AN~ An UPDATE! So yeah, guys, it's camp NaNoWriMo, and I decided to do fanfics for that this time around, see if I could actually get some done. I finished one, but I've updated all the rest except one, so that's progress, and there's still like nine days left for me to update something else yay!

QotU: WHY ARE YOU NOT REVIEWING ARE YOU BORED? ARE YOU MAD AT ME? DID YOU JUST LEAVE? WHAT IS GOING ON?

Old QotU Winner: SilSha (as per usual anymore) because DEDICATION.

Jonas had never thought war could get monotonous. But that's what this was. They went out and fought, and then they came back. They tried not to die. They tended each other's injuries. They ate. They slept. They did it again. Some days he dunked his head in a bucket of water because he couldn't stand how filthy he was. Once in a while there wouldn't be any enemies, and they'd take a day off. He hadn't changed his clothes in a month.

He couldn't tell who was winning now, or who was losing. All that mattered was that they kept fighting.

Nobody knew which of them were Sneaks and which were Tricksters, now. They all set traps and shot arrows at their enemies from hidden places, and it didn't matter where they'd come from.

And when the information came that Sabrina had been captured, that their queen was gone, it stopped meaning much at all.

Oh, he didn't stop fighting. None of them did.

But he stopped hoping for an end, stopped thinking that things could be normal, that they could win. Now they were all just fighting because they were too stubborn to give up.

He didn't know what the strategy was anymore. He hadn't even bothered to go see Relda in what felt like forever.

His life was turning into a kind of purgatory. Sometimes he wondered if he'd already died and nobody had bothered to tell him.

Something had to change, soon, or he was going to go crazy.

Daphne packed the last of her things into the bag and mentally went over her list. She wanted to make sure she had everything she'd need to rescue Sabrina.

Knives, practical clothes, a wand, boots, clothes, dried food, a toothbrush, rope...

Yeah, she was pretty sure that was everything she'd need. Now she just needed to find out when they were leaving.

"Daphne, what are you doing?" Snow's voice said from the door.

After all, the only problem was that nobody knew she was planning to go with them.

She turned a defiant look on the woman who had been almost like a mother to her for the past four years. "I'm packing," she said.

Snow sighed. "You're not coming, Daphne."

"I am," Daphne said. "I have to."

"It's too dangerous," Snow said.

As if that was the first time Daphne had heard that.

"I can't stay here," Daphne said, and for the first time, she dropped the stubborn, solid voice she'd learned from so many others, and let the desperation she was actually feeling creep into what she was saying. "It's Sabrina. She's too important to me. I'll go crazy worrying if you make me stay here while you go after her."

The truth was that the only way they'd be able to keep Daphne from going would be to tie her to a horse and have armed guards tow her to her parents, and she didn't see that happening (and she might find a way to sneak out even then- her sister had trained her well). But things would go much easier if they'd just let her come with them.

Snow rubbed the back of her neck, looking at the ceiling. "This is a really bad idea," she said, but her tone was resigned. "Your grandmother's going to kill me. And if she doesn't, your father definitely will."

"Granny knows how strong I am," Daphne said, fighting the smile that was threatening to plaster itself onto her face. She was going to be allowed to go! "And Dad doesn't have to know about this. You can always tell him I snuck after you and it was too dangerous to send me back alone."

Snow sighed. "Come on downstairs," she said. "I was just coming to say goodbye. We're about to head out."

Daphne gave her teacher a fierce little smile. They were going to get Sabrina back.

Sabrina came back to consciousness slowly. First, she became aware of an intense headache. Then she felt cold, rough stone underneath her- she was lying on the floor somewhere. The air around her was cold, too, and there was a breeze whistling through the room, chilling her to the bone. It smelled like spices and something else she couldn't name, and she could almost hear people whispering on it.

She ached all over. She was pretty sure she'd broken at least one bone (it felt like a broken arm, at least), and she could feel a number of bruises and the sharper pain of lacerations all over her body.

What had happened to her?

Oh, right. Her brain worked its way sluggishly to the memory of the attack in the Tracks, and she pushed herself, frustrated, trying to think.

She must be in Magica, then. In a prison, she supposed.

But what kind of prison had open windows that blew cold breezes at the prisoners? Most of the ones she'd seen were underground.

She had to open her eyes.

She didn't want to. What she wanted to do was to go back to sleep until her head hurt less, or curl up and shiver (or better yet, cuddle into Puck to borrow some of his warmth).

Puck.

Her eyes snapped open involuntarily. Where was Puck? Was he all right? Had they killed him?

Puck was lying next to her, directly in front of her eyes. He wasn't moving.

Well, at least she knew where he was.

Now it was time to look around.

Sabrina pushed herself up with a groan, using her broken arm to support herself as she levered herself up onto her good arm, eyes squeezed shut. She was in horrible shape.

Once she was in a sitting position, she hissed, pulling her broken arm to her chest, and looked around.

She was in a small room with seamless stone walls that drew to a point to create the ceiling. The floor slipped into the walls without breaking- was she inside a mountain? if only her head would stop pounding so she could think- and there was a funny looking patch of floor over to her left that was probably the way in, magicked so she couldn't get out. Placed wherever they would fit there were windows all across the room, creating the breeze that whipped her hair into her face.

The strangest part of this tower-prison was the mirrors.

They were spaced evenly around the walls, just... mirrors. Hanging there, like this was some kind of dressing room in Sneak. Only Sabrina had seen the windows, and she knew there were no passages behind these mirrors. The walls weren't thick enough.

For the first time in years, she was struck with the thought that it was an enormous invasion of privacy to have spyholes behind the mirrors of dressing rooms.

But that wasn't important right now. What was important was that Puck wasn't moving, her arm was broken, and she had no idea how to get out of here. One glance out those windows told her that trying to leave that way with a broken arm would be suicide- she could see mountaintops below her. And she could tell without checking that she was still basically in her underthings, without a single weapon or tool to help her. She supposed she could use Puck's clothes for something (if she could think up a way to make them useful), though she'd wait until he woke up to ask for them.

"I see you're up at last," someone said.

Sabrina's head swung around so fast she cracked her neck. She could have sworn she and Puck were alone in this room.

There was someone looking at her from the inside of one of the mirrors.

And as she stared, trying to figure out how this was possible with walls thinner than the length of her hand, more faces appeared within the mirrors. She'd heard of scrying through mirrors, but this... Sure, she hadn't paid too much attention in her classes on Magica, but she'd had no idea they could do this!

Sabrina swallowed, looking around. All of the mirrors except one now had people looking out from them. Well... something like people. One of them looked more like a deer, and several of the others weren't exactly human, either.

"Um... hello," she said, doing her best to sound brave.

A chorus of greetings washed over her, and the whispers she'd heard as she regained consciousness suddenly made sense.

"You've been asleep a long time," said one of them- a dark-skinned man with an accent Sabrina hadn't heard since her training in foreign languages began, several years ago. "We were beginning to wonder if you'd ever wake up."

"How- how long?" Sabrina asked. Her voice cracked, and she realized, around the pain, how dry her throat was. And how hungry she was.

The figures in the mirrors looked at each other, then back at her. They shrugged. One of them, a short man in a patterned shirt, said, "It's hard to tell time, here. A few days? A week, maybe?"

A week!

One of the figures disappeared, then reappeared, holding a glass of water. "Here," she said. "You look like you could use this."

Sabrina looked at the surface of the mirror and then at the person on the far side of it. "How do I get it?" she asked.

"Just reach your hand in," the woman said.

"How about you just reach out?" Sabrina countered, though she was tempted to just take it. She was thirsty.

"We can't," the woman said.

So they were stuck here as much as she was. Unless they could get out on the other end, the wherever they were.

"How do I know I won't get stuck in there if I reach in?" Sabrina asked warily. She wasn't getting stuck in any trap just 'cause she was already at a disadvantage. Though what they'd need to trap her any further for she wasn't sure.

The woman laughed. "Don't worry, honey," she said. "This cage can only hold one, and I'm it. They tailored it just for me."

Sabrina considered for a moment before forcing herself with an effort onto her feet and stumbling over to the mirror.

She hesitated before reaching her hand in, though.

"Don't worry," the woman encouraged. "It doesn't hurt- as long as nobody breaks the mirror."

So Sabrina stuck her hand into the mirror.

It rippled.

It was disconcerting, seeing her reflection and seeing through it to watch her good hand take a cup from a woman who only existed in this two-dimensional space (the mirror swung as she reached in, and she could see that there was no hidden space behind it). But then she had the water and she was guzzling it down and it almost didn't matter because she was so thirsty.

The cup was empty before she knew it, and she pressed her hand back through the mirror, returning the thing. She even managed not to flinch, though she had to tense herself to hold back a shudder. She didn't like magic. It was too strange, too hard to control. Too powerful.

The cup was replaced in her hand with a hard biscuit (travel fare), which she was forced, by the staleness of the thing, to eat more slowly. By the time her thirst was quenched and she'd been fed to satisfaction, she was much more willing to trust these not-people, and a lot closer to feeling like a human being, although she still ached nearly everywhere and her head was pounding.

She sat back on the floor, leaning against Puck and rubbing her temples with her good hand.

"Your companion..." one of them said, giving Puck a worried glance. "He is not well."

Sabrina grimaced. She knew that, but she could feel him breathing against her back, and she'd woken up, so he had to be all right, right?

She needed him to be all right.

She wasn't entirely sure when she'd moved from fancying Puck to depending on him, though she imagined it had happened sometime when they were hiding on their own in the Tracks. But that wasn't important. What was important was that she somehow cared about this boy king more than she'd ever cared about anyone outside her family, and that she wasn't sure what she'd do if he didn't wake up.

If that happened...

The Magicians would regret ever setting eyes on the two of them. It didn't matter that she was alone, barely out of girlhood, with a broken arm. She'd tear this blasted country down rock by glamoured rock, and she'd use those rocks to bash in the heads of the people who'd done this. And then she'd invade their country. See how they liked it.

"He lost much blood," someone else said, drawing Sabrina out of her bloody thoughts. "We were unable to do much, but you might be able to help."

Sabrina grimaced. She knew a good deal of first aid, but it was kind of late for that, if they'd really been here a week. And she wouldn't be much good with a broken arm. "I can't really do anything," she said.

"Bring him here, and we will do what we can," the woman who'd fed her said. "I have things in here which could heal him-"

"Not a chance," Sabrina snapped. No potions were going into her lover. Not while she could help it.

The woman gave her a sad look. "Not all magic is bad, you know," she said. "I have seen people who think like you often, since Magica changed, but once it was considered a force to make the world a better place. You are too young to remember that, though."

Magica had lost its monarchy before Sabrina was born, yes. But that didn't mean she was willing to accept that these people were trying to help her.

Then again, the people who had put her in prison were the same ones who'd put them in prison. And the enemy of her enemy might just be her friend.

And Puck needed help.

"Fine," she relented.

"Bring him, then," the woman said.

It took a long time for Sabrina to get Puck over to that mirror, and just as long for her to get him through it onto the other side. She was a strong girl, but she was working with only one arm, and her stamina wasn't what it usually was. Whatever magic they'd used to knock her out, it had taken a huge toll out of her.

But finally, he was in the mirror, and she sat outside of it, panting heavily. This better work.

"This will take some time," the woman said. "Perhaps you should sleep while you wait?"

Sabrina shook her head. She wasn't tired like that. Besides, there was no way she could get to sleep with all of them watching her like that.

"Perhaps you should tell us your tale, then," the man in the patterned shirt said. "As we are all prisoners together."

Sabrina shrugged. She might as well. So she told them her story, starting with the disappearance of her parents when she was ten, moving through her angry years to the arranged marriage and the threat of war, to her time in Trickster, to her sister's captivity. She explained about finding her parents, and about being captured. It took a while to tell.

When she was done, though, Puck still wasn't awake.

The one with the deer face nodded. "We knew some of this," he said. "We can see through other mirrors, and you appear often. You are important. But thank you for telling us."

"I'll say no problem if you tell me your story," Sabrina said. "It's bound to be an interesting one." Plus it would give her something to judge whether or not she should trust these people.

The dark-skinned man nodded and said, "Fair enough. We are all siblings."

"What- all of you?" Sabrina asked, incredulous. None of them looked anything alike, and most of them didn't even seem to be the same species.

He nodded. "We are all but two of the children of the rabbit queen."

Sabrina stared. They were saying that not only were they family, but they were the royal family of Magica, children of Queen Lancaster, one of the greatest witches ever to rule the mountain country. She'd known the woman had a big family, but not this big.

Not to mention that the royal family of Magica was supposed to be dead- slaughtered when the Magicians revolted decades ago.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" she asked suspiciously.

The deer-faced one nodded. "The rumor was spread to protect us, during the revolt. After our mother killed Snow, one of her friends placed us in these mirrors to save us. Here, we are no harm to anyone, and we could not step forward to rule the kingdom."

"At least, that was the plan," someone behind Sabrina muttered.

"What- what exactly happened?" Sabrina asked. "That made Magica revolt? Nobody ever explained it to me." In fact, this had been very purposefully glossed over in her lessons, and none of the refugees from Magica would talk about it, no matter how much she questioned them.

"It's a long story," a woman with blue skin said.

Sabrina leaned on her good arm and said, "I've got time."

The dark-skinned man laughed and said, "You most certainly do."

Sabrina looks at them all expectantly, waiting.

The one in the patterned shirt said, "It began with our sister."

Nobody had thought it was a good idea for Daphne to come along, but the fact that Snow had agreed was enough to keep them from sending her back, so she'd become a permanent installation on the rescue squad.

A few days in, she was honestly thinking that maybe she should have stayed behind. She'd forgotten how much she hated camping, with the hard beds, cold nights, and long days.

But this was for Sabrina. She couldn't go back, not if having her there made it any more likely that Sabrina would be safe.

Of course, Daphne wasn't so sure she could really be of much use. They had people who knew Magica, and they had warriors, and her uncle was a Sneak and a Scholar. What did they need her for?

Sometimes she really wondered if she was a burden to everyone. Just useless. The little sister who didn't quite fit in anywhere.

And other times she wondered if she'd come along on this trip just to prove she wasn't useless.

Either way, though, she would be useful here.

And so she didn't complain, even when Pinocchio started to, even when they were back in the endless darkness of the tunnels into Magica, even when most of the soldiers started groaning as they got up in the "mornings," even when they started having to ration the water.

She wouldn't be a burden, and she would help rescue Sabrina. No matter what.

When they'd made it though the long journey into Magica, they didn't storm the castle immediately. Daphne supposed she shouldn't be surprised. After all, they were being led by two sort-of-Sneaks and an Artisan. And Sneaks always had a plan.

What they did do was hide out in a little green glade by a stream, among a group of short men who appeared to be good friends of Snow's.

There, they were fed and clean, and they worked up their strength. They didn't leave the shaded glade, though. They stayed there, in the shadow of the mountain that was Magica's capital.

The short men left, though, and came back with news of what was happening. Sabrina and Puck were in the castle; their execution and trial were scheduled for the same day (Daphne fumed a little inside at the injustice of that); they were at the top of the mountain; and Magica needed to get this war over quickly, because it was drawing out too long, their forces were being worn thin. If Sabrina and Puck weren't gotten rid of soon, things would wear into a stalemate that could last forever.

Snow, Billy, Jake, the seven short men, and the captain of the soldiers Billy had brought all talked it over and decided it would be impossible to get Sabrina and Puck out from where they were now, and that the only time to strike would be when the two rulers were being transported, either to their trial or to their execution.

So they waited.

And they planned.

AN~ All right, so the end of Sabrina's section was kind of a teaser but I wanted to get Daphne's second section in and Sabrina's would take way too long if I did that. We ARE actually winding this thing up now, though. Like two chapters left, I think.

Feature: "Life is Worth More than Gold" by IceQueenandFireQueen
Sabrina and Daphne are runaway princesses living with a thief when Daphne nearly dies. The chapters are short, but the story is pretty good.

Many Review Replies:

1-2-4: Uncle Jake's been pulling strings in the background the whole story. I just haven't made it clear enough, because I only decided it was him halfway through.

Artisticdreamer: Thanks so much! I'm not stopping until this is doen with. :)

Axel Treehorn: 1. I don't know. They're like, twelve. I don't think that's quite old enough for a pairing (Puckabrina excepted, a little). And I don't really care who ships what (I do what I want). DaphnexRed was from someone on deviantART, actually. 2. I'm glad you liked it! I'm not really a Phinabella shipper because I love watching her try and fail. It's hilarious. 3. Um... What? Where is this comment?

Guest: You're welcome for the chapter, and thank you for the compliment! (It's because I was an obnoxious little snot just like him when I was fourteen or so. I grew out of it. He will too.)

KathieSaysHi: Oh hey, I remember you! I'm glad you like it and didn't just disappear 'cause I was boring you. Yeah, I know Daphne's age is just... my timeline is screwy. Daphne is twelve currently, going on thirteen. Sabrina was fourteen at the very beginning of the story, and now she's sixteen. I'll go back and look for the name switches.

Lalaland5634: Review 1: Well I didn't picture him as a middle aged man 'cause he's the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz, but whatever works, since we've never even met the man. :) See, I HAD to name them Sneak and Trickster because Sabrina's the queen of the Sneaks and Puck's the Trickster king, and that's the whole basis of the story, and I liked the theme. I see where you're coming from with the others, though it's a bit late to change it.
Review 2: It's a medieval thing; marriages solidify contracts and make sure you won't turn on the other country, 'cause now you have family there. Also Titania and Relda wanted to show the countries that if Puck and Sabrina could get along, then everyone else could dang well get along too.
Review 2 part 2: Are you by any chance writing this on your phone or a tablet, because I'm seeing a lot of auto"corrects."
Review 3: When I edit it, I'll see if I can throw Daphne into the meal. My Daphne's a bit older, and sh's a lot different 'cause she's grown up in a world where being Sabrina is a good thing and being Daphne isn't valuable- you'll see more of that later.
By the way, your TLWR review: So you're tired of SG but you still read the fanfics? I feel like you should write your own fic 'cause you seem to have a lot of ideas going around in your brain that I'm probably not going to edit into this (I don't think Renee's a whiner, and Daphne IS a brat. In the books, too.)
All of them: Thanks so much for your extremely detailed reviews, they made me smile.

SilSha: My birthday's the 26th. Thanks! You definitely win the QotU for that. That's COMMITMENT.

SPATW: I'm aware. But I'm running out of questions, and I'm not going to ask questions like the one you just suggested 'cause I've never heard of that show.

Zstar1: Thanks so much! I'd have updated faster but school is a b*tch.