ARCTURUS

I had a plan. A stupid, risky, dangerous plan. But It was the best I had. I saunter through the gates to the castle where King Ryon lived. I put on a brave face and march into the stone brick dining room. Three people were having a conversation around a table of food.

"Kurykubi joined the fight."

"Really?"

"They trekked seven hundred miles?"

"Yeah! And it turns out the Aradon Rogues are still fighting."

"That's insane. They know they can't win, why don't they give up?"

"They're going better than we think. Ryon is thinking of sending more warriors."

"Excuse me?"

Three hostile gazes swivel in my direction. My tongue went dry and I re-adjust my new helmet that I stole from Guy #2.

"Which way to the dungeon?" I ask, making my voice low and deep. One of the guys stands up and comes over to me. He tilts his head and cracks a grin.

"'Avent seen you before. Dungeon's down those stairs and to the left." he tells me. I grin and thank him, then left. I try not to run like a madman. The plan worked! They fell for it! The guy ducks back inside and continues the conversation. I look down the stairs.

The stairs are crumbling and covered with cobwebs. They descend into darkness a and the vile smell of stale blood and meat wafts up from the blackness. I almost back out. Lilly might not even be in here. But no. I take a deep breath and creep in.

The sound hits me when I reach the bottom of the stairs. Screaming, crying, pleading. It's sickening. The path of darkness splits into two. One gets even darker and slopes down. I choose the other one.

Finally grey light hits my vision. I'm in a sort of cave. A ledge wraps around the giant dome, a ledge I'm standing on. Every couple of meters is a trapdoor leading to a smaller cave- cages for prisoners. Up above is a hole letting in light, like an escape you can never reach.

I dash over to the first trapdoor and yank it open. Inside is a kid about nine holding a stuffed cat. He looks up at me fearfully and I smile. He scrunches up in the corner as I reach my hand down.

"I'm Arcturus." I whisper as he staggers closer. "I'm here to bust you out."

He smiles and grabs my hand. I pull him out and set him on the ledge, where he curls up and hugs his cat. "I'm Deben. This is my cat Boo. My mum died here." I pat him on the back and put my face close to his.

"Deben, has a girl with plaits yay long," I gesture to my knees. "Come through here?" he blinks and screws up his face like he's thinking. Finally he shakes his head.

"No. We have to let everyone out though. We'll find her." With that he gets up and ambles off to open another door. I go the opposite direction and open the next one.

A ball of black-haired fury starts slashing at my face. I flinch but the girl inside can't reach high enough.

"Leave me alone! Don't hurt me!" she screams at me and stops moving. I get a good look at her. She is a girl of thirteen. Her black hair is tangled and she wears a tattered light brown dress. Her face and arms are covered in dried blood and scars.

She sees me looking and snarls. Before she can lunge at me again, I hold my hand up in surrender. She stops and wipes blood off her face with the hem of her dress.

"I want to help you. Grab my hand." I say. She is still looking at me suspiciously but I manage to drag her out.She introduces herself as Bianca and limps away to find her brother Felix. I go to the next trapdoor and my heart almost stops.

Two small girls are huddled unconscious in the corner. Beside them is a smashed wall, blood splattering it. One of the girls wakes up and looks at me sadly, hopelessly.

She has shoulder length brown and caramel hair and dark skin. She looks a lot like TJ, except this girl has a cream tattered dress and is covered in blood. She looks as If she's about to cry.

"I'm Hope." She whispers. There is no way I can pull her out so I swing myself into the cage. Hope flinches but keeps speaking.

"If you can only save one of us, take my friend. The guards heard us talking and came in with swords and whips. She's been asleep ever since."

I look over at the other girl. She has a grey tattered dress (I think it's Dermor prisoner clothing?), blond hair violently chopped off at her shoulder blades and a long cut on her side.

Lilly.

I scramble over to her and lift her dress in the most casual way I can to inspect the wound. It is long and oozing a thick liquid, like egg. The edges are black and jagged.

"Lilly. Lilly wake up." I say, slapping her in the face. Lilly's eyelids flutter and she tries to focus on me. Her eyes are a clearer blue than I rememember.

"Arcturus... I knew you'd come." she whispers hoarsely. I stroke her chopped hair, tears welling in my eyes. Lilly lunges forward suddenly and grabs me. Her eyes are wide and she is fully conscious.

Five will ride to kingdom come

But they will die without a lum

More will ride to Aradon's aid

But all of those too will die and fade

Others will be broken

Of Dermor's curse

But time itself is what will gurse

Lilly falls silent and looks up at me again. I'm struggling to make sense of it all. She and Hope hug me and I push them out of their prison to find Deben.

Deben and Bianca are standing by an open trapdoor with five other kids. They introduce themselves as Felix, Syble, Christy, Annysa and Lola. I send Hope and Lilly into the crowd, making nine escaped prisoners in total.

"Who knows what Gurse and Lum mean?" I demand. Christy, a caramel haired girl raises her hand. I nod at her and she coughs loudly.

"They are ancient words from the faraway city of Fluet meaning Help and kill." She says quietly. I go through this in my mind, matching the meanings with Lilly's prophecy. They will die without help, time will kill us all.

"Okay we have to go now!" I cry. A bell clangs in the distance, signalling the escape of the prisoners. Bianca pushes past me and charges up the hall, the other kids following.

I follow behind, ready to slash enemies. We emerge into a huge room with the crumbling stairs. Bianca lopes up, pulling the other kids free her. In the distance I hear loud yelling coming closer.

"Hurry!" I hiss. Our little group charges passed the dining room and to the kingdom gates. I cut a warrior who leaps for Hope and he falls down. Up ahead is grey light. We keep running and come into a ravine between two mountains.

Behind us, thirty Dermorian warriors hold swords aloft and run at us. In front is twice that much. I look around helplessly. There's only one way out of this. Lilly catches my eye and looks up, then tilts her head. I nod slightly and she whispers to Hope.

I look around wildly. There is no time. I draw my sword and start lashing out, cutting arms and slitting throats. The kids start climbing up the side of the mountain, pulling themselves up using ledges and small trees. I look up again and see that all the kids have reached a large cave and are huddling.

Dermorian warriors are closing in on me. I keep whopping them with my sword, but they keep coming. I back into the mountain, still stabbing hopelessly. Suddenly a long vine tumbles down next to me.

"Arcturus, grab it!" Bianca yells from the cave. I grab the rope and start climbing. The vine strains as a man starts climbing after me, stabbing my legs. I quickly saw through the vine below me and he falls. Bianca and Lilly are leaning out of the cave watching in horror.

I lean back and forth, back and forth and the vine starts swinging, making me almost fall off. But I keep swinging until I fly above the cave. As I fall back down I let go, thrusting my body toward the cave and pushing the vine away from me. Deben, Bianca and Christy grab my hands and pull me up.

"Thank you." I gasp. Out the back of the cave is a ledge that runs right along the mountain. I hustle everyone up an we start running, leaving the mountain city of Dermor behind us.

It's only as we leave the mountain range that I realise I forgot about Tauriel.