If they were alive at all they were never going to hear the end of it. How come they had let her rot in prison for over a year? She had assumed after her third month that they were either captured or dead and in order to get out she would have to rely on her own skill. Every time had escaped there had been some untimely incident that got her caught again. A common one was the changing of the guard. It happened at different times depending on the floor and cell block. She had also been busted my incoming prisoners. The few times she had gotten above ground the guards had already been alerted, or they managed to close the gates.

This new cell was better than the others. On her left was a stone wall that held the guard barracks for every floor. The cell to her right was topped with cells, four floors worth. At the very top of her cell was a grate that allowed air, sun, and countless other wonders of the outside world into her cell. They had put her in the ventilation shaft? This would be their undoing.

Quietly, she paced the length of the cell waiting for the guard to get distracted and look away. Eventually he did. The she-Elf sprung to the far wall and began her ascent. It had been some time since she had been climbing at all, but the ability came back to her soon enough. She was out of shape. The wall provided crags and hand holds, so it was easier than other things she had scaled in the past.

Over two thirds of the way to the top, a dull roar broke through her concentration. That was something she had not accounted for. All the prisoners of the lower levels were cheering for her. That would draw the attention of the…she summoned up the courage to look down…the guard was looking up at her, his mouth gaping, completely dumfounded. Taking advantage of his lack of action she scrambled to the top and inspected the grate. It was not locked.

Using her head, and bracing her body, she pushed it up, the grate protested loudly, but it gave, and she jumped out. Looking back down she saw that the guard was no longer there. No doubt he had regained his composure and sounded the alarm. She tried her best to inspect the streets of Vinay nonchalantly to get her bearings. It was difficult, time was of the essence, but they had yet to sound the alarm above ground. Noting the outer wall not too far from her present position, she made for it. As she neared she saw them reinforcing the guard by the main gate and it began to close. She panicked.

Eyeing the closest wall, she coaxed her body into climbing again. This was a matter of life and death, no doubt Lloyd was getting tired of her attempted escapes. She was almost halfway when she heard shouting regarding her. She was almost at the top when she heard the call for archers. She was just about to start down the other side when something whistled a little too close for comfort. It unnerved her and she lost her balance, falling a good two stories on the outer side of Vinay. She never felt herself land and cursed her over excitability.

The she-Elf woke partly from pain and partly because of whispering that was taking place regarding her. It was just the guards. They weren’t a threat. She was just about to tune out when they said something about new inmates.

She was awake now. Rubbing her eyes she groaned, not only did the movement hurt, but the sound that accompanied it indicated that she was shackled.

“I couldn’t have you getting away anymore and inspiring the others to do the same.” Lloyd oozed approaching her. “I have more important criminals to torture.”

She held back the need to balk. More important? She doubted it. How many other leaders of outlaw gangs was he now holding in his jails?

“Because of your little escapade the other day you did get the privilege of seeing my men return from Keltik victorious, bringing with them the spoils of the battle.”

Keltik? No. He had to be jesting. Even in the past when the Men had battled the Races, they had never found the Forest Elf capital. As for the spoils…Keltik housed the largest concentration of Forest Elves in all of Lasca…

“That of course is not the best part.” The emperor mused interrupting the she-Elf’s thoughts.

What could be better than the largest slave influx his empire had ever seen?

“I don’t know if you have ever been to Keltik, but they have a prison there…Now I was unaware that a peaceful Race such as the Forest Elves even had a prison, because who among them would dare to defy the laws the serenity and harmony in which they live? So I’m sure you can imagine my surprise that there were people in there at all, and Elves at that. It seems that it is a rule that any Elf who rises against us is exiled by their own Clan, and if they return, they are jailed or turned over to us. Now who are these jailed exiled few? The Kelly Gang I’m told. Among others…But now we will be able to find out whether or not your murder of Tomas was done independently or a hit was put out on him.”

“And what will happen to me once you find out what I have been saying is indeed fact?”

“Then we’ll get you cleaned up, have a doctor look at you, and find you a comfortable living space above ground.”

Inwardly, she cringed. She did not want to ask, but curiosity had propelled her to. She needed to find a way to escape, and soon.

Lloyd left, sweeping his greasy black hair out of his face, and twirling his cloak behind him.

Closing her eyes, she tried to think. Five floors below the surface was a long way to run. If only she had not panicked! If she had just blended in with the crowd and not done something rash! If only she had been more careful in climbing that wall.

A quiet wave of gibberish sounded from her left. Her old cell. There were two voices and they were conversing fluently.

No.

They were speaking to a third in the cell across the way.

No.

What Lloyd had said had to be true. No one spoke that language outside of…

She readjusted to hear better. The shackles gave away her intentions and the gibberish silenced.

Quickly she looked away, embarrassed.

One of the Elves in her old cell approached. “What is your name?” He asked still speaking in Hienan, the language of the Exiled Elves.

This was going to be embarrassing. “Aine Coilleach.” She whispered.

“Nonsense.” Replied his companion. “She doesn’t look like you…” He trailed off as the she-Elf turned to glare at him. “I take it back.”

Her glare turned into a half smirk. She had thought the voices had sounded familiar, but it had been so long since she had heard any of them speak that she thought that fact they were speaking Hienan was fooling her.

Two lean and lanky blonde men were staring down at her.

“Cullen? Gaelan?” She leapt to he feet. “What are you two doing here?”

“Keltik.” Gaelan replied quietly.

“What were you boys doing there?” She asked curious. When she had left them in charge of the Coilleach Gang, she had meant for them to stay out of trouble, retreat north and wait for her to meet up with them.

“Jailed. Lookin’ fer the likes o’ you.” An angry voice yelled from across the way.

“Slevin.”

“Nice te see you too.” He replied less coldly.

“Yes.” Gaelan conceded. “We don’t really know the details, just that it was an ambush. Some boys close to the guards got out. Feoras, Dolan, Meara, and their squads were released. They didn’t want the Men to get everyone they had. Us in the lower levels, we didn’t have a chance. They just carted us from Keltik to here. But before they kill us off for committing treason and whatnot we’ve got a little matter to clear up. And knowing you, it’s probably you’re fault.”

“Knowing me.” She agreed with a nod. “What?”

“Well, we have to tell the management that we didn’t put out a hit on Tomas of Riak.”

“We didn’t you know.” Aine said. “He was on our list, but we hadn’t made it official yet and that’s what I’m hoping you boys will say.”

“That it was arbitrary?” Gaelan asked.

“Bad luck is what I prefer to call it.”

“Wait.” Slevin said from across the hall, “You killed Tomas of Riak? When did ye have time te do that?”

“The more important question is why?” Gaelan asked. Always the conscience.

“No, the more important question is why are you still alive?”

“Even more important: how did you get caught? You are Aine Coilleach after all.” Cullen put in.

Aine laughed. It’s true, she was their superior officer and here she was getting busted before them.

“How about you just tell us the whole damned story.” Gaelan said exasperated.

Aine laughed again. “Okay, well…” She did not know where to start. She had been away from them so long she had no idea how much they knew.

Slevin laughed. “You ditched us right after Fionn…” He trailed off. He did not want to be the one to say it. He did not want to be the one to remind her. Not considering he had been there when it happened. Not when he had seen the look on her face. The look that said she was going to get even and nothing was going to stop her.

“Right.” She did not want to think about it longer than she had to. The past year had dulled the pain. For all she knew, her mother could still be out there somewhere…As much as she wanted to believe it, she knew it was not true. She had been there when it happened. The ambush. The confusion. They were in the Hills. That sort of thing was not supposed to happen there. But it had. They had all been caught off guard. The attackers vanished almost as soon as they had come. They had lost ten men that day, including her mother. It was not until her mother had been killed that the attackers retreated.

Aine had wasted no time. She took off after them, killed as many as she could before the boys brought her back. They buried her mother in the mountains. She had always liked it better there anyway. The instant the mourning ceremony was over she had mounted her horse, intent on finishing what she had started. “I traced them to Lareck where I dispatched of all but one of them. He had left the town a day early to head south, so I followed him. He went into Ita. I figured I’d let the Fire Elves take care of him, I wasn’t going to go in there alone.”

“Fair enough.” Slevin agreed. He knew as well as they all did that the Exiled Elves and Fire Elves had never been friendly towards each other, and one going alone into the other’s territory was suicide.