"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
Castria descends the staircase into the dungeons, her eyes glowing green with power, staff raised in front of her, with the dark green gemstone embedded in the staff glowing the same color as her eyes, dark black hair slightly floating behind her.
Xephor groans internally at the sound of the slightly melodic voice he recognizes to be one of the elves. "How many of my kingdoms enemies do I have to see in one day?" He mutters under his breath.
"Enemies, my darling? It seems we have the same goal here. To save my dear friend, Ilian. Or do you plan to do something else with him?" She says with a wink.
"C-Castria?" Ilian stammers, as she finally steps into the light of the dungeons, his face turning crimson at the implication she had just made. "How did you get all the way down here without getting caught?"
"Ilian, you know me, I have my ways." She says with another wink. "Now come, those bastard guards won't sleep all day."
The guard are asleep? Ilian thinks to himself. Just what has this damned elf done this time?
As they start to rush up the stairs to exit the dungeons, Ilian smells a faintly aromatic scent, and Castria noticing this lets out a chuckle.
"Did you forget I'm my clan's sorceress of nature? It's a rather simple thing to knock out a few guards that aren't expecting a beauty such as myself to pose a threat to them."
Ilian shakes his head and hurries along the passageways following Castria.
As they're running along, Castria glances back at Xephor, who seems reluctant to follow along, afraid of being seen; he knew how his father treated traitors. As her eyes fall upon his own, she forgets to breathe for a moment and her eyes widen. "Aren't you.. HIS son? The demon king?"
Xephor nods, reluctantly. "Please don't tell anybody I helped the two of you. I'm just trying to prevent another war from breaking out." As he's running along, his mind is racing, remembering all the people his father had caught in the past.
Freeing a prisoner without the king's consent was a capital crime, punishable by death. Freeing an enemy of the kingdom, or a prisoner of war, was even worse. He would never see the light of day again, trapped in the deepest darkest parts of the dungeons for years.
Castria giggles at his response. "Oh, don't worry, I won't be telling anyone. Besides, you're coming with us. I have a feeling that you're different from the others of your kind, and I can tell you are clearly afraid of your father."
Xephor's face has a look of shock; he's never had one of the other races treat him kindly before, yet this elven stranger invited him into her clan; knowing who his father is? "You mean it? You aren't afraid of what could happen?"
"Oh darling, I'm the last one that would be afraid of that brute. The clan I hail from is the largest haven of the elven races within the forests of the Moonshadow Vale. He would have to be insane to travel that deep into our heartland."
Xephor's eyes bugged out. "You mean... we're headed to Moonshadow Vale? Are you sure I will be safe?" He stammered.
"Relax, as long as you are with me, no harm will come to you. As long as we get out of this castle safely."
Xephor felt a warm feeling in his heart. Is this.. what happiness feels like? I've never felt this before. How can she be kinder than my mother ever was, when she has just met me?
As soon as these words exit her mouth, she hears footsteps rapidly approaching from her right.
"Behind me!" She shouts, her eyes gleaming with a fierce determination to protect those with her. As the other two move behind her, she throws down a grouping of seeds, and the gem on her staffs glows brighter for a moment.
Suddenly, a faint sweet smell enters the room, as roots begin to grow along the passageway, tripping their pursuers.
"You all should have known from the scent downstairs that I'm no parlor trick. It was a foul mistake to incur my wrath." Castria says in a taunting tone, while pointing her staff at the center of the passageway.
The roots all shift, shoving the soldiers to the center, before binding them and creating a barrier that would take hours to get through without harming the soldiers stuck within.
"Now, quickly!" Castria says as she spins back, rushing toward the exit that was already in view.
As they exited the castle, they could hear alarm bells ringing in the towers, letting everyone know that a prisoner had escaped. Unfortunately for them, it was already too late.
Castria raised her staff, and the green crystal at the stop started to glow. "Open!" she commands, and a massive root shifts to expose the entrance of a cave, which they immediately disappear into. As soon as they enter, the root shifts back into place as if it never moved.
As soon as the root shifts back into place, Ilian turns to look at Castria. "I assume you were able to collect my things on your way in? They took my weapons from me." He says, turning to glare at Xephor.
Xephor raises his hands in surrender. "I swear, I knew nothing of the plot my family had. That's why I helped to free you. There are better ways to send a message than to kidnap and torture an innocent person."
Ilian chuckles upon hearing this. "Innocent? Well, kid, I'm far from innocent. But the blood on my hands isn't your burden to carry." As Ilian finishes saying this, he hears the sound of metal clinking and turns back to Castria, who is holding a sword hilt with no blade and a masterfully crafted bow.
"Wait, what happened to the blade? They destroyed my holy weapon?" He says fiercely. "The cowards couldn't even face me in a duel, so they drugged me, disarmed me, then destroyed my ONLY holy weapon?" his face was turning a bright red from anger.
"It took me YEARS to get that forged. Do you know how many holy ingredients are required to make a sword? And how rare they are? I may never find some of them again even if I live for a thousand more years!"
"Relax," Castria says as she holds out a lavender flower which starts to let off a strong scent. "I'm sure we can find a way to repair or replace it when we return to my clan. But come, let's make camp here before we continue on our journey. I'm assuming you haven't eaten since your capture?"
"...no," Ilian responds. "But aren't we still just barely outside the castle? Are you sure it is safe?" he says with a voice tinged with worry.
"Darling, you know me. If I say it's safe, it's safe. Now come."
And with that they laid out their bedrolls and started a small fire to cook over.
As Castria is cooking, she's also speaking with Ilian about the current affairs of the world, ensuring that the demons didn't do anything that damaged his memory.
Within minutes the food was finished, and Castria serves it to the both of them before pulling a handful of nuts out of a pouch for herself to eat.
As soon as Ilian sips on the stew she made for him, the entire world starts to fade to black. Ilian's last thought before blacking out is, Damn... they really don't trust me, eh?