Tales of Cadence/Chapter VI

When Felix returned from the dressing rooms, his arms were full of gaudy, well-worn costumes. He even balanced a broken tiara on one arm, careful not to drop it as he stumbled back to Celine.

“Very good,” she said, pulling a long, ripped black cloak from the armful and neatly wrapped it around Raven’s shoulders. Then she took Felix’s crimson hat and placed it over Raven’s head, tipping it to the side as she purposely mussed his coal-black hair. Celine then stood back and admired her result, looking Raven over as if he were a work of art.

“Excellent work, Celine,” Felix said excitedly, grinning. “Do you think they’ll recognize him like this?”

“If he keeps his shoulders up straight and the hat tipped to the side, then they won’t notice a thing,” she said, picking up the broken tiara and placing it on Felix’s head as she spoke. “Now, if you’ll get into your costume, we can fake a rehearsal.”

Felix nodded enthusiastically and jumped back onstage, this time carefully avoiding the loose floorboard as he ran to the dressing room.

“Can’t I be the one in the rehearsal?” the girl from earlier asked pleadingly.

Celine shook her head. “Felix may be a horrible actor, but he does fine as long as he doesn’t have a single line to worry about. You, boy,” she motioned to Raven, “I have a script I’d like you to read from.”

He frowned, pushing the hat from his face as she handed him the yellowed script the girl acting with Felix had thrown earlier. “Why can’t I just hide? Wouldn’t that be easier?”

“It would be easier, yes, but it wouldn’t be any fun,” Celine said as she seated herself in the audience with the other girls. “The Shadowed City Troupe hasn’t had a decent audience in a while. It’ll be fun to mess with those guards a bit, won’t it?”

“Sure, if that’s how you want to put it...” Raven muttered sarcastically.

When Felix came back out, Raven had to stifle his laugh. The boy had changed out of his red jacket and was wearing a huge emerald cloak over his white shirt and brown boots. It hung loosely on his small body, causing him to trip and fall several times. The broken tiara was still balanced loosely over his tousled, caramel-brown hair.

“Well?” he asked, looking out to the crowd of girls.

“It’s so cute, Felix!” they crooned, almost swooning. Raven choked loudly and tried to pass it off as a hoarse cough.

“Kid, recite those lines on the script, okay?” Celine said, gesturing to Raven again. “Well...you can start when the guards come, which should be soon anyway.”

“The windows in the dressing room were open enough that I could hear people talking outside,” Felix said. “I heard them say that the guards were doing a sweep of every building in the district!”

Celine leaned back in her uncomfortable chair. “Well, then, it’s all a matter of waiting, isn’t it? They’ll be here soon enough.”

Raven looked over the script, frowning. “Why am I reciting the lines to him?”

“Because Felix is playing the lead female in the play.”

“Does he always play the role of a woman...?”

Celine threw back her head and laughed. “I hate to admit it, but Felix is one of the worst actors I’ve ever seen. He has horrible stage fright and hates being in front of huge crowds, and he couldn’t memorize a single line if his life depended on it,” she said. “And yet people are drawn to him. He’s just so... Well, to be perfectly honest, he’s cute and feminine-looking enough to pass for a girl, don’t you think? And we could always use extras.”

Felix didn’t seem bothered by Celine’s monologue; he balanced on the tips of his toes, smiling cheerfully.

“How old are you, exactly? Ten? Eleven?” Raven asked, turning back to the boy.

“Oh, I’m seventeen,” Felix replied, brushing a strand of light brown hair from his bright eyes.

Raven nearly tripped over his cape and fell off the stage. Felix barely looked old enough to pass for an eleven or twelve year old; how could he possibly be seventeen?

“Heheh, I look young for my age, don’t I?” Felix asked nervously, scratching his head. “That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it?”

“Well...yeah.”

“Hm, maybe one day you’ll know why I look like a kid.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Celine suddenly put her finger to her lips and motioned towards the door. The entire theatre fell silent, and they could hear the clang of armor coming from the alleyway outside the building. The door was thrown open with a loud slam.

“Go!” Celine hissed, jabbing her finger at the script in Raven’s hand. He quickly pulled the wide-brimmed hat down over his head and began reciting the lines, keeping his voice even and loud as he spoke, trying not to let himself stumble over the words and inevitably expose himself to the guards.

He looked over the script, trying mentally to read over the heavy language in the printed sentences. “Ah... Oh what the hell, I can’t even pronounce half the stuff-“

“Go, go!” Felix muttered, his eyes widening fearfully.

“A, um, for stony walls cannot hold love out, and what love can do that dares love attempt...” he could feel his face flush with embarrassment as he read the script, looking up every once to see Felix smiling widely, almost pleasantly unaware of the immediate danger they were in.

As Raven recited his lines, the royal guard entered the theatre and stomped noisily down the stairs. He did his best to ignore them and continued reciting the lines on the paper in a loud, clear voice. Felix pulled anxiously at the hem of the cloak he wore, casting nervous glances over his shoulder.

“Excuse me,” one of the guards shouted to Celine. She rolled her eyes and stood up, greeting the guards in a harsh and cold tone.

“What do you want?” she demanded, putting her hands on her hips. “We’re in the middle of a rehearsal.”

Raven stopped reciting his lines and fell silent, quietly scanning the crowd of guards. He sighed with relief when he saw that Lukas was not in the group.

“We’re looking for a young man with dark hair, blue eyes – he’s a mercenary and looks a bit like a ragged traveler,” the guard said, giving Celine a quick description of Raven. “He’s on the run and we’ve been ordered by his royal majesty to find him and put him under arrest.”

“I haven’t seen a single man or boy all day, save for the lot of you,” she replied coolly.

“What about him?” a guard asked, motioning towards Raven.

“Oh, him.” Celine smiled slyly as she spoke. “Sometimes you’d think he was a girl because of the way he complains like an angry housewife.”

Felix snickered and Raven jabbed him in the ribs.

The guard looked skeptical and tilted his head to the side, as if he was trying to see beneath Raven’s hat. Raven pulled the hat down a little farther and pretended to study the script as the guard carefully tried to scrutinize his face.

“Well? Are you going to keep admiring my actor? I’ll start charging gald here in a minute,” Celine warned.

The guard shook his head. “No, we’re done here.” He turned and motioned towards the other men in his group. “Let’s get going.”

Raven breathed a sigh of relief, letting the papers slip from his fingers. Felix nearly jumped up and cheered, until the guards suddenly stopped halfway up the aisle.

“We were ordered to do a complete sweep of every building,” their leader commanded. “We have to look backstage in case he’s hiding.”

Celine rolled her eyes again and sighed exasperatedly. “All right, all right, go ahead. But if I find one costume out of place you’ll have a lot more to worry about than your king’s wrath.”

The guards split up and went behind the stage. Celine motioned to Raven and Felix, drawing them closer.

“If we’re not careful, they will find out what’s going on,” she hissed. “Felix, I want you to get out of that costume and help him get out of the city. You’ve been in this district long enough to know your way around, right?”

Felix smiled and nodded. “Yeah! I can help him get out, no problem,” he said as he got back onstage and grabbed his jacket and the rapier.

“Follow Felix and keep that cloak on,” Celine said. “And if they find out who you are, don’t let them know we helped you, okay?”

“All right,” Raven replied, taking the hat off and throwing it to Felix. “Thanks for helping me out.”

Celine winked. “It’s no problem. We need more to do these days than practice out-of-date plays and perform to an empty audience.”

“Come on!” Felix said, grabbing Raven by the wrist. He nearly dragged him up the aisle before Raven pulled his hand away, stumbling slightly before picking himself up again and following Felix out of the old theatre.

“There are tons of ways out from this district, but there are probably a bunch of guards hanging around,” Felix said once they were outside. “They won’t expect to see you leave from the front gates, will they?”

“I guess not,” Raven replied, looking over his shoulder as they ran down the narrow streets leading to the main plaza. “But won’t someone in the crowd out there recognize me?”

“Nah, I doubt it. And if they do, we can still escape, right?”

Raven groaned; there was no way he was making it out of the city this way. Felix had a highly romanticized view of the situation, seeing it as more of a game than a race for Raven’s wellbeing.

“By the way, I never got your name,” Felix said, looking back over his shoulder.

“Raven.”

“Just Raven?”

“...Raven Sendemere.”

“Oh, so that’s why the guards are after you! You’re related to the king, huh?” Felix asked, yanking his hat down over his face as it nearly flew off his head.

“Like I said earlier, it’s a long story,” Raven replied, biting his lip. The plaza was getting closer, and he could hear the faint din of chatter getting louder and louder with each passing second.

“I like long stories,” Felix protested. “Maybe you can still tell me one day?”

“Why do you keep talking like you’re following me out of here?”

Felix didn’t reply; they were already at the entrance to the main plaza. Fortunately, most of the people were too busy browsing or talking to others and did not notice them. Raven looked down at Felix and grimaced; how could anyone miss a kid dressed up like that?

“Edward!”

Raven suddenly froze. ‘Dammit!’

Felix turned and pulled on his wrist again. “Come on, Raven! There are guards right over there! They’ve seen us!”

Raven could see Lukas advancing on them, followed closely by several armor-clad guards. Why did his brother always have to show up at the worst possible times?