Divided (72 page)

A brief look at the red-haired head, and Aela found herself
once again concerned with Katt.  Katt grabbed the bleeding injury.  “Are you
alright?” Leif asked, and Aela could feel that nasty bug of jealousy returning
to her mind. 

Katt nodded without bothering to answer verbally.  “What are
you going to do?” she asked.  Aela fought with the jealousy for a few more
moments before she managed to convince herself that she was being a fool. 

Leif nodded across to the nearby window.  A small hole in
the wall, cut into a square.  Aela knew prisons well enough to know that it
would be far above any ground that was within the prison.  Untying the rope on
Katt’s waist, Leif handed it to Aela.  He spoke quickly and softly.  “I’m going
to need you to pull me back up.  It is going to take me a few moments, but when
I tug on the rope, you have to pull me.”

“There is no way we’ll be able to pull two people up,” Aela
said warily.  The idea of Leif jumping recklessly into the window of a prison
was not sitting well with her.  Still, she knew they had to get the others out
of there.  If they did refuse, and they were hanged, Taeru would never forgive
himself—even though it would not be his fault.  Still, these people didn’t
deserve to die.

“I’m going to have to make more than one trip,” Leif
answered. 

Aela nodded her head, knowing that arguing would only waste
precious time.  Her heart twisted in her chest at the idea of anyone else she
loved being hurt, and then she glanced at Katt.  Katt was dealing with the
knowledge that several people she loved and cared about may be hanged soon. 
Aela could do this—for Taeru, and for the decent part of Telandus.  “Alright,”
she said.

“What if they are chained?” Katt offered as another
question.  “This is a prison.”  She tried to keep her voice low, but Aela was
realizing that Katt’s voice was just naturally shrill.  She had never thought
about it for all the time they had spent together this past cycle. 

Leif laughed, and from his belt, he yanked his lock pick. 
Aela had known Leif well enough to know that he was never in short supply of
that particular device.  With a quick smile, Katt nodded her understanding. 

Without bothering to waste any further time, Leif glanced
across to the window.  He risked getting to his feet, and upon inspection, Aela
didn’t see any guards within visual range of them.  In fact, no one seemed in
range of them.  All inside, she realized, as they were probably speaking with
Juliet and her family rather than protecting them.  Leif eased backwards as far
as the wall allowed him to, before he glanced with narrowed eyes at the
window.  The jump wasn’t that long, Aela reminded herself, Leif could make it,
and if he didn’t—she would pull him back up.

Katt put her hands on the rope, and Aela nodded to her
gratefully.  Leif sprinted towards the edge of the wall, jumping at just the
right moment so that he was able to clear the gap.  He landed against the
window, with his hands clinging to the sides desperately.  Aela tightened her
grip on the rope.  Without incident, though, Leif pulled himself up into the
window and, using the very thin ledge, he glanced into the prison. 

He glanced once back at them, and then he nodded.  Aela felt
her heart constricting in her chest. 
Oh, please stay safe, Leif.  Please. 
He
mouthed the reminder “when I pull,” and then he disappeared into the darkness to
which the window led.  Aela tightened her grip on the rope, and eventually, it
stretched until it was strained over the ledge of the window.  “So, why did a
princess end up coming to spy on Telandus?” Katt asked quietly.  “I hadn’t
asked you that—but I wondered.”

“Well,” Aela answered, as she had nothing better to do, and
a conversation may save her the heartache of thinking every movement held Leif
being brutally murdered.  “I was a very bored princess.”

“You didn’t leave in hopes of finding your brother?” Katt
asked again.  Her eyes were shining with curiosity.  She reminded Aela briefly
of Calis’s advisor, and Aela was filled with a sense of hatred.  No, Katt was
not Calis’s advisor, and there was no reason to dislike her. 

Aela laughed quietly, but then she nodded her head.  “I
didn’t want to let myself hope that I might—but I did.  I thought about him
often after he left, and I was looking for any opportunity to leave.”  She
didn’t know if she ought to be explaining this to Katt, though she couldn’t see
much harm in it now.

Then, Katt smiled affectionately, as though she were
recalling the memory and not Aela.  “And so when the man you loved was going to
leave, you couldn’t bear the thought of remaining behind again?”  She was
teasing Aela, and the princess knew it, but Aela’s cheeks burned brightly at
the thought. 

She said nothing, not knowing what the proper way to respond
to that was.  After all, she hadn’t left because she was in love with Leif, she
had only found out that she did while she was with him.  But perhaps she had
always known, which was why she had decided to leave.  Still, this girl did not
need to know that.  Katt laughed.  “I envy you.  I wish I had someone who cared
about me like that.”

“Did you ever—” Aela realized that she shouldn’t be asking
this—that it was a terrible idea—and yet she was going to ask it anyway.  “Did
you ever think about my brother, you know, in that way?”

This time, Katt was the one blushing.  “Oh, Kili—ah, Taeru? 
Well…”  Katt shuffled a few times.  She seemed to be more embarrassed than Aela
had been a few moments ago.  Then again, Katt wasn’t Leif’s sister.  “Well, I
mean he’s very handsome, and I noticed that.  But he was always very forward
about his disinterest in that sort of thing.”  She squirmed.

Aela laughed quietly.  “He was like that in Cathalar too,”
she murmured.  Taeru had always batted women away from him as though they were
some sort of illness.  A few times, he had even seemed interested in them—and
yet, he had always put an end to it before it was allowed to develop.  Perhaps
he needed someone that would take the initiative, and of course that person was
a traitorous flea.

“Oh,” Katt said oddly, “I suppose that isn’t surprising.”

“I wish he’d kept doing it.  I wish he’d stayed away from
that bloody prince, and then he might not be suffering right now!”  Aela’s
teeth ground together at the thought.  She could see the smug grin on that blond’s
face even now.  She wanted to kill him—she had never hated anyone so much in
her life. 

Katt’s brow creased with worry as she regarded Aela.  “I
don’t think Calis did this,” she said warily.  Neither did Leif, neither did
anyone else—even Taeru probably didn’t blame Calis for what had happened, but
Aela knew that it was his fault.  Whether he’d meant it or not, this was his
fault, and he wouldn’t be punished while her brother was. 

“He caused it,” Aela said hatefully.  Katt just frowned in
response to this statement, but she didn’t argue further.  Perhaps she agreed,
or she realized that the conversation was futile.  Still, her silence reminded
Aela that she was holding the rope—waiting for Leif to return, and he had been
gone for a while.

What could be taking so long?  After all, he hadn’t gone too
far, as she could still feel his weight attached to the rope.  He couldn’t have
gone to look for the women either, as the rope would not have stretched that
far.  What was he doing?  Aela thought of tugging on the rope, but Leif had no
way of communicating with her but tugging back.  And if he tugged back, then
Aela and Katt would have to bring him up, since that was the signal.  The
entire idea would fail, and Aela knew she would have to wait.  “He is taking a
while,” Katt murmured worriedly. 

“I know,” Aela returned.  As if she needed any more
reminders of that particular fact.  She swore she could hear some strange
crying from far away, perhaps through the window, and she tried to assure
herself it was her imagination.  “Can you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Katt asked.  Right—so it must have been her
imagination if Katt wasn’t able to hear it.  Then, the blue eyes widened, and
Katt nodded her head.  “I did—just now.  It sounded like a girl.”

It did sound like a girl, like a frightened girl.  Aela
glanced around the wall, but once again, no one was near her.  The deserted
feel of the prison remained, and they were the only two people around.  The
sound was coming from inside the prison.  “Leif,” Aela said lowly.  “Come on.”

At last, it came—the briefest of tugs on the rope, and as
soon as she felt it, Aela nearly fell over herself pulling backwards.  The
weight was nearly impossible to pull, though Katt’s assistance was helping. 
They both used the space behind them to walk backwards, trying to pull Leif up
as quickly as they could.  Aela’s hands burned against the rope, but she
ignored them.  “Pull,” she snarled to Katt.

“I am,” Katt returned, though she didn’t sound irritated. 
She was pulling, they were making progress, though not nearly at the speed Aela
wanted them to be.  She needed to see Leif, to know that he was alright.  The
pulling felt tedious, as though they would never finish.  She felt as though
they would be yanking the rope forever. 

Then, at last she saw Leif’s hand grab the ledge of the
window.  In another instant, and as she kept pulling, he appeared, holding a
young woman in his arms.  She was blond, and she was holding onto him with
desperation.  The soft crying—it had been coming from her.  The blond barmaid. 
“Alyx!” Katt cried in relief.

“You’re going to have to help me over,” Leif said from
across the way.  “I’m not going back in there with her.”  Aela slowly began
tying the rope about Katt’s wait.  The girl didn’t even bother to show her
surprise, if she was.  Next, Katt tied the rope about Aela’s waist, and then
Aela walked to the edge.  She would have to try and catch Leif’s hand—as the
rope would drop Leif and Alyx far too low.

Aela realized suddenly that the rope was no longer tied
about Leif’s waist, but instead it was around Alyx’s.  Leif managed to pull
himself up onto the thin ledge.  Then, after Aela and Katt had a firm grasp on
the rope, he jumped—with no way of running, though, his jump was not nearly
enough.

Aela managed to reach forward just enough to catch him about
the wrist, and as his body slammed against the stone wall, Alyx and he
separated.  Aela released the rope, desperately holding onto Leif.  Katt used
the rope to yank the blond girl over the edge, and Aela kept her hands on
Leif’s wrist for a few long moments.  “Try not to drop me,” Leif said dryly.

“I am considering it,” she snapped.  With a quick thrust,
she pulled him back up so that he could grab onto the ledge, and then, she
managed to ease him over it.  They both laid down warily, breathing hard.  Aela
hated the fact that they would have to do it all over again. 

Getting up, though, she was taken by surprise as Leif
grabbed her by the face and pressed their lips together.  The kiss lasted far less
time than she’d wanted, and he left her craving more, once again.  “Thanks,
love,” he said gently.  He moved over to Alyx and Katt, and Aela followed,
swaying to and fro.

“Alyx, Alyx, are you alright?” Katt begged.  Alyx was
covered in dirt, and her eyes were swollen from tears. Bruises lined one side
of her face, and Aela could make out handprints where people had manhandled
her.  Aela felt anger pierce through her body. 

Alyx sobbed for a few more moments, and then she nodded
weakly.  “They—they are… they want us to tell the people that he did it to
start the war.  I can’t, I can’t… I can’t do it,” she whimpered.  Aela’s
eyebrows furrowed in concern.  “He said to do whatever they asked, but I
can’t.  All he wanted was to bring peace to Dark District—it isn’t fair… and
now he’s…”  Once again, she fell into a fit of sobs.

Katt pulled the blond girl to her, rubbing her back and
whispering gently to her.  “It’s alright, Alyx, everything is going to be
alright.  You’re safe now.”  Aela glanced across to Leif, who was just shaking
his head in disbelief.  These men had beaten a girl.  A young girl. 

“My mother… and Aitken.  They are still…”  A loud, piercing
scream startled each of them into a quick jerk.  “Mom!” Alyx choked out after a
moment of stunned silence.  Leif’s teeth snapped together, and he started
around the wall.  Though, Alyx was clearly struggling to walk, she managed to
get to her feet, hurrying after Leif.

Katt and Aela followed, both still dazed into confusion. 
Leif was moving so quickly, and the scream had sounded so desperate.  Aela
could feel her heart threatening to pound into oblivion—just when she’d thought
it was going to be alright.  Once they ran around what felt like the entire
wall, they ran into Leif again, who had stopped, lying down near the edge of
the wall.  Alyx was kneeling beside him. 

Aela eased her body down beside Leif’s, feeling Katt
approach the other side of their small group.  When she glanced down, over the
ledge of the wall, she saw a group of what appeared to be twenty armed guards. 
And in the center of them was Juliet, with her hands bound behind her back, and
her face more ravaged than her daughter’s.  Aela threw a hand over her mouth,
trying to conceal her gasp.  “Ma’am, we are going to ask you to cooperate one,
last time.  If you refuse, we are going to take you, and your son, here, to be
hanged as an example in front of all of Dark District.  All we are asking is
that you inform the public that the boy staying with you was a Cathalari, and
that he was loyal only to Cathalar—surely you understand how that could be the
case.”

Aela’s mouth dropped open.  Hanged?  Would these men truly
hang a boy that could be no older than seven years of age?  “I will not lie for
you,” Juliet said warily.  “Surely you wouldn’t hang a little boy!  You will
only further the public’s belief that you are falsely imprisoning Taeru
Lassau.”  Her voice shook with fear, and her eyes moved to her child.