Leila sighed, doodling in the dirt a bit before looking me in the eyes. "The only reason they didn't go back for you was because Mother was..." She licked her lips, "pregnant with me." She kept her eyes on the ground, avoiding my gaze.
"They didn't want to risk it, so they went the other way instead. They ran from the capital, and when I was born, went back to look. you were nowhere to be seen or heard of, and they left, despondent, thinking you had been lost forever." I watched Leila, speechless. I thought they abandoned me, but here's evidence that they really couldn't come back, that they cared, but not for just me. I wasn't so alone anymore.
Slowly, I reached out, and hugged my sister.
She stiffened at first, then relaxed at my touch, and reached her arms out to hug me back. "I thought I was the last one." I whisper, a happy tear streaking down my cheek.
"No, I was always looking for you, just like they did." Said Leila. "When I had my eighteenth birthday, father went back, to look for you on least time. After the first search, we went into hiding, and lived on the road. But the day after I turned eighteen, he said he wanted to try one last time. He left without me and Mother, wanting us to safe. By the time we got to the town after him, there was no trace of him. He had disappeared just as you had."
"We left again, after staying for a few days and searching the town high and low for you two. Mother was a wreck, convinced the whole town was cursed. We finally left, and she dragged me to other kingdoms to hide. The loss of Father took away what was left of her sanity, and eventually," Leila sniffed, "she lost it. Refused to eat, or let anyone come near her."
"She had her moments though, and came through every so often to apologize, to be my- I mean our, old mom again, but for the most part she was gone. She got sick around the time I was twenty, very sick, and I couldn't cure her. I tried everything I could think of, but I think it was her mindset of losing you and Father that eventually took her down." Leila sniffed again, and I hugged her head, patting her hair down.
"It's okay, it wasn't your fault. I never should have wandered off in the first place. If I hadn't been taken, then none of this would have happened." I say, letting her calm herself down. When Leila finally pulled away, my dress was damp with her tears.
"When she was almost gone, Mother came through her insanity long enough to make one wish of me." She looked me dead in the eyes. "Her final wish of me was to find you and Father, no matter how long it takes. And to figure out who ruined our family, and stop them. She didn't want anyone to go through what we had."
"But it seems I'm too late." Leila sighed sadly, "all these kidnappings have been going on right under my nose the entire time. I suspected when I heard of magic in the capital, but..."
"Surely you heard something of me?" I say, "Cynthia wasn't exactly the most secretive about her pet."
"Well, the rest of the Crawdoves were. I didn't hear of anything until about a century ago, when there were rumors of something strange going on in the kingdom. I came to investigate, and have been here ever since. After awhile, it was difficult to see the people suffer, even though I could pay my bills, they could not. I started leaving things for them to find, making it easier to rob the rich who stuck their noses up at the children abandoned on the streets."
"So it was you who was making it so easy for the children to make a living?" I smile, Kida was all worried about that, she, she..." My smile faded. "You weren't taking the ones who stole those things, were you? Kida said people would get an easy catch and then disappear later. It's why she panicked and tried to leave."
Leila's eyes widened, "No! Nothing like that. I left little things for them, like a dropped coin purse, or the occasional extra key to a popular but cruel tax collector's house. I still do, but nothing huge. I when I saw them on the street, I invited them to join the underground." Leila smiled proudly. "I provide the food and such, it's how we keep people coming. We care more about them than their own King, it's always a definite seller when we get new recruits, the promise of food and a warm bed is always nice when you live day by day on the street."
"How did you get involved in the underground anyways?" I ask, its one question that's been bothering me. If her main mission was to save me and Father, who might not even be alive anymore, how did she get sidetracked enough to join a revolution?
"Well," Leila chewed her lip absentmindedly, "when I was looking for you, I would stake out in the forest rather than rent a room." She wrinkled her nose, "The places are infested with bed bugs, which for whatever reason love to vacation in genie lamps, and I liked the open sky above me anyways. But one day after wandering the streets, and still no sign of you, I went into a few alleys to hide food, and continued out of town to my camp.
"I was followed, and even as cautious as I was I didn't even notice them. When I got to my camp, I was busy putting down my bedroll, when I heard a disturbance in the leaves behind me. I turned ready to fight, and saw something I thought to be nearly impossible. An elf."
"She had followed me through the trees, scouting my position and watching from a distance. When she thought the time was right, she made a move to talk to me, but the fight or flight instinct had been engraved into me from childhood, and I ran." Leila sighed.
"What followed was not pretty, including running through bogs, then emerging water logged and having to use energy to clean myself up so I could keep on running. She just kept using the trees, following and saying she wanted to talk. I didn't listen, at least until she tackled me. But even then I fought and it took quite awhile for her to calm me down."
"She didn't make a wish for you to calm down?" I ask, bewildered. As far as I can tell, it's the only way people ever use to get me to listen to them.
Leila shook her head. "As you can see, it's much more difficult for people to figure out who I am when I don't have the lamp in such an obvious place. A bracelet is much harder to pinpoint than a necklace with the lamp at the end." She said dryly.
"Fine. Continue with your story." I huff, unhappy by despite my feelings about being up shown in secrecy by my little sister, knowing she was probably right made it all the worse.
"Anyways, after I calmed down, and stopped trying to fight her, she explained she had seen me giving out food, and that she and her friend wanted my help to take down the King and do something more permanent to help the ones on the streets. She said her name was too complicated for human words, but I was to call her Fira, and as we become better friends, Euna."
"So, I joined the underground, and I've been working to find you with their help for the past few decades. I was put on the council, to hide my identity, and since Fira and her friend Baldur, a wizard, both aged slowly, and I did not age at all, compliant to Mother's wish, they were on the council as well."
"Is that why the council is so secretive?" I ask, "Why didn't you talk to me when I was in the Underground base before?" I say, slightly hurt she didn't try to contact me before.
"Because," Leila said quietly, "I didn't believe my eyes. I thought you were fake. It didn't feel right for my search to be over just yet. I still don't know what happened to Father, and to find you so in the capital so close to us, seemed to be too good to be true."
"It's alright, I suppose." I say. "I just wish you had made an effort to see me, even if I was fake."
"But you aren't fake." Leila said, smiling again. "I finally have the sister I never met in my life. And you were so much more than I thought." I frown.
"What do you mean? I'm nothing special. Just a genie bossed around by everyone else. I'm not even smart enough to hide my lamp well enough, and then I was controlled..." I sigh, letting my head fall in my hands, "I'm just a big mess up. If I had just followed the rules Mother and Father had, rather than sneak out that night to practice, then we would have been able to live in relative peace. I would have been able to say goodbye."
"No, but what you did is done." Leila placed her hand on my shoulder, and I looked up. "But expelling the Mage from your mind without the help of a lamp was not a mess up move. Believe me, I've tried to use magic without the lamp to help, and it's not possible for a normal genie." She smiled, "Without him helping you, you shouldn't have been able to do anything at all. But instead, you got rid of him." She smiled.
"I don't know how you did it, but it's a really spectacular feat. And I think you can do more. Baldur should know more about it than I, and he will be able to gauge your magic as well."
I smile back, straightening my posture as well, "You think?" I sigh happily, "Just think, without the lamp forcing us to make wishes, then we can do whatever we want. The use of genie wishes for power will be almost non-existent."
"But most of all," I grin, "Nobody will be forcing me to do what they want. I can do what I want with my magic, instead of them." I stand, looking at the still darkening sky. "We should get back. That illusion won't last forever, and I think Tran's coming back later to 'fire' Justine."
"Right." Leila stands as well, and I stare at her for a minute, noting the things I didn't see before I knew for sure we were related. Her ears stuck slightly out from the side of her head, just like mothers had, and her eyes were shaped like mine. Where I could see Father's headstrong trait in me, I could see Mothers cautiousness in her.
"Hey, I've got an idea." Leila grins, teeth and all, "Lets catch up on old times, why not?" She holds out my lamp, and I take it cautiously, wondering what she has in mind.
I shrug, "Alright."
"Great," Leila's smile gets wider, "Lets start with a race, see what you've learned in all those years of wisdom you've got on me. We start on 5, 4321GO!" Leila crows, shooting off into the dark woods ahead of me.
"Hey! I never agreed to a race!" I yelled, Running after her. "I was stuck in a lamp my whole life, how am I supposed to get smarter like that!" But I keep on going anyways, following Leila as best I can.
We jump over logs in our paths, dodging trees, and I find myself panting after only a minute, even though Leila hasn't broken a sweat.
"I wish you would slow down!" I yell, finally stopping an leaning against a tree.
"Not fair!" Leila shouts, "I wish you could keep up with me! But you can't!" She grins, turning to jog circles around me and my tree. "Did I forget to mention that making wishes on other genies will not work, considering you can do magic on your own; unless they let you?" She laughs, finally stopping and leaning against the trunk beside me. "Now do this thing, or are you too old to keep up with a spry child like myself?"
I scowl. "Fine then. I wasn't going to do this, but you forced my hand." I grin. My lamp is back around my throat, where it belongs. I never should have given it up in the first place, but hey, mistakes were made. I snigger, snap my fingers, and start to run towards the castle, listening to Leila's shouts behind me.
"Hey! Cheater! You can't use magic to tie me to a tree just for a head start!" A pause. "When I get out of this, you are going to lose so bad!" Another pause. "When I win you have to teach me that!" I just grin, and sprint faster, giving myself a speed boost when I could feel my energy waning. Having my lamp was relief to say the least, and not just because I could control myself again.
I was almost to the castles gates after a few minutes of running. I flitted from bush to bush, staying out of sight of the guards on the walls, it wouldn't do to be caught now. There was a rustle behind me, and I spun around in time to see Leila blur past me. She doesn't stop in the bushes, going straight for the walls.
The guards on top of the wall don't even so much as flinch as she runs into the open, scales the wall, and stands next to them, pausing to stick her tongue out at me. Her skin is transparent, almost completely see through, then, without an extra second, she continues to the other side of the wall and vaults over the side.
I can feel a smile playing at the edges of my lips, and I touch my lamp gently at my throat. At this rate, there's no way I can catch up to her, not on foot anyways. I gulp, and send out a quick prayer to the gods that I make it in one piece, and make the wish.
There's a flash, and then I'm falling, landing on the ground with a not-so-soft thunk. I sit up, groaning softly and rubbing my head as I open my eyes. In front of me is the wall, and I look up to see my window over my head. Drats, must have landed outside instead of inside, and in the air nonetheless.
Leila darts past me, crowing with delight. "Nice try! But you have to be in the room to win!" She scales the wall with the ease of a squirrel, and peers in the window, which I now notice is spilling light out into the gardens. Did I leave a lamp on when I left? Maybe Tran turned it on, dangit.
"Stop! Leila!" I say. Something doesn't feel right about this. But she's already scrambling back down, snagging my arm and pulling me behind her.
"Change of plans," She says, darting behind a tree and yanking me behind it as well. Behind us, I can hear the window slam open, and a shout echos across the garden.
"I want her found! Now!" I cringe, the all too familiar voice of the Queen cracking like a whip in the night.
"My Queen, please, calm do-"
"Don't tell me what to do!" There's a crack, and then silence. Cautiously, and ignoring Leila's quiet protest, I peer around the tree, to see the Queen facing the inside of the room with her back to the forest. There are three figures in front of her in the room, and I can see a girl, who I assume is the servant who tried to calm her down on the ground, clutching her bright red cheek.
"She is not here then." The other figure says, and her voice chills me to the bone. Cynthia. She finally made her move then. Beside her is Hangar, his eyes panning across the room methodically. I have to suppress a smile of satisfaction at the size of the scar I can see on his cheek, extending below his shirt. It's deep, making a reddish valley across his face and I assume, torso.
"No. But I assure you she will be brought to justice for what she has done." The Queen replies. "But until the thief is found and imprisoned, I encourage you to stay in the castle. We are having a ball later this week, and I would love for you to attend, the Prince is looking for a wife."
"But I thought he already was engaged!" Cynthia places a hand to her mouth, feigning surprise. I can see the slightest bit of a smirk at the corner of her lips, but she forces it down, looking innocent.
"He was, but under the current circumstances, I don't believe he has much of a choice to deny me. His other to-be wife is a fugitive, and on the run." The Queen smiled wickedly, looking over her shoulder, out the window. I froze, any movement might draw her eye towards me and blow our cover.
"As it is," The Queen turned back to Cynthia, "I think you would be a perfect pick. But he will be choosing from a crowd, and you need to stand out."
Cynthia pouted, "But I have no money, your highness." She looked at the ground, handing her head in mock shame. "That terrible girl stole it all."
"It will be on me then." The Queen said. Cynthia's head snapped back up, and she smiled sweetly, like a poisonous candy. "That would be lovely. How can I ever repay you?" She said.
"My pleasure." Said the Queen. I shivered, pulling back behind the tree. They were perfect for each other.
I pulled back behind the tree, looking at Leila. She was leaning around the other side of the trunk, still transparent, and listening intently to the conversation with narrowed eyes.
"Send the guards out!" I heard the Queen call. "I want this thief found, and Miss Cynthia's money returned!" I returned to my spot, watching as the Queen left the room, shouting orders and shoving anybody in her way, out of her way.
Cynthia, however stayed. She looked down into the gardens sternly, and I felt chills tickle up my spine as she looked right at the tree. Her hand lifted to pat her hair, then, instead of returning to her side, floated down to point right at us. My muscles froze, and my brain turned to mush. All I could think about was the connection.
The one that allowed me to see where Cynthia was, evidently worked for her too.
But I still held out hope. Turning only when I felt Leila grab my hand. "I wis-" I could hear Cynthia begin to speak, wanted to turn towards her, to listen and obey, but something slammed down on my head, muffling my hearing.
I looked at Leila, and saw her with a pair of the strange ear contraptions that Tran had had when we saw Kida. So that was what these did. Looking back at Cynthia proved to be a mistake, as when she realized talking didn't work, she frowned.
Frowned very deeply. Very menacingly. The kind of look I got after 'outshining her'. The kind I got before I was about to be punished.
She reached out and tapped Hangar's arm. In one fluid motion, he reached up, pulled a scimitar from a holster on his back, and hopped out the window to land in the bushes below.
Hangar stood, brushing leaves and stray twigs from his clothing. Then he stepped out of the bushes, taking purposeful strides towards me and Leila. Leila tugged my arm making frantic motions with her hands, but I just squinted and shrugged. I had no idea what she wanted.
Leila sighed, shoulders drooping in exasperation, then closed her eyes, apparently going forward with whatever she had been trying to tell me. I peered around the tree again, watching Hangar get closer with growing trepidation. Then movement from the corner of my vision drew my attention.
From the doors of the castle, shapes clad in red and black armor were streaming out of the castle, spreading out and sweeping the grounds. Even if me and Leila had run earlier, we still wouldn't have a chance of getting away from them.
Do what you did earlier! My head snapped around, eyes narrowing on Leila, she shrugged. I figured it was safer than talking out loud. It took awhile to get to you when you have the lamp's protection.
We don't have time for explanations! I think, watching Hangar continue towards us...
20 feet....
You know! When You tried to beat me back!
15...
The teleport?
Yes! Teleport us!
Where?!
12...
Anywhere!
I touched my lamp nervously, 10 feet. He can almost touch us... Hanger reaches out, and I shut my eyes, no time to prepare, just go!
I feel something sharp brush my cheek, and then I'm falling, and by the alarmed note in Leila's thoughts, she's falling right with me.