The Atonement of a Writer

25. Plan Gone Awry I

He wondered if the prince knew the man before him absolutely hated his guts.

He probably did. He wasn't even being subtle about it.

Still, they should be able to put aside their feelings and focus on the matter at hand. The only thing that bound them together was their love for this land--one's desire to preserve it, and one's desire to change it.

They could battle out the details of change and preservation later. Right now, they had to work together to bring it back first.

~*~

Lili kept her eyes closed and muscles relaxed as she was carried away.

As expected, Colette's lackeys did the same thing as they did in the original novel. Her heart hammered in her chest as she let them lift her up, hoping they wouldn't hear. She told herself that Julien was following behind them anyway--there was no need to get nervous.

It was better this way, she reflected. It saved her the trouble of going down to the fissure herself. At least she wouldn't be tired from hiking when facing the Cherufe. It was Julien who had to make his way down by himself, she thought sympathetically.

The two soldiers carrying her, unaware she was conscious, were rather careless. They didn't even bother to tie her up, confident that their sleeping medicine had worked. Those two deserved what was going to them, she thought as, once again, she got whacked in the head by a branch. The first thing she would do once they arrived was bonk their heads together.

After what seemed like hours, they finally set her down. She could feel the heat in the air permeating into her skin--they must be quite close to the lava. Before they could do anything else--like throw her in, for example, that would be quite bad--she opened her eyes, and her fist shot out.

The two soldiers, who had been silent up till now, cried out in surprise as she sat up and punched one of them in the face. They exchanged a glance, and she saw the moment they thought, it's the two of us against one girl. As they rushed her, she quickly backed up, giving just enough space for Julien to body slam the two of them into the ground.

Lili sat down on one of them, pushing her whole body weight into him so he couldn't throw him off. Julien took the other.

"Maybe we should throw the two of you in," she drawled. "Two male virgins to make up for the lack of one female."

"Their meat is probably juicier and more tender," Julien agreed, squeezing one of their arms experimentally. "They do a lot more exercise than you, anyway."

"Are you calling me fat?" She wrinkled an eyebrow at him.

"Well..." Julien blatantly gestured to the soldier below her.

"Mercy!" One of them finally squeaked. "Have mercy!"

She cocked her head. "Wow. I was just guessing about that virgin part, but with that voice of yours, there's no way you've had some."

Julien groaned. "Li--Arielle, please keep it PG."

As she shrugged, the other one spoke. "Please, have mercy! We were ordered to! We had to save our families!"

"Oh? By whom?" It wasn't like she didn't know anyway.

The two soldiers exchanged a frightened glance, clearly weighing their options.

"Never mind. You know what's going to happen?" She leaned in. "You are going to go back to the campsite. When we're discovered missing, you're going to lead them here. I don't care what excuse you give to everyone else, but you must tell Killian--and Killian only--the whole truth.