Abby's whole body felt numb. It had since Rawlo and his family had been murdered, since the king had commanded his Wanesguard to grab her, Lucy and Sebbi and drag them here.

Rawlo's murderer stood before them, his head split wide by a grin as he caressed the blade of his ax with his forefinger. And next to the Commander, stood another Aelurian, with a patchwork of greasy, knotted fur and glazed over gold eyes stared dimly at them, its arms twitching.

Commander Feign moved aside so two Wanesguards could move into the room. They pushed a small, dark-skinned woman foward. Abby's heart sunk to the bottom of her shoes. Margo fell to her knees, her wrists weighted down by thick chains. 

She'd been captured. The guards whispered to one another and then, Rowland raised a slender finger and pointed straight at Abby, Sebbi, and Lucy. The heart she'd thought had plopped straight out of her body, leaped up and thudded against her chest. Abby looked hopefully toward Sebbi and Lucy, who seemed to notice the guards moving toward them, swords partly out of their hilts.

She grabbed Lucy's wrist. "What do we do?" she said frantically.

Lucy took his other hand and placed it over hers, intertwining their fingers. He gave her a reassuring squeeze. "It'll be alright," he whispered.

Abby smiled but she was sure it was a pathetic smile. It wouldn't be alright.

Abby'd been right. It wasn't alright. In fact, it was wholly the opposite of alright. Margo'd been captured. Lain or the creature she imagined was Lain, was chained up to a pillar, squirming and hissing as Feign hurried them into a room. The windows were covered in moth-eaten curtains of midnight blue silk. A four-poster bed stood opposite them, a canopy of light blues and creams draping over each of the golden pillars. A solid inch of dust coated the rich wooden dresser drawers. The decorated mirror that stood next to the bed gave Abby the impression this had been a girl's room once.

A figure stood by the window, obscured in shadow. Rowland's smile slithered wider across his face as his eyes landed on whatever it was. Lain screamed and Abby had wanted to do the same. But she couldn't bring herself to. In fact, she couldn't bring herself to do anything she felt she should be doing. Crying, shivering, screaming, pleading. Nothing. Abby stood stock still, Lucy and Sebbi on either side of her, her pulse racing, her eyes focused on the creature by the window. Something inside her told her she knew that creature.

"Come now," Feign cooed, his voice a great deal sweeter than when he'd captured Abby and the rest. He held his outstretched hand toward the figure. "This is a reunion. We should all be celebrating." 

The Aelurian thing lurched forward at his command, and Abby felt a pain shoot through her chest. She grabbed at her dress and pulled. Suddenly, she found herself in so much pain, she wanted to rip free of her clothes, of her own skin. It was like the blood, the very air inside her was being constricted, suffocated. She fell forward, expecting to fall but not caring because she wished the pain would be over. Sebbi caught her before she could hit the ground.

"Abby, what's wrong?"

Abby managed to turn her head enough to make out the worry etched in each of Sebbi's features. She wanted to tell him how she hurt but her words were wrenched out of her mouth before they could be spoken. Instead, another rush of hot pain coursed through her chest and she heaved forward. Her head was growing light. The room was starting to spin.

The figure moved closer and then, amid all the searing pain Abby saw a pair of very familiar gold eyes.

She sneezed so vehemently, she toppled onto the floor. The creature continued walking toward them. Gold eyes, patchwork fur. Abby didn't know if it had once been black, white, or grey; it was so mangled by now it was impossible to tell. But those eyes. Abby knew them. Knew this Aelurian, but where? And why did it hurt so much?

The Aelurian staggered to a stop, inches away from Feign's outstretched hand. Its chest didn't rise and fall with each breath. Its eyes were dull and empty. A stench washed over Abby. This Aelurian was dead.

Feign ran his fingers down its cheek, a piece of tattered grey flesh fell away from its face. He blew it off his fingertips as Abby had often done when Mirthea had gone to seed.

Tears were streaming down Abby's face now. The pain hadn't subsided. It came in waves, each tightening around her chest, stealing the breath from her lungs.

Feign seemed to finally notice Abby's agony and stomped over toward her where she lay crumpled on the stone floor. "Get up," he hissed, forcing an arm underneath Abby's armpit. He hoisted her roughly toward her feet, the pain in her chest scorching. She felt as though she was being burnt from the inside out. Snorting his disgust, Feign released her and Abby fell into Lucy's chest. Abby sneezed and fell back over. 

Feign's face grew fierce, his eyes glowered with hatred. He grabbed his ax and knelt in front of Abby. Through bleary eyes, she saw him raise his ax, felt its blade caress her cheek. "Girl." He shook her and Abby blinked. Feign was smiling. "Do you not remember me?" The ax tore into her skin, and Abby felt blood trickle down her skin. Feign frowned. "And after I'd given you such a thoughtful birthday gift, you go and forget me." He threw Abby to the ground. 

Her head swam. What? Birthday present? But that had been—

Abby gaped. Feign had been Rowland that day. He'd given her that stone. And then—No! Her family had been destroyed and that stone! It'd felt off. No, no, no. 

Feign smirked as he cleaned Abby's blood off his ax. "You remember me know, don't you? I can tell. See the hatred in your eyes." 

Abby struggled to her feet. "You," she said, breathlessly. "You—"

Feign pointed at himself. "I did it. Wasn't my magick of course, was Nocturnis' little witch, but I gave it to you. Although, if it had been my decision, I would have chosen to end your lives with my blade rather than fire." He shrugged. "I guess there's still time to remedy that." 

 Tears streaming down her cheeks, Abby shrieked as a flash of white light burst from her body. The room erupted in flames. 

Smoke filled her lungs. Abby coughed. She felt warm as the fire raged on around her, making quick work of furniture and the four-poster bed. The blue curtains were ablaze. Lucy and Sebbi laid beside her, unconscious. Margo squirmed and then coughed. Abby crawled toward her.

"Margo! You okay?" Abby shook the mouse-woman until a strained 'yes,' left her lips. As Abby looked around the room, looking for Rowland she realized the pain had stopped. And that in front of her didn't stand a creature reeking of death, but a beautiful black-furred Aelurian with the most brilliant gold eyes Abby had ever seen, save for Lucy and Sebbi. Abby blinked and then the cat-woman was gone. The creature stood among the fire, flames consuming its legs.

Margo rushed past Abby, a hand over her mouth, and moved toward Lain. She muttered a few words and his restraints fell off. "Can you move?" she asked.

Lain nodded, though his eyes never left the creature whose entire left leg had been singed of its fur. The greyish flesh underneath blistering and turning black. Lain and Margo moved toward Lucy and Sebbi and motioned for him to pick one of them up.

"Abby," she said. "Help."

Abby turned and saw that Margo was struggling with Lucy's limp body. She turned and placed herself under his right side and helped her lift him to his feet. The room crackled, fire engulfing almost all of it. As they hurried to leave, Abby turned back once. She felt she had too. And there it was again. An elegant figure of black fur and gold eyes. Looking at her, it smiled, and then it disappeared.

Abby pushed herself beyond the exhaustion she felt in her muscles to move faster as they ran down the catacombs that ran under the castle. Neither Lucy or Sebbi had come to yet. So Lain carried Sebbi while Margo and Abby struggled with Lucy. The added weight of another person made Abby's muscles cry out in pain but she pushed herself forward. They needed to get away from Rowland. From whatever that was in the room. Abby'd seen it. Rowland would have killed them. He was planning on it. She could still feel the cold steel of his ax tracing across her skin. She gave an involuntary shudder.

"Right!" Margo yelled and they turned sharply to the right. Margo's eyes ran the walls, frantic for something. Abby hoped the mouse-maid knew where she was going.

"I'll give you a whole wheel of sheep's milk cheese," Abby said breathily. "If you get us out alive."

Margo's lips curled slightly upward. "I think if we get out alive, its thanks to you," she said, turning to glance at Abby and adding, "Somehow."

Abby grimaced as Margo commanded them to go left. She didn't know how they'd escaped. What that white light had been or where the fire had come from. It certainly hadn't been her. She hadn't conjured magick. Abby didn't even know fire magick existed. She'd only ever read about potions and altercations. Never someone controlling the elements.

Margo released an excited squeal. "Moss!" she exclaimed. "Right," she called and Abby and Lain obeyed.

It didn't take long after that for them to find themselves at a barred entrance, the waves of the Aelurian sea stretched out before them. Lain placed Sebbi down long enough for him to break through the rusted chain that kept the door sealed and they burst into the open. Abby inhaled lung-fulls of fresh air. She couldn't get enough of the stuff. It'd felt like it'd been years since she'd been outside, instead of hours.

They all took a moment to catch their breaths. Lain, in particular, was hunched over, his furred hands shaking. Abby reached out to help him.

"Don't," he said, batting her hand away. Abby blushed and quickly, turned away.

"Sorry," she muttered and turned toward Margo who was in the process of waking up Lucy by shaking him as vigorously as she could.

"ST-sto-stop!" he muttered before his eyes fluttered open.

Margo smiled. "Finally," she said and pinched his cheeks. Lucy's cheeks flushed with embarrassment as he swatted the maid away.

Sebbi roused a bit and grumbled. "What happened?"

Eyebrows raised, Margo turned her gaze on Abby. "That's what I'd like to know," she said, her words dripping with suspicion. She crept closer to Abby and stood on her tip-toes, the top of her head meeting Abby's chin. "Are you a wizardess too?"

Abby shook her head. "No, I'm not old enough," she began. "And even if I were, I wouldn't be able to control an element. That kind of magick's unheard of in Mirea."

Arms folded across her chest, Margo nodded as she listened to Abby and nodded. "I figured. Magick's all but dead from Exul. Hemma can only do the most basic potions and alterations. Except for the Wizard Kellog." She swooned, here, just a bit and Lucy snorted derisively, moving to get up on his elbows.

Margo continued, ignoring Lucy. "So if that's the case, then what happened?" Margo tapped her foot against the ground, impatiently.

Before Abby could stop herself, she found the words escaping her mouth. "I saw her," she said.

All eyes were on her once again.

Margo uncrossed her arms. "Saw who?"

Abby shook her head. "I don't know." She didn't even know it was a she until the word had slipped from her lips but she didn't dare to tell Margo; they'd be looking at her more strangely than they already were.

It was Lain that spoke. "The Queen," he said, his voice raspy. He clasped his hands and dipped them in the ocean and brought the water to his lips. He drank voraciously and Abby stared in disbelief. Maybe the Aelurian sea wasn't filled with salt like the Fragilli. Or maybe, he enjoyed the salty taste of the ocean.

"The queen?" Margo said, her eyes bulging in her head. Sebbi and Lucy raised their heads.

Lain nodded. "That thing was the queen." He stopped drinking to sit up, his gaze on the distant horizon. "That's what you saw."

For a few seconds, a silence was shared between them. Then, Margo mumbled under her breath, "Necromancy, how despicable." Her face now mimicked the disdain Abby'd seen in Rowland's features when he'd called her a hemma.

Lucy and Sebbi remained silent, though they seemed to be staring at the same far off place as Lain. Abby was the only other one to say anything. "I didn't mean that," she said, unsure of how to continue. She looked down at her feet. "I saw an Aelurian with black-fur and gold eyes. Like Lucy and Sebbi." She felt gazes shift and settle on her. She continued, her gaze glued to her shoes. "She smiled at me. Then disappeared."

Before Abby knew what had happened, Lain was on her, shaking her shoulders. "You saw her? The queen? How?"

Sebbi and Lucy rushed to their feet to pry Lain off her.

Calmly, Margo looked at Abby. "Abby," she began slowly, smiling at Abby warmly, "Have you ever seen that Aelurian before?"

Abby thought about it and shook her head and then, she remembered. "The day of the storm, when I found Sebbi and Lucy. I remember seeing a pair of golden eyes staring at me from the window. I thought it'd been a dream."

Lain, who'd been flailing wildly to get to Abby, stopped and sunk onto the ground, all his air knocked out of him. "It wasn't a dream. That was the queen. Though, I don't know how you saw her now."

"I do," Margo piped up. "Or, at least I think I do. Blood bonding."

Eyebrows arched on every face except for Lain, who instead, raised a patch of scraggly silver fur above his eye.

Margo continued, though her voice wavered just a bit, "The queen must have created a bond with Abby that day."

Lain scoffed. "That's absurd. The queen never made the pact to use magick."

Margo shook her head. "She didn't have to. Blood bonding's a relatively simple spell. As long as she knew someone to teach her the words."

A look of realization flooded into Lain's face. "Soroccah," he said under his breath. "Her Archmage."

Margo nodded. "An Archmage would certainly know how to perform a bonding. So the queen must have used her blood to bond with Abby so that she could have her protection. And in turn—"

"Protect the princes," Lain finished.

All eyes were on Abby and Lucy and Sebbi who stood beside her.

"So what?" Sebbi growled. "You're saying our mother forced her blood on Abby so that she could protect us? We weren't that frail." He looked at his hands, where a very sharp set of claws would have been had he not been in his current form. "Abby should be the one being protected, not us."

Lain got up and swiftly grabbed Sebbi's collar. "You were weak then. You needed all the protection you could get," he snarled.

Sebbi cocked his head and gave a lazy half-smile. "Oh yeah? And how do you know?"

Lain released Sebbi and got on his knees. He knelt there, head raised, looking rather regal and said, "I was there, your majesties," and placed a hand across his chest.

They all stared at each other. Abby played with her dress, Margo looked toward the sea. Lain remained on his knees, his claws extending and retracting as if he was nervous. 

Then, he spoke. "I failed her," he said softly.

The realization of his failure seemed to hit all of them at once. He hadn't just failed to protect her; she'd been made into that monster, kept there for years. Abby shuddered thinking about the way Rowland almost lovingly traced the rotting flesh of her cheek. What had he done to her all this time? Maybe there was a fate worse than death. Abby knew tears were welling in her eyes. A part of her felt relieved. Even if everything had been taken from her, at least, at the very least, no one she loved had been subjected to such horror.

Lucy took a step forward, his mouth hanging slightly open as if he was searching for the right words to say but the sound of distance shuffling, of commands being yelled, and the familiar sound of metal clanking against metal, shoved all his words back down his throat. Suddenly afraid, and aware of how close they'd still been to the castle, Abby looked toward Margo for guidance.

Abbernathy Fun Fact 10:  For Abby's party, Sir Simon originally was an attendee. Yes, he's still a tree in that version, but Abby had snapped a branch of his and kept it on her person so he could enjoy the festivities as well. His insides wood have been a mess of knots had he not gotten to attend.