Kinderling 8:

I stood staring at Garis, wondering what he would do.  I didn't know where this kinderling placed his loyalty.  I remembered seeing him with Uncle Zon in the forest, but that was didn't mean much about his current loyalties considering that he was guarding Uncle Zon and my father.  Apparently he noticed my hesitation.

"Worry not, my oath was to protect the village.  Not to blindly follow Militia command, or the council.  General Bout is a criminal who is trying to set himself up to be King.  The Kinderlings have never had a King, and we don't need one now."

"So you'll let Capitan Zon and my father go?"  I asked.

"Yes, although I don't know where you will go, or how you'll escape the mines.  Genetal Bout has set guards and Beso will be back soon.  Unfortunately, It looks like we are out of options.  Unless we kill him, this one will report that I talked to you rather than just seizing you and putting you in a cell.  Either Beso, or General Bout will see that as treason."  he aimed a kick at the other guard who wasn't unconscious, just unable to move.  I had carefully stuck the pin in the back of his neck.  It wouldn't kill him, it wouldn't even make it impossible for him to move.  It just made it so that he couldn't feel anything below his neck.  The fact that he wasn't getting up and screaming the alarm was simply because he didn't know that he could.  Not something we could rely upon for long.

"That's right, you are caught dead to rights!  Undo whatever you did to me witch, and perhaps I'll stop at just beating you before I throw you in a cage!"  The other guard sneered from his spot on the floor.
Garis was right, I had no idea how we would get out of the mines, or how we would deal with our prisoner.  That's when the prisoner started yelling.

"Help!  Help!  She is here!  Beso she is here!"  With a sickening crack, Garis struck the prisoner on the temple, and he was quiet.  Garis dragged the unconscious - or dead, I didn't know - soldier into one of the cells and started tossing weapons, keys, and any other equipment that he might use to escape.  That is, if he ever woke up.

As soon as I saw the keys fly out, I snatched them up and started looking in the cages for my father and Uncle Zon.  I finally found them in the last cage, deepest in the cavern.  I was a little surprised to find them together, but since they were both sentenced to death but General Bout, perhaps the General wanted them together.

"Father!  Uncle Zon!  I'm here to rescue you."  I smiled.  Both Kinderlings looked surprised to see me.

"Tandy!"  father said "You're here!"

"Tadius, did you really think Tandy wouldn't find us?"  Uncle Zon chuckled, "What took you so long girl?  I was beginning to get hungry."

Uncle Zon's joviality belied the two Kinderling's condition.  They were both covered in bruises and bloodied from what looked like multiple beatings.

"What happened to you?"

"It seems that Bout was unable to find the Seal of Office."  Uncle Zon explained.  "He's been claiming that it was the council who declared martial law, and that everything he's done was at their request.  I'm guessing he was relying on the council being unable to dispute that claim, but Tadius here survived, and has cleverly hidden the Seal.  Without the Seal, Bout will find it hard to forge the proclamation.  Beso has been trying to get the location of the Seal out of us since we were arrested.  Luckily for us, he doesn't have the stomach for it."

"Speak for yourself Zon.  If I knew where the Seal was, I would surely have told him."  My father looked bedraggled and far more depressed than I'd ever seen him.  "They are right, I'm a weakling and a failure.  Better someone stronger be in control."

"Tadius.  Cut that out.  You're one of the finest councilmen we Kinderlings have ever had.  In spite of what idiots like Beso think, not being able to withstand torture doesn't mean anything."

"I gave you up.  They wouldn't have even arrested you if I hadn't given you up."  It tore my heart in two to see my father doubt himself so much.

"Yes, and it gave them a much harder target.  I don't blame you one bit Tadius.  I've taken steps to ensure that the Seal is safe.  Now, lets look towards getting out of here."  Uncle Zon said.  "Corporal Garis, what's our status?"

I hadn't even heard Gaius walk up behind me.  I'm a fugitive now, I'll have to pay better attention!

"Well Captian, I think we're in trouble.  Beso came roaring in here yelling that Tandy was here, which she obviously wasn't, so he took everyone but me and Agron off to search for her.  Then next thing I know, there's Tandy and Agron is down.  I stripped him of anything dangerous and put him in a cell.  Oh, here.  I'm guessing this is yours."  Garis handed me my needle.  I wiped it off and re-stowed it with the others.  "Now we're down here, but we've got nearly a platoon between us and out of here."
Uncle Zon turned to me "Well Tandy, how did you get in?"

"I followed Beso down here, and when I heard him tell his men to come find me, I hid in a hole down a side passage, using my no-see-me to keep the guards from looking in the hole."

My father started to say "Tandy it's dangerous..." But Uncle Zon spoke over him.

"Excellent work!  And you've reminded me of something.  It's been a long time since I've been down here, but when I was a boy my father worked down here.  Let me get my bearings."

We followed Uncle Zon around the cavern until we got to a pile of rocks off to one side.
"You see, this is a natural cavern that was discovered when the original mine was being worked.  Not many people know it, but it originally continued down this way."  Uncle Zon started moving some of the big stones out of the way, revealing a rather small opening.  "Hmm... I remember it as being much bigger."

The hole was dark and not very inviting, although being woodland creatures who live in and amongst trees, what hole would be inviting to a Kinderling?  Inviting or not, the hole was big enough for even my father to squeeze through.  Uncle Zon and Garis, while they are bigger than my father had that trimness that soldiers get from constant training, as opposed to the plump-ness of my father.  So they would have no problem.

"This is all well and good Zon, but what would be the point to getting us lost in a cave under a mine?  We'll surely be lost, and there is no guarantee that there is a way out."  My father worried.
"Tadius my friend.  These are the caves I played in as a child.  There is a way through.  I promise you."  Uncle Zon reassured my father.

Don't judge my father too harshly.  He's never been the adventurous type.  He loves home, and the village.  And he is much more comfortable looking at numbers and reports than going out and exploring the wide world. My father and I are quite the exact opposites, and for a long time growing up, to my shame I was a little embarrassed by him.  Then we had one really harsh winter, and I kept hearing "Thank the trees for Tadius.  We all would have died without him."  Turns out, my father is an organizational genius, and had not only made sure that we would have enough food and water, but that Kinderlings were inspired to clear walkways, and even dig tunnels where the snow was too high.  He also organized the militia to ward off the Gorfs, who decidedly didn't plan for such a harsh winter.  It made me realize that father might not be like me, but that didn't make him useless.
"Smoke, is there anything dangerous down there?"  I asked.

*"careful, I smell enemies"*

"Uncle Zon, Smoke says she smells enemies down there."  I warned.

"Yes, we will probably come across some Gorf along the way.  At least there were a few when I was a child, but don't worry, we'll go quietly and mostly avoid them.  The Gorf down here in the caves will be Deep Gorf, they aren't aggressive like the Forest Gorf unless you rile them up."  Uncle Zon replied.  "I'll go first."

With that, Uncle Zon practically dove down the hole head-first, and soon his feet disappeared into the darkness.

"It's dark down here.  Wish we had candles."  We heard Uncle Zon say from down the hole.

I then noticed my father detaching the buttons from his waist coat.  I didn't understand at first, then with a little rub and a blow, each one lit up in turn.  Not a bright light or anything, about the level of a candle, but it was much better than no light at all.

"Zon, here you go."  father said as he tossed a lit up button down the hole.  Then, to my surprise, with a little smile my father said "I'm next."

It was a little comical watching father try to fit himself down a hole not quite bigger around than himself.  He had given me and Garis each a button, not even keeping one for himself. 
Once father was down, Garis said "You're next Tandy."

So I went.  I, of course being much smaller than either Uncle Zon or Father, had no problem shimmying down the hole.  Smoke quickly followed.  Once I was down, the last button light came falling through the hole.

"Capitan Zon, get the Elder to safety.  I'm going to put the rocks back and cover you escape as well as I can by providing a decoy."  Came Garis' voice from outside the hole, and I saw the rocks moved back in place.

"Damn that Corporal." Uncle Zon said, "I should have realized he would do something like that and made him go first."

"Is he abandoning us Zon?"  My father asked.

"No Tadius, the young fool is probably going to get himself killed covering our escape.  Nothing for it now, going back is only likelly to get us all caught.  Garis can take care of himself."

*"I smell air"*

Kinderling 7:

I sat behind a pile of rock a short way down the side tunnel where I wouldn't be seen from the main tunnel, and I was pretty sure nobody would come down this way and find me.
 
"Search everywhere!"  I heard Beso's angry yell coming from the corridor. 

<i>Oh no, he might send someone down this way to find me.</i>  I thought, and started looking around me for someplace to hide.  There wasn't anywhere to hide that I could see, and I didn't like the idea of going further down this passage.  It might be dangerous or I might get lost. 

In my panic, I started looking around for a weapon.  Yea... as if tiny little me was going to fight my way through a bunch of soldiers and free my father who...  Probably wouldn't do any better against soldiers than I would.  My eyes landed on my forest pack.  Was there anything in there?  It wasn't like I ever fought the Gorfs, I relied upon my speed and ability to hide when dealing with the Gorfs.  No weapons there.

Then I remembered my hammock with it's no-see-me totem.  Beso and the part of the militia that followed him would know about that trick, but would they consider that I might use it here in the cave?  I almost dismissed the idea because I only ever used the no-see-me totem in the forest, but it should work just as well here.  I quickly looked around for a place to hang my hammock.  Nothing.  But I did see a low, dark gap near the floor.  I heard footsteps coming, so I was running out of time.

"Smoke, is there anything in there?"  I whispered, indicating the gap.

*"Nothing to fear, is nice dark place."*  Came the amused reply.

I pulled my hammock from my pack and, careful to scoop up all my things and to not leave any tail-tell signs in the dust on the floor, dove into the opening.  I found myself covered in spiderwebs and dust, and had to force myself not to sneeze.  As quietly as I could, I found the no-see-me totem laced to the bottom of the hammock and pushed it in front of me, towards the opening of my hiding spot.

*"Shhh... a soul approaches."*

I could see flickering light, like from a torch, coming from the passageway outside my hiding spot and forced my breath to become shallow so that it wouldn't make any noise.  I was so scared that the no-see-me wouldn't work, and I would be caught.

When I created the first working prototype of the no-see-me totem, I was a little over confident in my new creation and tried to use it as a cloak of invisibility by hanging it on the front of my cloak.  Needless to say, it isn't quite that powerful, so while I was maybe slightly less noticeable, I sure wasn't anything close to invisible.  As soon as I moved, my parents would notice me, and once they knew I was there they didn't have any problem keeping track.  I almost tossed the prototype and moved on.  It wasn't till I tried to figure out how to make it better that I began to understand it's limitations.  Used within those limitations, mostly not moving and keeping quiet, it turned out to be one of my best designs.

The torchlight passed by my hiding place and moved on down the passage without even pausing.  Either the no-see-me totem was doing it's job, or the soldier wasn't.  Either way, I was safe for the moment.  The light from the soldier's torch soon died away as the soldiers kept searching down the corridor
. 
"Can you see if there is anyone guarding my Father Smoke?"  I whispered.

*"I will look."*  With that, she was gone.  I hadn't looked, but ever since she started talking in my mind, I've been sure that Smoke was a girl kitty. 

Smoke soon returned.  *"There are souls"*

<i>There are souls?  What does that mean?</i>  I asked myself.  I guessed that it meant there were guards.  Nothing for it but to get moving.

I eased my way out of my hiding place, trying to watch both ways at once, and carefully returned to the main passage.  I could hear the sound of feet up the passageway the opposite direction from the cells, but they sounded like they were moving away from us.  I moved down the passage toward the cells and heard raised voices.

"I'm tired of that brat Beso ordering us around.  How dare General Bout put him in command, he isn't an officer.  He isn't even a member of the militia.  And now Bout has jailed the only surviving Elder?  He's gone power mad!" 

"You better shut up with that treason, or I'll have to take note of it and report you.  You were from that traitor Zon's platoon so you don't understand what's going on here Garis.  General Bout does not tolerate traitors!"  came the reply.

I carefully took a peek, holding the no-see-me up in front of me hoping that it would help.  There were two militia soldiers talking.  I vaguely recognized one of them, I was sure I had seen him with Uncle Zon when they found me.  He was facing my direction, while the other soldier was facing away.

I thought I caught a flash of recognition in the soldier, Garis's eye, but he did not raise the alarm.  Or maybe I was imagining it.  I don't know.  I've never been what you would call "good with reading people", but time was running out.  Beso would be back with the other soldiers soon so I had to act now.

One of the things my mother had put in my first aid kit, along with the enchanted needle for stitches, was a little box of pins.  I was warned that they were not to be used except in cases of extreme emergency.  The pins were used to stop pain.  Say, if someone broke their leg, you could stick a pin above the wound, and it would dull the pain.  Mama warned me that they were only to be used on limbs.  You know, arms and legs.  And never on the body or on the head or neck area.  I had once seen Mama put one in the middle of a farmer's back, but that was a special case.  Farmer Delus had broken his back, and was in so much pain.  There was nothing else that could be done for him.  The pin just eased his passing.

I was sure Mama was going to be mad, but I didn't see any other choice.  So I pulled out one of the pins, I only had three, and creeped up behind the soldier's back.  Garis kept talking to him as if nothing was going on.  Surely, Garis saw me, but made no mention or warning to his compatriot that I was there.

The pin went in a lot easier than I expected.  One second the soldier was talking to Garis, the next he was lying on the floor confused.  Then he saw me and took a breath to start yelling, but Garis pulled out a sap and whap!  The soldier dropped.

"Young Tandy, it is dangerous for you to be here." he made a show of looking down the passageway.  "Beso and the others will back shortly."

Garis was visibly worried.

Kinderling 6

I instantly had two ideas warring inside my head.

The odds-on favorite, of course, was "Did my kitten really just talk to me?  Am I going bonkers?"

Just slightly behind that was, "If Beso thinks I'm with Father, he'll lead me right to them!"

Breathe.  In.  Out.  Relax.

The resolution for the first thought was simple once I stopped for a moment.  I was right!  The little lavender kitten was magical!  And we were bonding as Kinderling and Familiar!  I had dreamt of this day ever since I was four!  Mama always said "Don't let your hopes destroy what is possible", by which she meant that it would either happen or it wouldn't so don't get my hopes up.  Mama is so weird.  Father, as always, was more supportive and told me stories about Kinderlings that he had known who were bonded to a familiar.  Those stories were the meat and potatoes of my dreams.  Every time I tried something hard, or a device I tried to craft didn't work like I wanted or sadly fell apart into black dust, I would remember those stories and push myself even harder so that one day I would be deserving of a bond.

*"it doesn't work like that"*

The thought from the kitten drew me up short.  "It doesn't?" I asked.

*"no"*

Not only no.  I didn't just "hear" the word in my head.  Along with that "No" was a world of meaning.  No, it doesn't work like that.  No, she couldn't explain why.  No, she couldn't explain how it really works.  No, and quit asking dumb questions.

With no answers forthcoming, It was time to move on.  How was I going to make Beso think I was with my Father, when I didn't even know where my Father was?  I couldn't just walk up and tell him.  Beso isn't exactly a mental giant, but I'm pretty sure he'd realize I was lying to him if I told him to his face that I was somewhere else.

Hearing Beso's office door start to open, I ducked further down behind the rocks I was using for cover.  Beso emerged, looking all smug and happy with himself and strolled away.  I didn't know where he was going, but a plan started to form in my head.  I was sure he would be back eventually.

By the time Beso returned an hour later, I had everything in place.  Pinned to Beso's office door was an anonymous tip warning that "Tandy" (that's me) had been asking around about where "The Elder Tadius" was being held, and was later seen heading towards the mines.  That last was a little bit of a gamble, but Mama said they were being held somewhere down in the mine complex, and that would have been an awfully imprecise thing to say if she didn't at least know that they were down there somewhere.  Mama is never imprecise.

I kept the note simple and to the point.  No sense in trying to get all fancy with it.

Upon reading the note, Beso yelled "Ha! I got her!" and ran off yelling for guards.  Lucky for me he was making enough of a spectical that it was easy to follow him at a distance without being spotted.  On the flip side, his shenanegains started attracting a number of guards from the militia, who appeared to be taking orders from him.  Perhaps the plan was working too well.

I followed Beso and his platoon of guardsmen towards the oldest sections of the mines.  Nobody usually goes to there because it's more than a little dangerous.  In the early days, the Kinderlings working in the mines didn't know a whole lot about what they were doing.  So such nice things as ceiling bracing and supports aren't as common a sight as one might hope for.  When they reached the entrance to the old section, the opening that I had always seen boarded up was open, and Beso passed through, followed by his soldiers.  I couldn't believe it, they really were going into the old section.

I was relieved to see that Beso didn't think of leaving guards at the opening, but I waited, in case it was a ruse and he had left guards further in.

*"i will scout"*

The kitten shot forward, keeping to the shadows wherever she found them.  I didn't think Beso, or anyone, had any clue about the kitten, and I resolved to keep that information as quiet as possible.  Having a tiny little spy of my very own would be incredibly helpful.

*"the way is clear"*

I hadn't even see or heard the kitten return.  She was like smoke.

*"i like that name"*

I was concentrating so hard on what was ahead, I hadn't been listening to even my own thoughts, so it took me a moment to understand.  "Smoke?"

*"yes"*

We moved forward and through the opening, staying as quiet and as far into the shadows as we could.  It was easy to see which way Beso and the soldiers went, so I followed.  The way was lit by lanterns hanging at irregular intervals from hooks bolted to the walls.  I kept to the shadows between the lanterns as much as I could.

I couldn't help but notice that there were far more supports than I expected to find.  I had never been down in this section of the mines.  As far as I knew, nobody had.  The old sections of the mines had always been described as being death traps, with little or no ceiling support.  These were as close together, and as numerous as the supports in the public parts of the mine where I had just come from.

I stopped at one of the supports to get a closer look.  The construction looked recent, but not too recent.  There was dust and a few cobwebs clinging to the wood.  No point in loitering, I continued on.

After a short while, I started to hear voices from up ahead.  *"souls ahead"*  came a mental whisper from Smoke.  We kept to the shadows as much as we could and carefully made our way forward.  Ahead I saw the passage open into a natural cavern.  The cavern wasn't huge, but it was big enough for a row of jail cells along one wall, and still leave room for Beso and his men who looked to be searching around.  Probably for me.

"If she's here, I want her found!" Screeched Beso, "I have credible information that she will be leading a group of collaborators in an attack to rescue her Father and former Captain Zon!  If she isn't captured, I'll have the lot of you flogged!"

I managed to catch an angry look on one of the soldiers faces when Beso threatened flogging.  I didn't know what Beso thought he was doing, but his constant badgering of his men sure seemed to be distracting them more than spurring them on to work harder.

Smoke and I retreated back down the passage until we found a side passage.  The side passage looked a lot more like I was expecting this section of the mines to look like with rubble from the ceiling littering the floor, and thick dust everywhere.  I was a little scared but I considered that none of the rubble on the floor looked like it had fallen recently.  So I told myself that the ceiling had probably settled and surely it wouldn't fall on me.  I was careful not to leave a trail as I moved around a curve to wait.

My plan had failed.  Sure, I found my Father and Uncle Zon, but at the same time, I caused them to be surrounded by soldiers, making my job of springing them much much more difficult.