Release

 PART TWENTY THREE
"I've got the keys!"
Angele wondered if she was still dreaming. She'd had dreams like this before. She turned over on the hard mattress. The door of the cell was open.
"Wake up!" Someone whispered in her ear. She looked up to find Sonia was standing over the bed.
"Sonia. What happened to you?"
"Come on!"
Angele woke Ralf.
"Ralf, Sonia's here."
"Hurry up! We're escaping!"
"What?" Said Ralf.
"Come with me! And keep your voices down."
Ralf and Angele followed Sonia uncertainly, Ralf holding Angele's hand. They almost tripped over the bodies of unconscious guards in the dark outside the cell. After what seemed like forever, they heard footsteps behind them.
"Run!" Sonia yanked Angele forward,
"But Ralf-" she'd lost his hand. Sonia was dragging her away from him. She tried to call him, to find his hand in the dark, but he was gone. Ralf had always helped her, encouraged her, and loved her. Now he was somewhere down the hall as a guard grew ever closer. She heard a shout. A gunshot. A scream burst out of her as air bursts from a balloon. Had they just killed him?
"Come on!" Sonia pulled Angele away. Up some stairs, along a corridor and into the carpeted public waiting area, a large, dimly lit grey and blue room full of sleeping people. Sonia noticed Chantel on the floor and woke her.
"We're escaping, do you want to come with us?"
Chantel looked at her with wide, scared eyes. She must have only been sleeping lightly.
"From the city?"
"Yes."
"Okay. But my friends come too."
"Where are they?"

Etina turned to Evan, who was looking around curiously at the lights, people and buildings. He had never been out of the palace before.
"When do you think they'll come?" She said.
"I don't know."
He pointed at an awning covered in fairy lights.

"Isn't that beautiful, Etina?" He turned in a circle to take in the whole street.
"It's almost a pity to leave everything behind."
Etina leaned on his shoulder.
"There are more beautiful things outside."
"Hmm."
Maybe it was selfish to want to escape, they would probably have a better life where they were. It was a prisoner's life, but at least it was probably easier than life outside would be. Evan was a guard, what would he do in the outside world? And she had the security bracelet. But being outside again would be so... it was so hard to choose! Before Etina could decide which was better, Sonia joined them. Etina counted five people behind her.
"Hurry!" Sonia ran up to them.
"Do you know the way out?" Said Etina.
"I got us a map." Sonia held it out. "I think we go all the way down this street and then left."

The End is in Sight

PART TWENTY TWO
"Etina!" Etina looked at Sonia. It was so irritating that she could never get a spoken response.
"Would you want to escape?" Etina nodded without expression.
"I have a plan."
Etina raised one eyebrow.
"Don't you think it'll work?"
Etina shook her head and put out her hand, showing a metal band which looked like a watch.
"Oh." It was a tracker, like the one Shine had received.
"Okay. Um, I'll think of something."

In a completely different part of the palace, a council meeting was taking place. A council of war.
"So we already control the cities lying closest to the mountains, all we need to do is spread, and raise an army to attack the capital." Chrystal pointed out on the map adorning the wall across from the council table. At the table sat Mirabell and other people in charge of stuff, eating biscuits, scones and drinking cups of cocoa or coffee. (Because no made up place is complete without cocoa.)
Mirabell rose from his chair.
"How big is the capital's army?"
Chrystal put her hands on her hips, "It doesn't matter how big it is, what matters is how powerful their weapons are. We're still waiting for our spies to report back. But, answering your question, in the capital are... 10,000 soldiers."
Another man spoke up, "How long is it likely to take? There are a lot of towns between us and the capital."
Chrystal considered.
"It's taken us three years to take over the cities in this area," she referred to the map, "As we gather more troops and supplies it can only get faster, so I'd say about two to three years. If you think that's too slow I am open to strategy suggestions."
The room was silent.

Not too far away, something of a very different nature was going on.
"What do you think happened to her?"
"I reckon she jumped."
The two guards glanced down at the body at their feet.
"Why, do you think?"
"Well, It could be anything. But she's dead now, anyway."
The first guard shuddered.
"Wasn't she the girl who won the dancing competition the other day?"
"Hard to tell, those girls wear so much makeup."
"What should we do with her?"
"Take her inside."
They gently lifted her and began carrying her to the door.

At the same time Iva, Leone, Dione and Chantel were entering the palace by the main door; and at that very moment Sonia had an idea.

Chantel? Jermaine?

PART TWENTY ONE

"I'm going to ask someone the way." Iva was beginning to get annoyed, the two men turned, Leone slowly with a grim expression, Dione, exasperated.
"Fine, you can ask someone."
"I will." Iva glanced around the street. It felt more like a tunnel than a street, the city being underground. She spotted a man emerging from a side street, further off a group of people walking away, and in the other direction a girl walking toward them.
"Well? Who are you going to ask?"
Iva looked Dione haughtily in the eye and then back to the street.
"Well, I think I'll ask... him." She headed over to the man, now making his way to another side street. She took a breath and began,
"Excuse me, sir-" but the man, on being spoken to, looked at her once and disappeared through an open door. Iva was rather discouraged, but flared up when her brother yelled out,
"Congratulations, Iva!"
"Why don't YOU try?"
"It was your idea, not mine. We are exempt."
Iva glared at him. Why did he have to come on the long march in the first place? Why did any of them? She couldn't think of a good enough insult to call him, and instead looked around to find someone else to ask. The group of people must have turned a corner, the girl was gone, no one was in sight but her two companions. She rejoined them and looked around again.
"There aren't many people on this street, are there."
There was no reply. They continued to walk in silence. As they walked, the girl appeared from an alleyway but froze when she saw them.
"There's someone, I'll ask her."
The girl was so terrified she could barely stand. The tears on her cheeks betrayed the fact that she had been crying, her dress was torn in one place, her hair was windswept and her whole body shook. Iva almost didn't want to speak to her for fear she'd die of fright, but she had said she would do something, and she was jolly well going to do it.

 
"Excuse me, do you know the way to the palace?" Iva felt mean asking this question, she knew she should have been asking, "Are you alright? Can we help you with anything?" But she didn't want to lose an argument against her brother. The girl looked at Iva, then at Iva's shoes, took a deep breath, bit her lip and said, "Um, I, uh, don't."
"Oh." Iva half turned away, not wanting to leave the girl alone in the dark street but also wanting to go back to the security of her brother and husband.
"Do you know the way out?" The girl sounded so miserable, Iva wanted to give her a hug and tell her everything would be fine, but she was unsure that it would be appreciated; this was a different culture, they might look down on physical contact.
"Um, no." Iva was sure that what she said next would not help, and was a stupid question, "Are you alright?"
The reaction seemed to confirm Iva's thought. The girl made an effort to control herself. "Yes, I think."
"You sure?" Iva had to ask.
"No." The girl sobbed.
Iva looked over her shoulder at Leone and Dione, who were standing at ease with folded arms, then back at the girl. She looked at Iva with terror filled eyes and shrieked in a whisper, "I need to get out." She took a few deep breaths. "Are you SURE you don't know the way out?" She caught hold of Iva's fur collar. Iva wasn't sure what to think about this girl. What was wrong with her? What had happened to her?
"Um, we- we're kind of lost." She felt Leone behind her and looked over her shoulder as he and her brother came to help. She was glad of reinforcements.
"So... Um, I think you'll have to ask someone else." The girl looked at her feet once more, but as the group was turning away, she spoke again.
"Don't go to the palace."
They all looked back.
"They'll try and- and stop you from leaving." Another sob rose and had to be forced down.
"Okay."
Large tears were rolling down the girl's already wet cheeks.
"What happened to you?" Iva felt this wouldn't help the girl in the slightest. She guiltily looked at her boots and folded her arms.
"I- I was a dancer. But then I, Um, I tripped. And, um they sent me into the labyrinth." Iva kept her eyes on the ground. She saw the girl's legs start to shake as she said the word labyrinth.
"And sign-up with a strange man who they'd... done something to and..." The girl gave up the fight against the obstinate sobs and leaned on Iva's shoulder. "And (sob) I'm not sure what (sob) happened to him (sob) but- but I escaped (sob) and no one will help me."
Iva was close to tears herself, but tried not to show it. "Um, Well, we don't really know what to do either. And, um, no one around here seems very friendly- well, no one I've asked." She awkwardly put her arm around the girl and tried to talk in a matter of fact and friendly way to cheer the girl up. "I've only actually asked one person, because my husband and my brother don't like asking people where to go." Now she was just talking, why did she keep doing that, just saying words?
"Even though that strategy hasn't worked in the past, has it?" She looked at Leone and caught him wiping his nose. Inside she kicked herself, why was she so insensitive? (As a matter of fact, Leone was merely affected by the situation and not the remark.)
"Well, anyway, um... So um, do you want to come along with us?" The girl didn't move from Iva's shoulder.
"Well, we'd at least be able to get... um" she trailed off. She couldn't help anyone from where she was. They were completely lost. But she had to keep going. She looked around for inspiration. "Well," her eyes rested on her companions. "You'll be more safe with us than just by yourself.”

The girl sniffed. “thank you.”

“Well, um, my name is Iva, um, what's yours?” the girl stood straight again.

“Chantel.”

Iva smiled at her for a minute, seeing Chantel had calmed down a little.

“This is my husband, Leone,” she took his arm, “and my brother, Dione.” she pointed at Dione, who smiled, politely. “and we were on the long march, but now we've got here, and we're not exactly sure what to do. I'm just going to ask someone where the palace is, because we thought that was the best place to go. Do you think you're alright to walk a bit further?” Chantel was making a brave effort to smile.

“You look very tired, if you don't mind me saying so.”

“Um, I think… I think I can go on.” she took a deep breath.

“Have you ever been to the palace?” Iva asked.

“Yes.”

Iva stopped herself from asking if Chantel knew the way, remembering just in time that that was exactly the reason they were talking to one another.

“I was never out of the palace until now.”

Sobs rose up in Chantel’s throat.

“It’s alright, we’ll get you safe somewhere.” Iva hoped that was true.

“Thank you. But I don't think there are many safe places around here.”

“Well, we'll try and find somewhere. If you've never been out of the palace before, then you don't know if something is safe or not.” all very well to just say it, but not so much in practice. “Anyway, we should be getting on. I think that's someone down there, we can ask them the way. Then we'll get there and say that you are…” what could she be? “a friend traveling with us, maybe. Hopefully they won't know who you are. We’ll see what happens. It’ll work out.” this was more for herself than for Chantel. “come on"

Experimental Drawings

I have been experimenting.

 It's a princess

This one was to see how good I was at drawing a symmetrical face. I will let you be the judge of that

I'm not sure what this is meant to be exactly.

 A fish

A fish in a tank

 I drew this at the library, because I was bored.

 

This is part of a set of drawings I did, of a building I made up. It used to be a mall, but it couldn't be maintained as one so it was sold and became a huge second hand store/cafe.

This was another  drawing I did at the library. I like drawing monsters.

 This is kind of an idea for another story, one about a live doll who belongs to the little girl in the picture below. But it could just be a dream.

In this one, she is climbing on the ashes from the fire.

Spot the scary thing!

Who knew literature had teeth.

Spiders are friendly in this story... mostly...

This is the doll. Her dress is supposed to be pink, but when I made her, I didn't have any pink material on hand.

Another apology

The post for yesterday will be late. I am currently working on a dress which needs to be finished before Saturday, so I forgot to put anything up on here. I will post the next part of Frozen Plains between today and Thursday, plus another thing to make up for the delay.

Newcomers

 PART TWENTY
Three figures made their way cautiously through the entrance tunnel to the grand arch. In the lead was a woman, Iva, who had long black hair and a friendly face.

The others were men, Dione, Iva's brother, whose face and hair somewhat resembled his sister, but appeared less confident.

 Leon, Iva's husband came third. He looked decidedly grim. His hair was brown and mostly covered by a hat. His eyes were brown, unlike the others, whose eyes were blue.

 As they progressed they drew closer together until the arch was reached. It lit up on their approach, with a suddenness that made them jump.
"Ha! Told you so." Iva laughed.
"You did say the same thing about all the other caves." Her brother pointed out. Her husband said nothing. At one side of the arch was a uniformed man at a desk who beckoned them over.
"Good morning sir." Iva greeted him, setting down one of her bags.
"Good morning." The man smiled, blandly.  He clicked something on his computer and asked, "Are you new to Ivan?"
"Yes, we are. We're on the long march."
Iva grinned broadly at him while Dione smiled awkwardly and Leon remained expressionless.
"Are you planning on staying long in Ivan?"
"Uh..."
Iva hadn't expected this. No stories of the hidden city had been like this, she had always been told it was a wonderful land full of happy people and nobody ever thought of leaving or anything, that was why the long march was so important, it wasn't like a holiday.
"We're not sure." Dione broke the silence. "We'll have a look around first."
"I'll need your names, ages and relationship." The man slid a touch pad toward them, as if he were giving them a death contract. They all typed in the required information and handed it back across the desk. The man reached into a drawer and pulled out three bangles and three cards.
"These will get you into the palace if you want to stay in the city," pointing to the bangles, "and these are for purchasing the things you need." Holding out the cards. "There's 1000 centros on each one of those. You can't use cash."
They took the objects and pocketed them.
"Enjoy your stay." The man smiled his bland smile again and watched them around the next corner.