There is no time. I cannot linger in farewells; Kai needs me more than Filip does.

The brisk chill of Autumn's breath caresses my skin, tousling my hair into an unruly tangle as I descend the cliff. I find my footing in the familiar indentations I once made, when my only responsibility was Filip. My only goal was to live in a house with even a fraction of the grandeur in the town. These movements, once part of my routine, now but a distant memory, and yet my arms continue to move in synchronisation with my legs, as if the movements are ingrained into my muscles. A core part of me beyond mere memory. The cave, my halfway point, serves as a welcome refuge, hidden by clay teeth and vines. The solitary boat rests at the dock, its modest size a stark contrast to the usual grand vessels that navigate these waters. I draw in a steadying breath, the challenge ahead no less daunting than before.

Down the dead tree and onto the bitty sand. But it's here, just footsteps away from boarding the boat, that I hesitate. Not because I have changed my mind. Its me that will sail into the unknown with the other two children, and Kai will remain here. With Filip. But that's the root of the guilt within me. I didn't say goodbye. To him, to Mallory. Both awaiting a morning with me in it. I don't even feel the grit in my boots as my toes curl into the worn leather.

There's no time.

There are no crates lining the beach. No spaces for me to hide behind. To do this, I must be fast. Without any more hesitation. Run in. Get Kai out. Settle into the uncertain future ahead.

Nothing stirs as I jog up the dock and hop onto the grimy deck - green moss growing between each slat of wood. Like a hunter in a forest rich with prey, I keep each footstep as light as possible. Still, no movement or sound. A ladder behind the bow of the ship, masked by a raised platform. The best treasures are always stored below deck.

I hop down into the hull, but where dividing walls should be partioning the interior, there is nothing but beams. Huge, rotting beams that creak with every soft sway of the water beneath. Thick chains, the links the size of my wrist, drape over them. Shackles for the children.

A dull beams from a lantern, hung on a nail on one of the posts. I take it, stretching my arm out to spread the light through the abyss. I step cautiously through, aware that every step taken is one further from the ladder. From the only exit. A hunched figure in the corner almost scares me enough to drop the fragile light. There are no children here, only Kai, bound and hung by his wrists.

"Kai." I can't help the breath of relief that falls from my lips, but he doesn't stir as I approach.

Bare of clothes, his ravished body glistens with fresh blood, a macabre tapestry of a thousand shallow cuts crisscrossing scratches. New wounds interwoven with the history of old. From the nape of his neck down to the dip of his back, and from the curve of his groin to the arches of his ankles, there is not an inch of his flesh that is not painted with these marks - a canvas full of torture. A veil of hair shields his eyes from view, but beneath that, a thin tendril of bloodied saliva hangs from his gaping mouth.

As my fingertips brush against his shoulders, I can feel the residual warmth of his body gradually intensifying with every inch closer to his neck. There, the whisper of a pulse. A fragile link to life.

A fist collides with the side of my head, a rip of pain tearing through my head as I hit the ground. A loud ringing fills my ears; a disorienting halo of white noise that envelops me. Another blow blurs the dim light into a hazy fog as I struggle to regain my feet, and no number of blinks can clear it. My thoughts scatter, the purpose of being here lost as a heavy boot presses into my skull, pining me down.

"Intruder," a man's growl, "or product?" I try to bat his foot away, but he presses it harder until the force squeezes an answer from my lips.

"P-Product." He grabs a handful of my hair, pure fire burning my scalp, and drags me to another beam. Rips off my cloak. My clothes. I cry out at the brutal cold chains, freezing against my wrists. But the man holds no sympathy, punching me hard across the face, swelling my cheek to block half of my vision. Locks click, and I am trapped.

The man has no eyes. No skin. Only an iron, glinting mask beneath a thick black hood. The belt around his hips showcases an array of weapons, some of which I couldn't guess the use. He writes something on a piece of parchment. "Only two. Bad quality. Littered in scars. She's not going to be happy..." He continues to mutter to himself up the stairs, the subtle beat of red lips beneath the metal.

When he is gone, I chance a whisper. "Kai." But as my heart hammers with hope, I succumb to the realisation - I failed.

Tears well in my eyes, and I can feel the sting of salt where the droplets begin their spill. A wave of despair crashes over me, a wave eroding a rock to sediment. My chest heaves with loud, choked sobs that shake my entire body. A visceral sensation, a deep ache in my heart that blurs the edges of my vision and steals the strength from my body. Please Kai, wake and tell me what to do. Wake and shout at me. Please wake. But the pit of silence we dwell in doesn't stir him. I hang my head too.

"Red." Kai weeps, voice a mousey squeak. But he cries, choking the words he wished to say from his throat. Every sob clenches the muscles in his stomach, painful convulsions I would kill to ease him from. It's my fault.

"I wanted to free you."

Somehow, he manages a smile. A grimace as he rolls his neck up to see me better. Even with my body exposed, and his to mine, I feel less vulnerable with him awake. "I was trying to save you, Princess." He hangs his head again, the energy required to hold it up too much for his weakened state to bear. Then his voice changes, a deep tone shivering with fear. "Feath... Red, he and that farmer boy. He took the other children. We need to-"

"What?"

But Kai's lips seal. Above, a scuttle of feet flurry over the deck. A clash of iron. A groan. A thud. Footsteps tap down the rungs on the ladder, two, three, four pairs of feet. I hang my head, stiffened muscles gripped in fear as a bright light shines orange shimmers beneath my eyelids. A collective gasp. I peel my eyes open and shiver up to meet the force descended below.

"Mallory?" Her hair, dishevelled and clumped with sweat, sticks over her mouth. She spits it out, holding the lantern aloft, and in the other hand, she holds a kitchen knife. Behind her, maids continue to descend the ladder, Genie the last to hop down wobbling on her singular foot.

"I couldn't let them take you. I swore to myself last night. There's not many of us ready to fight, but no matter what we'd take you from this boat. I don't care if there is a war. We can't continue this trade any longer. We can't lose you, or any more children."

She hurries over to me, no more tears swimming in the grey. No more smiles. With skilled fingers, she releases the chains from the beam, and I crumple at her feet. A pounding ache rivets through my head with each surge of blood, but I lay obedient as she unlocks the cuffs, releasing my wrists from their painful grip. She helps me into my clothes while the other maids work on Kai's ties.

But he cries out in tormented pain, each scrape of the cuts on his body erecting cries of pure agony from deep within his chest. Too weak to hold them in anymore. I cry for him. For the all the children once taken into this boat. For Filip, now left alone in his infirmary bed, with no one by his side to care for him. They dress Kai in loose trousers and Genie donates her sheer cloak to him, unable to put on his shirt from the pain.

"Where's the other two children? Rhory and Marie?" Mallory strokes my hair as I lean into her knees, desperate for the cloud before my eyes to disperse so that I can see clearly. Think.

"Feath. " Kai gasps between pained breathes, fighting to stand despite his obvious weakness. "Red. He said Calen's going to try to kill the King. The tunnels, Red."

"We passed Feath on the way to sneak out weapons. And the children. They carried a torch."

Then it all clicks, and the very ground beneath our feet is no longer safe.

They call my name, but I charge at the ladder and spring up onto the deck, weakness no longer an obstacle for the pounding fear in my heart. But is there time?

I belt over the sand, footsteps too fast to sink into it's slowing grip. Every muscle in my body burns and snaps with strenuous effort as I scale the wall. A rat upon the cliff, I scurry. To save Filip. To take the King. To warn the very stones of the disaster impending.

The black powder trails sunk into the foundations of the cliff.

A deafening bang reverberates through the face of the cliff, tearing apart layers of rock and stone. The explosion echoes against the rugged silhouette, blasting every pebble woven within it's foundations. The force propels me off the precipice, hurtling past the small boat now lurching amidst the turbulent waves. I am a comet streaking across a velvet sky, and the rocks that crash into the sea are my fallen stars.

A drop, a visceral plunge, clamps my eyes shut as my body rips through the air. A puppet cut of its strings. The whoosh of constellational rocks and debris zip to silence as I sink beneath the churn of the sea, suffocating in the web of blue abyss.