Onto Muu

[Swordsman]

Nækos casually sidestepped the scribe's powerful down-cut (not to be confused with a cut-down, which from this scribe, nobody dodges), then blocked the prince's thrust. "Hey, hey, easy kids. I'm on your side here."

"Oh, sure, now you save me, once Meekal's showed up!" Moonitic had to give the Swordsman a double-take: Was that actually a grin on his face?

"Nice to see you, too. Except I'm serious. Good work, Meekal, the two of you had me worried. Glad to see you've got things under control." Nækos clapped the prince on the shoulder, then turned and headed back out the door. "Now let's get the others and get the hell out of here - unless you'd like to settle things with dear old Dad." A stony look in the eye answered him. "Aye, that's the spirit!"

A scant few minutes found them rendevoused with the rest of the group back in front of the Major's office; back down the stairs, around a few corners, and they found themselves in the main entrance hall to the castle.

Which happened to be where all the soldiers in the area had been summoned to to form ranks and be ready to sweep the entire castle.

Senyik's eyes quickly swept the room. "Five full platoons - 150 men, give or take."

The door behind them had been a regular single door; Nækos gave Miri a hard shove, and that was enough to send everybody else tumbling back through the door. Which he then slammed shut and hauled a bench in front of.

"One hundred fifty versus three," Darion observed. "Hardly even fair."

"You're right," returned the smith. "They should have sent at least twice as many."

[Zelda]

"OWf..." the air was knocked out of Zelda as she was shoved (rather rudely) into a room along with most of the the rest of the group. She wasnt happy about it, and resolved once again to have words with Naekos when he stopped acting like a kid in a candy store.
"Bloody men," she was heard to mutter as she slumped down onto the ground. Well there was nothing else she could do.....

[Iwant2bafencer]

Rosaline Slammed a palm against the door after attempting to push it open.

"Did I mention that he gets All of the fun?" She grumbled.

"Hey, you already got to fight these guys once." Zelda replied.

"I only got to blow up one wall. Hardly what I call a fulls days work." Rosaline corrected.

She pushed against the door again.

"This is no use. If and when we'd get the door open it would distract our guys, which will only end up badly and someone will get yelled at." Talmour stated.

Rosaline grumbled.

"I don't like this." She stated the obvious.

"Obviously." Talmour replied.

"Meekal, can you remeber a way that we can get to the other side of those guards and attack them from behind without them seeing us? We have to get those three and the rest of us out." Rosaline spoke quickly.

"I'm trying." Meekal replied. "It's been a while."

"Well hurry will you?"

"I believe I'd remember a lot faster if you weren't asking me to remember so often."

"Sorry." Rosaline said pacing.

She then looked to the girl in Ken-Dall's arms. Ken-Dall was doing her best to comfort her. It didn't seem to be working too well as was expected. Rosaline moved over to the two, and knelt beside Ken-Dall. She stroked the girls hair as she cried on Ken-Dall's shoulder.

Rosaline reached to her own stomach and ripped off some of the loose bandage that had been hanging there. She used it to clean off a cut on the girls forhead.

"Shhh, it will be alright child." She soothed.

She rubbed the girls hair once more, then stood and paced again waiting for Meekal to remember the routes if the castle.

"I knew this was a bad idea." Rosaline grumbled.

[Crin Dalmeiier]

Crin nearly slammed her fist into the wall in frustration when they were locked away from the fight, but stopped (secretly, the fist gods thanked her for avoiding the broken hand) in time. A fight was just what she needed to blow off some steam, and the Swordsman and his odd-couple duo had locked her out. She wasn't going to stand this for long.

"Canvass the area," Falcour clicked to those who could understand Russic. Miri, Crin, Talmour, and Mitch spread out, tapping sections of the wall. Sounds of battle could be heard from inside, adding a frantic energy to their actions. Castles were notorious for secret passages, and they were relying on that to save them a piece of the fight.

"I've got something!" Miri called. She turned her head and spat, obviously trying to get rid of the taste of Muuvian meat. "Yep--looks like a passage!"

"It might be a chokepoint!" Talmour pointed out as Crin scrambled to her new roommate's side. A door was slowly creaking open, triggered by the stone Miri had knocked farther into the wall. He tossed both daggers into one hand and reached across Mitch for Crin's hand. The two clasped hands for a second, spit over their right shoulders, and Talmour charged straight at the door, Crin right behind him. Shrugging at Mitch and Falcour, Miri went next, trusting the others to follow.

[Crin Dalmeiier]

The sounds of battle must have been imagined, Crin decided as she pulled up short behind Talmour, glaive ready and poised for deadly intentions. What they had run in on was an official standoff: over one hundred men, possibly two hundred, facing the Swordsman and his two faithful followers. Impossible odds, even for them.

"What are you doing?" Nækos snarled, crossing the long distance in an unbelievably small amount of time. Crin felt Miri bump into her, but didn't so much as wince at the sound of tearing fabric. Miri stepped to her side, just as stolid. They were of a similar height, at least--with their faces set for battle, they probably made a frightening duo. "I kept you all locked out for a reason!"

"And leave you here with these odds? Not a chance." Falcour stepped to the front of the group, indirectly blocking Crin from the danger of the tense soldiers.

"Stand down!"

"What?" came from four people at once.

"You are to stand down and wait for the battle to end, do you hear me?" All of this was said at a fast, urgent pace, so discreetly that not even the enemy troops could tell that there was dissention in the ranks of the Arconian tagalongs. "Next time I lock you from a room, stay out! I don't do things to watch myself move!" He turned, green eyes flickering once or twice. "Not a word, Dalmeiier, or I'll cut your tongue out!"

Crin closed her mouth.

"For the love of all things bladed, stay here and don't you dare join this battle!" Before any of them could protest, he had disappeared from their midst and was standing beside Darion and Senyik, ready to fight.

"Guess we're watching, then," Talmour summed it up for the group, taking the opportunity to lean back against the wall.

[Zelda]

"Not if I can help it......." Zelda replied coming up alongside him.
"Shove over Naekos," Zelda took a position next to the Swordsman, blade poised and glint in her eye.

[Moonitic]

Moon had no idea what had happened, just that it was bad & her friends were involved (big surprise!). But the words of the king's advisor still played in her head, & little did she know, the words of the king played in Meekal's. They took one look at one another & ran in the direction the rest of the group went, leaving Ken-Dall to care for the strange little girl cradled in her arms.

The battle was poised to begin. The combatants glared at one another, daring the opponent to move. As the tension reached its boiling point, a loud, clear voice rang out over their heads. "STOP!"

Line by line, the ranks of Muuvian soldiers hit their knees, heads bent. The Arconian group looked at one another. Someone groaned. All turned in the direction of the shout. They found Meekal standing there with Moon by his side. Both looked frightened, yet determined. Neither knew the other's secret. "What are you doing, Meekal?" Naekos said through clenched teeth.

"You heard me. Stop," he returned.

"What is going on here?" Moon demanded. Grumblings through the crowd, then, all fingers pointed to Naekos. "Now what?"

"He killed two of my men," Mero, who had forced his way to the front of the ranks, stated.

The prince & princess looked wide-eyed at Naekos. "After they killed that little girl's parents & attempted to do the same to her." This time they looked at Mero.

"They were ordered to do so for failure to pay taxes," the major said without emotion. "Your Highness, you know that is the punishment your father has chosen as well as I do." He looked to Meekal & raised an eyebrow, then glanced at Moon. It seemed that the entire Muuvian citizenship knew his father's threat.

"And where IS the King?" asked Zelda. "We have a little message for him."

"No..." Meekal said suddenly. All eyes returned to him as various angry voices said, "What?" He glanced around, then sighed. "You heard me. Leave my father alone."

"But Meekal..."

"I am not ready to be a king." He parroted his father's words. "I have a lot to learn, & need to learn it. Why don't you all go back to Arconia? The princess & I will be along soon. After I speak to my father." He shrugged, then smiled at Naekos & the major. "It was just a misunderstanding."

[Crin Dalmeiier]

All a misunderstanding? What country punished citizens that way? Russland did, maybe Zarconia, but Muu? Crin didn't particularly want to stand down at all, much less if Prince Meekal was the one doing the ordering. She got the feeling that he was two stones short of a quarry sometimes.

Talmour was the first to sheathe his long knives, followed reluctantly by Mitch, Crin, Miri, Falcour. "What's the big idea, pumping us up for a fight that's not gonna happen?" Mitch muttered under his breath.

"Sit and wait. I think the Swordsman might have something up his proverbial sleeve," Miri warned him softly.

The others could do only that.

[Swordsman]

"Say all you want to your father," Nækos reluctantly sheathed, "but we're right behind you. You saw what happened last time we got split up; it's not happening again. Did we just form an alliance for nothing? If we cannot stand together against a single small kingdom, then how are we to stand together against an empire? I'll not see either of you hurt; I stand behind you to the end."

[Moonitic]

"I know." Meekal sighed. "But we won't be hurt. You've just got to...to trust me." He looked to his friends, wishing he could communicate the danger he & Moon were in. Never mind him. Her. And the baby. He'd want to die himself if anything happened to them. "Please..." The others stood impassively. Meekal decided to take another approach. "Why don't we all go to bed now? It's been a very long, hard day & everyone is tense & upset. I'll speak to my father & clear everything up. Please?"

[Swordsman]

This seemed to strike a chord with many, including Zelda, Ken-Dall, and Rosaline. Nækos simply set his feet and crossed his arms. "They can go to bed if they wish, but I am going with the two of you. If need be, I will stay just out of sight outside the door, but I am not letting the two of you out of my sight again. And when we do go to bed tonight, we will all be in one room, that room will have but one door, and I will guard it."

[Moonitic]

Meekal's hand went into his pocket, & he clutched one of the stones within. He bit his lip, frowned & tapped his foot as the others watched. Something, Naekos noted, was not right. He looked as though he would burst. After a moment of consideration, Meekal finally blurted, "Fine!" The others let out a collective sigh. "We'll all go to bed, in the same room, & get some rest. In the morning, I will speak to my father...ALONE...to get this cleared up." With his chin high in defiance, he looked to Naekos. "If you want to stand behind me, let me lead this time." Then, he looked to Mero. "Dismiss your soldiers, & tell them to leave my friends alone." The major nodded & barked a command to his men. The Muuvian force retreated, leaving the Arconians alone.

Ken-Dall stepped up Naekos, child in her arms. "What's going on?" she asked above the small head.

[Swordsman]

"We are going to bed," Nækos told her, "and we are finding some way to all get comfortable in one room. I will guard the only door to that room. In the morning, Meekal will go to speak with his father, and I will continue to guard our room so that there is no possibility of another hostage situation." He took a breath, and his eyes softened, turning to the girl. "Such a pity...another orphan..." He gently took the girl back from Ken-Dall, then turned back to Meekal. "Please understand I am not trying to keep you from leading; I am simply trying to help watch your back. When the two of you are split up, you can be used against each other; I have to know that at least one of you is completely safe."

[Iwant2bafencer]

"I'm going with you Meekal." Rosaline cut in as she sheethed her sword. She moved forward so that they could see each other.

Meekal grumbled. He had just convinced Nækos to stay and now another was coming.

"No, I'm going alone." Meekal stated firmly.

"Like blazes you are." Rosaline snapped. She had a talent for barking back at royalty. "Look Meekal a fact is a fact. It's a fact I am going with you whether you like it or not. Either we're behind you all the way with your consent or we're simply right behind you." She shrugged. "It's your choice."

"You're in no condition to . ." Nækos began.

"Do not tell me what I am in condition to do and not do Nækos." Rosaline cut him off. "I am not a child."

"I'm sorry Meekal, but it is true. Your father is not one that I or most of the group trust. Especially after that little scene." She said, in reference to the little battle that was narrowly missed, darn.

[Moonitic]

"Look," Ken-Dall cut in after watching the latest go round, "everyone's tired & in a rotten mood. Some of us are hurt. Some of us are sick. And at least one of us just watched her parents die. Let's not sit here arguing about who is going where when we can do that in the morning. I don't know about any of you, but my sister & I are going back to her room." She glared at Naekos, & snapped, "And yes, I'm well aware that it has more than one door." She grabbed Moon's arm & began to pull her along.

The others looked at one another, eyebrows raised & shrugs all around. "Well," said Zelda, "THAT was interesting."

"Is it just me," Rosaline added, "or is she starting to sound more & more like Moon every day?" No one said it, but they thought it...

What was happening to Moon?

[Swordsman]

The night was by no means a restful one. Moonitic was given the bed, which she graciously shared with the girl, who had yet to speak - only an occasional whimper.

Zelda insisted that Rosaline take one of the softer chairs, while she took the hardwood rocker. Darion and Ken-Dall, and Senyik and Miri, curled up together in different corners of the room, while Meekal and the gypsies all lay more or less around the center. Nækos simply paced quietly through the long hours of darkness.

Sometime, as the moon began to draw lower, the girl cried out in her sleep, making everyone jump awake. Most drew their weapons at the same time, further terrifying her as she woke. A quick urgent whisper from the Swordsman made them all sheathe quickly and lie back down; he picked the girl up and carried her with him on his little four-step patrol, whispering quietly to her in Elvish. This happened again a few hours later, but this time the Swordsman was already carrying her.

The sun rose far too early for the tastes of anyone, and so they were happy enough to hear the Swordsman bid them go back to sleep. Meekal, however, felt a toe in the ribs. "Time to face your father, while the rest - Rosaline especially - still sleep."

[Moonitic]

"Okay, okay...no need to kick me," Meekal grumbled. He sat up, & stretched, then pulled himself to a standing position. Before he moved toward the door, he took a couple of steps to stand at the foot of the bed, where his beloved slept. The memory of the day he found Moon, when she had lost her memory, came back to him in that moment. She looked so small & fragile then. So afraid. Not the woman who took care of him when he needed her. More like the little girl she had slept beside. He was relieved to find her, but that relief turned to a fierce protectiveness when he learned her dark secret. As the old Moon disappeared, the new Moon needed him more & more. And in that need, Meekal was becoming a man.

He had to protect her from his father, even if it meant bearing his own secrets from his friends. His father was right. He was not ready to be king. He had a lot more growing up to do, & he had to learn to show it. Regardless of that, he had to convince his father to allow them to leave the castle with the others. But first, he had to convince Naekos to let him go into that meeting alone. Despite what he said about staying to stand guard, there was always something that the Swordsman had planned.

Someone cleared their throat beside him. He jumped, & noticed Naekos himself. "I was just thinking..." he said.

"Indeed."

"I know you want to help us, Naekos. It's just..." Meekal stopped. He couldn't let him know. Not even an inkling. "I would do ANYthing to protect her. She's my responsibility now, & I take it very seriously."

"I understand."

"Good. Because you may not understand some of my choices. But you have to trust me. I love her. I've always loved her, but no one has ever given me a chance to do what I need to do for her. We won't be with you forever, so it's for the best for us," Meekal stated, gesturing to the princess. With a sigh he began to walk toward the door. "I suppose you're staying here?"

[Swordsman]

The Swordsman nodded. "Indeed. If your father can threaten any of these people, then you lose any and all leverage. I don't want another hostage situation, like I imagine last night was. I will stay and guard them, and trust you to be able to handle your father - much as I would love to send somebody with you. Take care; your fiancee needs you now more than ever."

[Crin Dalmeiier]

The last week had been such an emotional drain that Crin actually didn't have a problem falling asleep on a stone floor in a castle that might be hostile to them if the prince of said castle were not lying about five feet from her. She was awake only long enough to hear Talmour and Falcour settling down on either side of her, protecting her in their own way. Mitch, she knew, would be curled up closest to Senyik and Miri. Gypsies watched their own, and Miri's time with them made her a gypsy in their eyes.

She woke with the others at the girl's cry, hand already on her dagger, but once it was apparent that there was no threat, she relaxed her grip and fell asleep once again. Dreams followed the footsteps of sleep, taunting her with their cryptic meanings. Always, a key detail would remain just beyond the grasp of her mind, feathery soft to its elusive touch.

Another cry pulled her from a dream and she fell asleep to the forest clearing where Trey's face stared at her, shocked at the knife in his chest. As he lay dying on the ground, his face changed and Rayen's stared at her emptily. The face of the nonexistent Nillek. Tallaren. Talla, the halfling child Rayen had adopted. Talmour. Miri. Ame. Falcour's eyes stared up at her, full of such anger and hate, that she awoke in a cold sweat.

The first thing she saw was Falcour, lying flat on his back. His head was turned towards her, his face slack with sleep. Her breathing came faster, still too quiet to be heard. Maybe they heard her heart hammering. Crin didn't know. All of the sudden, she wanted nothing more than to get up and run away.

Perhaps tuning into some supernatural sense, Falcour rolled over and grabbed her arm before she could leap to her feet and bolt. "It's all right," he whispered without making a sound. "It's just a dream." He relaxed his grip, but did not release her. "Relax." He watched her until her breathing slowed enough for coherent thought. "Want to talk about it?"

Crin just shook her head.

"All right. Maybe tomorrow." Crin didn't think she would ever want to talk about what she had just seen, but she nodded anyway. "Good. Get some sleep. I'll watch out for any ghoulies for you."

Had she been a little less scared of herself and a little more awake, she would have protested to his coddling of her. Instead, she just tried to conjure up a smile for him, failed to do so, and closed her eyes. The adrenaline that had woken her eventually dropped into exhaustion, and she felt Falcour tug her towards him just as she dropped off into another dream.

Talmour awoke after Meekal had left and blinked in surprise to see Crin curled up against his brother. "Bad night?" he asked, yawning.

Falcour just looked at him. He hadn't fallen asleep after Crin's panic attack, so he looked a bit haggard. "I don't know," he admitted hollowly. "We'll probably never know, either."

[Moonitic]

Meekal moved along the corridor slowly, pondering all the way. So much had happened since he first left the castle. Too much. He pulled Rufus, his favorite stone, from his pocket. "What'll I do, Rufus? My father threatened to kill Moon if anything happens to him, & the people from Arconia are just waiting for their chance to get him. But if he refuses to let us go, that might start another riot. I'm in a lose-lose situation here." He paused, apparently listening to his stone. "You're right. I have to make my father think it's his idea to let us go back to Arconia. That'll make him think we're still doing what he says, & then she'll be safe." Another pause. "Rufus, you're being overbearing..."

"Who is, Your Highness?" a voice behind Meekal said. Meekal spun to find Mero, who gave a slight bow. "Forgive me for intruding upon your thoughts, Highness. Your father is furious with you. You need to see him at once."

"I know..." said Meekal miserably.

The major walked along with him for a moment, then said, "And how is your lovely bride-to-be this morning? I must say, she looked so pale last night. Is she well?"

Meekal's thoughts strayed back to the girl he left under the Swordsman's care. "Yes. She is sleeping."

"Ahh...still in her room." Mero nodded. "You must apologize to her, & your friends, for the misunderstanding."

"I will..." Meekal muttered. He knew as well as Mero it was no "misunderstanding" last night. Meekal only said that to diffuse the situation. What Meekal did not know was that it was a well executed plan to distract Naekos & the others. "If you will excuse me..." Meekal quickened his pace, leaving Mero to mutter "of course" in his wake. He made it to his father's chamber, where he found two guards. They bowed to him, & permitted him to the door. He knocked. Moments later, the door caved open.

"You've come," his father growled.