Jailbreak

The banquet still hummed with activity as Blackmist watched over the proceedings with a sharp eye. So many outsiders were here, eating Atlantean food in such a jovial manner, he felt he couldn't let his guard slip for even a moment. Movement in the treeline immediately caught his eye and he braced for a pack of outsiders to come charging through, but he was surprised to see a familiar pink, feathery head poke through.

"Lego? Why are you not at your post?" he asked abruptly when she was within earshot. The young raptors she had been assigned to escort out of their home were perched on her back, one flat out on its stomach and groaning. The Euoplo looked bashfully at him.

"I'm afraid one of the little ones got a bit travel sick after such a large meal, it didn't feel right to just abandon them like that," she said, looking up at him with pleading eyes. He looked to her back and saw the brown bridle one groaning, though his sharp amber eyes were open and the second he saw Blackmist he sat up.

"I'm fine, Lego's just-" he stopped himself mid-sentence to put a claw on his aching stomach, "She's just worrying for no reason," he finished, after seemingly swallowing... something. Blackmist wrinkled his nose and looked across to the court buildings. 

"Take him to the infirmary," he ordered, "there should be plenty of tinctures to settle a stomach in there. In the mean time, I will watch his companions here." The four of them looked suddenly nervous, only heightening his suspicion.

"But, we want to make sure he's okay," the pink one protested.

"I understand, but the infirmary is busy with the influx of outsiders, I would prefer if you stayed out of the way. Besides, Lego will be with him, nothing untoward will happen, you have my word," he promised, turning his gaze to the Euoplo and giving her a look laden with meaning. Nothing would go wrong for the court, he said with his eyes, or there will be consequences. The knight nodded her head vigorously.

"Of course, Blackmist, I'll take care of him, you girls don't have to worry," she assured the two female raptors. Reluctantly, the pink and purple ones slid from her back and left their friend behind. "We'll be back before you know it, and Blackmist will keep you company until we are," she said gently. Thistle grabbed hold of her head in an awkward hug and Lego chuckled. 

"Don't be long," the purple raptor said, a tremble in her voice. With that, the Euoplo began a steady journey to the infirmary, careful to not jostle her passenger too much. 

"Well then, I assume you won't want to take part in the banquet again," the Iguanodon said, looking down at the small raptors. He had seen a few of their kind in adult form by now, and the size difference truly astounded him. Though he supposed it was no different to the way Iguanodons stretched in size in adolescence to become the titans they are at adulthood.

"We're not hungry," Foxglove said, "But we'd still like to take part, it's a party not just a dinner, right?" 

"The dinner is the main point to a banquet though," Thistle corrected, "the party just kind of happens around the food." Blackmist huffed.

"She's right, we haven't prepared amenities outside of the food," he said. Foxglove seemed to droop for a moment before perking straight back up again.

"But you'll keep us company, right Mr. Blackmist?" she asked, eyes shining. "We can ask you a whole bunch of stuff and learn about Atlantis while we wait, right?" He opened his mouth to object but Thistle cut in.

"That's right, Lego said he'd keep us company," she mused, "So, I've been wondering about the lights since we got here, can you tell us how you keep them working? Is there electricity down here? We can make that on the surface using sunlight but you don't have sunlight down here, you need electricity to make sunlight, so it's kinda backwards, isn't it?" Her bombardment came to an end and Blackmist took a moment to think, how did they keep the lights on down here? It wasn't his area of expertise, he would have to outsource the answer to one of the engineers. Speak of the devil...

"Kratti! Could you come here for a moment?" he beckoned the purple-shoulder Iggy over to where they stood. Kratti took his time, carrying a platter of plants with him and snaking as he went. 

"What's up?" he asked, mouth full of plant matter. 

"Our new friends here are curious about the way the lights work," Blackmist explained, gesturing down to the raptors. Kratti's stoic face shifted to surprise for a moment, like he hadn't even realised the raptors were there.

"Oh yeah, fascinatin' stuff," he said, sinking to the grass to lie down in front of the curious hatchlings. "See, this place was built a long time ago by humans, you wanna apple by the way?" he offered the plate to the girls and they shook their heads politely, "So yeah, humans made it, we maintain it, so we don't know how everything works, but through years of observations, that is, lookin' at the thing, we figured it's using the ocean currents to generate power. There's big turbines, uh, machines, out in the water and when the currents make 'em spin, we get power to the lights n' stuff," he explained to the wide eyed hatchlings. Blackmist was satisfied with how Kratti was entertaining them, but his mind turned to the sickly hatchling. Would it be a breach of his word to go check on him? The poor thing had seemed quite in pain after all.

Tiramisu ran as fast as his legs would carry him to the outdoor prison pits at the back of the court. Lego had taken him to the infirmary and helped him jump through an open window to escape outside. She would stay put to give the illusion of waiting for him to be treated within one of the smaller rooms with a door. The lie was decided to be he took the medicine and needed to lie down to prevent him from throwing it up before it had a chance to work. He had no idea how long this would buy him so he had to be quick. He was in earshot of the banquet, hearing the distant murmuring of the court and their guests socialising. He wondered if Thistle and Foxglove were busy keeping Blackmist occupied or if they had tried a different tactic to keep all attention on the banquet table. He hurried into the treeline, taking his chances with the plants over the Iggy guards. The rustling created by his small body wasn't enough to alert them over the disgruntled howling of their inmates and he was able to scout the pits for his target without being spotted. It didn't take too long, the pit was shallow compared to the others, probably dug especially to house its young occupant. The guards weren't even bothering to guard the pit directly but they were close enough that Misu didn't feel comfortable calling out to the Cryo within. Instead he gnawed on the briars that acted as containment until his gums bled and he broke through the tangle. He pulled them back enough for the Cryo to squeeze through and peeked down into the pit. She was fast asleep, holding the egg tightly even as she was unconscious. He glanced around nervously and saw the Iggys too close for comfort. He couldn't call to her, he just had to hope she saw the breach in the brambles before the guards did. He hurried back to the cover of the jungle and retraced his own footsteps to the infirmary. Right as he was staring up at the window, wondering how to jump back in when Lego came hurrying around the corner.

"There you are!" she gasped, "We should get back to the banquet now, more are coming in with sore stomachs, I fear your cover story was too good." Misu nodded and scrambled up onto her back again, holding tight as the Euoplo rushed back to the banquet.