Disguised In Stardust ✔

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Dain, don't do this."

He took a step in my direction and I raised the pickaxe, my wrist aching. I couldn't lift it far, and each time I tried, my hand lost all strength and pulsed hot in pain. My labored gasps were a sign of my lungs in protest but I kept pushing.

I swung at him many times. He either caught it or avoided it entirely. Soon he got close enough to knock the tool out of my throbbing hand and down to the main floor below us.

"Please Seth," I begged, almost wheezing, "I love him." He stiffened upon hearing those words, and I glanced over to Faelin. He was unconscious.

"Why do you want to destroy him? Just because he's rare? Because he's a research opportunity?" I straightened my back and rolled out my neck, soothing the ebbing pain of my prior slumping. "He's a living person."

He faltered, then shook his head subtly. "You are too compassionate. A soft heart like yours will become weak."

"Don't you want to love someone? To have that warmth and support of another person?" I inched closer to him while I spoke. He glanced down at my feet and equaled the distance by stepping back.

"That sounds suffocating." he told me, his brow quirking uneasily. I think he knew what I was onto.

I neared him again, "I can assure you that having his company brings such a strong feeling of hope for me, and for everyone around him. He's an amazing person, if you just took the time to know him."

"Why should I care about this alien? It is an asset, not a person." Seth continued to back up until he was right on the lift, where the rope was looped precariously to a notch.

He leaned down and tinkered with his leather boot strings, looking up to me smugly. "I don't believe in this emotional nonsense. I am data-driven."

I rushed forward and shoved him with all my body weight while he was preoccupied. He immediately reached for me as he staggered back, but he only managed to brush my arm. I watched as he fell freely to the main floor, dropping a good twenty feet.

He smacked flat against the ground with a heavy thud.

"He's better as a lover than a piece of data." I said, stepping on the lift and gently untying the rope. I glanced down at Seth to find him motionless on the slippery rock below.

I lowered myself down and retrieved the pickaxe from earlier, which was now splintered to all hell on one side. I used that broken part to cut a long strip of the rope from the lift. "You're under arrest, as ordered by Lord Dain Loftin." I declared sarcastically.

I used the rope to tie his hands behind him. I winced every time I pressed against his back, feeling muscle and bone crunching under his skin. I made sure to tie the piece tightly across his wrists.

I approached Faelin and reached up to tug on his foot, to which I received no response. I thought about going to the other lift but the platform was both higher and thinner than the other one. I decided against it, as once the tubes were all gone, Faelin would fall.

"Faelin?"

The answer to my summons was none other than a hoarse chuckle from behind me. I barely spared Seth a glance.

"It will not awaken. Its Chapna is being sucked dry, depleting its energy source."

"Shut up, Seth." I cursed aloud. I continued to tug on his feet, hoping it will at least loosen the tubular binds on him.

"The suction force is too strong. The filter only lets in Chapna and its particles, like a semipermeable membrane." Seth went on.

"Faelin! Wake up!" I gripped his ankles harder this time, dragging him down from the tubes only for him to bounce back up. I jumped and latched onto his calves, pulling his limp body with all the strength I had left in me.

His body tore away from the tubes and out spat a flurry of blood and crystalline shards, the tube ultimately bursting. He toppled above me, still unconscious, as we both hurdled to the ground. Luckily I cushioned his fall, so he wasn't hurt.

Well, everything was unharmed except the insertion points, where they ripped open gruesomely on his wrists and ankles. Blood trailed down in thin rivulets, small Chapna crystals lining the sides of each wound.

I untied his wings and held him close. I needed a moment to breathe. With Seth stabilized temporarily and Faelin free of his binds, I could make it back with both a criminal and the next Lord.

_

On my way out, I stopped at the dungeons. I gently leaned Faelin against the wall, smoothing out his wings so he didn't crush them, and dragged Seth to the chambers.

I opened one of the unlocked cells, wincing as the whining creak scraped my eardrums. The prisoners quietly groaned in protest as I practically threw Seth into the dusty, dirty cell. He coughed and spewed as he caught a mouthful of cobweb.

I shut the cell door and held it closed until I found a thick, shining lock on a rack. I took that and secured the cell by pushing against the lock until it clicked in satisfaction.

I dusted my hands off and sighed, my lungs squeezing painfully as I inhaled ash. I started back to Faelin when I heard shuffling, then the shrill grinding of metal.

I turned around to find Hakket at the bars again, his hair as scraggly and clothes as bloody as I remembered them to be. I approached his cell slowly.

"I didn't forget about you." I reassured with a smile. His face was so sunken in that I doubted he could return the smile, but he did his best in slightly raising his lips.

"Will you get me out of here? I have a husband waiting at home. He might think I'm dead.." His raven eyes were downcast and sorrowful. His deer-like ears drooped down further.

His voice crackled out again, "You are the future Lord? Congratulations, human." His eyes sparkled a little.

"Thanks. I'll go look for a key," I told him. I turned around and began to search when Faelin stirred from his slumber.

I looked up on the racks and hangers, spotting no key in sight. I could remember the one that Elisen had, and I was sure they wouldn't let me have it, considering my intentions.

"I'll find a way to get you out of here, I just need a minute... They keep a key around here somewhere, right?" I asked Hakket. He just shook his head and shrugged, unknowing.

Faelin groaned softly and wiped at his eyes, wincing once he put his sore wrists to use. Once he took in his surroundings, he straightened up and glanced around frantically.

"Oh, Seth's in the cell over there." I pointed to his cell, where he sat and sulked at the bars.

"No, I... I don't care about that freak- I need to know who let you through here."

__