The group headed out before it was light the next day, leaving Oraunt the same way they had come in―through dark alleys. Cael got their horses from the stable and met them in the nearby woods; he didn’t bother buying more, since Lotus insisted on riding with him and Julia was quite happy to give up her horse and ride with Falcon so that Amiya could have hers. Tikki stayed on Badger’s shoulders while he walked. Julia worried that he would get tired from walking so far, but Tikki asked why Julia didn’t think this about the horses, and the discussion was over.
During the days they talked, or Lotus entertained them with songs. Tikki got easily bored with them, and would take off into the forest several times a day, returning an hour or two later. Once, Cael made a comment under his breath about her, and Falcon thought he heard the word uncivilized. At night, Tikki and Badger left to eat and camp on their own. Though Badger was happy to be around people, Tikki wasn’t. She didn’t seem to be a very social person, and Falcon wondered how she had been among her own people. Were all gnomes like her? He knew he could have asked Lotus and Cael, but he didn’t want to start that conversation given the ranger’s obvious dislike of the race, especially since they were all tense enough with the coming battle.
Amiya said very little, and nothing at all unless she was spoken to first. Falcon wondered if she was really an example of what a person would be like without any evil at all? It seemed like more was missing. She seemed kind of lifeless―she was only happy, complacent, or once, amused. The latter had occurred when Falcon had decided to test her humor and started telling jokes. They had all gone over her head at first, but finally, he told her a classic knock-knock joke: Banana who… banana who… banana who… orange who? Orange you glad I didn’t say banana? She thought it was hilarious. She truly was as innocent as a young child, though she didn’t have the natural selfishness that children do.
It made him wonder what Kieran was going to be like. She would be the polar opposite of Amiya. She would be pure evil, pure darkness; she would be completely devoid of any good―no compassion, no love, no kindness at all. There would be no reasoning with her, because she would have no mercy. It was a scary thought.
In the evenings, while dinner was being made, Cael would practice with Julia. She was getting better; he was a good teacher, and she was a good student. On the third night, her ice shard spell finally hit the shield Lotus had put around the ranger, showing a golden crack in front of his stomach and then disappearing.
Julia blinked in amazement.
Cael smiled at her. “I told you that you could do it.”
“You didn’t just let me, right?” she asked suspiciously.
“Would I do that?”
She beamed at him. “No. I just can’t believe I did it.”
“You are a natural with magic.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” he mimicked. The casual word sounded funny coming from him.
She laughed and hugged him.
“You should keep practicing, though.”
She nodded. “Of course,” she agreed readily, then let him go and practically skipped over to Lotus, while Cael sat beside Falcon.
“I thought elves didn’t lie,” Falcon whispered.
“Technically―” Cael started.
“Technically you insinuated, which is just as bad as a straight-out lie and you know it,” Falcon said with a grin.
Cael was unabashed. “Elves do not lie, but I am also human.” He smirked at that, then added seriously, “Though I do not make a habit of it, sometimes the greater good requires it.”
“Like letting her hit you and giving her false hope?”
“Confidence is a powerful weapon,” Cael said simply. “I gather you do not disapprove, and therefore will not tell her?”
Falcon smiled. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
__________
Halfway through dinner, Cael suddenly perked up, looking intent and serious. “Shh!”
The group fell instantly silent and still, some with spoons held frozen in midair.
“There are people coming―guards by the sound of them, on horseback.” His voice was quiet and quick, but clear. “Get your packs, leave all else, and be silent.”
They did as they were told. While they slipped their packs on, Cael stroked one of the horses, then waved it off. It whinnied and ran into the forest, the other two following after it.
“Lotus, lead them. Amiya, come with me,” he ordered as he grabbed Amiya’s hand and started running west, the opposite direction in which the horses had gone.
Lotus took Falcon's and Julia’s hands and followed Cael, pulling them this way or that, around brushes and trees. Her eyes, like Cael’s, glowed slightly in the dark forest. After only a few minutes, though, they stopped abruptly, causing Julia to almost run into her.
Falcon moved out from behind her to see Cael just ahead. He held up a hand for silence and listened, then sighed. “Toss your packs and weapons over here,” he told them in a whisper, pointing to a nearby shrub. When they hesitated, he turned around. “Do it now,” he said, his tone now hard and commanding.
They did so, and then watched him make the plant grow just enough to conceal the pile. “They have us surrounded,” he explained. “It would be a death wish to fight.” He looked at Lotus. “Try to use your charm spell when they are close enough.”
She nodded.
After a minute, they could see the light of torches flickering through the trees. When the guards got close enough, Cael laughed humorlessly. “I see your priestess has found herself a fairy,” he said conversationally.
A hard-faced woman dismounted and stepped forward. She wore the same black-and-red armor as the rest of the female guards, with the same head of a hellhound painted on her chest. “That is none of your concern,” she said in a deep voice that matched her rugged features. “I see you are unarmed.”
He shrugged. “I heard you coming.”
“So you hid your things?”
“Why give you extra gear?” he asked rhetorically.
She studied them for a moment. Cael held his arms out, a silent offer to search him. She didn’t bother.
He dropped his arms. “What are your orders?” he asked calmly.
“You’re to be taken prisoner,” she answered. “Will you come without a fight?”
Cael smiled wryly. “Obviously. Do we have another option?”
She returned his smile. “Not if you’re smart.”
“That I am. Lead the way,” he replied lightly.
She nodded to a couple of guards behind them. “Tie them up.”
Cael held his hands out helpfully. The others followed suit as several of the women tied their wrists together with thin ropes that didn’t seem thick enough to hold them.
Julia glanced over at Cael with a curious expression.
“They are enchanted,” he said, answering the silent question. “Very strong, and they stop prisoners from using any form of magic.”
Julia wondered several things as they were escorted through the woods, but she held her tongue. She had to trust that Cael knew what he was doing, and she did.
“Jade? Where are you?” she called telepathically.
“Hiding. Do you want me to come with you?”
“No. Find Tikki and Badger, try to get a message to them.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. Write it in the dirt if you have to.”
“I don’t think I can.”
“Try!” she stressed.
He was quiet for a moment. “I’m scared,” he admitted.
“Me, too,” she told him. “Just go find the others.”
“Okay.”
When the group reached the road, there were two wagons waiting. Both were like big boxes with small barred windows, and doors with padlocks. They were shown into one of them.
“Not her,” the woman in command said, grabbing Amiya’s arm. “She’s to be kept away from them.”
Amiya went with her, her face showing none of the fear or panic that Julia felt. She guessed a person would have to understand evil intent to really be afraid. She envied her at that moment.
When the four of them were sitting on the hard floor of the small jail, the guards closed the door and locked it. Moments later, they were moving. Falcon put his bound hands over her head and lowered them until he was holding her against him.
“You can ask your questions now,” Cael said, “but keep your voice down.”
“How do you know Kieran has a fairy?” she asked immediately.
“She knew there would be a nymph or a female bard in the group, which is why she sent only women. Lotus's charm does not work on women,” Cael answered. “They also knew exactly when and where to find us; that is why we were surrounded.”
Julia nodded. “Can’t you do something, since you speak to nature?”
“No. These ropes have several enchantments on them, and they work differently depending on the person. If you are a mage, they dispel magic. If you are a bard, they silence you. If you are a ranger, they fog your mind just enough that you cannot speak through your spirit. And if you are a fighter, it is the strength of the rope that holds you. It is called Farlon Rope, named after the very powerful mage who created it long ago.”
“So you can’t make a sound?” she asked Lotus.
The bard shook her head.
Julia nodded and went on to her next question. “Why’d we go so willingly?”
“As I said, we had no choice. It was capture or death,” Cael told her. “Besides, can you think of an easier way to get to Kieran?”
“How do you know that’s where they’re taking us?”
“Because we are still alive, and if she wants us alive, then she will see us personally. Even if it is only to satisfy her curiosity, to see who was trying to stop her.”
“Do you think we can escape once we’re in there?”
“So long as we are alive, there is hope,” he said confidently, but she saw the quick flicker of doubt that passed through his eyes.
“Couldn’t you have made the trees grab the guards? Or maybe hide us?” she asked.
“No. I cannot control that many plants at once. And if we had hidden, they would have found us―they already knew we were there.”
“Why didn’t you call an animal or something?”
“What would one, or even two, animals do?” he asked. “If I were to call them, it would only mean their death. If there had been a pack of wolves or something like that close by, then maybe… but getting that many to cooperate at once, even with Lotus helping, would be difficult and dangerous.”
“Okay, last question.”
He waited with the usual look of endless patience that he wore whenever she started asking a lot of questions, though this time there was no amusement in his eyes.
"How the hell can you be so calm?”
“Fear does not help,” he answered. “A calm, clear mind is your most valuable weapon. Fear clouds it.”
She sighed and rested her head on Falcon’s chest. “You seem too calm as well.”
“Cael’s right,” he said simply.
“So you always say,” she muttered. “I actually think so too right now, but it doesn’t make me feel any better.”
“I know,” he said, and kissed the top of her head.
She watched Lotus move into Cael’s arms and wondered if she felt as calm as the men did. It seemed so, but Julia wanted to believe otherwise. She didn’t want to be the only one that wasn’t.
She gasped as she remembered something else. “Wait! What about the orb?” she whispered to Cael, since he had been the one holding it.
He smiled slyly. “When you go willingly and without weapons, they rarely search you.”
