"It seems as if your descendant has chosen to honour the law breaking side of her ancestry." Jonathon taunted Alanna, who was steadily growing redder.
"She is not a thief! She's under trial for magic use!" Alanna spat back at Jon.
"She was only caught because she was on the run with her friend the pickpocket." Jon said calmly, surveying Alanna's angry demeanour.
"I believe you, Jon, were great friends with my husband in his days as a thief. What can you possibly have against Alenne and her current acquaintances? Surely you can't dispute that they'll turn out to be an asset in this grand plan." Alanna said, smirking at her long time sparring partner.
Jon glared back at her, unable to retort as she was, infuriatingly, right.
After a moment silence whilst the pair continued walking, Jon turned to Alanna, sighing.
"I think we should help them. The Goddess won't do anything at the moment, she's too involved with Daine and Kel. I think she intends for us to solve this one on our own. Mithros knows we've had enough experience to be able to." Jon said, raising an eyebrow as he did so.
"So you think I should call George, perhaps Rosto, and then we'll convince Gainel to let us visit their dreams, unauthorised, and somehow free Alenne from jail and overthrow Jonthair?" Alanna scoffed.
"No. I think it's time I took some action against another descendant of mine who is only making this situation worse, whilst you go to Gainel and provide whatever help you can for Alenne." Jon said, before turning on his heel and walking away, leaving a gaping Alanna.
As much as Alanna the Lioness detested taking orders from one of her oldest friends, she knew that, in this instance, it would be wise to do so. Besides, she had more than enough ideas of how to help the girl, and being married to a former Rogue did have its perks when it came to conceiving cunning plans.
The plan was almost ready. All that was left to do was implement it.
I leant against the far wall, opposite the bars, watching the ragged boy in the cell opposite mine pace up and down. We'd decided to wait until roughly the middle of the night, and the guard change over, to put plan 'Break-out' into motion. I felt my eyelids slowly closing, despite my best efforts to stay awake for the plan.
Slowly the world was consumed by darkness, and Alanna the Lioness appeared before me.
"Took you long enough to fall asleep." She commented, her arms folded, legs apart in a defensive stance.
"What do you want?" I said, rather rudely, angry that I'd fallen asleep.
"I can help you." She said bluntly, just as forthcoming as always.
I was starting to get irritated with Alanna, though I'd never actually met her in person. I'd come to realise that Alanna, and presumably the Gods too, couldn't really care all that much for me, despite the previous message, as I'd been locked up and essentially sent to my death. So, I think my frustration at the Lioness' blunt statement was completely justified.
"Oh? And exactly what do you think you can do? If you'd stepped in a few days ago, all would be fine! But no, someone up there had to try and teach me some sort of twisted lesson and now I'm stuck in the palace cells!" I screamed at her, not entirely surprised when her only reaction was a rather bored look.
""I have no control over the Goddess, and she would have her reasons for leaving you here. The question still remains the same, are you going to accept my help, or are you willing to rot in here for the rest of your life? Believe me, your plan will fail without my help."
I glared at her, my purple eyes boring into her own. It was quite an odd sensation, really, looking at someone who was almost your mirror image.
"Fine." I said grudgingly, huffing in irritation.
Alanna smiled tightly at my reaction, before launching into her plan.
The palace clock chimed three times, and throughout the palace, guards walked away from their posts, new guards walking towards them.
In the dungeons, a group of five snuck through the shadows towards the cells, taking advantage of the guard changeover. The chains and tools they carried with them jangled quietly, and they constantly tried to stifle the sound.
Ahead of them, unseen, walked a black cat. The cat would have aroused suspicion to anyone who saw it as it was carrying a set of keys in its mouth, however, no one that it passed seemed to notice it.
The cell in question contained a thin girl, her purple eyes shining in the moonlight streaming through a high window. When the cat reached her, she grabbed the keys, patting it briefly on the head.
"Thanks, Blackie." She whispered, before unlocking her cell down and slipping out. She quickly locked it again, before doing the same to the cell opposite her.
The boy in that cell was grinning widely, his teeth gleaming in the dim lighting.
"So, lemme get this straight. Alanna the Lioness visited ye in a dream, and somehow made ye cat bring ye the keys?" He whispered to the red-headed girl as they snuck down the corridor, looking left and right for guards, and all the time nearing the as of yet unseen group of five.
"Yep. Stick around me long enough and stuff like that becomes normal." She whispered back, looking over her shoulder as she did so, the cat following her like a shadow.
The boy laughed quietly at this.
"Alenne, me mam was a herbalist, and me pa was a Shang warrior. I grew up in weirdness." He said, grinning again.
The girl smiled slightly, but they both quickly stopped talking when they heard the sound of a group approaching.
"Ow! Yates, ye idiot, ye stepped on me foot!" Someone whispered angrily.
"Oh, I'm sorry Sesha, I didn't see you there." Someone else replied mockingly.
"Yates, Sesha? Is that you?" The red headed girl said, stepping out of the shadows, causing her companion to gasp and try and pull her back.
"Alenne?" Someone else said, walking forward to meet the red-headed girl. Another shadowy figure followed, until all seven people, plus one very intelligent cat, were standing in a patch of moonlight.
"Jasson." The red headed girl said, smiling slightly at the black haired figure that had a regal air about him, both blushing slightly.
"Alenne! I'm glad you're okay." Another figure said, walking forward to place her arm on the Prince's arm.
Alenne glared at the girl, her face pale.
"Elenna." She said briskly, before turning to the next figure.
"How'd ye get out?" Sarasai asked, after greeting her friend.
"Blackie brought the keys." The red head replied, looking at her cat fondly.
"That's one smart cat ye have there." The tall figure, Yates, stated, causing Alenne to laugh softly.
"C'mon. Let's get out of here." The other girl, Sesha said, clearly impatient.
They group of seven, plus one cat, all snuck back out of the palace, though no one noticed that the boy from the cell, Graf, was staring constantly at Sarasai.