Wings of Grace

Chapter 16

Meanwhile on the days that the twins weren't visiting her, Shadow would make a trip to the jail to update Silver and his accomplices on current events. She told him of Antoine and Luna's growing confidence in her, and of the twins frequent visits to his castle and how accustomed they had become of being there.

Once Silver was out of jail, with help of course and hidden in his castle, luring the children would present no problem what so ever. Just invite them and don’t return them. It was that simple. Then Silver would be able to continue his experiments without interruption.

When Shadow got back to the castle, she started to realize what she had just done. She should have never told Silver anything about the twins, especially the gold blood. She really didn’t know what he was capable of doing, and she was growing more and more fond of the pups. They loved and trusted her too. She was ashamed of herself and dropped her head to cry. How could she have done this. Luna and Antoine trusted her too… why did she do this to them?

Shadow tried to reason with herself as to why she was having such negative feelings at times. Her husband had passed away several years ago, leaving her to raise the boys, maybe she resented his going.

Percy had been a good reliable creature, a guard at Silver's castle for many years and had risen to the position of captain. He was a true mate to Shadow, kind and considerate. Most of all he was an excellent father to his sons. He taught them the ways of the world, played with them, and disciplined them when needed. Tiger was rebellious, but his father had a way of handling that situation, and showed him much more attention, while loving the other too.

Now he was gone, and here Shadow was with three teenage boys. It wasn’t easy not having a father figure around when they needed one the most. She did her best, but it just wasn’t the same. Sometimes she was too busy to give them the attention they needed.

Shadow had to admit to herself that she was lonely too. Perhaps she figured by having Silver back at the castle would free her of those responsibilities and also fill the gas for the boys. Without his father's guidance, Tiger was suffering too. Percy was always there to hear his problems and now he had no one. Why did his father dare to abandon him like this? Wasn’t he the favorite son?

One of the guards at the castle had been a trusted friend of Percy's and had kept all his belongings packed away in case Shadow or the boys would want them back later.

Tiger often visited to look over his father's treasures, hoping to find some comfort in it. Instead his loneliness and resentment at his father's leaving became deeper and deeper. He needed someone, anyone, and it wasn’t his mother he could count on for help.

There was someone else…

Shadow was unaware that SilverGlade had another visitor come to the jail, it was her son Tiger. Although the other boys, Tommy and Bobby enjoyed playing with the twins and didn’t mind their mother spending time away from home to babysit, he absence from the family was beginning to create a problem for Tiger. He was beginning to feel jealous, he saw his mother as either being away babysitting or bringing the pups to his house nearly every day. Tiger felt rejected; were those twins more important to his mother then her own sons? The more time she spent away from her own family, the more deep the jealousy ran. She was, he figured, neglecting her other duties at home; she had been appointed to manage the affairs of the castle in Silver's absence, but lately that has fallen onto Tiger's shoulders, or so he felt. Well he was sixteen now but so were his brothers, and he didn’t feel that he alone should have taken over the responsibilities while everyone else had a good time.

Well, he would just have to straighten out this situation; besides he wanted some attention from his own mother, again this wasn’t fair. Now if Silver came back to the castle again, things would return to their proper order. Maybe if he could find a way to make that possible.

Secretly he began to meet with Silver in jail, informing him of the whole story, well at least his side of it anyway. Silver, of course, now saw a potential accomplice, young, gullible, and looking for revenge. Here was the sort of assistant Silver needed to get him out. He certainly had not anticipated the answer would come quite like this, let alone who would suspect a youngster?

And just how did Tiger plan to pull off this feat without causing harm or worse yet, death to anyone else? Simple, almost too simple he would dress up as a guard and release Silver on the pretext of escorting him to another part of the jail. They would never expect something so blatantly obvious.

The uniform worn by the guards were quite non-descriptive, easy to duplicate. Tiger could fake it; guys back at the castle had clothing very similar. Besides Tiger was tall for being sixteen and could pass off as an adult and would easily blend in with all the other guards. lowering his voice a bit would be convincing enough to inform the other of his duties to transport Silver, thus making it easier to obtain the cell keys.

sure, he would be a bit nervous hoping they wouldn't hear how loud his heart was beating, but his anger and determination should be sufficient to spur him on to what he considered a victory. he would even be bold enough to do this in broad daylight, giving more time to put more distance between the jail and the castle. prisoner check wasn't done until evening, so Silver wouldn't be missed right away.

on his next visit to the jail Tiger revealed his plan to Silver, who readily agreed. the whole idea was so plain, so almost childish that none would suspect, there for chances are that it would work. they decided on a day and time.

back home at the castle Tiger was so pleased with himself at having single handedly converted this venture that he found it difficult to contain himself and act normal around his brother and especially his mother. He had no idea what her feelings were or where her loyalty stood regarding Silver, so he felt it was best to keep silent. She would know soon enough, wouldn't she?

Oh no, here she comes, bringing those pesky little twins home with her again. He had to be careful to suppress his anger and jealousy now, or he would tip off everything. Better to smile and go play silly little games with them. He really did have to admit they were cute and they did like him. He didn't know exactly why Silver was so interested in them, surely he wouldn't harm them, would he? Never the less he couldn't back down now; plans were laid out and Silver was counting on him.

on the appointed day Tiger knew that his mother would be leaving early to babysit the twins at Antoine's castle, that left him free to go to the jail, spring Silver, and sneak back into the castle before Shadow got home. He had already borrowed clothing from one of the workmen and the outfit was very similar in style and color to that worn by the prison guards. All he had to do was walk in, mingle a bit, and appear as if he belonged. He had previously observed the guards schedules on his visits, so he know by heart who would be there and when. Several new guards had recently been hired and it would be b=very easy to convince them of his duty to escort Silver to another area, thus obtaining the much needed keys.

The plan went off without a hitch no questions asked. Tiger merely unlocked Silver's door, handcuffed him to his own wrist and the two proceeded out the door to freedom. It was unbelievable, incredible that it all went over so smoothly. Tiger had arranged transportation two swift steeds hidden in the adjoining woods which took the pair quickly to the castle. They were too intent on escaping to fully appreciate what had just taken place, but when they arrived at the castle safely, they both burst out in raucous laughter.

Silver proceeded to his lab and changed out of his prison garb, while Tiger donned his own clothes and silently returned those he had borrowed. Silver chose to remain hidden in his lab and check out all the equipment he had stored in anticipation of a future need for such instruments.

Apparently no one had noticed Tiger was gone, he was known to be somewhat of a loner anyway, so not to see him for a while was not unusual. He did remain close to the lab area today to assist Silver if needed.

Shadow decided to bring the twins back to the castle for the afternoon, now wasn't that a convenient stroke of luck for Silver. All this good fortune in the same day would have set a normal body back with awe, but Silver had waited too long for this opportunity to allow it to catch him off guard.

Tiger could hear his mother and the twins down the hall, laughing and giggling, so he ventured in that direction, being sure not to be seen. Shadow then left them alone to play while she prepared a little lunch for them.

Seeing them alone and a golden opportunity Tiger quietly slipped back down the hall and signaled Silver.

With Shadow busy in the kitchen, the twins were alone. Silver quickly and silently appeared where the two were occupied and tried to grab one under each arm to take back to the lab. He would use RoseBud to continue his work and since Lon wasn't as valuable, he would be put in a secret cell and held for ransom.

Instinctively the twins began to howl, just as they learned from Antoine; this commotion brought Shadow and the other two boys to the scene. Seeing he horrific situation, she began her attack on Silver, while one son ran to Antoine's castle to report the situation and the other rode into town to notify the authorities of the drastic emergency requiring their attention.

When Tiger appeared out of no shadows behind Silver and tried to assist him, his mother realized what he had done and how jail the jail break had been successful. He had always had such a creative mind. Soon the area was filled with all kinds of law enforcement... along with Luna and Antoine.

For Shadow this was devastating. This was her son; he broke the law and now would have to pay for what he had done. "Tough love" they called it, and she watched in silence as they took her son to jail along with Silver.

When the excitement was all over and everything had settled down, Antoine thought he heard a noise coming from the far corner of the room. Shadow was curled up in a little ball crying as if her heart would break. He started towards her, but Luna stepped in, holding up her paw to stop hm. "No" she whispered.

She slipped over, and kneeled down beside Shadow and put her arms around the sobbing figure. Shadow began to cry even harder. "I'm so sorry, Luna" she wept. "I don't know what came over me, I don't know why i did this to you. i wouldn't hurt the pups for the world. I love them like they were my own. Can you forgive me? If i had known what my son was planning, I would have never brought them here."

"But you didn't know all of this," Luna explained. Then little Rosebud came over to her, threw her arms around Shadow and whispered. "I love you too Aunty Star." and Shadow cried all the more.

Luna hugged her even tighter, she didn't say a word, she didn't have to. After all, Shadow turned in her own son to save the lives of the twins. What a sacrifice that was.

Lon didn't quite know what to make of the whole scene. He shrugged his shoulders, turned and took his dad's hand

"Girls." he said.