The Farglass Cycle

Title: The Escape
Year: 988 FY
Characters: Mera, Isshiri, Limerre
Warnings: Enslavement, dehumanization of mages, Eye Scream
Notes: This takes place in the Confessions AU


Mera walked along her cellblock. None of her freaks had been called today. All of them were wildcards, used less than the common earth-freaks. She still needed to ensure they were intact.

She was concerned about her fire-freak. He'd come to her about a year ago. She was surprised was still here; he'd been so drained back then. Properly collared fire-freaks were so rare that he didn’t get much time to recover between assignments, which didn’t help and seemed irresponsible, she couldn’t do much about it, other than check on him every day to make sure he was still breathing.



Isshiri heard keys jangling and pushed himself up so he'd be ready. She was the least vicious of all the handlers since his arrest--she even let him keep his prosthetic in his cell--but cooperating still made things less unpleasant.

"Still alive, Fire?"

She opened the door. She was surprisingly alone--no other handlers, not even any slaves.

Isshiri saw his chance. He had little strength these days, but enough to get past her. He flung sparks into her face, then darted past as she fell back, screaming.

With a bit of long-overdue luck, he'd bought himself his freedom.



They found Mera about an hour later, with every cell wide open.

"Where are they?"

"I can't see," she whimpered. "I can't see!"

The other handler shook her, trying to get real answers out of her. "What the hell happened to your freaks?"

She just kept repeating that she couldn't see, and he tossed her aside. "Get her to a medic. And find more manpower for the search."

"Sir," the guard said, then picked Mera up and headed off while the handler strode off in the other direction to see if he could find any trace of where they'd gone.



It was harder than Isshiri had expected, keeping his equilibrium and everyone together and their collars covered. He'd found a warehouse where they could hide and decide their next move.

"There's an underground," one of the others--a sound-mage--said. This was the first time she'd been out in ages.

"What do you mean?" Isshiri asked.

"They get us out."

"Do you know how…?"

"I can get them a message. If we can hold out for a day or so, they should find us."

Isshiri took a deep breath, but forced his elation down. In case this failed. "Do it."



The warehouse seemed less and less safe as each hour passed. Several of the others were clamoring to get out, find somewhere else to hide, but Isshiri had managed to hold them back so far. "Wait until nightfall, at least. Fewer people out to spot us. We'll move right before the curfew, I promise, but wait until then."

Reluctantly, they were listening, but he wasn't sure he could hold them long enough for Limerre--the sound-mage--to hear back from whoever her contact was.

Your friends better come through, or we'll start getting caught, he thought in her general direction.



There was a knock on the door. Limerre listened close, then jumped up. "It's them."

Isshiri's eyes flew open. "You're sure?"

She nodded. "Yes. That's the right code."

"Go answer it."

Limerre smiled, then ran to the door while Isshiri explained to everyone what was going on--he’d kept it quiet until now, to avoid getting everyone’s hopes up.

A half-dozen people came in. They had food and water and all of them were wearing Underground rose armbands.

There was a movement. And it was here.

Isshiri slumped to the ground in relief. They were safe. He was going home.



"We'll have to get you out in three stages. But we have safer hideouts for the rest of you to stay as we get the groups out. We're going to draw lots. Does that sound fair to everyone?"

There was a slightly discontented rumble of grudging agreement, and the underground workers passed around a bag full of colored beans. "People who get read beans are in the first group, white are in the second, and black are in the third."

Isshiri squeezed his eyes shut. Please...

He opened his eyes and looked down at the bean in his hand.

Black.



Isshiri huddled as far from the railing as he could get, trying to stay warm. He had a blanket from the underground, along with a few other basic supplies in the survival kit they gave all the people they extracted, but it only did so much for the cold and nothing for the disconnected feeling being surrounded by water was giving him.

It'll be over soon. The captain said two days... He shivered and pulled the blanket closer around himself. Just two more days. If I survived that first winter, and two years in a collar, I can survive this.



"Hey." Isshiri jerked back to full awareness. Limerre was smiling. "They're trying to find if any of us have families out of the city, so they can contact them. They need all our names..."

Isshiri blinked. "Oh. Right. I'm Isshiri."

It was odd. He hadn't thought about his family in months--hadn't had time or energy. Not even Nolani.

He flushed slightly with guilt. She's probably been out of her mind with worry since I didn't come back.

"It's nice to formally meet you, Isshiri," Limerre said.

"Yeah. You, too," he replied, then leaned back and closed his eyes again.



Isshiri stopped just outside the City of Glass, watching it glimmer in the desert sun. He hadn't expected to feel this much...well, anything, coming home again. He'd always loved seeing new things, and found the familiar a little boring.

But now...he was home. He'd see Mom and Dad and Kira and 'Lani and Uncle King and...

He smiled a little. And now he was safe, and warm, and he'd be able to tell them everything that was going wrong in Feredar, and save the rest of them.

"Okay. I'm ready now." He smiled at his escort. "Let's go home."