Chapter 14

This was crazy. She was crazy. What on earth was she thinking? She had no reason to trust him. After all they'd only met yesterday. So why? Why was she willing to risk so much to help him? Kendra's mind raced all the way through the quiet castle halls. What if they were caught? Would she be punished? Bracken certainly would. Maybe even executed. No. She wouldn't let that happen.

Kendra had quickly changed into a simple blue dress and a cloak, after May had finally left her alone. She would have wanted to share her plan with her friend, but she knew May would have insisted on helping and she didn't want her getting into trouble because of her. People already looked down on May for being a unicorn. Kendra didn't want to give them another excuse to punish her.

A thousand thoughts and warnings rang in her head as she made her way to the stables as quickly and quietly as she could. The castle halls were quiet at this hour, but her heart still pounded faster every time she heard a creak or scrape, jumping at the smallest sound.

She had thought of an excuse of course. In case she was caught, she would say that she couldn't sleep and thought a stroll in the garden would help. So far she hadn't seen a single guard to try out her excuse on, but she feared her luck was beginning to change as she turned the corner into the main hall where two guards stood watch at the entrance to the garden.

Kendra straightened her posture, trying to look like she belonged, like she had every right to be there, but as she came closer the guards stopped her. "Apologies miss, but we have strict orders not to let you leave the castle." "And whose orders are those, may I ask." "The queens, miss."

She had been expecting this of course. After all she had been caught the last time she'd snuck out of the castle. "But…" She tried, but the guard interrupted her. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to take it up with her." She was about to protest again when someone else joined the conversation: "It's all right. I'll be joining her." Navarog had appeared out of nowhere coming to stand next to Kendra like he'd meant to be there.

"Your highness," the guard exclaimed in surprise. "So may we pass?" "Of course." The guards stepped aside and Navarog and Kendra waltzed into the garden without looking back.

Once they were out of earshot Kendra dared to speak again. "I…" She tried to explain but Navarog cut her off. "You couldn't sleep and thought a walk in the garden would help. I get it. You don't have to explain." "Thank you."

Maybe she didn't have to explain, but she definitely had to get rid of him. It was almost midnight and Bracken would be wondering where she was. A sudden pang of guilt hit her. What was she doing? Navarog was being so kind. So understanding and here she was sneaking off again to meet another man. Someone she hardly knew at all.

She shook the feeling off. She was just helping a friend. Nothing more. She wished she could tell him what she was about to do, but no matter how understanding her fiance claimed to be, Kendra knew he would never let her get involved in this.

They walked down a rocky path. The moon hung heavy in the sky and the stars shone brighter than Kendra had ever seen them. If the garden was beautiful by daylight it was nothing compared to the garden at nighttime. Huge fireflies flew lazily around, lighting their path along with flowers glowing with soft light. There were no lamps needed as the glowing flowers were planted along the small winding paths. It was truly magical.

They came to a stop next to a pond brought to life by coy fish and beautiful glowing water lilies. "The garden is really wonderful at night, isn't it. It's surprising how much magic you can still find …" She trailed off as she looked up meeting Navarogs gaze. There was something intense about the way he looked at her. Sad even. He took her hands in his turning towards her. "Is something wrong?" She asked to which he only shook his head.

"Kendra I know that things are a little confusing right now and that what I'm about to say might not make sense to you, but I have to say it anyway. I want you to know that as long as you're happy and safe that's enough for me. I know that's how it's meant to be and I'm okay with that. He came closer until their bodies were almost touching. I am so sorry for all the pain I've caused you and I hope that someday you can forgive me." He cupped her face with his hands placing the gentlest kiss on her forehead. I love you," he whispered before releasing her and walking away, leaving Kendra standing in the middle of the garden completely baffled and all alone.

"Hello," Kendra whispered as she entered the softly lit building. It was eerily quiet with the only sounds coming from the horses as they moved around in their stalls. A couple of lanterns hung from the ceiling lighting up the room.

"Bracken?" She whispered again. For a second no one answered and she was beginning to fear something bad had happened to him. What if he'd been caught? "I'm here," Came his answer a second later and Kendra let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Thank goodness.

Bracken appeared from his hiding place behind a corner. He smiled at her and oddly enough he didn't seem the least bit worried. "Did you make it here okay?" "Yeah, no problem." She was still puzzled by Navarogs words and that familiar guilty feeling was creeping up from the depths of her mind, where she had carefully buried it, but there was no time to dwell on that now. She would process all of the information later, but right now she needed to focus on the task at hand.

"So what's this plan you came up with?" Bracken asked. "This." She dug into her dress pocket and held up a thin volume with a worn out cover. There was no tittle and the old book had clearly seen better days. "And how is this book going to help us?"

"I was just getting to that. So I was doing some research at the library the other day when I found this book. It has vast descriptions off secret tunnels that run all around the castle. There's a map in here too. She flipped through the pages frantically, until landing on the correct spread. Here. According to this there's a tunnel that leads straight from the stables into the dungeon. She indicated one of the squiggly lines on the map. It took me a while to figure it out, but I'm sure of it. We just need to find the entrance."

She looked up from the book meeting Brackens gaze. "Brilliant." He grinned at her and she quickly looked away. "Okay, so the book says that the tunnel entrance should be somewhere in this building and it leads underground so we should look for a hidden latch. It has a simple distractor spell on it so it could go easily unnoticed."

They started searching the building. Kendra scanned the floor of the main area while Bracken searched the stalls one by one. Kendra was afraid of how the horses would react, but to her surprise they didn't seem to be bothered by his presence. None of them made a sound as Bracken entered and left their stalls occasionally lifting their heads to inspect the newcomer. It was like they were used to him, but how was that possible when he'd only been working here for a day.

"Hey, I found something. Brackens head popped out of Phillips stall and so did Philips, who started nibbling on Brackens hair. Hey, we already had this discussion today. Stop eating my hair," he hissed to the horse, shoving him away and trying to smooth out his already messy hairdo. It looks bad enough as it is. Kendra laughed, trying her best to suppress it. Now look what you did." He scowled at the horse to which Philip replied by licking his cheek, making Bracken scrunch up his face in disgust.

"So did you find the tunnel?" Kendra finally managed after almost thirty seconds of snickering. Bracken was trying to wipe his face on his shirt sleeve. "What? Oh the tunnel. Yeah. At least I think so."

Kendra stepped into the stall behind him and sure enough under all the hay and dirt she could make out a small latch. "This must be it," She exclaimed as she knelt down to examine it further. The hinges creaked as Kendra pulled on the handle and to her surprise it opened without any further objections.

A gust of cool air rushed out and Kendra could see a stair case leading down into the darkness. Even with her fairykind abilities she could only see a few meters ahead and she shivered with just the thought of what could be lurking in the shadows.

Seth watched as Chaos reappeared first sticking his head through the door, before the rest of him followed. "This place is like a freaking maze, but I think I could lead you up to the main level. There are a lot of guards posted there, but we could still try it. From what I could tell that's the only way out, but like I said this place is a maze and I didn't have enough time to go through every hallway."

Seth thought about his options. They could always try to get out that way. He could use his shadow charmer abilities to hide in the shadows, but that usually required him to stay perfectly still and it would be almost impossible getting past the guards unnoticed. What other option did he have?

While Chaos had been gone Seth had been working on unlocking the shackle he was bound with. Though he hadn't really had a proper mentor to teach him how to use his abilities, Bracken had helped him the best he could. The most useful tool in his arsenal was his ability to open locks.

"Try visualizing what you're trying to do. Like turning a key in the lock. It always helped me when I was learning to use my powers," Bracken had suggested and Seth had imagined. In the end of their training session he had hardly been able to unlock an old jewelry box with a flimsy lock, but it had still been progress. The effort had left him completely drained, but Bracken had assured him it would get easier over time.

Seth had kept practicing and it had indeed gotten easier. He had had no trouble opening the shackle around his wrist and he'd been pacing around his cell for what felt like hours now. He needed to find some way past the guards.

Bracken was smart. Seth knew this. He had gotten them out of plenty of rough spots during missions and Seth had no doubt that he could come up with some kind of rescue plan, but he didn't want his friend to get into trouble because of him. The risk of him getting captured along with Seth was too great and they still hadn't figured out a way to rescue Kendra. The odds where against them and if they lost, they would all be doomed.

What could Seth do? The upper level of the castle was probably swarming with guards, but what about the lower levels? From what Chaos had said it seemed like security wasn't as tight there, but how would that help him? Could there be another exit? A secret tunnel? Or just another dead end? It was an old castle after all and it had been inhabited by the unicorns and fairies before the demons. So could there be some way out? Something the demons didn't know about? Was it worth the risk? What could he possibly have to lose?

He changed his course walking to the door instead, hesitating for only a moment before grabbing the handle. The lock snapped open just as easily as the one on his shackle and Seth crept outside closing the cell door behind him.

"Ready to go? Bracken asked. Kendra nodded as a response. "Let's do it." "Okay, but let me go first." Kendra nodded again, glad that Bracken had offered to go before her. Bracken dug into the satchel that hung on his side, bringing out a perfectly ordinary stone. He whispered something unintelligible and it started glowing with a soft white light.

He started ascending the stairs stopping a few steps down and offering Kendra his hand to help her. She took it and when they were both inside, Bracken closed the latch shutting out what little light the stables provided. A spur of panic took over her, but she tried to assure herself that keeping the latch open wouldn't help once they went deeper into the tunnel. The distractor spell wouldn't fool anybody if the latch was open and that would mean they could be followed.

Bracken grabbed her hand again startling her. "Are you okay?" "Yes." "Look, you don't have to help me if you don't want to." "I want to. I promised you I would and I'm not about to go back on that promise. Besides I've already done this once before and right now I'm your best chance of not getting lost in these tunnels." She straightened her posture and started marching down the stairs, with Bracken right behind her.

"What do you mean, you've done this before?" Bracken asked. "This is how I got out of the castle on the day we met." "Oh." "Did you honestly think they'd just let me walk out through the front gate." "Well no, but I didn't expect you to venture into dark abandoned tunnels, all by yourself." "Why is that?" "Honestly it doesn't seem like something any sane person would do." "Maybe i'm just braver than you thought." "You're definitely different from what i thought." "And is that a good thing?" "Definitely."

Once they reached the end of the staircase, Bracken took the lead again lighting their way with his glowing stone.

"How are you so sure that we wont get caught?" Bracken asked changing the subject. "These tunnels are hundreds of years old, Kendra explained. They've been here since the unicorns and fairies still lived in this castle. No one knows that they exist so the entrances are never guarded. Not intentionally anyway. She reassured him. So we should be able to slip through unnoticed. No problem what so ever. Pretty clever if i do say so myself. Come on, just admit it. You're at least a little bit impressed." "Okay maybe just a little."

They had to stop several times to consult their map, but in the end it took them about five minutes to reach their desired destination. Another wooden latch waited for them at the end of the tunnel.

Bracken put a finger to his lips signaling for Kendra to stay silent. He nudged the door open only slightly flinching at the sound it made. Nothing happened and he dared to push it open completely. The latch was hidden in the end of a dark corridor and to their luck there wasn't a single guard in sight.

They jumped down and Bracken closed the latch behind them. It disappeared like it had never existed at all. Only when she looked hard enough, Kendra could still make out the delicate handle. "So what now?" Kendra asked. "Now we go find my friend."

They started walking through the dark passages lit only by sparsely placed torches, with small weak flames, leaving the halls unlit and making it hard for Kendra an Bracken to see ahead.

When they neared their first corner Bracken stopped mid step, making Kendra bump into him. Just as she was about to protest to him stopping so suddenly, Bracken grabbed her pushing her against the wall and covering her mouth with his hand, stopping whatever sound would have escaped her. He brought a finger to his lips, before releasing her and creeping closer to the corner. He placed the glowing stone into the satchel dimming its light completely. Kendras heart pounded as she stayed perfectly still, listening to the loud footsteps echoing through the dark corridor.