It wasn't the simple course of events she thought it would be. Get the stone, get out of the castle. However, as it was a pre-disposition of her character, she had conveniently forgot all of the minor details that now were transpiring to do her in. There were the royal guard right outside the reception hall, then there were the royal guard at the bottom of the stairwell, and then just to add a little spice to her rampant escape, there was an entire platoon of regulars casually fraternizing in one of the rooms Ceres happened to zip into. They weren't fraternizing for very long after that. And as she avoided another volley of crossbow bolts, she remembered why she and Estell usually left all of the planning up to Ellis.

Now she had a goodly portion of the castle's enlisted men on her tail, and she was readily running out of places to run to. Damn this place is confusing. Didn't I already pass through this hallway? It didn't help that the castle itself was perched on a nice cliff overlooking the sea; it made jumping to a freedom a very unlikely reality.

Okay, okay, think. You went this way, then you took a left- Her train of thought stopped short as she was hauled into a room by a strong set of arms. With one hand clamped over her mouth and the other wrapped around her body, Ellis closed the door behind them as quietly as possible, hoping that he had snatched Ceres quickly enough that her pursuers might not have seen where she went. He let go of her as soon as they were both safe in the room.

"Ellis!" Ceres yelled in a whisper. "Where have you been? Wait. How did you know we were here?"

"I was already here," he explained. "Not that it would have taken a lot of brain power to put two and two together, given the commotion going on upstairs."

Ceres sat down to catch her breath, nodding. "It didn't go as well as planned."

"You two actually had a plan?"

"Mostly. It was a simple three-step process, but it paid off for the most part," she showed him the Dragoon spirit.

Ellis took it from her and shoved it into a pocket. "You two are going to be the death of me," he scolded.

Ceres only laughed slightly.

"How you managed to pull this off can only be contributed to that absurd sense of Luck you seem to have."

"Well, were the hell were you? We were waiting forever."

"Trying to find a more subtle way into the castle."

Ceres stuck her tongue out in reply.

"Well, we better get moving. The guard will eventually start searching room to room."

"You have way out then?"

"I always have a way out," Ellis chided.

Ceres ignored him. "Well, I'm supposed to meet Estell back at the inn, outside of town by the shoreline if there's too much heat. We should probably head there."

"So, she was making her escape too then?" Ellis clarified.

"Pretty sure," Ceres nodded.

ooo

The wraith was snarling, tossing its head back teasingly as it readied for another charge.

From behind him, Estell whispered to Albert, "You're going to have to trust me on this one."

"I don't apparently have a choice at the moment," the king conceded.

Estell nodded as she wrapped her arms around him in a tight backwards hug.

The wraith snorted.

"Okay, here we go. I hope you're as light as you look."

As the beast rushed forward, Estell summoned her wings, leaping into the air with Albert in tow. The wraith took a swipe and bite of empty air, as the two moved out of its reach. Then, without notice, Estell let go of Albert and he fell swiftly onto the head of the beast.

Caught offguard by the manuever, the wraith was still for a moment as it tried to figure out just what had happened. Albert seized the short seconds he had by sliding down the back of its neck and plunging Estell's dagger into the wraith's throat. It reacted instantly, bucking and clawing at Albert who held on for dear life. The other dragoons moved in then, surrounding the beast.

From where she hovered in the air, Estell watched it all before making her way out of the room via the open window. She just barely heard the sounds of the royal guard as they finally managed to break through the wall of ice covering the doorway.

There was ambivalence stirring inside her. Hope and dread.

Ellis is going to kill me, she realized.

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So, I'm pretty sure no one is reading this anymore so this'll probably be the last chapter for awhile. If you are reading this, thanks and please review if you want to know what happens. Cheers. – k.ramsey