Lastland's Last Stand: The Prince's Ascension

And Into the Shadow

"Princeton!" When Rowan heard the approaching soldiers, they expected to see at least one of the war camp leaders or deputies. What they hadn't expected to see was another Gifted. Rowan's fiery eyes filled with relief. They'd known about Princeton's survival since the day of their accidental rescue, but this was the first time either Gifted saw the other since the Westcliff ambush. Princeton, meanwhile, had been inspired by Rowan's accidental rescue to ask Luciana if he could join the rescue efforts too.

And, well, it took a bit of time, but I'm here now. Princeton gave the older Gifted a crooked smile. "We think we might have a way to get the others."

ooo

Rowan had always been a calm, pensive person, preferring to spend their time alone reading books or lost in thought. These qualities were part of what brought them to Westcliff, for although Westcliff soldiers came in all personality types, the nature of the camp required soldiers who preferred thinking ahead or thinking carefully as opposed to focusing solely upon immediate, direct, violent conflict.

The moment Princeton started his story, though, Rowan's eyes lit up in excitement. They didn't even wait for Princeton to finish speaking before grabbing him by the hand and dragging him outside to the excavation site.

"Hey! Zero! Westford! I think we just got some new help!" They waved, calling out loudly to the other two Westcliff workers. Zero was taking notes on her tablet while Westford operated a small, computer-controlled drill.

In the mere minute it took Rowan to swiftly and excitedly regurgitate all that Princeton had told them, Westford and Zero went from confused, to surprised, to amazed, and then just like Rowan before them, they didn't even bother waiting for the end of the story to go running off to fetch the larger, stronger power tools.

Is EVERY Westcliff soldier like this? Princeton shook his head, smirking in amusement.

The project still took a few days to complete, and during that time, Princeton was able to convince Gale to convince Luciana not to be too angry with him. "Of course, I fully acknowledge that I broke your rules, but I felt that I finally had a way to make myself useful and I didn't want you guys to say no and start monitoring me even more than before," he admitted.

His honesty—as well as the direness of the situation—paid off, and Gale was willing to negotiate.

The next time Princeton stood over the Westcliff evacuation site, he was peering down a fist-sized hole that cut all the way into the first Westcliff laboratory. Princeton was also given a backpack full of supplies and tools, both for himself and the other Gifted.

"Are you sure about this?" Storm asked sharply, walking over to the Gifted with her arms crossed and her eyes narrow.

"Not at all," Princeton admitted, smiling grimly. Though I suppose I could try to tell myself that worrying about Storm will seem like nothing once I'm inside the mountain. Oh, wait, probably shouldn't psyche myself out like that... Hmm... How about... the mountain will seem easy after dealing with Storm? It was already too late. Princeton was still nervous. And Storm's piercing, demanding eyes did not help.

"You know you can come up as soon as anything goes wrong, right?" Westford asked quietly. Even though he'd only just met Princeton, he could sense a kindred spirit within the boy. They were both shy, quiet, introverted, and a little low on self-esteem and confidence. Westford had improved somewhat with age, but he could see the self-doubt in Princeton's eyes, and he knew that it wasn't just because of a fear of the mountain.

What if I mess something up? Of all the things to fear, it wasn't the physical danger—or even the worry about finding all of his Gifted comrades dead—that Princeton worried about first. It was the fear that he would be the reason something went wrong down below. To lessen the stakes, the leaders and deputies all agreed that the mission would be classified as reconnaissance, not rescue. Princeton had discovered his Gift barely half a week prior; it was unrealistic to expect him to already have the strength and skill to use his shadows to carry others out of a mountain.