Ch. 6 - The Decision

Andrew yelled in rage and shoved his dagger into Benji’s chest…again. Benji blinked and looked down at the knife in his chest. He looked back up at Andrew. “Do you often lose your temper and feel the need to stab people?”

Andrew yanked the blade from the boy’s body and took several steps back. He stared at his dripping knife, a confused look decorating his tanned features. His eyebrows grew closer together in determination and he stabbed Benji again. Benji closed his eyes and grew still. Andrew stared at him, waiting. Benji’s eyes popped open and he grinned. “Nope, still here.”

Andrew let out a small shout and dropped his blade. He jumped backward and began looking for something on the ground. Jessica stared at Benji, utterly at a loss for words. Benji looked at her with a simplistic expression. “I can’t die, you know.”

Jessica’s mind began working again and she asked incredulously, “You're immortal?”

She was interrupted as Andrew approached Benji with a sword and thrust it through the prince’s stomach. Benji squeezed his eyes shut. He was silent for a few moments before opening his eyes to shoot Andrew an annoyed look. “You know,” he started, “That’s really uncomfortable.” Andrew turned to look at Jessica, wonder displayed on his face. “What’s the matter with you two?” Benji asked, with the sword still lodged inside his body. “Never seen an enchanted prince before?”

“How did this happen?” Jessica asked.

“My mother thought it would be a good idea to have the heir to the throne immortalized…and of course, my father couldn’t pass up such an offer either,” Benji explained. “Mother knew some faeries…I’m not sure how. But she got one of them to bless me with the gift of regeneration.”
Jessica couldn’t help but roll her eyes at this statement. Andrew had yanked the sword out of Benji and was looking for another weapon from among the many things scattered about the ransacked room. A clang sounded from where he moved a shield out of his way.

Jessica’s eyes narrowed challengingly and she told Benji, “That’s ridiculous. Everyone knows that years ago the king banished all magical creatures from the kingdom.”

“Yes, but my mother had me enchanted when I was born, before the banishment took effect.” Benji asked. His eyes were focused on something behind her. “Oh, that’s going to hurt…” Benji muttered. Andrew was approaching him with a four-foot spear. Jessica stood up quickly and jumped in front of her determined friend.

“Andy, he can’t die. Just give it a rest, ok?”

Andrew shook his head. “There’s got to be a way he does it. Something absorbing the metal…or…I don’t know…under armor.”

Benji made a sarcastic face. “Yes, Andrew, I happen to be wearing several sheets of metal beneath my cloth nightshirt. I always sleep with them on.”

Jessica’s lips twitched into a grin. Benji continued, “And just because the creatures have been banished doesn’t mean they don’t reside here anyway, secretly.”

“That doesn’t seem possible; someone would have seen them by now,” Jessica thought out loud.

“They’re sneakier than you’d think,” Benji said. “I once found a brownie sneaking nuts out of the palace kitchen.” He winced. “Excuse me, I didn’t mean to say brownie.”

Jessica frowned. “What’s wrong with saying brownie?”

“It’s a derogative term. The polite name for them is ‘fairy half-breeds’,” Benji explained. “The sprites made up the name ‘brownie’ because of the half-breeds’ skin color. It’s not a very nice thing to call them.”

Jessica and Andrew exchanged worried glanced. “I expect the brownie told you that?” Andrew questioned.

“Fairy half-breed,” Benji corrected.

Andrew set down the spear and crossed his arms. “Jess, what are we going to do with a crazy prince who can’t die?” he asked. Jessica bit her lip, her mind still a bit numb from shock and refusing to think properly.

Andrew snapped his fingers. “I got it. We could slice him up into tiny pieces and put those pieces in tiny boxes, and—”

“I know where Darwol is…where you need to meet your leader fellow. I could take you there,” Benji claimed.

“How do you know where Darwol is?” Andrew asked suspiciously.

“I’m a prince. I studied maps. I have half of our country memorized.”

“And if you murder us in our sleep?”

Benji smiled. “Then you’ll be dead, so it won’t matter.”

Jessica rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Andy, we could take turns keeping watch at night.”

Benji nodded vigorously. “Great idea, Jess, great idea.”

Andrew’s eyes narrowed. “What happens when we get to Darwol?”

“We go our separate ways…you let me live without unnecessary pain, and you go on saving the kingdom from whatever it is you save it from.” Benji suggested.

Andrew’s suspicion hadn’t lessened. “And what’s to stop you from killing us if we let you go?”

Benji made a face that reminded Jessica of a wounded animal. “Look at me. Do I look like the kind of person who would hold a grudge? Andy, that hurts. I’m a very forgiving person.”

Andrew scowled. “I say we leave him here.”

Jessica sighed. “Andy, we have to get to Darwol somehow…right now, he’s our best option.”

Benji inclined his head Jessica’s way. “This girl is full of good ideas. You should listen to her more often.”

Andrew gave him a dirty look. Benji’s sky blue eyes seemed so sincere…Jessica turned toward Andrew, seeking his decision. The boy’s hand ran through his hair and he let out a long sigh. “Fine, but if he tries anything, I’m tying him to a tree.”

Benji grinned. “Good. Now that that’s settled, will someone please untie me? And would it be too much to ask for new clothes? Andy got my blood all over these…”

Jessica began working on the rope binding the captive to the chair, her fingers strangely weak and feeble. “Oh, and one more thing,” Benji voice chirped from in front of her. “I would like to be treated as an equal. No more of this captive stuff. If I’m to lead you around, I’d prefer to be treated well. At least as well as guides are treated. No more ‘shut up’ and ‘walk faster’.”

“Fine,” Jessica mumbled, untying the last length of rope. Benji sat up and stretched. A popping noise accompanied him flexing his back. Andrew emerged from a room he had disappeared into, bearing a bag bulging in the middle.

“Supplies,” he explained.

Benji looked over the destroyed room and then at the two young faces turned toward his. “Now then…to Darwol it is.” They set out through the door, and Jessica couldn’t help but look back. It was like leaving your home without knowing if you’d be able to find another.

Ch. 5 - The Safehouse

“By the stars,” Jessica whispered, somewhere to Benji’s left.

“What? What is it?” Benji asked, swiveling his head as if trying to see through his blindfold.

“What happened here?” Andrew wondered aloud, his voice wavering.

Benji pleaded, “Will someone tell me what’s going on?”

“Andy,” Jessica gasped out, shocked by the sight before her. “Great stars – Melody!”

The captive heard the sound of wood scraping against wood. Two hands pushed against his shoulders, shoving him roughly into a hard chair. A scratchy rope wound its way around his body, suffocating him and securing him tightly to the back of the chair. The blindfold was yanked away from his face, and he blinked rapidly as his eyes adjusted to the shady light. The sight he saw before him was one he wished he hadn't seen.

Broken chairs. Crumbling bricks. Shattered glass. Shredded wall hangings. Bloodstained walls. Overturned tables. Doors hanging off their hinges. Furniture, flipped over or ruined. Scattered plates. Lumped and crumpled masses of cloth and flesh visible poking out from behind broken furniture.

Jessica was crouched next to an arm sticking out from behind an overturned table. Her stomach twisted as she recognized the body the arm was connected to. The woman’s blonde hair had fallen over her face, concealing her wide open eyes that had stopped seeing. Her dress was stained sickeningly with blood, and as Jessica touched her friend’s skin, it sent a shock through her because of its icy temperature. Jessica swallowed and pulled the blonde mass of hair away from the woman’s face. Her features were not unpleasant to look at, but they were so hidden by bruises and blood that they went unnoticed as Jessica gently closed her friend’s blind eyes. She felt sorrow rising inside her like a flood, but she closed her eyes and took a deep breath until her emotions were in check. Now was not the time for weakness.

Andrew’s voice crept into her thoughts. “Max is dead.” The fact hit Jessica and then bounced off the numb shell she was building around her heart. She licked her lips, stood up shakily, and inspected another body nearby. It was in a sitting position, with its back resting against a wall as if asleep or waiting for someone to wake it up. But it wasn’t asleep. Jessica knelt beside the young man and inspected the spear sticking out of his stomach, pinning him to the wall where he had fallen. It stretched out several feet, and the blood that had dripped out of the wound had soaked through his wool shirt. Jessica sighed and examined his head, which had lolled to one side. She gently reached out a hand and brushed his shaggy hair away from his forehead.
He gasped, and two bright blue eyes locked onto her face, sending a burst of chill and then heat rushing through her veins. “Jacob’s alive!” she gasped out, hoping Andrew would hear. Jessica’s heart pounded inside her chest, startled and now very anxious.

“Jess,” the man whispered, his eyes never leaving her face. She clasped his bloody hand encouragingly, and with a nauseated feeling realized why it almost slipped out of her grasp.

“What happened here?” Jessica asked, her voice hardly a whisper. She became aware of Andrew kneeling beside her.

Jacob moved his lips as if trying to say something. He closed his eyes, making a tense expression before murmuring in a low voice, “Soldiers. Guards. Searching for something.”

Andrew’s keen eyes examined the man’s painful face and asked, “Where are Brooke and the Dane? I don’t see them among the dead.”

Jacob’s piercing eyes flashed open again and bored into Andrew. “Council meeting. Darwol. North Tower. There was a-” His breath caught in his throat, and he coughed for a few minutes. Slowly, he continued, “A messenger last night. Came to say they needed him there. They caught a creature. Some kind of dark--” He coughed again, but this time the sound was grating and forced, like something was trying to come up his throat. He laid his head back against the wall for a moment, a tiny gurgling noise emitting from his throat. And then he was still, just like he had been when Jessica first found him. His hand slid out of Jessica’s and hit the floor with a soft thud.
She swallowed and leaned forward, gently closing his open eyes with her fingers. She turned to gaze past Andrew, a lump in her throat. “Do you know where Darwol is?”

“No idea,” Andrew said sullenly. A heavy feeling settled over the room like dust, and Jessica and Andrew refused to move from beside their dead friend, each thinking hopeless thoughts.

“Well…” Benji broke the silence in his annoying, matter-of-fact tone, “This changes things a bit.” Both of the teenagers on the floor glanced up at him, as if suddenly remembering he was there. Anger flickered across Andrew’s face. Jessica stared at Benji, but her expression was unreadable.

Andrew was up on his feet. “This whole thing is his fault,” he accused, his anxious fingers already fumbling to find a weapon. “The soldiers were coming for him! If we had killed him when we had the chance, this never would have happened!” He began pushing tables and chairs out of his way, moving in a determined manner toward Benji. “Time to finish what should have been done a long time ago.”

“Andy, wait—” Jessica started, but Andrew was already mere feet away from the prince.

Benji eyed the weapon and its beholder with a calm countenance, nothing in his face betraying any kind of fear whatsoever. It unnerved Jessica, but it didn’t stop Andrew from driving his blade through his chest with an echoing shout. For a moment, shock froze Jessica, and she was helplessly staring at the form tied to the chair as its head flopped forward and its chest stopped pulsating. Andrew’s face was red, and he jerked the knife out of the boy with a hateful expression.

Jessica’s mouth was open wide, and it took her a moment to realize she probably looked like an idiot. “By the stars, Andy,” she muttered, trying to get a handle on her emotions. “What’s wrong with you?”

Andrew pointed at the dead body accusingly. “It’s his fault the city is dead! The soldiers must’ve been looking for him! Why else would they kill everyone?”

Jessica’s hands gripped the sides of her head, winding themselves through the roots of her hair. “Andy…you anger problem-”

Andrew wasn’t listening. “This whole thing doesn’t make sense…why kill everyone in the town? Under whose authority are they acting?”

“The king’s, no doubt,” came a voice from behind them. They turned sharply to behold Benji sitting straight up in his chair, staring at them calmly, just as he had been a few seconds ago. A hint of amusement flickered in his eye.

“But…you’re—” Jessica stared to say, surprise making her eyes widen involuntarily. “Dead…”

“Impossible,” Benji claimed. “Could a dead person juggle three flaming balls while balancing on top of a horse?” His brow furrowed. “Actually, that’s a bit hard for alive people to do, come to think of it…”

“How is this possible?” Jessica whispered, taking a hesitant step back.

Benji started in a sincere tone, “Oh, well, I’ve heard that they wear fire-proof gloves-”

“You’re alive…” Jessica stated, not believing her eyes.

“Oh, right, that…” Benji’s eyes rotated upward, as if calculating something in his head. He looked at Jessica the way a best friend would look at someone before confiding in him their greatest secret. “What do you know of magic?” A feeling seized Jessica at that moment that she couldn’t quite describe. It was like wanting to laugh and throw up at the same time.

Music Makers: Epilogue thing-a-ma-jig

Chad paced back and forth nervously in the empty room. His agitated gaze flickered between one white wall and another, his stomach flipping nervously inside him. The room was small and had two doors; one on each end, and Chad glanced apprehensively toward the door that led to the stage. He wrung his hands together, bounced up and down in his tight shoes, and ran a nervous hand over his gelled hair. He was in the process of shaking himself in an effort to release his nervousness when the door opened and his friend Gary walked in.

Gary, about Chad’s height but more sturdily built, gave Chad a quizzical look. “Chad, it’s a musical concert, not basketball playoffs.”

The sixteen-year-old musician smiled at his friend, but the tension inside him didn’t ease up any. Gary approached him and clapped Chad’s shoulder. “You’ll do fine,” he tried to reassure his anxious friend. “You’re the youngest artist I know who has sold as many albums as you have.”

Chad winced. “Sure, but I’ve never done anything this big before.” He dared to peek out the tiny window of the door behind which a stage and an auditorium waited for him. “Is he there? Did he come?”

Gary’s expression took on a hint of regret. “Your mom said he got caught up in some work and couldn’t make it.”

Chad sighed, closing his tired eyes and rubbing them with his hands. “Figures.” Opening his eyes and peeking out the window again, he asked, “What if I mess up on stage? What if they hate me?”

“Don’t worry; if things get too crazy, I’ll pop out and do the macarana,” Gary said, grinning. He began to demonstrate, adding in his own moves and throwing in a few dangerous-looking poses. Chad laughed and pushed his friend good-naturedly toward the door.

“You’re funny, you’re funny, now get out. I need to focus for a moment. See you after the show, ok?” he said.

“You know it,” Gary agreed with a smile as he disappeared outside the doorframe. As soon as his friend was gone, Chad covered his face in his hands for a brief moment, his mind spinning. For the last few years, music had been his focus. It was all he ever thought about, all he ever dreamt about. And now, his dreams were becoming real, and he was drawing a blank. He pressed his fingers together as if he were praying and placed his thumbs under his clean-shaven chin. He had prepared for this. He could do this. This was his music. His life. It was time to share it with the world.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A young woman, about twenty-three or so, slipped in to the crowded auditorium. She had just begun walking toward the front of the auditorium when she saw a plump figure stride across the stage {which was barren save for a piano and two thick, red curtains that had been pulled aside moments ago}. The figure apparently was wearing a microphone, for his voice carried over the room marvelously. “May I present to the public for the first time in live concert, the wonderful, the young… Chad William Brent!”

The young woman began to move rapidly to the front row as the lights dimmed dramatically. The applause began to die down and another figure came on stage in a sharp tuxedo and what looked like leather, European shoes. She was close enough now to see his face, and his features astounded her. Who was this young man and what had he done to her little, eight-year old friend?

His hair was slicked back, contrary to the bed head hair she remembered from years ago. A firm chin had replaced the chubby one she could see so clearly in her mind. The pudgy cheeks of the child had been replaced by this man’s well-defined bones, and he had now grown in to his ears that had previously been too big for his head. Wordlessly, she stepped closer to the stage, as she hoped to glimpse his eyes. He turned and smiled to the crowd, but his gaze passed over her blindly in the dark audience.

The woman smiled slightly to herself. He had his father’s eyes. But his father’s eyes had been shifty and uncertain, whereas this man’s hazel eyes seemed honest, and hopeful, but somehow wise. He had the face of a man, and he had the clothes of a man, but his eyes were a mixture both of childlike sincerity and mature wisdom. The woman allowed a small smile to touch her lips again. He was nervous. She could tell by the way he walked and awkwardly shuffled the papers on the piano bench after sitting down hesitantly. But he was willing. And that was enough to make the woman smile.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chad’s experienced eyes wandered over his music for a moment, his stomach still retching inside him. He let out a long breath of air, mentally steadying himself and focusing on the papers in front of his face. He placed his hands lightly on the piano keys and sucked in a breath. And then he played.

His fingers knew where they were supposed to go. They knew the beat, the rhythm, the tune, the tone. They knew how to wrench the heart out of their listeners, and how to make their eyes shine. They began to weave the tune depicted in front of them by the sheets of music, and they were pleased and began to weave faster and faster. Chad tried to contain his excitement because he knew rushed music was hardly enjoyable. The notes he played were sure and strong, and he began to feel quite at ease performing in front of the large group of people. Soon, his fingers were playing unconsciously, and his eyes began to scan the audience he could see from his peripheral vision.

He counted face after face…and then his eyes fell on a person he had not expected to be there. His fingers nearly froze at the sight of his father, and he struggled to keep a steady rhythm. At the thought of his father there, he suddenly grew more nervous. What if he messed up? What if he failed in front of his father? His father, who expected so much of him?

The young woman in the audience was studying the young musician carefully. “Slow down, Chad,” she thought to herself. He was going to blow it. He had lost his focus. She began to move again, trying to get to the first row.

Chad stared at his dancing fingers in disbelief, wondering how they had become so out-of-line. His nightmare was coming real. As the sweat began to form on his forehead, he desperately glanced up at the audience again.

He saw her. He would know her face anywhere, but how much older and sadder it seemed! She caught his desperate look, and met it with a calm one. Her dark eyebrows were raised as if beseeching him to relax. A trace of a smile lingered around the corners of her lips.

Suddenly, a voice from the past echoed in his mind. “Just keep playing. Stop thinking. Let your fingers play without your eyes. Let your heart play without your mind.”

Before Chad could think, his fingers were playing a different tune. This wasn’t just a tune. It was a song. A plea. A feeling. An emotion. It was a living thing, and it began to circle about the room, touching people’s hearts inside them and stirring thoughts in their minds. His song spoke of hope, of life, of joy, and yet it sang without words, as it spiraled around the room gently and reached inside his audience.

Chad felt calm all of a sudden, and a sense of peace began to settle over him. He wasn’t playing from the sheets of paper in front of him. He was playing from his memory – he was playing from his heart. He gazed at his hands for a moment, a grin twisting the corners of his lips, and then he closed his eyes. His song began to soar.

The young woman’s smile softened. This was the tune he had played for her eight years ago – the tune they had made up together on the bench of an old, school piano. Its simple melody was more complicated now, and its emotion seemed more intricate, as if each note sang of a different feeling than it once had. She wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes, twisting back and forth as if suppressing the urge to dance.

Chad’s fingers harmonized the melody they had created, like two voices singing in unison. With a satisfied feeling, he ended the song, choosing to let the last chords ring in the air before finishing them off softly with a few notes that flowed from the instrument like water would overflow from a glass.

The moment he had finished his song, the audience awoke as if from a spell and clapped so loudly that Chad could have sworn it was thunder. People began standing up, smiles erupting on their faces – young and old, and in between. His eyes were drawn first to his father, who was clapping enthusiastically with a grin on his face. Next, Chad’s eyes wandered over to the woman he had seen.

She was standing next to the seats on the first row, her white teeth showing in a brilliant smile as she joined in the echoing applause. He smiled back at her, before waving and bowing at the audience. Quickly, the announcer came back on and showed him off the stage, introducing the following act as Chad darted off the platform and into the prep room he had started in.

The woman watched him go, and as soon as he had disappeared, the smile gradually faded from her face. She glanced around her at the smiling people, cheering and clapping and whistling. Slowly, she stepped backwards and began moving to the back of the auditorium, blending in with the people standing around her. She had seen him play. She had heard his music. She was done here. It was time to start running again. Without having spoken a word, she left the auditorium almost as quickly as she had entered it.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chad burst through the door and into a brick wall. The brick wall turned out to be Gary, embracing him. Chad laughed into his friend’s shoulder. Gary pulled back and looked at the musician, grinning.

“Dude, where in the universe did that come from?” asked Gary, wonder evident on his face.

Chad couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. “I don’t know… it… it kind of just happened. It was like something I knew I could do. Like something I’d done before.” Chad ran his hands through his gelled hair, unconsciously wrinkling and spiking it in the process. “And I had. It was a memory.”

Gary laughed. “When did you remember that, man, cuz I’ve known you since we were two, and I do not remember hearing that ever in my life!”

“There was a woman here tonight. She was with me the first time I played that song. Except she was younger. And I was younger,” Chad began to say quickly, trying to explain to his friend.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me about this?” Gary asked. “You’d think that would be something important one should tell one’s best friend.”

“Because I was like eight or something. All kinds of things happened when I was eight that I didn’t think were worth mentioning.” Chad shrugged. He dashed over to the other door. “I have to see if she’s still there.”

“Wait, you can’t go out there now,” Gary insisted. “There’s another guy playing. If you go out now, the crowd might swarm you and you’ll end up crowd surfing before you can say ‘Beethoven’.”

Chad sighed. “You’re right,” he admitted.

An hour later, the two young men emerged from the waiting room and mingled with the crowd. Chad’s joyful face was replaced with a confused one. People surrounded him, asking him questions, and requesting his autograph, but the one person he wanted to see couldn’t be found. Among the many faces pressing in on him from all sides, hers was not there. With a sinking feeling, he remembered the last time he had seen her. She had disappeared in exactly the same way.

Gary, who had never left his side, leaned toward Chad’s ear and asked in a whisper, “So where’s the chick who inspired your music?”

Chad’s eyes were still scanning the crowd, but he wasn’t hopeful. “I don’t know.”

“Are you sure she’s even real?” Gary attempted to tease.

Chad didn’t catch his friend’s cheerful tone. It felt like his heart was plummeting downwards into his stomach. In a bewildered voice, his muttered half to Gary and half to himself, “I don’t know.”

Music Makers

*no, I didn't give up on the other story, i just wanted to share this short story wit ya. Enjoy and leave comments, no matter how critical!! Gracias, amigos!!*

Chad ran down the hallway, tears streaming down his face. The old school walls peered down at him degradingly, dismissing his childish sorrow as petty, eight-year-old nonsense. The principal’s office was the last door on the right, but Chad ran to a wall near a wooden door and leaned against it, crying. His tiny fingers felt along the splintering wood door, his mind not really focusing on what it was feeling.

Suddenly, his flow of tears subsided into a mere trickle, and he lifted his head and listened. What was that? He pressed his ear against the door. A slow tune wound its way through the door to his ears, diluted and muffled. Sniffing and wiping the tears from his eyes, Chad cautiously opened the door and stepped inside.

The room he was now in was plain, and had four ordinary white-washed walls. However, these walls were covered with lots of papers and posters, depicting how to properly hold instruments, and what certain musical symbols meant. In the small room, rows of trombones, tubas, flutes, clarinets, and drums could be seen leaning against racks or perched upon shelves on the walls. What grabbed Chad’s attention the most was the large, grand piano in the middle of the cramped room directly in front of a small window near the ground.

A teenage girl sat on the piano bench, her fingers dancing over the white and black keys, stroking them, urging them to sing. Her plain hair was tied back out of her face, revealing relatively ordinary features beneath two distracted eyes. As soon as she heard the door open, the distant look on her face evaporated and her hands froze, the music dying in the air. She stared at him for a moment, not sure what to say.

Chad wiped his hand over his nose, sniffing, and fearlessly approached her. “You’re not dressed for school,” he told her.

Her eyebrows lifted, but she smiled. “I don’t go to school here. I’m just passing through.”

Chad was now right beside her, peeking over the piano bench up at her. His bright, brown eyes shifted to the pale sheets of music resting against the piano. “That’s pretty music,” he commented.

The girl followed his gaze to the papers. “Oh, I wasn’t playing from those.” As if to prove it, she shuffled the papers together and flipped them over so only their white backsides were showing. “I’m not very good at reading music.”

Chad clambered onto the bench beside the girl, as she scooted over to allow him to sit on her right. “Music can be read?” he asked in a disbelieving tone.

“Mhm,” the girl replied. She reached into her hoodie pocket and pulled out a wad of paper. She unfurled it and straightened it to the best of her ability, then held it in front of the little boy. “See these marks?” she asked, gesturing. “Each one is like a word of a story.”

Chad’s eyes widened. “Can you read them?”

The girl nodded. “These I can read. I wrote them.”

The boy traced one little finger down the wrinkles in the page, his mouth slowly opening at how many confusing lines and dots he counted. Curious, he asked, “What do they say?”

The girl smiled again, and rubbed the wrinkles smooth. Then she placed them upon the piano and positioned her fingers lightly upon the keys. A gentle sound emitted from the piano, and slowly a song began to grow inside the tiny music room. It started softly first, with a simple melody drifting its way through the air carelessly. Then, a series of deep, echoing notes combined with the light ones , like a skilled tango – each part weaving its way around the other, and yet each complimenting its opposite and adding to its sweetness. The tune rose high, and then dropped low, and then twisted and turned. It was sad, and then happy, and then soft and still before growing to an almost deafening volume.

As the girl played, her eyes regained their far-away look, like she was remembering something that had happened a long time ago. Slowly, the notes grew spread apart, and then they wound down to a gentle stop. Chad stared at the girl with confusion. She grabbed her music and stuffed it back into her pocket before facing her new friend again.

“The music said you were happy. And then you were sad. And then you were happy again.” The little boy tilted his head, almost like a bird – innocent and curious. “Why were you sad?”

The girl’s mind struggled to find a simple answer to his simple question. “I used to be sad because my daddy left me. That was a long time ago. I don’t remember much about it anymore. I’m happy now because I have a daddy and a mommy who love me very much.” The teenager studied the little boy’s tear-stained cheeks.

“Why were you crying?” she asked, in the same manner the child had asked her.

His forehead grew creased and his lips twisted into a frown. It was almost funny how serious he looked, but the girl didn’t laugh. “Because Tommy Blankley called my daddy a hobo.”

The girl raised her eyebrows. “Did he now?”

The boy nodded seriously, so seriously in fact that he almost fell off the piano bench. “Yes. But my daddy’s not a hobo. He’s a street musician,” Chad said in a proud tone. “And so I hit Tommy. And then Mrs. Summers told me to go to the principal’s office. She didn’t believe me that Tommy called daddy a name.”

The girl’s wise eyes examined the little boy’s, and she asked slowly, “Do you know what makes me feel better sometimes when I’m sad?”

“What?”

“Playing the piano. Making Music.”

Chad crossed his arms. “I can’t make music. I can’t read music.”

“You don’t need to be able to read music to play it,” the girl informed him. She glanced around the room for a moment, thinking. “Sit really still,” she said suddenly. “Listen.”
Chad uncrossed his arms and stuck out his neck, as if that would help his straining ears to hear. He didn’t hear anything at first, and was about to tell the girl so, when suddenly he heard the birds chirping outside. He struggled to turn around backwards on the bench to peek out the open window. There, he saw wind chimes, and as soon as he laid eyes on them, a lost gust of wind found its way to their metal pipes.

The girl watched him carefully, her small smile creeping back onto her lips. “What do you hear?” she whispered. He looked up at her, and then at the piano. One small finger reached out to the D key. He was afraid she would be mad, or tell him he was too little to touch the piano, but she smiled encouragingly and he cautiously pressed a note two keys to the right of the one he was pressing now.

“What else?” the girl asked, urging him on. Slowly, he began pressing more keys, and a halting, stuttering tune began to begin in that small, dusty, band room. “Good, good,” the girl murmured. “Keep playing that,” she said, and she reached out with experienced hands to the keys in front of her.

Deep, solemn notes began mixing with his high, cheery ones. The mixture was rich, and knowing that he helped create it gave Chad a content feeling, like letting the sun dry you after you swim, or biting into a chocolate bar. The simple melody he created was contrasted by her harmony, and the song began to swirl around in the air around them.

“Don’t worry about hitting a wrong note,” the girl said, after one of his fingers slipped. “Just keep playing. Stop thinking. Let your fingers play without your eyes. Let your heart play without your mind.” And soon, Chad stopped wondering how the tune would sound when he pressed certain keys; he found he already knew. His fingers wandered over the slick, smooth keys with purpose, and he liked the sound they made.

The minutes soared by, but eventually their heart-felt song shrank and slowly stopped. The girl and the boy stared at each other. Breaking the silence, the girl told Chad, “You got it in you, kid.”
“What?” Chad asked, alarmed that something was inside him.

She laughed. “Music.”

Chad stared at his hands, as if looking for some sign that she had seen. “My mommy says I’m too little to make music. My daddy teaches me in secret, though.”

“My dad used to teach me, too. Hey, will you promise me something?”

“What?” he asked, curious.

“Will you promise me that no matter what anyone tells you, you’ll still make music?” she requested, her kind eyes staring into his young face. He nodded solemnly. She smiled. “Good. I think you’ll be pretty good some day.”

“As good as you?” he asked in a hopeful tone.

She leaned closer to him and whispered as if confiding a secret to him. “Better than me.” He gasped. She laughed. The sound was nice to his little ears. “I think you should go to the principal’s office before you get into more trouble.”

Chad sighed and slid off the old piano bench. He walked over to the door slowly, criss-crossing his feet in a child-like waddle. “Hey, kid,” the teenager called after him. “What’s your name?”

He turned around and stated proudly, “Chad William Bent. What’s yours?”

“Denise Beasley,” she lied. “It was nice to meet you.”

“Will you come play here again soon?” he asked, hopefully.

Regret twisted the girl’s stomach. “Maybe,” she lied again. He smiled at her, revealing a hole where a tooth had recently fallen out. With a skip, he was out the door. The girl’s eyes focused on the door he had disappeared behind. “William Bent,” she whispered. Her father’s name. She stood up and walked over to the low, open window, brushing past the wind chimes and sliding into the bushes outside.

A few minutes later, Chad pulled his teacher by the hand into the old, abandoned music room. It was silent and empty now, save for the dusty instruments that had witnessed everything in the room only moments before.

“She was in here, I promise,” Chad insisted, running to the bench and peering under it as if to find his friend hiding underneath.

“Chad, there’s no one here. Now if you don’t come with me right now, you’ll be in even more trouble,” his teacher chided him. Chad wasn’t listening. At least, not to her. His eyes and ears were trained on the metal wind chimes swaying softly by the open window. They were creating a quiet, light tune, but there was no wind…

Ch. 4 - The Flight

Hoof beats erupted in the night, distant and far-off, but they were enough to alarm Jessica. The two young fighters had been trudging through the woods for a good half hour, pulling Benji the prince behind them. The fact that he was blindfolded and tied didn’t make the going any faster. Jessica, leading since Andrew was dragging their hostage, glanced back at her friend.

“We have to hurry!” she hissed, as the hoof beats drew slowly but steadily closer. “We’re just outside the city limits!”

Benji, who was close enough to hear her strained voice, suggested, “You should untie me. I would be a lot faster.”

Andrew rolled his eyes and increased his pace. “Yeah, and while we’re at it, we’ll throw in a basket laden with food for you to take with you while you escape.” He snorted. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

“At least take off my blindfold,” Benji tried again. He stumbled over a tree root. Andrew yanked upon the rope, jerking his captive up and on his feet again.

“So that you can lead the guards back to our hide out? Think again,” he retorted in a low tone, fearing detection even though the riders were still too far away to hear them. “Stop talking,” he ordered.

The hoof beats echoed off the tall trees surrounding the trio, growing ever closer. “If they catch us, we’re dead,” Jessica stated, glancing around in despair for some place to hide. The horses were coming from all directions, sweeping the forest like a net attempting to scoop up an elusive fish. “We can’t outrun them,” she said, despairingly turning to Andrew. They stopped their brisk pace, staring at each other hopelessly.

“Take off his blindfold and use it to gag him,” Jessica commanded, suddenly struck with an idea. Andrew met her eyes, his confused expression examining her persuasive one. Wordlessly, he did so. Jessica’s knife rested lightly on Benji’s back, and she pushed him toward a cluster of tall, sturdy trees with low branches. Andrew’s eyebrows shot up in understanding, and he grabbed a branch that had fallen from a tree covered in bristles and began following them, brushing the branch over the earth. Leaning toward the prince’s ear, Jessica whispered, “Climb.”

Five minutes later, the guard’s horses came thundering through. Their black manes billowed into their masters’ faces almost comically. The leading horse and his rider pulled up short, turned around, and trotted in a broad circle. The large stallion snorted and thrust back its head and all the other horses followed its example. The soldiers peered into the dense forest, their horses shifting beneath them. Silence fell over the party, interrupted only by the labored sound of winded horses struggling to get enough breath into their lungs.

Benji twitched next to Andrew. They were twenty feet above the men, concealed in the branches of the thick, old trees. Jessica’s left hand held the knife, which was still pressing into his back relentlessly. Jessica and Andrew were so close to Benji, they could smell his citrusy, imported cologne. Jessica wrinkled her nose, resisting the urge to cough and gag.

“The tracks stop here,” shouted a guard. Jessica’s quick eyes counted five men, but there were bound to be more that she couldn’t see flanking this regiment. Hopefully they wouldn’t find them since Andrew had erased their tracks with the branch. Hopefully.

“We can’t allow them to escape. If we don’t have him before sunrise…” the leader started to say before trailing off in an uncertain tone. “We continue this way. Hurry!” he shouted. In a few moments, the rumbling of horses began again and soon they were out of eyesight.

Jessica and Andrew didn’t dare breathe out until the hoof beats had faded into the distance. Andrew motioned for Jessica to jump down, which she did. Landing lightly on her feet, she turned and looked up at the boys in the tree. Benji jumped down next and Jessica was waiting with a drawn dagger at the bottom. Quickly, Andrew joined them, and in a few moments, Benji was re-blindfolded and re-tied. They once again set out at a brisk pace for the resistance’s meeting place. This time, Andrew was in front, then Benji, and then Jessica, trailing behind.

After a few moments of movement, Benji asked in a casual tone, “So how long have you two been assassinating royalty?” Neither of them replied, but Andrew yanked the lead rope suddenly, causing Benji to stumble forward. “In my opinion, you two aren’t very good,” Benji said once he was back on his feet.

“Do you want to live or not?” spat Jessica, resisting the urge to kick him behind his kneecap.

“I’m just curious if you’re bred to be murderers, or if it’s an acquired trait.”

“It’s a talent, really,” Andrew corrected in a matter-of-fact tone. Jessica began to feel uneasy about where this conversation might lead.

“How old are you two anyway?” Benji persisted in pestering them. “You don’t look old enough to kill people.”

Andrew’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t look old enough to lead a kingdom,” he countered.

“Eighteen summers is old enough,” he replied. “But don’t let age be the only trait you judge me for.”

Jessica frowned. “If you’re as kind and good as you claim to be, why do these terrible laws keep appearing? Why to people starve, and cry, and mourn? If you’re such a good leader, why is this kingdom slowly dying?” The trees were thinning; they were almost to the city, Tosh. It was still night, and the path ahead was blanketed in dark shadows.

“He was the king. I’m the prince. There’s a bit of influence diversity there. Chain of command, you know. Not to mention my father’s foolish advisor. What could I do? I’m powerless until I become king, and since you two have now abducted me and are taking me who-knows-where, that’s unlikely to happen.”

Jessica suddenly thought of something. Voicing her thoughts out loud, she asked, “If what you say is true, why do you fight for a people you never knew? None of the nobles have ever cared about their subjects; no one notices the slave that labors for his luxuries. You can’t be that selfless.”

“Is it really that hard to believe that a person could care for other people besides himself?” Benji questioned in a quiet tone.

Jessica’s head hurt. “Stop talking,” she weakly commanded. The trees suddenly opened up and the tall, stone walls of a city stared across at them. Jessica let out a breath and tried not to feel too relieved until they were inside. Quickly and as quietly as possible, they slipped through the gates.

“We can’t be seen,” Andrew informed them. Jessica nodded. She took up a position in front of Andrew, in order to scout ahead and make sure the way was clear and there were no curious eyes about.

As they were traveling along the first street, Jessica noticed a man slouching against a doorway. His back was toward them, and his head was angled down so she couldn’t see his face. She quickly raised her hand, and Andrew ducked around a corner with Benji still in tow.

“Maybe it’s best that we split up. Less conspicuous. Take him to the safe house; I’ll meet you there,” Jessica whispered. Andrew nodded. Jessica resumed walking around the corner, eyeing the man. She paced quietly toward him, wondering what to ask him to make sure he hadn’t seen them lugging their captive around. However, as she approached, she realized something was wrong. He hadn’t moved the whole time since she had set eyes on him. With an uneasy feeling growing in her stomach, she drew a dagger out from her belt and hurried toward him. As she approached him from the back, she noticed a thick, dark liquid trailing down the doorpost and into the street.

Slowing, she remained only a few feet away from the man. Sucking in a breath, she tapped his shoulder. He didn’t move. With hesitant feet, Jessica circled around him to face him from the front. She gasped and the blood froze within her veins. A crudely-fashioned sword stuck out of his chest, pinning him to the doorway. Panic rose inside her, which she struggled to control. He was dead! Murdered! She stepped backwards, slowly, her legs refusing to move like she needed them to.

With a growing fear, Jessica began to run to the safe house. As she ran, she cast anxious glances down the streets and alleys she passed. Bodies, still and unmoving, lay crumpled at their entrances. Not a soul stirred in the whole city. She was trapped in a waking nightmare. Who would be left to greet her at the tavern? Was there anyone left? Had anyone escaped this madness? What had happened here? Her breathing became ragged and unbalanced. “Pull it together, Jessica,” her mind told her.

As she darted through an alley, the tavern came into view. Its plain appearance seemed shaken, disturbed, and somehow unnatural. Jessica burst through the alley and ran up the uneven steps to the porch. Andrew emerged from a street on the right, dragging Benji behind him.

“Jessica-” Andrew started.

“I know!” she replied, breathless. Her fear made her shudder as she grasped the handle of the old door and threw it open. The feelings that swelled up inside her at that moment were too complex to understand. It was like sleepwalking around the street and waking up to find you had wandered into a butcher’s shop.