"Nurlan! Junayd!" Aurora cried as she ran over to the soldiers to check their wounds. They had obviously been treated poorly. The men waved her off, keeping her at arm's length.

"We are ok, Your Majesty," Junayd said bravely.

"I have been in worse scrapes," Nurlan agreed. The cut over his left eye had caused it to be nearly swollen shut.

"Let them go!" Aurora demanded. There was a fire in her eyes that made the queen smirk.

"Now we are getting somewhere. I do not like resorting to coercion, but it is for the good of my kind..." Lanassa said without regret.

"Don't do anything she asks! We will die for you without a second thought." Nurlan said forcefully.

"You may be willing to die, but is she willing to let you when she can save you. That is something else I have noticed about humankind. Guilt makes you do illogical things." The tall elf was not condemning, merely stating a fact. And she was happy to use that fact to her advantage. "Have you changed your mind, young Empress?" Lanassa asked.

Aurora shook her head. If the queen was willing to resort to abduction to get her way, what would she do once Aurora had a child? She would use the baby to manipulate the Empress further. And if Ithel were on the human throne with her, Aurora knew that her power would be all but gone. The elven monarchs were as bad as the gnomes. Both wanted control. "I cannot change my mind, Your Majesty," she said firmly.

Lanassa was impressed. "Very well. Then spend a night in the dungeon with your friends. Tomorrow if you haven't come around to our way of thinking, we can execute your friends for trespassing, starting with the man just outside." On cue, Devrim was shoved into the sitting room by a group of guards and forced to his knees. Aurora jumped up to help him.

Then she rounded on the queen, "You would do this to a Favored of the Fates?"

The queen laughed, "Let the Fates come and get you! Until then, you are ours."

"Do not do this wicked thing! You think you are justified in taking advantage of those who need help. It is not so! Wake up and do what is right, not what is only beneficial for you." Aurora's voice was a mix of anger and pleading.

Lanassa eyed her coolly as she stood. "A compelling speech, but Zoltan and I have made our decision, and you will not sway it. Guards, take them away!" the queen ordered.

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Devrim, Aurora, Nurlan and Junayd were roughly escorted through the halls and down to the dungeon below the palace. It was dank, musty and smelled of decay. The four were shoved into a tiny cell, barely big enough for all of them to sit. "See you in the morning," the head guard said mercilessly. It was not yet noon. Obviously the humans would be left in a cramped cell to starve until Aurora changed her mind... Unless she did not change her mind, in which case they would die anyway. The only way to mark time was by the diffused light from a window slit high above their heads.

After hugging Devrim and making sure he was ok, Aurora turned to the soldiers and tended their wounds. It felt equal parts awkward and wonderful to have the Empress of the World dote on them, and the soldiers bore her scrutiny bravely. Once she was satisfied that they were not going to die of their injuries, it was finally time for questions.

"How did you get here?" Devrim asked.

Nurlan grunted, which Junayd took as his cue to answer. "Your friend the gnome put up quite a fight with his earth magic, delaying us more than a week's time."

"We have witnessed earth magic quite recently," the Empress interjected.

"Oh? I am sorry indeed," Junayd sympathized. "When we finally handed over the gnome to the outpost, that sneaky creature warned us that the elves were monitoring your journey. Of course we hurried night and day to catch up. We nearly found you at the lake on the other side of the barrier."

"Phoca said you were only a day ahead," Nurlan added with a far off look.

"I am so glad you met Phoca! The selkies were all so kind." Aurora said.

"And very friendly to young Junayd," Nurlan teased.

"You didn't do so bad yourself," Junayd rejoined.

"Shut up!" The older soldier thumped the younger on his head.

"Boys, boys… stay on topic please," Aurora redirected them.

Nurlan cleared his throat, embarrassed. "Sorry, Your Majesty. Well, we found the goat-man…"

"Faun," Devrim corrected, unsure of who else could hear them. He did not want to make anyone else angry.

"Yeah him, and he told us that he sold information about your whereabouts to the gnomes. I nearly knocked his block off," Nurlan grumbled as he balled his fist. He still was not sure that he had made the correct call by letting the creature live.

"That explains how the gnomes knew where we were," the grey-eyed man mused.

"Then the merfolk got a hold of us. They did a number on Junayd," Nurlan said quietly. "Took him quite some time to recover."

Devrim placed a comforting arm on Junayd's shoulder. "I know how you feel."

"They got you too?" Junayd asked with a mix of relief and grief. While it was nice to not be alone, he hated that anyone else had experienced the same trauma. "I am sorry."

Nurlan continued, "We landed unconscious on the beach outside a huge elaborate gate. I have never seen anything so jewel-encrusted. I had no time to admire it though because when I awoke, there was already a sword at my throat. The elves had been waiting at the gate for two humans, but they were confused why we were both men. One elf suggested just killing us and being done with it, but the others disagreed. They eventually brought us, bound and gagged, to the dungeon here."

Junayd picked up the story, "That was two days ago. We met the King and Queen briefly. They used some kind of powder on my already messed up mind and…" the young soldier furrowed his brow, "I am so sorry, but I told them your identity, Your Majesty." Junayd hung his head in shame.

"He put up a brave fight," Nurlan defended his comrade. "Please do not judge him harshly."

Aurora allowed a weak smile, "I will not judge him at all. All three of you would not be here if not for your foolish leader. I got us into the mess."

"Don't blame yourself!" The men refuted, each talking over the other.

"I was in charge of this expedition. I should have been more prepared," Devrim pointed out.

"As the oldest in the group, I should have shouldered more responsibility," Nurlan objected.

They all tried to take the blame. "This gets us nowhere," the Empress sighed. "We have to figure out a way to escape and soon. I cannot give the king and queen what they want."

"What exactly do they want?" Junayd inquired.

"They want me to marry their son, Price Ithel," Aurora answered.

"But don't they know you are married to the Emperor Consort?" Nurlan was confused.

"….yeah… about that…" Aurora looked at the ground embarrassed.

Junayd bounced up and down excitedly where he sat and pointed wildly at the Empress and Devrim. "I KNEW IT!"