Ellestar, Arietes Orbis

    Adrastea and Daphne sat underneath the palace courtyard, looking up at the trapdoor above them that Adrastea had escaped through a few years before. 

    "So, all we have to do is find a way to get up there?" Daphne asked as though she already knew how.

    "That is it," Adrastea replied.

    "What about after that? How will we slip past everyone in the courtyard?"

    "I will tell you that once we get into the courtyard."

    Daphne shrugged and once again reached into her jacket, pulling out another coil of rope. 

    "Where do you get all those?" Adrastea asked.

    Daphne smiled but did not answer, looking up at the tree pillars that formed the base of the courtyard. The limbs had grown out underneath the stone in a tangled mess making it a simple thing for Daphne to attach a small weight she had hidden inside her jacket and toss it up into the air and over one of the larger gaps between the root looking branches by the trap door, the weight pulling the end of the rope back down.

    "Do you expect me to climb up that thing with a wall to back me up?" Adrastea asked, not to proud to state that it was virtually impossible.

    "Of course not!" Daphne laughed. "That's ridiculous. You tie the end of the rope around your waist for security reasons and climb up that tree there and then sort of monkey swing to the trap door. I will be holding the other end of the rope so that if you accidentally let go like before you won't fall to your death."

    This plan of course was a lot more fool proof than the one before and Daphne had given it a whole three seconds thought rather than just one, which meant it would most definitely, positively, maybe work. And that was good enough for Daphne.

    Adrastea took a deep breath and proceeded to tie one end of the rope around her waist as instructed, wondering when she had become such an idiot or if she had been born that way and just never noticed it before. 

    The trap door was quite high up and the distance to fall was too much strain on her brain so Adrastea once again made her mind a blank and focused on getting that paper, rubbing both hands together before reaching for the first branch. Now being brought up in the land of trees of course entailed climbing trees, so the getting up part was not too difficult, though somewhat tedious at certain moments, but as soon as she reached the top Adrastea had to reevaluate her life decisions. Literally the only way to get from the tree to the trap door was by swinging across the tangled branches that may or may not be firmly grown into the foundations like some sort of monkey on a trapeze. 

    "What am I doing?" Adrastea muttered as she grabbed for the first one.

    With a firm grip on the farthest branch she could reach Adrastea swung forward and instinctively reached for another branch in front of her, grabbing hold of it while her legs still gave her the momentum. Pausing for a second Adrastea tried to ignore the pain in her hands and looked strait ahead, taking another deep breath and grabbing for the nearest branch. She continued this process of stopping to scream at herself and then grabbing for another handhold until finally she reached the trap door. That was when the real problem ensnared. How was she going to open it? And, even if she could open it, what if something was on top of it that could not be moved? 

    Once more Adrastea found herself mentally screaming at Daphne but then humbly took part of the blame for not being smart enough to realize that Daphne was not a reliable comrade when it came to thinking things through. For a short moment Adrastea realized that that was one other thing they had in common, but her brain was quickly cleared when the strain on her arms began to scream painfully.

    "Okay," she breathed.

    Seeing it as the only way Adrastea swung her legs back and forth slowly gathering up the momentum and with one powerful thrust of energy and muscle she brought them up and kicked the door open with a loud bang, her legs falling back down once more. Sighing with relief Adrastea bared her teeth and grabbed hold of the bar that used to hold the rope ladder, gathering all her strength and pulling herself up through the hole and over onto the floor of the stable. And there Adrastea lay, hoping that someone would just come and kill her right there. 

    "Why?" she groaned, slowly opening and closing her sore hands. "Why do you do this to me?"

    Before she remembered Daphne the human girl's head was popping up through the trap door and she swung one leg up and over the edge, climbing into the stable with far more grace than Adrastea was able to obtain.

    "Not bad," Daphne smiled, slapping Adrastea on the shoulder.

    Adrastea, who was still laying on the floor in misery, glared at Daphne with a new malice.

    "You did not care to mention a way of opening the door," she said breathlessly.

   "Oh, I knew you'd find out how to do it," Daphne replied reassuringly. "What now?"

   With a small groan Adrastea sat up, rolling her fists about to stretch out the wrists.

   "Now we just find a way to sneak across the courtyard the barred tunnel entrance," she explained.

    "How do we do that?"

    Adrastea rolled her eyes and got up, tiptoeing over to the entrance of the stable and peaking around the corner where a horse stood a covered cart.

    "That is the hay wagon," Adrastea whispered. "They will soon drive it over to the tunnel entrance where the servants will come and get the bundles later for mattresses to put in the dungeons. All we have to do is simply crawl under the covering and wait for the driver to take us over."

    "But why is it parked here?" Daphne asked.

    "...They take the used hay from the stable..." Adrastea replied a little reluctantly.

    Daphne nodded slowly in understanding, wishing that she had never posed the question. That certainly was not the most pleasant thing to hide in and she was not looking forward to it.

    Adrastea looked around the courtyard as all the servants and guards walked about talking to one another and when she was satisfied that none of them were paying close enough attention to notice, she slipped under the canvas covering into the hay wagon. 

    Building up her courage with a small pep-talk Daphne managed to scramble into the cart behind Adrastea, laying down with eyes closed and arms crossed trying not to breath. 

    They both waited there for what seemed a very long time until slow dragging footsteps walked up to the cart, the whole vehicle rocking as the person climbed into the driver's seat. There was a small spitting sound and then a few grumbled words before the driver made some clicking sounds with his tongue and the horse jolted forward, the wagon slowly rattling across the paved courtyard noisily. 

    "I think it's working," Daphne whispered, trying to distract her mind from the terrible smell.

    "Shhh," Adrastea replied, listening carefully.

    Then the cart stopped.

    "Are we there?" Daphne asked.

    "No," was the reply.

   That brought Daphne to worrying. Adrastea knew the distance between all the buildings like the back of her hand and at the slow speed the cart was going it was impossible to have reached the entrance to the tunnels by then.

    Then the voice came.

    "New bedding are you moving?" a gruff voice asked.

    "That I am," the driver replied, his voice old and scratchy.

    "If I take a look do you mind?"

    "No. Right ahead you go," said the driver.

    Daphne looked at Adrastea with alarmed eyes but the princess simply held still, looking up at the canvas above them.

    The man with the gruff voice moved behind the drivers seat and pulled the canvas away, quickly standing back and waving the air with his hands, a disgusted expression on his face.

    "Phew, smell bad that certainly does!" he exclaimed. 

    The driver chuckled but said nothing and the girls could hear the man moving the hay about on the other side of the wagon.

    "That is enough I think," he said after a few long seconds. "Stupid anyone would have to be to hide in there."

    And with that the cart was jolted forward once more with great ambition, rolling across the courtyard at an improved speed until it came to a halt in front of the tunnel entrance. The driver stretched out his arms and groaned a little, scratching the back of his neck and hopping off the seat.

    "Well Bill, be back for you later I will," he said, patting the horse.

    And with that the man left, leaving Adrastea and Daphne to their own devices. Turning herself around Adrastea slowly peaked under the canvas and was glad to see that the driver had parked with the back of the cart facing the entrance. After another look about she quickly out of the cart and knelt on the ground, signaling for Daphne to follow. Once both girls were out Adrastea grabbed a string that was tied around her neck and pulled it over her head, revealing a small metal key at the end.

    "Where did you get that?" Daphne asked in surprise.

    "Every member of the royal family had one of these, that is how I escaped," Adrastea explained, sliding it into the keyhole. "I decided to keep mine just in case."

    After a little bit of a struggle the door creaked open and both girls looked around nervously to see if anyone had heard. When they were satisfied that no one had they quickly slipped in and closed the gate behind them, making sure to lock it again. If anyone came to get the hay and found it unlocked a search would commence throughout the whole palace and then everyone would be on the lookout for anyone unusual. Adrastea herself could probably have blended in, being a cieven and knowing where to go and how to act, but Daphne, lacking antlers and tact, stuck out like a sore thumb. The last thing they needed was a palace search.

    Once they were inside the dim tunnel Adrastea began climbing up a ladder through a hole in the ceiling, Daphne following close behind. Once out of the hole the two girls found themselves in a long dark corridor, the only light coming from the place they had just left. 

    "Follow me," Adrastea whispered.

    It was a silly thing to say really for who else would Daphne follow, but Daphne knew that it meant to be careful. The corridor was too dark to see anything and making a wrong move could prove to be very bad luck indeed. 

    After what seemed hours they finally came to a staircase on the right side of the wall and Adrastea breathed with a sigh of relief.

    "I was beginning to think they had removed it," she whispered.

    The staircase was long and steep with a cold air coming up through it. Daphne tried not to think about how ominous everything was but she could not help herself and stayed close to Adrastea who obviously knew where she was going. 

    After several more minutes they finally came to the top where there was a blank wall with no door nor handle.

    "Did they block it off?" Daphne asked quietly.

    Adrastea shook her head and motioned for Daphne to stand next to her.

    "It might be a little rusted so both of us should push," she said, bracing herself.

    On the count of three both girls pushed hard against the wall and after a short period of struggle they managed to get it open, the bookshelf swinging open into a dark room. Adrastea almost did not recognize her old bedroom for the floor was littered with the broken furniture and scattered books, piles of paper, torn up bedding, and anything that could have possibly been smashed was.

    "What on Orbis?" Daphne muttered, looking around at the mess.

    "It would seem they searched my room as well," Adrastea said solemnly.

    Slowly both girls stepped into the dark room, trying to avoid running into anything that would make an excessive amount of noise and made there way to the door. Adrastea's room was up in the tower along with the royal chambers so it did not seem likely that there would be any guards, considering there was no reason to have soldiers guarding empty rooms. Plus if Haldit had left someone to keep watch then he would not be able to search them freely.

    Still, even with all the facts pointing away from it, Adrastea and Daphne took great care to make sure no guards heard, just in case there were any.

    It was slow going, climbing over the flipped chairs and table and not stepping on the crumpled sheets of paper that were strewn everywhere, but eventually they made it to the door and just as Adrastea was about to open it she stopped, looking back to the open passageway.

    "We should not leave that open," she whispered.

    Daphne nodded and tiptoed back over, quietly pushing the bookshelf back against the wall and turning to go back. 

    "What's that?" she suddenly asked, looking down at the floor.

    Adrastea looked over at her in question with raised eyebrows and Daphne bent down, picking up a gold medallion. It was fairly small but had a tree insignia on it with ancient lettering around the edges. 

    "Let me see," Adrastea said, motioning for Daphne to come over.

    Daphne complied and maneuvered her way back over, handing the medallion to Adrastea who took it in her hand and flipped it over several times, her brow furrowed in thought.

    "It seems familiar," she said, examining the letters. "But I cannot quite place where I have seen it."

    "What do the letters mean?" Daphne asked.

    "I am not sure. I only learned to read half the letters of the ancient world before...before that night," she faltered a little. "But I am sure I have seen this."

    "Well we don't have time to figure it. Come on," Daphne hurried her along, turning the handle of the door slowly.

    Peaking through the crack she was satisfied to find the corridor deserted, as was expected, and stepped out casually, looking both ways once more. Adrastea followed close behind, stuffing the medallion in her pocket, and then proceeded down the circular staircase landing on the stone floor of the exiting corridor as she had done so many times before. 

     "The royal chambers are around that corner," Adrastea whispered to Daphne, pointing down the hallway.

     Daphne nodded her understanding and the girls tiptoed down to the corner, peaking around it before heading down the second one. About halfway down Adrastea stopped in front of a door and pointed at it.

     "This is the one," she said quietly, staring blankly at the doorknob.

     Three years ago she had sat there watching through the keyhole as her parents were murdered, and she had done nothing about it. Now was a chance to change that. Finally she could do something about it but when she tried to move Adrastea found herself frozen to the floor.

    Daphne looked from Adrastea to the door handle several times before deciding it was probably best that she do the honors. Sliding in between the princess and the door she slowly turned the handle and opened it slightly, craning her head inside and looking around the ransacked room before going inside.

    It was a mess. Everything was thrown about carelessly, either broken, bent, or cracked, and papers were scattered all over the floor. The mattress and pillows were torn to shreds and the family portraits had been slashed through with a knife and thrown on the ground carelessly. 

    "What a shame," Daphne muttered, standing a fallen chair on its legs.

    Adrastea slowly followed her into the room and looked about with a solemn expression, her eyes landing on the desk that had it's drawers taken out. On the carpet at the foot of the desk there was a dark stain that the princess knew to be blood and she looked at it quietly while Daphne went about the room, standing things up again. At least, things that could be stood up. Most of the items, like Adrastea's room, had been broken and torn to shreds. Someone really wanted to find something.

    "Right," Daphne said, seeing that Adrastea was not getting anywhere. "Where is that paper you were talking about?"

    Adrastea looked up from the bloodstain at Daphne and stared blankly for a moment. Then, remembering what they had come for, she quickly ran over to the fireplace and began examining all the bricks.

    "It was somewhere around here," she said, wiggling each one and looking at the molding around them.

    Finally, seeing a small indentation in the side of one of them, she pulled out her knife and jammed it into the crack, wiggling the blade around until the brick came loose.

    "Found it," she said triumphantly.

    It still took a bit of struggling to get the brick out and she had sort cut around it with the knife, blowing at the excess dust that collected there over the years. Eventually Adrastea managed to pull it out with the tips of her fingers and she looked inside the vacant hole. Seeing nothing the princess was puzzled for a moment, but then she remembered what she had seen that night and slowly, she turned the brick over, looking into the hollowed out back wherein lay a small folded up document.

    A smile of joy and relief spread over the princess's face and she slid the knife back into it's sheath on her belt, turning around quickly with excitement. But her smile suddenly faded as she looked at Daphne who stood only inches away, her expression uncharacteristically grave.

    "What is the matter?" Adrastea asked, confused.

    Daphne looked down at Adrastea's hand that held the paper and without a moment's hesitation she snatched it out of the girl's surprised grasp, stepping back.

    "What are you doing?" 

    "I'm sorry, Aule," Daphne said quietly, still walking backwards. "I had no choice."