A/N: The story is in order, at the moment.
It may change, I'm just writing some scenes.
TOC Joseph and Serena: Scene 1The cobbled street was deserted. A stray dog padded its way across the street. Its tail wagged and its tongue hung out of its mouth in excitement as it wandered into a pub. The silence was almost deafening, and large black shadows jutted out from the moon-lit buildings. A small shadow slinked from one large shadow to another.
“Is that all of us?” the bearded man asked in a tense whisper. They quickly checked their group.
“I hope this princess of yours isn’t just setting a trap for us,” Joseph muttered in Serena’s ear as they looked around the corner at the palace walls.
“No,” Serena whispered back quickly. “She would not do that. She supports our cause to the nail. She disapproves of slavery.”
“Sure she does,” Joseph said under his breath. Serena turned, ready to give a retort. Joseph quickly placed a finger to his lips.
“Shh!” Joseph cautioned.
“We should go,” Serena mumbled resignedly. They made their way to the king’s chambers carefully. They kept their eyes and ears open for anyone that might alert Judisas of their arrival.
Serena led them through the servant’s entrance and up the back steps to the chambers corridor. Serena looked around the last corner and blinked in surprise.
“That’s odd,” she murmured in suspicion.
“What is it?” Joseph whispered as he too, checked around the corner. He blinked and turned back to Serena.
“Why isn’t there any guard at his door?”
“I don’t know. There’s supposed to be one!” Serena whispered back in a voice almost bordering on panic. “This can’t be good.”
There was a loud yell of triumph from behind them. “We’ve got them now!” Pounding of feet followed as armored men suddenly blocked all the exits.
“You could say that,” Joseph turned back to the horrified looking Serena. Serena’s face changed as she pulled back her cloak, and yanked out a long, skinny weapon from her sword holder. Joseph blinked when he realized it wasn’t a sword, but a bow.
She then pulled out an arrow from the sword holder on her other side, cocked and drew the bow in one swift movement. She pointed the arrow at Joseph’s head.
Joseph gasped and ducked as she released the arrow. The arrow landed in the head of a man that had been about to gut Joseph from behind. Joseph stared in realization at the fallen man.
He then turned back in time to see Serena punch another man in the face and then kick him with a side kick.
Joseph ducked a swipe that was aimed at his head. He pulled his sword out and caught the next attack with little difficulty. He forced the guard backwards with his foot. Taking the split second gap to glance around, Joseph arrived at a conclusion. They were out numbered, badly.
He blocked a few more attacks and hit his attacker over the head with the hilt of his sword. The man went down, twitching, to the floor. Joseph quickly located his only means of escape, before another man came after him. Joseph punched the man in the face and kicked him in the chest, just like he saw Serena do. This tactic worked surprisingly well, and he made good his escape.
Joseph stared down the side of the castle as he clung to the side of the window.
“Hmm,” Joseph muttered to himself as he started to inch his way along the tiny bricks to the next window. “Maybe not such a good idea…”
He heard a scream from inside the castle and paused. He sighed; not wanting to know the horror that brave girl was probably going through.
He sidled along to the balcony of the next window. He grabbed the side window frame and was just about to move into the room when another scream came from inside. Joseph quickly ducked back behind the window curtain that was half closed, almost loosing balance in the process.
“Unhand me this minute!” Joseph heard an angry woman’s voice command as he struggled to swallow his heart back down his throat.
“Now, Your Highness must know by now that I am in charge,” a lofty voice boasted. “Not you. And I know that you’ll co-operate. If you don’t a little friend of yours will suffer the consequences. Oh, and you’ll never guess who we found wandering the castle. Bring her in men!”
Joseph carefully looked in the room just as the girl was dragged in by her hair. Joseph sighed in relief to see Serena hadn’t been hurt too much, yet.
“Serena!” the first voice exclaimed in alarm. “What have you done to her?”
“Nothing, as yet,” the lofty voice responded smugly. “She can help me out enormously.” The man paused as footsteps came in the room, and something heavy fell to the ground. “Ever heard of how they transport Stralian slaves, your highness?”
“You wouldn’t dare!” the first voice challenged angrily. “My father will not have it!”
“Maybe not,” the lofty voice leered. “But how will he know where to look? There's also the need for some one to tell him, and that could take a little while, what with you locked in your room. I could send this box half way around the world, if I wanted to.”
“This is treason!” the first voice gasped. “Punishable by death!”
“Please don’t give him more reason to punish me, Your Majesty,” another girl’s voice pleaded. The man with the lofty voice laughed.
“Your maid seems to have a better idea of the situation then you do, Your Highness,” the lofty voice observed. “Now, into the box.” There was an angry grunt and shuffling of feet.
“That’s the way,” the lofty voice muttered as if talking to a child. “Now, say goodbye to Serena, Your Highness.”
“I’m sorry, Serena,” the first voice apologized in a guilty tone. “I should have seen this coming and gotten you to safety, instead of getting you involved.”
“It’s alri…”
“Well, life is full of disappointments,” the lofty voice drawled before Serena could finish.
“You had better not touch a hair on her head,” the first voice threatened lamely.
“Not I, but I can’t speak for anyone else,” the lofty voice answered as if playing with a toy. Joseph could swear he could almost feel the daggers the girl was mentally throwing at the man. “Bye now.” The sound of nails being hammered into wood came through the open window.
Joseph put his head in his free hand in resignation. What a mess.
tbc
