Loyal Riptide

Chapter 7

       The queen only looked at Asa as the girl heaved herself up against the damp walls of The Tank and apologized to the bloodied boy laying on the floor. It was odd, like history was repeating itself. All those years ago Taura alerting her that the Aenon king needed to be executed, that as she watched the guards take him away to this very room without him struggling, she knew that this was all a mistake. The screams pounded against her skull when the thought that Taura did this on purpose, killing the king and leaving a queen back at her own kingdom weeping as she held a small child tightly against her.

Now, it seemed that mother's tight embrace couldn't hold her dear child against the fate of father. 

"Taura wasn't born here," She spoke in a hushed tone, the plum coloured eyes of the young princess flickering up to her. "Taura was born Aenon, she immigrated to this kingdom just before my son, Dorian was born." The queen's eyes fell from the princess' and to the boy on the floor. "I trusted her with my life, and to think that she would do this." A gurgling cough broke through her confessions, leaving a trail of blood trickling from her mouth.

The princess crawled over to her frantically, her hands hesitant over placing them on her shoulders or keeping back. "What does she want?" Asa questioned, her voice shaking. The queen's eyes felt heavy and breathing became more of an effort than she liked. Her pale face has lost its feeling and she took in the now hazy cell one more time before all she could see was seeing through.

Asa's hands fell to her lap when she saw the human queen's eyes going through her. She was speechless, is she dead? Her mind raced trying to wrap her head around all this. She never experienced watching someone die, let alone in front of her. But Dorian, that poor boy is upstairs alone with that monster all the while he doesn't realize he doesn't have a mother anymore. A disgruntled groan echoed behind her and when she turned herself around she can see Shiro weakly lifting himself against the wall.

Shiro's face had red blotches and bruises blooming around his nose and forehead and his clothes were all tattered with blood staining to the already dirty under shirt he wore. His eyes briefly landed on Asa's before leaving to find a spot on the wall opposite him. "I can get us out." His raspy voice spoke. Asa's eyes lit up from his words, but how exactly was he planning on getting them out? From the looks of it he didn't have anything on him and the guard confiscated Loyal Riptide; her trident. 

Shiro's fingers twitched on the floor and small strings of coral started to sprout from his finger nails and slither its way along the gated floor and to the cell door. The coral expanded the farther it went out and they started wrapping around bars of the door leaving the bars creaking under the pressure. So this was his powers, that day when he was the only person running the opposite direction from the academy he was running away before everyone realized he did the Coral Reapings on his own accord. The metal bars broke apart and a loud clang echoed throughout the entire dungeon as the bars hit the ground. Leaving in its wake is an opening through the door just large enough for them to step through.

Asa looked at Shiro with pure astonishment, I guess she wasn't the only one keeping secrets from each other.  The coral vines broke a part his bindings and he was now able to untie the bindings from his legs and from Asa. Shiro heaved himself up the wall until he was standing and started limping towards the door and stepping through the gap he made. He didn't bother to look back to see if she was following him. Asa followed through the door and found her trident leaning against the wall untouched. How convenient. Shiro was already half way up the stairs when she caught up with him, Loyal Riptide clenched in her hand.

She didn't bother touching Shiro at all as from evidence from all the different novels she has read, as it'll just end up with Shiro glaring at her and leaving her behind which in this situation is not what they needed. Being split up.

They quickly skimmed through the corridors of the castle looking for the exit or even a window that they could open to dive into the ocean with. Rounding a corner, they bumped into Dorian who also appeared to be going through the halls rather quickly. It took him a moment to differentiate them as either friend or foe before practically leaping into their arms. His neatly combed hair was now bushed up to one side and his clothes now wrinkled as if he was in some sort of struggle.

"Taura-" Dorian huffed, sweat beading above his lip, "when she took me in to eat supper I found it weird as we just had lunch. I knew something was up when I found the table still set from lunch." He glanced over to Shiro before looking back to Asa, "then she had her hands around my throat." Tears prickled in his soft brown eyes. Now that he mentioned it she can see the bruises around his neck left where Taura's hands were wrapped around. 

"We can talk later we still need to get out of here." Shiro piped in sounding annoyed which wasn't like him. Dorian nodded, "I know a way that can take us to the docks faster, but it takes us near the guard barracks." Asa cringed, it is obvious that the guards would follow what Taura's wishes are and finding the three kids she is looking for will set off the alarms they didn't want. 

"What other choice do we have." Asa said, confirming their escape route. Dorian led the pack through the corridors with Shiro and Asa trailing behind as they passed through different ballrooms and dining halls until they made it to a set of double doors that led to the gardens.

The gardens had multiple stone paths leading to different bridges going over ponds and gazebos with different tulips and peonies blooming all around in bunches along the rolling green grass. Thankfully, no gardeners were on duty as Dorian led them down stone steps that led to the guard barracks. Beyond that Asa can see the docks with an Aenon ship docked in the farthest port. "A ship from Aenon is here." She informed them both when they landed at the bottom of the steps.

"They are here to save you." Dorian said simply, his face pinched into a grim stern. "Dorian, Taura isn't just going to let you stay here alive, she will kill you. You're coming with us." Shiro put in, gently pushing Dorian in front of them to continue on.

The guard barracks had multiple rows of stone houses that house the kingdoms guards. A porch attached from the nearest house seated four guards sitting watch for anybody trying to sneak onto the castle grounds. They quickly rushed by but they were quickly caught by another group of guards marching there way to the barracks. The armor clad guards circled around them enclosing them with no escape.

"This is the princess of the Aenon kingdom on her way back to her kingdom," Dorian announced, making himself appear as big as possible. "So would you please let use through." The guards remained at their stations in no hurry to move despite being ordered to. Dorian slowly shrank down from the realization that these guards don't listen to him anymore. One of the guards behind them lunged forward and swiped their sword almost slashing Shiro in the back of the neck.

"Get down!" Asa screamed, swinging Loyal Riptide between her fingers before plunging the tips into the guards stretched out arm. They reeled back as the metal her trident was made from can break through metal with blood spraying out from the wound. Another guard swung their sword at the group but was quickly stopped by the coral bindings from Shiro's fingers snapping the blade in two leaving the guard with a stub of a sword.

The remaining guards swung their swords where it couldn't be reached by Shiro's bindings. Asa jumped over Dorian who was still hiding in a ball on the ground shivering and slashed the guards legs with Loyal Riptide in one swift move. All the guards were crumpled to the ground and Shiro shoved Dorian to continue on their path to the docks.

Her heart raced when the docks came into view and the shining haul of the pearl Aenon ship sat near them as if it was happily welcoming them into its arms. All their breaths became ragged from the mad sprint they ended up getting into as they made the final the stretch towards freedom. Dorian abruptly halted steps from the docks with a look of pure terror painted over his face. 

Taura materialized from behind an overhanging tree and stood in front of their escape. "I thought your mother taught you that it was rude to leave without saying your goodbyes, your majesty." She cooed with a sly smile spread on her face.