AN: I do not own TVD or TO

Panic.

Panic set in at the worst possible time. If ever there was a crucial time to remain calm it was now, but the panic would not recede.

Kat released a shuddering breath. Her eyes darted around the room frantically when the knocking began.

Elena had only been gone a few minutes; the chances that she had already made it out of the castle and off the grounds were next to none.

Kat recognized the crooning voice on the other side of the door. She'd have recognized it anywhere; until thirty minutes before she had thought he loved her.

She spotted a dressing gown over the chaise. Determination settled low in her belly: Damon couldn't know that Elena was gone.

The guards rounded the corner and came to a sudden stop by the window. A candle had been overturned onto the stone floor.

"What is going on out here?" Esther stormed through the doors of the great hall. She fixed the guards with a harsh glare.

"Your majesty," Erik bowed low. "Someone was screaming."

"Yes," Esther drawled, "I heard that."

Rebekah took a shuddering breath and slowly approached the window. Her fingers traced the tracks in the stone. From a distance she watched herself lean over the window sill.

She kicked the blue silk under the bed and secured the dressing gown around her waist before approaching the door. She took a deep breath and schooled her features into the smooth mask Elena always wore before the court.

She should have been more like her sister. She should have maintained decorum. She should have never accepted his advances. There were many things she should not have done, and there were many things she should have done.

She could start making amends now. She would start by helping her sister get away; she would buy time.

After all, she was already ruined.

Kat smoothed her hand over the mostly flat expanse of her abdomen. She wasn't showing yet.

Slowly she opened the door a crack. The heavy wood was forced open. She stumbled under the weight. Fear hit her like a northern wind; it sent a shill down her spine. How had she never noticed how cold his eyes were?

Elena chewed her lip and pulled up on the reins of the horse. Panic settled over her shoulders. Her head turned frantically from the right to the left.

Which road? She could barely breathe as her eyes grew round. She was running out of time.

"Elena?" Lexa's glassy eyes shifted from the first road to the next. Both were well travelled.

"I don't know…" She slumped in the saddle.

"How much time do we have?" Lexa tightened her cloak and shivered. She had slept perhaps an hour before Adelaide had roused her for the messenger. Focusing her bleary eyes she could see the sky starting to lighten overhead; the stars along the horizon were fading into blue.

Elena blinked at the gnarled tree roots a few feet to the left of her horse's hooves. "He left in the dead of night and rode all day. They would have to be within a hard day's ride of the castle, but it could be either path." Up until that point the road had been straight; this was the first fork they had found. "He said he'd made arrangements…"

The question hung heavy in the air between them: 'what if we're too late?'

"If we choose the wrong path then…" Lexa fingered the leather bag slung across her body.

"We'll definitely be too late," Elena choked down a sob. "And I don't know which path."

"Alright," Lexa pulled out the leather bound book, "you've gotten us this far…"

Elena turned in the saddle to view her friend. Her eyes lighted on the slim leather bound book when she pulled it from her bag.

"Keep a look out," Lexa braced the volume on the pommel. She flipped through the pages and squinted at the dark lettering.

"What are you doing?" Elena's eyes dutifully scanned each road. She peered into the darkness of the trees on the off chance someone was lurking nearby.

"Locator spell," Lexa nodded decisively when she found the one she wanted. "I just need something belonging to one of them…" She raked her fingers through her hair. "Mierda!"

Elena soothed the mare when Lexa's sharp cry startled her. She reached for the reins of the other horse when she heard the blonde gasp.

"Lexa," Elena took her arm, "you're wearing Kol's shirt," her eyes fell to her stomach, "and carrying his child. Isn't that enough?"

Lexa's eyes grew round. She fingered the dark green material over her abdomen. "I hadn't thought of that…" she chewed her lip, "… it might work."

"Then get to it." Elena took hold of the reins again. She held tight as Lexa shut her eyes and began to chant.

"Phasmatos tribum nos ex veras." The words repeated like a mantra. When she opened her eyes she was no longer sitting on the horse. Looking down at her hands she found them transparent in the darkness of the tent's shadow.

Kol stirred in his sleep. At first he wasn't sure what had woken him from slumber. The rushing river outside the tent had been nothing but soothing throughout the long night.

He climbed to his feet and passed the sleeping form of his brother. Silently he stepped through the opening. Horses pawed the damp earth to his right. The river rushed to his left.

Kol rolled down his sleeves and stepped around the side of the tent. He smoothed back his dark hair and dropped his eyes to the puddle of water he had managed to step in. His eyes widened when the ripples stilled and he saw a second reflection in the water.

"Lexa," he breathed. He spun on his heel to face the retreating figure a few feet behind him. He thought his subconscious had to be playing tricks on him. Guilt set heavy in his heart when the apparition vanished on the breeze.

He never should have confronted her like that.

"By a river," Lexa opened her eyes.

Elena nodded once. She knew the road.

Kat rolled gingerly out of the bed.

Her knees buckled under her weight while a persistent throb heightened between her thighs. She pulled the shift over her head and ran her fingers over the dark bruises on her upper arms and inner thighs.

Damon had stayed in the bed chamber with her for several hours. He had shown no recognition towards her; she assumed he had been none the wiser to the true identity of the woman under him.

She probably could have saved herself the bruises if she'd been more cooperative, but after hearing his conversation in the library she found his touch repulsed her. That was likely a good thing; he might have suspected something if she hadn't tried to fight him off.

Pain bloomed through his head. His vision faded around the edges as a heavy weight settled inside his skull. He had just enough time to comprehend the throbbing pain in his head before everything went black.

Elena pulled up on the reins and jumped down from her horse.

"Why'd you stop?" Lexa exhaled and slid from the saddle. She bent her legs and stretched to try and get the knots out of her back.

"Listen," Elena instructed.

Lexa closed her eyes. At first she could hear nothing, but after a moment soft sounds reached her ears. Horses chuffed and pawed the earth somewhere ahead of them. The harsh lilt of male voices reached them.

Lexa blinked when Elena pulled her off of the road and into a small copse of trees. The horses seemed to sense her anxiety and chuffed nervously; luckily the sound was masked by the river rushing passed them. Unfortunately for the men to their left the river was not enough to mask the splash.

Elena heard the men retreat and dropped the horse's reins. Moving as quietly as she could, she slid down to the river's edge in time to see a dark shape rushing towards her in the early rays of dawn.

She cursed in Bulgarian and waded into the water. Gritting her teeth against the cold that seeped into her boots she locked her legs and caught the body. "Please, don't be dead," she whispered. It repeated like a mantra as she dragged the heavy body on shore. "Please don't be dead," she tripped and fell on her back; his head landed in her lap.

"Lexa," Elena whispered as loudly as she dared, "help." She propped herself up and smoothed the man's shoulder length hair back from his face. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw his chest rise and fall with laboured breaths.

Lexa dropped the reins when she saw Elena struggled with a body down the steep slope. She stumbled down and slipped in the mud; her mother would have scolded her for doing something so unladylike especially during a pregnancy, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

The blood coating the back of his head made her stomach knot and twist. Bile rose in her throat, but she swallowed it back down.

"He's still breathing," Elena struggled to roll him onto his back.

"Who is it?" Lexa tried to open her eyes but she found they had been fused shut. She forced her eyelids open and peered through her sweeping eyelashes.

A sob ripped from her throat. Tears streamed down her face. The relief was palpable even as the shame prickled her scalp.

She wasn't sure how they did it but somehow they managed to heave the unconscious prince up the muddy embankment and into the cover of the trees.

"It's started," Elena pressed her handkerchief to the head wound and smoothed back the golden curls. "We have to get the rest of them out before…"

"The sun is coming up," Lexa rolled him onto his side.

Elena turned to the horizon when her hands were pushed aside. Lexa was right. They had perhaps an hour before the encampment was bathed in light and they became visible to anyone and everyone. As it was they would easily be seen.

A pained groan brought her attention back to the present.

"Cover his mouth," Lexa instructed.

Elena slapped her hand over his mouth to stifle the sound. A second later she was thankful she did. Horses trampled on the road towards the palace a few dozen feet to their left. She turned her head and counted ten animals galloping up the path.

She swallowed her shriek when the world spun in her vision and her back was pressed into the damp ground. Dew soaked through her hair. Raising her knee up Elena threw her weight behind her hip and rolled him. She pinned his arms above his head.

"Lady Elena?" His blue eyes grew round.

Elena's gaze cut to Lexa. She released Nik's hands and lunged to catch the blonde before she could keel over.

"Alexandria?" Nik sat up and used his arm to steady his swaying sister-in-law.

"Lexa?" Elena whispered.

"I'm fine," she closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, "I'll be alright in a minute. That was a little draining."

"What was draining?" Nik blinked when Elena slapped her hand over his mouth again.

"Be quiet," she hissed. "You'll bring them down on us."

"Who?" Nik grabbed her wrist and lowered her hand from his face.

"The assassins," Lexa sat up. Her head had cleared, but the nausea was still turning her stomach. She might have thought herself back on a ship without the steadying hands and the wet ground.

"The…" Nik slowly ran his fingers over the back of his head. A vague memory surfaced: a man in black, a rock, and a rushing river. It had to have been a dream, right? There was no pain in his head, but if it was only a dream how did he end up in the woods with two women?

His hand came away coated in a thin layer of blood.

"Kol?" Elijah tilted his head and squinted in the shadow of the tent. "Kol, what are you doing?" He clapped his hand on his brother's shoulder and followed his unseeing gaze. "Is there something there that I can't see?"

Kol startled under the hand on his arm. He rolled his shoulders back and shook his head. How long had he been standing there? How long had he stared at the empty space where she had stood in his mind's eye.

"Nothing," he thrust a fist into his hair.

Elijah watched him drag his feet around the puddle and sighed. "Kol… was there something there?"

"No," he shook his head again, "I'm just seeing things… I thought I saw my wife, alright?"

"Ah," Elijah nodded. "What exactly happened there?"

"I said something stupid and hurtful," he groaned.

"I figured that," Elijah chuckled. "Elena would not have hidden her unless she had a good reason."

Kol's head snapped up. "She was in there?"

"That doesn't sound familiar," Elijah frowned.

"'Lijah?" Kol followed him back around to the fire.

"What did you say?" Elijah dropped onto a rock and ignored the question. "And why didn't you apologize?"

"She's stubborn," Kol fell to sit on the ground. "She wouldn't talk to me when I finally tried. After what I said I can't say I blame her."

"Are you going to tell me what you said?"

"Why don't you ask Lady Elena?" Kol gave him a sidelong look. "I'm certain she knows."

"Have either of you seen Niklaus?" Finn approached them. His eyes flickered over his younger brothers faces.

"Haven't seen him since last night," Kol shook his head.

"Perhaps he went to help clear the road," Elijah cleared his throat.

"Why aren't they breaking camp?" Elena rubbed Lexa's back. She had wanted to go in immediately, but Nik had made the point that if Damon was intent on making their deaths look accidental they would have a few hours before the next strike.

"There's a tree down on the road," Nik nodded in the direction the horses had gone. "Is she alright?" He turned his attention to Lexa.

"She's fine," Elena made small circles between her friend's shoulder blades.

Lexa lifted her head and exhaled as her nausea finally began to fade away. She accepted the apple Elena passed her and stared at the fruit as if she expected it to bite her.

"The road is clear," Lexa whispered. "We came that way. Damon Salvatore clearly wanted you in one spot." She paled when she thought of what that meant.

"It was his scouts that brought back the report," Nik nodded. "I have one more question."

Elena motioned for Lexa to eat the apple. "You'll feel better with something in your stomach."

"Or I'll have something to throw up," Lexa shook her head. She ran her thumb over the smooth skin.

"Lexa," Elena gave her a pointed look. "You have to eat."

She sighed before taking a tiny bite. As loathe as she was to admit it the tart fruit was soothing the storm somewhat; she should have known better than to use such powerful magic on an empty stomach.

"What's your question?" Elena sighed.

"Two actually," Nik finished wiping away the blood on his neck. "I understand why you fled the castle; your former betrothed planned to…"

"Rape me," Elena supplied.

He nodded and crumbled the bloody handkerchief. "Why did 'Lexa' run? She had nothing to fear from him. And why am I covered in blood when there is no wound? I vaguely remember being hit with a rock."

Lexa's stomach chose that moment to heave. She'd just rolled onto her hands and feet before throwing up. She shivered and leaned against Elena when she sat back up.

"In order to succeed he had to do away with any possible heir," she closed her eyes and exhaled.

"We covered that… oh," Nik's gaze fell to Lexa's waist. "Does he know?" He nodded when she shook her head. "Sage?"

"Pushed from a third floor window," Lexa choked down a sob. She could see the bright red hair in her mind's eye.

"My second question?" Nik changed the topic when he saw the tears forming.

"R-right," Lexa nodded. Her eyes narrowed as she tilted her head. "What was it again?"

"My lack of a head wound," he pointed to his blood darkened curls. "I might not be a healer, but I do know a wound like that would take longer than thirty minutes to heal."