What else to say but R&R!


8. End of the Line

"Samurai X is ready when we are," Cole said. "He didn't want to come back to the hut for the night, but whenever we decide to attack, he's in. Now about that girl and he snake…"

"The girl is Echo," Nicholas said. "She claims that her dad is the one who took the prince to protect him."

"From who?" Cole pressed.

"She didn't say," Rick said. "Maybe she doesn't know. She is only seven."

"Ryan," Cole said, "go follow them. Stay out of sight. I don't like the idea of spying on a little girl but we have to find Prince Lucas."

Ryan mockingly saluted Cole. "Sir, yes sir," he mumbled, not excited about his assignment. He reluctantly walked out of the hut. He took off in the direction he saw Echo and Rattla go. He stopped when he reached the clearing. They couldn't have gone across, right?

"I wanna try now."

"You sure? You've already ssssaid you're not scary. You probably won't even sssstartle him."

"I can be pretty scary."

"Go for it."

Ryan held his breath as he stayed hidden. He saw Echo run across the clearing and hide in a small bush near the wall. She stayed there as a guard started to come around the corner. The young girl actually jumped out and yelled, "Boo!"

The guard didn't look amused. Ryan decided he had to do something. Quickly, he ran out across the clearing and exclaimed, "Echo! I've been looking everywhere! Mom and Dad are worried sick! I've been searching half the woods hoping you didn't get attacked by a bear or wolf! I'm so sorry, sir. My sister can be a handful at times."

The guard just grunted and pushed Echo to Ryan. "Just get back before the sun fully sets. If you're up past curfew, then we have a problem," he growled.

"Thank you, sir," Ryan said as the guard began to walk along the wall. He grabbed Echo's hand and took her back to the forest. "That was a close one. You have to admit, my acting skills are pretty good."

Echo stared up at Ryan. "Why are you here?" she asked through gritted teeth.

Ryan sighed. "An order is an order."

"You were ordered to spy on ussss?" Rattla hissed.

"You! You almost got Echo killed!" Ryan chided.

"She would've been fine," Rattla retorted.

"Not really," Ryan mumbled, "but anyway, you guys shouldn't be jumping out at guards. That's not a safe way to mess with them."

"Is there even a safe way?" Echo asked.

Ryan nodded. "Wanna see?"


Jay skitted to a hault as he and Alex reached the wall. "Now what?" he asked.

"I don't know, I've never been this far from the castle!" Alex said, looking around. "Here, I'll boost you up and you go get help."

"What? There's no way I'm–"

"Trust me!"

Jay looked to the princess and nodded. She locked her hands and Jay put his foot on them. She hoisted him up and he just barely reached the top. After climbing onto the wall, he turned back for Alex. The guards closed in around her and Jay noticed one knock an arrow on his crossbow. He raised it and Jay stumbled backwards.

Jay pushed himself up.

"Someone get him!"

He turned and fled towards the forest. He needed to escape but he couldn't lead them to the rest of the rebellion. There had to be a way–

"Ow! Sssstupid human, watch where you're running!"

Jay was pulled from his thoughts when he realized he had ran into a snake boy. He pulled back and stared at the serpentine. He always knew about the war Ninjago fought with them, but he never thought he'd actually see one. "I-I-I"

"Jay? What are you doing here? Where's Wilson and Princess?"

Jay turned to Ryan. "Wilson, I don't know. Alex, she just got caught."

"Caught? So they found our base?" Ryan questioned.

"Yeah, and I think they're after me now, so I need a place to hide," Jay said, looking over his shoulder.

"You can hide at my place," a young girl said. "We're already protecting the prince."

"You're protecting the…never mind, let's just go," Jay insisted.

The girl nodded and turned to the serpentine. "Rattla, lead the guards off course. I'll get Jay to the desert and then come back. Okay?"

"Got it, Echo," Rattla said.

Echo grabbed Jay's hand and started leading him through the woods. Jay noticed Ryan follow them, but didn't question it. If it was something Cole told him to do, there was no questioning it! It was obvious that Cole was a natural born leader and knew what he was doing…and that he was kinda scared of the leader of the rebellion.

"We're almost in the desert," Echo mumbled. They ran for another thirty seconds before their feet were hitting sand. "It's not too far."

"Okay, what isn't too far?" Jay asked.

Echo slowed down as they came to the edge of a hill. "That," she said with a small smile.

Jay looked to see an old ship. There was a man on the upper deck, looking in their direction. Jay looked to Echo and then to the man. They could've been siblings, but Jay was only going off hair color.

"Come on," Echo said, pulling Jay down the hill. He tripped and tumbled in front of Echo and onto the sand in front of the ship. He could hear Echo giggling as she walked up behind him.

"I'm okay," he mumbled, not that anyone asked.

"Lucas, this is Jay," Echo said, helping him up. "Jay, meet Prince Lucas."

"Uh…" Jay wasn't sure if the prince was anything like his sister or not. He didn't know whether to bow or stick his hand out as if Lucas was like everyone else. He put his hands together and did a small, respectful bow.

"I'm curious to know why you seemed unsure what to do," the prince said.

"Oh, I didn't know if you were like Alex or not," Jay said. "When I bowed she got all defensive and everything."

"You met my sister?" Lucas questioned. "What's she up to?"

"Nothing really. She joined the rebellion and I guess your dad thought it was for information, but she said she was looking for you and then she really wanted to help take down her father. Then some guy named Kai showed up and the army in add the base, luckily only Wilson, Alex and I were there. Alex and I escaped the base but then she…she got caught. She's really stubborn ya know, she insisted that I go over the wall to escape when I was more than willing to get caught while she escaped and–"

Lucas put his hand over Jay's mouth. "One, you talk way too much," he started. "If you had been caught, they probably would've found a way to get any information you know. Two, my sister knew what she was doing and yes she is very stubborn. It runs in the family." He moved his hand away.

"So you know why Alex did it?" Jay questioned.

Lucas nodded. "She's the princess, remember? Any member of the royal family is excused from any crime unless the king and queen both decide on a suitable punishment. My dad might jump the gun, but my mom will give her a chance to explain herself."

"Or come up with a good lie to weasel out of it," Echo chimed.

"Exactly," Lucas agreed. He looked over to Echo and narrowed his eyes. "You're suppose to be studying."

"You're the one who told me to play with the serpentine kids," Echo defended.

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Echo Lenay I am not playing games with you," Lucas said sternly. "What would your father say about this?"

"Uh…Echo I'm glad you're okay but be careful," she said, making her voice lower, mockingly. "I'm very overprotective of you and don't want you getting hurt even though you can take care of yourself."

"Echo…"

"He never let's me have any fun," she muttered to herself.

"Um, Echo," Jay interrupted, "remember why I'm here in the first place?"

"Oh! Lucas, I need to know if Jay can stay a night or two. The guards were after him and…"

"So you brought him here?" Lucas asked.

"Rattla's taking care of the guards," Echo assured him, "but please can we help him?"

Lucas looked unsure as he met Jay's pleading blue eyes. He sighed and said, "One night."


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