Mosor spread out a map of the city of Sandrun. "Okay, so, here's where the palace is. We're not going to bombard everything, we're just going to take back Ahmond and Baynana. Everyone understand?"

The other three gave affirmative yeses.

Mosor pointed to the palace. "The lair is equipped with its own courtroom, and from that we can assume they're still sequestered within. Kyofi is going to go first, and take on the guards, afterwards I will sneak in and find our cousins. After thirty minutes, assume the worst, and send in Mynt."

"What if Kyofi can't take down the guards?" Mynt asked, while Kyofi scoffed.

Vanos said, "I'll help take them down."

Vanos and Kyofi shared a mutual look, a sort of "let's get prepared" moment.

Paynut and Honay, who weren't allowed to be part of the plan, sat on the sofa. Paynut said, "We are dreadfully sorry about all the problems our little daughter has been bringing to you, and we need you to understand we are in your debts."

Mosor said, "Please, Paynut, save it."

Paynut and Honay frowned, mildly offended by Mosor's comment.

Vanos pursed his lips. "They must be really scared."

Mosor said, "Well, we're about to attack now, under the cover of nightfall. May the moon watch over us..."

Vanos, Mynt, and Kyofi stared at Mosor, and Mosor said, "I forgot we fought the moon goddess, okay. It's not my fault sometimes its easy to slip into cliche. Would you rather I say, may the sunshine reflecting off the moon watch over us all?"

Vanos said, "Well, at the very least, it's not ironic, and it's sure a lot less distressing." As Mosor rolled her eyes, Vanos had a thought. "What are we going to tell Owlis?"

"Hm?" Mosor asked.

"We already promised to wait for Owlis, but we don't have the time. What if Owlis finds out what we've done? Going up against a queen of all things could lead to our exile from Wysdom, and we'd have to move our business. We'd lose all our regular customers and have to start again, when we don't have the financial funds, nor would the ice cream itself survive."

"You're not backing down, are you?" Kyofi asked.

Vanos said, "I would never back down for Ahmond, ever. Just that, we can't let anyone know this is happening."

Mosor said, "Vanos, nothing is going to happen to us." And she knew that wasn't true, but at the same time what leader would be honest? Sometimes, it was better to just please the crowd.

***

Ahmond traveled the hallways by sneaking, for little reason. Almost everywhere they looked, a guard was completely knocked out. Some still had their eyes open, yet none had the energy to speak, making them seem like a bunch of dead bodies around the palace.

Ahmond felt slightly unnerved, as she stared at her cousin. Not long enough Baynana caught the stare, just long enough for Ahmond to snap to her senses. Similar to when she walked while day dreaming, Ahmond tripped back to reality.

"This place is too big," Baynana said. "We've been in this hallway already."

Ahmond wondered how long Baynana's magic would last, as she nodded in agreement. "Yeah, unless you had a floor plan, there's no way to know where you're going. I wonder if Lilu's had to memorize the entire layout of this palace."

Speaking of Lilu, they did say amongst themselves they'd find Lilu. The problem with scent tracking was Lilu was walked these rooms. It almost seemed like Lilu was stuck in a certain portion of the palace, always trapped within her room, or at least, in the common areas.

Ahmond realized Lilu never got to see her own house, and she was little more than a commoner in her own house. Did Lilu ever even go into the court room? Were they exploring places Lilu herself had never explored, or was Ahmond just jumping to conclusions? Maybe the scent got cleaned out.

"Billiard room," Baynana said as they entered a primarily green and gold room. Various trophies hung upon the walls, but it seemed to be accomplishments Sandrun gained when going in competitions over the other city-states. One caught Ahmond's eyes as the Fall Festival marathon where Sandrun gained a narrow victory over Sunnyvilla.

Ahmond stood in front of the trophy case. Baynana was about to exit out the door, but paused and went over to her cousin.

"What's wrong?" Baynana asked.

Ahmond said, "Nothing, it's just that, Sunnyvilla and Sandrun have always been rivals. Do you think that the queen has problems with us since Sunnyvilla usually beats Sandrun nowadays? None of these trophies date back less than five years ago from this year's Fall Festival. It's almost as if, by bullying us, she gets back at our city-state."

"That sounds rather petty and mean spirited," Baynana said.

Ahmond nodded, before going out the door.

Soon, they did arrive in front of Lilu's room, and opened the door. As expected, Lilu fell from the blow magic, and she laid on her stomach, feet draped over the bed.

Ahmond flowed power into Lilu's body, as Baynana sniffed Lilu's foot, and licked.

Lilu burst into a fit of giggles while Baynana continued.

Ahmond pushed her cousin away. "What are you doing?"

"I saw her foot, and realized I never licked a hyena's foot, and I don't know," Baynana said. "Sometimes I just lick things."

Lilu stood up, and asked, "So outside of getting me into more trouble, what's going on? All of a sudden, I felt like I couldn't do anything."

Ahmond said, "Baynana has a quality just like I do, but hers is darker than mine. It seems she has the ability to knock others down, while I have the power to amplify stuff."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"So, dampen versus amplify," Lilu said, as Ahmond nodded. "Sloth versus Dependability?"

Baynana's eyes widened as she remembered something, and Ahmond saw the expression. "Uh," Baynana said. "I didn't always have this power, but now that you mention it, I think I remember how I got it. I was playing out near the swamp, and all of a sudden I saw this black orb.

"I sniffed at it, and licked it. That's when it struck me with these dark runes. Next day, I was nearby a school with hyenas, and I heard this bell ring before the hyenas left the building. They ended up throwing this ball, I don't know the name of it.

"I asked them if they were leaving school, and they said it was something like recess. When I was around them, I saw the ball, and they asked me to throw it around. And I was doing good until at some point they began jeering.

"So I released this pulse of energy, and that's when I ended up blasting a bunch of them. That knocked them out. I ran over to my parents, and told them, and I said 'daddy, mom, I think I knocked a bunch of people out'."

Ahmond stared at Baynana, and took a deep breath. "Black orbs, and new powers. We once fought against the goddess of the moon, Lhyna, and she had a similar thing going on, called Fear. Yours must be something like Sloth." She repeated Sloth since that was what Lilu said.

"But Lhyna was driven by fear," Lilu said. "She was afraid, and so she spread the fear. Baynana's not slothful and trying to spread the sloth." Lilu stared at Baynana.

Baynana stared back at Lilu, and shrugged. "So now what?"

Lilu said, "You probably felt some sort of emotion like fear, or something like despair, and so you released a pulse of that emotion onto others."

Baynana shook her head. "I don't know what emotion that would be if it got others to be knocked out, and not able to get back up."

Lilu said, "Worthlessness. You were in despair about how you weren't fitting in, so you unleashed a wave of it onto others. No one feels like they can do anything under the power, because they have no way to stop it, because they feel worthless."

"That makes sense. Dependability versus Worthlessness," Ahmond said.

"I'm not worthless!" Baynana said to Lilu, and stamped her feet.

"Relax, you're clearly not, or else your power would go off all the time," Lilu said. "At least, that's how I think it works."

The oldest girl, Lilu, grabbed her diary, and put it on her bed. "As much as I like sticking it to the man, it's about time you all high tail it. Get out through the window. I'm not going with, because, guess what - I like to live."

"You're really kind and smart," Baynana told Lilu, and Lilu's eyes widened. Baynana jumped onto the dresser and out the window.

Ahmond said, "You're my best friend just so you know, Lilu."

"I'd trade you in for Rosod."

"I understand." Ahmond jumped out through the window, and since she had no idea how far the drop was, instead of a graceful landing, she hit her head and flipped over.

"That's the second time I've done that, first time was into a fountain," Ahmond admitted as Baynana gawked over her in horror.

Baynana said, "That's got to hurt."

Ahmond shrugged. "As long as it won't become a pattern or a once a month thing, I'm sure I'll be fine."

Both girls stood up, and set off. Ahmond figured they never could safely visit the hyenas again, so she'd just head to Rosod's house. Rosod would gladly meet with Lilu, and that's where they'd meet from now on.

Too bad Rosod told them she wouldn't harbor fugitives. So that plan would only work for the three friends coming together, not for a place to stay while running away.

Baynana asked, "Where are we headed?"

"Maybe Owlis will help us?" Ahmond said.

***

"Where are all the guards?" Kyofi asked. Insofar, no guards were present at the gates to the palace, nor posted near any windows.

Mosor said, "I don't know, but I don't trust it. We're going to have to play it safe."

Mynt scanned the area, making minor notes to herself.

Mosor stared at her, and asked, "Mynt, what's your idea?"

"Glad you asked. Basically, I was thinking if we don't want to get caught, your best chance is to head in through a window. Problem is I don't know which window is the best. However, windows by gardens tend to have less people walking around."

Mosor nodded, and said, "Thanks Mynt."

She walked on past the length of the palace, until after a few minutes, she arrived at the garden. Some plants hung over walls like ivy. Various vegetables sprouted from the ground, like carrots and turnips, all in neat rows. However, the centerpiece was a field of roses, leading up to the big double doors in the back.

Mosor pushed the double doors open, and found, laying on the concrete, a hyena who wasn't getting up.

"What happened to you?" Mosor asked, wondering if Baynana did that. If so, that meant Baynana escaped.

"I failed at my job," the guard said.

Mosor mumbled, "Not what I asked, but okay." She paused before she went onto the next room. "Um, I'm sure Jazmyn will keep you around. You're probably a really good worker."

"You're a jerk," the guard said, "and your family is a bunch of jerks."

Mosor said, "I love you too," and went onwards in her search.

She sniffed the ground, and was able to trace Ahmond and Baynana's ways back to a courtroom where she saw the judge, downed.

Mosor asked the judge, "Did you happen to see two small wolves, one with coyote blood?"

The judge said, "They attacked me, and when I was back up, they attacked me again. There's no reason to get up. It's not like I can do anything. I'm only taking this job to get back at my mother, who said I'll never amount to making my life great."

"Why are you letting your mother determine whether your life is great or not?" Mosor asked. "Just enjoy it how you want to."

As Mosor walked away, she wondered, "How many therapy sessions am I going to have to give out?"

A while passed, mostly consisting psychic healings, when Mosor came into Lilu's room. Both paused, as Lilu was still moving around, reading a book.

"Are you reading that one book Ahmond got you?" Mosor asked.

Lilu nodded. "Yeah. Uh, if you're looking for Ahmond and Baynana, I'm not supposed to tell you where they're at."

Mosor said, "Well, I understand if they want to be difficult. They've been having a hard time."

"Anyway," Lilu said, "they jumped out the window, and that's last I heard of them. Also, Baynana licked my foot."

Mosor laughed, and patted Lilu on the head. "Yeah, Baynana has a real weird habit of licking others. I hear about that once a winter. Always in the postcards Honay sends out."

Lilu said, "Also, she has a weird fascination with fossils. They were taken to the courtroom, but they used the power of Worthlessness to knock us down, and Ahmond revived me."

Mosor tilted her head. "Worthlessness seems like an unfair name if it knocked out everyone in the palace." Mosor wondered if she even had a chance of countering it. After all, Empathy would just go "oh yeah, I feel worthless too" rather than preventing worthlessness.

Mosor jumped on Lilu's dresser, and stuck the landing. Although she saw a small hole, one that was head shaped. "Oh dear, poor Ahmond."

She sniffed the ground, and called for the others. "Kyofi, Vanos, Mynt!"

"Are you trying to broadcast our location to everyone?" Kyofi asked as she came over, her body covered in sweat.

"Why are you sweating, when it's at night, and it's cold?" Mosor raised an eyebrow.

Kyofi said, "Duh, I've just been running."

"Uh-huh. For a few seconds."

Vanos ran up, and saw Kyofi. "Kyofi, why are you sweating bullets, after just running for a few seconds?"

"Why did it take you so long to get here?" Kyofi asked. "You're supposed to be the second quickest person in the family, just behind Mosor."

Mynt ran up, out of breath, and sweating, and she asked Kyofi, "Why are you sweating so much?"

"Why are you sweating and out of breath?" Kyofi asked, "and why'd it take you so long to get here!? Was there a hill or something I just walked past?"

"Girls, not the time," Mosor said, while Vanos felt excluded from a group of mostly women. "Baynana and Ahmond knocked out the entire palace, before escaping. What that means is we have to follow their trails through here."

"You're not going anyway." The four turned back to stare at Jazmyn, who was a hyena even bigger than Kyofi. Her guards gathered near her.

"So, guess that spell just wore off," Kyofi said, as she sized up Jazmyn.

Jazmyn said, "I'll give you one last chance to back down." She licked her teeth, waiting for the sign to start battle.

Mosor said, "Uh, well, we're not actually seeking combat at this moment. Kinda have two crazy kids we need to find, and you were second rate priority, at best, so..."

Jazmyn said, "Well I'm about to become a first rate priority, and you're about to become a zero chance of living fool."

The hyenas rushed them.