This was supposed to be a one-shot, but ended up kinda long and thus became a two-shot instead. Just yet another proof that I'm shit at estimating the final length of my fics. *Sigh*
Anyway; this is a tie-in to my other story Paved with Sorrow, but you should get this without reading that first.
Cold waves were very unusual in Outworld, but when they came they were harsh and long lasting. The one that had just passed was the worst in recent memory. In some parts of the realm, the weather became so severe that rumors of a curse laid by Cryomancers as punishment for their kinds demise millennia ago begun to float around.
Jade thought that was idiotic. Why cast a curse to avenge themselves, only to have it come into effect after many of the people responsible for their extinction were already dead?
In any case, the heat had returned, just like the blue skies, the birds, and the plants in the garden. No more need for thick boots or heavy cloaks; now you do well with light dresses or sheer tunics. You could even go barefoot, if you were a peasant. Most importantly, Kitana finally stopped talking about all the things they would do when the heat returned.
Now, she instead forced Jade outside, making her join in and actually do the things Kitana had been talking about for the past months.
It wasn't awful. Mostly it was games they played inside the castle during the entire cold snap. Hide and seek, different kinds of tag, sneaking on the employees. Pretend the rose garden was an island that needed to be protected from vicious sea monsters. Use petals and sticks to create a maze in the lawn then imagine they were really underground, trapped and desperate to escape. Steal something that looked rare and valuable from Shang Tsung's study to use it in a treasure hunt.
The stealing was Jade's doing, obviously. Whenever Kitana came up with a mischievous plan or way of entertainment it was always Jade who carried it out in the end, typically because Kitana couldn't bring herself to do it on her own. Usually, it was nothing more than climbing the fruit trees to bring down treats, or drop pebbles on the guards' helmets from the balconies. Mileena, Jade noted, showed few of the same reservations.
Today had been like any other day.
First they played tumble-tag, which was like regular tag except you were not allowed to walk or run – only tumble. It was a formulaic game. Jade was always the first one to chase; she would catch Kitana, because catching Mileena felt cruel since she was so slow. After that Kitana would catch Mileena, because of the aforementioned slowness, and Mileena would catch Jade, because Jade let her. Tumble-tag never lasted long due to how dizzy you got after only a couple of rounds.
After that, Jade picked peaches for them. Then she picked cherries, oranges, and pears, whilst Kitana and Mileena gathered raspberries and blackberries on the ground. When it was done, they held a fancy dinner party in the sculpture gallery, followed by a fancy ball dance.
Next, they made a large bush into a beast's lair – a man-eating beast that hoarded treasures, which must be defeated! Jade was the beast, and the treasure was a glowing red orb she'd taken from Shang Tsung's desk drawer. The treasure, buried in the lair, was to be retrieved by a pair of brave heroes. That game was rather fun. The beast would eat you as soon as she got her claws on you, so when the Princesses came too close Jade would stick out her head or arm with a roar, which caused the girls to scream and run to their safe haven. Sometimes the beast gave pursuit, but most of the time she rested in the shade of her lair. So it was fun, until Kitana decided to get reinforcements. She returned with Reptile, of course. He always did whatever Kitana ordered him to do, no matter what it was. The beast was distracted by the heroes in the front, while invisible Reptile attacked from the rear and dragged Jade out of the bush, allowing the sisters to dig up the orb. It was actually quite unfair, because Reptile was much bigger and stronger than Jade. Kitana wanted to play again, but at that point Shang Tsung found them, telling them to give him the priceless orb back and to stop touching his things. Kitana explained the man-eating beast needed treasure to hoard. The sorcerer squinted at Jade and said that, in a few years, she would indeed make an excellent man-eater.
Jade had glared at him, but left it to Kitana to become truly affronted.
"Jade would never eat anyone!" she had said.
Shang Tsung scoffed and claimed they would have to wait and see, before he commanded Reptile to do something useful instead of frolicking. Reptile agreed, both to Shang Tsung as well as to Kitana when she immediately after the sorcerer left asked him to melt some of Shang Tsung's possessions.
All right, maybe he didn't follow Kitana's every order – only the ones he knew she'd remember.
After that, Kitana wanted to continue her cartwheeling lesson from the previous day. She was actually becoming rather good at doing it, Jade had to admit. Mileena was still poor at it, but that was to be expected from someone so small. Next, they picked flowers for over one hour, and now they were standing at the eastern part of the palace grounds, right next to the wall, tossing a small, firm ball between them. Jade tossed to Kitana, who wanted to learn how to catch it onehanded, who tossed to Mileena, who always needed to run after it to pick it up, who tossed to Jade. Mileena's throws never really reached all the way and the ball must roll the last meter before Jade could get it, but she didn't mind.
Kitana threw it especially high; Mileena hopped to catch it, but to no avail. It soared over her head and went into a large shrub by the palace wall.
"Oh!" Mileena said.
Kitana heaved a deep sigh.
"I'll get it," Jade said as she ran over to the bush. She got down on her knees and crawled in under it, hearing Kitana tell Mileena it was okay since simply throwing the ball was getting tedious anyway as she disappeared.
Jade searched the shrubbery without finding the smallest trace of the ball. With aggravation she realized it must have rolled all the way in to the stone. She laid down on her stomach to crawl forth. Twigs grabbed hold of her hair and scratched her face. With a little struggle she managed to bring one arm before her face to keep her eyes from getting poked out. She reached the wall, but didn't find the ball.
She found a hole.
A big hole, about one-meter wide and roughly the same in height, right through the wall. Light and spots of green was discernable on the other end. A tunnel – in which a grown man could effortlessly fit – had been plowed through the seven-meter thick palace wall. The rock was meticulously removed; the walls and ceiling of the tunnel were smooth, requiring no support beams. Doing this, with so much care that no one would notice, must have taken months!
The leaves rustled behind Jade. She turned and saw the Princesses crawl in.
Damn.
"What's taking you?" Kitana asked. "Can't you find it?"
"No, it's not here. Let's go back." Jade stood on her knees and straightened up as much as she could, making herself as big as possible to cover up the hole, but it was too late. Kitana gasped.
"What's that?"
"Nothing," Jade said, with emphasis. "Nothing that concerns us. Now, we will go back and fetch some guards to tell them about the breach."
"Can't we go through to the other side?" Kitana clasped her hands, looking at Jade with big eyes. "Please?"
"No!"
"Why not?"
"Because it is dangerous! We don't know who did this, or what else they are capable of!"
"But I bet the ball rolled into it! If we do it quickly, maybe-"
"No; we are going back the way we came, and telling the guards. No arguments!"
Kitana crossed her arms over her chest with a pout. Jade would never be glared into submission. She forcibly rotated the Princess and begun shoving her out. She twisted her head around.
"Where is Mileena?"
Had she left already? No, she was right next to them only a second ago…
Jade turned to look into the tunnel. Dark pink fabric was moving away from them, going into the darkness.
"Mileena!"
"I'm getting the ball back!" she called over her shoulder.
"No, we'll send for someone else to do that! Come back here now!"
Mileena didn't answer. Perhaps she didn't even hear. Jade groaned.
"I will go after Mileena," she said, thrusting a finger into Kitana's chest. "You will go back and fetch a guard. Understood?"
Kitana nodded and moved out the way they'd come. Jade crawled into the hole. The earth was soft and moist, clinging to the skin. Something crept over her hand; she flicked it away. A stray thought about the tunnel failing and rocks crushing her flew through her head. She pushed it aside. She was almost out now.
The entrance on the other side had another bush covering it, kept in a pot. It was small and thin, but had large leaves that made it appear dense. Jade pushed it out of the way. Mileena stood in a small clearing a few meters away. She looked at Jade with a frown.
"I can't find it," she said.
Jade sighed. She tried to dust her knees off, but it only made the dirt cake into her trousers even more.
"It's all right," she said. "We'll send someone else after it later. Now, we'll go back to the garden-"
She was cut off by an awed gasp behind her. She clenched her fists and clamped her teeth together. It took a lot of her strength not to scream out on the top of her lungs.
"Kitana!"
The elder Princess's dress was smeared in mud and green patches. She crouched down, wiping her hands off on the grass whilst gaping up at the forest. With a thrilled giggle she twirled, her arms outstretched.
"Look! This is amazing! Look at this!"
"Yes," Jade said. "Now we have established that the sky is blue and the plants are green – just like in the palace garden. Let's go back."
Mileena yelped. Jade whirled around.
A man had picked her up and held her to his chest with a hand over her mouth. He was tanned with a shaggy black beard and wore dirty clothes.
Jade sprung, but was instantly knocked to the ground from behind. Another man with a scarf around the lower half of his face drove his knee into her back, then twisted her arms. He put his hand over her mouth, pressing her cheeks and jaw together, and hauled her up. He dragged her out of the clearing, through the forest, whilst the bearded one and yet another man who'd captured Kitana followed. Jade kicked and trashed as much as she could, but the palace walls slowly receded. They were far out of hearing distance when the man threw her to the ground again to begin tying her wrists together with a strip of fabric.
She still screamed. So did Kitana and Mileena, until the man with the scarf punched Jade in the temple. Both the Princesses silenced with shock and fright.
"By the Elder Gods!"
The Beard had pulled off Mileena's veil. She tried to turn, to tuck her face away to conceal it, but that was impossible. Her teeth might just as well have been radiating light.
"No wonder the Kahn has been hiding away this one for all these years. Look at her face!"
Kitana shrieked.
"Leave my sister alone!"
The Beard ignored her. He tipped Mileena's head up with a blend of disgust and fascination in his expression.
Mileena's lip began to quiver; her eyes turned damp. She lunged forward and bit his hand. He howled, letting her go so she tumbled to the ground. Deep gashes went into his hand; the flesh was torn and the wounds bled profusely. Furious, he seemed to aim a kick Mileena's way. The third man, much sturdier than the other two, hindered him.
"Stop! She's just a child!"
On the ground, Mileena was sobbing and hiccupping. Blood mixed with tears streamed down her cheeks. Beard scoffed unnaturally whilst looking away with a hint of shame. Sturdy pulled Mileena back to her feet and tied her wrists like he tied Kitana's. Scarf finally let Jade up from the ground. He shoved her forward.
"Get moving."
Kitana swiveled around, digging her heels into the earth. She glared at the man.
"No! I demand you release us and take us back! Now!"
"Shut up!"
Sturdy picked Kitana up and slung her over his shoulder despite all her protests. Beard poked Mileena in the back with a stick as he simultaneously tried to bandage his hand with cloth he'd ripped from his tunic. Scarf shoved Jade again. She straightened up and pulled back her shoulders before walking.
"You do not want to do this," she said.
None of the men answered, but that was all right.
"You obviously did not plan this," she continued. "You brought no rope to bind us with, or anything to quiet us with. The ideal would of course have been a sedation potion, if you could afford it. Which I find dubious."
She scrutinized Scarf from head to heel whilst scrunching up her nose. He narrowed his eyes irritably at her. So simple was it to rile him up.
"You did not expect anyone to find the tunnel. When we did, you panicked. This is your way of making sure we won't reveal it, but it won't solve the problem."
They walked through some thick bushes and came out on a new, somewhat trampled, path. The tree crowns had turned very compact, which made it difficult to see the sky or anything big in the distance, such as the palace. How far away were they now? A half-hour walk? More, probably. If they escaped, would they be able to find their way back?
"When the Kahn becomes aware of our absence – which he will – he'll search vehemently. You would be wise to use this time to flee as far from him as you can, because the punishment will be much more severe if he finds us with you. Especially after he realizes that his daughters have been manhandled by peasants."
"That's it!"
Scarf clutched the neck of her shirt and pulled her close, pressing the blunt side of a knife to her throat. Jade compelled her body no to tense up. She hadn't anticipated that – the knife, that is to say. It was plain and had some small specks of rust where the blade met the handle, but was otherwise in a quite nice condition.
"Not another word from you."
Sturdy came between and separated them.
"Enough," he said, before he leaned in to mumble in Scarf's ear. "Can't you see she's provoking you? Don't let it affect you."
Scarf let his glare linger another second. Then he shoved her away, sticking the knife back into his belt. She made note of the sheathe. It was dusty and of similar color to his trousers, blending very well with his clothes. It explained why she'd overlooked it, but it was still recklessly inattentive of her. As they continued their trek she took great care to covertly search for more weapons positioned on any of them. Sturdy did have something small and possibly pointed attached to his belt, although it didn't look like a knife, whilst Beard was completely clean. That meant two weapons at most, with one wielder obviously more inclined to use his than the other.
Ten minutes passed. Then thirty. They walked for what must have been more than an hour when Mileena, who had been lagging behind for a while, sank to the ground with a whine.
"I don't want to walk anymore!"
Kitana immediately stopped as well, not hesitating for long before going over to sit down beside her sister.
"Me neither!"
Sturdy and Beard looked at Scarf inquiringly, the latter obviously very unwilling to go near the sisters once more as he gripped his stick with his good hand. Jade too glanced at her captor from the corner of her eye. He noticed, eyes narrowing in warning. In response, she tilted her chin up as she began making her way to the Princesses. Scarf seized her arm, firmly, and she had to jerk herself free.
"We're tired!" she snapped, promptly taking a seat in the dirt next to Kitana.
Scarf stared at her for several minutes, eyes hard and cold. She met his gaze head-on, refusing to break it. She would never be glared into submission. In the end, she wasn't, for Scarf looked away first, sighing in frustration.
"A few minutes' break."
A few minutes that wouldn't give them anything unless Jade did something.
Their three captors sat down to rest also, some paces away from them, but still close enough to keep them under surveillance.
The girls huddled together, Kitana pressing herself against Jade's side and leaning her head on Jade's shoulder. Jade leaned back, whilst stretching out her right leg and angling it in a way a leg most definitely should not be angled. However, now it was lying behind Kitana, hopefully almost completely hidden from their captors' view. Jade buried her face in Kitana's hair, whispering:
"The knife in my boot."
Kitana looked up at her, eyes wide. Jade leaned down, softly kissing the Princess's forehead. Kitana inclined her head in a half-nod, then retook her earlier position. Her short arms fumbled their way to the weapon hidden beneath the supple leather. A quiet thud told Jade it had been found; when she searched the grass behind her, her hand quickly grasped the handle.
The fabric they'd been tied with was sufficient enough – they couldn't have ripped themselves free – but against a sharp knife it was useless. Jade sawed though it in a second. She strained her arm to cut Kitana's bonds as well, before passing the knife over.
"Free Mileena, and run. I will keep them distracted," she whispered.
Kitana looked at Jade like she wanted to protest. Jade nudged her in the side with her elbow, pointedly looking away. Jade's heart had time to stop and restart a hundred times before Kitana gave in with a small nod.
Scarf was looking at them. Eyeing them with suspicion, which, granted, he'd done since even before their break, but still – was he getting wise to their plan?
Jade thought fast, suddenly snapping her head to the left, from where they came. Craning her neck, she pretended to search for something beyond the bushes. Scarf hesitantly followed her gaze, trying to see what she'd seen and hear what she'd heard with a hint of anxiety in his features.
To her right, Mileena gasped. Kitana stuck the knife back in her hand.
She lunged.
With the knife raised and ready, she could have stabbed Scarf in the face had he not caught hold of her wrist. She kneed him in the chest; his grip relaxed and she punched him in the face. Sturdy was on his way up; she smacked the broadside of her knife into his temple, then grabbed him by his shoulders, kicked him in the groin, and vaulted over him. Beard was still sitting; she kicked him in the face, the elbowed Sturdy in the neck before she kicked Beard again. She swiveled around Sturdy to kick Scarf in the head and the stomach. Two arms trapped her; she jerked her head backwards, slamming it into Sturdy's face. He screamed, let her go to rub his bleeding nose. She kicked his chin so he staggered back. She spun around and kicked Scarf in the chest, was about to hit his jaw when he deflected the blow. He punched her in the stomach; she doubled over. He shoved her to the ground, using his own body to keep her down, and wrestled the knife out of her hand.
"I got her!" her barked to the other two as they neared. "Go after them!"
Beard and Sturdy gyrated to see what Scarf was pointing at. Jade lifted her head the best she could. In the distance, all you could see of Kitana and Mileena was two blurry dots of bright colors, getting smaller for each passing second. The two men immediately took off after them. Jade struggled beneath Scarf's weight; he thrust her head down into the dirt, then pulled her up, holding her own knife to her throat.
"Tell me one reason as to why I shouldn't' simply cut off that pretty little face!" he snarled.
Jade scowled at him. She was tempted to tell him death would be a great relief after having been forced to breathe in his foul peasant-stench, but that might actually push him over the line and kill her. Besides, right at that moment, she felt something against her hip. A warmth, slowly burning stronger. At first she had no idea what it could be, but then…
"The Kahn!"
He frowned at her, in confusion now.
"What about him?"
"He's calling!" She inclined her head to her belt. A small, golden talisman hung there, the jewel in the middle flashing with light. She had been given it a long time ago, but due to having spent all her time since then on the palace grounds with the Princesses, it had not been used and she subsequently forgot about it. Curse the land, the skies, and everything in-between! She should have given it to Kitana! "He wonders where we are; I must answer!"
Scarf stared at her for moments, expressionlessly. What was he thinking? Did he think she was lying? Would he kill her and smash the talisman in the hopes it would solve the issue?
Finally, he let her go. Putting a step between them, he pointed the knife at her.
"Then answer, and lie. Say you are playing a game, or… anything. Something he will believe."
She nodded, took the talisman, and brushed her thumb over the jewel. The Kahn's image instantly appeared on top of it.
"Jade, where are you? Are the girls with you?"
Even as a miniature projection, the Kahn's booming voice overwhelmed her like the ice-cold water of a newly unfrozen lake. She felt the tip of the blade poke the small of her back. She inhaled deeply.
"Forest beyond eastern wall; kidnapped! There's-"
And that was all she had time to say before the metal handle smashed into her head.