The Fairest (Sample)

“The rescue is canceled,” Dean firmly said.

“I agree. The risk is higher with twelve children,” Jaice said as she wiped away tears.

“No. We can’t give up,” Mageia urged.

They all stared at her with eyes screaming at how crazy and foolish she sounded.

“Are yuh some god we don’t know about?” Dean taunted. “Because I’d love to hear yer ideal plan on stealing twelve children from a building built to keep people in.”

“We have a few hours left.” Her heart began to pound against her ribcage. “And Trek has already done his part.”

“The plan has changed,” Dean said harshly.

Mageia stood her ground. “No. Faebrin, did you sketch out the new Taefo yet?”

“I did. I did. Plus, I scaled the forest side a few times again.” He glanced at Dean guiltily.

“Good. Let’s look over it and readjust the rescue plan.”

“You’ve gone mad,” Dean said, eyes blinking at her as if trying to see if she was herself.

She glared at the boy, hating his constant need to belittle her authority and mentality in front of the others.

“Dean. We need to talk. In private. Now!” she ordered and stormed to her hut without looking back.

She paced the grass, wishing to punch something or someone. When Dean stepped into the clearing, she lashed at the boy.

“What happened to you, Dean?”

“What’re yuh talking about?”

“You used to be on fire for these rescues and defying the impossible, but now … now you just make me look stupid in front of everyone.”

Dean flexed his jaw and gave a long sigh. “I’ve grown wiser, I assume.”

Mageia gawked in disbelief. “And I haven’t?”

“It’s not like that.”

“What? Did you lose your heart along the way?”

“That’s not fair, Geia.” He shook his head. “I do not want to risk the family we have now.”

“So, you’re just going to allow those twelve children to die?”

“What if they’re so sick that they aren’t transportable? What then? We don’t have twelve backs to carry ’em out.” He pointed out, and when she had no decent response, he continued. “I doubt the gods would be pleased to leave them behind while we take the others.”

“We will have to chance it,” she said. “I believe in my heart that everything will be fine if we plan well. Dean, we must encourage the others to be brave and, yes, be smart about it, but also willing to risk their own life to save another. To at least try to save another’s. I know we cannot save every Strange in the damn kingdom, but there is this feeling deep in my soul telling me we shouldn’t turn our backs on these children.”

For a minute, her best friend stared at her until his hardened expression softened. He tsked a few times in his internal struggle to stay reasonable.

“Dean? We have to do this. We have to at least try. They’re only children,” Mageia pleaded.

Dean tsked again and combed a frustrated hand through his auburn hair. His cheeks darkened, and he shook his head. “Geia, I don’t think this is a good idea, but,” he sighed, “I hate it when yuh do this.”

“Do what?”

“Mention yer heart and soul.” He rubbed the back of his neck, something she knew he’d do whenever he felt nervous or anxious. “Yuh know I love yuh, right?”

“Yes.” She didn’t know why he’d mention this right now.

An unusual awkwardness arose between them as he continued to stare at her. Heat rose in her cheeks and her bottom lip slipped between her teeth. She swayed on her heels and folded her arms, which somewhat calmed her own anger, frustration, and awkwardness. She loved Dean a lot and hated whenever they’d argue, but they both were strangely stubborn in their own ways.

“And I’d do anything fer yuh,” he continued, still rubbing his neck, now just as red as his face.

“Yes, I know you would, Dean, and same here,” she said.

She waited patiently for Dean to ponder the rescue and the new risks, since there were now twelve children instead of six. His green eyes finally dropped from her face, followed by a few tongue clicks and sighs.

“Alright,” he resigned, voice low and fragile. He sharply inhaled. “We’re going to do this rescue. And when we’ve succeeded, we’re leaving this forsaken kingdom once and fer all.”

Mageia beamed and nodded. “That sounds good to me.”

“May the Diviines bless us and be on our side fer once,” he said and gave a mischievous smirk.

Their rescue group of seven scurried through the tunnels, listening to the rise of celebration above in Strana. Nightfall arrived an hour ago, and they knew time would speed up in their dire need to be ahead of it.

“Okay. Let us pray that Junet did what Trek instructed. We will work swift and silent,” Mageia instructed. “Dean, Gavin, and Esan, you’re with me.”

They ascended to the ground on the westside of Strana, within a dark alley perched behind a line of stores and the high scale of the Mideri Wall in the distance. To their relief, no one was around, and by the sound of voices and music, the celebration lay further down the street, promising to extend within the hour. With stealth, they passed three stores to Junet’s carpentry shop. The smell of wood hung strong in the air and no lights were on upstairs. Piled neatly around the back of the store’s cutter stations were scraps of wood and barrels of wood shavings.

They scanned the area for the two planks supposedly placed for Trekon to pick up, but they were nowhere to be found.

“Crap,” Dean whispered on the other side.

“Can we still do it without the planks?” Esan asked, readjusting his eyepatch.

“No. We have to go with plan B,” Mageia said, already hating the thought of it.

The back door popped open with the sound of scraping wood on wood. Interior light flooded parts of the alley. Immediately, they all scattered for the shade of darkness, feet light on the ground and hearts racing wildly. Mageia and Esan ran to the side of the shop and slammed against the wall while Dean and Gavin dropped behind a cutter machine, slowly easing backwards to the other side of the shop.

Junet, the carpenter, mumbled annoyingly to himself as he carried two long planks from his shop. Mageia glanced around the corner and quickly snapped back after seeing him approach. She felt the hilt of her dagger and prayed she didn’t need to use it. The man continued muttering his disapproval of his present task and propped the planks against the wall. A part of the planks edged outward into the intersection, threatening to expose their hideout, but Junet gave up on making things look tidy. He grunted and stomped back inside.

“That was close,” Esan whispered.

Mageia couldn’t respond due to the knot in her throat. She gestured for him to follow. With swiftness, in case Junet returned, they hauled the planks back to the grate down the alley and lowered them to Faebrin, Jaice, and Esa waiting below.

They followed a specific route, leading to wet cave walls and streams of water. They rose from an abandoned well in a small section of the Napan Forest. Mageia knew that during the day, this specific forest on the westside of Ardania was always busy with berry-pickers, guards, and soldiers. Despite the well’s untended presence, people knew about it, and she thanked the gods no young people had decided to use it as a hangout spot for the nightly festivities.

“I can smell the Lower River,” Jaice said with a pleasant smile.

Indeed, they all could smell the fresh water of the lower region of the Ardanian River three to four miles away. If only they could go to it and enjoy its beauty and coolness for a while, but they had an important mission to complete.

“Focus, you guys.” Dean pointed ahead. “There it is. The Taefo.”

About a mile away sat the five-level castle, built with brickstones black as coal and a partially flattened roof with seven pointed chimneys. Smoke puffed from three of the chimneys, adding to the building’s dark and gloomy appearance. It sat at the end of the Mideri Wall, however, on the Midlaan side. Its west wing partly disappeared into the woods, with trees that grew to the height of its roof.

“Okay,” Mageia began, “Faebrin, you said they’re keeping them in the children’s quarters, right?”

“Yes,” the Elf-boy responded.

“Thank the gods they did not decide to relocate the room after the amended law, or this plan would not work,” Mageia said.

“It’s the same room we were put in.” Esa glanced at her brother.

“I can only assume they closed that way of entry and exit after your rescues,” Dean said. “So, we will try plan A. If anything goes wrong, yuh know what to do.”

They all nodded.

“Let’s go,” Dean said.

They approached the Mideri Wall sitting behind the Taefo and followed it downhill towards the river. No patrollers were around, to Mageia’s surprise. For a place to harbor sacred Strange for the ceremonial sacrifices, one would think it’d have better security. They stopped at a large drain tunnel that ran through the Wall and into a sewage system that had been abandoned and sealed years ago. Yet, after excavating around that time, she and Dean had figured a way to enter the Taefo, which would be their plan B.

They climbed on top of the drain and stayed low as they walked along it. Slowly, it transitioned into a steep hillside meeting the lowest part of the Mideri Wall canopied by treetops. Dean gave a quick wave. They froze and knelt low to the ground as a patroller walked by. Thankfully, he was walking in the opposite direction towards his post, perched at an awkward turn of the Wall. By the time he would reach his post and sit down for a break, they would have at least an hour before he returned.

“Move quickly,” Dean whispered.

With Gavin, Dean carefully climbed the remaining portion of the Wall and disappeared over the rail. Then the remaining five of them passed up the two planks and quickly joined them. Staying low, they crossed the Wall covered in fallen leaves to the other stone rail, where Mageia and Dean began their task.

They climbed onto the railing, and Mageia’s heart skipped from the far drop to the ground between the Taefo and the Wall. Mageia forced herself to ignore it and helped Dean slide one plank at a time to the edge of the roof. Then they secured their side of the plank by nudging them together between the raised pillars of the rail once used by the authorities for their own gangway.

“Yuh ready?” Dean asked, alerting her that she was up next.

She nodded. Dean gestured to the two rolls of rope around Faebrin’s torso. One, they quickly tied its end around her waist while Gavin tied the other end around one of the pillars. The second one, Mageia, took and hung it from a shoulder. After one quick scan around to make sure she was cleared to go, she stood to her full height. She took calm, steady breaths and began taking small steps across the joined planks. They creaked a bit under her weight, but Trekon made sure he bought them the strongest wooden planks from Junet.

The other side of the planks began to slip a bit, so she quickened her pace and relied on her excellent balancing skills. Within a minute, she climbed over the railing of the Taefo’s roof. She wiped the beads of sweat off her brow before fixing the planks and securing them down with the thinner rope to the forgotten hooks embedded in the floor.

She sent her ducking friends an okay gesture, then went to secure the rope around her waist to a nearby pole of an abandoned clothing rack. Then Dean, Gavin, and Esan safely crossed the planks by holding on to the rope while Jaice, Esa, and Faebrin remained on the Wall to receive the children.

They scurried across the roof towards the abandoned laundry chute sitting beside the tall chimney head releasing dark smoke into the air. They froze dead in their tracks, and ice slithered through Mageia’s veins. The door to the chute possessed a huge black lock to prevent anyone from entering or exiting.

“Fut,” Dean cursed. “How’re we supposed to get that off?”

Mageia and Gavin searched the roof, feeling their time beginning to dwindle and the fact that, at any minute, anyone could appear. Then she spotted a pile of stone bricks a few paces away.

“There. Let’s use one of those to break it,” she said.

“It will be loud,” Dean argued.

“Then we have to be quick about it.” She scurried across the ground towards the pile. She grabbed two and returned to the laundry chute. Dean snatched one of the stone bricks from her hand and gave her a harsh, disappointed look. She swallowed hard, praying this would work, and turned to scan the perimeter with Gavin.

Dean stood tall and repositioned the stone over the lock and went for it. He slammed the brick against the lock, and its clank echoed across the roof and the air before dying away. They froze and waited for any response, but none came. So, Dean did it three more times with as much force as he could muster before the old lock popped off.

“Great job, Dean,” Gavin praised, his crisscrossed eyes beaming with joy.

“Let’s keep movin’. We’re already fifteen minutes in,” Dean said, pulling the door up. Its creaking sound sent chills up Mageia’s spine, but like her two friends, she remained calm.

They peered down into the dark chute and noticed the chute’s iron ladder was broken and partly gone, as expected.

“Ladder,” Mageia said.

Gavin took off the rope ladder he wore across his torso. They dropped it into the chute, hoping it would be long enough, and secured it. Mageia silently prayed as she went down the narrow chute first, sweat dribbling into her eyes and her arms sticky with nerves. Dean followed in suit, but Gavin stayed at the top.

Time was of the essence as she passed the fifth floor’s chute door and halted at the fourth floor’s door. To her relief, it possessed no lock. She placed an ear to the door, listening intently through the Taefo’s ruckus prisoners, and heard childish whimpering.

She recalled information she had heard over the years about how the Taefo had begun to slack when it came to having watchmen in the rooms for the most important condemned. They’d rather stand in the hall to mingle with their comrades instead of babysitting grown people. So, Mageia prayed it would be the same for the children.

She placed a foot on the chute’s ledge, holding the rope ladder for dear life, grabbed the latch and pushed her weight into it. It made a tiny creak that echoed through the chute, so she froze, waiting for a response.

Hearing nothing, she creaked it open with great caution and peeked inside. The room possessed no windows, like some of the other quarters in the Taefo. Only two wall lamps were lit, and a small fire flickered in the fireplace, casting the room into a gloomy darkness. She allowed her eyes to adjust to the lighting and noticed her creaky entry had caught the attention of three nearby children.

One, a boy no older than ten, perked up from his bed and pointed at something behind the chute’s door. Mageia froze and prepared herself for an inevitable fight.