Hope

Chapter Thirty: The Final Hour

As we ran, I noticed that the streets were strangely empty. Doors were shut and curtains were drawn on all the houses we passed. The sounds of the riot grew louder and louder as we neared the palace, but instead of trying to lose ourselves in the crowd, Tasha decided last minute that we were going to lose the guards in the maze of streets in the residential section of the capital. No one was about, so it was unlikely the guards would be able to get directions from anyone. And since they were palace guards and not soldiers, Tasha was counting on them to not know the streets like the soldiers would. So we darted around every corner we could find, jumped fences in every alleyway, and finally climbed up to the roof of one of the houses. The guards had lost us after we hopped the fences, so we had climbed up to make sure we stayed lost.

Rebecca was grinning. "Now that was an adventure! I've always wanted to do that. Do you suppose there are governments like this elsewhere in the world?"

Tasha smiled. "Now you know the pull of exploration, my eager apprentice!"

"Apprentice!" Rebecca spluttered indignantly. "I'm not an apprentice! Grown women can't be apprentices!"

"And that was why Jing was teaching you how to use your Elemental power, hmmm?" Tasha inquired mischievously.

We all laughed softly, but kept our voices down in case the guards could hear our voices filter down from the roof. We were spread out a bit on the roof in order to see as much of the city as possible. We could see the front of the palace, where a huge mass of people were demanding entry and we could see the relative emptiness of the rest of the capital. Only the guards were still in the streets and it looked like they might be giving up soon.

Zack, tired after his imprisonment, laid himself out in the sun and took a nap. Jing lay down next to him and closed her eyes as well. Rebecca sat cross-legged and stared off towards the palace, a rueful expression on her face. Tasha was redoing her ponytail and looking thoughtful at the same time. I myself had shifted back into human form and was lounging in the sun in front of Zack and Jing.

"Is that Stan?" Rebecca asked suddenly, pointing to a brown-haired head on a street two blocks away.

Tasha shaded her eyes and looked in the direction Rebecca was pointing at. "Could very well be. It could also be a civilian or a soldier of some sort. But I don't think the soldiers would bother themselves with a handful of troublemakers when there's a full-blown riot going on at the palace gates."

"They might," Jing whispered. "After all, one of the 'troublemakers' is an elf."

"I'll go and see who it is," I volunteered. I then shifted into cat form and jumped from one roof to another until I was directly over the person in question. I then jumped down into the street below, ignoring the sting in my pads as they hit the rough cobblestone. Indeed the person was Stan, and he was rather glad to see me.

"Hello, Leaf," he said. "I was wondering how I was going to find Tasha and the others. Do you know where they are?"

/Yes/ I said. /Follow me and be careful. There are guards about. We rescued Rebecca from them, but they started to chase us because Rebecca set their pants on fire./

Stan chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose that would sufficiently annoy them. They must have a Water Elemental with them if they're going to brave the wrath of a Fire Elemental."

I nodded affirmative and then I started to lead Stan back to the others. We once stopped and hid because the guards were headed down the street we were on. Once they passed us, we continued on our way. Soon, we reached the building whose roof the others were hiding on. Stan slowly climbed up and I quickly followed him. Once on the roof, I shifted back into human form and watched with amusement as Stan and Tasha kissed.