Ayren didn't know how he would convince Rowen and Jason to simply knock out the guards.

He wasn't sure that didn't want what they did.

Sure, Ayren had known the scarred man had planned to capture Maria. But he hadn't been expecting this level of utter brutality. And now, he had no obligations to the man.

He was free.

Ayren led the group into the hall, keeping on alert. After using so much energy busting himself and the others out, he wasn't sure if he would be able to rely on magic.

Ayren knew physical fighting as well as any magical combat spells or sword spars. But Jason was weighed down with Maria, and Ayren had to keep a hand under Rowen's elbow to keep her moving forward. He was fairly certain neither of them knew hand-on-hand combat, anyhow.

They walked as quietly as possible down the hallway. Still, their footsteps echoed dully off the stone walls.

Ayren tried desperately to think up some sort of plan. They didn't have much at their disposal to work with. Two humans, in shock. One wingless færie, unconscious. One normal færie, magically drained.

Fantastic.

They reached the end of the hall. Here, it opened up into a slightly wider bare stone room with a crude desk and two chests where the prisoners' possessions were stored.

A guard reclined in the uncomfortable-looking chair at the desk, feet on the surface. He was chatting quietly on a holoprojector--very expensive and elusive.

"I'm fine, honey. Bye. Love you." The guard waved his hand through the holographic face of a pretty woman in her twenties and ruffled through a desk door. He was the first færie Ayren had seen in the prison.

It was too easy, really.

Ayren stepped into the room and punched the guard in the head, knocking his skull against the solid stone wall and upending the chair so he lay bent at an unnatural angle.

"He's gonna have quite a sore neck when he wakes up," observed Ayren, moving swiftly to the chests.

*

Rowen glanced at the man, feeling a little bad at just leaving him bent like that. Then she glanced back at Maria, and her resolve hardened. She strode to Ayren's side and began stuffing everything interesting-looking into her pockets.

"Jason," Ayren called over his shoulder, "message the king."

Jason grabbed the strange device the guard had been using and sat cross legged on the floor, cradling Maria carefully to his chest. "How...?"

A whirring sound ensued.

"Found the power button! Um, what's the king's number?"

Ayren sighed. "Come search this chest. Take anything useful. I'll holomessage the king."

Rowen smiled slightly at the exchange. Her giddy feeling was beginning to return. They were all free, and Maria was going to live!

Yeah, but what if...? a nagging little voice in her head began.

Rowen wholeheartedly ignored it.

"Hello, your majesty," Ayren's voice, formal and solemn, echoed through the room.

Rowen turned, holding a silver snake bracelet studded with emeralds, to see the face of the king, weary and aged, eyeing Ayren grimly.

"You're lucky I have my holoprojector on me," he said. "What is it?"

"We have rescued Princess Maria." Ayren hesitated.

"What? What aren't you telling me?" the king snapped, fear entering his voice.

"She's in very bad shape, sir."

"Let me see my daughter."

Ayren gestured Jason forward. Jason gently kneeled and propped Maria up carefully against him, stroking her hair.

The king muttered a curse and took a deep breath. "We're at Battlefield McCoy. I'll ask you how and where you found Maria later. Just...bring her to me. As soon as possible."

"Yes, sir," murmured Ayren. He pressed a button and the king's face disappeared.

Rowen shook her head sadly and returned to sorting through the boxes. It was god-awful seeing a best friend in that state...it must have been pure torture to see a daughter that way.

"We have to go," Ayren deemed, helping Rowen to her feet. He didn't let go of her hand. She felt her heart beating wildly and tried to control the blush rising to her cheeks.

Jason nodded and Ayren led the way out of the room and into the sunlight, keeping Rowen close behind him.

Now, the place swarmed with ogre guards. Staying in the shadows, the four friends moved stealthily toward the rack of chained flighters.

Rowen covered them with an illusion as Ayren worked at cutting two flighters free. It was incredibly hard and she felt her heart stop whenever a guard glanced over at them. It would resume beating so hard that she felt sick whenever they looked away.

Finally, Ayren broke through the chains and stepped back to take a break. "Damn," he muttered, and held up his freshly bleeding wrists, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot.

"What happened?" Rowen asked worriedly.

"Sometimes too much strain on your magical abilities has negative side effects," Ayren explained. "In this case, it reopened my recent wounds."

Rowen winced. "Board," she told Jason. "Give Maria to Ayren."

Jason hesitated.

"No, wait," Ayren said, eyeing a three-person one. "This is gonna hurt like hell...but that one would be best."

Rowen smiled. "Thanks."

*

Ayren hurriedly sliced through the chains. His hands were soon slick with blood from his cuts, and his jeans were plastered to his legs. Shaking from exhaustion, he held Maria as Jason and Rowen boarded. They seated themselves on the edge seats and he carefully propped Maria up in between them.

Glancing at the sky, Ayren didn't even attempt flight--he just took one of the flighters he had already cut loose.

Rowen smiled. "I'm tired, too."

"I feel fine," Jason cheekily commented.

"Shut up," Rowen and Ayren told him in unison. They smiled at each other.

"I can't keep up the illusion for much longer," Rowen said, looking away. "Let's go."

*

Rowen was relieved to finally stop using magic. She was completely drained, and suspected Ayren was, too. They could rely only on their pockets of miscellaneous magical objects now.

The flight gave Rowen time to think. It seemed like forever ago that she had left her small house to venture into the woods before dinner.

That happened...what? Only ten days ago? The sky was dark. They had spent the entire day in the prison. Wow.

Ten days ago, Rowen had been a geeky teenager who got bullied and took care of her immature mother.

Now, she was a magical figure from some age-old prophecy. One of her best friends was a færie princess. The other had visions of impending doom. She was crushing on a hot færie.

Wait, what?