That night, a soft "knock... knock... knock" sounded at Theo's door. He opened it cautiously and peeked out. Standing there were a maid and a soldier in full gear. Theo checked the hallway, then quickly pulled them both inside. Casey was already there, waiting in her wheelchair.
"Esme, Commander Noah, what are you doing here?" Theo asked.
"Before she was taken, Lady Valentina gave me this," Noah replied, handing a scrap of paper to Theo.
Theo walked over to Casey, and together they read Valentina's letter. It outlined a desperate plan. Valentina explained that her captors were House Baranger soldiers; her servants had overheard them planning to take her to Baranger Castle on the western border. They had threatened to kill Theo and Casey if she didn't cooperate. In the letter, she ordered Noah to sneak the siblings to the monastery via a secret passage, warning that spies were watching them within Castle Rochele. Valentina promised to try and escape, flee west, and eventually meet them at the monastery in the east.
"So that's it. This is all Uncle Geoffrey's doing," Theo muttered.
"Exactly. The guards at the castle gates right now are Baranger men. We have to slip out tonight," Noah urged.
"But... what about Cassandra?" Theo asked.
"Esme is coming too. She'll look after Lady Cassandra," Noah answered.
"That's right, Lord Theobald. Leave her to me," Esme added.
"Alright. Let's go," Theo decided.
The four of them crept into the dining hall. Esme reached for a candle holder mounted on the fireplace and gave it a tug. "Greeek." The fireplace slid aside, revealing a staircase leading down. Theo scooped Casey up in his arms, Noah grabbed the wheelchair, and Esme led the way with a torch. Once they were inside, the stone door slid shut behind them.
They hurried through a secret tunnel. After a long walk, the brickwork gave way to natural cavern walls lined with torches. At the end of the passage, Casey pulled a hidden lever. A heavy stone door slid open, and they climbed out into the woods beside the castle. A horse carriage was waiting. They ran toward it, but Noah suddenly stopped.
"Wait... something's wrong," Noah whispered.
Theo handed Casey to Esme and drew his sword. Noah approached the carriage slowly, spotting the driver sitting motionless on the bench.
"Hey... Gibon," Noah hissed.
Gibon didn't move. His hands were still on the reins. Noah stepped closer and realized Gibon was dead, his throat slit and his head slumped forward. "Kyaaaaa!" A scream rang out behind them. "Clang! Clang! Clang!" Theo was already fighting for his life, surrounded by Baranger soldiers and separated from Casey and Esme. Noah rushed in, stabbing a soldier.
"Noah! Save Casey!" Theo roared.
He threw himself back into the fray to draw the enemy's attention. Seeing Theo holding the line, Noah ran to Casey and Esme, who had fallen to the ground. He cut down the nearby attackers and hoisted Casey onto his back.
"Lord Theobald! Run!" Noah screamed.
"Go, Noah! I'll hold them off! Get Casey out of here! I'll follow—we meet at the monastery!" Theo yelled back, plunging his blade into another soldier.
Suddenly, Theo sprinted toward the horse to lead the pursuers away. Casey watched him go, her voice breaking.
"Brother! Where are you going?! Brother!" she screamed hysterically.
"We have to move! I'm sorry, Lady Cassandra... Esme, let's go!" Noah grunted.
Noah took off with Casey on his back, grabbing Esme's hand. Casey struggled and fought him, her hands reaching out for Theo as he vanished into the dark with the enemy in pursuit. "Noah, put me down! My brother! He's gone! Put me down! I can't leave him! BROTHER!"
Despite her blows to his back and head, Noah didn't stop. In the distance, they heard a loud horse whinny—"hiiihiiee"—and the sound of hooves galloping away. Exhausted by her own screaming and sobbing, Casey finally went limp and lost consciousness. Noah looked back one last time.
"Stay alive, Lord Theobald... we'll meet again at the monastery," he whispered sadly to himself. Noah and Esme vanished into the deep forest, heading east.
***
Meanwhile, Theo fled on horseback, pushing the animal aimlessly through the night. His only thought was survival.
"Casey... Casey," he repeated in his mind.
Tears blurred his vision. "Hyah!" He spurred the horse across a vast grassland. He glanced back; torches were still flickering in the distance. The cavalry was still on his tail.
"How? I thought I'd lost them," Theo groaned, battered and exhausted.
Just as he was running out of options, a rider emerged from behind a large rock. The rider pulled up alongside him.
"Hey! Follow me!" a girl's voice shouted.
Theo looked over. The rider wore a black hood and a long cloak that hid her face and figure, but her voice was unmistakably female.
"Who are you?" Theo asked.
"Just follow me! Fast! They're closing in!"
She veered off the path, and Theo, having no other choice, followed her deep into the woods. Eventually, they reached a small wooden cabin, likely belonging to a hunter. They pulled their horses to a stop. The girl dismounted, but as she began to pet her horse, Theo drew his sword and pressed the tip against her neck.
"Who are you? Where is this? Why did you help me?" Theo demanded.
"Easy, one thing at a time," she said calmly, ignoring the blade at her throat. "First off, I've been waiting behind that rock for you for three days."
"What? You've been waiting for three days for me ?" Theo replied, stunned.
"Yes. There's a reason I saved you," she replied.
"Tell me who you are. Now," Theo growled.
The girl stopped petting her horse and turned around. She gently pushed his sword aside and pulled back her hood. She was beautiful, though she had a burn scar on her cheek. She had blue eyes and short, shoulder-length silver hair. She looked to be about sixteen or seventeen. But what made Theo drop his sword in shock were her ears—they were long and pointed.
"You're... an Elf in legend? That's impossible. Elves have been extinct for ages," Theo stammered.
"I am the last Elf in Estoria. My name is Gwendoline, but just call me Gwen... Theobald Rochele," she said.
"You even know my name... who are you, really?" Theo asked, curious.
"I told you, I'm the last Elf. The purple mist appeared in my home behind the Wall two weeks ago. I had to flee and sneak past the Wall. I waited for you because I saw you in a dream four days ago," Gwen explained.
"You knew I'd be there just because of a dream?" Theo asked.
"Yes. The dream felt like a mission—to pick you up at that exact rock. It felt so real, but it didn't tell me when you'd arrive, so I moved into this cabin and waited." Gwen explained.
Theo was silent, studying her. He had never seen an Elf before. He didn't fully trust her, but her words were too specific to ignore.
"But why did you dream about me?" Theo asked.
"I don't know. But at the end of the dream, I saw you standing with ten others, including myself. Five on the left, five on the right of three powerful leaders—a king and two queens. We were all at war with the darkness from behind the Wall," Gwen answered.
Hearing about the king and two queens—just like Casey's vision—Theo finally began to take her seriously.
"To be honest, I don't understand any of this. My sister mentioned a king and two queens from the south as well. Look, thank you for saving me, but I have to go east to the monastery to find my sister," Theo said, turning to his horse.
Gwen grabbed his arm. "Wait, Theo! You can't go east. You have to go to the capital Castletown, with me. My dream told me to take you there. It ended with you and me standing beside those three leaders with three other people I didn't recognize."
"I can't leave my sister alone in the east! She can't walk, she's helpless," Theo argued.
Gwen froze. She stared into his eyes, seeing his genuine fear for his sister. Then, her eyes widened.
"Wait, what did you say? Your sister can't walk? Is she a blonde girl in a wheelchair?" Gwen asked.
Theo spun back around, staring at her. "How could you possibly know that?"
"Because one of the five people standing with us in my dream was a woman in a wheelchair with blonde hair," Gwen whispered.
"That... that's her," Theo said, finally looking at Gwen with total focus. He took a deep breath. "Alright. I believe you. But what am I supposed to do in the capital?"
"I don't know. I'm just supposed to get you there," Gwen admitted.
"Fine. Let's go. We're losing time," Theo said.
"Give me a second to grab our supplies from the cabin," Gwen said, heading inside.
Theo waited outside, washing his face and watering his horse at the well. Inside the cabin, Gwen watched him through the window. He had silver hair, just like hers.
"There was one more thing the dream told me, Theo, that I can't tell you yet," Gwen whispered to herself with a small smile. "According to my dream, you're my future husband. And once we're married, the Elven race will flourish again."
Theo and Gwen set off for Castletown that night, riding toward a destiny neither of them fully understood.