Darius.

"Whew, this Princess is way heavier than she looks." Ash muttered from behind me, running the back of her hand across her brow. "C'mon," I said, my voice hoarse from the lack of air. "We're almost there."
She grumbled at my words, and it sounded suspiciously like; "You've been saying that for the past hour." But I ignored her and picked up the pace. She audibly swore me.

We needed to move fast- someone is bound to realise that the Princess is missing before long- if they haven't already. But I was confident that no one would remember the crumbling underground tunnels beneath the castle kitchen. It was a secret that died with the prior King. Among many others.

'They were all assholes.' Ash's thoughts interrupt mine. 'Are you sure they don't know, though?' I shrugged at her silent question, before answering aloud. "It's a risk we had to take. But yes, I'm certain that they don't know of the tunnels." She nodded, and her thoughts went silent, tuning inward.

I was grateful for the silence; it almost felt like I had my mind to myself again. Just a quiet place where I could puzzle out my thoughts.

After a while, there was the muffled sound of footsteps far above us, and I motioned for Ash to be quiet as we passed directly beneath the Gates.
We moved soundlessly, and only when we'd left the city behind us did I finally exhale.

Ash stumbled, and I did my best to steady her in the narrow space. The girl slipped from her shoulder, and I only just caught her before her head hit the ground. She was still out cold- thanks to the sedative on the cloth now tied to her mouth. We couldn't have her waking up anytime soon.

"I'll carry her." I offered, pulling the girl up and onto my shoulder. Ash sighed in relief when I heaved the weight from her, and was much less grumpy as we continued on. "You do know that we could just drag her." She said cheerfully, bounding infront of me.

Oh no. Not that again. She'd been hinting at that option from the beginning. With her mouth and her mind. "Yeah, and bring her back with slices and cuts all over." I said grimly. "She's our hostage, Ash. The hostage can't be harmed."
Ash shook her head sadly and sighed. "Oh, fine. But it would've been fun."

We moved in silence, the only sounds that of our feet shuffling forward and the scuffles of whatever other creatures live in here. My shoulders tensed, and I froze at the sudden thought that flashed through my mind. Ash, undoubtedly noticing that I'd fallen behind, carried on. Then, realising that I'm not moving, she turned back, annoyance on her features.

Before she could read my thoughts and figure out what was going through my mind, I buried it deep in my mind where she couldn't access it. She still tried, prying in my brain. 'Stop it!' I thought-yelled at her, and she set her hands on her hips. 'Okay. Then you can stay here alone. I'm going.' Then she turned away and started walking.

I clenched my fists, forcing my feet forward, but they wouldn't move.
My legs felt locked in place. The hair all over my body stood up.

Ash took ten steps before stopping again. "Darius?" She said wearily, turning her head to face me. "Can you stop the drama and just tell me what's wrong?" "Nothing." I lied quickly, still attempting to make the bottom half of my body work. I managed to take a few brave steps forward when I felt it. Crawling up my back. Massive and probably hairy.

"Ash." My voice was unnaturally high and didn't sound like me at all. "Ash, there's..something crawling on me." And instead of helping me get the monster off, she just stood there. "Ash!" I said again, more urgently. I felt something tickle the back of my neck.

Oh no. Nononono. I gulped. Ash rolled her eyes before finally stepping forward. She reached up, snaked her hand around me, and plucked something from my skin. I relaxed almost immediately, and Ash stared at me for a moment, wide eyed, before doubling over, her small body heaving.

"Oh my god..you...Darius...a s-spider.. seriously..." She gasped in between bouts of hysterical laughter. My jaw was shut so tight I felt my teeth strain. I pushed past her, feeling immense satisfaction when a cascade of stones fell from the ceiling above her and she yelped.

After another torturous twenty minutes that consisted of Ash teasing me to a breaking point, (with her mind when I threatened to stuff her mouth with rocks) and me being so tense that I barely felt the weight of the girl slung over my shoulder, we eventually reached the trapdoor. 

We both sighed in mingled relief and exhaustion as we climbed up the short ladder and through the trapdoor, into the darkness of the night.
"Ash Dare, you guys okay?" A soft voice whispered in my mind seconds before it's owner popped into view. The lithe, dark skinned youngster grinned at us, and all I managed was a weak smile, before collapsing onto the cool leaves of the forest floor.

When I roused again, it was from the softness of my bed. I breathed in deeply, appreciating the fresh air even more after the stuffy tunnels. Stretching, I lumbered over to the curtain of leaves that covered my window and shoved them apart.
Brilliant light flooded my room, dappling across the honey coloured floorboards.

Shit. I overslept.

I rushed to the small adjoining bathroom and brushed my teeth with lightning speed. I had to take time in the shower though, making sure all the stones are out of my hair and washing the back of my neck a few more times than necessary. I slapped the wall of the shower when it dawned on me that Ash must've told everyone by now. I'm going to have to wrangle that little vixen's throat.

When I headed downstairs, it was to find almost every single Outlander squashed into our living room. When I entered, all their eyes swivelled towards me, tracking my movements.

'Darius!' The chorus of voices was loud in my head, before they all burst into questions. 'Is it true that you were scared cos' an ant crawled on you?' An overly excited voice that belonged to a small, stubby child asked. I groaned.

'Ash, you better be running far and fast right now, because I'm going to kill you on sight.' Her answering giggle sounded in my head. More questions bombarded my mind, and I blocked them out, heading to the tiny kitchen, where both my parents, Ash, the boy who waited for us by the trapdoor, whose name is Fern, and Coconut, the family dog, were sitting.

The second I walked in, Coconut was on top of me, licking me wherever his pink tongue could reach. I laughed, patting his shaggy brown fur. "I missed'cha too, boy."

"Darius." My mother breathed, hurrying over and pulling Coco off me, before wrapping her arms around me in a tight embrace. I tapped her shoulder, feeling slightly awkward.
"I'm fine, Mianna." I reassured her.
Everyone here called my mother 'Mianna'. It was a term of respect for the leader's wife.

My father stood and clapped me on the back. There was a bright smile on his face, making him look considerably younger. "You did it, son. You brought us the key to achieving our long lost home."
He rumbled in his deep, calming voice. An enormous swell of pride rushed through me. We did it. We managed to break into the castle undetected. We kidnapped the Princess. And we made it out. All in one night.

Ash snorted into her porridge, a scowl on her pixie-like features. She opened her mouth to say something, but her voice was drowned in the cheer that had erupted from outside. I glanced through the kitchen window to see the rest of the Outlanders, who had their fists up in the air, triumphant smiles on their faces. "What is everyone doing here?" I asked, squeezing past Ash to draw the curtains across the window, hoping for some privacy. I could still see their curious eyes peeking from behind the holes in the fabric. 

"They want to know what happened, obviously." Ash rolled her eyes, pushing her bowl of half-eaten porridge towards me. I took it and began spooning the watery brown liquid into my mouth. I hadn't realised how ravenous I was. "But didn't you already tell them?" I asked her.

"Obviously. But they want to hear it from the prodigal son." She giggled. "I'll be there when you come to the spider part. Y'know, making sure you get the facts right." And she winked before turning and walking out.

I groaned. Knowing her, she definitely added extra spice. This was going to take a lot of explaining.