Note: Sorry the posting schedule has gotten so out of whack! But enjoy what is possibly the longest chapter in the entire book so far. Yes, the title is from the Hobbit song.

"Who are 'they?'" Kai asked Cole, and Nya didn't like how suspicious he sounded. "Are you finally going to tell us how you're actually going to get us out of here?"

"The others." Cole said. "That's who they are. And I'm sorry I haven't said much about any of this, but I don't know much, really. And you can't be too cautious here. This kingdom's military–you don't know how it works. I do."

"But the others, do you know them?"

"Yes, if they're still here. But we took so long, I don't know if they will be." He sighed.

"I suppose it's best if I tell you like a story. None of you know this–I decided not to tell you yet, in case we were caught. But Jay, you remember my telling you about the rumors. Well, that's how it started, but just before I saw you, it all became a lot more than rumors for me. See, I have a friend, one of my fellow guards at our station. He's got a wife to support, and a little girl. She's . . . not well."

He looked pained, and Nya bit her lip, thinking of his mother. His mother, who she couldn't save. Who could've been saved, maybe, outside of the queen's tyrannical rule.

He shook it off in a moment, so quickly that Nya wondered if she'd have noticed if she hadn't known. "Anyway, I noticed him acting . . . suspicious for a week or so, just after a visit home. Then one night, about midnight, I wake up to join him on shift a little early, and all his things are gone. His bow and all his arrows. His clothes and packs and books. Everything. I run outside, and see him just leaving. I ask where he's going, and all he says is, I'm going, Cole. Goodbye. And I realize he means goodbye forever and where he's going, and when I say it, he tells me to swear on my life not to tell or he'll shoot me right there. So I ask him how he's going to do it, and after a while he tells me that he'll be taking his family here to stay until either one of the guides comes, or they figure out how to get out themselves, and then they'll go. Apparently guides come only a few times a year, to help anyone out who they can. He wouldn't tell me how he knew, and told me that if I told anyone it could mean the end of all our lives. He said that the few people who know are going in a rush, 'cause the Queen might find out soon and blockade the whole thing. But he said he might still be here. So if we can find him, we can go together."

"But what were you doing in town that day?" Jay asked. "You couldn't've known I'd be there."

"No, I convinced the rest of the guards I live with to let me go for the month's supplies alone, since we had one less. I was going to send a letter to my father to expect me home soon, and I was going to tell him about it, but I just couldn't get myself to do it. And then when I saw you, you were so much easier to talk to."

Jay nodded. "Well, I'm glad." He knew that Cole didn't always have the easiest time speaking to his father, but he couldn't believe his fortune at being in the right place at the right time.

"So, should we look for them?" Nya asked.

"I think I'll go alone." Cole said. "I don't want to scare them. If they are here, it shouldn't be hard to find them. I think this town is pretty abandoned–it used to be a mine and quarry town, which there were a lot of back in the day, when they were building the wall. But the one in this town ended up dangerously close to the wall, so it was mostly filled in after the construction finished, and all the miners moved away. Now they use it for military training, but only a few times a year. So it's mostly empty."

"Alright. But please, be careful." Nya cautioned. "Who knows who could be here."

"I know. I will." He smiled good-naturedly, and flexed his bicep. "I think I can handle it."

Jay rolled his eyes, but no one objected as Cole set off. And then, all they could do was wait.

They waited and waited, until the sun had begun to disappear behind the high stone wall in the distance. Finally, they heard heavy footsteps, and all of them tensed as there was a sound of scuffling, then Cole knocking on the carriage door. Nya unlatched it and held the lantern up, illuminating Cole, alone.

"You didn't find anyone?" She asked, trying her best to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

He shook his head grimly. "They must've left already. It's been a long time, after all. But I found words carved in several of the doors, all things talking about the mines. How dangerous they were, and stuff."

"And you think they escaped through the mining tunnels." Zane said immediately.

"Yeah. I was gonna say something about how it was a crazy idea I had, but yeah. I've been wondering about it for a while now. I knew this was a quarry town, and I feel like someone must've left the messages carved everywhere for a reason. To get someone's brain just thinking about the quarries, so they'd come up with the obvious solution."

"That would be an intelligent plan of action." Zane agreed.

"But didn't you say the tunnels were backfilled?" Kai asked. "How would people get through?"

Cole stepped into the carriage and shut the door. "Who knows if that's true. Maybe they just said that to keep people from trying to get out. A lot of this kingdom's safety is built on purposeful lies and rumors that become so well known, everyone believes them."

"Or maybe someone left a passage open on purpose! Maybe they left it for people to escape years later, knowing that it would help someone someday!" Jay suggested excitedly.

"That could be plausible." Said Zane. "But more likely the backfill was hastily done and has simply shifted or eroded over time."

Cole shrugged. "Those are all completely possible things, but we won't know until we investigate. And we can't do that until it's lighter out. So the best we can do is call it a night."

"Where do you suggest we go for the night?" Nya asked. "I can't imagine the town is in good shape."

"That's a good question." Cole thought for a moment. "I guess the best idea would be to do it army-training-style and rough it under the stars. It's getting towards summer, after all, and it might be cleaner than any of those old buildings. Unless you object."

Nya shook her head. "Of course not. You know best."

They set up camp quickly. Cole had his army bedroll, and the others had brought crude ones they had fashioned out of blankets and old sacks. They placed the bedrolls in the grass, in sort of spokes around a bare spot of ground.

"It's too bad we don't have any firewood." Cole said, going over to the bare place. "This would've made a good place for a fire."

"We don't need firewood." Kai pointed out. "We could burn the carriage."

"The carriage?" Jay asked, looking horrified at the thought of burning his work.

"Think about it. We can't get it through the quarry, probably. And we can't leave it here, whole, or people will know we were here. But we can take some of the upper boards and burn them, and if we're wrong and we need it the carriage will still work. Then, if our theory is right, we can take one of the wheels tomorrow and break it, and make it look like it was a horrible accident."

"That is actually a smart idea." Zane agreed.

"Why do you sound so surprised?" Kai turned on his friend. "Come on!"

"While it is a good idea, it's also a risk." Cole pointed out. "But if you're really confident that we're right about the quarries, I guess it makes sense."

"Thank you." Kai nodded, looking to Nya. "What do you think?"

She shrugged. "I guess. But that thing took a long time to build, so be careful."

With that, it seemed to be decided. Jay still looked sad as Kai and Cole began to pry boards from the carriage walls, careful not to remove too many in order to keep the carriage standing. At least he looked more cheerful when the fire was lit and they ate a quick dinner before settling down for the night. By then it was pitch dark but for the embers of the fire, and soon Nya could hear them all sleep-breathing around her.

"Hey."

If she hadn't been laying on her back, about to drift off, she would've jumped. "What?"

"Shh, it's only me." Jay moved to sit on the ground beside her.

"I'm sorry they broke your carriage." Was the first thing she thought to say. "I don't know why they always listen to me, of all people."

"It's fine. I knew we wouldn't have it for long.".

"Do you really think we'll get out tomorrow?" She asked, pulling her hand out from inside her sleeping bag and holding it out to him.

He took it without pause. "I don't know. I guess."

"I hope so."

He yawned. "Me too."

"You should get to bed." Nya told him. "Big day tomorrow, either way."

"I know." Jay leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Sleep well."

"Uh-huh." That was all she could manage before he went back to his own bed. He had kissed her again, and she hadn't even done anything! She didn't like to think of it, but the gesture made part of her sad. She knew he hadn't meant it that way, but it was such a parentlike thing that it made her think of her own mother and father. But no, she couldn't think of them now. She couldn't lapse into sadness, or whatever it would turn into. Not now that she had sacrificed so much for him already.

She sighed. Tomorrow she would know whether it had been the right choice.

Then, somewhere beside her, someone coughed. Nya froze. Kai was on her left, of course. He wouldn't put more than a few feet between them. Oh, she hoped he wasn't awake. She wasn't sure if she was ready for him to know about . . . whatever this thing could be described as.

The next morning they rose early, and Nya watched her brother carefully as they all packed up camp. But he didn't show any signs of having heard what happened the night before. That was good, at least, unless he planned to spring it on her sometime when she wasn't expecting it. Or worse, spring it on Jay–

They drove the carriage to the edge of the old quarry, and tied the donkeys. Cole and Zane lit the lantern, took a small amount of food and water just to be safe, and went ahead to investigate, as they had decided to do.

Now, Nya thought, we're alone. If Kai wants to talk to us about anything, he'll have to do it now.

But Kai didn't say anything. He and Jay unloaded parcels from the carriage, while Nya paced around it in circles. Finally, the other two returned, looking tired and dirty but smiling.

"Were you right?" Nya asked, running up to them.

Cole nodded. "I think so. We didn't go too far, to be sure we got back soon. It took us a while to find the right way, even. But I think it goes through."

"Does that mean we can go?" Jay asked, coming to stand beside Nya.

"I guess it's now or never." Cole confirmed.

Kai stood on Nya's other side. "Good. Then let's do this thing."

They sorted all their things into what they could bring along, and what they couldn't. Cole took the most, with his army pack, and Kai and Zane filled their knapsacks. Jay and Nya were left to fill baskets they had taken from Nya's house in case they needed them on the journey.

When they had taken everything they could, they drove the carriage a little ways away, let the donkeys free, and did their best to make it look as though the carriage had crashed and been broken. Then they hurried back to the quarry.

Quickly, they hurried through the open part of the quarry. Then, they began to descend into the underground section, where coal and harder stone had been mined from deeper in the earth. They fell into a single file line, with Zane at the head, holding the lantern. They talked little, trying not to think how dangerous this place could be.

After a while, they came to a place where the tunnel narrowed. This was where Zane and Cole had stopped before. Zane turned to face them all.

"There's not much use going back now. But we're pretty sure this is the way. In fact, I think we might be getting close to the wall."

Now the going was harder, and the tunnels became narrower and the ceiling closer. It seemed as if it had been many, many hours since they'd seen the sun. Nya felt herself growing tired as they squeezed through narrow places and stumbled over rocks in the path. But none of the others seemed drained. It made sense–they were all used to much more manual labor than she was, although she tried to keep up her strength. That strength had proved helpful for arm wrestling her brother, but what she wished for now was his endurance.

It only got worse as they continued, with the ceiling of the tunnel becoming even closer. They had to bend down to fit at all, and eventually they resorted to crawling along the ground. This was even more difficult, especially with the packs and baskets.

"You alright?" Jay asked Nya.

"Yeah." She answered, trying to save breath.

"We should be nearly there." Cole said. "We're going under the wall right now. It's yards thick, and goes far into the ground." He took the lantern from Zane and squeezed past him, holding the light as far as he could in front of him.

"There! I think it goes up ahead. Be ready to climb."

Cole was right. The ground was sloping up, curving back and forth to allow a slower grade. Then finally, they all saw it.

"That's light, right?" Zane asked from behind Cole.

"Let's see." Cole blew out the lantern. And sure enough, the tunnel was illuminated just enough for them to see.

They went quickly now, getting to their feet and going fast, then finally pulling themselves out of the tunnel altogether, onto the soft floor of a forest.

Jay and Kai both moved to help Nya up, but she stood on her own, checking her basket to make sure she hadn't lost anything. They all turned to look behind them at this side of the wall.

"We're really here." Nya breathed.

"Well, it's off to the emperors next, right?" Jay asked them all.

Kai nodded. "If you all aren't too chicken.".

"But . . . how do we get there?" Zane asked.

"You need to get to the palace?" A voice asked from behind them, and they all whipped around to see a figure emerging from the shadows of the trees.

"Yes." Cole answered cautiously.

"Good. Then come with me."

Note 2.0: Cole's friend isn't any character in particular (at the moment), just a plot device lol. If you have an idea of who it could be, please say so but it won't be the same as my idea since I don't have one! Also minor mistake, I said there were donkeys pulling their carriage in this chapter and a couple chapters ago, but in the one before this I accidentally said horses. Probably none of you noticed till now, but I still apologize. Didn't exactly proofread the last chapter well. Thanks for reading!