Initially, Brianna’s idea was to just get out of the prison herself. But as the trolls wrecked the iron bars of her cell to make her an escape route, she looked at the few other people who were also locked up, and realized she simply couldn’t leave them be. Hadn’t she been wrongly imprisoned? What’s not to say these people, too, were in jail for crimes they did not commit? So she asked the trolls to set everyone free. In the entire fortress. It was the single largest prison break in the history of Terra Kingdom.

The soldiers were locked up afterward, with the help of the trolls. It wasn’t a definite thing, just something to stall them for a little while, so that Brianna and the others could get a head start in escaping. Before she left the pit, Brianna made sure to tell the trolls to set the prison staff free by nightfall of the next day.

The other prisoners turned out to be quite an agreeable bunch. Jayjay, Scales, Herring and Rocky, particularly, were deeply grateful to Brianna for what she did at the pit. They plundered the prison’s kitchen, pantry and storerooms, and distributed whatever supplies could be gathered among the group of fugitives. Then, on their second incursion to the pit, the group brought back a little more than just food and weapons.

The escapees were gathered at a meadow, one of the few patches of greenish land near the pit. Brianna had been sitting with a middle aged woman and her son, listening to their life stories, when Rocky came to fetch her. She saw Jayjay arguing with Bo, the group leader. There were people on the ground, tied up and blindfolded. More soldiers? Brianna thought. But then her eyes fell on one of the prisoners, a girl, and she panicked.

“Evelyn?!”

—

Eve almost couldn’t believe her ears. For a moment, she thought she’d gone mad for good. But that was unmistakably, 100% her sister’s voice.

“You know these people, madam Witch?” asked one of the men who’d captured her.

“Of course!” said Bree. “She’s my sister! Please let her go.”

The ropes that had been restraining the girl were untied. Eve tore the blindfold off her face and immediately felt Bree’s arms wrapping around her.

“Thank goodness you’re okay!” said Bree.

“Well, no thanks to your friends over there,” Eve replied, snarky.

“We apologize,” said the group leader. “There was no way we could know you weren’t siding with the crown. And after fifteen years in that cage, I don’t feel like going back.”

Eve nodded, though still a little peeved. Now that she was free from her captors, the girl’s anger was starting to subside, and she could focus on more important matters, such as her sister’s safety. Eve turned to look at Bree. She seemed fine, for the most part.

“Bree, you were captured, weren’t you? How did you get out? And what do these people mean by ‘madam Witch’? Is that you?”

Bree grinned. “It’s a long story,” she said. “Remember how I told you that my grandmother taught me witchcraft when I was little? Well, it turns out that the prison guards down at the Stonepit weren’t expecting me to know any of that. So I used one of granny’s incantations, and I... kind of busted everyone out.”

Evelyn gaped. “You? All these people? Alone?”

“I owe it all to granny, though,” said Bree, smiling proudly.

Cat meowed from inside the jute bag beside them.

“Wait... Cat’s here?!” Bree exclaimed, and she dashed over to the bag, to let Catherine free. The black cat rubbed her neck on Bree’s hands and purred, thankful. Bree giggled. “I’m happy to see you too, Catherine. How did you two know where to find me?”

“Cat said you’d be here,” Eve informed her. “She told me that this is where they bring people who are enemies of the state. Which apparently includes you.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Bree, letting Cat go. “They seem to think I kidnapped a princess, or something like that.”

“What, really?”

Bree nodded. “Freaky, right?”

Cat meowed, and whipped her tail a few times. Eve fairly remembered reading that cats do that sort of thing when they’re annoyed. “Hold on,” she told Cat, while searching her bag for Cat’s robe and her pockets for the vial of pepper. “Bree, we need to—”

“I’m on it,” said the blonde, getting up on her feet. “Come, I’ll take you to somewhere more reserved.

Evelyn took Cat in her arms, and followed Bree to a creek nearby. There, she offered Catherine the vial of pepper. Cat smelled it, and sneezed.

“Thanks,” said the girl, as Eve handed her the robe. “I was totally starting to feel the urge to lick myself, and I think there are boundaries as to how much of a real cat I can be.” She noticed the awkward way the other girls were looking at her, and chuckled. “Too much information?”

“Maybe a little,” said Bree.

—

Back at the meadow, the three girls sat down to talk. Bree told the others of everything that had happened in the prison. When she mentioned the man who had threatened her, Cat intervened.

“Wait... was it a two-meter-tall guy with red hair and a scar on his neck?”

“Yes!” Bree exclaimed. “How did you know?”

Cat winced. “That’s Lord Strauss,” she announced, grimly. “King Leon’s right hand. Knight, gentleman, torturer, and executioner. I wouldn’t touch him with a barge pole. Was he in the pit when you and the others escaped?”

Bree shook her head. “I didn’t see him, no. Is that a good thing?”

“Maybe,” said Catherine. “You probably wouldn’t have escaped if he had been there. Lord Strauss... dabbles in sorcery.”

Eve found that surprising. “Seriously? The King’s right hand? I thought sorcery was forbidden in the kingdom.”

“It is, and he does it anyway,” Cat declared. “And so does the King. In fact, I’m pretty sure the entire royal family has been involved with witchcraft at some point. There are spells all over the inner chambers of the castle.”

“That’s something,” said Bree. “Why did they outlaw it, if they use it themselves?”

Cat shrugged. “Beats me. But that’s not important right now. Lord Strauss will return to the pit sometime soon, and I don’t want to be around when he does. We should leave. Right away, if possible.”

“Do you know where to go from here?” Bree asked Cat, who nodded.

“There’s two ways we can get to Sol Kingdom from this place. Usually I’d say we take the trade route through Skeleton Ridge. It’s the fastest way to Sol Capital. Downside: we might run into crown patrols. Worse still, if Lord Strauss figures we’re going East — and he will, because he has the means to do so — that’s going to be the first place he’ll be looking for us.”

“What’s the other option?” Eve asked.

“The desert,” said Cat. “Maybe three or four days to the border, and then a few more to Sol Capital. I’ve never been there, and I don’t know how dangerous it is. But between Lord Strauss and a dry place full of sand, I’ll take the desert any day.”

Oliver chose that moment to approach the girls. “Um... hi,” said the boy, awkwardly.

“I don’t know you,” said Bree, furrowing her brow.

Evelyn cleared her throat. “Bree, this is Oliver. He’s been helping Cat and I on the way here. I owe him my life twice over now.”

The boy blushed. “Don’t mention it, Evelyn,” he said, embarrassed.

“Oliver, huh?” said Bree. “Thank you for helping my sister. Did you really save her life?”

“He did,” Eve admitted. “Cat and I would have been late-night wyvern’s snack if Oliver hadn’t shown up. And before that, he also helped me escape the crown soldiers, in the city.”

Oliver blushed even further. Evelyn realized she might have overdone it a little with the compliments

“Wow, I do want to hear those stories later,” Bree remarked.

The man who’d kidnapped Evelyn earlier — his nickname was Jayjay — approached the group, then, and handed Eve her travel bag and sword. “Is this wyvern blood?” Jayjay asked her, pointing at the stains on the hilt and scabbard of the blade. The creature’s blood had dried into an interesting shade of purple.

“She killed a wyvern,” said Oliver.

Jayjay wrinkled his forehead. “That’s impressive,” he declared. “Not many people face a wyvern and live to tell the story.”

“It’s nothing worth mentioning,” said Eve. “I just got lucky.”

The man laughed. “Luck alone won’t bring down a beast like that. So... your sister’s a witch who brings stone to life, and you’re a warrior who can take down a beast from the Wilderness. Quite a capable pair. It would do great for the resistance to count on people like you.”

“You guys are with the resistance?” Oliver asked, suddenly excited.

Jayjay nodded. “There’s a reason we were all in the pit, right? It seems that planning to assassinate the royal family and burn down the castle is kind of illegal.”

Oliver looked saddened. “My father was resistance,” he declared. “He was taken by the crown soldiers, many years ago. I was hoping to find him here.” He sighed. “It was a long shot, I know. I just...”

Jayjay placed one hand on the boy’s shoulder. “I’m sure he’s out there, somewhere,” said the older man. “Tell you what, I’ve heard that there’s a stronger resistance in the Kingdom of Marte, to the Southeast. Some of our friends who escaped were said to have taken refuge there. Methinks that, if you go there, maybe you can find more about what happened your father.”

Oliver shrugged. “Thanks, umm... Jayjay.” Then he turned to talk to Eve. “What about you, Evelyn? You found your sister, right? What are you going to do now?”

“We’re going to Sol Kingdom, through the desert,” she declared. “Wanna come with?”

He nodded. “Can I? At least until we get to the Capital. Then I’ll see if I can find a ship to take me to Marte Kingdom.”

The girls all agreed. Then the four of them got up and started making preparations for the journey that lay ahead of them.

—

It was a few hours past nightfall. The Knight strode through the encampment without hesitation, accompanied by two of his men and a beat-up prisoner. There, surrounded by his private guard, the King awaited for updates from his most trusted ally.

They stood facing each other. It was an odd sight. The Knight looked much bigger, stronger, and more regal than the King.

“Lord Strauss,” said the King, acknowledging the Knight.

“Your Majesty,” the Knight replied. He did not kneel. It was an honor conceded to him alone in the entire kingdom.

“Have you found her?” the King asked.

The Knight gestured, and one of his men threw the prisoner on the floor.

The King stared, curious. “Now who might this be?”

“An accomplice,” the Knight declared. He stepped on the man’s back, forcing him on the ground. “Criminals call him Jayjay.”

The man whimpered.

The Knight unsheathed his sword, and lightly pressed the tip of the blade against the prisoner’s neck. “Now, tell his Majesty exactly what you told me, just now.”