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She sighed.
Makai almost sighed as well, for even though he tried not to, he always watched her. Deep in a dream, she mumbled something unintelligible and softly rolled onto her side away from him. He approached the tall glass windows looked that out on the forest and watched the setting, bloody moon approach the tops of the trees.
Morning would not come for hours, but when it did she would be leaving him for some place far off. Lord Nettral allowed him the run of the castle, allowed him to eat with his family, and even provided him with his own room. Though he rarely ever slept there, with Rose gone, he would stay there more often, actually sleeping like "normal" people.
He shifted his gaze back to her when she moved again, the sheets softly rustling. Sadness, buried deep, stealthily rose to the surface and sapped away his energy. Slowly he leaned against the wall next to the window and sighed. So preoccupied with his own feelings, he did not notice the increased illumination in the room. When he looked up before him floated a tiny woman in an almost transparent blue gown with a soft bluish glow about her. She flipped back her raven hair and pointed at him.
"Ya better take care of her, ya big lumox. She needs ya, like ya need her!" The glow about her brightened and she disappeared only an instant before the glow. Makai sat there staring at the spot where the something had hovered.
On the floor, the bloody orange of the moon's glow through the window gave way to a dark humanoid shaped figure with a something in its hands. Something scrapped against the glass, making a faint scrapping noise and silent tink as the section was removed. Makai carefully moved his hands to his dagger at his belt, just an impulse from drawing them. The hand reached in, unlocked the window and carefully, raised it up enough to crawl through. A head peeked though, somehow missing Makai in the shadow of the chair next him. Almost silently the person tried to come through, but Makai crossed the dozen paces in a snake's strike, wrapping his arm around the intruder's neck and touching the blade to the throat.
"Kriis!" it exclaimed.
Quietly, Makai drug the intruder into the room and marched his captive across the room. He opened the door and threw the intruder against the wall in the hallway and wrapped his arm around the stunned man's neck. Placing the cold steel against the bare throat, he felt his captive's muscles tense up. "We both know that with less than a thought, Ah could kill ya. Now tell me what Ah want to know."
Falling into garbled, sputtered speech, the only words Makai understood that the terrified man tumbled out were, ". . . 2 more . . . Lord Tralla . . . roof . . . ." Makai withdrew the knife hand and launched an uppercut right into the trembling chin, snapping the head back painfully in a loud crunch.
Leaving the intruder sprawled in the hallway, he slammed open the door back into the room. Rose sat up, her still sleepy eyes searching. Makai did not pay much attention to her as yet another black clad intruder froze, crouching before the window with one hand already in the room. Makai instinctively threw the knife, only realizing he had when he saw it tumbling end over end. His target vainly attempted to dodge by retreating away, but the blade embedded itself in the foot.
Screams of pain broke the quiet of the night, though the third intruder clamped his hand over the wounded's mouth and pulled his comrade out of sight. Moving ghostly to the wall next to the window, he heard the thudding and scrapping sound of their escape. Not long after the soft sounds disapated, the sound of thumping and jingling of rushing soldiers replaced it. Makai closed the window and turned around while the squad leader barked out orders in the hall, "Tie his hands together tight." When the soldiers stepped in the room, Makai let out a feral growl, and they quickly retreated.
An older man, a sergeant, appeared in the doorway, flanked by two soldiers on either side. He looked the room over carefully before asking, "Is everything alright in here?"
"Of course everything is fine!" Rose snapped, her voice cold and angry. She realized nothing covered her flimsy nightgown from these males, so she gathered the edge of the covers up over her chest. "Is there anything else?" she poisonously asked.
The sergeant bowed and left the room.
Makai slowly walked to the door and closed it.
Rose flung off the covers and rushed up to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. She sobbed and trembled hysterically. He patted her head and led her slowly back over to the bed. She grudgingly sat at the edge of the bed and still in tears reached out to touch his face.
He laid is hand on hers and whispered, "Everything is fine. . . ."
She shook her head, no, "Who will protect me?" Sobs began to retake her.
"Ah will, Ah promise."
She paused in her crying. "Really?"
"Course, Ah will. Could not let ya get hurt, could Ah?" A ghostly blue eye winked in an instant. He was sure that he could not let her go off alone. The blue lady had appeared twice before and usually something strange happened afterwards. A few killers were nothing similar to the usual mess.
She looked at him in one of those determined faces he dreaded. "Let's run away," she casually said.
He blinked not sure he heard what he thought she said. "Run away?"
"Sure. We can flee to the city ourselves or across the border where we will be safe from father. We won't have to worry about the stuff that everyone will make us do. It'll be grand!" Rose looked him in the eyes intently. "You will come, won't you? I don't think I could go if I didn't have my bodyguard."
He sighed. His mind was in shambles. How do Ah convince her to stay? This couldn't possibly work, or could it? The blue fey said it could, didn't she? He saw something move outside. Sneaking to the window he saw a dozen black shapes converging on the manor. Looking at Rose, he said, "Grab some clothes, we've got to go. Now!"
She looked at him in confusion, then she blinked and flung off the blanket to run to the wardrobe. Grabbing her secreted "woods" clothes and boots she showed them to Makai. "Good, we must hide you quickly."
Peeking out the door first, he grabbed her hand in with one and putting a finger to his lips motioned for her to be silent. They quietly approached the intersection that led to the rooms of the lord of the house. Peeking around the corner, he noticed that the two guards that stood watch there were getting tired. If those shapes were actually invaders, things would liven up soon.
Pushing Rose across the intersection, he joined her a few moments later. They ran the two dozen paces around the turn in the hall to Makai's room. Pushing it open, he slipped inside and returned a few seconds later with two small pouches on his belt and a knapsack tied to his back. "Like you said, we are leaving."
They ran further down the hall, flew down the stairs, and reached the door to the dining hall. Slipping through the open doors, they crossed it to the kitchen where the cook and her staff slept. Makai reached the door to the cellars first. Producing a pick, he knocked the tumblers just right on the third try.
They entered the folds of the darkness carefully. Pitch black, no sunlight or moonlight ever reached here. So grabbing Rose's hand, Makai entered first. The cold, moist darkness enveloped them almost too eagerly. She reluctantly shut the door behind them which eliminated what little light found its way into the cellars. She whispered, "How can you see down here?"
"Ah can't. Ah can hear, smell, and feel. Then Ah've been down here so many times that I know the place by feel. Ya mummy never thought to look for me here."
Rose giggled. "So that's why you could disappear for days!"
Turning his attention to the task ahead except for sight, all of Makai's senses pounced on the chance to show they were useful. He slowly led Rose down the stairs a step at a time, though he usually bounded down the steps in twos and threes in pitch darkness. Reaching the bottom a turn and a score of steps later, Makai whispered, "Wait here." He pressed her hand against the wall. "Ah'll be back in a moment. It's been a while since Ah've used the tunnels."
She wrapped her arms around him. "Be careful, won't you?"
"Of course." He placed her hand again on the wall and quickly moved along the wall to the wine section of the cellar. Moving a few dozen bottles he finally found the release to open the the door. He moved back towards Rose and at the edge of the wine racks he pushed against the wall. Grinding and scrapping noises coincided with the sudden lack of resistance from the wall. Fresh air rushed over his nose. Satisfied that it led outside, he returned for Rose and led her into the tunnel. "My grandfather built this," she whispered.
Pulling her along, he replied, "Actually it was your great-grandfather."
"How do you--"
"Know that? Ah overheard your father talking about it with your brother before he left. Listening to them gives me an insight to a lot of stuff about this place Ah would normally not know. Hopefully this tunnel is in still good condition, though Ah don't know of any reason why it would not."
"This tunnel? Are there more of them?"
They turned at a corner. "Sure. This one emerges about a mile east of the castle. Another one runs through the crypts comes up in the graveyard outside the walls. The last one runs from the gatehouse to near the waterfall where your brother and his girlfriends would play."
"Girlfriends?"
He hesitated, "Ya mean ya didn't know?"
"No!"
Her hand gripped his tightly. He looked at where he face should be and whispered, "Sorry."
"Who were they!"
"Are ya sure ya want to know?"
"Absolutely."
He sighed. "Fine. Do you remember the two blonde girls in the kitchen, the stablemaster's daughter, your mother's two youngest ladies-in-waiting, the daughters of a couple of mother's ladies-in-waiting, should I go on?"
She hesitated. "There are more?"
"He was quite the ladies' man."
"Wait a second, those you mentioned got pregnant."
"Yep. Why else would they be sent off and eventually him as well? He couldn't keep it in is pants, so your father elected to get him out of his hair as soon as he could."
"You know this for sure?" the anger in her voice sent chills up his back.
"O'erhear it m'self."
"From..."
"O'erheard you father and mother talking about it a week before he left. Also o'erheard him ordering a couple of their parents to send them away."
"Does he know that you..."
"Know? I doubt it, but I don't hold it against him. He's a great man. He's done so much for me. Even great men have to do things they are not proud of but are necessary."
"What about great women?"
"I am not familiar enough with women to say. Though, I suspect you'll be a great one some day."
"Thou doth flatter me."
"M'lady Rose, don't confuse honest opinion with 'the moons must envy a lady so fair she easily outshines their radiance many times over."
Now you over do it." He could feel the defensiveness in her hand.
He tugged on her hand and they resumed walking. They reached another turn and could see a faint glow ahead.
"Damn," was all he said.
"What?"
"Someone is using the tunnel. That glow is the light reflecting off the Gemma crystals in the walls." Looking around, he noticed the hole in the ceiling up ahead. "Now that is...." Moving closer, he realized it was a second tunnel crossing this one. Rubble where the floor had collapsed littered the floor.
Dragging her forward, he picked her up by the waist and lifted her up into the hole. She grabbed the edge. Putting her feet on his shoulders, she pulled herself up into the tunnel. Once she was up, he turned around and used the short width of the tunnel to take two quick steps before leaping to grab the floor of the other side.
Perching near the edge, looking down. The light grew brighter. Suddenly the crystals started glowing. They were not too far away.
Whoever they were, their metal armor gave away their presence. Once he heard footsteps he counted four pairs of boots timed with the jingling.
Looking up, Rose sat near the edge on the other side. He showed four on his fingers. Then he held up a finger to his lips. Finally, he pointed for her to retreat. She obey and he too moved from the hole.
Both of his longknives felt eager to strike in his hands. The tunnel flooded with light. His eyes were blinded by the radiance. His ears however were not. He listened to Rose moving away from the gap. The booming of the soldiers' march turned into crunching as they reached the rubble. The sounds then stopped.
His eyes adjusted enough for him to see a head rising. He realized it was looking the other way. Using the silence he leaped onto the man's shoulders. Rolling off them, he tumbled into Rose's side of the higher tunnel.
Curses echoed in the tunnels. He could make out "... Mountain lion? ... too fast ... not human ... fae? ... leave it." The last came after more than one of them had broken into a run. Faster than it had come, the light disappeared, leaving the glow in the walls.
He waited until the light faded away to a twilight darkness. Like the huge cat they thought he was, he dropped into the tunnel quietly. His daggers like ready claws to lash out at an intruder, he stalked towards the way he and his ward had come.
Obvious boot prints in the dirt of the tunnel told him all he needed to know. "Damn." They were headed towards his home.
"What?" Rose whispered.
Startled, he only looked at her. Even his good senses failer to hear her. A lapse? Probably not, he thought. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry about it." They resumed their flight from home.
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