Lloyd looked around. On every side stood a line of guards. The pair had walked into a trap!
"What are we going to do?" He asked Ember nervously. The young girl's looked around, looking for a way out. There wasn't one. This had obviously been well planned.
"No fighting or trying to run girly." One of the guards said grabbing Lloyd "Or your brother pays the price" Ember just stood there, not noticing when she was tied up, trying desperately to think of a way out. Then she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and screamed. A loud ear piercing shriek that forced all the guards to cover the ears. She didn't notice the club one guard swung at her head. It hit the small girl and Ember crumpled to the floor, unconscious.
Lloyd started struggling.
"Let me go! Let me go!" He didn't see the club heading for his head.
Pythor looked down at Ember. The small girl was chained up in the dungeons of the palace, Lloyd beside her.
"I fail to see how you survived ten years when you were so easy to catch"
"And I fail to see how you can call yourself a king"
"I rule this land!" Ember laughed
"You couldn't even catch a five year old girl who was lost, alone and scared in the woods with no idea who she was. If a five year old can run rings around you I fail to see how you managed to stay in power this long."
"I know who you are princess!"
"Oh. What gave it away? The green eyes?" Lloyd stared at his sister. Did she not realise what danger she was in? Pythor left the cell and Ember laughed again.
"Are you insane? Making him mad will end in your death!"
"Relax. I know exactly what I'm doing. An angry person is more likely to make a mistake you know. Besides the others will come looking for us and a mad king will give away where we are."
"What makes you say that?"
"There is nothing more annoying than someone who has outsmarted you for years being defiant even after you caught them."
"He'll just try and break your spirit" Lloyd warned "Then where will we be?"
"How can you break something you don't have?"
"What do you mean?"
"He can't break us. He can't break our spirits"
"What's going to stop him?"
"My spirit is in the wild. Breaking my spirit would be like removing all of the wild in the world."
"And me?"
"You can't break what's already broken"
"What do you mean by that?"
"You know what I mean Lloyd. He broke your spirit sometime over the ten years you were with him."
"So?"
"You can't break something like a spirit more than once. It's like once you've lost your mind nothing can take it. He can't break what's already broken" Lloyd smiled
"You are going to drive him mad sis. You are going to drive him mad"
"Why did you call me sis? What's wrong with my name?"
"Oh, he gets even madder if a prisoner won't even tell him their name." Ember grinned
"Now you're getting the hang of it"
Jade looked around. It had been seven hours since Ember and Lloyd had set off.
"I would have thought they'd be back be now." Nya stated
"Yeah, this isn't like Ember at all."
"What if that short scream meant something?" Jay pointed out "It was a girls scream"
"Why would Ember scream? She's never screamed before."
"Probably never had to before"
"And what do you mean by that Cole?" Jade asked
"From what I've seen Ember survives by being quiet. When you live like that a loud noise could give away where you are. The only reason she'd have to scream is if there was no way out of a situation. If things couldn't get any worse."
"The only scenario I can see Ember screaming in is one where she was surrounded with no way out."
"Why wouldn't she just run?"
"Lloyd was with her." Nya pointed out "Think about it. If you were going after them what would you do to make sure she didn't get away?"
"Uh, threaten to hurt her companion if she tried anything"
"Exactly. In that situation the only thing to do would be scream" Jade jumped up
"I know what happened!"
"What?"
"Ember and Lloyd got caught."
"Wait, that means-"
"-Yep. They're in the palace"