Forever Here

by Harold Wall

  ready to fight.

  But instead of the raging battle that I'd expected to still be going on, it seemed that already Circle Daybreak was pushing back Alec's people into the woods where they'd come from.

  All around were dying Night People, and by their clothes most of them seemed to be Alec's people. I straightened quickly and ran forward towards where Rashel and Quinn were,

  both of them still standing back to back. "Rashel, what happened?" I called as soon as I was close enough.

  She whirled around, but I could tell that although she was paying attention to me she was still paying attention to everything around us as well. "They ambushed us this morning—

  but I think it was an onwhim action, because it was obvious they weren't ready to face an army of Circle Daybreakers—they were equipped only for fighting vampires." In other

  words, I thought mentally, they were looking for both me and Rogue, but when they'd…

  Oh no, I thought suddenly, a cold feeling sinking in my stomach, Rogue.

  "Hold that thought," I said, whirling around and heading back towards our tent. A few tents around me were already toppled over and a few Circle Daybreakers were cleaning it up.

  They looked up at me as I ran by, but I ignored them and continued forward…

  Until I saw my tent.

  I skidded to a stop, my eyes wide and my insides freezing over. Oh no, I thought in horror, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

  "Maggie wait a moment!" Miles was shouting from behind me, sounding out of breath from chasing me around camp. I stood there, letting him catch up to me, "I…what was that

  back there?" I didn't answer him, only slowly started forward, my breath irregular in my throat. "Are you listening to me? Come on Maggie, why don't you just talk to…?"

  "Miles," I whispered, turning to him, "Don't you see that?" Miles looked at me in confusion for a moment before he slowly turned to look at the tent. I watched as his face went pale

  and his eyes wide.

  The tent was hardly standing—it had been ripped into shreds, and the tent flap was hanging and blowing slightly in the wind.

  But there was no movement from the inside.

  "I think you'd better go make sure Jeanne's alright," I whispered, moving forward again. Thankfully Miles didn't object—instead I heard him whirl and start to run in the direction of

  his tent.

  I slowly approached the tent, my heart pounding like crazy with each move I made towards it. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before I walked into it.

  It was empty.

  "Rogue?" I asked into the empty tent. Maybe she was hiding, a part of me was saying, but I knew it was wrong.

  They'd taken Rogue.

  I slowly sank down onto my cot, staring at her overturned one. She was gone. The knowledge filled me, making my heart beat wildly and tears threatened to fall from my eyes.

  Rogue was gone and it was all my fault.

  I could have stayed and protected her. I could have helped fight off the Night People, could have saved her even if it meant giving up my freedom. I slowly lowered my head into my hands and stared down at the floor of my tent as footsteps came from outside. A moment later Jeanne was by my side, taking in the scene around me. "She's gone," She

  whispered in disbelief.

  Rogue stood tall and proud before Alec, her chin held high and her eyes locked defiantly on his. But inside she felt like a quaking bunny

  rabbit at the mercy of the wolves. However, she refused to show any sort of weakness—if there was anything that Maggie had taught her in the past six months, it was to 'keep

  your chin up' until the very end. Over and over in her mind, she kept thinking to herself. What would Maggie do? What would Maggie say? How would Maggie look at Alec?

  Defiantly, of course.

  So here she was, pretending she was in fact the strong, brave and stubborn Maggie and not the fearful little human named Rogue, staring at Alec as though she didn't care what he

  did to her—which of course she did, but that wasn't the point. The point was that Alec could see the defiance in her eyes...and he was responding to it.

  "Humans are so easily influenced," he was telling Blade who was gazing at her from the far corner of the Throne room, "they don't even know when the influence is bad."

  "Maggie is not a bad influence," Rogue snapped, putting as much malice into her voice as it would allow. Alec's eyes widened—obviously he hadn't expected her to say anything

  back.

  "See what I mean?" He murmured, "They can't even hold their tongues." He stood from his throne and walked towards her, his eyes penetrating and frightening. But Rogue held her

  ground, keeping her face filled with the hate she felt for him. He stopped in front of her, inches from her face. He gazed at her for a moment before he chuckled. "Yeah, she's

  definitely been influenced, all right—she's giving me almost the exact same look Maggie gave me."

  He then proceeded to lift his hand up and firmly grasp her chin between his forefinger and thumb. Rogue tried to pull away, but he held her there tightly, refusing to release her.

  "Do you know where Maggie is?" that was a stupid question—of course she knew where Maggie was. She was still back at camp, probably worried sick for her…

  Instead, she replied, "Sorry but no, I don't—can't help you there." His grip tightened—it was almost painful.

  "I know you know where she is—is she back there with the rebels?" Rebels? Rogue had a strange urge to start giggling uncontrollably. How many times had that term been used to

  call an army that had risen up to save either themselves or others from oppression? "What are the rebels planning?"

  "What rebels?" Rogue asked, her voice slightly coated in amusement—a little taste of his own medicine.

  Alec didn't seem to like his own medicine though—his expression darkened and slowly he hissed. "Stop playing dumb with me vermin," Alec snapped, his voice harsh and impatient,

  "What are they planning?"

  Rogue couldn't help it—she started to giggle. "I don't know what rebels you're talking about sir—you must be mistaken." Alec was furious. He let go of Rogue and stormed away but

  then whirled around.

  "HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THE FACT THAT HALF OF MY SCOUTS ARE DEAD?" he shouted, pointing at the open window as though to show her their dead bodies.

  Rogue thought for a moment. "Rabies," she finally stated, remembering Ana, the crazy character from the play And Mrs. Reardon Drinks A Little who thought she was going to die of

  rabies after getting bitten by a stray cat.

  Apparently Alec didn't appreciate the joke, because suddenly his face went red and he roared with such rage that all of Rogue's inner humor was gone, replaced by fear and

  adrenaline. "Get her out of my sight!" Alec snapped at Blade, who seemed surprised by Alec's reaction as well. He hesitated for a moment but then moved back forward, taking

  Rogue roughly by the arm and led her out of the room and back through the corridors, heading for the dungeon.

  As Blade dragged her down the corridor, passing servants stopped and stared at Rogue. Some looked worried for her safety while others looked at her admiringly. She wanted to

  tell them that it wasn't her she should be looking at that way—it was Maggie. Without Maggie, she would have never gotten out of here in the first place. And strangely enough, she

  wasn't too upset that she'd been recaptured. She was upset that she didn't get to see her mom and sister again today, but she knew that Maggie wouldn't rest until she'd taken

  down Alec's kingdom and gotten both her and Delos back…

  Speaking of which, where was Delos?

  Blade reached the dungeon door and started to pull her down into the dark, cold and damp world. In a way she was reminded of the Phantom pulling Christine down with him to the

  dungeon bellow the Opera House to make her his bride…

  She really needed to st
op watching so many plays.

  "I'd advise you to just tell him the information," Blade suddenly said, stopping in his tracks so quickly that Rogue almost ran into him. He gave her a look that was almost…pleading.

  "Maybe he'll let you get off scotch free if you just tell him what he wants…"

  Rogue looked at him in surprise; never before had Blade talked to a human, much less try to give her advice. "Um, thanks, but no thanks." She managed. Blade's expression

  darkened.

  "You're an idiot then," He muttered, turning and pulling her off the stairs and towards the prison.

  The prison was relatively small and extremely filthy. Rogue was sure that the place was swarming with rats and other disgusting critters that were carrying deadly diseases. As

  they approached the cell, a low and frightening hiss escaped from the darkness in the corners of it. Rogue froze, her eyes desperately scanning to see who was in there, but she

  couldn't see anything. "That's not rather welcoming," Blade said into the darkness as he jammed in the key and twisted it so that the door unlocked and opened. Then he promptly

  shoved Rogue into the cell. "Be nice—Alec was generous to send her down here to give you company."

  Give who company? Rogue wondered in fright—a renegade werewolf? A bloodthirsty shapeshifter? Or….

  She gripped the iron bars hard, watching as Blade disappeared out of sight before she slowly turned around. "I can't tell you how much I hate that man," A voice from the darkness

  grumbled. A moment later, right before Rogue's eyes, a man emerged from the shadows, seemingly from nowhere. Rogue gasped and slammed up against the bars with her back,

  her hand going up to her mouth.

  She slid down the bars until she was sitting on the floor, her eyes wide with terror. Now that she was out of Alec and Blade's presence, she was free to have her melt down, which

  was being triggered by the sudden appearance of the man. Tears suddenly sprung from her eyes, falling down her face uncontrollably and she brought her knees up close to her

  body, resting her forehead on her knees.

  "Hey," The voice was so startlingly close—right next to her ear, in fact—that Rogue tensed and started to sob harder. "Hey…it's okay….I don't bite…okay, maybe once in a while I

  do, but I'm not going to bite you." Rogue started to calm down a bit, but she was still crying. How could she trust this man?

  The man, obviously seeing that what he was saying wasn't working, he sighed. "Yeah, I wouldn't blame you if you didn't believe me. You've probably been through a lot if you ended

  up down here with me." He sighed, "Look, somehow…I don't know how, but somehow…we're going to get out of here. And when we do…" He trailed off, and something about the

  way he trailed off made Rogue slowly look up at him.

  He was kneeling in front of her, not looking at her, but glaring at the floor. He had dark hair that was sort of wavy that fell gently over his forehead. His eyes were a striking golden

  color—Rogue didn't even know that color was possible—and he was nicely toned and lithelooking. And there was a vulnerable set to his mouth…

  Wait, GOLDEN eyes?

  "Hey wait a second," no longer did Rogue feel like crying. She remembered how once, a long time ago, she'd asked her what Delos looked like. The one thing she said was, "He has

  the most amazing golden eyes…"

  Well, Rogue didn't think many guys had golden eyes and just happened to dislike Alec. "You're him, aren't you?" She asked, sitting forward a bit. Delos looked a little confused.

  "Um…who am I supposed to be?" He questioned uncertainly.

  "You're Prince Delos from the Black Kingdom!" Rogue was excited now—it had to be him, it just had to be.

  "Yyes, I'm Prince Delos," instantly Rogue was on her feet, a squeal of excitement and happiness escaping her throat.

  "YOU'RE NOT DEAD! YOU'RE ALIVE! Captured, but ALIVE!" Delos was staring at her as if she'd just told him a dingo ate her baby two seconds ago.

  "Um…no, no I appear to be alive, thank you for confirming that very obvious fact." Rogue wasn't listening—instead, she was rambling on.

  "I knew you wouldn't die! The hero never dies…except in Romeo and Juliet…and Old Yeller…and….well, I don't think any princes die…but either way! I knew that you wouldn't die and

  leave Maggie all alone…"

  Suddenly Delos was on his feet, his eyes wide with shock, amazement and longing. "You know Maggie?" his more than ever he sounded vulnerable, as if he'd die if he didn't have

  her in his arms again in five minutes. Judging by the look on his face, Rogue wouldn't doubt the possibility of that.

  "Yes—yes of course I know her! Oh, she'll be so happy to realize that for sure you aren't dead!"

  "What do you mean?" Rogue blinked—of course he wouldn't know what's going on; he'd been stuck in here for the past three days.

  "I guess I should explain—see, Rashel called for back up when you didn't come back by nightfall. Thierry sent a fourth of the Circle Daybreak army to help rescue you, all of them

  some of his best warriors. Maggie's brother and that one girl came down as soon as possible as well." She paused, leaning in closer and lowering her voice so that only Delos could

  hear her, "They've been planning to attack, but the problem is that they didn't know where the castle was or the advantage points. But, lucky for them, when Maggie's brother went

  to scout ahead, he and Maggie ran into each other.

  "But the problem is," Rogue concluded, "Is that no one knows if you're dead or alive since no one's heard from you…"

  "And they told Maggie that," Delos stated, his voice filled with irritation and annoyance.

  "Well what do you expect them to tell her when she's demanding to see you? The whole reason she put together the escape plan was so that she could one, go back to you, two,

  reveal what's going on down here to you and Circle Daybreak, and three set all the slaves down here free. And since I'm the only one who trusts her, she brought me along to help

  her out."

  Delos looked confused, "What do you mean? Maggie's one of the most trust worthy people I know—the former slaves back where I lived called her the deliverer…"

  Rogue shifted uncomfortably, knowing that if she explained why to him, he'd know that she was a vampire. And she didn't know if Maggie wanted him to know until she had the

  chance to explain it herself. "I think that's something you'll need to talk to Maggie about,"

  Delos didn't seem to like that answer. "Why?"

  Rogue looked away from him and shrugged, "Because I think it's something she wants to talk to you about in person. I don't think she'd appreciate it if you heard it from someone

  else."

  Delos still didn't look happy with that answer, but he didn't try to push it any further. For a moment they were silent, taking one another in. finally Delos softened. "Could I ask you

  something?" Rogue nodded, "How…I mean….does she…I…"

  Rogue smiled softly. "She's one of the strongest people I've ever met—she doesn't really talk much, but I can tell that she thinks about you all the time. And yet even though I'm

  sure she's felt like she's wanted to give up, she never has. She's never shown anything but strength to those who would enjoy to see her miserable, and she's always thought of

  others first—sometimes too much for her own good." Delos snorted, and Rogue assumed that she hadn't changed much since the last time he'd seen her, "And…I can tell she not

  only misses you, but she loves you very much."

  Delos suddenly looked terribly vulnerable, like some child who's lost something dear to them. He slowly turned away, looking off into space with a longing expression. Slowly Rogue

  stepped forward and placed and gentle hand on his shoulder. "Like you said, we're going to get out of here—and when we do, Maggie will be right there waiting for us."
/>   Delos smiled softly but it was a painful smile. "You have no idea how much I'm looking forward to that," he whispered.

  I lay the three pieces of paper out on the table, each one of them containing a rough sketch of each floor of the castle. Rashel and Quinn bent over them, while a young shapeshifter

  discussed with me the surrounding areas of the castle. "So it's all forest?" She clarified.

  I nodded my head, "It's a little hilly as well,"

  The girl's eyes brightened. "Hilly is good. Hills give us some high ground and the forest should give us some protection should they decide to use arrows to try to stop us." Pictures

  from the Lord of the Rings movie flashed into my mind instantly, and I shuddered. I'd never been in a war before, and I really hoped it wasn't like that.

  Although it would be interesting to watch Alec set himself on fire and jump off the top floor of his castle like the Steward of Gondor had.

  "If they're captured they'll probably be down in the dungeon." Quinn suddenly said, looking up at me. "Do you have any idea how many guards will be down there?"

  I shook my head, "It was sort of a goal of mine to not go down there, if you know what I mean. I don't particularly enjoy hanging out in dungeons, I don't know about you."

  "I think they're quite roomy," Rashel muttered under her breath sarcastically.

  I stared at the place where I'd drawn the dungeon door; Quinn was right. If they were captured—and not dead, I hoped—they'd be down there. It was on the first level, and if we

  broke into the castle it might be easy to reach once you got past all the guards that were trying to kill you.

  If Delos was in there, I thought, I wanted to be the one to set him free.

  I looked up and met Rashel's eyes, "I'll take care of the dungeon—you guys concentrate on bringing the place down."

  "No you won't," Miles's voice suddenly barked from behind me, ringing with the protectiveness of an older brother. I whirled around and placed my hands on my hips, staring at him

  defiantly.

  "Miles, I told you—I'm coming with you on this operation and you can't stop me." Miles stared at her a long time before he scowled and started towards her. "What are you doing?" I