Thirty-Four - Alden

A sudden brightness hit my eyes as a burlap sack was pulled from head, allowing the salt from the built up sweat to cascade into my eyes, adding another factor of pain that could not be relieved as my wrists chaffed against the ropes that are binding my hands behind my back. I shook my head and blinked my eyes rapidly, searching for Tarka as well as our captors. As my vision became clearer I saw a thin, scaly figure standing before me, pulling off a pair of gloves. What? I thought to myself, as I then glimpsed Roman with a burlap sack in his hands, standing beside the scaly man.

"Roman?" I asked, my voice cracking with the pain of thirst. I should have had something to drink while I had the chance.

Roman avoided eye contact and staggered back through a pair of door flaps. The Viridian watched Roman leave, standing with the posture of a soldier, before he walked over to Tarka, who was lying in the far left corner. As the burlap sack was pulled from Tarka's head, Tarka's eyes widened and she seemed to recoil from the man.

"How?" She gasped.

"There are things you do not know." He said, voice firm and pointed, as a glare passed my way. Grabbing Tarka's tied up hands, he secured them to the pole that held up the stretched out hide of the tent. Tarka said nothing, but stared at him in an enraged disbelief. 

Roman called from somewhere else within the tent. "Hurry up, Damian. He'll be here soon."

Now I looked at the man in disbelief. Damian walked to me so he could secure my hands to the far right pole. As he did I looked into his eyes, but saw nothing in them. It was as if they were a blown out candle. "I thought you were dead." I said, not really suppressing my disappointment.

Once my hands were tied, he looked to me. "How disappointing it must be for you." He sighed, leaving me and Tarka alone on the sandy floor. 

"How is this possible?" I asked Tarka, but she gave no response. My stomach seemed to sink. Tarka's has always loved Damian, and I knew that. Perhaps this is how I go out, losing Tarka to them, and being tied up like a farm mammal. Even my brother's best friend had shown no mercy, but betrayed me and led me to believe I was safe when I was not. 

I sat still for a long time, feeling nothing but emptiness, when the voice of Lesion filled the tent. An anger began to rise within me, and I tried to stand. I refused to look weak in front of the man who cannot even fight his own wars. As I was part way up, my back fell against the pole and a clanging sound, followed by a soft thud, was heard. Looking over my shoulder I saw a small glimmer of light. I squatted back down, and searching with my hands until I found the point of a knife. Pausing for a second, I made sure Lesion was still busy talking. Then I quickly took up the knife and began sawing away at the ropes. I worked as fast as I could, not even questioning where the knife had come from, and jumped up to make my escape.

But then I thought of Tarka, and looked at her sitting sullenly in the corner. Did she even want me to save her?

Thirty-Three - Tristram

Having been captain of the guard, the men at camp trusted me as soon as Askimi walked me in. About fifteen of the twenty guards had trained under me and remembered me for the man I was. What was so special about me back then? I don't know. I was very short sighted and honor-bound. I was very prideful of my race. Yet somehow, the men still looked up to me. I told them of Legion's plot over breakfast, a typical army ration of some wafers and salted jerky, and they listened without skepticism. Many of the guard welcomed me back warmly before heading off to their duties around the camp and I headed off to the showers. My first shower since I had been banished. I had washed in streams, but they carry dirt too so you can never get quite as clean as you want. A Brackin shower is another thing. The Palkins taught us how to rig up portable bags and tubing so that by heating up warm water, we could have the luxury of a shower out on the mine sites. Of course our king quickly adapted them for the guard to use when out on the border.
 
After my shower, I slept in Askimi's tent till noon. I went out to the mess hall/tent to see Rythmus sitting at the head table with Askimi and Galea, the head of this troop. Rythmus signaled me to come sit with them. As I walked over, I noticed the worry on their faces. They were all concentrating on a piece of paper on the table between them. As I got closer, I saw it was a map of Terraro. Rythmus rose to greet me. "We were just discussing the best plan of attack" said Rythmus. Galea looked up, gave me a short curt nod, then went back to focusing on the map. Askimi, who had been writing something on the lower left corner, suddenly noticed me and rose to greet me as well. "So," I asked, "What have you come up with?"
     Askimi replied, "Well our first priority is to remove the Viridi counselor, and possibly King Pontus if need be. Perhaps if we can get a new ruler in place, we can at least halt the war."
     "Yes, but the problem is, we have no idea how to remove either of them from power." Rythmus continued. "We need proof to remove either of them, and an heir if we want to remove Pontus. Who is next in line?"
     Askimi blushed and glanced at me. "Currently, the next of kin would be Lord Backus. Though I wouldn't want him in power. He's very snooty. He lives very grandly with little attention given to his household." Galea coughed... I could practically feel Galea and Askimi's eyes staring at me as I looked at my feet. Rythmus broke the silence. "Is there something you need to tell us Tristram?" I continued to state at the ground.
     "Tristram has a sort of relationship with Elane, King Nami's daughter. If Tristram was to marry her, he would have the strongest claim to the throne if King Pontus were disposed," Galea said, with just a hint of jealousy.
     "I'd have to be unbranded in order to marry her," I replied.
     "That won't be hard!" Galea scoffed, "With the war going south, convincing the council to unbrand you would be the easiest thing on our list!"
     "but... but I..." I stammered. It wasn't that I didn't want to marry Elane. I did, I really really did! Ever since I had met her I had wanted to marry her! I just didn't want to marry her only to gain the throne... I didn't want to even be king!
     "But nothing," said Rythmus. His glare seemed to the only rational thought in my mind. I knew I had no choice but to go along with their plan. I bowed my head and submitted the argument. "Well that's one thing" Askimi smiled, "now we just need proof of Legion's involvement."
     "I'm sure we can find something once we get to the capital." Rythmus replied, "shall we head out at dawn?"

The next morning, a small group of soldiers, including both Askimi and Galea, left for the capital city. They had one prisoner in irons... me. Rythmus followed behind at a distance. My chains were loose and mostly for show but I was still weighted down. Not by the irons, but by the burden fate had given me. Not only did I need to stop the massacre of two races at the hand of another and dispose my king of his throne, but I was to become king myself. I see that my punishment had only started with banishment. certainly it would end much worse.
    

Thirty-Two - Tarka

"Who was THAT?" I asked Alden, walking away from our interesting encounter with his so-called "friend."

He rolled his eyes and let out a huffy breath. "Nobody important. All he cares about is getting girls. I should have known he hadn't changed a bit."

"Huh," was all I could say about that.

"I didn't want him to get any ideas about you."

"That bad, huh?"

"Pretty much. I don't want anyone getting any ideas about you." I turned to look at him and raised my eyebrows. He realized what he had said and blushed. "I mean, uhh, you're such an awesome girl, and a good friend, and I'd hate to see you get tangled up in a love-mess and get hurt somehow."

"Riiiight. Not like I haven't already been hurt." I scoffed and looked at my feet as they went in front of each other.

"I'm sorry," Alden was sincere.

"It's getting better. But I'm not completely over Damian yet."

"Oh," Alden sounded surprised and disappointed. "I guess it's going to take a while, huh?"

"Well, yeah. We were in love. Nobody gets over something like that quickly."

"I wouldn't know, I've never had that happen to me before. I've never loved a girl before."

I stopped. My eyes got wide. "Never? Not even a crush?"

"Well, yeah, I've had a crush on a girl. But she never knew. I'm not the aggressive type." He avoided eye contact.

"I guess I should give you some pointers then."

Alden grinned. "I'd like that," he said warmly.

We continued walking and talking, and we continued to search for potential food. The whole time, I was hoping and wishing he would really take these pieces of advice to heart. Because even though I wasn't completely over Damian yet, this Palkin boy, this young man was growing on me, and I was wrapped around his finger like a vine on a tree trunk. Even if he wasn't as masculine as the other men in his country, he had a heart of gold. He was protective, caring, and brave, whether he believed that for himself or not.

We finally came to another field, where there were large wild birds trying to scavenge for their own food. We stood really still, and lowered ourselves as close to the ground as we could. Alden whispered, "Do you have something to kill one or two of those? They would make a feast compared to what we've been eating lately."

I nodded and lifted my bow and arrow ever so slowly, so I wouldn't be noticed. 1... 2....

Something hit my back like a brick wall, and I let the arrow fly, of course missing the bird I had been aiming for. Before I could turn around, a gloved hand flew over my mouth and one over Alden's. Another set of hands tied our flailing hands, and then we were gagged and dragged away from the scene.

I looked up to see who had kidnapped us and couldn't believe who it was.