m so tired
Alexis stumbled as she was shoved into the room, and Cafos snapped, "Careful, she's hurt!"
"Watch your mouth, boy." Lucius fired back. "You're lucky to still be alive. Pray, do not give me reason to change that." Cafos fixed him with a withering look, but could do nothing with his hands bound behind his back. On Lucius' other side, Stephen remained tight-lipped and silent.
The three of them had been swiftly dragged off the island with the portal, brought to a tall, stone building nearby which appeared to be some sort of prison. Alexis and Cafos had been bound, but Stephen was not. He hadn't yet dared to ask why.
"Put those two in a safe place," Lucius ordered, "and see to it that they remain quiet. Stephen," his gaze flicked to meet Stephen's blue ones. "We need to talk." Stephen stared him down as Alexis and Cafos were dragged through the doorway on the other side of the room. The door slammed shut, and they were left alone.
Stephen lifted his chin proudly. "Whatever lies you have to tell me, I'm not interested."
"If it's truth you're after, here's one that you can be sure of." Lucius' tone was clipped. "If you do not listen to me, then your friends will not survive the night." Stephen's jaw tightened.
"Speak, then."
"Good." Lucius sighed, his gaze flickering to the door through which Alexis and Cafos had been taken. "I dearly regret everything that has happened, Stephen. I only wanted to keep you safe." Stephen bit back a bitter retort.
"I was safe," He responded instead. "until you sent Cafos after me."
"You committed treason against Notch by deserting our camp that night." Lucius stated. "If you had gone to him for an audience, you would have been killed." For the first time in many days, uncertainty snaked through Stephen's chest. Was that true?
"You reported my desertion?" He finally asked.
"It is my duty." Lucius' face was sorrowful. "Stephen, you could have been such a force for good - it is greatly disheartening that one such of you, with such a strong sense of justice, could be led astray."
"Which one of us is currently threatening the lives of my friends to force me to have this conversation?" Stephen bit back. "You're right, I do have a strong sense of justice - this is not justice."
"Isn't it?" Lucius arched a brow. "Cafos is a deserter as well, and thus should be executed for treason. The catalyst for the Aether losing such fine warriors? That girl."
"I made my own decisions - both of us did." Stephen snapped. "We chose to leave the Sons because you are a liar and a murderer. Do you know what Cafos told me when I saved his life? He told me that if he returned to you without me - alive or dead - that you would kill him. For failure. How is that justice?!"
"To allow one such as you, one who had been raised and trained to be as great as the greatest valkyries, to escape uninhibited into the world? Governed by your whims and attachments?" Lucius scoffed. "Justice is not 'mercy for those you happen to like'. There is a much bigger picture beyond your petty friendships. I don't want to kill you, Stephen." He pressed on before Stephen could speak. "But you leave me little choice." Stephen's mouth opened, then shut, a hollow ache in his chest.
"I thought you cared for me." He finally choked out. "I thought-" he forced a laugh. "I always thought of you as - as a father, almost."
"Oh, Stephen." The sympathy in Lucius' voice was carefully measured. "I did care for you. I do. That is why I wish to give you this chance - renounce your actions, come back to us, back to your family, and I will do my best to have the charges against you dropped."
"And if I do not?"
"Then I will not be able to save you." Lucius' voice was pained, but unyielding. "Please, Stephen, think about this. Think about what you are doing. You're ruining your life, but you can fix this." Stephen scoffed.
"If by ruining my life I save someone else's, then it's worth it."
"Perhaps," Lucius allows. "But they are to die as well. So it will all be for nothing, won't it?" Stephen's teeth clenched to a painful degree, but the door behind him opened before he had a chance to come up with a response.
"Sir?" An unfamiliar valkyrie stepped into the room, and Lucius looked up with a scowl.
"I am-"
"Herobrine has entered the Aether." The valkyrie interrupted, and the rest of Lucius's words died on his lips. Stephen was frozen, staring at the messenger as his mind whirled. Now? So soon after them? He hadn't- had he been following them?
"Thank you." Lucius said, his voice audibly strained. "Keep an eye on this one. Ensure he does not go anywhere- there are reinforcements in the next room should you need them." With that, he swept away. The messenger stepped into the room, regarding Stephen only for a moment before watching Lucius depart. Stephen tightened his jaw. This could be his only chance.
"I see he finally caught up with you?" The valkyrie's voice was derisive. "A pity - from what I've heard, you had so much potential-"
Stephen teleported across the room in the blink of an eye, slamming his hand into the valkyrie's chest and sending electricity coursing through his body.
Cafos stretched out his wings, wincing as the full span of them brushed the walls of their tiny cell.
"How's it feeling?" Alexis asked. Cafos prodded at his once-injured wing.
"Alright." He finally said. "Missing a few feathers, but…"
"But… still not much use underground." Alexis gestured listlessly to their surroundings, a dark, dismal cell lit only by the single lantern outside.
"No." Cafos folded his arms, gazing at the door. "Not much, no."
The Sons of the Aether had, upon catching them at the portal, wasted little time in disarming them, binding them, and dragging them off to this dungeon. Stephen wasn't with them, having remained with Lucius, and Cafos expected that their teacher had some kind of ultimatum for him regarding his own and Alexis's lives. He highly doubted that, between the three of them, Lucius would kill his favorite first.
He held out some hope that Stephen would be able to rescue them, but, at the same time, Lucius had most likely accounted this time for his ability to throw lightning. He'd also had them taken away, into a place that Stephen had never been, so that he would not be able to teleport to them. And, with his sword gone, Cafos was powerless.
Cafos gripped the bars that separated them from the viewing chamber outside, a small sneer on his face. They hadn't hurt Alexis, not yet, but he had no doubt that they meant to kill her, just as they had when she had first been caught at the training camp of the Sons of the Aether. Either that, or they would try again to send her back to her father, a concept which Lucius had yet to even allude to. No, she would die, and Cafos with her, and he would not be able to lift a finger to stop it.
"Well," Alexis muttered, interrupting him from his thoughts. "We made it." Cafos glanced down at her.
"To the Aether?"
"Yup." The redhead's gaze was fixed on the ground. "Who would've guessed that Lucius was waiting for us on the other side?" Cafos hesitated, then sank down to sit beside her.
"Suppose he figured that the Lady told us where the portal was." He murmured. "And when he couldn't find us, just decided to lay in wait."
"Clever." Alexis drew a line through the dust on the floor with her finger. "What d'you suppose he's doing with Stevie?"
"If I had to guess?" Cafos thought back to their last interaction with the man. "Probably trying to convince him that you're a lying shrew and to rejoin the Sons of the Aether." Alexis wrinkled up her nose.
"That's rude."
"Yeah." Cafos agreed. "I don't think he'll believe it, though."
"He'd better not." Alexis heaved a sigh, shutting her eyes resting her head back against the cold wall. Cafos' gaze remained on her for a few moments, then dropped to where her arms were hugged tightly to her chest.
"Cold?" He asked. Alexis grunted. Cafos hesitated, then leaned against the wall beside her, slipping an arm around her back and tugging her against his side.
They remained like that for a few minutes, Alexis eventually wiggling closer to rest her cheek against his shoulder. Cafos rubbed his thumb up and down her arm where his hand had settled, trying to warm her cold skin. The Aether seemed to have a fairly mild climate, but it was still cold down here, so far away from the sun.
"Think he'll come get us?" Alexis finally muttered. Cafos glanced down at her, unable to see her face from this angle.
"Stephen?" He asked, and she gave a single nod. "I know he'd die before he stopped trying."
"Mm." Alexis fell silent again, and Cafos tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling.
Alexis sniffled, and he froze up a bit.
"Hey-" Cafos tightened his grip on her, not sure what to say to make her feel better. He was pretty sure that they were about to die. "-don't worry, okay? They'll have to go through me before they touch you."
"But I don't want you to die either." Her voice broke, and she lifted a hand to scrub at her eyes. Cafos exhaled, rubbing her arm again.
"We're all going to go down eventually, right?" He tried. "Might as well make it as difficult for that ####### as possible." Alexis sniffed, then scoffed quietly.
"R-right." She wiped away her tears again. "Sh-shame they took my bucket."
"Yeah." Cafos offered a small, strained smile. "Think we probably could've gotten out of here with that."
"Definitely."
A distant crash echoed down the stairs outside.
Cafos stiffened, then gave Alexis a final pat before getting up and going to stand before the cell door. Alexis got to her feet behind him as muffled footsteps echoed down the staircase, then there was a brief pause before the door swung open.
"Hey guys." Stephen greeted them breathlessly. "You okay?"
"Stephen!" Alexis lurched forward to grab onto the bars, and Stephen hurried forward, lifting a ring of keys and trying the first one in the lock.
"We're not hurt." Cafos told him. "What happened? Where's Lucius?"
"Gone. We might have bigger problems." The second key clicked in the lock, and Stephen pulled the cell door open to let them out. "My father is here, in the Aether."
"What?" The prisoners exclaimed at once, and Cafos continued with, "How? Why now?"
"I don't know." Stephen shook his head. "But, Lucius got the news, and he left me alone with a guard. I managed to take him out, and the others, but if Lucius comes back to find us out we're going to have a problem on our hands."
"Then we need to go," Alexis said urgently. "Now."
"Yeah. Come on." Beckoning them with him, Stephen spun around and hurried back up the stairs outside with Alexis and Cafos at his heels.
Cafos counted at least five valkyries on their way out, all slumped on the ground, but unlike his father Stephen had left them alive. The sight still made him anxious. If Stephen had fought several valkyries already, he may not have the power remaining to teleport - especially with two passengers.
He tested his wing again as they passed out into the early morning sunshine. It would have to be good enough.
"How do we know which direction to go?" Alexis was asking as they came to a stop in the courtyard.
"Well," Stephen mused. "If I had to guess, I would say that the more developed the islands are, the closer we would be to the capitol city, right?" He pointed to the west. "The buildings seem more densely packed that way."
"You two go," Cafos said, coming around them to look Stephen in the eye. "I'll keep the Sons busy."
"What?" Stephen's eyes shot wide open. "No. We're stronger if we remain together."
"Maybe so, but you are the one that needs to get to Notch." Cafos said forcefully. "You have the greatest stake in this quest. And you'll be faster as just the two of you. I can fly- probably." He gave his snowy wings a flap to illustrate. "I'll make sure that Lucius and his men don't come after you."
"If Lucius and his men come after you, you won't stand a chance." Alexis protested.
"Oh, please." Cafos waved her off. "Lucius told me I had promise. I think I'll be fine."
"If you're sure," Stephen said uncertainly. "If they capture you…"
"They won't." Cafos told them. Before he could say another word, Alexis broke away from Stephen and threw her arms around him.
"They'd better not." She muttered into his shoulder as his arms went around her automatically. Cafos hesitated, then gave her a squeeze. He let her go, and she returned to Stephen, who gave him a salute and a wavering smile before turning and leading Alexis towards the nearest bridge.
Cafos' gaze lingered on their retreating forms for only a moment before he turned on his heel, hurrying back into the prison building and finding the guard who was knocked out in the antechamber. Swiftly, Cafos disarmed him of his sword, testing its weight before sliding it into his belt and going back to the windows that let out into the courtyard. Stephen and Alexis were already out of sight, but, high amongst the clouds, a winged silhouette was fast approaching.
Cafos rested his hand on the hilt of his stolen sword with a tight smile on his face. Despite his bold words to Alexis, he really wasn't convinced of his ability to fight- or evade, for that matter - any of the Sons of the Aether. What he did know was that he would sooner die than see them fall, and, if Lucius saw fit to kill him, then so be it.
He'd spent his life wallowing in bitterness and anger, but he could at least do this one thing right.