Saving Elementals

Chapter 17

"Is that blood?" Acid exclaims loudly. Luckily there is no one on the streets who could hear them but Ebony still seems uneasy about talking. I look over at them and nod solemnly. They look back at the trail of blood in shock.
"We should follow the trail," I suggest. Tornado looks down at the trail of blood and nods. We start riding beside the trail of blood, trying not to have our horses step into the blood. Acid looks on the verge of tears and I see Waves reach out and take their hand.
They smile at her and then let go of her hand, looking down at their horse and petting her. In the dark it's somewhat hard to follow the trail but We can't have Kindle summon fire because it would draw a lot of attention to us as people of other kingdoms aren't allowed in the Night Kingdom without special permission from royalty.
The blood trail goes on for a long time and I look over at Ebony as I realize that the person that all this blood came from is most likely dead. He looks down at the blood and frowns, shaking his head sadly.
We ride near a bush where the blood leads into. I stop and get off my horse, walking over to the bush. Kindle walks up beside me and we stand at the bush for a second before pulling some of the leaves back.
"Holy smokes," Kindle says. A dead child lays in the bush, their body broken and crippled. I crouch down and gently grab their arm, feeling to see if they still have a pulse, hoping although they lost so much blood they would still be alive.
"Carbon, they're dead," Kindle says, putting a hand on my shoulder. I shake my head and tear my gaze away from the dead child. I stand up and wipe my hands on my pants.
"Does the trail keep going?" I ask Ebony from where he's still sitting up on his horse. He nods and points at the path, where the blood trail keeps going. I nod and get back on my horse while Kindle covers the dead child with the bush again.
She gets on her horse and nods to us. We start off, still following the trail of blood. I hear Ebony gasp from beside me and I look over at him, concerned. He lifts a shaky finger and points. I follow his gaze and see that we're riding right up to the palace.
"What in the world?" Waves mumbles softly. I spur my horse forward and keep riding towards the palace. Ebony hangs back for a second before riding back up to us. I smile at him and he smiles back nervously.
We make it near the palace and we tie out horses to some trees, leaving most of our stuff in there as we don't really need anything in there. I let my horse as I wait for the others to get done. Acid walks over to me and hands me some fried fruit.
I gratefully take it and quickly eat it, excited to go into the palace and finally figure out what's happening. The others walk over and we start off towards the palace.
We make it to the gate and I look around, seeing guards at the front entrance. I move out of view and lift my hands, moving the dirt from under the fence so we can walk under it. I walk under it and wait for the others to walk through before covering the hole back up with dirt.
We walk across the side of the building and into a side door. It leads into the kitchen and there are people all over working. We quickly walk out of there, trying to seem like we belong.
"Those are slaves," he says. I look at him in shock and the others have similar expressions of disbelief. He nods sadly and walks towards a door that's labeled slaves' quarters. He pushes the door open and walks in, is following behind him.
"Ebony! You're back!" Someone in the room exclaims, pulling Ebony into a hug. I close the door and turn around, seeing a short girl hugging him. He pulls away from the hug and smiles at the girl. He walks over to a dresser and opens it, pulling out some clothes.
"Did you find them?" She asks him. He stops searching through the dresser and slowly turns around to face her. Acid pays with the bottom of their shirt, looking really uncomfortable and for once Kindle is the one to walk over to them and help them relax.
"They're here," he says to her. The girl looks up at him with wide eyes, tears brimming. He pulls her into a hug and she clings onto his shirt. She cries into his chest and I share a glance with Waves, knowing that this is a private moment and wondering if we should go.
I finally show my head, deciding that it would be too dangerous to leave right now, especially because we don't fit in. Ebony pulls back and explains out situation to the girl as he looks through the dresser, pulling out uniforms for all of us.
"Hey Acid? Which uniform do you want?" He asks them, holding up the boy's and girl's uniform. They decide on the boy's uniform because they have short hair and don't want to stand out in the palace.
I change in the closet and then walk out, letting Acid go to change. The girl sits on the bed, still looking sad. I walk over to where she's sitting and sit down beside her, holding out my hand.
"Hi, I'm Carbon. It's nice to meet you," I say. She smiles slightly and shakes my hand. Ebony smiles at us from where he's sitting on the other bed with Tornado and Kindle.
"I'm Stars. And it's nice to meet you too," she says. We talk while the others change and she tells me that she and Ebony used to both work here. He found the scroll on the ground and took it to the rooms, replying back to me.
"They said that they weren't going to send anybody but I decided to go against what the royalty said," Ebony tells me as he walks out of the closet. I nod and smile at him.
"Well I'm glad you did. Now how and where are we going?" I ask.