Disclaimer: I own nothing. Actually I own lots of things – a house, a car, a dog, a business. But I don't own Tin Man, and that's really what we're talking about here. :)
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After seeing Az safely tucked into bed and giving Ahamo a kiss goodnight, DG retired to her own room. Lady Tia came and quietly helped her out of her ball gown then bid the princess a goodnight as well.
Sitting on her bed in just a chemise and a pair of Other Side underwear (she couldn't quite get used to bloomers) DG reflected on the evening. The whole 'coming out' thing hadn't been as painful as she would have imagined, though it was a little embarrassing to have to stand and smile while all those men came to ask to date her in front of the entire O.Z. She hadn't had to dance with anyone too revolting and she got to spend some quality time with Glitch and Raw – the latter deciding to stay on the outskirts of the festivities due to travel fatigue and all the heightened emotion. The only thing she would have wished was for Cain to have announced his intent to court her – though she knew that he hadn't had a chance to talk to her about it, or his son, and Wyatt Cain wasn't the type to cause a scene that would stress anyone else out. Besides, she wasn't entirely sure he knew she didn't intend to court anybody else.
But Jeb had been at the ball, and acting weird around her, so she wondered if Cain had talked to his son about her and he didn't approve. When he hadn't signed on as her guard as she had wanted him too, she'd asked Cain what had happened. He said his son just needed some space – some time. But last night, Jeb seemed upset with her and with his father, but for the life of her she couldn't get him to talk to her more than a few social niceties and small talk and Cain hadn't had time to talk to her beyond the necessary conversations. The whole thing gave her a small case of indigestion. She figured, now that the ball was over, that she would have some more time to devote to getting answers to all these questions.
She hadn't seen Cain since right after Azkadelia fainted, and she didn't anticipate seeing him anytime soon, considering he was responsible for the safety of all the distinguished guests who would stay in the palace tonight. But she missed him, immensely, so she slid off her bed and popped her head through the panel door into Cain's room. The room was sparsely furnished, but richly so, and it was surprisingly cluttered. Several racks hung on the walls that held several guns of various make and model. Beneath them a table held bottles and rags and cases of ammunition. Another table in the middle of the room held stacks of maps and palace layouts and a cup with a handful of pencils.
Stacks of books of varying height lay everywhere – on his nightstand, on one of the chairs at the table, and on top of his armoire. DG skimmed the spines of some of the books; they told their own story about her tin man. There were science and history books, physics and war strategy, philosophy and a couple of novels. DG surveyed the room. She decided it wasn't cluttered, just full – the room of a disciplined man who had a whole life to cram into the small space. Walking to the armoire, she opened it and stuck her face right in all of his clothes. They smelled like soap and sunshine and air and a hint of gun powder.
Taking one of Cain's dress shirts, she went to a plush club chair sitting in the corner of the room and snuggled down with it, breathing in the scent as she dozed off.
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A few hours later, Commander Cain dragged his feet back to his room. Between his normal crew and the new guys from the army, he'd managed to staff two guard shifts – making sure everyone was looked after and that his men got a chance to sleep at some point as well.
The moment his door opened, he came alert. Someone was in his room. Silently, he slid inside, his hand on his gun. When he saw DG curled up in the chair in the corner, he let out a relieved whoosh of air.
Closing the door and locking it, he leaned against the wall and stared at the princess smiling in her sleep across the room. He noticed one of his shirts draped over her and let his heart pound – annoyingly – at the sight. While he quietly took off his dress uniform, he told himself he needed to get some sleep and he didn't think he could to that with the princess so close. But, by the time he'd stripped down to skivvies and put on a soft, loose fitting pair of pants, he decided they could get some rest...they were adults and could share a bed simply for sleep.
"Hey sweetheart," he said softly, squatting down in front of the chair and stroking a finger down her cheek.
DG stirred. "Hi," she greeted him sleepily. "You finally got everything squared away? Do you get to stay put for a few hours?"
"Yeah," Cain assured her. "Everybody who needs a guard has a guard. Tannen's taking the first shift for me and I'll relieve him in a few hours."
"Oh, good."
The commander stood up and held out his hand for DG, who took it and allowed him to help her to her feet.
"I gotta get some sleep, this is probably all the time I'll get in the next 36 hours, but, um, do you stay with me tonight?" Cain asked, a little hesitantly, running a hand over her hair. DG nodded, flitted around him and crawled into his bed, scooting down contentedly under the covers.
Cain laughed quietly at her and stooped to pick up the shirt she'd discarded. "You've wrinkled my shirt horribly," he admonished.
"Do you really think you're getting it back?" DG asked. "Except to wear for awhile after it doesn't smell like you anymore, of course."
"Of course," Cain said. Throwing the shirt around a bed post, he got into bed and pulled DG into his arms. The princess immediately cuddled up to him, putting a hand on his bare chest and tracing patterns along his collar bone. They just lay quietly for a little while, feeling each others heartbeats and listening to each others breathing. Cain felt DG relaxing into him. "Hey, before you fall asleep, I wanted to tell you that I thought you looked beautiful tonight."
"Thanks," DG accepted his compliment with sigh. "You looked pretty smashing too," she said. "Made me insanely nervous to walk down the stairs with you standing so...so...ruggedly handsome at the bottom."
Cain smirked at her, leaned slowly toward her and gave her a solid, but simple kiss. "I love you," he reminded her. He loosened his hold on the princess and settled back against his pillow before he decided he didn't really need any sleep.
DG already decided he didn't, unfortunately. "Mmmhmm, me too," she muttered, her eyes half-closed. She stretched up and kissed him deeply, pressing herself against him. Cain let her convince him to keep kissing her for a while until her small, soft hands started to wander too far south.
He leaned back from her. "Hold it right there, kid," Cain said, grabbing the princess' wrists in his hands.
"What?" she whined, wrapping a leg around his hip and putting on her best pout. The tin man put both her hands in one and used his other to move her leg to more appropriate places.
"If you wanna stay here you gotta let me get some sleep – I gotta be back on duty in three hours."
DG grimaced and tugged her hands out of his, folding them primly between their two bodies. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she said, smiling sheepishly. "I promise I'll behave. Your sleeping body will be safe with me."
"I will believe that when I see it," Cain snorted.
"Whaaa?" DG acted offended and pushed away from the commander. "Just wait – you'll wake up and find I've been on my best behavior."
Reaching across the space between them, Wyatt grabbed her arm, rolled her over and tucked DG up against him. "I don't want you on your best behavior," he whispered in her ear, leaving a string of kisses down her ear and neck. "I want you just how you are."
DG sighed and curled up next to him, arching her neck to give Cain a little more access. "That was exactly the right thing to say," she told him with a giggle.
Cain pressed one last kiss to her temple then settled back against his pillow. "Well, I try," he said with a yawn. "Go to sleep, Deeg."
"Go to sleep, Tin Man."
She didn't have to tell him twice.
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Once DG assured him that Azkadelia was fine, Tannen went back to the ball – now winding down rapidly. When the lieutenant found his boss, Commander Cain had the Royal Guard lined up outside the ballroom, giving orders and schedules for the rest of the night and through the next day.
"So you'll take four hour shifts to get us through until after tomorrow morning's activities – that means you'll have to get your sleep where you can because we're going back to our regular rotations after that." Everybody groaned. "Don't worry, men, I'll make an exception and supply you with coffee and food while you're on duty to keep you awake until we can all get a reasonable stretch of sleep."
Cain indicated Tannen. "Lieutenant Commander Evergreen will head the first shift and I'll take the second. All right, you know where you need to be, you're dismissed." He turned to his second-in-command. "How's everything looking on the princess front?"
"Fine," Tannen reported. "Azkadelia just overdid it I think, and DG took herself too bed as well."
"Great, well then, I'm gonna leave you to make sure these guys stay alert and I'll go check in with her Majesty then turn in. See you in a few hours."
Tannen waved his boss off and began his rounds. For the next three hours, he patrolled a route of the palace mapped out by Cain to check on each stationed guard and monitor the weaker security points. He passed by the princesses' suite several times, checking in with Layton and Roberts who stood outside the sitting room. At one point, he escorted a maid around the palace, supplying piping hot coffee to the wilting guards.
The change of watch couldn't come soon enough, but come it did. There was lots of grumbling – both grateful and ungrateful depending on which end of the shift the grumblers were. Cain took a brief report from Tannen then dismissed him until morning.
The lieutenant gratefully hustled to his room, and got out of his uniform and into more comfortable attire. Just before he sank gratefully onto his bed, he remembered that he hadn't actually checked on Azkadelia since she went to sleep. He knew DG and his mother probably checked on her, but he wanted to see for himself that she slept peacefully.
He crept through the panel door and peeked out at the princess. The room was eerily quiet and chilled. With a furrowed brow, he called out.
"Azkadelia? Are you all right?" She didn't wake up, or even stir. Tannen started to feel concerned when he wasn't sure he could even hear her breathing. He tiptoed toward her bed and reached a tentative hand out and placed it on her arm. Her skin was cold like death, and it prompted Tannen to reach out and feel for her pulse – thready and faint – in her wrist. When he released her hand, it fell limply to her side. He would have thought she was dead if not for the shallow breath against his face when he put her cheek near her mouth. "Your Highness!" he cried, shaking her shoulder. He received no response and just as he was about to cry out for help, Azkadelia began to glow. Her Light filled the room and warmed her skin and Tannen's heart.
"What is going on?" he muttered. With a weary sigh, Tannen sank into a chair near Az's bed and settled in to watch over her until he knew she was back from wherever her dreams took her.
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When she opened her eyes, it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim light – but when they did, she felt fear course through her. She was in the cave. She scrambled to her feet and ran toward the opening only to be thrown back from it by an unseen force. She tried to summon her Light – use it to free herself, but her Light was gone – snuffed out like a failing candle.
She was trapped in the cave.
"You'll never be rid of me," a familiar voice whispered, coming as if from the air itself and echoing across the walls. "You'll never be rid of me."
Azkadelia sank to her knees and covered her ears, but the witch was inside her head.
"You are nothing but the evil stain I left in you – nothing!"
Az tried again to summon her Light, but the attempt only made the Sorceress cackle. "I smothered your light once," she crowed. "How disappointingly easy it was to do again."
The taunts and vicious words increased in speed and volume, surrounding Azkadelia both inside and out – the walls of her prison ringing with every wicked word the witch said.
Finally, Az remembered what to do. She started to sing and she sang louder and louder until the witch grew weary of the song and left her for a while.
Again, she crept to the mouth of the cave. This time, when she tried to stick her hand through the opening, she got a wicked shock. With a yelp, she moved away.
"I'll never be free," Azkadelia moaned. "I'll never be free from this."
She cried until she had no more tears to shed, then she just stared into the forest beyond the cave. Suddenly, a man appeared in the distance and he began to walk toward her.
"Help me!" Az screamed, waving her arms frantically. "Help me please!"
Another man appeared out of the foliage, and then she saw two more join him from behind a tree. All four of them came toward the cave. A few seconds later, Azkadelia saw a woman coming around some bushes and she too strode purposefully toward the princess. Another person emerged, and then another and another. Soon, scores of people – perhaps even hundreds – filled the forest in front of the cave – coming en masse toward her.
The first man she saw reached her before anyone else. He was an older man, proud in his bearing, and Az thought he looked familiar. He stepped up to the mouth of the cave.
"Help me, please," Azkadelia cried. "I'm trapped."
"Do you remember who I am, Your Highness?" the man asked.
She shook her head. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I don't."
"I am Brynd Evergreen."
The princess gasped. "By Ozma, you're Tannen's father."
The man acknowledged her with a nod. "You are not a prisoner here, Azkadelia."
"But I am!" she sobbed. Lord Evergreen just smiled encouragingly at her and stepped back into the mass of people behind him.
Another man stepped forward. "Do you remember me, Your Highness?"
Az stared hard at him. "You must be one of Tannen's brothers," she said. "You look like him. I remember the witch executed you for treason against her."
The man nodded. "I am Tegan Evergreen. Azkadelia, the witch has no power over you anymore."
"But she has trapped me in here, and when she comes back she will surely kill me!"
But Tegan just smiled at her and, like his father, disappeared into the crowd.
A woman stepped forward. "Do you know who I am?" she asked. Az shook her head silently. "I am Adora Cain. And Azkadelia, you are more powerful than the witch."
"I'm not," Az sobbed, receiving another shock when she swayed into the force holding her in the cave.
Adora smiled sympathetically – she looked beautiful and peaceful. "Oh my friend, you most certainly are."
While Az tried to think of a way to get the people to understand that she was helpless before the witch, the very creature's voice pierced the air again, cutting through Azkadelia's very soul.
"You are nothing without me. Look at all these people you hurt – they've come to make you pay for your crimes against them."
Stunned, Az forcefully ignored the witch's voice, twitching in her effort to bring it down to a dull roar. She turned and looked at the people outside the cave. As she scanned the crowd more carefully, she realized she recognized some of the faces – the witch was right. These were all people killed – murdered – during the Sorceress' reign. For a moment, fear griped her heart, causing the witch's voice to get louder. Was this her judgment day? Had these souls come back, looking for retribution?
No. No, she didn't think so, for they all stood, looking serene and happy – and they were all smiling very encouragingly at her, as if willing her to know what they knew. The people crushed toward the cave mouth, all calling to her at the same time.
"You are not her prisoner...Azkadelia, you have all the strength you need...You are not her prisoner...the witch will never win over your Light...take courage Princess...you are not her prisoner..."
The Sorceress' voice got louder as the people moved closer to the cave. Azkadelia struggled to focus on the bracing words from her ethereal advocates. It took all her draining strength to reach out to the people on the other side of cave mouth. She reached down to the very bottom of her soul and summoned her Light. She thought of DG, reaching out to her during the eclipse – when they'd beat the witch the first time. The memory gave her the last ounce of power she needed.
"You can't win," the Sorceress hissed.
"I already did," Azkadelia realized, tears springing to her eyes. Light leapt from her hands, spreading over her whole body. Through the bright blaze, she could see the people on the other side, calling their support and encouragement. She blocked out everything else but their peace and the Light flowing from her. With a disappearing wail and a great rumble, the cave exploded around Az, leaving her bright light to fill the woods around her – enveloping everything and everyone.
There was no more fear, no more pain. Just peace and freedom.
Az opened her eyes and – though it was dark – knew she was back in her bed. She looked over and saw Tannen asleep in the big arm chair next to her night stand. All of a sudden, she had an overwhelming desire to be near him, to feel the touch of another human being. Before she lost her nerve, she crawled out of bed, put on her robe and wedged herself down beside Tannen, leaning against his arm.
He started when her weight hit him and came partially awake. "And where did you go Your Highness?" he asked, sleepily shifting a little in the chair so her legs draped across his lap, his arm around her shoulders. The position was simultaneously foreign yet familiar, and it neither frightened her nor make her feel anxious.
"To tell the witch I wasn't her prisoner anymore," Az informed Tannen.
"Good. 'Bout time," his words slurred a little and his eyelids blinked heavily. "Hey, you were all lit up there for a while."
"I un-smothered my Light," she explained.
Tannen's eyes shut and stayed that way. "Fantastic," he said. Azkadelia smiled. She wasn't sure he would remember this conversation in the morning, but it felt nice to tell him these things, so she didn't stop.
"And I talked with everyone whose life the Sorceress took, even your father and brothers. They all looked peaceful and happy and reminded me that I have my freedom – they helped me claim it from her."
"I'm glad to hear that," the lieutenant murmured. "So, is it done?"
"It is," she assured him, remembering when she'd asked him that so many months ago.
With a heavy sigh, Tannen tightened his hold on Azkadelia and pressed a kiss to her forehead, then fell back asleep. Az stayed awake, content with her thoughts and tucked up against her bodyguard, her friend, until the first sunrise began to turn the sky gray. Then she climbed off the chair, grabbed a blanket and draped it over Tannen before she climbed into her own bed and allowed sleep to take her.
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Author's Note: Many, many, many thanks to Queen Isabella, Miller0259, KLCtheBookWorm, and Little Mender for being such faithful reviewers. Thanks to everyone else who has reviewed as well, I appreciate your feedback and critiques.