Hope

Chapter Twenty-Nine: I Am Not Your Enemy

Zack was giving me a rather bemused look. "Hello, Pointedleaf. I wasn't expecting you."

"Most people don't expect me," I replied airily. "I just happen."

The quarter-elf guard was staring open-mouthed at Zack. "You're an elf? A real, pure-blooded elf?"

"Yeah," Zack replied, instantly wary. "And you seem vaguely familiar."

"He's got elven blood," Tasha explained. "He was standing guard over Pointedleaf's siblings and some other shifters. But he let them go when we asked."

"More like blackmailed," the quarter-elf guard mumbled under his breath.

The guard who had been linked to Zack shook his head as if to clear his mind and he stared at the quarter-elf guard. "You have elven blood?" he asked, sounding incredulous.

"Ryan," Zack said warningly.

The quarter-elf guard jumped and stared wide-eyed at Ryan. "What are you doing, helping strange people escape prison?" he asked, fear making his voice tremble.

"I might ask you the same question," Ryan replied, looking annoyed. "How elven are you, exactly?"

"A quarter," the guard muttered. "The elven blood is on my mother's side."

Ryan sighed. "You're going to find yourself in a whole world of trouble if anyone finds out what you are."

"I know," the guard replied. "And we should be getting out of here. The others might come back any minute now."

I looked around. Jing was out of her cell and Ryan was unchaining Zack at the moment. Tinyflower, Tornheart, Smokesky, Tangleweed, and the two other cats were wandering around aimlessly and giving no sign that they saw or heard any unwelcome guards intruding on our escape plans. Tasha was observing from a distance, half-listening for any sound of returning guards. It seemed the guards weren't going to return just yet, but we should be moving. There was no telling when my complicity in the plan was going to be discovered. No doubt the king's advisor knew exactly what I was capable of doing, and might possibly be able to guess my next few steps.

"Come on," I said, motioning for Zack and Ryan to step out of the cells. "We're needed out in the public square."

Zack stared at me as he came out of his cell. "What for? Isn't that the last place we want to be right now other than in the dungeon or on the gallows?"

"No, Tasha has a plan," I informed him.

Zack looked at Tasha. Tasha shrugged. "Well, a bit of a plan. I figure the riots are going to be widespread news about now. So I think that if we demonstrate that humans can work with elves, we can undermine the king's advisor enough to have him thrown out."

"I think it's a good idea," I said as I threw my shadows over everyone in the group. "That's how shape-shifter tribal leaders have gotten overthrown before. Take away the source of their power and they topple."

"In this case, the power is fear of the elves and other intelligent nonhuman life-forms," Tasha lectured. "Of course, there are also soldiers to back up the king's advisor, but in reality the soldiers are few and the citizens are many. Only fear holds the citizens in check."

"I'm not sure I agree with that," Zack said quietly. "I'm more likely to be stoned to death than change anyone's mind."

"That's a risk we'll have to take," Tasha replied. "We can't stop, not now. And in speaking of stopping, we ought to be going or we'll get caught, shadows or no shadows."

We then started running as soundlessly as possible down the row of cells. Up ahead, we could hear shouting voices and the clanging of cell doors. Off in the distance, I heard an explosion. We ran on, ignoring these sounds. We soon came to the corridor that led to the palace and we saw the source of some of the noise; the guards were coming back.