The blast was loud, rocketing of the walls of the cell and down the hallway.
Vylet opened her eyes. She was, to her own surprise, very much alive. But something was different. She looked at her leg.
"You shot the chain!" she exclaimed as she moved her now-free leg.
"Ha!" the soldier said as she pulled the mask from her face. There, before Vylet, stood a young girl, petite, with long blonde pigtails that she had kept tucked behind the mask. It was obvious she was a Beastfolk. Vylet could determine that from the small horns on her head.
Whatever animal she was, though, Vylet couldn't determine for sure.
"You're..." Vylet began.
"Lieutenant Krista Morgans of the Black Roses," she said, holding her head high and placing her hands on her hips.
"Black Roses? What is the Resistance Army doing here?"
Krista smiled. "Wow! You are really pretty! You look like an empress or something!" She held out her hand. "C'mon! We gotta get outta here!"
That was easier said than done.
"Do you know where you're going?" Vylet asked incredulously as she watched the happy-go-lucky Krista.
"Of course," she whispered as she put the mask back on. "But maybe not. Not sure!"
Great... Vylet felt her heart sink.
"Just follow my lead, okay, Vylet?"
"How'd you know my name?" Vylet whispered again.
"Oh! The captain told me! He knows all sorts of stuff!"
Vylet followed Krista closely down the dungeon hallway.
"What about the guard?" Vylet said.
They turned the corner to see three guards, guns drawn.
"Put the gun down, little girl," one said.
Vylet shrank behind the small Krista.
Krista took in a deep breath and closed her eyes.
"What are you—?" Vylet began.
Suddenly, a wave of psychic energy exploded from the young girl. The soldiers blinked for a moment, their expressions blank.
"What are we...?" one began.
"Doing here?" another said.
"You!" the third said. "What are you doing here?"
"I was under orders," Krista began, her face hidden behind the armored mask. "To take this prisoner to the gate."
The soldier scrunched his face for a moment, then nodded. "Carry on then," he said as he stepped to the side.
What, Vylet thought, just happened...?
Kitt McHelva drove his black automobile across a dusty path that wound around a cliff, the engine purring. The car had no roof, so the wind blew his brown hair around as freely as the dust clouds created by his tires. Above, the city of Talvory sat, unknowing that he was even there.
He looked at his watch, then smiled.
Right on time.
"What did you just do?" Vylet said in a low voice.
"Oh!" the young girl said. "Projection magic!"
"What?"
"It's basically psychic power! It's really nifty!"
"So you really did make them lose their memories?"
"Basically, yeah." She pointed forward. "C'mon."
"How exactly do you plan on getting outta here?" Vylet asked.
"Easy," Krista replied cheerily. "We're gonna walk out the front gate."
"The front gate?!" Vylet said, slightly louder than she intended.
"Yup." The Beastfolk girl smiled, putting a finger to her mouth. "But you gotta be super quiet or they'll just kill us." She placed her finger to her forehead, mimicking a gun. "Boom!"
She's cheery enough... Vylet thought dryly to herself.
"Now c'mon!" the girl sang. "And just follow my lead and stay quiet! If things get hairy, just stick close to me!"
And Vylet did just that. Krista led her down the corridors of the Government Tower. It was odd, Vylet thought. The other soldiers seemed completely oblivious to them as they proceeded.
Was her disguise that convincing? Vylet wondered.
Several times the soldiers nodded. Apparently, they didn't think anything of the small young woman as she passed them.
"The gate is ahead," Krista whispered. "Once we're past there, we can rendezvous with my allies."
Vylet felt her heart rise to her throat. Here they were, in the heart of enemy territory, just walking down the hall as if they were hidden in plain sight.
Krista and Vylet ascended a long staircase, the walls changing from dark gray stone to clean white marble. They came to the summit and found themselves in a vast, circular room. Vylet looked around. Soldiers lined the walls, rifles in their hands, their light gray uniforms almost blending into the blankness of the white walls. She felt her muscles tense as she looked at how formally the weapons were held, signs of hard training.
The gate lay at the north end of the tower. Vylet's heart began to quicken as they approached.
This girl, she thought as she looked ahead at Krista, she's not scared, not even a bit...
"Just up here," Krista said in a low voice.
The soldiers gave a nonchalant glance as the two approached.
"I'm here to escort this prisoner out," Krista said behind her mask.
The soldier stepped aside.
"Hey," he said as Vylet passed him. "Why is this prisoner's ankle chain broken!?"
"Oh no!" Vylet said out loud as the soldier reached for his saber.
"Welp!" Krista said, raising her shotgun. "Can't be helped!"
A crack ricocheted off the walls and into the outside as a bullet exploded from the barrel of the gun, the pellets blasting the flesh off of the soldier's face.
"What the hell!?" Vylet screeched.
Soldiers all turned, guns raised, their silver barrels pointed directly at the two intruders.
"Halt!" several more guards exclaimed as they rushed forward.
"Time for my beast form!" Krista said with a dark glint in her eye.
Vylet nodded assuredly. "Beast form! Yes!"
Beast form! What could it be? She imagined a large rhino or other sturdy horned animal.
"So, you're a—" Vylet turned.
"Meh," Krista said, her form a giant goat.
"You're just a goat?!" Vylet raged.
"Hop on already! Take the bow!"
"The bow?" Vylet had almost forgotten the bow and arrows that were wrapped around Krista's shoulder when she was a human. Now, she looked at them as they lay before her.
She nodded and swiped them quickly. "Let's go!" Vylet said as she mounted the goat of Krista.
"Meh!" Krista roared as she bolted forward through the gate and out into Talvory City.
"Where are we going?" Vylet said as she tried her best to balance while riding the goat.
"Meh!" Krista bleated.
"Oh, I know you can talk!" Vylet raged back.
"Meh."
"Over there!" the sound of soldiers followed by the gallop of hooves came from down the road.
"Dammit!" Vylet cursed, reaching into the quiver of arrows.
"Get back here!" the guards on horses yelled as they gained on the girl and the goat.
Oh well...Vylet pulled out two arrows and nocked them together between her fingers. Here goes!
Vylet's muscles flared as she pulled the bowstring and loosed both arrows together, their tips piercing the air and stabbing into the eye of one of the horses. The beast reared and screeched as it fell backward, writhing in pain and throwing the soldier hard onto the brown, stone street.
"Good shot, Empress!" Krista bleated as she whipped around a corner and onto the main street.
"Where are we going?!" Vylet yelled, gripping the goat's horns so to avoid flying off and onto the road.
"Meh," Krista replied.
"I know you can talk!" Vylet snapped back.
Suddenly, Krista broke around another corner. Vylet watched in horror. Straight ahead of them was a large wall, a brick barrier.
"The other side of this wall is a steep drop, so close your eyes, Empress!"
"What—" Vylet began as Krista leapt into the air, her hooves bounding off of the coarse red bricks.
"We're—!" the goat yelled as she reverted back into a human.
Goosebumps bubbled on Vylet's skin when she looked down. She closed her eyes as she flew over the wall.
"...right on time, Krista!" a young man called upward.
"Kitt!" Krista called back in a joyous tone.
Suddenly, Vylet hit something soft, like a feather pillow. She opened her eyes.
"Try not to scratch the seat, will you?" someone said.
Vylet opened her eyes. Before her sat a young man, probably no more than sixteen. He had long brown hair and blue eyes.
"W-who are you?"
"Name's Kitt," he replied.
"Okay." Vylet held out her hand. "What is happening?"
"We've been sent to rescue you, duh?"
"I think she means why, doofus!" Krista said.
"Ohhh, gotcha." He paused. "The Black Roses were sent to save you and return you to the chief. He wanted to see you or something. Anyway, your friends have just left Hazelnut Village and are on their way to meet you."
"My frien—" Vylet stopped. "Philos?! Philos is okay?"
"Yeah," Kitt told her everything, about how the Black Roses kept intelligence and about Sir Smith. He held nothing back.
After he had stopped talking, Vylet held her thumb to her chin.
"So there's an Angel coming here? And he healed Philos and is bringing everyone to rescue me and Astrid?"
"Yup!" Krista sang.
"Why couldn't you have just saved Astrid like you saved me?"
"Too hard," Krista replied. "She's being kept in the Adonai's room. I don't know what he's planning to do, but it's not good."
"Planning...?" Vylet remembered the black flames and shivered.
She looked up the cliff. Above, Talvory City sat unaware.
Philos, she thought, are you really going to try and save her?