The Enlightened Few - The Journey Begins

Lies

The guards had hung the prisoners by the arms and across the shoulders on wooden beams and dragged the captives with dangling legs across the rocky roads to the nearby caves, which had cells built out of thick wood, ready for the prisoners. There were no other prisoners enslaved and there was straw laid out all over the ground. It almost looked like an animal shelter. They were pushed into the larger of the cells guarded by the largest warrior there had seen so far.

"You don't have to do this the hard way, we can walk!" shouted Aden.

The guard paid no attention or remorse, untied the captives and left them locked up alone.

None of them spoke for a while, they were like wounded animals licking their injuries. Anemone sobbed quietly while rubbing her legs, Aden was having trouble standing up. Ilmatar managed to crawl closer to Anemone and dug through his pockets to offer Anemone some herb paste for her sores.

"Well this is just great!" Anemone had spoken for the first time in a long while.

"Did I not tell you not to come?" Ilmatar replied.

"At the end of the day, this was your plan and that is what failed." Anemone fixed her glare onto Ilmatar.

"It's not over yet."

"You heard what he said, he will pass judgement none the less." Anemone buried her face in her hands.

"You both have to stop with this nonsense, if anyone is to blame it's me, alright? Blaming right now is really not going to make our situation any better or easier." Aden was frustrated with the way he had been shoved away by the King.

"Do you think that he knows you are royals?", Ilmatar was wondering if they should've made this clear.

"Well he did call us traitors to our realms. I don't really know what's worse, abandoning your kingdom or running away because you are next in line?"

Aden needed them to start thinking of a way out of this mess he had gotten them into. "What we need to do now is focus on getting out of here. Ilmatar, do you have the moss?"

"Yeah, I still have it. I took it out from my bag the day we were captured and tied it under my tunic to my pants."

"Well that was smart." Anemone finally cheered up a bit.

"Are we going to bribe the guards then? Will they even take this from us?" Ilmatar asked.

Aden chuckled softly at the suggestion. "Do you really think we can bribe those guards?"

They all smirked.

"We can use it to help us out of here anyway, we need light. I need to see how I can break us out." Aden was picking at the lock with a metal piece he had formed from Anemone's hair clips.

As Ilmatar was about to untie the red self-made pouch from his pants, he heard a commotion that stopped him dead in his tracks and he quickly decided to sit himself down onto the floor. Anemone followed suite and as usual Aden's inquisitiveness got the better of him.

"It's too dark, I can't make out who is coming."

"Just step away from the cell doors and sit yourself down, please don't provoke them any further.", Anemone didn't want any more incidents.

"No! If they want a fight, it's a fight they'll get."

"It's definitely not your head thinking there.", Ilmatar rolled his eyes.

Out of nowhere, the guards and the King pounced on them like a panther on its prey.

"I know you. You are Aden, the prince of Fire. Uninvited, exploring my lands without pardon. I still can't make out why your father is not looking for you. Perhaps it's out of shame, or perhaps it's because he doesn't know you are gone yet. You should be ashamed! You are his only heir, the only heir to the throne. Not only are you doing the wrong thing, but you managed to convince two others to do it with you. Hold on, let me guess, Anemone and peasant for a fool too. Anemone, at least your father is worried about you and lost his mind over your absence. What made you do this? Ah, I know all too well what it is. Love?"