This chapter is 25 to 50 percent longer than your normal chapter! Woohoo! I had fun writing this one, but only because I know what's going to happen next… heh heh heh… Many things are uncovered in this chapter, my friends and faithful readers. Quick, take a guess about who the mysterious man is! No, it's not Luc. Luc go bye bye in the actual game, people, he's dead. Or is he? Well, that's for story tellers to decide, I suppose. I have a feeling none of you will get it right anyway, but you guys keep on trying!

My apologies, celeste9, I did not respond to your review in chapter 11. So I'll do that now. If you think that chapter left you in suspense, wait till you read this one. This one is going to leave you killing me till I'm dead. BWAH-HAHAHAH!

Fallen Dragon: I'm going I'm going! It takes time to write these things with school and stuff. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

This story is just too fun, folks. However, I think school is totally ruining what joy people would get out of this. So when I finish the story, I'll repost it a couple times to let those who missed it read it again.

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Chapter 13: Half of a Jail Break

It took Chris a moment to realize who she was, where she was, even what she was. She was so tired, exhausted beyond the limits of her body. She needed more sleep. But there is no time! screamed her inner voice. She was lying on her stomach, of that she was sure. The floor was hard, dirt, she decided. There was a dank smell of the place, and she remembered a cell, and Borus's face. At the thought of her soldier, a pang of guilt and worry surged through her. She creaked one eye open.

It was the same cell she remembered. A small flickering light shed a glow into the cell from the opposite side of her head. She dared not turn her head yet. She waited, and sure enough, a shadow passed over the cell in front of the light. She used all of her abilities to assess the situation she would otherwise have no time to assess. … a man… by the way he carries himself… heavy, slow gait… one and a half seconds and about two feet per step. She strained her ears to listen further. His boots did not echo to her right, but the did to her left. A wall to my right then, and a long passage to the left…

The shadow seemed to reach the wall Chris imagined in her head, stop momentarily, then turn. As soon she heard his boots spin across the floor in the motion that accompanied his turnaround, she began to count. one, two, three… At fifteen seconds she could not hear his footsteps. Thirty-nine, forty… Something behind her shifted. What was that?... damn, I lost count… She waited for the man to appear again and turn, and began counting. Again, at fifteen, she could no longer hear his boots. She waited, making sure not to lose track. At reaching a minute and twenty-five seconds, she heard his footsteps again, echoing down the corridor, and at a minute and forty seconds, the shadow reached the wall, paused for two seconds, and turned. Chris began doing the math in her head. Roughly two feet per stride, about one and a half seconds per step, fifty seconds from one end to the other… she thought, double-checking her calculations. Then the corridor is roughly sixty-seven feet long, give or take a foot or so. From what she could see of the cell, she guessed it was about seven feet across at its front. Then nine cells until the end of the corridor, leaving four feet for a door. How many are occupied? She smirked to herself despite the immediate situation; Salome would be proud.

The guard returned, turned around, and began again down the corridor. After his footsteps faded, Chris steeled herself to move in the fifty seconds she had, then moved a stiff hand, palm to the floor, elbow perpendicular to the floor and at her side. With a grunt of effort in her tired state, she managed to successfully roll herself over. In her vision now was Borus, propped against the cell's dirt wall, and two figures across from her cell. Borus was unconscious, but she saw that his chest rose and fell. So did those of the others. She let out a rather large sigh–– then quickly repressed as much of it as she could when she heard the guard approaching again. 'Goddess, he moved faster this time around!' His steps faltered, and Chris shut her eyes and tried to remain as still as she could. He approached the cell cautiously now, and Chris cursed her mouth and lungs. A shadow fell over the flickering light, eyes searching the cell. She held her breath and remained as still as she could; she did not want to be discovered alive, or at least awake. She had a strange hunch that they thought she was dead, for in all truth, she had been.

When the shadow did not move after what she felt was a minute, cold sweat began to form on her forehead, and her breath bulged in her lungs. Finally, when she was sure she would burst, the shadow moved, as though hesitating. A sudden idea came to her mind, and she considered putting it into action. It would be risky, she knew, for no weapon accompanied her. She knew that the guard would not bother to patrol if she, Borus, and the others across from them were the only prisoners. She would deal with them later, she decided. Very carefully, she opened one eye, looking at the guard through her eyelashes so that he could not catch the gleam of her eye in the light. He moved again, then resumed his patrol duties, just as he turned and his eyes were off her, she made a very tiny, barely audible whistle, then shut her mouth.

The man spun around now, convinced that something had made a noise. He seemed to be considering Borus; perhaps he was snoring, Chris saw him think. He seemed to dismiss it as this, and as he turned, Chris let out something that sounded like a meow. Entirely frustrated, the guard drew his sword, unlocked the cell, and entered. Chris could not have hoped for more as he stepped over her; he really thought she was dead! Just as the man did step over her, one leg on Borus's side of her, one leg on the side of the cell door, Chris balled her fists together, and with all the power she could muster from her position, she punched upward between the man's conveniently parted legs.

The man stopped short, shook for a moment, then collapsed on top of Chris. She had done her job well, and the man would be unconscious for an hour. With an effort, she pushed him off of her, and scuttled back until she was leaning on the wall next to Borus. She let loose her breath, and it took her a moment to get her wind back, but when she did, she pushed off the wall so that she was on her knees, then, using the wall for support, stood. She felt her regaining her energies from adrenalin, but she knew the rush wouldn't last. She needed food. Surprisingly, or not surprisingly (however you chose to look at it), she was not at all thirsty.

The guard taken care of, she snatched the keys from his side, looked at his clothing, then looked at her own. She had an intense urge to rip the blood-soaked shirt from her body. But she did not find pleasure in being seen nude, especially with one of her esteemed colleagues in the area. She looked back to the guard's clothing. A little big, but it will have to do. She stripped the guard of his clothing albeit leaving his cloth underwear, and taking a glance at Borus, then those across from their cell, she pulled of the stiff, smelly, and sticky shirt she had been forced to wear before the torturing. She quickly slipped into the baggy pants of the bandit guard, tightening the belt. She noticed a badge hidden in the folds of his clothing, and quickly pocketed it.

Next she went through the painstaking process of wrapping her upper body with the black material that the man once had on him. She knew she was lucky he was so large, rather than smaller than her. If he was, she would never be able to wrap up her entire body with the material. That done, she pulled on his over-shirt, followed by a strange band with a pendant at its center that went over her head, then attached to her belt, the pendent at the center of her chest. She had had to use it when the company of five had originally disguised themselves to enter the city. Salome had suggested that it was there to hold the material under the over-shirt in place. She had to admit, it did secure it.

Feeling much cleaner, she turned her gaze to Borus, and shook him gently. He stirred, then his eyes shot open and he reached for his sword. It was, of course, not there, and Chris spoke up. As soon as he saw it was her in the uniform, he visibly relaxed, getting up and stretching. He seemed to remember something, and he turned around and studied Chris carefully.

"Milady," he started. She blushed slightly as she watched his eyes go from her arm to her chest where they stuck. She absently thanked the Goddess for the darkness of the cell. "You are alright? Fully healed?" She remembered the horrible pain of the chest wound, and the feeling that her arm would fall from her body, and shuddered.

"Thank you for your concern, Borus, but the rune did its job well. If anything, there are scars. But the pain is gone." Borus nodded, his eyes returning to her face. She saw something flick in his eye, a pang of something. She looked at him quizzically. "Is there… something amiss?" He seemed to search for words.

"My lady…" He seemed to fight with something. Finally he sighed, as though giving up. Better to tell her now, he decided. "Milady, your… your hair…" Chris's eyebrows rose and she lifted a hand to her back. Then her shoulders. Then her neck. Her eyes widened even more as she reached her ears, where she finally felt her hair. Her bottom lip trembled, and her eyes became glazed. But she removed her hand and shook her head, her newly shortened hair splaying like a dancer's gown.

"My hair and looks matter not at the moment… after all… it will grow back with time…" Borus saw that she was only saying this to convince herself rather than he. She pushed the thought from her mind. "Now we must escape, but we must free those who are allied to our cause." When Borus looked at her in question, she said, "The prisoners, Borus. There are others here with us." Together they left the cell. Borus still had his bandit outfit on, but the guard had confiscated his mask and his orange band. He would be spotted out like a sore thumb. They needed to find him a mask.

Chris moved to the cell opposite to their own and unlocked the door with the guard's keys. She moved to one and Borus the other, and brought the men out of their slumber. They said many prayers to Sadie that their captain and Sir were safe before aiding Chris and Borus is helping the other prisoners. Not all cells in the sixty-seven-foot dungeon were occupied, but at least half of them were. The first cell examined held the Harmonian man Borus and Percival had seen at the gathering. He rose after a shaking and stood rigid when he saw four people dressed as bandits around him. But Chris was quick to explain who they were and the situation. "I am Chris," she started, "and this is Borus, and…" she went on to explain how they had gotten there. One of the soldiers offered the man a hand, and he took it gratefully, standing up.

He studied Chris for a second, then his eyes widened beneath bushy eyebrows. The man was older than all the others, in at least his forties, but he had a wise look to him and looked skilled with a weapon. "Chris… you mean, Lady Chris, of the Zexen Knights?" Chris nodded. The man opened his mouth to say something, but stopped short and shut his mouth. They found a dead man with graying hair in the next occupied (or previously occupied) cell. He looked to have been one of the bandits, but none of them were sure. The Harmonian spy said a few words of prayer before asking if he would be allowed to change into the man's garb. Chris nodded her head and continued down the aisle, the other Zexens on her tail.

The next three cells contained three "deserters," as they called themselves. They said they had seen through His plans and tried to run away and find help. They were caught and imprisoned. Chris openly welcomed their help. Another dead person was in the last occupied stall. One of the deserters shook his head, muttering, "… too young…" The bushy-eyebrowed Harmonian emerged from the cell of the first dead man in bandit garb and joined them.

"There is nothing more for us here," Borus said, turning to look at everyone. "Now we must escape. We have no masks or orange bands, which we must obtain immediately. Lady Chris received one from the guard." Now Chris looked at Borus and the two Zexen reconnaissance knights.

"My dear friends, it is time to knock some heads together." They nodded. Then she turned to the three deserters and the Harmonian. "You will help us escape?" One of the deserters nodded eagerly.

"Anything to escape ourselves and bring Him down." The Harmonian pulled at his mustache.

"We must leave soon. Already that man knows of our escape."

……

Percival's horse snorted, foaming at the mouth. He had ridden his steed hard through the city's furthermost outskirts, but had been blocked at the exit. Finally, the guards changed duty after an hour of hiding, and Percival urged his horse through at the last moment. Now he was avoiding Bandit scouts in the dark of night. He galloped around a hill, but there was a scout! He pulled his horse to a stop and whispered in his ear. The horse's ear flicked back, listening to his soothing tone. As trained, the horse quieted down.

The Bandit passed without noticing the two and turned around another hill. Percival inched his horse around the hill and was glad to get a clear view of the Zexen camp. Without a second thought, he urged his horse into a full gallop. Snow flew out behind them. There was no bandit who could catch them now.

Percival had known Chris and Borus had been caught. Apparently the rumor had started in the fortress and spread through the city as fast as lighting among the soldiers. Percival had overheard two talking on their way to scouting shifts. He needed to pass the information on to Salome. He also wanted to tell Salome to send a message to Hugo and Geddoe to hide. The Guy, as Percival had begun to call him in his head, would surly be after them once he had Chris's rune. After hearing the rumor, he had had the strongest urge to run back and help Chris and Borus escape. But his duty was to get information to Salome, and he would not fail.

The lights from camp became brighter and brighter until finally the entrance was mere yards in front of him. He absently hailed the guard, who started at his quick approach.

"Milord!" he called out as Percival surged past. "This is a no-galloping zone!" The guard was completely and thoroughly ignored. Percival made a sharp turn, his horse skidding but maintaining control, and then there was Salome's tent. He was off his horse before the poor creature could even stop itself, and Percival ran to the tent flap, knocking loudly on a piece of wood there for that purpose.

"Salome, come quick! I have urgent news." Shortly after, a light flickered on, then Salome appeared at the door with the funniest night cap Percival had ever seen. He would have laughed if his information was not so important. "Salome, Lady Chris, Sir Borus and the two other knights have been captured." Salome rubbed what was left of sleep from his eyes.

"Come in, Percival, and tell me everything."

……

The eight escapees ran through the corridors. The deserters and Harmonian spy, known as Herman, seemed to know their way around. Quickly, seven bandits had been knocked out, seven bands taken from their arms, seven badges discovered in their clothing, and seven masks pulled from their heads. They came to a more frequented hallway and fell into step with other soldiers going about their business. Finally they reached the entrance, their exit, and walked through into night. Chris shook her head when she saw a moon in the sky. How…? she found herself asking. Herman, the Harmonian, seemed to read her thoughts.

"The bandits have some incredible magic at their finger tips. They tricked many of the people who live here, and they use the sun and moon and sky to spread a feeling of normalcy." Chris nodded. Borus motioned toward the stables where the strange man had made them stow their horses. The deserters and Herman found their own horses to steal while the Zexens recovered their horses, who had been nicely cared for. Chris's mare huffed a sweet-smelling greeting through her nose when she recognized Chris. Tacked and mounted, the party moved out of the stables and began down the path that would lead them from the rise. Halfway down, a voice called out, one that was somewhat familiar.

"You there! Hey!" They turned in their saddles to the voice, and it was the man with the blue armband that they had seen earlier. The one that had helped them into the fortress. Now he was mounted, and he moved up alongside Chris studying her for a second. "Hey… I remember you! You're the slowpoke. I guess you're new around here or didn't hear the order. Every group is to be guarded by a blue-rank." Chris felt sweat creeping down her forehead.

"Well, sir…" He slapped her on the back heartily.

"Please, call me Khith. Now seein' as you don't have an escort blue-rank, why don't I do that for you! Where're you headed?"

"We're going out on scout duty next," Borus offered. Khith twisted in his saddle to look at Borus.

"Scout duty? Shifts don't change for another hour." Chris's mind raced, but Herman moved his horse forward.

"They're increasing security after the earlier intrusion. Good thing they were captured."

"Oh, you didn't hear? They escaped! Eight of 'em. One of them is dead too. I suppose they took his body to give it a proper burial or somethin'."

Chris cursed under her breath. Why does information travel so quickly?… but they do not know that I am alive.

The man laughed. "Yep, we found eight guards unconscious, includin' the one guarding the cells. They could be out there anywhere."

Borus nodded. "Good thing they are increasing security then. We had better hurry." So the group began to move down the remainder of the hill, then into the city. Chris grew to like Khith as he began telling tales of when he was a new recruit. It seemed the others enjoyed his company as well. Everyone in the city seemed to know him and would wave. He would shout back a greeting and no one paid any attention to the eight bandits that followed him. Chris found herself wondering how exactly they could tell him apart from other bandits. She wondered how he could even recognize her from before. But she did not dare ask, for fear that it would give them away.

They finally reached the exit of the city, and Khith explained to the guards what was going on. The guards seemed to know Khith too, and they were happy to let the 'extra scouting party' through. Chris sighed as they traversed the passage that would lead them above ground. She wanted to sleep so badly. They emerged at the top of the passage, and Khith explained to the guard there what was going on. But as soon they were clear of the exit, Chris caught a dark figure standing a little ways into the distance in the corner of her eye. She squinted to see him better in the crisp night air, and her eyes widened in horror when she saw who it was. The figure's hand began to glow. She whipped around to the group.

"RUN!" The eight looked back at her in confusion. "Damn it, run! Quickly. Knights, return to camp, now!" The two Zexen knights obeyed immediately, and galloped off in the direction of the Zexen encampment. Khith felt her tone of authority to be so persuasive that his feet began to move his horse into action. The deserters followed the Zexen knights, and he did not know what compelled him, but he urged his horse after them. Only Borus remained behind Chris. "Borus, get out of here! He is going to use a rune!" she whispered harshly. Her horse fidgeted underneath her. Borus did not move.

"I will not leave you milady!" Winds began to pick up, harsh and breathtaking. Now the figure stepped forward, the rune in his hand growing brighter than ever.

"So Chris," the figure said. "You really are alive?" The man chuckled evilly. "We'll have to do something about that, won't we." It was a statement, not a question.

"Borus!" Chris shrieked, the wind taking most of her voice with it. "Leave!" He shook his head and drew his sword. Suddenly, the ground began to melt beneath them. The man rose higher and higher… no, they were moving lower. The ground beneath then began to depress into the earth and its bottom filled with water. The man began to chant, and the depression became deeper and deeper. Rain poured from the sky and helped to fill the depression. The water surged high as the depression became lower. Five feet of water. Eight feet of water. Fifteen feet of water. Waves began to form, and the water surged to and fro, tearing Chris from her mare. Wind howled, lighting flashed, and thunder roared. Chris tried her best to stay afloat, but the waves made it increasingly difficult. She could not see Borus. The man's chanting grew louder and two bright lights appeared in the sky, different from the lightning. The lights grew and grew until she saw two dragons, colored of a brown-blue, surge from the heavens. Chris wanted to scream, but could not. One came down on her, biting through her torso's flesh with its sharp teeth. The other came down somewhere else in the growing pool of water.

Down, down the dragon dragged her until she hit the bottom. Pain erupted in her chest as her lungs bulged and the dragon's teeth sank deeper, holding her at the bottom. She need air, she needed to breath. She forced down her panic and concentrated on chanting in her head. He own hand began to glow. She let the rune read her emotions, her will to save Borus, to save Zexen, and her hope to live. The blue suddenly sprang to life, and Chris's own dragons fell from the sky. They rammed into the man's attack and Chris felt her body torn free. With everything she could muster, she took the chance to swim to the surface.

She plunged into the air atop a frothy sea of red water. A memory came unbidden of the same thing. Déjà vu. She spat the copper tasting water from her mouth as thunder roared overhead, realizing it was her own blood she swam in. Through the torrent, she could barely see an edge of the strange pool, though try as she did, she could not reach it. The man stood at the edge of the pool farther up than she could reach. The waves did not let her be and she could not get a clear vision of him. But she could hear a few of his words over the gale.

"For a time –– thought I would let –– live after –– rune. To live –– shame. –– suffer payback. But –– me –– choice, Lighfellow." He spat her name in disgust, and she was only half listening to him as she was continually thrown beneath the water, struggling to breath. "I'll take –– rune now, –– hope –– death worse –– all Hells!" Chris coughed up vile water as she tried to compute his words into meaning within her jumbled head. Her body throbbed and her toes and fingers were numb from the freezing cold water. A wave spun her around to face the man, and another pushed her head under. When she again rose to the surface, a red aura surrounded her hand, and the feeling of being torn apart met her hand. Her body went through a spasm, and all too fast the rune was gone. Her hand felt empty. A sudden breath of wind threw back the man's hood, and Chris could not believe her eyes.

"C-Councilman Geo Girth!" she sputtered, once again being pulled under. Suddenly everything came rolling into place. He had sent the message to Budehuc to lure them to Vinay del Zexay. He wanted to keep an eye on what happened to determine what to do next, and he could not leave Vinay del Zexay because he was a Councilman. He knew what was going to happen on the plains because he suggested it! He knew where they were making camp because they had to send that information to him! He was cut off from information about Hugo and Geddoe's whereabouts when the Council took a vacation, and that was why he tortured Chris for information. He thought he could still use Chris as a pawn from his position in the Council and tried to keep from killing her, but she got too troublesome… Chris's mind reeled.

The Councilman she had considered sane! Whose decisions were sound! He had stolen Harmonians from the trade route and told them that Harmonia had betrayed them. They had willingly joined him in his plight because he lied to them. Thousands of them. Sent to their death for a cause that did not exist! Hatred grew within Chris, but she no longer had the strength to stay afloat. She heard Geo laugh as a wave swept her under, and she felt herself sinking. There was no rune to save her this time. She had failed to keep the rune safe. She had failed. From fear, from pain. Geo had succeeded. Now all the runes would fall in only a matter of time. She only hoped Geddoe and Hugo had hidden themselves well enough.

I'm sorry, Hugo, Geddoe, Borus… Zexen… this knight has failed her duty…

………