Having been given her urgent task, Brinn rushed from the sky bridge to reach the closest bell in its tower. Although she saw Devrim and Junayd staring in horror at the destruction made by the dragons behind her, the prince and princess were nowhere to be found.

'Those kids!' the elf thought bitterly. 'I will have to find that sneaky prince and princess as soon as we sound the alarm.' Using her wind magic, she leapt from one tower to the next at a frightening speed.

There were dragons clearly visible in the air, and she could smell the stench of gnomes. Hiding her magic from humans was the least of Brinn's problems.

The guard looked at her in disbelief as Brinn sailed into the tower from an adjacent one. "Don't just gawk, you fool! Sound the alarm. We need to evacuate!"

They turned and watched in horror as a dragon rammed into the tower from which the elf had just come. The large cylinder crumpled under the sheer force.

Snapped from his shock, the soldier nodded. He immediately pulled the massive cord to initiate the swinging bell. As the first tone rang clear, Brinn considered her first task complete. "Now onto find those crazy royals," she mumbled.

"What?" the soldier asked, confused.

"Keep going for as long as you can and then get out!" Brinn called to him. She jumped and lowered herself to the top of the main part of the palace, using her magic to cushion her fall. She wondered which of the royal children to look for first. Alaron was assigned to her by the Empress to take care of, whereas Mairwen was well trained (the elf quietly patted herself on the back), so the prince would be first.

It was easy enough for Brinn to guess where Alaron would go. If he truly wanted to be Emperor as he claimed, he would run straight into the arms of those who would crown him.

The ring on Brinn's hand lit up. The elf had almost forgotten the warning system she had set up. She cursed. The gnomes were invading the secret tunnels. The small men were partly made of stone, so the crashing rocks from a crumbling castle would not bother them. Now was the perfect time to infiltrate those hidden places.

"But Alaron doesn't know that they are there," Brinn mused as she rolled along the roof away from a dragon's reaching claw. "He would head toward the more obvious place."

The elf found a staircase and descended the stairs to ground level. She dodged falling debris as she made her way toward the main entrance. Brinn ran at a near impossible pace through room after room. Sure enough, Alaron was in the great hall racing toward the large double doors.

Just as the prince was about to taste the fresh air, he was tackled to the side by an unseen force. He snapped his head angrily and spied Brinn. "Leave me alone! It is in your best interest to let me go," Alaron warned her. He scrambled to his feet to run off again.

Brinn not so gently shoved him down a second time. "The Empress put me in charge of you. I am not going to let you go just like that."

"I will fight you!" he threatened.

"You will lose," she countered.

The ground shook as a dragon landed near them and breathed fire through the door in their direction. Brinn leapt on top of the boy and used her wind magic to redirect the flames. The end result was some singed hair but no other injuries.

Brinn hauled Alaron up by the collar. "At least come with me to find your sister and make sure she is safe. If I am chasing you, the princess may get into trouble."

Alaron stiffened. He told Mairwen that he would protect her. That was the only thing more important to the prince than his own freedom. "Fine," he agreed. "Let us find Mairwen. But how?"

Brinn rolled her eyes. "She is probably with that boy scientist…" When the elf listened closely, she could hear tiny pops going off toward Renat's experiment building. "This way!"

They rushed through empty corridors. "Did you say scientist? What scientist?"

"Wow, you really are self-absorbed. Did Princess Mairwen really tell you nothing about Renat?" Brinn arched her brow as she looked over her shoulder.

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"She asked me about my time away and took care of me. Mairwen did not volunteer much information about herself. I just figured not much happened." Alaron realized now that he was missing a lot of information. He should have asked more questions, and now he was in the dark about something that sounded important. "I am a terrible brother, aren't I?" he mumbled to himself, forgetting that Brinn could hear even the quietest sound.

"Yes, you are a terrible brother to both of your sisters, though neither of them would admit it," the elf answered easily. There was no reason to sugarcoat it when the reason dragons were attacking was so that Alaron could take the throne.

The door of their exit was left wide open and quickly approaching when a catastrophic blast filled the air. "Come on!" Brinn yelled, giving both herself and Alaron a magical burst of wind speed.

As they filed into the courtyard, a raging fire burned in the small shed that formerly held all of Renat's experiments. The building itself was cracked in pieces, having been blown apart from the inside.

More urgent, though, was the state of the princess. She was trying to dig through the flames as she screamed Renat's name. Mairwen seemed oblivious of the dragon lumbering toward her, ready to put her out of her misery.

"Get your sister," Brinn screamed to Alaron. He nodded. They split paths, the boy heading for the princess and the elf going for the dragon. Brinn was beginning to run out of her magical energy. She had been using her powers almost non-stop since the beginning of the attack both for protection and to speed her movement. Her supply was getting low.

The elf conjured up as much wind as she could and made a small whirlwind in front of her. She forced the wind into the dragon's wings, and it had no choice but to lift from the ground. The beast was so surprised by the magic use, that it took off in a different direction to avoid further confrontation.

Alaron yanked his sister from the fire. Her hands were burned from trying to clear debris. "Renat!" she screamed wildly trying to free herself from her brother's grip. "He was in there. I never told him I loved him." Mairwen crumpled into her brother's embrace. Alaron noticed that she had used the past tense. Renat was gone.

"I am sorry," the prince said genuinely. On a deep level, the twins were connected, and he could sense the depth of her pain. He had never felt such emptiness.

"We have got company!" Brinn called at them. One of the flying beasts came at Brinn with a fiery blast. She rolled just in time to avoid the inferno, but the liquid fire created an impenetrable wall between the palace and the outer wall.

From the other direction came a great mass of people headed by Devrim. The Emperor was happy to see both of his children alive, but his joy was short-lived when he saw the devastation on their faces.

Brinn rushed over to him. "Why have you not left?!" she scolded. "And where is Her Majesty?"

"The gnomes have blocked the exits, and I needed to find Mairwen. As for your second question, I have no idea, but something happened to her." Devrim did not wish to explain the portal he had seen. It could mean anything.

A few of the people behind the Emperor screamed as a large boulder was dropped through the air by a dragon. It swung just wide of them, rolling into part of the palace near them.

"We need an unconventional way out," Brinn thought aloud.

She barely had time to think when the earth split between the mass of humans and their only no-fiery path. One by one the gnomes burst from the ground with sword in hand. "Surrender!" a flat-nosed gnome screamed.

"No!" Brinn yelled before the Emperor could. She blew the fire so that it cut off the gnomes from the humans. The rocky creatures could go under the fire, but she suspected that they would just wait it out. Afterall, the humans were surrounded by fire and stone. They were now well and truly cornered.

"What now?" Devrim asked. The elf clearly had some sort of plan.

Brinn rushed to the princess. "Do you have any of the burst balls?" She had spotted the sack tucked in the girl's waistband. It clearly had the scientist's mark on the fabric.

Mairwen nodded and held out the bag. Brinn rifled through it, finding three of the items she sought. With haste, the elf ran her fingers along the protective curtain wall. It was the barrier between them and freedom. Finding a weak point, she stepped back and threw two of the burst balls at great speed, channeling the full force at the wall.

A huge spray of rubble went in every direction, causing the humans to shield themselves. A hole in the wall appeared and as Brinn peeked out, she could see a clear path to the river. "Go!"

Devrim motioned to Junayd, who began to lead the soldiers, servants and others through the gap. Bella and Candela were among the first ushered through the hole and making their way toward the river.

"Get your daughter. Get out. The prince and I will stall them." Brinn told Devrim. She shoved him toward Mairwen. They were running out of time. Eira watched them, awaiting orders. She would not leave her mistress behind.

Devrim's brow furrowed. "I cannot leave you, Brinn. You get out, and I will hold them off."

"The prince will not leave, and we cannot leave him alone. I can take care of myself." The elf flashed a toothy smile.

Devrim knew the boy would put up a fight. Intentionally or not, Alaron would sabotage their retreat. At least with Brinn, they stood a chance of getting Mairwen to safety. "I trust you," the Emperor confirmed.

Brinn's grin grew wider. "Never thought I would hear you say those words. Now go!"

Devrim took hold of his daughter's hand as he scooped up her bow and quiver with his other arm.

Alaron reluctantly released her. "I hope you get everything you want," the Emperor said to the prince. "Be wise with what you are given."

With Eira's help, the Emperor and princess slipped through the hole at last. Alaron shot Brinn an angry look, "I could have protected Mairwen if she had stayed."

"Then protect her as she leaves, for that is her wish." Brinn pulled at her chin, "You really think you can keep her safe?"

The prince nodded with a condescending glare. "Cafer swore she would not be harmed."

"Then we shall put it to the test. Plus it will give the others a fighting chance." Brinn held out her arm. "Do you want an opportunity to hold Cafer to his word?"

"You will not hurt anyone?" Alaron knew Brinn to be an elf of her word.

"Only if they hurt me first." Realistically Brinn knew she had no shot against a bunch of gnomes, but she would not break her promise to Aurora either. The elf would watch over the prince. Plus Brinn was an expert spy, a spymaster. She could be far more useful on the inside as long as the boy did not blow her cover. That part was crucial.

The elf was shocked when Alaron shook her arm. "You will see. I am not on the wrong side."

Brinn gave him an incredulous look. "Well, one of us is." The spymaster fingered the last burst ball in her hand and moved toward the experiment shed. "Follow my lead," she ordered.

————-

The dragons' flames seemed to burn forever. The one who had spawned the unnatural flame had been young and her flames exceptionally potent. The dirt itself was burning.

From beyond the flames, the gnomes had heard two quick explosions and then a time of silence before a third boom. The flat-nosed gnome shifted uncomfortably but did not order anyone to investigate. He was unsure how far the fire penetrated into the earth.

Finally the fire died down and the gnomes were surprised by the sight before them. All but three people were gone.

Alaron faced them with his hands resting on his sword and a look of royal disdain. Behind him Mairwen was hunched, sobbing over Renat's body.