Dawning Skye

“Are you clear on your jobs?” Maevis asked as she looked at the six Brownie spies in front of her.

Lieutenant Trist nodded; “Aye! Follow along from a distance until you give the signal. When you do, a team of two will lead whatever enemy lay ahead away. We’ll keep them busy as long as possible.”

“Without getting caught,” Shasta added; “The guards are trying to catch you guys, too. And that includes a few mages, so watch your asses.”

As the six Brownies nodded in agreement, Nicolas turned towards Lawrence and asked; “Where are your children now?”

“They should be in our quarters waiting for us, but that depends on if Draco and Sheri made it down to the banquet room yet. If they have, then they’ll be heading for our quarters next. If they get there before we do, then Victor and Anna might be taken then,” Lawrence replied.

“Then let’s get a move on,” Maevis commented as she fluttered towards the door.

“What will you two do?” Shasta asked the elder Fae.

Nicolas chuckled lightly; “Oh, don’t worry about us. Do you know how often humans look up? Not very often.. We’ll be fine as long as we stay near the ceilings.”

.....

“Are you sure? The entire palace is looking for you two. Isn’t looking up the first thing they’ll do?” Shasta asked.

Maevis snorted as Lawrence wrapped his hand around the doorknob; “You would think that, but watch. They’ll be looking around for us like we’re human-sized..”

“I hope so,” Lawrence said in a low voice; “Now let’s go while the hallway is clear.”

As Lawrence and Shasta came out of the guest room, the Brownies waited until they had gotten several feet apart before trailing after them. Maevis and Nicolas had gone straight up to the ceiling, and were ducking behind the chandeliers as they went. Everything was going smoothly until a group of military officers saw them.

“Where are the guards that are supposed to be escorting you two?” a gruff young soldier asked.

Before they could answer, a loud crashing noise came from down the hallway. Glancing down, the soldiers saw two Brownies laughing over breaking a large vase. After calling out what they saw, the soldiers went after the fleeing pair of Fae.

After making sure that they weren’t coming back, Shasta and Lawrence kept walking. After a few moments, Shasta heard a familiar voice heading towards them. They ducked into a room, and closed the door just before Benzo and Norvis came around the corner.

As they came closer, Shasta could understand what they were saying..

“I should be doing My work, not helping you,” Norvis griped.

“Oh shut up! That big-ass thing is done, isn’t it? Quit bitching.. It’ll still be a while before we take out Warrick Forest. We have to get those things from Dragonhorn first, don’t we?” Benzo more stated than asked.

As they stopped in front of the door Shasta was behind, she held her breath as she listened to Norvis; “That’s how it was supposed to go, but if we can’t find those two fairies, then our King wants to move up our plans. We may have to take out Dragonhorn and the forest at the same time.”

“How the fuck are we supposed to do that?!” Benzo bellowed.

Norvis scoffed at him; “You really are an idiot.. Zas and the military will handle Dragonhorn. If they don’t want to cooperate, then they’ll all die. It’s that simple. As for Warrick Forest..”

“I know, I know. You and Stein get to test out your new babies. Too bad that means you’re gonna wind up killing everything, too. Would’ve been nice to kill some monsters myself,” Benzo replied with a hint of jealousy.

As they started to walk again, Norvis added; “You know, if you’re nice to me: I Might let you ride my robot.”

Benzo scrunched his face; “Don’t say it like that.”

“Why? It’s my big robot. You wanna ride it. Why can’t I-”

“How do you not hear how wrong that sounds?!” Benzo yelled, his voice fading with every footstep.

Sighing with relief, Shasta and Lawrence continued towards their quarters. It was relatively close to the King’s compared to most of the other guest quarters, so it didn’t take them long to reach. As soon as they had entered the room, the two RMC members greeted them, then left to head back to the banquet room.

Shasta asked them to tell Prince Marco that they would see him shortly after the children finished a nap. After agreeing to deliver the message, they left without a single suspicion. Shasta had contemplated asking for their help, but she didn’t want to get anyone else involved..

‘I’m sure that Marco’s willing to go pretty fucking far to get what he wants if he’s willing to take his niece and nephew hostage.. I don’t want anyone else or their family put in jeopardy for us.. I Will save my family, and then..’

As a dark expression started to overtake Shasta’s features, Anna tugged at her shirt, and said; “Are we in trouble?”

Shasta crouched down to her level, then spoke in a soft voice; “No sweetheart. We haven’t done anything wrong. You’re just going home a little early, that’s all.”

“Are you coming with us?” Victor asked with hope in his voice.

Lawrence looked as Shasta with a pleading expression as she replied; “Not this time, sweetie. I still have work to do here before I can go home, remember? I have to teach Aunt Skye how to do my job.”

Victor stared at Shasta with a scrunched face; “Really? Well, I think you should come with us until Aunt Skye comes back!”

“Yeah!” Anna added; “I don’t like Uncle Marco! He lets people be mean! He’s bad! He’s gonna be mean to you without Daddy around!”

Shasta sighed as Lawrence spoke; “Momma’s gonna come with us. Right, Momma?”

Staring at the pleading looks on her family’s faces, Shasta felt her heart twisting in her chest as she replied; “Sorry my loves, but not quite yet. I can’t leave Uncle Zas all by himself, can I?”

The two children exchanged glances between them, then Victor asked; “You looked mad at him in the banquet room.. Why can’t you just come with us?! Please?!”

“Yeah! Please Momma?” Anna added.

Shasta felt her heart breaking as she answered; “Let’s get you out of here first, okay? Then we’ll talk.”

The two children nodded hesitantly, but Lawrence just stared at her. He knew Shasta well, and knew what she was planning to do.. ‘She’ll get herself killed trying..’

“You can’t-”

“I have to try, Lawrence. He’ll get everyone killed if I don’t,” Shasta replied, cutting him off before he could even finish speaking.

“Aside from our children, you’re the only one I care about,” Lawrence replied as he cupped her cheek.

Covering his hand with hers, Shasta grinned as she said; “Liar.. This kingdom deserves a good King, not a psycho. I have to try to stop him.”

“...He’ll kill you, Shasta,” Lawrence added with desperation in his voice.

“Only if I don’t get him first, and I’m a hell of a lot faster,” she replied with a cocky smirk.

As Lawrence went to continue the argument, Maevis softly called to them from the doorway; “The coast is clear: we need to go now!”

Lawrence went first, followed by the nanny, the children, then Shasta was covering their backs. A group of guards came out of nowhere, and nearly saw them, but the Brownies distracted them. Another group of soldiers cost them Lieutenant Trist and the remaining Brownie spy. Now, it was just them..

As they practically ran through the palace, they avoided several other squads out looking for them and the Fae. It was taking much longer for them to move through the palace, but they had finally reached the stables. As they grabbed several cloaks and went to saddle a couple of horses, a passing guard spotted Nicolas, and started to yell for backup.

He locked eyes with a fretting Maevis, and whispered; “Take them to the north gate, then take the west road. You’ll see my reindeer waiting near the roadside. Once they’re safe, come back for me..”

Before Maevis could argue, the old Fae flew towards the guards while yelling; “In all my years, no one’s ever caught Santa The Claws! Let’s see you brats try!”

As the guards trailed after Nicolas, Lawrence took Victor with him, and the Nanny took Anna and Maevis. She was a stout older woman who had been around horses her entire life, and had no issue riding with Anna in front of her. As the two started to ride away, Shasta ran along side them for protection.

The walls of the palace hadn’t been closed yet, which was lucky. Shasta ran ahead slightly and took out the guards in charge of the gate. The main gate to the capital was handled by RMC members, so Shasta didn’t worry as much until they’d gotten to the northern gate.

Several regular military officers were standing around outside instead of the RMC members. Lawrence flashed Shasta a worried expression, but she just smiled as she yelled; “As long as they’re regular infantry, I can handle three times that!”

Taking off ahead of them, Shasta launched herself into the group of six. They were completely surprised by the sudden attack, and even more shocked by the fact that it was being done by the Vice Commander of the RMC. As they scrambled for their weapons, Shasta dispatched them all before Lawrence and the others rode through the gate.

Turning onto the left road, they had only gone around three miles before they saw a group of reindeer grazing on the side of the road. Maevis popped out of Anna’s curls, and zipped over to the familiar animals. She talked to them like they understood her, which Lawrence found comical until one of them nodded at her.

As they came to a stop and dismounted the horses, Lawrence asked; “Why can’t we just stay on the horses?”

“Because they can’t travel off-road as well as the reindeer can. They’d never make it to Ruscovic, but the reindeer know where to go to get you home. Nic gave them specific instructions, and they know a couple of places for you to get food from along the way,” Maevis replied as she petted the largest reindeer.

“Reindeer have friends?” Lawrence asked with a touch of sarcasm in his voice.

As Maevis nodded like it was a common thing, Shasta leaned down to be eye level with Anna and Victor; “You two need to take care of your dad for me while I’m gone, okay? I’m depending on you.. Make sure he eats and sleeps-”

“You can do that yourself, Shasta,” Lawrence stated, cutting his wife off.

Shasta sighed heavily as she stood up, and walked towards Lawrence while saying; “I’m sorry, love, but you know I can’t do that. I have to go back..”