Dragon's Revenge
11.

The people in the pews start shouting in confusion as they rush the tribunal floor.

"Everyone, please stay calm!" The questioner shouts.

Jonah pushes through the crowd, trying to get to Elodie, but he's surrounded by too many people. "Elodie, where are you?"

"Jonah!" She's trying to get his attention.... when she sees Morgan headed directly for Maria. The girl is frozen in the chaos, unaware that Morgan is fast approaching behind her. Elodie struggles against her shackles, trying to break free from them. She searches around for a way to help Maria. An idea forms when she notices a torch attached to the wall. "Think fast, Morgan."

Morgan hears his name and looks up just as she rips it from the wall and throws it right at him. The torch hits him in the back, knocking him over before he gets to Maria. Instead, Jonah rushes over to her. "And stay down."

All of a sudden, Queen Desmonda hits a gong. The room immediately stops moving. "I demand obedience!" Her eyes narrow at Morgan. "That includes you, son. Stand down. Maria should have an opportunity to stand up for herself, especially with this magnitude of accusation."

"I agree. We Jebels have our rules. If Elodie has to follow them, so should Morgan."

"Then it's settled."

Morgan is livid, but Maria looks grateful. She walks over to Elodie and stands by her side.

"How are you holding up?" She asks.

"I've been better. It took a lot for me to get here. I'm just glad I made it back alive."

"Maria, you have the floor. Say your peace."

Elodie nods to Maria, encouraging her to speak. She steps forward to address the entire room. "During the attack, the hunters caught me and took me to a warehouse where they handed me over to Morgan-"

"Lies!"

Maria ignores Morgan. She pushes through her exhaustion and keeps going. "He drugged me with a poison that kept me unable to speak or move, but I remained alert and aware. When Jonah, Mino and Elodie arrived at the warehouse to rescue me, I watched Morgan attack them. I couldn't help, I was frozen, but luckily Jonah and Elodie escaped. Mino and I were rescued by Jebeem."

As Maria says Mino's name, her eyes fill. She pauses, unable to continue. Elodie places a kind hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Maria. You don't have to keep going."

"No, I want to. I have to tell my story.... for Mino." She takes a moment to collect herself. "We were taken to the sanctuary, but I still wasn't in the right state of mind to talk about what happened. Finally, Jebeem found an antidote to the poison.... just as Morgan attacked the compound."

"Blasphemy! All she knows is that a Black Dragon attacked the Aelon sanctuary."

"That Black Dragon was you! And that's when you killed Mino. I watched it happen."

The room falls silent. Queen Desmonda's lip trembles. She grabs Jonah's hand for support.

"Please continue, Maria. What happened next?" Jonah asks.

"Morgan would've killed me too. I barely managed to escape with my life. I still couldn't speak, but I was aware of my surroundings. I was in a ditch in the forest, all by myself. All of my companions who had escaped from the Aelon sanctuary were killed. That's when I knew I had to replace a way back here. I had to tell everyone the truth about Morgan."

A seething Morgan stands up in his seat. He speaks in a low, threatening voice. "How can you believe this witness? She said so herself, she was poisoned. The poison must've affected her memory!"

"Morgan, you need to shut up and sit down."

"How dare you tell me what to do! I'm a prince and you're just an Aelon."

"You may not listen to Elodie, but you will listen to your Queen. And I command you to be silent. Morgan, please stop. I have to know what happened to Mino. I need to hear the truth."

Morgan takes a reluctant step back, but his eyes are locked on Elodie's.

"We've heard what Maria has to say, but that's not enough. She's only one witness."

"To move forward with any official charges, we'll need two witnesses."

"What about Elodie? She was there with me!"

"Yes, that would work. If Elodie is willing to corroborate your story."

Maria turns to her, hopeful. Queen Desmonda eyes her, waiting for her to decide. Meanwhile, Jonah gives her an encouraging nod. His support warms her heart. "What do you say, Elodie? Do you support Maria's version of events?"

"Maria, I'm sorry, but I don't want to make the situation worse for myself."

"It's okay, I understand. And you weren't with me for every part, so you can't be too sure I'm not lying. But I promise you that every word I'm saying is true."

"I trust you."

Some members in the crowd are close enough to hear her conversation with Maria. Shocked, the crowd stand up in their chairs, pointing and whispering about Morgan.

Morgan can see that he's losing face. All of a sudden, he stands up and points to his mother. "I call for a vote of no confidence... in Queen Desmonda."

"Wow, how desperate of you!" Elodie shouts.

"I'm not desperate, I'm smart."

"Son? You would make a mockery of thousands of years of Jebel tradition and try to dethrone me?"

"Which clearly needs to happen. You've just heard a witness statement from a human. And you would rather believe them, than your own son. A Jebel prince."

"Your actions are only proving Maria's and Elodie's accusations correct."

"Brother, you need to back down."

"It's too late. The vote has already been called for."

"He's right. There's nothing else we can do for the Queen now. It's in the tribunal's hands." The questioner turns to address the tribunal, who all look confused and worried. "You must now cast your votes on the Queen's ability to rule."

Morgan smirks as if he already knows how the vote is going to go and whispers to Elodie. "I have too many people in my pocket. You're going to lose."

Her and Jonah watch in horror as everyone in the pews starts voting 'thumbs down'.

"The final vote has been called. Queen Desmonda is to be removed from power immediately."

"No....." Elodie sighs. "No wonder you were removed as heir!"

"Get them out of my face."

She watches a guard pull Maria and Queen Desmonda away toward the prison cells. Another guard unlocks her shackles and pulls her along with him.

On her way out, she passes Jonah. "I'll replace you, I promise."

~W~

An hour later, she's alone, stuck in a grimy, single cell with concrete walls. The night passes. And then the sunrise and then afternoon. Finally, Jonah comes to visit, holding a tray of food.

"I'm sure you're hungry. This was all I could manage to scrounge up without any suspicion."

Her stomach grumbles for the tray, but she looks away from him. "You punch Morgan. You take my side. But he doesn't throw you in prison?"

"I told him I was faking it. I don't think he believed me, but after throwing our mother in jail, he couldn't afford to get rid of me too."

"What's going to happen to me now?"

"Because you refused to channel your energy into the dragon egg, you're still facing execution. The tribunal wasn't convinced of your innocence. Although we now know the whole thing was a sham."

"And what about you, Jonah? I'm waiting for you to rescue me. Because you're the heir to the Jebel throne, you could pardon me if you wanted to."

"Not anymore. Not with all the Jebels in Morgan's pocket." Jonah steps closer to her cell. Through the cell, his hand softly grazes hers. "I want to believe you're innocent. But how can I trust you if you won't let me see into your past?" Just then, her stomach rumbles loudly. Jonah pushes the tray of food closer to her. "You're hungry, you need to eat. Or else you won't be able to handle what's next."

"What's next?"

Jonah shakes his head. With a sly grin, he takes a cluster of grapes and holds them just above her lips. "Food first. Then we'll plan after." He grazes her lips with his fingers, his gaze locked on hers. The fire in her belly ignites.

"After everything that's happened, I can't even think about food."

"And yet, you still need to eat. You're going to need your strength."

She grabs a cracker off the tray and shoves it into her mouth. "Satisfied? Now, tell me about the plan."

"The plan is escaping, of course."

"Escaping? What about Morgan? He's going to expect it from us."

"Maybe. But we can't just sit around and do nothing. We have to get you out of here." Jonah pulls on the cell's bars, looking for weak spots. He moves to the door and inspects the hinges. "The longer we stay, the more you become a target. The more both of us become targets. I fear Morgan will try to have me assassinated and make it look like you did it."

"Jonah, I don't understand. How did Morgan get so deranged?"

"I ask myself that question all the time. Did it happen gradually, or was he always like this? Either way, I'm his brother and I should've seen all the signs."

"Or maybe you missed the signs because you're his brother and you see the good in people. Morgan is the one responsible for all that's happened. Only him, not you." Through the bars, she takes Jonah's hand in hers as the sky outside filters in a brilliant sunset orange. "From what I can tell, Morgan has a chokehold on the Jebels."

"You're right. My mother's council, especially Nori and Jeremiah... they're all in Morgan's pocket. And with Mino having been killed...." Jonah chokes up at the mention of his brother's name. ".... the only other sane person in this family has died."

"Not the only other sane person. We have you, Jonah." His eyes fill. He looks down at the ground, unable to meet her eyes. "You wanted to protect your family, above all else. You believed in your brother's innocence."

"And a fat lot of good that did me. One dead brother. The other, a traitor. And my mother, deposed." Jonah's face is tortured, grief and suffering emanating from him in waves. She releases him and steps further back into her cell, giving him a moment alone. He retreats to the far corner of the room, where he sobs privately, hidden behind a shadow. "I'm sorry. I just needed to get that out." When he returns, his eyes are red and swollen.

"Jonah, you can't let Morgan get the best of you. Otherwise, he wins."

"I know, I can't lose my head. I have to always be one step ahead of time. And that's why we need to run."

Just then, she hears whistling coming from a nearby hallway. "That's a prison guard. They patrol this wing every hour. He'll be here soon. Quick, you need to hide."

Jonah takes to the hallway, looking for the perfect place to hide. "Whatever you do, stay calm. You can't let them know something's up."

"I will, but you need to hide behind the door."

Jonah tucks himself away, hidden from plain sight. The whistling gets closer and closer, until a prison guard enters her room. "Don't mind me, I'm just going to take a look around." As he searches the cell, he gets dangerously close to where Jonah is hiding. She starts banging on her cell's bars like a mad woman. The noise is overwhelming and fills up the space. "One day in a cell and she's already losing her mind, that one." The guard darts out of the room as fast as he can, never once looking back.

Once it's safe, Jonah emerges from his hiding spot. His eyes are tense and alert. "That was too close. We can't afford for anyone else to come." He peers out of the doorway, down the hall, making sure that the path is clear. "If we're going to go, we have to do it now. I took certain measures to ensure your safety. But our window is closing. You have to make a decision. You can either accept my help and escape, or you can refuse and stay here alone."

"I'm sorry, but I'm too scared."

"Please, Elodie, let me help you-" he's interrupted when a blaring alarm echoes through the estate. The prison guard takes off to check it out. "We have to use this chance. We won't get another one!" Using the distraction as cover, he breaks down the prison door and helps her climb out a window. They start to race away, when suddenly, she hears the echoes of guards shouting from her prison cell. Jonah turns to her. "They know you're gone. They're coming for us."