Moon and Star - Part One

A Prison - Part Two

"Mira? Moonmira Sunflame, can you hear me?" Xiala asked, worried. Mira didn't respond, but her breathing did steady a bit. Xiala sighed. She didn't know how long it had been, but judging by how long her hair was now, she'd say at least a month. At least. Moonmira groaned. "Mira!" Xiala shook her gently. Mira opened her eyes and blinked. The world was fuzzy, but as it cleared, she realized the blur of colors was Xiala, her magenta eyes wide with fear. Then, suddenly, out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of a shadowy figure whisking across the dungeon floors. She opened her mouth to speak, but was too weak. Xiala pulled her up, and Moonmira shook it off as just a hallucination. She'd never tell anyone. Xiala probably already thought she was crazy. "What happened?" Moonmira stammered. "We were both out," Xiala explained. "For a long time. I think - I think Aunt Olivia knocked us out." "She wouldn't," Mira argued. "She would." Xiala said grimly. "But it technically wasn't Eighty-Eared Olivia who knocked us out, it was a guard. But I think...she's gone nuts. Why on earth would she knock us out!? What did we do to her and where on earth is Ember!?" Mira muttered. "Don't know, glad to be aw-" Xiala stopped in the middle of her sentence and stared at the door. If looks could kill, the person she was glaring at would be soooo dead. "You." She hissed venomously, ice dripping from her voice. "Who?" Mira asked. "Remember when this all went down?" Xiala asked, not taking her eyes off of the person. "Well, this is the guy who pushed me over and I want his head and I want it now." She snarled. "That's a load of dung, coming from someone who's locked in a cell and can't get out." The guy snorted. Xiala smashed his face against the bars. "Why did you lock us up?" Miya asked. "I received an order from my queen." The guy said, blood dripping from his nose. "Your queen? Who? N-nightmare?" "No," the guard said. "Of course not. Queen Olivia of the Air Kingdom. You set the Moon Kingdom on fire, dragon fire. I'm here to ask you what you were thinking." "What!? We don't have dragon fire!" Mira cried, ignoring his statement. Xiala smashed his face again. "Well, if you think you're going to question us, you might as well question a rock." She hissed in his ear. "Well, I'll have fun questioning a specific rock." He smirked, his brown eyes landing on Mira, who stifled a cry of surprise. "She's ten! What in god's name is wrong with you!?" Xiala snarled. "I received an order from my queen and I intend to follow through. And for your information nothing is wrong with me!" He snapped. "Really? Because I can name ten!" Xiala and Mira yelled at the same time. He shook his head, exasperated "Here's your lunch," he said, pushing in a tray of stale bread."We don't want your crappy food!" Xiala yelled. He shrugged. "Is this better?" He asked, holding a piece of garlic under Xiala's nose. She plugged her nose to keep from sneezing. "Hey! She's allergic to garlic!" Mira yelled as Xiala sneezed. The guard shrugged. Clearly he already knew that. "Well, that's all I have for you. Stay hungry if you want." With that he disappeared behind the dungeon door. Mira coughed. "Let's see - do we have anything that we can use to escape?" She fished out a heavy book from her bag . It was the only thing she was left with, and she had been clever enough to erase its title. The book of wisdom. Xiala caught her gaze and furiously shook her head. Ignoring her sister, who probably knew best, Mira pulled out a quill and inkstone. She dipped her quill in ink and wrote, How do we escape? She watched as the answer appeared: You cannot escape. Someone from the outside must free you. "I told you so!" Xiala cried, then lowered her voice. "Here. Let me have a go." Mira handed over the book and Xiala thought for a moment, then wrote, What is the guard planning to do when he questions us? She watched as her answer appeared: Garlic. Peppermint. "Oh dear," Mira said in a very small voice as she and Xiala looked at each other. Xiala was allergic to garlic AND peppermint, even though it was very inconvenient. "Curse my stupid luck!" Xiala spat. "Wait!" Mira cried suddenly, clapping her hands. "I know who can get someone to open the lock from outside!" Xiala gave her a hard stare. "NO. YOU CAN'T -" "It's our only chance," Moonmira said. "STILL NO." Xiala said, but she let Mira think. Moonmira had just opened her mouth when he was back. "Hey!" Xiala cried indignantly when he unlocked the door, grabbed some of her hair and yanked her out. "I'm so hungry!" Xiala complained. As the guard lectured her, Xiala stole a glance at her sister and mouthed, "Keep thinking." Mira nodded, sure that Xiala could take care of herself. And if things came to that, she would be able to control the minimal amount of iron in his blood for long enough to escape. Xiala had a very large amount of dumb luck, although sometimes it didn't work out in her favor. She bit her lip and considered the options. Pulling out the Book of Wisdom she wrote in three long strokes: Do we escape by blood-controlling? The answer made her inhale sharply: Obviously. She glanced up at Xiala, who was suffering under a basket of garlic and peppermint. Gritting her teeth, she slowly lifted her hands. The guard stopped abruptly. Xiala let out a breath, then screamed, "NO!" As her sister did the MOST EVIL THING IN HISTORY. Well, one of them, if not included burning your sister's palace and blaming it on your nieces, or breaking up with your girlfriend, running to America and six years later going back to kill her and her family just because you're jealous. When the door of the cell swung open with a click Mira came running over. Xiala saved her fury for later and pulled Moonmira out of the dungeon. Good thing I memorized the map of the Air Kingdom with my photographic memory. They jumped out a window just as alarms blared. Moonmira could hear footsteps coming their way hurriedly. Xiala was still sneezing terribly. "One - two - three - JUMP!" She yelled, pulling Moonmira head-first into the moat four stories below. "Ouch!" Xiala cried, but having her allergic reactions, it sounded like, "Oush!" As she landed on a metal crate. "Ugh, we don't have apples, sugar or horseradish!" Moonmira groaned. She'd forgotten to pack the only cures of Xiala's allergies. "Wasabi." Xiala muttered, but it sounded like, "Salami." Mira looked at her quizzically, then dove into the water as an arrow shot toward them from above. Xiala glanced at the moat but soon realized there was no time. Clutching the sides of the metal crate, she sped it down the side of the moat. Moonmira gathered a wave and they whisked away north as arrows fell like rain behind them. Xiala jumped on the wave and turned the metal into a shield behind her. Arrows banged off it and scattered into the water. As soon as they were out of the palace grounds, Xiala paused and said again, "Salami!" "I don't have salami, Xiala!" Moonmira cried. Xiala frowned, sneezed, coughed, then mimed using chopsticks to put something on something, then eat it and pretended it was spicy. "Wasabi?" Moonmira asked. Xiala nodded vigorously. "Why didn't you just say so!?" Moonmira asked, pulling out some wasabi. She'd hoped they'd have sushi. "I tried." Xiala deadpanned, but it sounded like: "A hive." She took a spoon and ate a spoonful of wasabi. Her allergic reactions quickly stopped but the hot sauce function did not. Coughing vigorously she tried not to laugh. It was the last antidote she would try. Finally they landed by the side of an abandoned cliff. The moat turned into a stream and disappeared into the darkness. "Where are we?" Moonmira asked cautiously. "Dunno. But I think we need to get out of here." Xiala said. "Duh," Moonmira said. "No, I mean out of this continent, and probably not the Cloud Continent either. And Ahial, too. Even though Xim can probably eat her in three seconds, Olivia will be searching for us - with lots of soldiers." Moonmira nodded. "So - where will we go now?" "There's one more place we can go." Xiala said. They locked eyes and said in unison, "America." They fell back and landed on their backs, staring at the sky. "But America...how are we going to...I mean...we don't fit in...it's a whole other continent!" Xiala spluttered. "Unless you want to go to Ahial and risk getting eaten by goblins and ogres, America is the only option." "But they'll look for us in America!" Xiala protested. She let out another sneeze as some dust floated under her nose. "We don't have anywhere else to go!" Moonmira said. "We could go to the moo-" A bright flash of light in the sky told them the moon was no longer an option. They waited till dusk, then, when they were sure they were alone, Xiala and Mira lay down to sleep.