The boy looked petrified as if he just found
out the world was coming to an end within the
next hour.
"What is it, Faebrin?"
"They are breaking tradition and claim it's
been accepted by the gods."
"What more are they breaking?"
Faebrin shifted feet, shoulders tensed and his
blue eyes reflecting the orange embers of the
Pit. "They've decided to give two children per
god."
His words struck her hard as she did the
math. "Twelve children!"
"The mission is cancelled," Dean firmly said.
"I agree. The risk is higher with twelve
children," Jaice said wiping away tears.
"No. We can't give up," Mageia said.
They all stared at her with eyes screaming
how crazy and foolish she sounded.
"Are yuh some god we don't know about?"
Dean taunted. "Because I'd love to hear yer
ideal plan on stealing twelve children from a
building built to keep people in."
"We have a few hours left," she said. "And Trek
already had done his part."
"The plans has changed."
"No. Faebrin did you sketch out the new Taefo
yet?"
"I did. Plus, I scaled the forest side a few
times," he said glancing at Dean guiltily.
"Good. Let's look over it and readjust the
rescue plan."
"You've gone mad," Dean said eyes blinking at
her as if trying to see if she was herself.
She glared at the boy hating his constant
need to belittle her authority and mentality in
front of the others.
"Dean. We need to talk. In private. Now!" She
said and stormed to her hut without looking
back.
She paced the grass wishing to punch
something or someone. When Dean stepped
into the clearing she lashed at the boy.
"What happened to you, Dean?"
"What're you talking about?"
"You used to be on fire for these rescues and
defying the impossible, but now... now... you
just make me look stupid in front of everyone."
Dean flexed his jaw and gave a long sigh. "I've
grown wiser, I assume."
"And I haven't?" she said.
"It's not like that."
"What? Did you lose your heart along the
way?"
"That's not fair, Geia," he said. "I do not want to
risk the family we have now."
"So, you're just going to allow those twelve
children to die?"
"What if they're so sick that they aren't
transportable? What then? We don't have
twelve backs to carry them out." He said
and when she had no decent response,
he continued. "I doubt the gods would be pleased to leave them behind while we take
the others."
"We will have to chance it," she said. "I believe
in my heart that everything will be fine if
we plan well. Dean, we must encourage the
others to be brave and yes be smart about it,
but also willing to risk their own life to save
another. To at least try and save another's.
I know we cannot save every Strange in the
damn kingdom, but there is this feeling deep
in my soul, telling me we shouldn't turn our
backs on these children."
Dean's harden expression softened and an
unusual look grew in his eyes. He closed the
distance between them and placed a gentle
hand on her cheek. She froze waiting to see
what he was doing.
"I love this about you," he said thumb brushing
her skin as if she was a fragile piece of glass.
"What?"
"Yer passion. Yer big heart. Yer stubbornness
and those beautiful eyes.
Mageia beamed, heat rising in her cheeks.
She swayed on her heels. "You're too kind,"
averting her eyes to her feet.
"Yuh know I love you, right?"
"I do," she said. "And I love you too."
"Yuh know, I'd do anything for you?"
"Same here," she said.
"And yuh know, whenever you start
mentioning yer heart and yer soul rather than
yer gut, I just know somehow that it's the right
thing to do."
His gaze dropped to her lips, and she gave an
innocent smile.
"Alright," he said almost faint on his lips. He
sharply inhaled and stepped away to rub the
back of his neck. His cheeks were red as
cherries, but he kept his strong stance.
"We're going to do this rescue," he said. "And
when we've succeeded, we're leaving this
forsaken kingdom once and for all."
Mageia grinned and nodded. "That sounds
good to me."
"May the gods bless us and be on our side for
once," he beamed, and they returned to the Pit
to readjust the plan.
~*~*~
Their rescue group of seven, scurried
through the underway listening to the rise
of celebration above in Midlaan and Strana.
Nightfall had arrived an hour ago and they
knew time would speed up in their dire need
to be ahead of it.
"Okay. Let us pray that Junet did what Trek
had instructed. We will work swift and silent,"
Mageia said. "Dean, Gavin, and Gibby you're
with me."
They ascended to the ground on the westside
of Strana within a dark alley perched behind
a line of stores and the high scale of Mideri
Wall. To their relief, no one was around
and by the sound of voices and music, the
celebration lied further down the street,
promising to extend within the hour. With
stealth, they passed three stores to Junet's
carpentry shop. The smell of wood hung
strong in the air and no lights were on
upstairs. Piled neatly around the back of the
store's cutter stations were scraps of wood
and barrels of wood shavings.
They scanned the area for the two planks
supposedly placed for Trekon to pick up, but
they were nowhere to be found.
"Crap," she heard Dean say on the other side.
"Can we still do it without the planks?"
Gibby asked, one of their seventeen-year-old
collector.
"No. We have to go with plan B," Mageia said
already hating the thought of it.
The back door popped open with the sound
of scrapping wood on wood. Interior light
flooded parts of the alley. Immediately, they
all scattered for the shade of darkness, feet
light on the ground and hearts racing wild.
Mageia and Gibby ran to the side of the shop
and slammed against its side while Dean and Gavin dropped behind a cutter machine,
slowly easing backwards to the other side of
the shop.
Junet, the carpenter, mumbled annoyingly
to himself as he carried two long planks
from his shop. Mageia glanced around the
corner and quickly snapped back seeing him
approach. She felt the hilt of her dagger and
prayed to the gods she didn't need to use it.
The man continued muttering his disapproval
of his present task and propped the planks
against the wall. A part of the planks edged
outward into the intersection threatening
to expose their hideout, but Junet gave up
on making things look tidy. He grunted and
stomped back inside.
"That was close," Gibby whispered.
Mageia couldn't respond thanks to the knot
in her throat. She gestured for him to follow.
With swiftness, in case Junet returned,
they hauled the planks back to the grate
down-alley and lowered them to those waiting
below.
They followed a specific route underway,
leading to wet walls and streams of water.
They rose from an abandoned well in a small
section of the Napan Forest. Mageia knew
that during the day this specific forest on the
westside of Ardania was always busy with
berry-pickers, guards, and soldiers. Despite
the well's untended presence, people did
know about it and she thanked the gods
no young people had decided to use it as a hangout spot for the nightly festivities.
"I can smell the Lower River," Jaice said with a
pleasant smile.
Indeed, they all could smell the fresh water of
the lower region of the Ardanian River a yard
away. If only they could go to it and enjoy its
beauty for a while, but they had an important
mission to complete.
"Focus, you guys," Dean said and pointed
ahead. "There it is. The Taefo."
Also, a yard away was the five-level castle,
built with brickstones black as coal, a
flattened roof with seven pointed chimneys.
Smoke puffed from three of the chimneys
adding to the building's dark and gloomy
appearance. It sat at the end of Mideri Wall,
however on the Midlaan side. It's west wing
partly disappeared into the woods, with trees
that grew to the height of its roof.
"Okay," Mageia said. "Faebrin said they're
keeping them in the children's quarters. Thank
the gods they did not decide to relocate or
change the room after the amended law."
"It's the same room we were put in," Esa said
glancing at her brother.
"Same here," Mageia said swallowing a sharp
pain in her chest from the memory.
"I can only assume they had closed up that
way of entering and exit after your rescues,"
Dean said. "So, we will strive Plan A. If anything
goes wrong, yuh know what to do."
They all nodded.
"Let's go," Dean said.
They approached the returned gate of the Taefo
and followed it downhill toward the river. No
patrollers have been round to Mageia's surprise.
For a region to be so sacred, one would think
it'd have higher security. They stopped at a
large drain tunnel dividing the gate that led to
its own fence at the contrary end. Over the
years, a thicket and vines had formed around
the drain tunnel and as an alternative of entering it,
they climbed on top of it. Staying low they
walked along the tunnel transitioning into a
hillside and stopped at the lowest section of the
wall protruding from the trees.
Dean gave a quick wave. They iced up and knelt
low to the floor as a patroller walked the
top of the wall. Thankfully, he used to be walking
in the contrary course in the direction of his post
perched at an awkward flip of the wall. By
the time he would attain his post and take a seat down
for a break, they had at least thirty minutes to
an hour before he returned.
"Move quickly," Dean whispered.
They climbed the robust limbs of a tree onto
the wall. Mageia scanned the rooftops of the
Taefo as Jaice did the grounds below. The
boys cautiously slid the planks across the small
clearing, the usage of the tree limbs and positioned the planks on the rooftop. Once they tied and
secured the planks between two nuggets on
the wall, Dean was the first to test out the
treacherous walk across, holding one end of a
rope.
Once on a dipping portion of the roof, he
secured the rope to a chimney and waved
for them to continue. Mageia held onto the
rope and walked across the planks with Gavin
and Gibby while Boras, Jaice, and Esa stayed
behind to receive the children and lower them
into the forest.