Jailbreak
~ Approximately Two Year Before TRTE ~
“How do I look?” Gem sighed.
“Oh please you act like there was any question of you pulling off short hair and a suit,” Bdubs snapped. Tango pulled the laces on his corset tighter and he gasped.
“Sorry,” Tango said, before proceeding to do it again. Once Bdubs had enough of a figure Tango tied the corset into place and turned to Gem, “Could you help me with mine? I’d ask Bdubs but I think he would try to kill me.”
“No problem, but it’s not gonna be comfy,” Gem assured him as she helped him pull on the corset. To say that this wasn’t the knight crew’s normal style of mission would be a grand understatement. The sextet usually took on hack and slash missions, killing monsters and saving people, but this time they were getting dressed in formal attire and preparing to attend a party held by the king of Merd.
They had good reason of course. Merd had lied to Lizzy and Joel asking for peace and for the duo to send an ambassador as a show of good faith, to which the two sent Cub as he was a close family friend whom they both trusted. Only for the king of Merd to turn around and hold Cub hostage, demanding territory from Ebbin in exchange for Cub’s life. Luckily for the crew he was stupid at best, and he was holding a ball to celebrate his supposed victory over Ebbin and to try to find himself a wife, so that was their ticket in.
That, and the two dukes from Merd who wanted out, and who were willing to help them lie to sneak them inside.
Gem, Tango, and Bdubs were placed under the temporary care of Lord Void, while Impulse, Scar, and Jimmy were placed into the care of Lord Ralis. Each of the lords pretended that the knights were their children in order to get them inside and close enough to Cub to get him out.
Since the king was looking for a wife, the plan was to have as many ‘girls’ as possible in the teams. Gem herself was far too recognizable of course so she would be attending the ball as Taylor, and hard as he tried Impulse couldn’t really pull off a dress, so that meant Bdubs, Tango, Jimmy, and Scar were all getting dolled up for the mission. Tango even got to flex his hair dye magic for the first time in a long time, giving Gem and himself pure white hair to match Lord Void’s, and giving Jimmy long brown hair to match Lord Ralis.
“Are you three almost ready?” Lord Void peaked into the room with a hand clamped over his eyes. “We have about ten minutes before we have to leave so I wanted to check in.”
“You’re fine Xisuma, I’m dressed,” Gem assured him.
“Are Bdubs and Tango?” He asked.
“No? But you’re all men.” Gem noted.
“Still, I’ll give them their privacy.” Xisuma pointed out, “Could we go over this plan, one more time for my sake?”
“Of course,” Gem nodded as she tied Tango’s corset, sending him off to help Bdubs with his dress and get his own dress on. “My name is Lor, Tango is Tammy, and Bdubs is just Bee. I’m your son and they’re both your daughters who are looking for husbands. You shouldn’t need to say too much once we’re inside, and if anyone asks, all you need to do is make up little white lies.”
“I’ll probably stay with Keralis most of the night…” The duke trailed off and his face went pink, “He’s better than I am at lying you know! I just wouldn’t want to mess things up, not when so much is riding on this mission.”
“You never went to knight school, did you?” Gem asked.
“I didn’t, I was the second born of the family so it wasn’t mandated for me, and I really never wanted to go. Not when my older brother Exavier was already there and he liked making my life a living hell.” Lord Void grumbled.
“Alright pops, how do I look?” Bdubs stepped out from behind the changing curtain in a puffy, moss green dress that matched the suits Gem and Xisuma wore.
“You look wonderful Bee.” Xisuma assured him.
“Alright, let’s do this,” Tango sighed as he stepped out from behind the curtain later in a much slimmer green dress.
“No fair! Why did he get the easy dress!” Bdubs complained.
“Because I need to save my energy incase we need to make a quick escape, especially after I wasted so much of it messing with our hair,” Tango pointed out, flipping long white hair over his shoulder, “Now let’s get going shall we?”
“Someone’s excited to see Jimmy in a dress.” Gem teased.
“Oh please, I could see Jimmy in a dress whenever I wanted, I’m excited to see how Scar squeezed himself into a dress.”
“You’re surprisingly good at syncing corsets Lord Ralis,” Impulse mused, watching as the duke pulled the strings tighter, causing Jimmy to wince.
“I told you there’s no need for formalities, none of you are that much younger than I am, especially you Impulse, just call me Keralis, please.” The duke pleaded.
“Sorry si… Keralis.” Impulse sighed.
“That’s better, now go get your dress on Jessie, and send Scarlet back out would you? He should have been back by now.” Jimmy sighed and sulked off with the long red dress towards the changing curtain, shoving a half-dressed Scar out from behind it and into the open.
“I can’t get the back tied.” Scar mumbled.
“Come here, Papa K will help with your dress.” Keralis motioned towards Scar and Scar shuffled over. The problem was fixed in a matter of seconds and soon Scar was twirling around giggling to himself like a child.
“How are you so good with women’s clothes?” Impulse noted, looking at the duke suspiciously.
“I grew up with many older sisters, and when I was in the boarding school alongside them I would help some of the girls get dressed so they could sneak out and go to the tavern at night. I gave them no reason not to trust me, I was never interested in what they had to show me after all.”
“Is that why you and Lord Void want refuge in Ebbin?”
“That's why I want refuge, I can’t speak for Suma but I assume he just wants to be somewhere safer when war eventually breaks out again. Especially with how buddy buddy the king is getting with Cidagor these days.” Keralis sighed. He looked mildly upset by the question, and Impulse would have asked him another, but Jimmy came bouncing out from behind the changing curtain.
“I’m ready!” He declared eagerly.
“Wow, you really do look just like Lizzy.” Impulse noted.
“I don’t know if that’s a compliment or not…”
“It’s not.” Scar declared for him, “Now let’s get a move on, the faster we get my brother out of there, the better.”
Merd’s castle was fairly humble compared to Ebbin’s or even to Belen’s, but that didn’t stop it from being utterly flooded with people. None of them were of much interest though, what interested the team was a cage on the small balcony that stuck out above the dance floor. It was like a golden birdcage, decorated to blend right into the rest of the golden decor around it, and inside the cage, sat Cub. Luckily he didn’t look too worse for wear, just a few bruises and a pair of broken glasses still resting on the bridge of his nose.
“Lord Ralis! Wonderful to see you again!” Xisuma said, walking towards the shorter man like he was going to wrap him in a hug, only to sake his hand formally, “I’m sure you remember my son Lor, and my daughters Tammy and Bee.”
“I do! It’s wonderful to see you back from school Lor, and girls you look as radiant as ever,” Keralis said, winking at Bdubs and Tango. “I trust you remember my son Ivan then, and my daughters Jessie and Scarlett?”
“As if I could ever forget.” Xisuma fake laughed, “Last time I saw Ivan he was tear holes in the drapes of my great hall.”
“Oh we have so much to talk about!” Keralis sighed, wrapping an arm around Xisuma’s shoulders despite needing to stretch quite a bit to do so, “You kids go have fun now, and girls, make Papa proud.” He encouraged.
“Of course father,” Scar curtsied before the six made a break for it. Pairing off in teams of two to scan the party. Jimmy and Tango were quick to duck off together, and Bdubs went with Impulse while Gem went with Scar. “So, how do you think we should go about this?” Scar whispered softly.
“How should I know? I half expected you to be up there already tearing that cage apart with your bare hands!” Gem noted as she picked up a flute from a nearby server’s tray.
“Maybe if it was Bdubs in there but I wouldn’t put my brother’s life at risk like that, I’m not stupid… not that stupid at least;” Scar sighed, “But I’m not the ideas guy for a reason! I thought you would have some kind of plan!”
“Well you’re tough out of luck there, I’m just as clueless as you are,” Gem shrugged, “The best thing to do is probably find the king or a guard and lay on that good old fashioned Payne family charm to try to steal keys to unlock the cage.”
“See! You did have a plan!” Scar praised Gem but he was not paying attention to where he was going, resulting into him walking chest first into a short man with brown hair. “Oh my gosh I am such a ditz! Let me help you up!” Scar offered the man a hand and pulled him up effortlessly. Gem sighed at his pathetic attempt to be a dainty court woman, and she questioned how long it would take for someone to notice and throw all six of them into the dungeons.
“No no, it’s my fault, I should have been paying attention to where I was looking,” The man sighed, looking up at Scar his face was a bright red. Gem tensed as she realized that it was the prince of Cidagor Scar was talking to. “Please! Allow me to make it up to you, do you have an open spot on your dance card?” He looked at Gem nervously, and for a moment she forgot that she looked like a man, and anyone could have easily mistaken the two for a couple.
“Oh I’m just a friend, her dance card is totally free.” Gem assured him, trying her best to keep her hands from shaking. Sure she could take the guy in a fight if she had to, but if he was there it likely meant that more Cidagorians were there as well, and that meant the danger level was a bit higher than anyone had anticipated.
“Oh that’s wonderful, may I see your dance card then?”
“What’s the plan bossman?” Bdubs whispered.
“Well for one, maybe try to speak like a lady so we don’t get caught immediately,” Impulse sighed, “And for two, I want to try to find a way into the kitchen or the servant halls. It should be easier to get to… the bird that way, rather than making a scene of trying to climb the stairs out here.”
“Hey it’s not my fault I grew up in the hicks, this is how all of the ladies talked back there.” Bdubs noted annoyedly.
“Talk like a lady of the court, is that better?”
“Excuse me?” Impulse nearly jumped out of his skin when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Turning around it seemed to be an older man, whose eyes were crawling all up and down Bdubs’s dress. It made Impulse want to push his eyes back into his skull, but he refrained. “My lady you are simply beautiful, may I have a spot on your dance card?” Impulse opened his mouth to speak but Bdubs spoke first.
“Back off Ivan, you may be courting me but that doesn’t mean I can’t have fun.” Bdubs winked at him and Impulse decided the squire would be getting a stern talking to when their mission was all said and done. “I would love to!”
Tango was partially thankful of the fact that no one seemed to like him all that much, and partially pissed off, because that meant he was left alone by the wall while he watched other men twirl Jimmy around on the dance floor.
“A slow night for you?” A soft voice spoke up next to Tango, it was a taller man (though that wasn’t saying much since it was Tango they were talking about) with mismatched eyes and short silver hair despite appearing very young. What caught Tango’s eyes though was the fact that he was dressed in formal mages robes as opposed to a suit or show armor.
“You could say that,” Tango sighed, “Are you a mage?”
“Yeah! Well a mage in training at least.” The man nodded, “I’m to replace my current teacher as the king's right hand in the next coming months.” Tango nodded fondly.
“Very impressive.” He praised.
“That’s very kind of you to say, I just wish the king wasn’t such a dick… don’t tell him I said that,” Tango just laughed.
“I like you, what’s your name mage in training?”
“Etho, and you are?” He asked eagerly.
“Tan.. Tammy, Tammy Void, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Tango noticed how Etho’s hand darted into his pocket to start fiddling around with something. “Is that a wand in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?” Etho’s face went bright red at Tango’s teasing remark.
“Oh no nothing like that! We don’t actually use wands, that's more something you read in old books,” Etho sighed, “It’s just a set of keys. My mentor tasked me with keeping the keys to the prisoner's cage safe until the party was over, he said that’s the only thing I would be good for.”
“Well he sounds like a stick in the mud,” Tango rolled his eyes, already cooking up a plan in his head, “I’m sure you’re good for plenty of things, like taking up a spot or two on my dance card, if you don’t mind me being so forward.”
“Not at all! I would love to dance with you!”
Gem had gotten tired of watching Scar dance around with the prince of Cidagor over and over again, so she sulked off in an attempt to find someone else. It wasn’t too hard considering there were six of them, and she spotted Tango first. Standing against a wall with a mage, shooting desperate glances at her that screamed: get me out of here.
“Tammy! Father has been looking for you! Where have you been!” She scolded as she walked up to him, grabbing his arm and dragging him away. Tango giggled stupidly.
“Has he? Oh uh... see you later Etho!” The mage waved and Gem dragged Tango across the hall to the tables of food where things were a little less crowded.
“Find anything?” Gem whispered.
“Oh I did better than just finding something,” Tango whispered back, reaching down into the front of his dress. Gem looked away on instinct and he just laughed. “That mage had the key to Cub’s cell, and I got it off of him.”
“Holy shit you’re amazing!” Gem praised quietly.
“Thank you thank you, I’ll be happy to hear you sing my praises later, but for now you should probably take this considering this damn thing doesn’t have pockets.”
“Oh I hate when they don’t have pockets.” Gem sighed as she took the key and pocketed it quickly.
“Lor! Tammy!” Turning around the two saw Impulse casually walking over to the two of them, “I lost Bee awhile ago and I practically got lost trying to find her! I even ended up in the servant’s tunnels believe it or not, how have you two been fairing.”
“Oh just… looking at the birds.” Gem shrugged. “Scarlett has been dancing with the prince of Cidagor for a while now so I wandered off to grab a snack.” She shrugged.
“The prince of Cidagor?!” Impulse’s volume was a touch loud, but since the hall itself was bustling with noise they only got a few head turns from people close by. “I can’t believe it, she’s such a lucky girl!”
“Speaking of lucky girls,” Tango pointed to Scar who was making his way back over to them with a smile.
“He’ll be out of commission for a while, what’s next?”
“What the hell did you do to him?” Impulse asked.
“I made out with him until he couldn’t breathe, I have fantastic lung capacity you know,” He bragged.
“Well if your lung capacity is so great, maybe you want to go for a round two?” Gem wanted to gag herself with a spoon for saying that, but it seemed like an easy out.
“What?!” Scar asked, face red with confusion.
“I’m asking,” Gem said more forcefully, “If you would like to go watch the birds with me.” She explained, putting a very particular emphasis on the word: birds.
“Oh… oh! But of course!” Scar laughed.
“Ivan, where did you say those servant tunnels were again? We probably want some privacy for this.” Gem asked.
“Just past the bathrooms, the door blends into the wall pretty seamlessly unless you know what you’re looking for.” Impulse explained knowingly. While you two crazy kids are having your fun I assume I should…n’t gather up our sisters and and fathers to tell them the scandalous news.”
“Do whatever you want,” Gem shrugged before grabbing Scar’s arm and dragging him towards the bathroom. Low and behold the door was cracked open so it was easy for the two of them to slip inside. None of the servants questioned them so long as Gem was sliming and Scar was giggling like a kid that had just been caught with candy, and it was only a matter of time before the duo was at the door to Cub.
“Okay, what now?” Scar asked worriedly.
“Make as little of a scene as possible and keep low to the ground. Hopefully everyone else is already outside by now so as soon as Cub is out or only focus is on getting ourselves out of here and to the meetup point.” Gem explained as she passed him the keys, “Let’s hope Tango got the right guy.”
Scar opened the door as little as possible and slunk out onto the balcony. Since the hall was full the king obviously thought there was no need to have guards posted by Cub when he already had some at the base of the stairs, so the only one who saw Scar approaching was Cub himself.
“What took you so long?” He teased, voice hoarse.
“I had to figure out how to put on a corset,” Scar shot back as he turned the key in the lock, causing it to click open, “Now let’s go get you some new glasses yeah?”
“It’s a relief to see you’ve all returned safely.” Lizzy said when the nine arrived back in Ebbin, “And another thank you to you two as well Lord Void and Lord Ralis, without you who knows what would have happened to Cub.”
“It was our pleasure madam.” Keralis assured her.
“We’re working on securing you proper homes, but for now we can have rooms prepared for you in the castle…”
“One room should be enough,” Xisuma noted, hesitantly looking down at Keralid who beamed back at him.
“I couldn’t agree more! You also don’t need to worry about separate houses, Lord Void and I are… quite close.”
“You literally told me you weren’t dating two days ago.”
“Shut up Impulse.”