Whisked Away

63. An Escape

Zori's POV
After Mother had explained her plan to us, we all reluctantly agreed. "Now, lets all get some rest," she suggested. We all agreed and leaned against the walls to try and sleep. I curled up in Levi's chest as wished I could wrap my arms around him, but I was too tired to think of it much now.

When I had finally drifted off, it seemed only moments after that I was woken by Levi's soft voice. "We must wake, love." I groaned, earning a chuckle from both Levi and Mother, for both knew of my stubbornness to get up in the mornings. Thankfully Mother still had several of her throwing knives with her, so we had a few weapons, but not nearly enough.

First, Mother broke the chains on her own wrists using a combination of her abilities. Soon we all had been freed and she stood before the door to break it down. "This is it," she muttered, "After this I'm officially an enemy of Narnia." Taking a deep breath, she broke the door clean off it's hinges. On our way to the exit, we thankfully found everyone's weapons, apart from my own unfortunately.

We managed to sneak to the stables and get to Levi and Levian's horses. Levi helped me up and then mounted himself. Mother would fly and Levian was going to take his horse. Mother had snuck by the kitchens and stolen enough food for two nights, but I hoped we would be out for that long. Soon we had set off and left Narnia behind us. We rode hard for a good two hours before we stopped to allow the horses time to rest.

They drank from a quiet stream as Mother handed out some of the food she had gotten as no one had eaten much today. Soon after we rode on until nightfall was near. We made camp on the side of the road a ways into the woods, but as we were still in Narnia, we built no fire for fear of being discovered. We ate and then began to prepare to sleep.

Levi lay down on his back and I lay on his chest as he wrapped his arms around me. In the embrace that I loved so dearly, I drifted off.
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Levian's POV
Shifra and I were chatting quietly as neither of us were very tired. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Levi and Zori going to sleep. "Do you worry for her?" Shifra asked.

"Zori?" I asked, confused. "Of course, she's my sister-in-law."

She chuckled lightly. "No, Rosaline."

"So long as she is within the walls of the palace I little reason to be worried, yet I do worry for her, despite logic telling me I shouldn't have to," I admit. We sat in peaceful silence until I asked, "How do we know the Tisroc has not infiltrated Archenland as well? What if we get there only to be put back in irons?"

"Then I'll break us out again," she replied, "let's just hope I don't have to." I opened my mouth to reply, but a rushing caused Shifra to place a finger over her lips. Rising silently to our feet, we drew our swords. Levi and Zori had not noticed and seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

The thrashing grew louder and louder, every sound making us more and more tense. Then a figure broke out of the trees. Red-brown hair flowed down from their head and frightened green eyes gazed at us before the young girl exclaimed. "Father!"

"Rose!" I yelled back, sheathing my sword and pulling my five-year-old daughter into my arms. Pulling away from her and kneeling at he level, I asked, "Where is your mother? Where's Zane?"

She began to sob, but managed to get out, "Bad men, there were bad men in the castle. They wanted-they wanted Mother and they locked her up."

"But is she alive?" I asked desperately. My little girl nodded. "And Zane?"

"He's locked up with her," she explained, tears falling in earnest, "I was too for a while, but they-they wanted something from me. I don't know what, but one of them kept touching me and..." I pulled her close to me and shushed her, tears of my own streaming down my face.

"Please tell me that's all that happened," I whispered fearfully. She nodded into my chest and continued to cry.

Groggily, Levi asked, "Levian, what happened?"

"I'll fill them in," Shifra offered, leaving me with my daughter. I nodded thankfully.

Looking her in the face and trying to blink away my tears, I assured, "Rose, I promise you, on my life, that nothing like that will ever happen to you again, ok? I will protect you and I'm sorry...I'm so sorry I couldn't this time." She nodded, but fear still filled her eyes. "I need to take you somewhere safe, but Narnia is not an option."

"No!" she exclaimed, "Don't leave me! Father please stay with me or take me with you, don't leave me!"

"Ok," I whispered, "I won't." Levi and Zori's pitying glances came our way, but soon we all slept. In the middle of the night I was awoken by sobbing, a harsh, heart-breaking sob. I sat up to try and find the source and saw the tears streaming from Rose's face. Kneeling in front of her, I gently shook her shoulder and called her name.

When she woke, I quickly let go of her, expecting she's not want to be touched, all things considered. Her green eyes looked fearful until she recognized me.
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Levi's POV
I woke to hear sobbing and saw two dark shapes next to one another. I recognized them as Levian and Rose. He tried to comfort her as best as he could, but it did not seem to help. The next morning when we were all eating and Levian had gone to get water from a stream, I asked softly, "Are you ok?"

He let out a shaky breath and replied, "No, my daughter went through something unimaginable and she's in so much pain, but I can't help her. I don't know how to help my little girl. My wife and son are probably locked in a cell right now and for all I know Rosaline got far worse than Rose. Zane will be beating himself up for letting this happen to them, even if he doesn't understand it. He will just know that they are hurting and he will blame himself for it."

"Like you're doing," I interrupted.

"Levi, it is my fault," he replied lowly. I could tell he was holding back tears. "I should have been there. I should have protected them."

"There was nothing you could have done," I whispered. He turned to face me and I saw the tears that pooled and fell from his eyes. I embraced him and added, "It wasn't your fault."
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Shifra's POV
"Alright," I started once everyone had returned, "Narnia and Archenland have fallen, most likely under the Tisroc, so we need to get them back fast. Our best bet is to get Archenland back first, as we are far closer and once you two are there it will be much easier to handle. Now, Ali is probably on his way there now to wed Evelana as he wished before, so we need to hurry so we can stop that from happening."

"Who are we going to get in?" Levi asked, "They would have shut the gates, locked the doors, and everything."

"I'll fly over," I replied, "While I'm in I'll look around and see what is going on and come back so we can form a plan from there. So why don't you all stay here while I go and then I'll come back."

"It's risky," Levian replied, picking up Rose and cutting her on his lap, "but it might be our only shot."

"I agree," Levi added.

Levian hesitated before commenting, "I just want to make this known now, but I'm not leaving Rose anywhere, she doesn't leave my side."

"Of course," Zori answered, smiling sweetly at the little girl. "Mother I don't want you to go, but if you must, you must."

"Unfortunately so," I replied, looking sadly at my daughter. "I'll come back to you, I promise." I bid farewell to them all and took off towards the castle.