A Rebel's Capture

Chapter 2

     "You'd probably know the fastest way to the stables from here, right?" Aayan asks me as we cautiously excite the alcove.
     I smile pridefully. Aayan spends a lot of his days outside, and I in the castle, which always works in my favor if he ever decides to chase me around. "Well..." I look down both ends of the barely lit and finally empty corridor, my eyes passing over huge broken windows with jagged glass edges lining the perimeter, "we're kind of on the opposite end of the castle, because my room is on this end."
     He looks down at me, smirking. "What's that supposed to mean?"
     I huff with false humor. "Well, ever since Mother found out I had a thing for riding horses every morning, she moved me to the room farthest away from the stables, so when this is all over, you can go complain to her." It almost worked, Mother's idea of keeping me away from those animals, but it only trained me to sneak around, which I've developed a liking to.
     His face twists with annoyance while he rolls his eyes. "I sure will. Which way?"
     I jerk my head in the direction. "Left, from the way you probably came since that's where your room is, right? Shouldn't you remember that from about..." I put my little knowledge of time together, "ten minutes ago?"
     He pushes my shoulder—luckily for me the one without the bruise. "Oh, shut up."
     Before we race down the hallway, I grab his arm, and he raises his eyebrows. "We have to assume they're in the castle, which means we have to be quiet."
"Who?"
     I flick him on his head and look at him incredulously. "The Rebels? You know them? They're paying us a visit."
     "Right, right, come on."
     He takes my hand and starts to run down the hallway with me, but I hold back. "Wait, wait."
     I walk over to the broken window and take in what little I can in the dim light. I already know straight down below is the courtyard where I take my history lessons if the weather is nice, but I haven't taken classes outside since last Summer; it's still too cold for them. A dark rectangular shape, the roof of the pavilion, is barely visible to me from way up here. Thick walls of the courtyard jut out of the darkness and a faint memory of scraping my knees against the stone flickers through my mind.
     Suddenly, lightning flashes across the deep blue sky, revealing no more than ten people on a big hill just outside the walls. Their hands are held up to the sky and glowing purple: Purple Dungeons causing the thunder and lightning. A merciful, low rumbling follows.
I turn around and Aayan is directly over my shoulder. "Aayan, did you see—
"—yeah, I did. They didn't see us though, don't worry."
     I scoff. "They didn't, but there's most likely more of them. Did you bring me a weapon or anything?"
     He dramatically unsheathes a pretty, silver sword with purple glowing jewels in the hilt, matching his Dungeon. "I brought me one." He grins, like this is supposed to be funny.
     "Aayan! What the hell?"
     He swings his sword, familiarizing himself with the weight, like he's done a hundred times. "I didn't exactly take my sweet time to find bow and arrows or anything, like I know you would've."
     "But you had time to grab that?" I nod my head at his sword, now resting in his scabbard at his side.
     He steps closer to me, hinting at me to calm down. "I sleep with this thing. Here, I did grab these for you."
     He hands me two small daggers, not decorated with any jewels, but the blades are sharp. I hold them up in front of my face, inspecting them, then shake them at him. "The people outside have magic, and I'm supposed to fight with these?"
     "Hey," he looks at me, offended, "I thought you liked daggers? I taught you how to use them, didn't I?"
     "I love them, but not for defending my life with."
     "Then what's the point," he mutters. He breathes in heavily and says, "Well, I guess this is your challenge for today."
     I flip the blades in my hand and easily catch them both at the same time. "I think I preferred yesterdays."
     He nudges my arm with his elbow and wraps his arms around my waist, swaying us with his chin on my shoulder. "Come on," he whispers, "you think I'd let the bastards do anything to my precious baby sister?" He laughs at himself.
     I lightly elbow him in the gut. "You better not."
     "You wanna grab your pair of bow and arrows from your room? I'm surprised I forgot when we were in there earlier."
     "I'm not, but they aren't there anymore; Mother found them yesterday. Didn't you wonder why I wasn't there for supper last night?"
He squints his eyes, calling back the memory, and I finish, "Now let's go—we're wasting time."
     "You were the one keeping us up, kiddo."
We both quietly start down the hallway, around all its twists and curves, broken shards and splintered wood cracking and crunching beneath our feet. We come to a fork in the corridor and before Aayan can say anything, I take a right turn, him following behind me. Something thumps behind us, and we simultaneously turned around. A long, thick dark green root hits the wall, having come through a broken window. It moves on its own, slowly slithering along the floor and up the wall, growing excessively so that more roots stick out and plant themselves onto any open surface.
     I absentmindedly grab Aayan's hand and squeeze it, my eyes glued to the magical plant. I can see him looking at me out of the corner of my eye, but I watch the roots and leaves grow faster and faster, leisurely coming toward us like dirty green snakes.
     I turn my gaze to Aayan and whisper as low as possible, "Can it hear us?"
     In a normal, volumized voice, he replies, "I mean, probably not; it's a twig."
     At the sound of his deep voice, the main root extends into several other ones, and they grow swiftly toward us. Without hesitation, Aayan grabs my hand and together, we bolt down the hallway, the plant growing faster to catch up with us.
     We reach the double doors that would take us directly into the atrium. Aayan tries tugging them open. "They're locked! Which way?"
I almost let myself panic into oblivion, but I look both ways. "Right!"
     He starts in that direction when I feel something grab my ankle and pull me to the floor. The root begins to quickly tug me away, wrapping itself better up and around my leg, trapping my clothing with it. "Aayan!" I scream.
     He whips around and races toward me, yelling something, but I'm not paying attention. I try hiking my leg up, but the root is too powerful. I grab at anything I can, but all I feel is carpet and broken pieces of wood cutting my exposed arms. The merciless plant runs my body into the wall several times, continuously bruising me. I latch my hand onto a corner, giving Aayan time to catch up. He's now flying through the air and lands right behind me. He unsheathes his sword and swings it once through the air, cutting off my attachment to the ugly, green thing. It retreats back and works on healing itself.
     Aayan pulls me to my feet and wipes tears from my face that I didn't know were there. I frantically pull the dead root off me and lean heavily against my brother. "Autumn, look at me, are you hurt?"
     I shake my head and grab at his shoulders with both my hands. "Aayan, I can't—can't walk, it cut off my circula—"
     He scoops me up into his arms and flies back the way we came. (Him being a Purple Dungeon, he's able to 'defy the laws of gravity' as I like to put it). Right, left, left, passing the locked double doors, left, right, until we finally reach a huge staircase, leading down into the ballroom and offering a clear view of the atrium.
     Aayan gently sets me down, and I flex my leg, trying to speed up the sleepy feeling of tingles running over my skin. I look down at my arms, where already red cut marks have been made due to the wood, but no blood. Surely, I have splinters, but I have to ignore that for the time being. Maybe Aayan's friend, Vidarr, can take them out with his magic, since he's a Green Dungeon.
     I hold my finger up to my lips, signaling for Aayan to be quiet. I peak over the rail, looking down at the ballroom and somewhat into the atrium. Overturned tables, broken picture frames, and shattered glass fill the large space generously. Sudden pounding shakes the solid, thick wooden front doors a room away. I gasp and stumble back, tripping over my long robe and cloak, but Aayan catches me under my arms.
     A loud pounding sounds again at the front double doors, causing me to flinch. Where are our guards?
     "It's fine, it's fine," Aayan whispers, completely calm. "We'll just have to go another way."
     I silently nod my head and slowly peel myself off him. Without warning, both double doors fall with a deathly booming echo and five figures storm in, their faces illuminated in the few torches providing light. I barely feel Aayan grabbing the back of my arms; I'm frozen in place. Hard and intense light gray, glowing eyes meet mine, and I stop breathing.