I heard Alvar's voice above me. Then Vespera's. And then Alvar's again, before the room went silent.

   "Children these days," Vespera whispered to herself. A cold hand rested on my arm. I knew that Vespera was reading my emotions, so I thought about flickering flames, and it made me calm. Vespera removed her hand, and sighed. I felt her presence shift away, and I heard a door slide open, then closed again.

   Careful not to make any noise, I twitched my fingers. They were not bound. I moved my feet, but they were tied down. I tore the blindfold from my eyes, and untied the gag. With careful control, I burnt away the knots on my bindings.

   I had been lying on a sparsely cushioned cot, and when I got up, my back ached. My eyes roved the dim room, and I walked over in the direction I had heard Vespera go. I was about to open the door there, but then I wondered if she was in the room beyond, and refrained. Instead, I trudged over to the other side of the room, where there was an identical door. I pushed on it, as it had not door handle, and it didn't budge. I shoved my full weight at it, but it didn't move. I heard echoing footsteps from the other side of the room, from behind the other door. I redoubled my frantic attempts to open the door. Finally, my fingernail caught on a little latch that had been pressed into the door before. I pulled up the latch, and pulled on it. The door swung towards me, and I hurried through it, only to run into something. Someone.

   Dex, looking flustered, ran head-on, into me. We both fell over, but promptly stood, as we heard the other door begin to open. I saw it open the first inch, as Vespera pulled it. Wordlessly greeting each other, Dex and I turned, and ran up the way he had come from.

   Our footsteps rung out loudly, but we didn't care. Finally, we reached another door, this one with a normal handle, and Dex pulled it open.

   "After you," he smirked.

   "Sure." I stepped through, into a moonlit room, with only a hole above it. Dex hooked his hands around my foot, and boosted me up, until I could reach the entrance of the hole. He pushed me up, and pulled himself up too, then we started climbing. The short tunnel was sandy rock, and I could dig my fingers into the wall, and haul myself up on that hold. I climbed out onto the top of a mountain. A chilly wind blew over us, and spread the smell of pine sap, and long grass. I shivered in my light tunic and pants. Far off sounds of the sea rung in my ears, as Dex pulled himself from the tunnel.

   "Children!" Vespera's voice was barely audible from the hilltop. "You can't escape. If you would rather be killed in the woods out there, go ahead, but I advise you wait." I had never heard her raise her voice over a loud whisper, so hearing her yell startled me.

   "Sure, how about we just climb back down to you right now?" Dex called sarcastically. "I hope your ready, though, because we can wait."

   Suddenly someone grabbed my neck from behind, and covered my mouth with a bitter-tasting hand. The person hauled me backward, and I tried to scream to Dex, but it was to no avail. He knelt, peering down the passageway.

   Vespera was distracting him, trying to keep him occupied, while someone captured me. I tasted salty blood, as I bit into the hand of my captor. The person, who I could tell was a man from his voice, grunted in pain, and let go. I swung a punch at him, hitting him in the nose, and he toppled upon impact. This is when Dex finally decided to look up. He stood up quickly, and reached out for me. His hand rested on my shoulder, and his eyes held mine, traced to my hand, that was covered in blood. He looked around frantically, then saw the unconscious man, and sagged in relief. My finger darted to my lips, gesturing him to be quiet. He flashed a thumbs-up. I leaned down to the man of the ground, and reached into his cloak pocket. It held three things. A pair of keys, on a looped ring. His birth funds. And a leaping crystal.

   I left the birth funds, and took the crystal, and the keys. Elves barely ever used locks, because of Technopaths, but I'd seen them often in prisons, because most of the time the inhabitants were too to insane to focus on picking a lock. It was a long shot, but I hoped that the keys might be useful in the future.

   The moon passed behind a cloud, and I willed the wind to blow the mist away. Finally, after a few indecipherable words from Dex, and a few silent curses from me, the sky cleared up, and the moon shone brightly. Before I held the crystal up, I leaned down, and threw back the attacker's hood.

   It was hard to make out any features on his face in the dark, but I could tell that he was quite handsome, with high cheekbones, and long eyelashes. I couldn't quite judge his age in the dark, but he looked like he was a boy, maybe a little older than me. He was still, and I wondered what colour his eyes were. It would help identify him. There was some familiarity about him, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

   I held the crystal up, and as it caught the light, I saw that it was cobalt blue. To the Forbidden Cities.