Lucky

Chapter 13

Deaglan had a perfect view of the city from the window in his bedroom; located at the top of what was often the tallest tower in the castle – often because on most days it stood high above all else, but on the occasional day he would spy another tower rising from the bedrock as if it had always been there. And it wasn't just the city he could see, but the walls that surrounded the city too and even beyond this if he looked hard enough.

The armies of the Fomorian enemy, the Mac Fomorian, were marshaled and waiting. They stood on the plain opposite the moat that surrounded the city as if battle were just about to be joined, even though it wasn't to take place until the next day. As far as Deaglan was aware, they had not moved since they had first arrived several days earlier. They didn't seem to need beds to sleep in, or bathrooms to defecate. They were an alien breed, a hybrid of man and other monstrosities that he did not know. He was yet to get an actual look at their faces, so he couldn't comment on how they looked... and a part of him was grateful for that.

Among their ranks too, he could make out tall towers that could only be siege equipment. Deaglan had no idea how battles worked, but he guessed that once it was joined, the opposing force would push toward the walls and then, when the cities forces were vanquished, those towers would be used to breach the walls and flood the city. He literally shook where he stood at the thought, wondering if maybe it was worth running before that happened?

Kaie had asked him to run too. She had near begged him. After the two were dispelled from the throne room, after they had been treated like children and dismissed without supper, she had taken his hand and began to lead him toward the tunnel that they had used previously to exit the city.

"Where are we going?" Deaglan had asked. He would have pulled his hand from her grip were it not for the fact that he liked how it felt.

"To the tunnel," she said matter-of-factly, a bit in her tone. "We're getting out of here before it's too late."

"What? No?" This time he did pull his hand from hers. "We can't run."

"Why not?" She turned on him, staring him down, daring him to come up with an actual reason. "What good will sticking around here do?"

"It's not about that," Deaglan said, his voice as level as he could make it. "It's about... I can't run. It's not right."

"Right? After what they said to you in there? The way they treated you? They don't care about you Deaglan. Not one bit. They used you and now that they're done, they will spit you back out. They already have"

"Even so..." He looked back down the length of the hall, toward the throne room. The castle had felt like more of a home to him than the one he had lived in his whole life. And not just the castle, but the city itself. Always an outsider, for once he actually had somewhere he belonged. He couldn't just run from it. He couldn't abandon it "These are my... you said yourself that the Tuatha bred me, that I'm one of them. It wouldn't be right."

"You have no --" she bit her tongue and looked away. She looked in the direction of the tunnel, her escape, deciding on what she should do. "You have no idea what you really mean to these people, do you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You asked me why there were no more Leprechauns left. Do you want to know why? The real reason. It's because the Tuatha had you all killed. They exterminated you like rats. They only care about themselves. Can't you see that?"

"What?" Deaglan shook his head. He then met her eyes, trying to find the lie in them. "No that's not..."

"It's true," she urged. She held his eyes, held his gaze. She pleaded with him, reached her hand out and begged for him to take it. "Now are you coming or not."