Prison of Eldan

Part 20: The Exiles

Rachel

"Emily!  Oh, universe, wake up!" I shook my best friend's shoulders gently.  She didn't stir.  "Does anyone have any bandages?" I asked while untying her.

"I can heal," Bridget and Hubert said at the same time.

"Then heal Emily!"

Bridget stepped forward and placed her hands on Emily's forehead gently.  After closing her eyes for a minute and concentrating intently, she stepped backwards, shaking her head.

"What's wrong?" I asked apprehensively.

"Her brain is bruised," Bridget responded.  "I healed some of it, and I can heal the rest of it soon, but my healing abilities are burned out now.  Brain bruises are nasty to deal with."

"I'll see what I can do, but Bridget's the better healer," Hubert said when I looked at him.  He looked at Emily, and the cut on her face healed, leaving a faint scar.  "That's all I can do for her."

"Do you want me to take her up to her room now?" Sophie asked gently.  "Her bed will be more comfortable than the chair."

I nodded.  Sophie took Emily's hands and disappeared, then returned a moment later. 

"Bridget, when can you finish healing her?" she asked.

"Hopefully within the hour," she replied.  "I'll definitely be able to finish before we have to leave for exile."

"We?" Sophie asked.  "You don't have to come with me!  The Mad Queen just wanted Rachel and Emily to come!"

"She said 'your friends,' Sophie," Philippe said.  "Aren't we your friends?"

"Of course you are!  But the Mad Queen doesn't know that, so you could stay here and stay safe.  Philippe, you grew up near the Beyond.  Surely you know how dangerous it is."

"I do, and I know that you'll stay safe there if you have an army of halflings with you.  You're a member of this pack, too, and pack members don't leave pack members behind."

"If you insist..." Sophie's voice trailed off and she looked distracted.  "Rachel, can you go pack up your belongings and Emily's?  We're exiles, now, we shouldn't hang about."

"I'll get right to it," I said as I headed upstairs.  "When do we leave?"

"As soon as we can," Sophie responded.

<><><>

Sophie

I had never expected something like this to happen, not in a million years.  Being exiled to the Beyond was something only the worst of criminals faced-- murderers, thief lords, and traitors.  Which is what I am, a traitor.  In Tul, our closest neighbor to the north, there was a saying that I now remembered.  A revolutionary is just a traitor who never gets caught.  A traitor is just a revolutionary who didn't bother to plan.  I had planned, I had plotted, and I still had been caught.

"Sophie, are you okay?" Philippe asked.  I had been staring off into space.  Or off into ground, rather, since we're under it.

"I'm fine," I responded.  "I should go pack up my stuff now." With that, I turned and walked up the stairs.  How many carriages do I own?  Do I have enough horses to pull them?  There's a lot of people being exiled.  I meant to save my people, but it looks like I've damned some of them instead.

The hallways of the palace, the hallways of my home, looked different now that I would never see them again.  Things I had taken for granted my whole life were now being taken away from me.  The busts of kings and queens long gone seemed to be looking at me pityingly, like they knew what I was going through.