“Brie,” Young stuck his head close to the weeping stone, his cheek grazing a nest of slender mushrooms, their caps glowing with an iridescent radiance. “Hey, Brie.”

      He heard soft rustling from the other side then her voice rung out high and clear, “How many times do I have to tell you, it’s Bri-aah… Oh what’s the use, what do you want.”

      “Is it dripping on your side, too?”

      “Young?”

      “Yeah.”

      “May Anjack slice off your tongue.”

      “Ouch, you’re in a foul mood.”

      “No, I’m in a wonderful mood,” Brianna quipped. “What could be better than whiling away the time in a cold, dank pit, surrounded by rats the size of weasels, and a boy who won’t stop prattling like one of my sisters!”

     “I thought those were weasels.”

     “Ugh…”

     “I’ll tell you what could be better…”

     “Young, I told you, I don’t want to play your silly game, because I’m not in the mood.”

     “Oh, no. I won properly and without question.” He ignored the grunt from her side of the wall. “I’ve been think’n, you know, on how to get out of here.”

     “You’ve been ‘think’n’ since we got thrown in here, and so far, your ‘think’n’ has done nothing but earn us less bread.”

     “How was I supposed to know that weasel was a pet.”

     “You’re missing the point.”

     “Enlighten me.”

     “You’ve failed, now it’s my turn to think.”

     “You think you can do better?”

     “I know, I can do better.”

     Young settled with his back against the wall, shifting with a grimace when a trickle of water slid down his back. Never did it occur to him that he would one day end up in a thieves’ hole under Glorin’s Gate, much less with an uppity red-headed pain in the arse. Where did it go wrong, he wondered. He had to admit when the ax fell, he didn’t see it until his arms were bound behind his back and Brie was screaming ‘do you know who I am?’

     “Brie?”

     “Yeah…”

     “What do you think they want with Evan?”

     “What makes you think they want anything with the little twerp?”

     “It’s obvious, innit. I mean, the moment we walked in something was off.”

     “If you say so, but if I remember correctly, you walked in with your hand held out like you were accepting alms.”

     “Yeah, well, it be good to set the tone of the conversation, if’n you’re in the know.”

     “What I want to know is what happened to our uppity little guide, she disappeared in a hurry.”

     “Naw, I think she was in over her head.”

     “If you say so, but I think she led us into a good and simple trap.”

Young leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. He was missing the dialogue, the snitch. He thought back to when he first saw Evan. Fiona had brought him and that big fighting man with the scars to the clearing. The kid had been scrawny, but well-dressed. Timid, even. But for the life of him, Young couldn’t figure out the connection. They didn’t mix, the lot of them, and yet… And yet, they fit like a pair of lamb skin boots. Snapping his fingers, he let out a hoot, “I got it.”

     “Yeah, it better be good, because you interrupted my thoughts yet again.”

     “Remember the beast that chased you into the clearing. How it got through still baffles my mind, the crazy she-elf had some impressive wards…”

     “Do you have a point,” Breanna interrupted him. “because what baffles me is how you can sound almost normal one minute and be a jabbering farceur the next.”

     “It is a talent,” Young countered. “but hear me out…”

     “If I had a choice in the matter.”

     “Was the beast after you, or was it after someone else?”

     “What are you talking about? It chased me into the clearing, didn’t it? Almost killed me.”

     “Yeah, but was it after you? Think about it…”

     “I have, Young. I still dream about it. All I can see is the feverish hate in its eyes and the almost man-like snarl to its mouth. I don’t want to talk about it, and I assure you, I don’t want to think about it.”

     “You may want to hide with your head under a churl’s hinny, girl, but I don’t,” Young glanced at the thick wooden door of his cell, warped by moisture. He half-expected to see one of his gaolers peek in through the slat of bars in its center. “That thing was after someone, and it wasn’t you.”

      Brianna made a huffing sound, “If not me, who?”

      Young counted to ten before answering, his voice filled with satisfaction, “Evan.”

     “Evan? You’re nuttier than I originally thought you were. What would that creature want with Evan?”

     “You forget, I had a mighty advantageous vantage point that night...”

     “In a cage.”

     “Be that as it may, I saw the look in its eyes when it noticed Evan. It forgot about you and focused on him. Now from where I come from that means you weren’t the mark, you just got in the way.”

     “I don’t understand…”

     “I don’t understand it all either, but the common link is Evan. I’d tick off the reasons on me fingers and toes, but I don’t have enough fingers or toes.” Young heard a loud thump on the other side of the wall as dirt and small rocks rained down on his head. “Brie?” he gasped, as a large rock loosened from its nook, and fell next to him.           “What are you up to.”

     “I’m getting out of here,” Brianna explained, her voice muffled by the stone. “You should, too.”