Alice didn't realise she'd fallen asleep until she heard a familiar voice whispering to her. She felt fingers softly run through the tresses covering her left cheek and her eyes didn't flutter open until she heard that gentle voice become urgent.
She sat up and turned around to meet frightened green eyes.
"Tom…What are you doing here? Someone will-"
"I had to be sure you were all right. I'm getting you away from here, Alice…now!"
Tom plucked out his special key from under his shirt but as he went to unlock the shackles binding Alice's wrists, she grasped the collar of his shirt, hands shaking and tears welling.
"Listen, Tom. It's a trap! Desperate for revenge, Lukrasta, you've got to get out now!"
Tom shook his head.
"I'm not leaving you in his hands."
"Lukrasta will kill you! Just go, Tom, please. The County…no…the world needs you, Tom. Don't need me, does it?"
Tom's eyes locked with her brown ones and she saw a hardened resolve.
"No, Alice, this time, I know best and there's no way I'm leaving you here," he replied in a strong voice that made Alice's eyes widen in shock and fall silent. It made Alice's heart race and it wasn't just the tone he was using. His voice had become more masculine than the last time and she recalled how she used to tease him about his voice just before they'd found out he was being sent to Bill Arkwright in Caster…
"I can't believe you won again!" Tom exclaimed, springing to his feet once Alice had rolled off him.
She shot up at the sudden change in pitch of his voice mid-sentence. First, she clamped her hand over her mouth in surprise, then laughed hysterically, hard. So hard she almost collapsed on the grass.
"What's so funny?" Tom frowned at the hysterical Alice before him. Her cheeks resembled a beetroot already.
"Oh…Tom…oh…your voice…didn't you notice? Went high, mid-sentence, it did…means it's breaking, that!" she cried of laughter teasingly.
Tom's cheeks burned with embarrassment.
"I don't find it funny!" he argued indignantly.
At that, Alice clamped her lips together, but it was just too difficult not to laugh. All the same, she walked up to him.
"Come on, Tom, don't be like that. Just means you're turning into a man, it does."
Alice was on the verge of giggling loudly again.
"But you've got to admit…it's hilarious!" she told him, trying to stifle a snicker.
Tom couldn't tell whether it was the way Alice suddenly laughed again about the whole thing, or if she'd made him realise the comical side of it. Gradually, he cracked a smile and laughed along with her.
"All right, Alice…you win!"
Both Tom and Alice, once started, found themselves unable to stop laughing – until the door to the house swung open.
"Now what's all this about?" came a bellow from the man Alice disliked for his harsh attitude towards her: John Gregory.
At the memory of that man, Alice snapped back out of the clouds. Old Gregory always ruined her good memories when he came into them. Alice then looked down to find Tom now unlocking the shackles binding her ankles as she inattentively rubbed her sore wrists that she hadn't realised he'd freed.
Once the shackles fell with a clang, Tom held out his hands and helped Alice to her feet. She gazed up into his green eyes, lost for words as her hands rested lightly on his forearms, his hands cupping her elbows with his thumbs caressing absent-mindedly.
Both had the desire to lean in and kiss the other but they restrained. Not only had things changed, but also this was neither the time nor the place.
The moment was interrupted when the cell door flew open with a clang, followed by a growl that demanded Tom's attention and his head snapped towards the door. Standing there was his worst enemy.
"Thomas Ward. I told you he'd come, didn't I, Alice?" he asked, nodding towards her.
He received no reply as she muttered something under her breath and glared up at him.
Suddenly, Lukrasta fell to his knees and let out a yell of agony. While the guards behind him were all distracted with helping their master to his feet, Alice turned back to face Tom, pushing him away from her slightly.
"Go, Tom!" she pleaded, tears falling.
With a desperate look towards her, he ran past the guards and was almost climbing the stairs when he froze dead in his tracks. Lukrasta called after him darkly and when he turned back, Tom's eyes widened in horror. Knotted in Lukrasta's burly fist was Alice's black hair. While he was on his feet, Alice was down on her knees, her neck strained by Lukrasta tugging her hair brutally.
Tom's hand reached down and tightened on the hilt of his sword, the Starblade, gritting his teeth and planning whatever attack plan he could quickly conjure. His other hand tightened around his rowan wood staff and he knew he had the silver chain at his disposal tucked under his shirt as well.
"Do you really want to be the cause, Tom? Give in now and I won't hurt her…There's a good lad," Lukrasta mocked.
Alice whimpered but still shook her head.
"Don't, Tom, get out now and don't come back! Be all right knowing you're safe, I will…ah!" she cried out as Lukrasta leaned down and grasped her throat, tightening his grip slightly.
Tom was torn. He couldn't go near unless he had a death wish but he couldn't let the last part of the prophecy told to him a few years back come true either – he couldn't let Alice die for him.
"Let her go, Lukrasta!" he yelled.
"If you want me to treat you like a boy, Tom, I can do that. So, I'll count to three and tighten my grip with every second. On three, this little witch will die and I will catch you anyway. One."
Tom looked over at Alice with a panic-stricken expression as she gasped, Lukrasta's hand clenching around her throat a little more.
"Alice-"
"Two." Lukrasta's fist tightened in her hair as well as his hand constricting her throat.
"Lukrasta, why are you-"
"T-Tom…please…" she gasped.
Lukrasta readied his hold to tighten at its hardest. Silently with eyes watering, Tom walked back into the cell, defeated. He was unable to look at Alice as Lukrasta threw her to the floor like she was dirt while two guards disarmed and bound him tightly. What could Tom do against a group of guards and a powerful mage, anyway?
Alice screamed in outrage, although not as loudly as she could've done, as he was brought to his knees by the heavy ropes. The Starblade was given to Lukrasta while the guards took the silver chain and rowan wood staff. How could Tom not once try to put up a fight?
Finally, his frightened eyes found hers and he saw nothing but fear and sadness. Lukrasta barked at all the guards to follow him up the stairs and bring Tom with them.
Lukrasta looked back at Alice, his fiery eyes sparked with triumph.
"My greatest thanks, my sweet, for making this possible."
As Lukrasta strode out with the guards behind him, the jailer locked the cell door once more and Alice threw her head in her hands.
"I-It's all my fault. Don't deserve to die, Tom don't," she cried out to the gloom.
