I wake up with a massive headache. My body jerks up and I almost fall over. I fell asleep while sitting on the floor with my head on the end of my bed. It takes a minute to remember what happened. Six fainted from exhaustion last night. Frenaris helped me carry him to my bed.

     It's in the vault. Destroy his contract? The memories from the red room start crashing over me like a ton of bricks. I remember it all. How could I forget? I saw Six's memories every time that I fell asleep with the crystal. He was the one thrown against the arena, breaking his wing. It was Six who was shoved down over and over. It's him who learned to play that stupid ukulele. Six, no, Bodil, is more then the King's conjuring. The Dark Angle is trapped. Bodil is trapped and chained by whatever was done to him. How long has he been like this? No wonder he can hardly do anything on his own. Bodil couldn't even focus  on me in the dreams.

      I'm so lost in my thoughts that I don't see him up and standing next to me. It almost gives me a heart attack when I finally do. I flinch and lurch up to my feet, my mind whirling. "Six, er, Bodil! You're in there, right?", I stumble over my words. It grates on my nerves more then I would have liked to admit when he doesn't respond. Remembering our conversation, I grab his hand in my own. "You can focus on me when we're touching right? Can you hear me?", I ask a little frantically. There's a few tense moments before something happens. Bodil's hand tightens on mine. It's only for a second before he relaxes again. That's enough. I can still see his bloodied arms yanking against the chains in my mind.

I jump back when the door to my room slams open. Rainya rushes in with a terrified expression. "Kelini, the King is here", she says, eyes wide, "He's looking for you, you need to run". The news shocks me. How does the King know that Bodil is here with me? Was it because of the way he looked at me during the banquet? Too bad the King wasn't killed in the attack.

"Ok, I think I have a plan", I mumble turning to face Bodil, "I know how to get Six out of his curse. He's not just a shell". Rainya watches me when I take off the necklace. "Follow me and keep the King from seeing you", I tell Six. It's a little risky, but I put the gem around the Dark Angel's neck. He doesn't react to that, only following my orders. "He doesn't look invisible.....", Rainya says, skeptical. I can only shrug. "I told him to hide from the King, not us", I explain. Hopefully that's the truth. I'll probably be killed if he's seen, and Bodil will be taken back by the King. But I trust the Dark Angle.

Slipping on a loose jacket, I grab my spear and a quiver of arrows. "I'll pretend that I'm going hunting. Once the King leaves, I'll follow him back to the castle", I explain to Rainya. My small, short range bow is sitting on the desk. "What? Why do you have to go to the castle? It'll be dangerous", Rainya gawks. "Six is stuck like this until I can break a contract? I'm not really sure what it is, but I can't leave him like this", I hastily explain, motioning to Bodil's stiff form.

Rainya seems hesitant to let me go, but I think that she can see how serious I am. I refuse to let Six rot in that red room, barley knowing himself. My sister reaches forwards and hugs me. "Be careful alright? And make sure to come back", she says, squeezing me close. "I'll be back soon", I hug her back. Rainya sighs before leaving the house, trying not to draw attention. I wait a few minutes to follow with Six on my heels. I really hope that the King can't see him.

     I don't see anyone when I go outside, but I can hear yelling. Six stiffens up even more then usual at the sound. I feel bad for him, but I don't think the king will leave if he still thinks the Dark Angel is with me. I can't leave my people to deal with that. The King could order them all dead. I try to act casually while walking towards the voices. Hopefully my shabby acting won't give me away.

     It looks like the entire village is standing in the square, all agitated and a few loosely gripping their weapons. The amount of hybrid and sorcerer soldiers is overwhelming. There must be at least two soldiers for every Zemrlt in the village, and not all of us are trained fighters. I can see Donnel with a stoic expression at the front. He's talking to that nightmare of a king. The conversation is obviously not going very well. I have to stop this. With a few muttered apologies, I weave and push my way through the crowd. I'm thankful when no one sees Bodil following me. Their eyes just seem to skip over him. I have no idea where Rainya is in this crowd.

     I finally push through the crowd and stop next to Donnel. I can see his surprise when I step up, and he looks for Six beside me. Donnel can't see that Bodil is still behind me. The King also seems a little surprised that I just walked up without a fight. The King looks very different from the cocky, young man that I met at the party. He looks like he aged a few years in only a few days. Sleeping also hasn't been very high on the agenda; the bags under his eyes look more like bruises. Still, his haggard appearance doesn't do anything to cover up his rage. I start half heartily signing something, but Donnel covers for me.

"She wants to know why you're wanting her", he says. The king seems taken aback by not seeing 'his' Dark Angel, and takes a moment to answer. "I lost something during the...... attack, on the castle. You wouldn't have picked a thing up on the way out, would you?", the king asks, a hint of a growl in his voice. I look at Donnel and start signing something the lines on 'plan' and 'hunting'. He catches on pretty quick. "No, Kelini says that she immediately ran to meet the others. You'll have to excuse her for a while. She's been assigned to a hunting patrol that's meeting in the woods", Donnel says. He has that stone expression that says 'and don't you dare argue, child'.

With a half wave, I turn around with an unconcerned face and walk towards the woods. There's no doubt that he'll demand to search my house, but he won't find Bodil's crystal. My jacket doesn't even have any pockets. We got away, for now. I grab Six's hand once we're out of sight. "Great job! You totally fooled him", I whisper. He doesn't answer, but I'm sure that he's smiling on the red room.

Now all I have to do is break into a castle on destroy some contract with is probably guarded by an entire army. Fantastic.