Bound- Red Threads of Fate Jaya AU

We must away, ere break of day

Note: Sorry the posting schedule has gotten so out of whack! But enjoy what is possibly the longest chapter in the entire book so far. Yes, the title is from the Hobbit song.

"Who are 'they?'" Kai asked Cole, and Nya didn't like how suspicious he sounded. "Are you finally going to tell us how you're actually going to get us out of here?"

"The others." Cole said. "That's who they are. And I'm sorry I haven't said much about any of this, but I don't know much, really. And you can't be too cautious here. This kingdom's military–you don't know how it works. I do."

"But the others, do you know them?"

"Yes, if they're still here. But we took so long, I don't know if they will be." He sighed.

"I suppose it's best if I tell you like a story. None of you know this–I decided not to tell you yet, in case we were caught. But Jay, you remember my telling you about the rumors. Well, that's how it started, but just before I saw you, it all became a lot more than rumors for me. See, I have a friend, one of my fellow guards at our station. He's got a wife to support, and a little girl. She's . . . not well."

He looked pained, and Nya bit her lip, thinking of his mother. His mother, who she couldn't save. Who could've been saved, maybe, outside of the queen's tyrannical rule.

He shook it off in a moment, so quickly that Nya wondered if she'd have noticed if she hadn't known. "Anyway, I noticed him acting . . . suspicious for a week or so, just after a visit home. Then one night, about midnight, I wake up to join him on shift a little early, and all his things are gone. His bow and all his arrows. His clothes and packs and books. Everything. I run outside, and see him just leaving. I ask where he's going, and all he says is, I'm going, Cole. Goodbye. And I realize he means goodbye forever and where he's going, and when I say it, he tells me to swear on my life not to tell or he'll shoot me right there. So I ask him how he's going to do it, and after a while he tells me that he'll be taking his family here to stay until either one of the guides comes, or they figure out how to get out themselves, and then they'll go. Apparently guides come only a few times a year, to help anyone out who they can. He wouldn't tell me how he knew, and told me that if I told anyone it could mean the end of all our lives. He said that the few people who know are going in a rush, 'cause the Queen might find out soon and blockade the whole thing. But he said he might still be here. So if we can find him, we can go together."

"But what were you doing in town that day?" Jay asked. "You couldn't've known I'd be there."

"No, I convinced the rest of the guards I live with to let me go for the month's supplies alone, since we had one less. I was going to send a letter to my father to expect me home soon, and I was going to tell him about it, but I just couldn't get myself to do it. And then when I saw you, you were so much easier to talk to."

Jay nodded. "Well, I'm glad." He knew that Cole didn't always have the easiest time speaking to his father, but he couldn't believe his fortune at being in the right place at the right time.

"So, should we look for them?" Nya asked.

"I think I'll go alone." Cole said. "I don't want to scare them. If they are here, it shouldn't be hard to find them. I think this town is pretty abandoned–it used to be a mine and quarry town, which there were a lot of back in the day, when they were building the wall. But the one in this town ended up dangerously close to the wall, so it was mostly filled in after the construction finished, and all the miners moved away. Now they use it for military training, but only a few times a year. So it's mostly empty."

"Alright. But please, be careful." Nya cautioned. "Who knows who could be here."

"I know. I will." He smiled good-naturedly, and flexed his bicep. "I think I can handle it."