The Sapphire Tiger

Chapter 3: To Castle Songvale

Snow stood alone in the castle courtyard, practicing her swordplay, as she did every afternoon. It wasn't long before Luke, who always knew where to find her at this time, made an appearance. 
"Afternoon, Snow." The fellow wolf said. "Your grandmother says she wishes you'd come and join everyone else in the orchard. The feast will be starting soon." Luke was a handsome and well-mannered young wolf. He hadn't been at the castle his whole life like Snow had. His parents had both been killed by bandits in a home invasion when he was just a cub. He ran away from the orphanage he lived in after hearing of Castle Songvale in order to live there instead and escape the other youngsters who used to call him names and throw things at him. 
"You know I always finish at least one hour of training no matter what." She replied, still practicing some techniques that her father had taught her before he was lost to the queen's army. "I'll be over there soon, Luke. Oh, and I do wish you wouldn't come here every day while I'm training. You know I like you, Luke but my grandmother might get the wrong idea."
"Well maybe if you'd meet me on the battlements tonight, I might not have to come and bother you so much. We could watch the sunset together." Snow knew how Luke felt about her but she didn't feel the same way. She cared for him deeply and would never do anything to endanger their friendship. She did feel that there was no harm in saying yes though. She liked watching the sunset and she didn't have anywhere else to be after Lucy had been put to bed. Besides, if Luke stayed true to his word, she'd be able to train in peace again. She stowed her sword and walked over to Luke. 
"That sounds nice, Luke. I could do with the distraction. I'll see you then. For now, let's go and join the others and get something to eat."

The dimly lit world came steadily into focus as Leif came around. He realized instantly where he was. 
"Ah, finally opened those pretty eyes of yours." Came the voice of a fellow prisoner. Leif looked over to the other side of the jail cell to see a young marmalade cat with brown neck-length hair partially covering his face. He wore a rather baggy shirt and trousers that had been cut very short to the point where they just barely covered his posterior. Leif grunted in frustration.
"Damn, I can't believe they got the better of me." He said and looked quickly at his arm and was relieved to see that the Sapphire Tiger was still with him.
"On nice 'n' tight, that thing is. One of the guards took a fancy to it and they tried to wrench it off your arm. Did 'em no good though." The young cat said with a slight chuckle.
Leif shook his head, trying to wake himself up and rose to his feet, walking over to the cell door, examining the bars and paying no mind to his feline cellmate. 
"I managed to keep some pie hidden on me when they brought me in. I'd have saved you some if I knew I was gonna have a cellmate."
"That's mighty thoughtful of ya, lad." Leif said, still eyeing the bars that held them prisoner. 
"Oh good, for a minute there I thought you couldn't talk." The feline replied.
"I can talk. I'm just not a fan of it." Leif replied sharply.
The young feline got up off of his hay bale bedding and walked over to the cell door with Leif, standing at least two feet shorter than him. 
"I'm Max. What name do you go by, big fella? And why do you seem so interested in the bars? Never been in a cell before?"
"My name's Leif." He paused for a moment and looked at Max. 
"Do you know the way out of here, Max?" Max nodded.
"Yeah, I was awake when they brought me in. Why, you got a lockpick hidden on you?" Without answering, Leif grabbed a bar with each hand and roared like a lion as he pulled at them with all his strength. With about thirty seconds of patience and a tremendous amount of effort, he finally pried them apart, leaving a wide opening for the two to escape through.
"Holy cow!" Max cried, staring with his mouth wide open at Leif, who looked over at him. "How did you do that?" He asked.
"Plenty of vegetables," Leif said. "Now come on, you know the way. Let's get moving before any guards show up." As they walked out of their cell, Lief noticed the majority, if not all of the other cells were completely empty. "Hey, how come the other cells are empty?" The human inquired. 
"Because those who have been brought in today I think have already agreed to be trained as a soldier." 

The two navigated the jail hallway quickly and quietly. Luckily, there was no one to guard the cells at the time. All the soldiers were busy carrying out the queen's orders and none thought it necessary to guard just one cell with two prisoners. Max soon led them to the stairs into the main body of the castle where, with a bit of careful sneaking around, they climbed out of a window and were soon back in the city, where they would need to continue to avoid the sight of the queen's soldiers.