Everything was settled. Lex would start sleeping now, so that he would not get punished when it was discovered that his brother had escaped. Michal was to go to her room, and on the way she would stop to talk to the guard. After about ten minutes, she would convince the guard that Mark had gone to his room while they were talking. That way no one would notice for a while, thinking he was sulking because of what had happened to Grace. Then she would enter her room and tie blankets together. She would then sling them over to Alexander’s window, where Mark would catch them and climb to her room. Once there, he could better shimmy straight down the makeshift rope to the ground outside the wall. From there, he would run across a vast stretch of open field to where the woods started, about one hundred yards away. That would be the hard part. If he made it that far unnoticed, he would hike through on the edge of the woods, following the path his sister had taken. If he was noticed, he would run as fast as possible, ceasing to be quiet and careful. If caught, he would say that he was leaning out the window, to see if he could spot Grace again, and fell out. If questioned why he ran, he would say that he had panicked and wasn’t himself when he ran. If they were lucky, none of them would get in trouble. Fingers crossed.

“Here we go.” said Michal.

“Good luck.” said Mark.

“Same to you. Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

“Alright,” she sighed. “Let’s go.” She entered the hallway. “Hello, guards.” She smiled sweetly.

“Hello?”

Michal talked to the guard, and although they didn’t seem at all interested, they acted like they weren’t paying attention to anything else. Luckily, she didn’t have to answer any tough questions, like why she was talking to them. Again, they weren’t at all interested, and just kept staring into space while she spoke. “All for the better,” she thought, “it’ll be easier to convince them that Mark went to his room if they aren’t paying attention.” Finally, she heard the sound she’d been waiting for. A small banging noise came from within Alexander’s room, the signal.

“Oh, I do hope Mark’s alright, he already went to his room.” she said, faking innocence.

“He did?” asked one guard suspiciously, “I didn’t see him.”

“He came out of Alexander’s room when you were looking that way,” she gestured to the other end of the hall.

“But I didn’t hear him either,” another objected.

“Oh, but didn’t you hear that little banging noise?”

“Yes, but it wasn’t the sound the other doors make.” said the first.

“Is this your first time guarding?” she asked critically. “Everyone knows his door is hard to close and open, and that force must be used on it!”

“But – ”

“You’ll obviously have to take my word for it, he might not be himself, because of what happened with Grace. He might attack you if you barge into his room.”

Now the guards were being more reasonable, apparently the guards had a healthy fear of Mark. Michal decided she’d remind herself to tell Mark so that he could use their fear to his advantage.

“Very well, but go to your room now.” a third ordered.

“Oh, alright.” she faked disappointment and trudged to her room. Once there, she wasted no time in tying the blankets together and slinging them to her brother. Once he had swung over to her window, she hurriedly told him about her discovery.

“Really?” he sounded pleased. “I’ll have to remember that, it might work to our advantage later.”

“Just what I was thinking.” she replied. “Now you must go, before Grace and her guards get too far away to track. Good luck, and tell Grace that Alexander and I send our love.”

“Will do, and don’t worry, we’ll be fine.”

“I hope so.”

“I know so. Good bye, I’ll miss you and Lex.”

“Good bye, and good luck again, we’ll miss you both.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t let Grace be taken from us.” he promised.

After they had finished exchanging goodbyes, Michal held the rope as Mark shimmied down it and landed safely. He quickly untied the two extra blankets they had added, one for him and one for Grace, slung them over his shoulder, and proceeded to quietly slip away towards the woods.

Designed by Tim Sainburg from Brambling Design

Mark watched helplessly from Alexander’s room as Grace was taken through the courtyard and through the gates. When she had been taken from the general’s room, they had been led, quite forcibly, to their rooms, where Michal pleaded with the guard, who was a softy, to let them sit together in Alexander’s room. He had concented, and now they all watched from the window, feeling helpless. As they watched their sister being taken from them, they began to remember themselves being taken to the Dark Castle for the first time, and the rest of their family.

                “Do you know what happened to our parents?” asked Mark.

“They were still at home when I was captured, but I don’t know if they’re there now.” said Michal.

“Would they be here if the Serenians got them?” asked Alexander.

“I think Kzereck would have them taken to a different place than us.” Michal reasoned.

“Or kill them.” Mark said grimly.

After a long pause, Michal said “What do you think ever happened to our other brother?”

                “I thought he disappeared before I was born.” Alexander put in.

                “Yes, he did. But now that you mention it, I wonder if the Serenians were involved too.” said Mark.

                “That’s what I was thinking,” began Michal, “but if so, wouldn’t he be here with us now?”

                “Unless they have him somewhere else like they’re doing to Grace.” sniffled Alexander.

                “We’ve got to do something.” determined Mark.

                “About our brother?” Michal asked, “Why, we wouldn’t know where to begin! We don’t know where he is, or if he’s even alive!”

                “No, about Grace.”

                “About Grace!” exclaimed Alexander.

                “What do you mean?” questioned Michal.

                “We can’t be separated,” began Mark. “we can’t leave Grace to survive among Serenians by herself!”

                “What can we do?” asked Alexander.

                “If I escape,” began Mark, “I can save her.”

                “But how will you get out? And where will she go once you have accomplished this? If you bring Grace back, Kzereck will just send her away again, and then put you under lock and key.” said Michal.

                “I don’t know. But I can’t just leave her there.”

                “Alright,” began Michal, “ then we’ll help.”

 *

                Cole silently followed his Aunt through the forest. Obviously, she wasn’t worried, he could hear her crashing through the forest ahead of him. But as they drew closer, he could hear her less and less. Evidentially, she didn’t want to be stopped before she could reach her daughter. Finally, he heard nothing more. Either she had halted completely or had become just as silent as Cole. Unfortunately, Cole thought the second, and kept walking. After a few minutes, he nearly toppled over a small hill concealed by undergrowth. Only it wasn’t a hill; it was his Aunt.

                “Uhh. . . Hi, Aunt Emma.”

                “Cole!” she whispered sharply. “I told you to stay with the little ones!”

                “I’m sorry, Aunt Emma. I was worried about Alexia, and they were sleeping, and you didn’t bring a weapon, so I figured I should come and help.”

                “You should do as you’re told.”

                “I’m sorry, and I will from now on.”

                “Alright, Cole. We’ll discuss this more later. Since you’re here you might as well stay.”

                “Thank you, Aunt Emma!” Cole exclaimed.

                “Alright, alright,” she smiled. “So, did you bring any weapons?”

                “I brought Alexia’s bow and arrows, she’s been teaching me.”

                “A girl teaching a boy!” she exclaimed, “how imp – ”

                “I know, Aunt Emma, I know. Can I explain it later, though please? We did have a good reason. But why are you sitting here?”

                She only pointed. They had been whispering the whole time, and Cole had just noticed then. He quietly turned to look and saw the reason.

                Down below them was a clear view of the west side of town. What he could see was more or less deserted, but not 10 yards from where they were seated, he could see a large concentration of  Serenians gathered around something. He looked closer and found that they were gathered around a Figure, a person, who was shooting arrows at them. Evidentially, they were trying to fight back, but the Figure was holding up extremely well, but it was obvious that wouldn’t last. The Figure was getting tired, and couldn’t hold up much longer. He looked even closer, and found that the Figure was his own Alexandria.

                “Oh, no.” Cole realized. Out loud, he said, “Aunt Emma, uh, that’s Alexandria.”

                “Oh, no, Alexandria!” now Aunt Emma realized the truth, too.

Alexandria would be taken away from them.

                Hey, guys! I know I havent posted in a while, but I just edited this chapter of my story. Enjoy!

                They continued to follow the guards towards the center of the castle, becoming gloomier and gloomier by the minute. Finally, they approached the chamber where the general awaited them. Lex reached for Michal’s hand, and all four of them drew closer together. When they walked in, they found the general standing across from them on the other side of the chamber.

                “Welcome.”

                “Yeah, that’s completely how we feel right now.” Mark muttered, only to have his foot stepped on by Michal, who didn’t necessarily disagree with him, but she was terrified of what the general would do if he overheard. “What do you want?” he asked, this time audible by the general, which only earned him another good stamp, this time on his other foot, by Grace.

                “Funny you would ask,”

                “What part of it is funny?” he mumbled, and then got elbowed by Lex. “I thought Kzereck was the bad guy, since he’s the one in charge of the Serenian army, not you guys!” he whispered to them.

                “Well, I thought Kzereck was the stupid one too, but I see differently now.” Grace retorted.

                In order to prevent an all-out argument from emerging in the chamber, Michal quickly asked, “Why do you say that?” as innocently as she could.

                “Well, you see, there’s been a little . . . room shortage,” he grinned evilly, “so we need to have a few people . . .leave.”

                “Good, we’ll be happy to leave,” Mark said, not noticing the evil grin. He headed towards the door, only to have his way blocked by a couple of guards.

                “Not quite.” Kzereck sneered. “We’ve decided that . . .”

                “By ‘we,’ you mean you, correct?” Grace guessed.

                “Yes, yes, anyway, I’ve decided, if you want to be particular, I’ve decided that we’ll send two of you away, and keep the other two of you here, under closer guard, just to discourage any plans.”

                Michal glared at the boys, he had mentioned plans, after all. Then she turned to Kzereck. You can’t do that,” she said, trying to deter his plan, “why would you even want to? You’ve nothing to gain.”

                “Simple,” said the general, “because I can, I don’t like you,” he said glancing at Mark, with whom the feeling was mutual, “and you,” he once again referred to Mark, “can’t do anything about it.” Kzereck explained with an evil grin.

                At that, Mark wanted to lunge at him. Kzereck knew exactly how to push his buttons. But he didn’t have a weapon, was outnumbered, and was at the disadvantage. Instead he clenched his fists and focused on what he’d like to do to Kzereck. But, as Kzereck continued, he found his self-control lacking, and finally did lunge. He was quickly restrained by a few of the guards standing by.

                “Okay, well we can certainly see who’s staying here.” Kzereck taunted.

                Mark tried to escape the grasp of the men, only to receive a swift punch on the ribs. Grace at once ran up, enraged, and slapped one of the guards in the face, to no avail. Then she quickly proceeded to get on to Kzereck.

                “You are just a big bully! Face it, you are afraid of him! If you weren’t, you’d be taking care of him yourself, not threatening or using stupid guards! You are a disgrace to mankind,” she proceeded to spit on him.

                Finally, Kzereck got fed up with her.

                “GUARDS!!!!”

               “Calling for help?” she taunted, somehow becoming extremely brave. She also knew how to press peoples’ buttons.The guards quickly came and stood next to Grace.

“Well, then we certainly can’t keep two trouble-makers together, now can we?” Kzereck asked as he struggled to regain his composure, “but I do believe that you, Miss, will need twice as many guards as one person, so on second thought, let’s send you away, and keep the other three, doesn’t that sound splendid?” Let’s just say Kzereck knew exactly how to get back at people, and he didn’t forgive readily either.

At this, Mark instantly elbowed his guards in the gut, planning to lunge at Kzereck again, this time not even considering the fact that he had no weapon. However, at the last second, he managed to remember and jerked the sword out of one of the soldier’s sheath.

As Mark charged Kzereck, 20 more guards seemed to appear out of nowhere. At Kzereck’s command, which came out sounding more or less like a wail, they practically dog-piled Mark. As he struggled to his feet, still held by the guards, Kzereck let out the most evil laugh even the guards had ever heard.

Alexander had been standing off to the side this whole time, timidly holding Michal’s hand. Now, he ran at Kzereck, however he wasn’t dog-piled. After all, he was only a kid. But, he was like a kid on a mission, he ran up to Kzereck, semi-fearless, and stomped on his toes, all while yelling, “Leave my brother alone!” All he received was a swift slap in the face, via Kzereck. He reeled back, red in the face and bleeding from Kzereck’s ring. Michal rushed to him and helped him up from the ground, while Grace was dragged away and Mark held down.

Ohh, what are we going to do? she wondered.

 *

Cole followed Nathan amidst the chaos. He was glad to have Nathan, he was sure that he would have panicked otherwise. As Nathan led him onward, he looked back to where they had left Alexandria only moments before. He could just barely make out her form through the haze, as she began to shoot arrows at the invading Sereians. Now, as they fled through the streets of Refagade, he found himself scared out of his skin. He could not take his mind off of Alexandria’s position. He was sure she wouldn’t make it out saftely, maybe she wouldn’t come out at all.

Maybe she’ll be taken by the Sereians. Maybe she’ll be able to hide. Maybe she’d be injured and unable to find her way home. Maybe she’ll be killed and we won’t even know it. Maybe . . .

He worried all the way through the town, through the forest, and up the walk to the house, where Nathan left him to go help out at the battle scene. He knew he’d have to find Aunt Emma and tell her about the situation in town and he and Alexandria’s separation. But he didn’t want to. He knew it would worry her. And Aunt Emma didn’t even know Alexandria had been practicing. She thought it wasn’t proper. She’d be worried. Definitely. But he had to. He knew he had to.

“Aunt Emma!” he called. “Aunt Emma, where are you?”

He found her around the back of their home trying to keep an eye on the girls, who were evidently enjoying playing house with their little brother, while mending some clothes. The girls were shrieking with delight, but Andrew did not seem so thrilled – he had fallen asleep. As Cole approached, the girls decided to follow Andrew’s lead and announced it was night-time. As the girls settled down in the moss, Cole came into view.

                “Hello, Cole,” Aunt Emma greeted him. “Where’s Alexandria?”

“Well,” Cole began. “There was a problem in town. . .”

“What happened?” she asked.

“Well,” he began again. “These boys in town we were talking to said that there were Sereians nearby, and while we were listening a band of Sereians barged into town and then we were running with the boys and one of them, Nathan, came to take me home and he uhhh. . .” he broke off.

“He did what? Where’s Alexandria?” Aunt Emma was becoming more and more worried, but she managed to stay quiet so that she would not scare the girls, who actually had fallen asleep next to their brother.

“He handed Alexandria a . . . a . . . a bow and a quiver of arrows.”

“Arrows! She cant shoot arrows!” Aunt Emma exclaimed.

“Uh, she can, actually.”

“What!”

“She’s been practicing lately, she’s pretty good, actually.”

“But she’s a lady, its not proper! She should know I don’t approve – ”

“I know, Aunt Emma, but now she’s fighting the Serenians, and they’re raiding the town, so can you get on to her another time, like when she’s here!”

“I suppose you’re right, Cole, I’m going to go and get her.”

                “Aunt Emma!” Cole exclaimed.

                “I must, don’t worry. You stay here with the girls and Andrew.”

                “But Aunt Emma – ”

                “No buts, dear.”

                “But – ”

                “Cole,”

                “I know, I know, no buts. Aunt Emma, you don’t have a weapon or anything. If I run really fast, I can catch up to Nathan and he can bring Alexia home.” Cole pleaded, all the time struggling to not say “but.”

                “Cole, there’s no way you could run that fast, he’s been gone for over half an hour! Just stay here, and I’ll be back with Alexia sometime soon.”

                With that, his Aunt turned and headed for town, leaving Cole feeling helpless. Once she had gone, he turned and looked at his three sleeping cousins. After a few moments, he decided that they wouldn’t wake up for another hour or so, and headed off after his Aunt.

It was a dark and dim day, as usual, at the castle. Mark sat in his small, also dark, room, listening to guards walking up and down the hall. He figured that it was almost noon. Good, I’ll get to see Lex, Grace, and Michal.

                About 10 minutes later, one of the guards came and announced noon-time. He quickly found his 9-year-old little brother, Alexander, and called out to him.

                “Lex!”

                “Hey, Mark!” Lex responded, resting at his usual spot on the grounds. Mark quickly joined him.

                “Any news?”

                “Nothing has changed since we got here at the start of the war, Mark, that’s what I tell you every time you ask.”

                “I know, it’s just the more I ask, the more likely it is I’ll get a desired answer.” He smiled.

                They had been there, in the Dark Castle, since the start of the war. Lex had been trapped here with them since he was very small, he didn’t even remember their old home, which Mark regretted, Lex had loved it there. They were being held captive by the Serenians, along with their sisters. There seemed to be no way out, but Mark kept telling himself there had to be. Still, he had had no luck so far, and was beginning to lose hope.

                Just then, as the boys were talking, the two girls emerged from inside the castle. One called out, and they both ran over to the boys.

                “Hi, guys.” Michal greeted, “What are you talking about?”

                “How much we want to leave.” Mark explained.

                Michal gave him a look, obviously disapproving him talking about his desire to escape so near the guards.

                “I said we were talking about how much we don’t like it here, not escape plans! I’ve been away from home for 7 years!”

                “5 months of which were your fault.” Grace reminded him.

                “Excuse me, I just ran away, in fact, I was on my way back!”

                “So you say.” Grace teased, knowing his soft spot.

                “Hey! You’re the one wh – ” he was interrupted by Michal trying to break it up before it came to yelling.

                “Guys, hello? We’re prisoners you know, it’s not the best time to fight amongst ourselves!” Michal pleaded with her siblings.

                “Alright, alright, just tell that to her.” Mark conceded. 

                “Me! He’s the one wh – ”

                “You’re doing it again!”

                “Alright, but still, it is at least partly his fault.”

                “We didn’t run away and they still kidnapped us, they would have gotten him eventually anyway. Nothing can be solved by arguing. Even if it is Mark’s fault, we can’t solve anything by proving that.” She made it clear she didn’t approve of them fighting – which was odd, since Mark was the eldest, at 16, and Grace the second, at 15. Michal was 14, and Lex came in last at 9. “Fighting obviously isn’t helping.”

                Just then, one of the guards came and told them that Kzereck, the general in charge of the castle, wanted them.

                “What does he want?” Lex complained, “Nothing good can come of it.”

                “It’s probably because of your escape plans.” Michal blamed the boys.

                “We were only complaining!” the boys objected in unison.

                They continued to argue good-naturedly until they reached the large doors of the castle. Then, they simply were led as their spirits plummeted, down the dim corridors of the Dark Castle.