was Lein.

He passed the door that most obviously contained Lein -- undoubtedly, Lein's bedroom -- and he propped his ear up against the door.

Bored, he just walked away, found a corner in some room he didn't care to analyze, and ate his soup silently, planning when and how to run away. No old man would be able to stop him.

Asha | The Tunnels/The Palace

I rested a hand on a stomach that was still roiling, rubbing gentle circles through the robe. They were pleading circles, of course; I couldn't afford to be sick anymore, particularly not in the palace, under our glorious prince's watchful eye. Of course, I wasn't returning unequipped- there was a vial of lemon juice next to the food supplements now, tucked away in a secret fold on the inside of my skirt.

The closer I came to the end of the tunnel, the closer the panic circled. I had avoided it until just then, and now it was creeping closer. Far, far too close. Was it even worth it? Returning to the surface now... why was I even going? The tunnels were safe.

The tunnels would drive me insane if I stayed in them for too long.

I was already craving fresh air that was free of that earthy stench. I wanted light that wasn't from a dozen dying torches. As grateful at I was for these tunnels, I couldn't keep myself cooped up in them for more than a few weeks. Even if it meant facing the prince's wrath. And oh, he would be furious; but there was still the lingering possibility that he had been well-distracted. The Day of Filth had, after all, brought in dozens of new slaves. But perhaps that was a selfish thought.

The ladder, the hook and the entrance were before me, and the panic began closing in, winding around my lungs to the point where the only thing that forced me to remove the robe and place it on the hook, and ascend the ladder was the absurd idea that the panic was still into the tunnels. There was the hope that I could seal it off behind an old wooden trapdoor and a few loose tiles. Panic was an animal; fear was an animal, and animals could be caged.

I pushed the door open slowly, my free hand gripping a rung for all it was worth. No footsteps greeted me- no looming figure to run crying to the emperor. No, the only thing that greeted me was air that actually seemed breathable. I inhaled deeply and pulled myself into the palace hall, closing the door and rearranging any tiles that needed rearranging. I inspected my legs, arms, feet, torso- every inch of visible skin- for even a fleck of dirt, brushing it off when I found it, and crept around twists and turns- little detours and short-cuts to the prince's chambers.

There were a few perks to constantly sneaking around- discovering the aforementioned detours and shortcuts was one of them.

But the closer I got, the easier it seemed for the panic to find me again, and this time, the fear nested in my nerves. I had nothing to fear, though. Not yet. Unless recent events had completely swayed the prince's schedule, he would be at breakfast, and would remain there for a fair amount of time.

So why was I hesitating just outside his door? It had never seemed so intimidating... not since my first day as his slave. I pinned it on hormones- an automatic response, and went to pull the handle.

I knew that there was something wrong before I even stepped into the room. An odd stench hung in the air- old blood. I stepped into the room cautiously, shivering. There wasn't a chill, no draft... but the air felt undeniably cooler in the most subtle of ways. And that smell... I had heard before that pregnancy heightened the sense, and at that moment, I really wished that it didn't. My stomach twisted, and one glance around the room- or, rather halfway around the room- brought the taste of bike to my mouth.

The prince's bed was unmade, which wasn't at all unusual. Why would he take three precious minutes out of his day when he had me to do it for him? But the unmade bed wasn't what simulated my vomit. It was the dried blood caked to the sheets that did that. Dried blood... and little splotches that looked almost fresh. The form was barely discernible, but it was there, covered by the sheets.

I froze, too afraid to meet the face of someone who had been killed. By my master. But the sheets moved- so slightly that if I hadn't been gawking, I would never have noticed. I came out of my stupor then, walking to the far side of the bed on legs that didn't want to hold me. It... he? was alive.

My finger brushed the edge of the sheet, gingerly hooking around it and pulling it back. The back of a head, topped with brown hair, brought another moment of panic. Of course, the thought was ridiculous. Every Pashan man and their dog had dark hair.

I swallowed heavily, both hands gripping the sheet now, peeling it away at a pace slow enough to drive anyone insane- but I couldn't help it. The fabric was quite obviously stuck to raw wounds. Ripping it off wouldn't do any good.

The top of an ear became visible, and then a temple. A twinge of familiarity made my hands tremble far more violently, and they froze again, too afraid to pull any further. A realization smacked me upside the head- eventually, the prince would return, and of this was... oh goddesses if it was him, then I needed to get back and find help. Before the prince was finished at breakfast.

I closed my eyes and exhaled slowly, pulling the sheet down to his neck. One eye opened, and my breath caught. I took a half-step back, and my hands came to my mouth. Tears quirked in my eyes, and it took a moment for the shock to wear off and the panic to set in.

He didn't deserve this- gods, he was the last human on earth who deserved this. I had known before I saw his face, but it hadn't done anything to keep the panic away.

Gentle Rein... awkward, hilarious, gentle Rein. I couldn't peel my eyed off of him, and I wouldn't allow myself to say his name; trying to wake him wouldn't do much good. Which meant that I was left with two options.

Leave Rein here and pretend it had never happened, or go to the tunnels hysterical and hope that we made it back in time. There was no force in hell that would make me choose option one, and for all the whirling in my mind and roiling in my gut, I was out of that room faster than I had imagined possible, back peddling out the door and twisting around quickly to scramble down the hall. My veins were pounding, and I chose to blame such a heavy dose of my ever faithful companion (panic, who else?), on hormones. My inability to calm down and think, to address the problems or even try to look relatively natural as I scampered through the halls... pregnancy. Any other human being, no matter how afraid or horrified, would have at least used caution. Wouldn't they have?

Not that it mattered- we had to get him out of this hellhole.

Leinad | His Home/Shop; the Streets of Pash

Leinad woke far too early for his likings, a throb at the back of his head, a constant, fiery pain in his legs and hips. At first, he didn't bother moving- he knew what had happened the day before. The thoughts had turned to dreams, and those dreams had been his companion, the thing to stroke his hair and tell him that no, everything was not alright. Such was the world they lived in- a world with no room for reformers or dreamers or idealists. Particularly not seventy-one-year-old reformers, dreamers and idealists.

Not that it mattered; Leinad never had been one to listen to discouraging voices. Or voices that told him to just rest and take it easy, for that matter. Not that that was relevant at the moment.

He pushed his face up, squinting at the sunlight that set the windowsill aglow beneath the shutters. Early, early morning sunlight. Sunlight that meant that he had to leave. Now. There were still people depending on him.

The truths could wait. The tunnels didn't need to know how hopeless things were looking for three of their members, how worst had come to worst for another, or how exhausted their typically cheerful leader felt. There was too much excitement broiling, too much that was happening as it was. He would take in the bad news, find out as much of it as possible, and disperse it all at once. No false hope for Rein, Louarn or Maura's outcomes. If there was one thing that Leinad could and would do, it was be honest, no matter how unwelcome the honesty was.

He used his elbows to pull himself up, not daring to put any weight on his legs. If one was to listen hard enough, he was sure that they would be able to hear his bones creak and groan amidst the cracking. The weight of everything- emotions, grief, knowledge, fear... the air itself... felt like far too much in that moment. He sat on the edge of his bed, massaging his temples, his jaw bone, his eyes; rubbing the bridge of his nose between his fingertips in a desperate attempt at ridding himself of the internal pressure. Stubborn internal pressure. But then, a buildup of tears and a grief migraine tended to be so.

"Eidonias, help me get through the day." It was hardly a whisper, but it was still a comfort.

Leinad sighed, propping his elbows on his lap and his chin on his fists. Lou would have to be his first priority- he could ask about Lou, inquire and question without rousing suspicion. Hunting down information on Rein's whereabouts on the streets, on the other hand... Maura's looking for him. And Maura was perfectly capable.

A hand grappled for his walking stick, finding it leaning against the bed. With a grunt, and, and the very least, a dozen stabs of pain, Leinad pulled himself up. It took a moment for the pain to stop circulating, and even as it slowed, the old man was careful with his steps.

The door opened with a slight creak, and the floorboards were either saying good morning or telling him to go back to bed. Kayla's door was still shut- she would be asleep for at least a few more minutes,- but the door to the children's room was opened just a crack. Elias and Eloise were whispering, and what sounded like a grunt. Perhaps it would be wise to feed them before he left; it seemed to be the only thing that kept the older one where we was.

Leinad hobbled to the kitchen, allowing himself to muse and be thankful for the momentary distraction, no matter how short it had been. Toasted bread didn't take long to make. He set out a few condiments- honey, fruit preserves, whatever he could find to spare, and made his way to the children's bedroom.

He made it a point to knock gently, and the voices died. It was Eloise who greeted him, offering a bright smile that he was more than happy to return. "Good morning, Eloise." He would at least pretend to be happy- they didn't need to be troubled or confused any more than they probably had been.

"'Morning, Papa Lein."

She dipped her head politely and moved aside for him to enter, and already his smile was becoming more forced. He could return to find all three of them gone- and Leinad refused to be responsible for more deaths. Particularly the deaths of three children who had just been offered a freedom of sorts.

"I thought I'd drop in and let you all know that breakfast's ready. I have to find someone- my apprentice was lost in the fray two days ago-" How could he even say such a thing with such causality? "-and I'm assuming that he's gotten himself into some trouble..." He met the older boy's gaze, nodding politely at his thoughtful scowl. "If you truly feel that you must, you're free to leave. I won't report it or send anyone after you..." He kept his gaze firmly on the boy for a moment before allowing it to slide off of him, "but please do weigh the risks before you make a decision."

He turned to leave, pausing to look over his shoulder. "Feel free to snack on anything throughout the day- save for the cookies, perhaps,- and if my granddaughter wakes up and seems shocked to see you here, tell her that I'll explain later." He chuckled. "And let her know that she's going to have to prepare lunch today. I promise you all a feast for supper, should you choose to stay."

He left them to muse an absorb- the sooner he got into the streets, the more ground he would cover and the better his chances of discovering anything would be. Which left not time for breakfast or herbal teas to ease the ache in his joints- no washing or changing or grooming of any kind. There was only Louarn- the one man he was confident of retrieving within the day. So long as he remembered that Maura had gone after Rein, that worry could at least be pushed to the side temporarily.

First was first, and first just so happened to be a very daunting question.

Where in Eidonias' name did he start?

Eselda | The Tunnels

I woke up in the hospital room, on a little mat that Leo had moved in for me the night before. He was laying on one on the other side of the room, and Xanthus was still up on the table, with a comfy pillow and blanket. The torches were still burning, so it wasn't that dark, and Leo was already mixing something to keep the infection out of Xanthus. Or something like that.

I was sitting up on the mat still, rubbing my eyes and looking at my new bracelet, with my doll in my lap and my eyes half closed. Maybe it was just too early to be awake, but I was too exhausted. I just wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep for the rest of my life- or, at least until Xanthus woke up. He had wiggled his toes for me yesterday, which meant that he had to be okay today. Or, at least I hoped that's what it meant.

Leo came over and put some disgusting-smelling gunk on Xanthus' chest, sighing in a way that sounded a little bit sad. Too sad.

I turned my head, eyebrows scrunched up. "Is he okay, Leo?"

He didn't even turn around to look at me, too. "He's alright. Got a good beating is all." He still sounded too sad, but I was too tired to try and squeeze more out of the doof. As long as he made Xanthus better in the end, it'd be okay.

I stood up too quickly, grabbing the back of a little chair while I waited for the dizziness to pass, and walked over to the table. The very first thing I did was bite my lip- he looked so... hurt. And it was my fault, too- he had been trying to save me when they caught him. My eyes teared up, and all I wanted was for him to wake up so that I could say thank-you, and that I was sorry. If it was anyone else, I wouldn't have felt quite as bad, except maybe Lyra, but this was Xanthus.

Something warm touched my head, and I looked up at Leo through my tears.

"He'll be okay, Essy." He smiled a little and ruffled my hair.

I glared at him and pushed his hand off of my head, walking (okay, so maybe I stomped a little bit, but I was really upset, so it wasn't really that babyish of me) to the end of the table instead, right by Xanthus' head. He had better be okay, because he was the only person in the tunnels that didn't irritate me. And I loved him, but that was still sort of a secret. Sort of because Kestral and Lyra knew... and maybe Xanthus did, too, because I think I might have told him before, but Lyra told me that he'd just think it was cute, so I shouldn't worry.

Unless that had been a dream. I had dreams like that sometimes.

"Can I talk to him?" I didn't even look at Leo, just asked the question.

All I got was a, "Mmm," that I decided meant yes. And even if it didn't, it wasn't like talking to him would make it any worse- he probably couldn't hear me, anyway. But still, I wanted to talk to him. Maybe he'd wake up for a little bit, and then I'd let him sleep if he wanted.

I had woke up last night and heard him talking, too- or at least, I thought I had. Him and Leo. But I had been so tired that I might have been imagining it.

"I'm worried about you, Xanthy." I was talking right by his ear, and whispering really quietly, so that Leo couldn't hear me. "Leo says you'll be okay, but you still look really hurt... Just wake up soon, okay? It's a lot easier to talk to someone when they talk back..." I sighed, resting my chin on the side of the table, right next to the top of his head. This table was lower than the other ones- I could actually do that, which was nice.

Maybe Leo had put him on the low one so that I could see... I glanced at him quickly. Leo was nice, I guess, so maybe I would have to say thanks to him, too. Maybe.

"I'm just going to wait here, okay? You can talk whenever you wake up." I used the hand that wasn't holding onto the doll and touched his hair, stroking it just like he stroked mine sometimes after I had a panic attack or got upset. My eyes were starting to get watery again.

Riaghán | Palace - Dining Hall:

Father was angry. I could tell even from my seat at the far end of the table. Silence was always awkward in this room. I glanced towards the seat to father’s left, where Kalle should have been. It was empty, and that unnerved me. Had father killed her? Tossed her off one of the balconies to a painful death on the stone walkways below? My gaze drifted back to my father, and then to my food. I suddenly found that I was no longer hungry.

Abruptly I stood, hesitating when my father looked up. “Excuse me,” I muttered, fleeing from the room without another word. He’d probably be angry, but truthfully? I didn’t care. I just wanted out of that room. The air was too thick, full of tension and silence. I hated silence. It drove me insane sometimes. It was better to hear the screaming of those I tortured than to hear the accusing silence.

The halls was mostly empty as I made my way back through the palace and out into the courtyard. I did not want to be near my father for much longer. It was awkward and starting to scare me, the way he looked at me. He hated what I was, what I did. I knew he did. I was filthy in his eyes, less than perfect. And he preferred perfection over anything else. If I hadn’t been his only son, I probably would’ve been killed a long time ago.

Shuddering, I sat on one of the stone benches, listening to the sounds of the palace going about its daily activity. I couldn’t be sure, but something seemed to have changed in me. And I didn’t like it. With a sigh, I buried my hands in my hair and leaned forwards. Now, what was I going to do with the new slave back in my room? I grinned, thrusting away all other thoughts. Oh, this was going to be fun.


Louarn | Stal’Vuth Mansion - Darren’s Room:

Lou groaned, slitting his eyes against the sunlight streaming in through the window. He hurt all over, and he didn’t even want to name where or think about it too hard. Though, his back did hurt the worst. He was sure the man had had him whipped last night, but it was all a little blurry. He had a feeling that it was going to be a long day. As for the man... How, and why, had he let himself be used like that? He was a lord! He should have had more will power than that. Apparently not, according to the other man.

“Excuse me?” Lou blinked, awkward twisting around to towards the door, hissing when it pulled at his wounds. The girl from before stood just inside the room, head lowered. She held a tray and kept shifting her feet. If Louarn didn’t know any better, he’d say that she looked embarrassed. “I brought you food, and something for your wounds.”

Lou watched as she approached the bed warily, quickly put down the tray. He raised a hand to pick up the cup of water and bolted from the room. He sighed, rubbing at his eyes. Yes, it was definitely going to be a long day.

Maura | Pashan Palace

Maura didn’t consider how she would actually enter the Emperor’s palace until she was practically through the gates themselves. She ducked into an alleyway along the wall that surrounded the palace just before any of the guards at the gates could notice her, and considered her options.

There was enough crowd cover that perhaps she could sneak past the guards and get into the palace on her own. Except she knew as well as anyone that the Pashan Palace Guards were the most elite trained fighting force in the known world.

She could cut back into the tunnels and try to come in the way that Asha used to come and go from the palace each time she came to see Leinad. Except she was the least familiar with the long expanse of tunnels under the city as anyone, and didn’t have nearly enough time to be stumbling around in fading torchlight when Rein’s life was at stake.

She could overcome the guards, knocking them out or killing them before they could stop her. Except, the Pashan Palace Guards were the most elite trained fighting force in the known world.

Maura let out a frustrated grown, pulled her sleeves back, and slammed her fist against the stone wall of the alleyway. She yelped in pain and flexed and unflexed her throbbing hand, eventually laying her palm out flat against the stone wall. Something on the uncovered skin of her forearm caught her attention: an orange tattooed crest of Pash.

It was the same crest that the guard forces of Pash wore on their uniforms. The orange color of her symbol was one reserved for those citizens designated to secret operations by the Emperor of Pash himself. It would allow her free passage into the Palace Grounds, and with enough smooth talking into the Emperor’s Palace itself.

How could I have forgotten? Maura cursed herself, throwing her already injured fist against the stone wall again. She stood there for a moment, taking deep breaths to steady herself, before adjusting the hood of her cloak over her face and slipping into the crowd again.

She approached the Palace gates, head held high and confidant. She pulled back the sleeve of her men’s shirt as she stopped between the Palace Guards, revealing the orange crest.

The guard to her right nodded. “Identification?” he requested, his hand resting on the hilt of the sword hanging from his belt.

“Markus Rowe,” Maura declared, her voice dropped into the register of the average young Pashan man. She was incredibly convincing; not a soul ever doubted her gender. Maura was very good at her job. She moved to step past the guards, through the gates, and into the Palace Grounds when the guard to her left stopped her.

“Papers?” he requested, holding an arm out to prevent her from continuing.

“Excuse me,” Maura said. “Are you not aware of the significance of this symbol?” She pulled back her sleeve again, holding her arm under his nose for him to see. “You’re really going to hinder an agent of the Emperor himself? Shall I report you, and this unlawful behavior to your superiors and to Emperor Tharin?”

The guard stared at her for a moment, as if questioning whether someone like this ‘man’ in front of him had the authority to report his behavior to the Emperor himself. “Go on through,” he said at last, dropping his arm back and opening her way into the Palace Grounds.

Maura strode through, keeping her head held high. As soon as she was far enough from the gate guards, she let out a long breath of air. She hadn’t expected a request for papers, and she hadn’t forged a new set for ‘Markus Rowe’ since her last had disappeared into the bellies of a few starving rats in the tunnels. If the guards at the gates doubted her orange crest enough to request papers, she knew she would never make it into the Palace without them.

She slipped off the stone path leading to the front of the palace and cut through the expansive gardens that covered the palace grounds. It had been months since she did any work for the Emperor, but she had once discovered an entrance used by scullery workers that was only manned by one guard – a guard she could easily take down on her own without alerting the whole band of Palace Guards that Emperor Tharin liked to keep around.

Within moments, Maura was in sight of the scullery entrance. One guard stood at it, his back turned to Maura. Perfect. she thought to herself. She ran softly over the grass that stood between herself and the back of the guard, and once she reached him threw her hands on either side of his head and gave it a swift jerk to the side, snapping his neck.

She cringed at the sound of bone cracking. It had been a long time since she’d had to dispose of anyone like that. But she didn’t mull over the incident for long. She quickly searched the dead guards body, taking his sword and a dagger that hung at his belt and continued on her path through the scullery entrance.

It took her straight into a kitchen filled with servants too busy, or too afraid, to pay anyone any attention that wasn’t directly in charge of their lives. She passed through the room with ease and started down a palace corridor.

She realized that she wasn’t sure where she was going. In all her times in the palace she had been escorted to the Emperor’s meeting room and then straight back out. She had never explored the halls or navigated them on their own. So now she was left cautiously turning corners and poking her nose in doors that stood inches ajar, hoping to discover Rein or someone who would know where he was.

As she stopped to peer inside a dark room, a young woman came around the corner and barreled right into her. Maura stumbled forward and turned back to yell at the clumsy girl, but when she saw her she stopped in her tracks.

“Asha?” she asked. She’d only seen the girl a few times around the tunnels, but she knew who she was by more than that association. The girl had tears running down her cheeks and a semi-wild look in her eyes. Then it clicked for Maura. “Asha, have you seen, Rein?” Maura demanded, taking the girl by the shoulders and fighting hard to not shake her until her head fell off. “Asha I need to know where Rein is. He’s in danger.”

Blake | Lein's Shop/Home

The old man was leaving?

Blake watched the door carefully, his mind racing. He could leave, too. Just up and go. Run far away from anyone and everyone, away from slavemasters and guards, live in peace and...

Breakfast smelled good.

The twins had scampered out the door as soon as Lein left the room, but Blake decided he would also go check it out, too. Maybe he could steal some toast and honey. Probably some other foods. Run away when the old man wasn't looking.

When he arrived in the kitchen, finding the twins digging in like animals, pouring all sorts of foods onto their toast and making unique breakfast meals. Blake's brow scrunched together, and he carefully edged his way behind Eloise's bouncing chair (ignoring Elias' gaze) to get to his own at the opposite end of the table, shutting out the twins' playful noises.

Blake picked up the honey, inspected it, and finally put a little bit on his toast. He sniffed the toast. He took a bite.

He loved it.

He tried not showing it on his face, looking quickly at the twins who were, fortunately, busy with their own food and games. Blake sat down comfortably on his chair, picked up the bottle of honey, and poured huge globs of it onto his toast until the toast was completely buried in honey.

The twins' had stopped what they were doing and watched.

Blake ignored them and ate his breakfast. He never cared what other slaves thought of him. For all he cared, they were jealous. So he sat and ate his honey with toast.

If this was breakfast, he could only imagine what supper's feast could be like. He was definitely sticking around a bit longer for that.

Xanthus | The hospital Room

I didn't have the slightest idea of what time it was when I woke up. It could've been dawn but it could have just as easily been late in the evening for all I knew. All I knew was that there was a heavy banging bouncing back and forth off the sides of my skull. Not exactly a pleasant feeling. Then again, I shouldn't have been complaining: the pain I was feeling now was far subtler than the pain I felt last time I was awake.

It took me a while to notice the warm feeling on top of my head. For a moment, I thought it was the headache but no... no, this was a comforting warmth. I tried flickering my eyelids open but their heaviness kept them weighed down. The warmth on my head remained. Was it a hand? It was moving so either that or some enormous parasite was nesting in my hair. I sure hoped it wasn't the latter. I managed to release a long sigh and out of nowhere, I felt a spur of energy flow through my body.

"Xanthy?"

I fidgeted slightly at the sound of the voice and when I attempted opening my eyes this time, it was a lot easier. It didn't even take me a minute to be able to replace the void of black with what was above me, which was a flaming torch apparently. All of a sudden, the torch disappeared from my view and the only thing I could see was a pair of hazel, almond-shaped eyes locked into mine. My attention was quickly moved to the enormous grin on Essy's face.

"Xanthy!" she almost yelped. "Xanthy, are you okay? You look bad but Leo said you'd be okay but I didn't know if I should believe him because you were sleeping so you couldn't tell me yourself." Essy took a breath of air. "Are you okay? Are you?"

"Good morning, err, or evening to you too." When I spoke, it felt as though there were sharp claws scraping and clawing at my throat. It sounded like it too.

"Huh?"

A painful laugh escaped my lips. I attempted to sit myself up but I soon realised there was no hope. There was a quiet clunking sound. It was then I realised there was someone else in the room and for a moment I froze as I tried to think who it was. My common sense soon informed me though that it was Leo. I was speaking to him late last night too... I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was about though. I doubted I was very conscious at the time.

My attention turned back to Essy who was shuffling to my side with her doll limply drooping out of her hand. I caught her eyes and nodded at my hand as I slowly tapped the space next to me on the table. When I awkwardly shuffled to make the gap bigger, Essy immediately knew what I wanted her to do. Within seconds she was clambering her way onto the table and the sight of her bony elbows sent a shiver down my spine as I thought of them poking at my bruised skin.

"Whoa, careful," I muttered. "Your elbows digging into me won't feel too good right now."

She mumbled what sounded like an 'okay, sorry' as she managed to fit into the space next to me. It sure was a good thing she was so small. When she got herself comfortable, her body was touching mine but it wasn't pressing into my bruised skin in the slightest. If anything, her touch numbed any physical pain I was in. I let out a sigh of relief.

Eselda – The Hospital Room

I was being as careful as I could ever be. There were purple marks all over his arms, and I could see one peeking out of the fabric on his shoulder- there were probably a lot more underneath his clothes. But he was going to be okay, and that was good. That was very, very good.

I put my doll down beside my legs, because there wasn't anyone down here who'd steal it from me right now, and put my arm around Xanthus so carefully it wasn't even really touching him at all. It was sort of just hovering right above him, with my hand barely even touching a little bit of his clothes.

“I think that was really brave of you, you know,” I whispered- because I didn't know why, but I didn't really want Leo to hear me right now. He was being really quiet all of a sudden, but I could still hear him moving around and rummaging through his cupboards, so he was still here.

I think he chuckled, but it was kind of hard to tell. Everything he said sound a little bit choke-y, like it wasn't easy for him to talk yet. I looked up when his lips moved, and then I said something before he could say anything to me. “You don't have to talk if it hurts, okay? Maybe I shouldn't talk either, so you can get some rest or something.” That made sense, didn't it? It was sort of hard to rest with someone blabbering away right in your ear. I knew that because once, Tiberius had been talking to Kestral the entire night while I was trying to sleep, and I didn't get even a wink in.

“Yeah, I think I'll do that. You don't talk until you feel a little bit better, okay? And I won't talk either.” I did wiggle up a little bit, though, so that I could kiss his cheek really carefully, but I made sure not to hurt him. “Thanks, Xanthy.” I sighed, watching carefully when Leo started coming back. He had a vial of something that looked really gross in his hands- and it smelled funny, too. Poor Xanthy.

Asha | The Palace

Rein was in trouble? I almost spat out a laugh that had nothing but a pinch of insanity behind it. A sob came out instead, which earned me a jolt that did nothing to soothe my nausea. “Asha, I nee-”

“-h-he's in the prince's room.” Gods and goddesses, if my voice trembled any more than it already was, I'd be completely inaudible. Maura's grip tightened for a moment, pulling a pained hiss from me, before releasing completely. I had to catch myself on the wall, or I would've fallen. “Maura- he's hurt.” More tears were falling, and my hand moved to my forehead. I needed to sit. Or curl up in a ball and stay like that until this blasted pregnancy was over and I had a baby in my arms as opposed to my gut. “Badly.”

She paused for a moment, and there was something in her face that I had never expected to see in her- nothing that I could read, but still something. I forced myself to straighten, clamping my other hand over my mouth to conceal a gag. Now really wasn't the time for this.

“D-don't... I'll... I'll handle the prince. Distract him.” Deep breath, Asha. Don't panic, don't vomit. “You know the way to his room?”

She nodded, and I took a shaky step in the right direction. The shaky step ended in a pool of vomit all over the floor, narrowly missing my torso. I winced, exhaled slowly and left it at that. I'd live, wouldn't I? Of course I would. I touched Maura's arm as I passed, and then she passed me- God, Rein. At least Maura was capable, whereas I was most certainly not. I braced myself on the wall a moment, waiting for a wave of dizziness to pass before I kept on.

Leinad | The Streets of Pash

Leinad trained his ears on the pair of guards, pretending to be intrigued by a young girl and her mother. He nodded politely at them, and they nodded politely back.

“Claimed to be a lord, you know. Either he's mad, or he knew ahead of time that he'd end up with Darren.”

The old man felt his lips purse slightly. If this was Louarn they were talking about, Leinad didn't disagree for a moment that the man had a fair chance of being insane. He was, after all, the only one he knew who'd dare venture out without papers on the Day of Filth. But if he was in Darren's household... oh Eidonias.

“At least Darren'll have his fair share of fun, either way.”

Leinad chose then to turn, interrupting the conversation as soon as the second guard's mouth opened. The smell of wine and week-old meat on his breath was almost overwhelming. How he missed the hygiene of the people back in Agathia. “Excuse me, gentleman- I couldn't help but overhear you talking about a new slave in Darren's household?”

The guard with the foul breath and darker-than-average eyes nodded warily. “I don't see how it would concern you, forgive my rudeness, Sir Marsuvis.” He cleared his throat. “I'm not authorized to sha-”

“Ah, but you said he claimed to be a lord, yes?” The second guard nodded, brow furrowing. “Yes, well. Then you see, depending on the name of the man in question, it may very, very well be my business.” His voice lowered, and there was no mistaking the growl in his tone. “You see, if this man who claimed to be a lord also claimed that his name is Louarn, then he is indeed correct. In fact, the lord is my apprentice, and it's urgent that he be returned to me. Immediately.”

The men exchanged glances, and their hesitance only increased the tension in Leinad's shoulders. He hadn't the patience, the time or the energy to deal with uncooperative guards, and he didn't hide such in his expression.

“I'm afraid that we can't do anything, Leinad. You'll have to talk to Da-”

“Well, then, take me to him! Blast it, you work under him, don't you? Bloody bring me to his mansion and send word to him.” It really shouldn't've been that difficult for them to figure out. “I'd have more patience, but I'd like my apprentice back in as few pieces as possible.”

Eidonias. At this rate, old age would kill him before they arrived at the front door.

Maura | Pashan Palace

“-h-he's in the prince's room.”

It was as if Maura had heard those words and the rest of the world blacked out. Asha kept talking in front of her, as Maura held her shaking body stable in her hands, but Maura didn't register any other words she said.

Rein was in the prince's room.

Nothing good could have possibly happened if Rein was in the prince's room.

Maura had only ever had contact with the royalty of the Pashan palace on a few occassions. None of them had been particularly pleasant.

She shuddered now as she thought about it. She pushed past Asha, hoping in some corner of her mind that the girl could handle herself, and started toward where she imagined the Prince's room might be.

She had never been this far into the palace before, except on one occassion - and she hadn't exactly been invited - but she imagined it couldn't be difficult to hunt down a room as ornate and lavish as one the Prince would claim his own.

Before she could get that far, though, she froze as she heard the voice of the Emperor. Maura inched up to it, peering through the crack, unable to quell her curiosity as to why a man like the Emperor may be talking aloud to himself.

Just as she saw him, though, he saw her -- all of her. Maura's eyes widened and she grabbed for the hood of her cloak, pulling it over her head to cover her face. He was bound to recognize her by the emblem she wore around her neck. He had given it to her, after all. Of course, that was when he thought she was a man.

The door flew open and Maura backpeddled, reaching for the dagger at her side. Before she could clasp her hand around it, though, the Emporer had his fingers wrapped around her neck and was dragging her into his room.

*Have fun with the Emporer death scene, Lumi*

Leinad | Darren’s Mansion

Leinad rose from the couch, expression coldly polite as he dipped his head. “Lord Darren.” He didn’t give the man a moment to get a word in edge-wise. “It would seem that you’re holding my apprentice as a slave in your household. I’ve come to collect him.” Not that it would be that easy, if Darren was truly the shady character he was made out to be. It was a start, at least.

The younger man’s face grew nearly as cold as Leinad’s did- cold and suspicious. “How am I to know that you’re not just trying to steal him away?”

The question was met with a clenched jaw and narrowed eyes, along with the man-in-question’s papers extended towards the slave lord. “He left these at my shop before running out on me yesterday morning. I assure you, there is no foul play involved on my part. I just want the boy back.”

Darren examined the papers a moment, expression unconvinced as his eyes flickered back towards Leinad. “Do you know what the penalty is for creating fake documents?” Leinad felt his blood-pressure spike at the comment. “Definitely trying to steal my slave.”

His fingers curled in on his palm, creating a tightly clenched fist that, if he weren’t so old, he might’ve considered using. “Once again, I assure you that I wouldn’t stake my reputation on trying to steal a slave from a man of higher ranking than myself.” Only by leading an entire underground resistance that would, one day, overthrow him- but that was so much different. “I’m not an imbecile- old, maybe, but my head’s still on my shoulders.”

All he got in response was an equally-cold sounding snort. Darren waved his hand in the direction of the couch, and the dull throb in Leinad’s hip enticed him enough to comply. “Perhaps we can discuss... price.” Leinad felt himself tense at both the words and the smugness in voice when he said them.

Price? For a free man? Leinad narrowed his eyes, but nodded anyway. “I had a feeling you’d be a cheat,” he offered, almost too casually. “Name a price and we’ll see what I can do.”

“Five-hundred gold coins sounds reasonable.”

Leinad felt his spit catch in his throat. He hadn’t paid a tenth of that for the others- then again, those were market prices. He had always heard that there was a drastic difference between the two; he just hadn’t been expecting this. “Not for one. Lower it, and I’ll throw in something from the shop.” Who carried such a high sum around with them, anyway? Not that there was much to worry about in Pash, with its pristine streets and thief-less corners.

There was a pause, and Darren’s expression grew thoughtful. “You’ll owe me a debt, old man. To be paid in your shop whenever I feel like asking for it.”

Leinad’s teeth grit in response. “A debt could be a rather wide range of things, Darren-” he cut out the ‘lord’ from his title, simply because he felt like it “- you’re going to have to be far more specific than that.” He kept his tone even.

“A debt in weaponry, then. Same condition as before; when I feel like asking for it.”

Weaponry was better than people, he supposed. “And how high would this debt be?” Eidonias knew that he wouldn’t let his entire shop be ransacked... and there were very few reasons that a man could want that many weapons, in the first place. Assuming the price was truly that high.

Darren leveled a look in Leinad’s direction, equally as cold as his new rival’s. All it did was change Leinad’s narrowed eyes into a glare. “We’ll leave it at that, for now.”

Leinad’s lips pursed, just slightly, and his shoulders tensed yet again. His response was not a quick one, and he felt his eyes trail to the girl who had served him tea moments before. A girl who shouldn’t have to be here, or deal with a master like Darren. Leinad turned back to the man, ignoring a tight feeling in his chest and throat in order to glare harder. “Th-” the words were cut short by a heavy cough- one that was followed by a series of others. Leinad pressed the back of his wrist to his mouth, using the other hand to brace himself on the edge of the couch. It subsided after a brief moment, although it took another for Leinad to gain his composure back. “Th-throw in...” An unpleasant scraping feeling stopped him from completing the sentence once again.

“You don’t look so good.” The tone Darren used didn’t show an ounce of concern- it was flat, almost cold.

Leinad cleared his throat. “I’m fine.” The hoarseness told everyone within hearing distance otherwise, but he wasn’t about to admit it. “As I was- as I was saying.” He cleared his throat again. “Throw in the girl, and I won’t tell the entire city that you cheated an old, defenseless man and enslaved a lord. Rumors travel fast here. Words are twisted. I may not have your rank, Darren, but I have the same level of respect, and the ear of many, many a lord. It would be far too easy to ruin you, and believe me, I would be willing to stoop that low.” The man wasn’t warranting any compassion at the moment- not after this. And quite frankly, Leinad wasn’t in the mood for being empathetic and merciful.

Darren watched Leinad for a moment that lasted far too long, and Leinad held his gaze, expression cold, but every bit sincere. Another moment passed before Darren agreed, however seemingly reluctant, and called the girl over. “Go fetch the man in my room.” He didn’t sound impressed- not in the slightest.

Leinad felt a smirk quirk on his lips, but he was quick to bite it back. This wasn’t over yet- he still had his weapons to worry about. Perhaps hide. Nothing about the slave lord had lead Leinad to trust his motives.

The old man’s lack of response seemed to keep the young man’s lips pressed together soundlessly. Without the argument, Leinad swore he could hear the tension. Or maybe that was just his ears ringing as a side-effect of his little coughing fit. The tension was still there, regardless. All it did was encourage Leinad to move to his feet a little too quickly when he heard footsteps in the hall. Footsteps that held the same rhythm as Louarn’s. Thank Eidonias he had gotten here while the boy could still walk.

A certain degree of relief crossed Louarn’s features when he spotted Leinad, and Leinad’s expression did the same. Something caught his attention then. His eyes flickered down to Liora, and back to Louarn four times in succession. His brow furrowed; there was a very eerie level of resemblance between the two. It was almost as though...

“-your new master.”

Leinad blinked, giving his head the slightest of shakes. The word ‘master’ in reference to him sent a very unpleasant chill down his spine, and that chill cut the thought short. He didn’t wait for a response- he had his mind set on getting himself, his apprentice, and the girl out and as far away from this house as quickly as he could.

He used the hand that wasn’t gripping his cane to gently turn the two in that direction, hobbling after them without a word. Every moment, he was noting one more detail that the two seemed to share. Eidonias... she couldn’t be... But they were almost out, and that’s what he had to focus on for the moment. There would be a long conversation with Louarn following their return to the shop, but the return itself was priority.

A wave of dizziness caused his step to falter. Leinad braced himself heavily on his cane for a moment, willing the freshly familiarized burn in his chest and throat to leave. It didn’t. The first cough itself came with enough force that he had to fumble for something to lean against, and thus the chain started. Each cough brought that much more pain, and the longer the fit lasted, the more haunched over he became. Had Louarn not moved to support him, his knees would have buckled.

Just when he thought it was over, it started again, and this time around Leinad was sure that his ribs were snapping inside of his chest. He leaned on the wall, as opposed to his apprentice, and let the boy hold him semi-upright until it subsided. Leinad used the pause to catch his breath, trying desperately to ignore an ache that felt almost sharp. His arm came around his chest, and his eyes remained closed until he felt the dizziness ease off. Darren’s voice was in the background, but the old man couldn’t register what was being said for the life of him.

He straightened slowly, leaning on his cane with both hands for yet another wasted moment before nodding weakly. “Get me to the shop, Lou.” It came out as a pained hiss with pleading undertones. He needed tea. Tea, a chair, and a moment to locate his head. It felt like it had found its way to a dark pit somewhere- everything was so detached. Perhaps it would be wise to pay Leo a visit- but Leo was busy, and quite frankly, Xanthus was more important. He could wait- so long as he got back to the shop and sat down for a moment. He would be fine.

The Emperor | Pash Palace High Chambers

“Blasted infidel!” The Emperor shirked his arm back, throwing Maura to the blue marble floors. As she tumbled, reaching for something at her side, he delivered a rib-crunching kick to her side, making her double over to her side; however, as he reached down to take her by the hair, the woman retrieved a dagger from her side, slicing through the leathery skin of The Emperor’s hand.

Blood splattered to the floor, and he grimaced, sucking in air through his teeth. The woman swept a leg under his feet, knocking him to the floor, and retrieved his staff from the marble beside him, fixing the jewel-blade end against his neck. The Emperor looked up to her face, catching the emotionless glare in her eyes. Those weren’t angry eyes. They were murderer’s eyes.

And suddenly, Raijin grinned, laughing audibly. Maura was taken aback, and The Emperor just continued laughing, seeming to have lost his mind. “You...you are one of my own assassins!” He laughed once more, his hair plastering with sweat to his forehead, his face speckled with purple splotches of his own blood. “I always knew my death would come by my own hand...it’s fitting, don’t you think? That a man as powerful as me--no, a god like me--cannot be destroyed by any outside force, that the one to take my life isn’t even a man, but a woman I conscripted for my own will! Hah! Imagine, my assassin, how much joy you give me in my hour of death...”

Maura sneered, hocking phlegm from the back of her throat and spitting it into The Emperor’s face, eyes unwavering. In a slip, he swiped his hand across the floor in a right angle, and the blood smeared after him. The woman reached down and snatched him by the collar of his robes, pulled him up to his weak feet, and slammed him against the wall beside the balcony, shaking off his pendant and bangles. He still had the smirk on his face, so Maura balled up her fist and swung against his jaw, bringing blood from his lips. Raijin spat out teeth, spat out blood and saliva, and then glared at Maura, his old face taking on a strange youthful sneer. “May I tell you a story, Maura Rowe?”

And that got her attention perfectly.

“Ah, what kind of Emperor wouldn’t know the names of his servants? Oh yes, you’re counted among the worst of them--the rapists, the slave traders and druids, and even my pathetic son. Each of you, placed into one synonymous title...how does that feel, my self-righteous murderess?” His hand smeared against the wall, curling out past a perfect oval and giving it a tail of blood to sit on. “You’ve served this kingdom just as well as any other, dear Rowe, and I believe you deserve closing wisdom from Your Emperor.”

Maura shook, her grip loosening on the old man. He caught his breath, wheezing against the pour of blood down his throat. “Do you remember those old spiritual books that spoke of a great trial in Pash?” He wiped his bloodless hand across his mouth, removing much of the crimson stain. “No, of course you don’t. My father had those old texts destroyed when I was a child...prophecies and rebel-rousing myths. Well, Maura, the final tale in these old texts is quite a good bedtime story.” He walked away from Maura, folding his hands behind his back. They both knew neither would go anywhere without being killed first.

“In the ides of one great summer of drought, there will come two hands unto the sky; one shall be swift, and shall remove the great eye of Pash; the other shall be slow, and shall smite the shield upon the swift hand. Thus says Eidonias the Merciful.” Raijin grinned once more, drawing close to Maura once more. “My father once believed himself to be the Great Eye, you see.” He shook his head. “But when you’re part of a prophecy, you know it in your innermost being, with everything you are.” He turned, walking slowly to the balcony’s veil, peering out through the shrouded view. “And I knew that the Great Eye was me. So the question remaining was...who were the remaining pieces?”

His hand slid against the wall once again, painting a red i into the marble.

And something clicked beneath his palm.

There was a sudden clanking high above them that echoed through the chamber. Maura’s eyes swept up above her head to the noise just as a rain of daggers poured from the ceiling. A trap. Maura swept to the right to get away, but the spray of knives caught her left calf, slicing through her skin and muscle as if they were parchment. Raijin rushed to her, lying on the ground, and retrieved his staff, poising it against her throat in a reprise of their former position. “Now let me tell you, assassin!” His voice had quickened, maddened with desperation, “I do not believe in prophecies.” Above his head he raised the staff before swinging it down, before falling to the floor with a muffled roar of pain. Maura, with a dagger half-in-half-out of her leg, had sliced across Raijin’s ankle, bringing him helplessly to the ground, her hand cupped over his lips to stifle his scream.

Wincing, Maura rose to her feet, shaking as meat hung from her leg, catching beneath her footsteps and snapping like twine beneath a knife. She pulled Raijin to his feet, holding him by the collar. Taking a blade in her hand from the floor, she angrily slashed across his chest back and forth, back and forth, until the stench of iron and the dampness of blood had covered them both in an aura. Maura dragged the gasping, breathless Emperor to the balcony, slicing through the veil with her dagger, and held him against the marble railing, allowing him to peer out over his Eidonias-forsaken kingdom one last time. “Tell me, Emperor,” she murmured under her breath, gripping his neck, “how it feels to be touched by the swift hand.”

And she pushed, forcing his body over the balcony, into the free air below.

And The Emperor fell, and fell, and fell until his body was skewered by the bladed ends of the garden gate below.

Darren | His Mansion:

Darren eyed the old man, who was coughing so hard Darren though his ribs would break closely as his latest slave led him out the front door. Leinard Marsuvis was an enigma, and from the way he’d been coughing just now, Darren wouldn't be surprised if the old man was dying. And he didn’t care. He’d never truly liked the old man. Respected, maybe. But liked? The Slave Lord suppressed his laughter. He rarely liked people. Of course, Riaghán was an exception to that. And even that was complicated.

“That didn’t sound so good, Old Man,” he said, his lips quirking. If the old man really was dying, then Darren would just claim the old man’s shop and all his slaves after he was dead. It was a fairly logical idea, and it would give him access to an entire armoury. Wasn’t that slave he’d given to Leinard his apprentice? Isn’t that what the man had said? Darren smiled slyly but wiped it off his face, scowling instead at the slave as looked back at him. Louarn was his name, wasn’t it? “Oh, and Louarn?” he called, turning away. “I’ll be seeing you again.” Louarn shuddered and they were out the door.

Darren wasn’t too concerned as he headed for the back of his mansion, pondering what to do next. The Day of Filth had been a success, and now he’d just lost two slaves. He wasn’t happy about that at all. And he’d been hoping to enjoy Liora’s company later, too. Darren scowled as he stalked out onto the back patio. Garret was waiting for him. “Send someone to follow the old man. I want to know where he’s headed.” Garret nodded and gestured towards a young soldier standing at the bottom of the steps. The boy sprinted off round the house.

“Is there a problem, my lord?”

The Slave Lord shot Garret a glare. The man hardly flinched as Darren turned on him, expression dark. “That scheming old man I was just entertaining has bargained two of my most prized slaves off me and run off home.” Darren snorted and threw himself into a seat. Garret would know which two he meant. Liora and the one who claimed to be a lord. “But I have a plan. He seems very sick, and he just agreed to owing me a debt.” Garret chuckled, knowing where the other man’s thoughts was going. “Of weaponry, as far as he knows...but if he dies... I’m going to claim everything he owns.” Darren’s eyes glinted with malicious intent. “Including those slaves he took off me.”

It was quite obvious by now that Darren was in a foul mood, but he had plans. If the old man wanted to ruin him, he’d have to ruin himself or die first. The smile Garret saw on Darren’s face was chilling. What was the Slave Lord plotting now?


Riaghán | Palace - Gardens:

For a long time, I sat there on that stone bench in the courtyard, the garden gate opposite me. I thought of all the things I would do to my new slave, all the ways I could torture him. It would have to wait for later tonight, though. Darkness always seemed to make the torturing feel more sinisters. I looked up at the sound of something soft hitting stone made me look up. Metal-on-metal, metal-on-stone. I scowled. Were the soldiers training inside again? Idiots. They were going to scratch the marble and make father angry again.

I looked down again, staring at the stone pavements beneath my feet. A few metres in front of me, the pavement turned into grass and then on the far side, near the gate, it turned back into stone. I forgot all about the slave back in my room as I thought, about that something that was wrong with me. I hadn’t felt myself for a while now. It was like I knew something bad was going to happen. Or perhaps I was just being ridiculous? Yes, that was probably it.

Abruptly, a short, cut-off scream interrupted my thoughts, and then a tearing sound and finally, something heavy and soft landed on what sounded like the garden gate across from me--heavily, and with a disgusting squelching sound. I swiftly looked up and froze. There was a body impaled on the gate opposite me--a very familiar body. I recognised the robes; they were-- In the name of Eidonias! That was-- That was Father impaled on the gate. I was on my feet in an instant.

“Guards!” I bellowed, calling for the men posted outside the garden. They came running at the sound of my voice. And they halted swiftly at the sight of my father, blood pooling beneath his body, disbelief making them pale. I couldn’t believe it either, but I already knew that he hadn’t fallen, having taken in his wounds swiftly; someone had thrown him off the balcony. Sure enough, I looked up to find one of the high balcony veils torn. Father’s room--I was going to have to investigate it later.

Maura Rowe | Emperor's Chambers

Maura backpeddled, falling onto her back in a pool of blood that had gathered in the center of the Emperor's chamber. She bit back stinging tears as pain ravaged her decimated leg. Her heart thudded in her chest as she considered what she had just done. She had--

No. She did not have time for morality. She had not had time for morality her entire life, her entire career as one of the Emperor's Assassins, and certainly not now. She had only a matter of time before guards would be swarming these chambers.

She needed to find Rein, and leave. Now.

Maura pushed herself to her feet and limped through the door of the Emperor's chamber, moving as quickly down the corridor as she could manage. She slipped around a corner just as footsteps and clanging shields began to echo behind her. She held her breath, biting back whimpers of pain as she moved along the corridor. She checked every room that she passed, praying to the gods she would not run into another person.

She pushed one door open, peeking her head in to a room that was just as ornate and flourished as each she had seen before. She sighed and pulled back, only to catch something in the corner of her eye: a crumpled figure on the floor.

Maura took another step into the room, and another until her eyes fell on the motionless, unconscious face of Rein.

She ran to his body, shaking him by the shoulders. "Rein, Rein wake up," she whispered. She knew it was useless, but felt tears welling in her eyes as she shook his limp body. She sniffed, rubbing a bloodied arm over her eyes to knock away the tears. "Come on, Rein, we're getting out of here." She took the dagger from her belt and cut through the ropes that bound Rein's wrists to the banister of the Prince's bed.

She lifted his body, pulling him over her shoulder so that she could drag him along with her as she made their escape. She took a step toward the door, and half-sunk to her knees under the weight of Rein on her destroyed leg. "Okay, Rein," she muttered. "Another try." She took a deep breath and took another step, slightly steadier this time, and another and another until she was into the corridor again.

"You, there, halt!"

Maura turned her head back to see three guards standing at the opposite end of the corridor. Her eyes widened and she pushed off on her good foot, taking off in as much of a run as she could manage in the opposite direction.

"Stop that...woman!" one of the guards yelled behind her.

She turned into a staircase and stumbled as she went down, unable to place her feet firmly on one step at a time. She had no idea where she was going, now, just that she had to keep moving and pray they made it out alive.

At the bottom of the stairs, they entered into the kitchens. A handful of scullery workers turned to her as she stumbled into a table of stacked pots. The guards were still yelling behind her, and the women in the kitchen watched her as if imagining what they should do.

Maura drew her dagger and pointed it shakily toward them. "I'll kill you, I swear" she growled. "I need a way out of the palace where I won't be seen." She turned to the nearest worker, a young looking girl what had likely just begun work that day by the look on her face. "I know there's a servants entrance, now show me."

The girl gave a shaky nod and started toward a door that stood open to the palace grounds. Maura jabbed the hilt of her dagger into the girl's back, "I don't have all morning," she growled.

The girl jumped, picking up her pace as she led Maura out and around to a small gate in the palace wall that led into the city. Maura pulled her hood over her head and pushed past the girl as she broke into a run. From the top of the palace wall, arrows rained down on her as shouting guards came pouring out of the kitchen behind her.

It felt like ages before Maura had finally lost the trailing guards, and before Lein's shop was finally in her sights again. And much to her surprise, Lein himself came into her sights as well.

Maura slowed, coming to a hobble as she neared the old man and his two companions - Louarn, and a girl Maura didn't recognize. She heaved Rein's still unconscious body over her shoulder into Lou's arms and let her own body slump into Lein's, her arms draped over his shoulders as he caught her under her arms. "Maura?" he asked, shock spread across his old face.

A surge of pain spread over Maura's leg, and she let herself call out in pain for the first time since the Emperor's blade landed in her calf to begin with. She tightened her arms around Lein's neck, her face pressed against his weak old chest as she gritted her teeth through the pain.

Lein glanced over his shoulder and quickly ushered them all into his shop, carrying Maura in himself with strength that would have surprised Maura had she any spare consciousness for anything but Rein and the pain in her leg. "Lou, Lilli, get Maura and Rein down to Leo," he instructed.

He passed Maura to Lou once he had passed Rein down to a figure waiting in the tunnels through the door in the floor of the shop. As Maura left his embrace, he ran his gaze over Maura's tattered leg. "And tell Leo to prepare for an amputation, she'll not survive the injury without it," Lein said, his words tired and sad.

Leinad | His Shop

Leinad rubbed his face, forcing air to fill his lungs. Rein. Rein was back. Maura... oh Eidonias... He was seconds away from breaking down, and at that point, it was all too hard to get a grip on. Far, far too hard. But he could do that later- later when nobody could see or hear him. When there weren’t people depending on his being the solid one. He grit his teeth and clenched his jaw, the hand that wasn’t now splayed over his forehead gripping the side of the counter.

Rein would be alright. Maura would be alright. He inhaled slowly, pulling his hand away, turning to glance at a rather stunned looking Lili. “Come, I’ll introduce you to my granddaughter.” He shot a look at the closed tunnel door, and then at the windows, shuffling over to be sure that all the blinds were down, blocking the insides of the shop from view. Leinad had learned that if a man was high in the ranks, and he wasn’t a part of the resistance, that it was unwise to extend them any amount of trust. And if Darren was as crafty as he made himself seem, then the old man was more than expecting some sort of scheme.

Within a moment, he was gesturing for Lili to go before him on the stairs, hobbing up them as best he could himself, forced smile in place. He was greeted at the door by an enthusiastic Isaac, unable to manage anything but that same forced smile and a nod in return as he shuffled aside to make room for Lili.

“Kayla?”

She turned from a conversation (one that looked like it wasn’t very successful) with Blake.

“I need you to make sure to keep an eye on the streets around the shop. Anyone acting suspiciously... make sure they don’t get in and that they keep their distance.” He turned to go back, frowning a bit. “Rein and Maura are back.” With that, he took his leave, not bothering with an explanation or waiting for her response.

The air in the tunnels had taken a much more solemn feel, and the smile that Leinad had been forcing himself to hold fell. It wasn’t required down there, anyways. Not when so much had gone so wrong, and all under his watch. These people were his responsibility, and one was half dead and the other would soon be missing a leg. And missing a leg in Pash... that was a death sentence unto itself.

Eidonias, please let them both live. Lyra was plenty enough to lose. Maura and Rein... he’d never forgive himself if they didn’t make it. Never.

A tickle in his throat and a subtle ache in his chest made him pause, supporting himself on the tunnel wall. He swallowed once, twice, trying to get rid of the coming cough. Not now. Eidonias, please not now. It passed, and he pushed forward, headed straight for the medical room.

The stench of blood reached him before he was even really there, and he clamped a hand over his mouth, taking a moment to breathe before entering. Both were already on each of the two medical tables, Leo bustling about the room.

Leinad couldn’t look at the two. Couldn’t force himself to stay in that room for long. There were tears in his eyes, and Leo shouldn’t have to see them. The man had enough on his plate as it was without having to worry about an old man’s breaking heart. “Where’s Xanthus?” he managed, swallowing again to block a cough. Or perhaps a sob. He couldn’t even tell which was which anymore.

“Lou pulled a matt into the main room for him. Essy’s with him.” The man didn’t look up, and quite honestly, Leinad was glad. He was focused. He needed to be focused.

Leinad slid away from the room as discretely as possible, running through plans in his mind. He’d see Xanthus quickly, and Louaran, and then he’d sleep. He needed a grasp on his emotions if he were ever going to make it through the next day, and that would require putting his mind at rest for a few hours. And as soon as he was awake again- he’d be sure to leave the curtains drawn, so that the light would rouse him,- he was returning to the tunnels. And staying in that medical room until Rein or Maura or the both of them opened their eyes, and he knew that they were alright.

And they would be alright.

Eselda | The tunnels with Xanthus

Eselda sat by Xanthus, very gently brushing his hair back with one hand. She didn’t want to think about seeing Maura’s leg or Rein or any of that. It was scary and gross and too many bad things had happened already. And Lyra wasn’t back yet, either. But she didn’t want to think about that, either, because it meant that she was probably...

She cut the thought off there.

Shuffling footsteps made her look up, and she offered a small smile at Papa Lein as he came into the room, pausing a few feet away. There was something wrong- she could tell, because he looked more... droopy... than he usually did. And his eyes. They were more wet. She could tell, even from behind his spectacles.

“Are you taking good care of him, Essy?” His voice wasn’t the same, either.

Eselda’s smile fell a little bit, but she nodded anyway. “He’s gonna be okay. Leo said so.”

Papa Lein nodded, and in that moment, he seemed to just get sadder. Essy’s shoulders fell. “You look sleepy, Papa Lein,” she said softly, because telling him that he looked upset would probably only make that worse.

He smiled again, but it didn’t look quite as bright as it usually did. “I am sleepy. I think I’ll go take a nap, actually.”

Essy just nodded absently, too tired to try and find out what was going on. All she wanted was to curl up next to Xanthus and sleep.