Eimon’s arms were worn out by the time they reached the castle, Leah still sleeping soundly in his arms. He looked down at her face, so soft and beautiful once she wasn’t hysterical, he thought to himself. The question still remained; of what to do with her once he got her back to the palace. If anyone got word she was there, he was pretty sure she would soon become a study specimen for the elders.

To make sure no one did see her, Eimon walked down the embankment path that lead to a passage under the draw bridge. Only one other soul knew about the passage, but Eimon believed he could be trusted not to tell anyone.

As he reached the doorway, he realized he had a bit of a problem. The door was very heavy, even in the best of times, but he was afraid if he woke her to help she would just bolt. He tried to lie her down on the grass gently, thinking if he could leave her there to nap while he found one of the rocks in the shallow mote to hold the door, everything would be all right.  

Luckily, she did lie there quietly, snoring a bit under her breath. He looked back periodically as he waded through the water, looking for a big enough rock. He thought she was rather cute, with her long brown hair lying out among the grass. Rather lost in thought, he hadn’t noticed that Ailin had opened the door and was standing there looking down at the sleeping Leah.

“Exactly what is this?” He asked rather loudly, startling Eimon and almost causing him to fall into the mote.

“Shh!” Eimon said, rather loudly himself. “I found her in the woods, rather lost, so I decided to bring her back here.” He began to wade back to dry land, shaking his feet off when he reached the grass.

“But why the back door, Eimon?” Ailin asking curiously, but before he could answer Ailin noticed more closely her clothes and ears “well, well, well, what do we have here, is it mortal?” he asked, although they both knew full well the answer to that.

“Yes, but you must promise not to tell anyone, you know what would happen if anyone were to know” he said, rather panicked.

“Don’t worry, you can trust me,” Ailin said reassuringly, “but, what are we going to do with her?”

“We?” Eimon asked, curiously.

“What are friends for, but to help the other?” he said with a smile. Eimon gave him back a smile of thanks.

“Now I’ll hold the door, and you get her inside,” Ailin said quickly, “once it starts getting dark the castle will be crawling with people.

It was an amazement that Leah had been asleep through the whole ordeal with the door, but once inside she began to stir and caught a glimpse of the underground tunnel. It was dark, the only light being the torches on the side. It was almost like she had stepped back in time to the medieval times, especially once she had caught the few glimpses of the ragged tapestry on the walls.

Still in her groggy state, it didn’t occur to her to struggle to get away, instead she lied quietly in Eimon’s arms, watching the torches drift by one by one. So used to her in his arms, Eimon hadn’t even noticed her stirring and continued down the long corridor that lead to Old Man Erin’s workshop.

“Do you think we should ask Erin what to do?” Ailin asked quietly.

“I don’t know, do you think he can be trusted with such a…” Eimon was suddenly cut off by a dark figure blocking his path at the door, leading into the workshop.

“Trust me with what, young prince?” The older man in the shadows asked, although it was quiet clear to the two that it was Erin. “What do we have here?” he inquired as he motioned the boys into the light, to get a better look.

When Eimon saw the look on Erin’s face, he realized that he would soon have to do some fast talking to get themselves out of this predicament. However, before he could talk, Erin just nodded knowingly and motioned the boys to put her on the sofa on the other end of the workshop.

“Hurry boys, you both are expected to dinner tonight, and if you don’t want your young lady friend her to become an experiment for the elders, you must be quick” Erin said, softly and rather rushed.

“What exactly are we to do with her?” Ailin asked Erin “She can’t stay down here forever, can she?”

“You leave her to me, you two go upstairs and get dressed, tonight is important to you Eimon, and you do not want to be late!”

As the two boys rushed from the room, it suddenly dawned onto Eimon exactly what tonight was. The dinner was to be a fancy ball, where he was to finally make his engagement official. A hard lump formed in his chest, as he ran up the stairs, following Ailin up to his room.

Back in the work shop Erin looked down at his young charge, wondering how exactly to handle the situation, his plan was no longer going as it should have.