Escape from Whitestone Hold

Rude Awakening- Chapter 5

Sapphira was jolted awake again by a thundering boom of splintering stone in the distance, along with the very earth rumbling. It almost felt like an earthquake, with the house and windows shaking in the wake of the monumental distant disturbance. It sounded like a huge building had collapsed, somewhere across the city. Sapphira leaped out of bed and stumbled to a rattling window on her knees, peeking out of the curtains to see what was going on. There was nothing abnormal-- Merely the dark streets outside in the dead of the cloudy night. It looked like only a few hours had passed since she'd fallen asleep, and she was still exhausted, despite the adrenaline coursing through her veins. Rowan began crying from down in the main room, just as the rumbling finally began to subside. Sapphira groaned defeatedly, and pulled herself to her feet, careful not to bump her head on the low ceilings and doorway as she shuffled out of the bedroom and returned to the living room. Maltheus was still sitting where she'd left him, but he was awake, tiredly trying to console the frightened Rowan. At this point, the rumbling had completely ended, along with the frantic alarm bells in her head. Nevertheless, Sapphira leaned heavily on the banister as she walked down the stairs, her burned foot still aching and throbbing. The green light coming from the crystal lamp was dim, and lent a sleepy atmosphere to the main room as she entered.

"What was that?" She asked, approaching the couch with her arms out to take Rowan. Maltheus yawned widely, seeming to have trouble keeping his eyes open. 

"Probably Tom and Samuel. Hopefully nothing to worry about." Maltheus assured her, offering Rowan up to her.

"What? What on earth did they do?" She gawked, gathering up the strange furry child into her arms.

"Well, you know those big guns the Magistrate has?" Maltheus asked. Sapphira nodded, sitting beside him on the couch. "Well, Tom and Samuel were supposed to steal one and blast their way through the outer wall... Sounds like it went well?" He theorized.

"Sounds like they brought the whole wall down on top of them, more like..." Sapphira scoffed, trying to calm Rowan down as he flailed in her lap. With his new clothing arrangements, she noticed something she had not seen before, sticking out of the back of his diaper. "...Rowan has a tail!?"

"...Yep... He has a name too, it seems?" Maltheus questioned. She nodded, still studying the animal-like tail sticking out of the diaper. What kind of race is this child?  She wondered. "Did he have a name-tag or something?" Maltheus asked, cocking his head.

"No... I just gave him a name, for now." She explained.

"Oh." He looked away, thinking for a moment. "Do you think we'll be able to find his father, or someone from his family?" Maltheus worried.

"I'm sure we will... Well... I hope so." She faltered, thinking of her own family. Maltheus turned away again, unconvinced. She studied him for a moment, seeing his sad expression. "You think they're alright?" She prodded, finally getting Rowan to quiet down again. Maltheus shrugged weakly. "How many people did you say you've evacuated, again?"

"Not as many as the Magistrate... Not enough, considering how big the city is..." Maltheus grumbled.

"You don't think we'll be able to find his family, do you?"

"If they're still alive, they're more likely stuck at the Magistrate refugee camps... And who knows what will happen to them after that... It would be hard for us to find them, and even harder for us to get out, if we searched for them there."

"Ugh, why are they so strict about those camps?"

"They're doing what they think is best... But sometimes the mercies of political superpowers work better on paper, but cause suffering in practice."