Day 163 (141st)

Day 163 (141st):
Loud banging on our door woke us. Sadal burst into the room and said we needed to go now. Grabbing what little we had with us, we raced downstairs. We did not pause in the common room but headed down another set of stairs to the basement and on to a tunnel. Once that door had closed, blocking anyone from seeing the tunnel, Sadal stopped to explain.
"All chaos has broken loose. Every female in the city is being rounded up in order to find you girls, some as young as eight. Fortunately, our network of tunnels is unknown to the Baalocs. You will be safe here," he said with a sigh of relief.
We casually walked along the lit tunnels as he explained further. They had been watching all night.
"First thing they noticed was the pink door. That sent them searching. The clean moat, the healthy trees and grass, and the purified fountains drew them around to the mural. That sent them to get Cornwall. He was furious. Looking over the mural pulled his eyes to the spires. That sent him over the edge. He ordered every female above six years of age to the jail to cull you girls out. Even his own concubines, servants, and slaves were checked. He thinks you were actually in the palace in order to do all of that. He went berserk when he found out half of his treasury was reduced to dust. His wizards reported two-thirds of their amulets and talismans were destroyed. Since dawn, every Baaloc has been grabbing every female they can find. This inn had been closed for repairs, so they had not checked it. We, however, did not wish to chance it so Kendar told me to wake you and get you to the tunnels. We are headed towards a hidden cottage under a hill. We can close it off should the tunnels be discovered. There are plenty of supplies so you can be there a while."
We quietly listened to his tale, absorbing the information. We felt bad for all of those girls. I stopped everyone.
"We need to let them know they do not have us. We have to save those women."
"How?" Sadal asked, "Give up? Surrender?"
"No. We have done it before. When we get to the cottage, we will send an illusion message to tell him we are not in his possession. Hopefully, he will release the other women."
Everyone agreed. We hurried to the underground cottage. We had some of the powder left. Dawn and Bo were still with us. Sadal did not know what to do. We told him to go back as we could handle this alone. Hesitantly, he left us. We began preparing for the sending. We decided to use Vanity's image to project instead of mine or my sisters. We began the sending. Through Vanity's mirrors, I saw into the palace. I saw Cornwall, Nigel, and many Baaloc soldiers pushing women around and yelling orders. The women and girls were all frightened and huddled together like cattle. When an opening appeared before Cornwall, I projected the image to that spot.
"Greetings, Cornwall. Looking for someone?" I asked sarcastically.
All eyes focused upon Vanity's image; a tall, slim, beautiful Faerie with amethyst eyes in a sleek flowing gown. Cornwall and Nigel became furious.
"Where are you? Which one of these is you and your whoring sisters?" Cornwall demanded.
"None of us are in your possession. We are free."
"Impossible!" Nigel shrieked, "We have every woman in the city."
"There is your answer. We are not in the city. You have all made fools of yourselves. You went fishing in the wrong waters."
Both began fuming. Titters erupted among the women and girls. Cornwall ordered them all to be sent out of the palace. He ordered the palace to be purged of all females. No female slave, servant, or concubine was to remain in the palace by sunset. When the room was cleared of everyone else, Cornwall and Nigel faced the image again.
"We will find you and make you pay for the evil you have done upon this great city," Cornwall said through clenched teeth.
"We repaired this eye-sore of a city. When you are defeated, the rest will be repaired as well," I told him, almost angry myself.
"'Eye-sore'? Baaloc Prime is the most beautiful city in all the world. Raval Palace, Cassabla Palace, and Thantos Castle are eye-sores. Hideous things only demon-spawned bastards could dream up. Baaloc Prime is perfection."
I laughed, "You are so deluded. They have your thinking so twisted, you can't see reality anymore, if you ever saw it in the first place."
"I can see your reality. You are not human."
"True, I am not. Nigel knows my race and he fears to tell you."
Nigel sputtered.
"I do not fear you, bitch. I can name you race, stupid fe... stupid faer..." he stuttered.
"The word you are looking for is Faerie, deamae nohem."
Nigel choked. Cornwall stepped forward.
"Foul creature. I care not what vile race you are. Your tricks are for naught. Everything you have defiled will be corrected and, with Princess Mara as my wife, I will have surpassed Maalicus in power and achievement."
"So you will not mourn when Nigel kills her less than a month after your wedding? How heartless."
"We decided to let her live long enough to bear an heir," Nigel stated as he took a step forward.
"What! No one told me about killing her. When was this the plan? You told me she and I would rule forever, just like Maalicus before he threw off his immortality to save us," Cornwall confronted Nigel.
"Well, well, isn't that interesting? The masters forgot to tell the puppet their new plans. Or did you feed him that lie so he would join you willingly? Did they also tell you the 'holy words' are permanent?"
"Of course they are permanent!" Nigel shouted at both of us.
Cornwall looked at him confused. I could almost read his thoughts. Why was Nigel so adamant about the marks? Why were plans being made without him? He was the lord of the Baalocs, ordained by the one true god. This "servant" was acting like he was the leader and Cornwall was the servant.
"Nigel, she was addressing me. Remember your place."
Nigel's eyes flared red. At the last moment, he held back his response.
Somewhat sarcastically, he said, "Yes, my lord."
Cornwall turned back to the image. "My holy words are more permanent than the mountains. Tharinzar has assured me neither you nor anyone else can remove them, " he said proudly.
"Then this won't do anything," I said, then began the spell to remove the marks.
Nigel's eyes went wide. Cornwall tried not to move until the sensation became too uncomfortable to ignore. He nearly tore his pant leg off and felt his thigh. Three marks were gone and a fourth was fading.
"ENOUGH!" yelled Nigel as he lunged for the image and passed through it.
Cornwall twisted to protect what marks he could reach. I stopped the spell.
"That should prove some of his lies. I will leave now. I hope Tharinzar can replace what you think you have lost."
The image vanished. When I could focus again, I saw my sisters struggling not to laugh. We all finally burst. It was hilarious. Both Nigel and Cornwall thought they were both in charge. We agreed there was going to be arguments in the palace.
We put it out of our minds and looked around this underground cottage. Except for no windows and a door leading down a tunnel, it was very similar to our house in Thantos. We did notice the sky light that illuminated the interior. From the length of that small tunnel, we saw we were not very far from the surface. A little more searching revealed another exit to the surface and another door in the floor that went down further. The sound of water came from this way. We noticed no water inside the cottage, so Callie and Lisa found a bucket and went down to get water. They had been gone only a moment when they mentally called for the rest of us. We found them standing by an underground river staring at their feet. We looked at what they were seeing. Huge barefoot footprints ran beside the water. Alice and Anna told us our marble friend had been here a few times. Anna said there was some left behind emotions of anger and pain. I opened completely, but could not find him. Alice said he had searched for someone, but had not found them. We gathered the water as we wondered about it. Back in the cottage, we had just sorted out sleeping arrangements when a knock sounded on the tunnel door. I confirmed it was Kendar. He was relieved to see all of us safe. Larz inspected all of us as well. We found some chairs and sat down to listen to Kendar tell us what was going on.
"You bought us some time. Due to your 'attacks', Cornwall has sent a message to 'Mara' to stay out of Baaloc Prime until your threat is neutralized. We are guessing they do not want to wait long. The surrounding area is being searched since you are not in the city. A reward of ten thousand gold has been offered for you seven to be brought to Cornwall, alive preferably, but dead is fine."
We remembered Tharinzar talking about his master's vision of our deaths. Internally, all fourteen of us began working on a plan. We told Kendar to tell our friends to deny us. Kendar was taken aback at first, then his military mind kicked in and he smiled.
"I forget the ancient experience your girls can access. You are well advised. Our friends will understand your reasoning. Do you need anything?"
We thought as we looked around the cottage. Just then, a silver circle appeared in the floor. Mattis rose from within.
"King Droland felt you needed my help. Also, a strange message was left at Raval. It was a length of iron twisted into a friendship knot. Can you shed some light on that?"
We told him of our marble friend. Mattis nodded and said that was probably the source. We brought him up to date on our efforts here. He, too, liked the idea of our friends denying us to protect them. Kendar left to rejoin our friends as Mattis helped us plan our coupe de grace. He called all manner of materials to produce a grand effect. We decided to lay low for a couple of days to make them think we were gone. Secretly, we would work at night to strengthen the underlying structure of Baaloc Prime. Kendar returned several times before sunset. He brought us a map of the tunnels. We found the one leading to where the eggs were kept. They also showed the river below us and a place called "The Giants' Chamber" but did not explain its meaning. Lights like Raval's bloomed in the walls when the sun went down. We had a simple meal as we talked. We were getting ready for bed when an odd rumble came from below. We wondered about it until I felt someone familiar. Opening the lower door, we saw our marble friend walking below us.
"Friend, we are above you. Can you spare a moment?" I called mentally.
He stopped and looked up. We waved at him. He sat with a heavy thud and sighed. I could feel his sadness.
"What is it, friend? What saddens you so greatly?"
"Heir of the Faerie, my people are not well. All but a few are behaving strangely. We are a communal group but they are being selfish, hoarding things we don't value, and not sharing food sources. Those not that way are exiled and forced to the outer tunnels. My own family rejects me."
Alice relayed his memories to us as he spoke. We asked where his people lived. Our hearts sank when he said almost directly under Baaloc Prime. We told him of the corruption twenty years of demon rule had wrought above ground and just below in the water and soil. His anger rose as we spoke. Both he and Mattis concluded that the corruption had penetrated to them as well. We asked him to stay below us until morning, as we were all tired. At that time, we would go with him to see if we could help his people. He thanked us and found a place to rest. We kept the door open and went to bed.