Chapter Eight: The Plan

It is the middle of the night as Aaron, Lexi, Ponderrah, Iolene, Beau and Iymp sit inside Lei's room due to his request. Like Aaron, everyone received a letter on their pillow.

Iolene paces around nervously as she had to lie to Mali. She pretended to go to sleep when she snuck out. An old trick she has played many times in her life. Aaron lies on Lei's bed looking up at the canopy mindlessly.

Lexi looks at herself in the mirror looking at the dark purple stains on her skin. Her back was forever damaged from the explosion. She sighs as she is not used to seeing herself this way. Reminiscing of her father's pain... The explosion that gave her father red draconium poisoning and burns... Insufferable. A tear falls down her cheek. If only her father survived as she did. She turns around breaking her deep thoughts as Lei stumbles into the room. His hands are full of papers and scrolls. Dropping many on the floor. Iolene quickly helps him by grabbing pages and placing them on a nearby table.

"Thank you all for coming." Lei whispers. "I am going to kill Sazan Jona! I am going to Unmei." Lei announces.

"What?" Iolene gasps.

"How are you going to do that?" Iymp asks. "You just going to walk up to him and stab him? Lei... You are smarter than that."

"I am the only family member who came out of the bombing unscathed. Chin and Chen... They cannot fight. I am the only one who can..."

Lei walks to his table and unwraps a large map of the Blue Draconium Empire. Pointing to the capital of Unmei.

"We will go undercover as we did at Schnarat. It will just be us. Aaron, you are incredible! You have amazing speed and strength. Iolene you have extensive knowledge of healing. Lexi, you are a priestess knowing fire and draconium skills. Beau, you are a brave dragon, you are our friend. I know you are strong! And Iymp... You can talk and steal."

Iymp has a large grin on his face. "Aw... Thank you!"

Lexi laughs next to him but quickly changes to a serious demeanour. "Your country is at war Lei... It is extremely dangerous! There is a huge possibility that we could die long before we reach Unmei."

Lei with enthusiasm. Believing with his whole heart this will work. "Not if we keep our wits and stay away from the large battlefields. Which I have stolen some plans!" Lei then brings out a letter. "I stole this from my mother's table in the war room."

"Lei... This is crazy." Iolene whispers as she places her hand on his shoulder.

Lei shuffles the papers as he looks at all the maps. "I am going regardless... I do not care if I die. I need to try... My father and my sister are dead, and my home is in disarray. Sad as this sounds... I trust you all the most."

Aaron walks over to Lei. "You know Iolene can't go! It's far too dangerous!"

Iolene looks at Aaron annoyed well knowing it is dangerous and obvious. "I can speak for myself, Aaron..." She folds her arms. He looks back at her and sighs.

"Iolene if you have a huge hand in ending the war. It is a guaranteed that people from my country will support you. You can't keep hiding forever! This is your chance!" Lei grabs Iolenes hand as he makes his case to Iolene. "I need your help, Iolene. Use your gift to help us. Help bring us peace!"

Iolene thinks hard about her choices. Not used to having any... Her heart beats fast. She closes her eyes... Many of her visions of the past show her ancestors being adventurous. Taking risks and throwing caution to the wind. Her horrifying previous experiences in the wild feels minor compared to what her parents went through. Feeling Lei's cold hands shake as it felt like time has stopped. To go... Or to stay? Mummy... Daddy... Older Brother What should I do? After a long pause, Iolene nodded yes in silence. Aarons' mouth is agape. "Really?" he says. "What about Stein and Mali? We are forgetting about them."

"Oh..." Everyone says at the same time.

"They can stay here... We are sneaking away!" Lei says as he turns around as he hands Lexi notes of battle plans.

"Lei... I can't leave Mali here." Aaron sounded worried.

"Yes, you can. He will be safe here..." Lexi says as she shoves the notes into Aarons hands.

Aaron's eyes shifting left and right nervously. "No... I can't..." He stutters. He bought me, SAVED me, spend so much time with him. Celebrate my birthday and gave a me a beautiful gift to then abandon him. How can I do such a thing?!

"Aaron, I need your help..." Lei pleads to Aaron. "Please..."

"Why Aaron? This will be perfect for you." Lexi asks.

"Mali is the man who saved me... I can't leave him... He's been kind to me." Aaron says softly, looking at Iolene. Her soft face is a nice distraction for him. Her face remained neutral with her eyes full of sorrow for him. She steps forward and gently grabs his arm. She notices that he is trembling.

"It is not that hard Aaron just leaves him here! There is plenty of alcohol for him." Iymp says jokingly as Beau chuckles.

"It's not funny..." As he sounded defeated. "None of you will understand." He then drops the notes and leaves the room. Leaving everyone to look at each other.

Lei sighs in frustration hoping for Aaron to go with them. He then looks at Lexi. A large smile formed as she looks back. Without saying a word Lei knew she will go with him.

Lexi was lucky to survive the explosion. Her back scarred shielding Iolene from the blast. Not only that her country went through a comparable situation. Their war has just ended when Blue's has just begun.

"I have been training with the priests every day for the past few months. Shaping up my martial arts. I plan to leave at the end of the week. I will prepare clothes, money, and gear." Lei shows Lexi the list of items.

"Iolene speak to Aaron. You connect with him the most." Lei asks her in desperation. Iolene nods as she and Lexi leave the room. As Lei speaks to the dragons to tell them the details. Iolene's confidence goes down as she hoped Aaron would go with them. Lexi is the strongest with offensive draconium magic, Aaron is physically stronger and knows how to survive situations on the fly. Without him, Lei might have to get a mercenary and they are dangerous to deal with as their loyalty is money.

They walk over to the male servant quarters where Aaron has been residing since their arrival at Lan-Se. The servants are still asleep as their loud snoring can be heard.

Many of the bedrolls are empty after traitor executions and many are sent to war. It felt haunting as Iolene felt a shiver down her spine.

Aaron looks up and sees the two women.

"Iolene... Lexi..."

"Aaron..." The women say in unison.

Aaron sighs. "You know this is dangerous. But I know you are stubborn." Aaron points to Lexi. "Iolene the wanderer..." He then points to her.

Iolene with her gentle voice. "Maybe Mali can come with us. He is a priest is powerful. You might not have to leave him."

"Can't imagine Stein coming with us... He'd kill us instead." Lexi says sarcastically.

"Yes... He would." A familiar voice sounds. The women turn around and see a small man behind them. His cheeky grin was across his face. Both of their eyes are wide open as they slowly look back at Aaron.

"You told him?" Lexi whispers in anger.

"Yes," Aaron says simply.

"Why?" Iolene asks.

"Worst secret keeper..." Lexi whispers.

"Aaron in a sad way still sees me as his owner. We have not been separated since I bought him..." Mali stands next to Aaron. "He just had a nice birthday so don't piss on him..."

"Oh..." Iolene says sympathetically. "I thought you said you gave him freedom."

"I did... But that does not stop the brainwashing. He just can't simply leave without telling me." Mali then pats Aaron's shoulder. Aaron shakes his head nervously.

"And as for Lei's plan. It is stupid and dangerous. Lei wants revenge and revenge is blinding." Mali gets straight to the point.

"It's revenge he is entitled to," Lexi says in defence. "I will be going." Folding her arms as she looks down at the small man. "I'm sure Kenneth would not mind... He and the elders can't stop me."

"Iolene..." Mali sighs in frustration. "You know you cannot go!" He folds his arms and looks up at her. This is the first she has seen some anger in his expression.

"He helped me when I was kidnapped... I owe him the same favour, besides, I already agreed. Can you come with us?" Iolene speaks to Mali as straightforward as she could.

"You wish me to go with you?! No! We are safe here! GO TO BED! We will speak no more of this! I will speak to Lei and the Empress..." Mali raises his hand and points to the door. I cannot believe it I am sounding like Stein...Mali's heart breaks seeing the young girl's face, a face of sadness. It is for her own good... She is nowhere near ready...

Iolene straightens her back and clenches her hands into fists. She always hated that signal. She storms out of the room, if the servants' quarters had a normal door, she would have slammed it. Fighting with Mali would make the situation worse. Iolene thinks about her time in the priesthood where she snuck away from the hospital to look at the parade nearby. She was only thirteen at the time. She didn't know what was happening, but it was beautiful seeing sculpture boats being pulled by dragons with people dancing on top.

She runs into her room and slams her door there. She collapses on the bed screaming in her pillow. For my safety... Always... As suffocating it always is... She turns around and looks at the chest of her mother's letters sent to Nerida. Opening it she grabs a letter strokes her mother's handwriting. She then presses it to her chest as she does every night. Mum... You always wrote that dad has an adventurous spirit and always helped his friends in need. Like him, I always want to help people in need. But the world is scary... More than I ever imagined. Being kidnapped by bandits, being taken by Lord Sly and then traveling to Macdan then to the Blue Empire and watching events fold around me. She lifts her nightgown dress to her upper thigh her she was slashed by Sly with her mermaid dagger. I could get hurt like this again...

Iolene then falls into a deep sleep where her gift of the past resides.

Eyes opening to reveals another royal room. Laced with everything fancy, A room Iolene has now seen countless times. Her family lived in this palace for thousands of years... Iolene is the only one who hasn't lived in the golden palace. A thought that always plagues her mind.

The place looks warm... Even though she couldn't feel it... After all, this is only a memory.

Shaking my head I rub my head. Seeing my hands I notice they are covered in whipped cream.

"ARGH" I shout.

Looking next to me I see I see Aelius standing next to my bed to wake up. He looks young here... Easily in his teen years.

"Morning blondie!" I say annoyingly as I grab a pillow and slam his face with it.

"Morning brunette..." He says jokingly.

"You are such a shit!" I shout.

"Language!" Aelius shouts and runs out of the room laughing.

"Ugh..." I groan and wash. Looking clean and presentable. Wearing the gold cloak of royalty. Walking into the gold throne room where his parents sit every day. Iolene concludes that she is in the eyes of her uncle Grand Prince David. Seeing her grandparents sitting proudly with their dragons by their side. Iolene happily thinks that the dragons have their own thrones.

"Good Morning David... Sleep in did we? Don't do that again..." His father warned.

"Sorry, father..." He says as he walks to his standard position. As Grand Prince, he is always standing behind his fathers' majestic throne. He sighs as dragons and humans one after another discuss their problems. It was incredibly boring... Iolene quickly noticed her father Aelius was not present. Where is he?

It was all of a sudden Aelius burst into the room wearing his gold draconium armour. Iolenes consciousness is astounded. If she was in her physical form she would have her mouth wide open. His armour is glittering gold and blue, his face is covered with a dragon faced mask. Dragon faced shoulder pads, with gold metal covering his vulnerable areas. His armour is made of pure gold draconium. Something she has only seen in the past. High generals in Aquarius City have similar armour sets but is less magical and made of Light Blue Draconium.

"Mother, Father... Lord Erastus has been kidnapped! Suspected by the small rogue dragon group called Separatists."

The Emperor and Empress stand up in shock.

"No Aelius!" The emperor demands. "Let the soldiers handle it. Get Elder Tulia immediately she will sort it out from here!"

"Father he is my cousin! I will go and rescue him! You know I am more than capable!" Aelius turns around and begins to walk out of the throne room. To David's surprise, they did not stop him.

David thinks to himself wishing he can have that freedom. Mother and father would have never let him go... But David doesn't want Aelius to stop either... Aelius is not Grand Prince. He is looking for his own way in the world. And he has a secret... Aelius saves people in the dead of night. David found out when he saw him climb into his bedroom.

David is proud of him... One day he himself will be Emperor. But he is happy knowing that his little shit of a brother has a good heart and will do anything to help.

Iolene opens her eyes as she notices dawn has arrived. She looks out of the window and then to her mother's box of letters. She bangs her head on the pillow a few times in frustration.

Lei helped save me... As much as I will get hurt. I must help others... It is all I have and can do... Help... I will run... And run I shall... I will not stand by any longer.