CHOSEN: The Secret Of The Frae

First Encounter

Tessa woke with a start. Something had made itself comfortable on her lap. It was the little white squirrel again. Tessa was surprised it had found it's way back to her but more surprised that she could actually see it clearly in the darkness. Her vision seemed to be getting better the longer she spent in the forest. She looked around her. She'd managed to find a large tree with thick sturdy branches and enough leaves to shield her from predators. The tree also seemed unoccupied so it was perfect to wait out the night. Tessa sighed and leaned back. She stroked the head of the squirrel and her eyes went wide. She sat up instantly startling the creature in her lap but then it calmed downed and settled back into her laps purring as it curled up to sleep.

"What in the world?" Tessa whispered, staring at the white cat in her laps. It had transformed from a squirrel into this. Just what exactly was this creature? A sound from below drew Tessa's attention from the cat. She looked down at the ground and gasped. Below her a small group was gathering. She counted about ten heads all in dark cloaks. Tessa sat up slowly, already feeling her heart rate quicken. Were these the people the Vintre had been talking about? She swallowed hard as horrible thoughts of what they could do to her if she got caught occupied her mind. She had to hide. She looked around the tree. Climbing higher up seemed like the best idea. The branches were thickest there but how could she move without alerting them. Her day just went from bad to worse. There was a flare of light suddenly and it startled the cat. It took off instantly, frightened. Poor thing. Tessa thought. She looked down. One of the cloaked figures had rolled open a large map that lit up illuminating their circle. He placed it on the floor and pulled back his cloak. Tessa gasped. She knew this face. It was Jake.

"We don't have much time." Jake said to the others. "Where is Ilsa?"

"There." Someone pointed and Tessa turned to the cloaked figure approaching them. she moved silently, her steps making no sound, like she was walking on air. It was until she was close enough to touch them that the sound of her steps became audible.

"I'm sorry I'm late." The figure said pulling back her hood. She was a pretty young girl that seemed around her age. She had long lilac hair and two white paint marks on each cheek, adorning the dark skin of her face. They looked like thin inverted triangles and reminded Tessa of canines. The girl crouched beside Jake and pointed to a spot on the map. "this is where the new lab is. They'll be taking the captured fraes there. As for the others on death role," she pointed to another spot on the map, "They'll be taking this route now. If we move fast we can intercept them before they reach the gallows. We rescue our people and lead them safely beyond the walls through these tunnels here."

Another cloaked figure, one of larger mass, knelt to take a closer look at the map. "Thank you Ilsa." He said in a hoarse voice. "You and your father's contribution to our cause is much appreciated."

Ilsa gave a court bow and stood.

"This is the plan." the man said to the others. "Team A will lead a small group to rescue those who have been captured before they reach the lab. Ilsa will help our men on the surface plant explosives in the new lab. It will be heavily guarded this time around so Ilsa, please tell Gil to be cautious."

Ilsa nodded.

"Good. Team A will wait for the bombs to go off and then rescue our people during the chaos. Team B on the other hand will camp out here at nightfall. "He pointed to a location on the map. "Wait till the lab is ablaze then move to this location. We'll take advantage of the explosion to set as many of the sentenced free. Don't be fooled, this is our second attempt at this in two solar revolutions. They will be expecting us."

"This is too risky, Agar" said one of the figures. From the sharpness of her voice, Tessa could tell she was feminine. " Not all fraes believe in integration. I support rescuing the captives who are being sent to the labs but we cannot tell which of the sentenced volunteered and who was forced. The last time we tried this our efforts were almost in vain. Only a handful believed in our cause and agreed to come with us. The others reported us and almost had us killed."