[SFX faint market noises, faint ocean & seagull noises]
LOGAN (loud whisper): Rena! Hey Rena! Where are you going?
Rena turned around in a daze. Logan jogged up beside her, looking around nervously at the market surrounding them.
LOGAN (whisper, full of concern): What happened? Are they not in there?
Rena’s mouth felt dry. She had to blink a few times before she could truly see his face. His skin was paler than usual, and drops of sweat had collected at his hairline. His frown deepened with every second she didn’t respond.
LOGAN (quieter): Are you alright?
Asha calmly walked up beside them, their bag slung over her shoulder, her gaze focused on the crowd around them.
RENA (hesitant, dazed): Yes, I’m fine. Uhm, it’s just …
LOGAN (impatient): What? Are Kalani and Rodrick not in the cells? Are they hurt?
[SFX crowd gets quieter]
Logan gently pulled her away from the crowd towards the edge of the market – close enough to still blend in with the market visitors but not so close that anyone could hear their conversation.
RENA (hesitant then resolute): No, no, they are! That’s not it! I saw Finn.
LOGAN: In the cells?
RENA: No. [Pause] He was walking in when I was trying to get back out. With some guards. As if he was just… part of them.
Logan’s eyes grew wide, his hand running over his hair as he stumbled a step back. Asha threw the bag on the ground between them with more force than was needed.
[SFX bag falling to ground]
ASHA (angry): That traitorous bastard. I knew we couldn’t trust him!
Rena’s cheeks ran hot as her blood pulsed in her ears. Maybe Asha had been right all along? Maybe they should’ve never agreed to work with Finn? She had been so eager to accept him into the group, so eager to believe he could help them, if Finn had truly betrayed them, it would be her fault that Kalani and Rodrick were currently being held captive. How could she have been so careless?
LOGAN (hesitant): Asha, wait. We don’t know what’s actually going on. He might not be there by choice. Just because he wasn’t in a cell doesn’t mean he’s actually free. They treat people like him differently than lowly criminals like us.
ASHA: Oh, stop thinking with your dick, Logan. The facts are that the royalist scum disappeared right before we got attacked and now our friends are locked up and he just walks around without a care in the world? And you think he’s still on our side?
RENA (hesitant, desperate): Maybe the guards captured him when we were in Oceansthrow and he had to pretend to be on their side so they wouldn’t hurt him. We don’t know. Maybe we could talk to him. Give him a chance to explain the situation to us. [Pause] Please.
Asha’s eyes darted to Rena’s, the rage inside of them making Rena flinch for a second. Asha opened her mouth to respond, then paused. She took a deep breath, her nostrils flaring, and closed her mouth again. The muscles in her jaw clenched but the fire in her eyes died down to a simmer. She glanced away quickly before looking back at Rena.
ASHA (reluctant): I would advise against trying to talk to him. We still don’t know who he is or how he’s connected. If he finds out we’re here, he might send the entire province’s guards corps after us.
RENA (small voice): He saw me when I walked out of the station. He already knows we’re here.
LOGAN (forceful): Listen, Asha. It doesn’t make sense for him to have joined us for, what? Two days? Just to betray us in such a way that it wasn’t even guaranteed that all of us would get captured at once. What would the Royal Council have gained from that? If he had actually infiltrated our group to betray us from the start, he would have made sure to gain our trust and lure us into a trap where they’d get all of us, preferably with Cas. Yesterday’s chaos wasn’t a planned attack. That was just… the Crow pulling some strings to not let us escape.
RENA (small voice): I think Logan’s right.
Heat pulsed through her body as shame spread from the pit of her stomach to all the crevices of her being. Was she only agreeing with Logan because she didn’t want to admit that she had been wrong all along or did she genuinely believe Finn was innocent? She couldn’t tell anymore. She didn’t want to believe that Finn could have betrayed them. He had never seemed like the type to lie and weasel his way into a group just to spy on them, but she had only known him for a few days. How much could you really learn about someone in such a short amount of time? But she’d only known all of her new companions for less than a week. How could she truly trust any of them? She crossed her arms tightly in front of her chest as doubt started to warp her perception of the last few days. Her fingers turned to ice, the shame and guilt and confusion fighting inside her chest and constricting it so she could barely breathe anymore.
Asha closed her eyes, the muscles in her jaw pulsing as she breathed in deeply.
LOGAN (pleading): Let’s just try to talk to him. If we get him alone, he won’t be able to overpower all of us.
ASHA: He wouldn’t be able to overpower a 16-year-old girl who has never fought in her life and a guy who can barely stand on his own anymore?
LOGAN: Okay, okay, he wouldn’t be able to overpower you. We can just… cheer you on as you beat him up if it comes to that. But my point stands. We just need to get to him when he’s alone and we should be fine. And honestly, he’s our best bet to get Kalani and Rodrick out of there.
Asha sighed and ran a hand over her scalp – small black coils having formed on her head over the last few days as she hadn’t found the opportunity to shave.
ASHA (reluctant): We can observe him. Under no circumstances are we just walking up to him to talk! But we could figure out what he’s doing here and who he’s working with, and IF he looks like he isn’t here fully by choice, we can try to talk to him.
RENA (relieved): Thank you.
ASHA: I still think this is a horrible idea, but I don’t currently have a safer plan to get Kalani and Rodrick out, so while I try to come up with something that won’t lead us to our doom, I suppose we can try to figure out what’s going on with his royal highness.
~~~~~~
Their only clue to Finn’s whereabouts was the guards’ station, but before they could truly come up with a plan on how to shadow him, they first had to deal with the fact that Logan’s condition clearly didn’t want to get better on its own.
Even though he did his best to act like nothing was wrong, his breathing became increasingly laboured and his face completely drained of any colour. He needed rest and medicine, no matter how much he protested.
After a lot of pleading and arguing and attempts at bribing, they finally decided that the best course of action would be if Asha paid for a room at an inn with the small amount of money she still had on her. She would stay with Logan while Rena was sent off to spy on Finn, as they all found it improbable that Asha would be able to control her temper once she laid eyes on him. She would be of more help if she went to find a healer for Logan who might keep him alive without completely ruining them financially.
Rena was therefore tasked with finding Finn on her own. She wasn’t sure how she would find him, but she was determined not to repeat the chaos she had caused in the archives with the letter exchange. She just needed to take her time and think of a good plan. Something that Kalani would come up with. Something that wouldn’t get them into any more trouble.
She headed back to the guards’ station in the hopes that Finn hadn’t left the premises yet. The easiest way to confirm he hadn’t, of course, would be to simply walk back into the station. That was much too risky, however. She didn’t think the “innocent lost girl” act would work a second time. So instead, she opted for circling the station and trying to get an overview of the front room through the windows.
The building didn’t look much different from what she was used to. As Logan had mentioned, it had clearly been renovated in the last few years – the white stucco of the facade glowing in the sunlight while the trim of the door and windows had been painted a deep blue. Iron bars encased the windows, making it harder for Rena to look inside. She walked past slowly as if she were simply on a stroll enjoying the nice weather. She didn’t keep her eyes on the guards’ station, opting instead to look around as if she’d never been in the city before. The building only had two walls with windows she could actually see through. To the left, the guards’ station bordered another building, while the back of the station only had small slits about 2 metres above ground that acted as windows – probably so people wouldn’t be able to easily peer into the holding cells.
She passed the station without having seen Finn. She kept walking until she felt it wouldn’t look suspicious if she turned around. She didn’t like that her plan was taking so long, but she knew she couldn’t rush it. In the back of her mind, every second that elapsed brought Logan closer to death and Maya further away from her. If she couldn’t get to Finn quickly, couldn’t convince him to release Kalani and Rodrick right away, she might lose both of them.
She shook her head. She couldn’t think of such things. She needed to concentrate on what was right before her. Anything worth doing deserves to be done with care and patience. That’s what her grandmother always said. So she set out for another stroll past the station, and a third one after that, until she glimpsed the back of Finn’s blue coat through one of the windows.
[SFX market noises growing louder]
Thank the stars, he hadn’t left the station yet. Rena adjusted her course and headed towards the market so she could blend into the crowd. She never stood close enough to any of the stalls for the vendors to notice her, weaving instead from side to side, strolling into the market and back out, her eyes constantly glancing over towards the station. She would have to wait until Finn exited the building. If luck was on her side, he would be alone, but she didn’t want to hold out hope for it.
About half an hour later, he finally stepped out, accompanied by three other people – a man dressed in fine clothes with a brown cape slung over his left shoulder and two guards trailing behind them.
Rena stepped closer to one of the stalls, pretending she was interested in the wooden toys on display, while the finely dressed man led Finn and the guards towards the market. Rena didn’t recognise the man next to Finn but his clothing and the intricately decorated sword attached to his hip signalled that he was a higher-ranking member of the guards’ corps. She tried to remember if he might have been part of the attack the day before, but it had all happened so quickly that she hadn’t really paid attention to the faces of their assailants. It didn’t help that her heart was hammering so loudly in her ears that it drowned out her ability to think properly. She stared at the toys, unblinking, painfully aware of Finn’s group walking past behind her. When she was certain they were a few metres away from her, she dared to look up again and instantly came face-to-face with the vendor who eyed her sceptically. She shot them a quick, warm smile before turning around and walking to the other side of the road.
She didn’t dare look at Finn and his new companions directly even though she was desperate to know how Finn was doing. Would his body language reveal that he was being held captive, or that he was plotting against the guards to regain his freedom? Maybe it would tell her that he was on the guards’ side after all and had tricked Rena and her companions since the beginning, as Asha suspected? She tried to glance at him from the corner of her eyes as she strolled from stall to stall, but she never got a good look at Finn’s face. His posture looked rigid, with his hands clasped tightly behind his back, but Rena didn’t know how to interpret that. The knuckles of his right hand were bloody and scraped, so he clearly had been in a fight, but did the tension in his shoulders come from the pain? Was he simply uncomfortable in the crowd? Or was he scared of his companions? She’d never had to read someone’s body language who she hadn’t known all her life, and she found it incredibly difficult in comparison to knowing whether one of her siblings had been mad at her.
She stayed close behind Finn’s group, flowing with the market’s crowd, always standing close enough to a group of visitors so that it looked like she belonged with them. The man in the fine clothes led his group through the market, talking to Finn with wide hand gestures, barely acknowledging the presence of the guards accompanying them. They didn’t look at any stalls, which meant that Rena had to follow them at a quicker pace than she was comfortable with.
She started to worry about how she would be able to follow them once they were out of the market. She hadn’t given it much thought earlier and now she cursed herself for not having come up with a better disguise. She started to panic, thinking back to the archives and Rodrick’s plan to exchange the decrees with the envoy from the historical academy. She needed to find an alternative. Some way to signal to Finn that she wanted to speak with him alone. Maybe she could lead him to one of the side streets and wait for him to come to her – hope that he could find an opportunity to get away from his group. She simply had to trust that he was still on their side.
They slowly approached the edge of the market. The crowd was thinning and the stalls were spaced farther apart and with each step the guards took, a knot tightened around Rena’s lungs as she desperately tried to figure out how to get Finn’s attention.
Maybe she could try to throw something at him so he would turn around and look at her? No, that would be too dangerous. She might miss and hit one of the guards. What if she caused a ruckus so they would all have to turn around? Make a stall collapse or push someone over? Who was she kidding, she would never be able to cause such chaos on purpose. She might injure an innocent bystander. But what else was there? Pretend to faint and hope they would come to her aid? She would definitely draw the attention of all of the guards but there was always the chance they might not recognise her. There was no indication that these had been the guards who had attacked them, but there was also no guarantee that they hadn’t been. No, none of those plans were safe. She couldn’t risk her safety in the hope that maybe the guards wouldn’t know who she was if they got close to her. She wouldn’t be able to run away from them or fight them. No, she somehow needed to find a way to get only Finn’s attention, and for that, she would need to be in his field of vision.
She took a deep breath and picked up her pace, weaving through the crowd as if she had a particular stall she was trying to get to. She needed to be quick enough to catch up with them before the market ended but not so quick that people would start noticing her.
Finn’s companion suddenly stopped and turned towards a stall that was selling ornamental knives and Rena sighed in relief. If luck truly was on her side, they would stay there long enough for her to get Finn’s attention. She slowed down her pace, getting back to her strategy of strolling from stall to stall. She crossed to the other side, her heart hammering in her chest as she stopped at a stall to the group’s left. She angled herself towards them, pretending she was also interested in the ornately decorated sheaths. She dared a quick peek at Finn. He had his bloodshot eyes cast to the ground, his expression blank. Now that she could actually see his face, she recognised that the tension in his body was exhaustion. A faint bruise was forming underneath his right eye, a shadow of yellow and purple spreading over his too-pale skin.
Finn looked up and their eyes met. Rena held her breath, neither of them blinking for what felt like minutes but had to have been only a handful of seconds. With her entire body rigid, she forced her head to nod slightly to the left, towards one of the side streets, before averting her gaze and turning around. She walked past the last few vendors, her stiff muscles aching with each step, then turned to the right and disappeared down the side street, never looking back to see if anyone was following her.
[SFX market noises sounding further away, ocean & seagull noises more clear]
Once she had rounded the corner, she let go of the tension in her body and took in a deep, shaky breath. Her steps quickened to where the street bent to the right and she stopped right after the second corner. She breathed heavily, her heart hammering in her chest, her fingers worrying at the ends of her hair as she paced back and forth.
She needed Finn to follow her. Needed to be right about him. She didn’t know what she would do if he didn’t show up. If he didn’t tell her that he had been looking for a way to get away from the guards since yesterday. That he’d already come up with a plan on how to get Kalani and Rodrick out of the cells. That he had found out where the Crow had taken her sister and that they could leave for Baedan by the evening.
She waited and waited and waited, and with every passing second her heart sank further. She had stopped pacing a long time ago. She barely even looked up anymore when a person walked past. How could she have been so foolish to think that her plan would work out? She had wasted so much time waiting. Time she could have spent finding a way to get Rodrick and Kalani out without Finn’s help. Of course Finn hadn’t found an opportunity to get away from his entourage. They might not trust him enough to leave him alone at all.
She crouched down with her arms wrapped around her legs. Now that she had been standing still for a while she noticed just how cold the air flowing in from the ocean was. She let her head fall onto her knees, not caring anymore if she looked strange to anyone walking by. She should be heading back to Logan and Asha to make sure Logan was alright. His condition had probably worsened since she’d left, but how could she face them again with no news of progress? She would have to admit that her plan had failed miserably and that she hadn’t found out a single thing about Finn, besides that he looked tired and hurt. She knew they wouldn’t be mad at her, but she couldn’t stop her own disappointment from spreading through her bones. No, she would need to find Finn again. Hurry through the city until she’d figured out where he was staying, even if it would take her all night.
But not yet. She could wait a little longer. Just a few more minutes of clinging to her old plan. Anything, to show that she hadn’t just wasted hours when every second counted for them.
[SFX footsteps coming closer]
FINN: Rena.
Her head snapped up and there he stood, in his blue coat that showed what he had lived through these past few days.
RENA (desperate): Finn?
She stood up slowly, staring at him until he looked away and stepped closer to her.
FINN: What are you doing here?
RENA (dumbfounded): Ehm… I… uh… Rodrick and Kalani have been imprisoned here…. Did you not notice?
FINN: Yes, Yes. I know. Of course you’re here. [mutter] That was a stupid question. [louder, snappier] We shouldn’t stay here in the open. Are you alone?
RENA: No, Asha and Logan are with me, but Logan’s hurt.
FINN: That’s suboptimal. [pause] Where are you staying?
RENA: We’ve got a room above the Red Sardine tavern, in the western part of town. It’s nothing fancy but we couldn’t afford anything better.
FINN (hurriedly): You should go back. I’ll join you later. People are waiting for me, but I should be on my own by the evening. I’ll make sure that no one’s following me, so don’t worry about that.
RENA (forcefully): Do you know anything about Rodrick and Kalani? Are they hurt?
FINN (hesitant): It’s… complicated. I can’t explain it to you now, we don’t have the time for that.
RENA (forceful): But are they hurt?
FINN: A few scratches but nothing that wouldn’t heal on its own.
RENA (muttering): Thank the stars. (regular volume) Do you think you can get them out?
Finn looked at her for a moment, his jaw tightly clenched, before he looked away, his eyes darting over the ground and the buildings surrounding them as if he was searching for something that wasn’t there. His eyebrows knit together, almost as if he was in the middle of arguing with someone.
FINN (pensive): I’m not sure. It will be difficult, but there might be a possibility. I’ll need to think about it. Things aren’t the way they should be in this town.
RENA (stuttering): What do you mean?
FINN (confused): I’m not sure yet. I- (sigh) We shouldn’t be talking about this here. Head back to your tavern, I’ll come to you later.
[SFX footsteps, stop when Rena talks]
RENA: Wait, Finn! What happened to you? Are you hurt? Did the guards capture you in Oceansthrow?
[pause]
FINN: I’m fine. I’ll see you later.
[SFX footsteps leaving]
Before Rena could say anything more, Finn had already turned around and in a few hasty steps had rounded the corner and left Rena alone on the street again.
She stood there, staring at the house he had disappeared behind for another few minutes before she finally turned around and headed back to the Red Sardine tavern.
[SFX market & ocean sounds fade out]
~~~
[SFX far away tavern noises]
When she arrived in their small room Logan was lying on the only bed, his eyes closed and a wet towel over his forehead, while Asha was sitting on a chair next to the bed with her elbows resting on her knees. As she saw Rena enter the room, she straightened.
ASHA (concerned): How did it go?
RENA: I talked to him. Not for long, but he said he’d come here tonight.
ASHA (concerned, angry): You told him where we were staying?
RENA (slightly annoyed): He’s not going to lead anyone here! I know you don’t trust him, but I promise you he’s on our side.
[Pause]
ASHA (defeated): If you say so.
RENA: He could have gotten me arrested on three different occasions today!
ASHA (calmly, pensive): Yeah, I know. (Pause, sigh) I don’t think we have any other choice but to trust him for now. He’s our best bet to get Kalani and Rodrick out of here before they get transferred to the military academy. I asked around a bit. Tried to come up with a plan on how to get them out. We don’t have the manpower to bust them out of the holding cells, at least not without asking Cas for help, and I don’t know if we have the time for that. Our best bet would be to intercept the transfer, but we don’t know when that’ll happen and I’ve heard the wagons they use aren’t simple horse-drawn carriages. Apparently, they resemble something more like Rodrick’s vehicle. Not as fast as a horse-drawn carriage but they can go farther and the walls are reinforced with metal bars.
RENA: Finn said he might be able to help.
ASHA: (sigh) I hope so because otherwise it might just be the two of us executing this rescue.
Asha looked over at Logan, who seemed fast asleep, his chest rising and falling slowly and rhythmically. Rena approached and sat at the foot of the bed.
[SFX bed cloth rustling]
RENA (quietly): How is he doing?
ASHA: The idiot developed a fever.
RENA: Did you find a healer?
ASHA: Yeah. They mixed up some foul-smelling drink that knocked him right out. Hasn’t woken up since.
RENA: His skin looks better. Less pale.
ASHA (dryly): The wonders that sleep can do. Maybe one day I’ll get to experience them too.
Rena stood up and lifted the blanket from Logan’s chest. She carefully pushed his shirt up to take a look at his wound, but it had been bandaged with a fabric that ran across his entire abdomen.
ASHA (dryly): With the money I’ve had to spend on him he’d better survive.
Rena pulled the shirt down and placed the blanket back over his body before sitting at the foot of the bed again.
RENA (with faked confidence): He’ll survive.
She shot Asha a warm smile until the corner of Asha’s mouth twitched up in response.
ASHA: Or we’ll hunt him down in his next life. He owes me too much money to just let him live on peacefully.
~~~
[SFX sounds of tavern get louder and clearer]
Rena and Asha waited for Finn in the front room of the tavern, nursing their food and drink for hours so they would spend as little money as possible.
Finn snuck into the tavern after the sun had set. He wasn’t wearing his blue coat or the rest of his fine clothes. He, instead, had donned old, worn-out worker’s clothes that he’d probably found at the back of some cupboard that hadn’t been opened in several decades. He had slung a burlap sack over one shoulder, much similar to the one Asha carried with her everywhere she went as it contained her sword and their old clothes.
[SFX footsteps coming closer]
FINN: Let’s go to your room.
[SFX cup on table, scraping chair]
Asha downed the remaining wine from her cup and got up, barely acknowledging Finn’s presence as she walked past him. When they arrived, Logan was awake and sitting up in bed. He shot them all a tired smile as they entered until his eyes landed on Finn and his eyebrows raised in surprise.
[SFX tavern sounds go back to background, barely audible]
LOGAN (surprised): You found him?
ASHA (annoyed): [sigh] Yeah.
[SFX footsteps, heavy bag falling on wooden floor]
Asha sat back down on the chair and let the bag fall to the ground next to her before leaning down and pulling her sword out of it. She left it in its scabbard and placed it across her lap, before leaning back and hooking one arm over the back of the chair.
[Small pause]
LOGAN: Well, Finn, you look… alive. What happened?
FINN (hesitant, slightly annoyed): I ran in the wrong direction after Oceansthrow. Stumbled right into the hands of another military troop. Captain Silac was with them, the man you saw me with at the market when you were following us, Rena. He knows me, so I had to make up a story about why I stumbled out of a forest on the other side of the province when I should have been in Mellahen.
ASHA (dryly): And they believed you? How convenient.
RENA (whispered hiss): Asha! (Normal) When we got attacked, they mentioned that name. Silac.
FINN: You got attacked?
RENA: That’s how we got separated from Rodrick and Kalani. We were on our way to Baedan when a group of guards attacked us. [Murmur] So much happened that day. [Little pause, normal volume] Well, after we got back to Halvint, we found out where the Crow was staying. Logan and I broke into the house, and it got pretty obvious that they are indeed responsible for the fire. And we found my sister’s dress among their things! That’s why we were on our way to Baedan! Because we think they might be keeping her there. But the guards caught up with us outside of Halvint.
FINN: [small pause] That’s a lot. [Pause] Silac is… acting outside of his bounds. He had no right to make that arrest. There are rules and laws in place that he’s elected to twist to his own desires. I managed to take a look at your friends’ arrest papers but they don’t look correct. He’s forged charges that I know they didn’t commit and pretends he’s got the authorization from the academy to detain them. I’m… not actually quite sure why he’s done that.
LOGAN: Do you think the Crow is putting pressure on him?
FINN: Possibly. Or the Crow has infiltrated society much deeper than we initially thought.
LOGAN: I don’t know. They don’t seem like the infiltrating kind. They seem more like the we kill you if you don’t instantly agree with us kind.
RENA (hopeful): Do you know how to get Rodrick and Kalani out?
Finn shifted uncomfortably, his eyes fixed on the floor between their feet while his left hand clenched and unclenched rhythmically.
FINN (unsure): Potentially. I-it’s risky, but I don’t see any other options. Their transfer to the academy is planned for tomorrow morning. But that’s much too early. According to the usual procedures, transfers should be organised at the earliest three days after the initial arrest. One day simply isn’t enough for the correct operations to be set in place. The paperwork can’t have been finished correctly. It has to be sent to the academy for approval before they can be filed officially. I don’t know why Silac’s trying to get them out of Hollowtooth this quickly, but I don’t see how this could be a simple, innocent mistake. I’ve got a suspicion they might never arrive at the academy if we let them leave Hollowtooth.
RENA (shocked): What?! What do you mean?
ASHA: They’d make them disappear, right? Just make them vanish during the journey somehow. Lose the paperwork with them. Make it seem like they never got arrested in the first place.
Asha leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and interlacing her fingers, the sword cradled in the nook her arms formed.
Finn glanced at Asha for a second, then nodded.
RENA (shocked): No, they can’t do that!
LOGAN: Oh, they very much can [groan]
[SFX clothes rustling]
LOGAN: Wouldn’t be the first time that happened.
RENA: But…
FINN: We’re not gonna let it happen. Like I said, I’ve got a plan, even if it’s a dangerous one. I know when the transport will be. If we arrive before Silac does, I can convince the guards on duty that the plan has been changed and I’m taking over the transfer. I’ll tell them you’re my personal guards who will replace the ones who were initially scheduled to accompany the transfer. We’d simply… not drive to the military academy. We just need to hope that Silac won’t be there in the early hours of the morning when the vehicle arrives, but I doubt he would be. He has a strange way of prioritising his duties.
RENA (hesitant but hopeful): It sounds doable, though, right? With a bit of luck, we’re guaranteed to get Kalani and Rodrick out unharmed.
FINN (apprehensive): It’s a very public stunt, however. If we go through with this, Silac will know for certain that I was involved. And I doubt he’ll be all too happy about it.
LOGAN: Don’t they all know you helped us in the archives anyway. Or at least the higher echelons know. What’s one more betrayal?
FINN: I doubt they all know. And I’m not sure how Silac will react. He’s not exactly… playing by the rules. With the administrator, I could at least predict her next moves.
Asha’s eyes had been fixed on Finn for a while as if she was trying to figure out a complicated riddle. Even the news of his plan to free their friends hadn’t brightened up her expression. Finn felt her stare on him, shuffling uncomfortably any time he dared look up at her.
ASHA (calmly): Why do you have so much authority? You’re what, twenty years old?
FINN: Twenty-one.
ASHA: I doubt you climbed up the ranks through hard work, so what is it? Nepotism? Blackmail? You’re just someone’s puppet?
LOGAN (groaning): We don’t have time for this, Asha.
ASHA (calmly): I know. That’s why I’m gonna let it slide. For now. We’ll get Kalani and Rodrick out, but then I want the two of you [pause] to think about this whole situation very hard. He’s twenty-one and pushing his weight around as if he was a grand-general.
[SFX chair scrape, metal clink, footsteps]
ASHA: That’s just not adding up for a regular military career, is it?
Asha came to stand right in front of Finn, towering over him, her left hand holding her sword by the scabbard. Finn stared up at Asha, his body rigid, his hand stopping its rhythmic motion and clenching tightly into a fist.
RENA (pleading): Can we not fight? He’s clearly here to help us, Asha. I don’t see how his career is important right now.
ASHA: I just know he’s putting a bigger target on our back than we’re realising. They’ll want to get him back, whoever he is. Probably doesn’t matter what the collateral damage will be.
FINN: [pause] I can tell you later. But first, we need to discuss our approach for tomorrow in more detail. If you want us to safely get your friends out.
~~~~
[SFX tavern noises fade out, ocean & seagull noises fade in]
Finn had brought them guard uniforms so they could blend in for the transfer. He’d had a surprisingly accurate eye for size as they all fit well enough to not be suspicious, even though they weren’t very comfortable.
Logan had insisted Rena take half of the bed so she wouldn’t have to sleep on the floor. Rena, however, had tried to argue that Asha deserved it just as much, but, of course, Asha had protested so thoroughly that Rena almost felt bad for even suggesting she’d be the one to sleep on the floor. The bed couldn’t exactly have been called comfortable, especially not with Rena’s back pressed against Logan’s sweaty body all night, but she had to admit that the floor would have been worse. This all led to none of them being well rested in the early morning, and even though Rena was relieved that she hadn’t dreamt during the night, she still felt as exhausted and drained as after her nightmare the day before.
They snuck out of the tavern in their uniforms, the clothes Valentina had given them stuffed inside their burlap sack with the rest of their belongings, and headed towards the guards’ station. Finn had told them to wait near one of the side streets where the transport carriage was supposed to pick up Kalani and Rodrick.
[SFX wagon arriving, repeating mechanical motor sound and steam sonds]
Rena’s eyes grew wide when she saw the vehicle approach. Asha hadn’t been wrong when she’d said it was similar to Rodrick’s wagon, but its sheer magnitude distinguished it from Rodrick’s now clearly homemade carriage. The guards’ vehicle still had a few remnants of a horse-drawn carriage, but not many. It was wider and more angular, with a chimney sticking out next to the driver’s cabin, which was only a small open space to one side of the wagon’s front. The wheels were bigger and larger than the ones on a carriage, reinforced by steel to make them sturdier. The vehicle was painted red and silver, with thick metal bars running over the length of it, only leaving a small opening in the back for the door.
It stopped right in front of Rena, next to the side door of the guards’ station. At first, Rena thought only one person was accompanying the vehicle, the driver, but then the backdoor swung open and four more guards stepped out. They lined up in front of the wagon with their hands clasped behind their backs, looking straight ahead like Rena, Logan and Asha had been instructed to do.
An instant later Finn burst out of the station, wearing his blue coat again.
FINN (authoritatively): Change of plan. I’m taking over the transfer. I’ve received orders from General Mirid to personally escort the prisoners to the academy as fast as possible. You will be staying here. My troop will accompany me instead.
DRIVER: All of us, sir?
FINN: Yes!
DRIVER: Captain Liberic, may I remind you that a special authorization is needed to operate this vehicle, sir? Only I am allowed to drive it, sir.
Before Finn could reply, Kalani and Rodrick were brought out in shackles. Asha and Logan stepped forward, prompting Rena to also jump into action. She’d been so engrossed by the scene playing out in front of her, that she’d almost forgotten Finn’s instructions from the night before. Her fingers felt ice cold as she took Rodrick’s arm and led him to the vehicle. She didn’t dare to look him in the eyes, afraid she’d burst into tears out of relief. She had to focus all of her concentration on keeping her face neutral, letting Logan take the lead in guiding Rodrick into the vehicle. The back portion of the wagon was divided into two sections. The side towards the driver’s cabin had been fashioned into a holding cell with bars separating it from the other side where simple benches had been built along the walls for the accompanying guards to sit on.
Asha climbed in after them and led Kalani and Rodrick into the cell, locking the door after them with the key she’d gotten from one of the guards outside. None of them said anything or dared to acknowledge the situation. Kalani and Rodrick acted like regular prisoners, and Asha and Logan acted like regular guards. Only Rena felt like she might step out of line and expose their true identities at any moment.
FINN (from outside): Fine. You can drive. But there won’t be enough space in the back for the rest of your troop. We need to leave! We’ve already wasted too much time. General Mirid is waiting for us.
Finn stepped into the back of the vehicle and closed the door and only then did Rena dare to look at her rescued friends.
The Heart Pyre 