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LADRE

Hand-crafted ceramic vase from 100 First Era--$1045, used to smash ceiling-high stained glass window--$570. Silk woven bed-sheets--$300 used as a make-shift rappel rope. Gods, this was dumb. We definitely should have planned this out better. I glanced down the halls again, making sure that no one else was headed up this corridor. As dumb as this might look and as lighthearted as it maybe, we are still going to be in quite a lot of trouble when we're found out.

"Reeeeeeeen? Hey, Ren?" I whispered as loudly as I dared out the shattered window and down the silk sheets to the black robed mass making his way down to the tiled roof below. We chose the night of the new moon to pull this off for a reason, but I could still make out the unamused glare he cut through the night for me. I rolled my eyes gave an uneager sigh. He always loved his pseudo-stealth mission bullshit.

"Shadow Eagle?"

"Yes sir, Mr. Dark Growler, Shadow Eagle on station and waiting for your descent!" the cheerful birdsong floated up to me as his claws clicked against the palace shingles. I straddled the window, wary of any left-over glass shards, and clung to the ruined fabric. Gods, I hate heights.

"We really need to speed this up, Midnight Watch will be coming this way any minute now," I grasped at the cold tiles with my foot-claws and leaned over the hanging edge of the shingles. Four story drop. I gulped.

"Well then, we should be going huh?" Entrerien gave me that stupid cocky let's-do-anything grin he was so fond of. Warm light from other windows glimmered off of his beak. My stomach was this grin's Pavlov's bitch. And with two great wing beats he was half a meter up in the air, hovering. Damn birds. I took off running across the roof of the West Wing of Entret palace, Ren flutter-hopping a few paces out front, keeping his wing beats as quiet and efficient as possible. I was surprised. We might actually succeed at escaping; something I honestly hadn't considered. This'd be the first of his dumb schemes that even came close to anything resembling success. It kinda' worried me.

Six meters until the end of the line. Ren was in position, I was in position, and those butterflies in my stomach were yapping about how stupid I was. One meter. Step, kick, jump. I leaped off the end of the building. I was floating. Held in a moment. I looked down at the guards positioned incrementally on the stone wall that surrounded the palace. Kinda' old fashioned for the palace of a family that owned a majority of the Information Technology market in the country. Gods, I was going to fall to my death and my last thought was going to be of the socio-economic tendencies of a certain affluent family-

Talons dug into my arms and held me aloft. I almost fucking cursed out loud from the pain, but we were flying, well, more accurately gliding. We were both going to get past the outer wall but our descent was much steeper than anticipated. We were going to be seen. We were going to be seen by some of the most deadly private sector mercenaries this side of the Rift. The ground was approaching alarmingly fast so I nudged one of Ren's feet to signal we needed a cushion. Great pillows of air surrounded us as we touched down, but I did not want to stick around for the, you know, bullets. I didn't even give Entrerien a chance to get down. I just yanked his shins forward, slapped his butt on my shoulders, and sprinted into the pitch black forest that skirted the palace perimeter.

Firecrackers of death began cackling in our direction just as we had broken into cover behind the first trees. They were firing at darkly clothed trespassers so I couldn't blame them, but could they at least be a little less accurate? Bark ricocheted into splinters that stabbed into my face and tail, but I could tell that Ren had gotten some of it too.

"OH MY GODS OH MY GODS OH MY GODS,"

We- well, I ran quite a ways before throwing myself into the comfort of a tree trunk. Everything was black. Off in the distance I could hear the yelling and shouting of patrols out looking for us over the badly controlled heavy breathing of my own snout. I could hear Ren's breathing. His was so much calmer, although he didn't do as much running, it was still calming. I focused on it. Inhale... Exhale... Inhale... A beam of light pierced the darkness. It was off in the distance, segmented by the trunks of trees, but not that many; they weren't far away. Ren saw it too. I was laying on my back laying between the exposed roots of a trunk and he straddled my waist and wrapped his black cloak around us both.

My heart stopped. He pressed his body against mine. I could feel his breath against my snout and eyelids. Had I not been sitting on it, my tail would have been everywhere.

My gulp echoed through the silent night. My sharp uneven breathes etched intent into the blackness between us.

He leaned his beak onto my shoulder. I rubbed my cheek against his soft plumage. My paws moved to hold him against me. I felt him. Smelled him. Knew him.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exh-

---

Birds chirped above me. Heat pressed against me. Sweat filled my nostrils. Darkness surrounded me.

I opened my eyes. Still black. I shifted a paw and pulled the fabric canopy down and there was light. Lots of it. It flowed down from the leaves, making them glow a flawless emerald. It twisted itself around the trees, running playfully over the soft, swaying grass. It was life. We had made it. Guess those guards weren't as great as they were made out to be.

Entrerien still pinned me down, but it was more in sleepy embrace than anything else. I had wanted to sleep with him more than anything the past few years, it's ironic it'd happen now. By the Gods he was cute when he slept. He was so uncharacteristically calm, his cheeky grin was reduced to only the most subtle of dream smiles. Head feathers laid back in a way I had never seen, even though he attempted during any formal dinners or occasions. Lime green feathers clashed against his flame of a beak. Gods, I loved that idiotic bird.

I eventually woke him. We commended our astounding amounts of luck during the not-so-great escape. Two supposedly unarmed trespassers who were running away must not have been threat enough to warrant a full search. We thanked the Gods and made our way away from the Entret estate. We kept walking, following the path of the early morning sun to the West for an hour until we came upon a rather shallow creek.

"I... I've never gone past this point," Entrerien stared into the water from the cobblestone bridge that overtook it, "We step away from here and we're officially running away from home," he looked up at me for advice. I knew he would eventually regret the decision; running away from home isn't always what it's made out to be.

Entrerien was the youngest of the modern Entret family generation, he would be recognized as a prince in all federal accounting records. He was heir to an immense fortune after all. The prince title has perks of course but maybe not all of them welcome...

"You know I haven't either," I looked at his reflection in the slow current.

"I'm scared,"

"Ha, what? You scared? Come on... You're supposed to be the brave one remember?" I elbowed his shoulder affectionately.

"What if I'm making the wrong choice? Am I being too childish?"

"Wanting to see the world does not make you childish... You know that."

"Yea, but-"

"Nope, no buts. I followed you this far," I stomped my foot for effect,"and for twenty-three years before this. We are not stopping now just because you don't feel like taking shit from your father." Ren grinned his big old cocky smile again, and I was right at home. Right-hand dog to the prince. This was my place.

"You're right Lad. We've gone this far. Let's see this through," he draped one wing around my neck and I did the same with a paw around his. We both took deep breaths, stepped across the cobblestone bridge, onto the path on the other side, and into the fields of wheat that rolled across the country plains.

---

Twenty-three years I've been following around my best friend, Entrerien Entret. Twenty-three years the Entret family had taken care of me; I was a servant after all. The Entrets were notorious for their generous donations to the national well-fare programs, but the one that made them stand out from all of the rich benefactors was their Servant Employment Service. It sounded rather dull, but in reality it was a way to train and educate the homeless and unemployed around the country. The family would recruit the impoverished and allow them shelter and food in exchange for years of domestic service to one of the family's manors. It was an highly praised system. Less homeless, less crime, more work.

_ I_ was one of these servants. Ladr? Der-entret is my name; I was taken from an orphanage on the day of my birth and brought to the boring country. Not that I'm not grateful, I am. It's just... I was brought here to be the constant hand to the prince. We were raised side-by-side. Same birthday, shared rooms, classmates. Never more than a meter apart at anytime. Just like now.

Ren walked just under a meter in front of me. His shoulders sagged and we had quite a while ago torn off our stealth cloaks and left them on the dirt road somewhere. The suns blazed above us, the wheat swayed beside us, and the only haven was to not think about anything.

"And you're sure we're going the right direction?" I couldn't even feel my foot-paws anymore. I wasn't even going the think about having to turn back around.

"Yes, I'm sure. The city of Pershians is just north of the palace," he pointed at the positions of the dual suns and then at the direction in front of us,"And this is north."

He was right. I was just tired of all of the bullshit walking, and against my pride I did have to admit... The heat waves that radiated off of the trail ahead kinda' looked like buildings. I rolled my eyes. It did end up being the tallest tips of the Pershian spires, and once we had crested the hill and overlooked the valley below I finally felt a excited about the possibilities of adventure. Of what we might find away from the gentle catering of royal life. Ren looked back at me with that wild grin of his, and for once in my life I actually returned the look. This was going to be one hell of a ride.