The emperor dead at last, they would come to kill the children, too.
Black clouds came rolling in from over the calm expanse of sea. The island was no longer safe; from the courtyard Antonio could see approaching ships looming on the horizon. Try as he might, he could not command a bolt of lightning to bury them in crashing waves. Only thirteen years old and with no formal training, he was not yet powerful enough to bring in anything but wind and rain.
"It's no use." In a sudden panic, he ran back into the palace, wings nearly carrying him off the ground. He kept them tight against his back -the halls were to twisting and narrow to navigate in the air.
Most of the servants had abandoned the palace for deeper inland at the news. Rid of their shackles, they bolted to freedom. Quick footsteps of the young teen echoed against the polished stone floor and marble walls. He and Camille, only, remained.
"They're coming!"
Camille, ignoring the younger's outcry, hushed him in a low hiss. "You'll wake them."
The young boys were asleep in the darkness, absent of the sunlight that would fall on their peaceful faces. Antonio felt a swell of sympathy, and grew quieter. "They're coming," he repeated.
Camille sighed heavily, her graceful face grim. "What can we do?" Her voice gave her cousin little hope for victory against their coming assailants.
"We…" His warm green eyes fell anxiously on the children. Camille's followed, and together they saw similar visions of the rosy children replaced by bloody corpses, their little lives lost to megalomanic conquerers. "We can't let them die."
It wasn't much of a strategy, but the teen believed his priorities to be in the right order. His strength of heart, he believed, could fuel the power of the storm, and perhaps the lightning would come of its own volition, and they might get lucky yet. Antonio hurried forward and scooped up the elder of the two brothers; Lovino winced and whined and buried his sleepy face into the servant's shoulder as the older boy held him tight.
Though unsure of her cousin's intent, Camille followed his lead and lifted milder Feliciano -only four years old- out of his own white bed. He blinked his hazy eyes open briefly before yawning and falling back asleep. It had been Camille's idea, in the upheaval of the house, to give the successors a tranquilizing draught. She was happy now for her decision. "Where can we take them?"
Antonio's wings twitched nervously as he thought. Although their enemy was still many miles out at sea, he felt them surrounded. All the carriages and horses were stolen by freed servants in their escape; to flee to the watery horizon was not an option. Land routes impractical and the ocean suicide, the only way left to go was by air…
"I'll fly us away."
Camille almost scoffed at the idea. "You can't carry us all… We'll drop right out of the sky to our deaths."
He hated to admit it, but she was right. He could carry himself fine, but even with a rush of adrenaline Antonio would not be able to get them away to safety without running the risk of killing them all.
His eyes flickered then to Feliciano, and Camille held him tighter to her chest. "Don't you dare. He can't-"
"Maybe he can." He lifted Lovino higher on his hip when the six-year-old started to squirm. The potion was wearing off. "It's worth a shot… We'll all perish here otherwise."
Camille would've continued to protest, but it was then the small princeling fully awoke in her arms. He yawned and tried to stretch, but realizing his sudden height he clung back to the servant girl's neck. "Morning, Miss Camille," he mumbled, and then seeing the other, he greeted him too in his sweet little voice. As the child gradually came to his senses, Feliciano realized he was in the darkness, the halls unusually empty, and he and his big brother being held by their two most loyal workers. He eagerly started to question. "Where are we? What's going on?"
"We have to leave here for a while," Camille answered, her soft voice full of sympathy, and she stroked the boy's soft auburn hair.
"We just have to figure out how first." Antonio earned a hard glare from the girl for that, but he went on. "Just the four of us. But we'll come back one day…" It was probably a lie. "Feli, you know how sometimes you can be one place one minute, and then -without walking or running or anything- you can be in an entirely different place?"
The child yawned again and nodded, smiling a little.
"Do you think you can do that, but go much further away, and with the three of us?"
Feliciano didn't know, but he was a little too young and a little too tired to think about it either. "Sure, Toni…"
"Okay." He could only hope this would work. "Hold onto Camille, okay?" Antonio took his cousin's hand and held on tighter to the still sleeping boy in his arms. "Ready, Feli?"
The boy nodded happily. There was a blinding burst of light in their eyes, and when they could open them again, it was to an entirely unfamiliar landscape.
There was no sea nor rocky shore nor sandy harbor. There was nothing around them but tall trees. And the older children were then still frightened.
