"WHAT?!" I shrieked.

We were in the Queen's throne room, the whole place lit by Ulai, it being the middle of the night. Oak and Aspen were not standing behind the Queen, so I assumed they had gone to bed.

Anger, panic, fear, anger, seemed to be burning me up from the inside. Remi COULD NOT be gone.

"Calm down, Hazel," the Queen said, "I am sorry, but I cannot risk my people to get your friend back. Yes, you may have captured a Zorg, who may or may not tell you the location of the Zorg stronghold and how to get in safely, but we cannot help!"

"Listen, we agreed and signed a treaty that we would not oppose the Zorg, and freeing your friend would be violating that! I am sorry, but you will have to let her go."

I could feel my face turning red with anger. Nick, who was standing next to me, looked ready to explode herself.

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR STUPID TREATY-" I didn't realize I had stormed at the queen until I felt Nick's hand holding me back.

"Let us go," I said, brushing off Nick's hand "Nick and I will go, and then you won't be violating your little treaty."

The Queen shook her head, looking unfazed by my anger. "No, I have a job for you two."

There was silence for a long time. All I wanted to do was punch the Queen in her perfect teeth.

"What's the job?" Nick said. She didn't sound like she wanted to know at all. Her voice was low and shook.

The Queen didn't get a chance to answer.

"Forget this," I raged and grabbed Nick's arm. I dragged her out of the room and down the ladder. I could hear the Queen calling after us as we left, but I didn't care.

I released Nick once we were outside, but she didn't even look back. She stayed right by my side as I ripped an Ulai off the central tree and ran to our room.

Nick understood what I was doing immediately. We packed our small stash of belongings and clothes into all of our backpacks, then headed out the door again.

We walked to the prison tree, where the elves had taken Leo when we got back to Ellesmain. The tree was oddly short, but wide, wide enough for two dragons standing wing to wing. The tree was also surprisingly cheerful-looking, given that it was a prison. There was Ulai suspended above the door, illuminating the two elves clad in armor, with several scary weapons.

I walked straight up to them.

"I need to get in here," I said demandingly.

Own it, I thought.

"Fraid you can't, kid," the guard on the left said, "Why don't you go home, I'm sure your parents are worrying."

They think we're elves.

"But sir," I pressed, trying to make my voice higher and airier like most of the elf voices I'd heard, "I need to talk to someone in there, it's important."

"Yeah," Nick said, "Really important!"

"Nope," the guard said, "Cant, Queen's orders."

I raised my eyebrows, "Really? Earlier, visiting prisoners was allowed."

"Well not in the middle of the night," the guard said in a this-is-final voice, "Go home, kids."

I stood there for a long second in a staring contest with the guard, feeling angrier at the world than I ever had in my life.

Finally, Nick took my arm and led me away.

"We need to find another way in," she said when we were out of earshot, "I don't know what your crazy plan is, but it better be good. "I can distract the guards while you get in, but I can't distract them for long, so you will have to be quick with Leo."

I nodded, grateful that she knew my exact plan. "What are you going to do?"

She grinned mischievously. "You'll see."

***

Nick's idea of a distraction was grabbing both the guards swords, sticking out her tongue and making a very rude noise, and then running away with the weapons.

I sighed, it could have ended badly, and the guards might not have even fallen for it, but it worked.

The guards were tripping over themselves to run after her, but she was already far ahead, even with the large weapons.

I jumped out from my hiding spot beside the stairs and hurried up them. Then I opened the door as silently as I could and slipped inside.

It was dark, but I dipped my hand into my pocket to get my Ulai and the place lit up. It was kind of a maze of cells, going back into the tree. Each prisoner had a leaf bed, exactly like the ones we slept on, with an Ulai in a small cubby above it, and a small cubicle at the back, which I was told housed a toilet. The prisoners also had a bench to sit on. The front of each cell was made of sturdy columns of wood. They were by far the nicest prison cells I had ever seen. When they put Leo in here, the front of the bars disappeared, allowing beings to go through. I assumed it was more magic.

I walked along these cells now, shining my Ulai around to see each of the prisoners. I thought I remembered which one held Leo, but I had to be sure. I also had to be fast.
Most of the prisoners were asleep, but I saw some who were awake. They gave me confused looks, like: what is a sixteen year old doing in the prison at one o'clock in the morning?

Finally, I found the right one.

Leo was sitting with his back to me, with his head resting on the wall. His belt had been taken, so all he wore was his brown shirt.

"Hey," I whispered.

His head snapped up and he gasped. "Are you-"

"Yes, now shut up and tell me how to get this cell open."
He scrambled to his feet and came up to face me at the bars.

"What'sss happening?" He asked, "Have they decided to let me go? Or are they going to kill me?"

I shook my head. "I'll explain later, now how do you get this open?"

He shrugged, "I tried hitting it with everything in here, it won't open."

I rapped my knucles on the wooden bars, and immediately, the middle ones slid up into the ceiling.

"Ok then," I said and grabbed the Zorg's arm.

I dragged him into the passage and toward the doors. The bars slid back down once Leo was out of the way.

"Ssso are you gonna tell me what's-" Leo started.

"I said shut up," I interrupted, "I will explain later."

We reached the doors and I pushed them open, grateful that the guards were still gone. The only problem: Nick wasn't there either.

"Nicholina?" I hissed into the dark.

No reply.

"Come on," I told Leo and dragged him back to my original hiding place behind the stairs.

We waited until I heard running footsteps.

A small figure in the dark came to a panting stop in front of the stairs to the prison.

"Nick?" I whispered.

The figure jumped slightly. I pulled my Ulai out of my pocket just enough so Nick would be able to see the glow.

Nick sighed in relief and jogged over to our hiding place.

"There you are. How did it g-oh! You got Leo out!"

"Yeah," I said, "We need to leave. What happened to the guards?"

"Both trying to fish their weapons out of the stream," Nick said, pointing.

I nodded, "Good, that will keep them busy for a while."

I got up, dragging Leo to his feet, then realized I didn't know what direction to go.

"Where-" I started to say, but was interrupted by a loud: "HEY!" Behind me.

I spun around. A different elven guard was barreling toward us, sword drawn.

"Run!" I shouted without hesitation.

Nick grabbed Leo's shirt as we ran, dragging him along.

"Where do we go?!" I called. We were just running to escape then, but we needed to figure out which direction was southwest.

Nick shrugged helpfully, "Into the forest, I guess, maybe we can lose them in the trees!"

More guards had joined the one chasing us, and they all had weapons. Among the number of new guards, were two dripping, extra murdery-looking ones with extra-shiny swords from stream water.

Nick's hand grabbed the back of my tunic and I was yanked to the side as Nick tugged me and Leo behind a towering tree.

"Hold your breath." Nick whispered.

I did as I was told and closed my mouth. I heard Leo do the same beside me. My heart pounded.

We waited until the crashing of the guards' feet on the ground and the clank of their armor faded away before we released our breath in a long collective sigh.

"Now what-" Leo started, but a dark shape coming up behind us stopped his words.

"What are you two doing?" A female voice whispered.

I squinted through the dim light to try and see the owner of the voice more clearly.

Nick spoke first: "Nat- Aspen?!"

"And Oak," Aspen said, stepping aside to reveal another person behind her.

"Oh," Nick says happily, "Hi Oak!"

"Again," Aspen said, smacking Oaks' hand as he gave a small wave. "What did you two do to the guards- oh, you three."

She spotted Leo crouching behind us and nodded solemnly. "I see now. We heard that you stormed out of our mothers pavilion when you heard that she would not allow us to help you get your friend back."

We sat there awkwardly for a moment, waiting to be shouted at, or arrested, or for Aspen to call for the rest of the guards, but none of that happened.

Oak stepped forward with two large bundles in his arms. He handed them to us. "You will need these if you are to save your friend."

I took one. It was the belt of daggers I had been given before, when we went with the search party to find Remi.
Nick picked up the other thing. It was the bow she had been using in training and a quiver of arrows.

"I-wait, you're letting us go?" Nick asked Oak.

He nodded.

Nick dropped the bow and threw her arms around Oak's shoulders. "Thank you," she whispered.

Oak pushed her back, but gently. Nick let him, looking embarrassed.

"Well, good luck," Aspen announced, "Oak, are you coming?"

"In a minute," Oak said.

"Alright, just don't stay long, and you can't go with them, mother would never let you see the light of day again if you did."

Oak nodded, then Aspen melted back into the shadows.

"Follow me," Oak said, his face staying expressionless, "I want to show you something.

Nick, Leo, and I followed him hesitantly as he led us across a path, staying low, and into the trees.

We followed him for quite a while, I would say about fifteen minutes at least. At last, we came to some trees. I know! Trees! In a forest!

Oak jerked his head slightly to indicate the cluster of trees, oaks, aspens, maples, spruce.

He went around the side of a towering oak tree, revealing that there were several knobs growing out of the side of the tree. They were all in single file, and looked almost like a...

"A ladder!" Nick burst out.

Oak gave a small nod of approval and gestured for Nick to climb.

I handed her my Ulai and she began climbing without hesitation, scaling it nimbly.

I nudged Leo's shoulder with my own to get him moving.

We scaled the tree, following Nicholina's light, and ended up in a small hollow at the top of the tree. The branches above us were dark and blotted out the moons.

Oak materialized at the top of the ladder and then padded over to the other side of the tree. His footsteps were light and almost soundless.

Oak shoved aside some vines and leaves to reveal another branch. He stepped onto it and beckoned for us to follow.

We went behind him in single file, balancing on the branch. I glanced down at the ground and a wave of vertigo rolled over me. Leo nudging my shoulder got me moving again.

We emerged from the foliage onto a small platform with no railings. The leaves and branches were sparse there, letting in the moonlight.

"Wow," Nick breathed, stepping to the very end of the platform and leaning over to look down. "It seems like you can see every tree in Dorian from up here!"

Oak smiled the tiniest of smiles and joined her, shoulder to shoulder at the edge. "Not every tree."

"How did you find this place?" Nick asked, glancing up to search Oak's face.

He shrugged, "Didn't find it, Aspen and I built it."

"Wow," Nick said again.

Where is Remi in that soupy ink-dark, I wondered, is she ok? Is she hurt?

"Why did you take us here?" I said aloud. Remi was getting further and further away as we spoke. If we kept dilly-dallying, there would be no catching up to her.

Oak pointed below him and Nick.

I shuffled up to the edge as well, but didn't see anything of importance, just the huge, thick branch below us and the tree across from us.

"Why..." I trailed off. What if this was a trick? What if Oak wanted to shove us off the edge, or do, I didn't know, something nefarious.

I stepped away from the drop and looked Oak up and down suspiciously. He seemed to shrink under my glare. I could feel Remi's usual paranoia creeping over me. I knew that this wasn't what the usual Hazel would normally be thinking or doing, but I was too angry.

"It's a path," Oak said, almost in a whisper, "It will take you beyond the magical barrier."

I stopped myself before I snapped at him and asked how it would be helpful. Of course it was helpful.

"With the guards patrolling the border," Oak said, "You would never get past. This way is safe."

I found it kind of cool that Oak and his sister had a secret way in and out of the forest, like maybe they weren't as free as they seemed.

I took a deep breath and stepped away from the prince, realizing that I had been close enough to elbow-bump him. He relaxed, but only slightly.

"Nick, you told me that Remi was the scary one," Oak said.

"She is, but I guess we all have a scary side." Nick answered.

"Me? Scary?" I asked, "Pshaw."

"You would be surprised," Oak said, "I have had my fill of terrifying women."

"Are you sssure your people won't be able to find ussss?" Leo asked.

"Yeah," Oak promised, "Now you need to leave. Just swing down to that branch and take only the thickest branches north. It will take you to the Dorian ruins. You can escape from there, you just have to be careful of the immediate defenses on the very edge of the forest. And Rhinikens, of course."

I went first, sitting on the edge of the platform and sliding down the three or four feet onto the branch below. I walked out further onto the branch so Leo could flop down next to me.

"Thank you so much," Nick said to Oak, "I hope I see you again."

"I hope I see you again too," Oak said, and hesitantly put a hand on Nick's shoulder. "Good luck."

Nick darted forward and gave him a quick hug. This time, he didn't push her away. Then she slipped down onto the branch next to us.

"Lead the way?" Leo said, holding an arm out to let me go first.

I held my Ulai high and led us into the forest, on the beginning of a possible suicide mission.

Thank you for reading!
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