Chapter3

The stone arced perfectly over the guard's head, bouncing off the stone wall in front of him. It rolled to a stop at his feet and sank slowly into the ground. Kendra stood poised behind the guard, a few steps back. A portal crackled to life from where the stone had sunk and Kendra sprang into action, lunging forward and knocking the armored guard through the portal. A surprised yelp tore from his throat as he awoke to a reddish hued portal swallowing him whole. The gate closed and Kendra was alone again... mission accomplished. The guard had been pushed into Trammel... an alternate twin world of Felucca, and would be unable to return unless he, too, possessed a Moonstone or a way to get to a public moongate. Few held onto moonstones now that the public gates allowed passage back and forth between the worlds, so it would take him some time to get back to his post. Long enough, Kendra thought, to get her brother out of here safely and unnoticed.

Kendra turned the corner, crossbow at the ready, in case anyone had heard the surprised cry from the misplaced guard, but no one was around, save the prisoners. She tread cautiously down the row of iron bars, past faces she had seen posted at the banks and guard posts throughout the land. She recognized some of them as her brother's friends. Criminals... pirates... murderers... thieves... and now - as she came to the last cell in the row - her brother himself, curled up in a ball and snoring quietly.

"Ken... Kendrik!" She whispered urgently. "Wake up, brother..." The other prisoners had taken quite an interest in the potential jailbreak... hoping that they, too, would be freed. Kendrik stirred, rolling over to see the finest sight he had ever seen.

"Sis! Wha...? How...?" His disorientation coupled with the still pounding headache gave volume to a voice that was raspy and harsh.

"Shhh! No time for questions... Here..." Kendra reached into her pack and tossed a blank rune and scroll inscribed with the "Mark" spell to her imprisoned brother. "Hurry!"

Kendrik scrambled to his feet and read the words of power inscribed on the scroll, clenching the blank rune tightly in his fist. "Kal Por Yeh.. uh... Yah... How the hell do you guys read this shit?"

"Ylem, Ken... sheesh..." Kendra hated the fact that her brother refused to study any of the magical arts.

"Right. Kal Por Ylem!" The scroll vanished in a flash and the rune glowed brightly with its newfound power. Kendrik tossed the rune to his sister and stepped to the side of the cell.

"Vas Rel Por!" Kendra waved her arms about her head and a blue portal opened both inside and outside the cell. "Hurry!" Kendrik stepped through the portal on his end and emerged immediately through the other side. "Let's go, Ken..." Kendra took off down the hallway back towards the stairway. Kendrik on the other hand paused, looking at the fellow criminals behind their bars.

"Hold up, sis... we can't just leave these guys... Help me real quick." Kendrik turned and smiled at his jailmates.

"We don't have time for this, Ken! I don't have any more runes or Mark scrolls... Maybe we can come back later!" Kendra again headed for the stairwell.

"Nuh-uh, sis... we'll never be back. At least I don't plan on ever coming back to this hell-hole. We free them now." Kendrik stood his ground firmly, risking another capture. Kendra knew that tone... She'd never win a fight when he had that tone of voice.

"Ooooook... what do you propose, then? I haven't lockpicked in ages... and you sure as hell never learned, otherwise I wouldn't have had to rescue you..." Kendra folded her arms impatiently.

"Ye of little faith, sis..." Kendrik smirked. "Wouldn't happen to have a kryss on ya, would you?" Kendra reached into her pack and tossed him one.

"It's durable... imbued with the power of ruin..." She felt a little guilty at this, but it was the only one she could find.

Kendrik frowned, "It'll hafta do..." He strode down the hallway past his sister and the stairwell and took a left down another hallway. A few moments later, Kendra heard a muffled "Hey... what the...?!" and then silence. Kendrik came back around the corner, keyring in hand beaming all the while.