They headed for the prison the next day, knowing where the soldiers had taken the innocent Dueglesteiners after the attack on the small camp they had visited only days before. They had watched from a distance, making sure none of the sentries or guard towers could see them.
It was a secure facility, and Richard was beginning to regret saying yes to this mission. How would they get in there, free some prisoners, and get out?
There was no way they could accomplish this without anyone getting in the way.
“So, what’s the plan?” Richard asked, hoping that someone, anyone would answer.
“We sneak in,” Luke’s voice was steady, his tone dark as they continued to stare at the fortress that awaited them. “And hope we don’t get caught.”
Richard gulped as he continued to regret his decision.
…
Under the cover of darkness, they made their way to an outer wall.
“Zeir rounds go every half hour,” Adalene had said, “If ve time it right, ve can get it ven zey bring in more prisoners.”
As they lay in wait, the giant gate finally began to open. It was operated by a giant pulley system, a big crank that one could operate to determine if the gate would open or not. As long as they waited for the guards to enter, they could slip in undetected.
Right on time, the sound of the gears turning and the gate rising alerted Richard and the others. As it slowly rose, they waited for the soldiers to enter before slipping in right as the gate began to close.
Adalene silently waved for them to run under cover of a shadow, unseen by the men guarding this fortress as they began to light torches. If they could somehow free all the prisoners and get out, the chaos of the jailbreak should still keep the seven of them hidden.
Finally, they found a door to the inner wall, and silently filed in. The cover of their cloaks was a welcome one, disguising them not only so they couldn’t be seen in the darkness, but also so that hopefully, they would look like the other guards here.
Each hallway seemed to be as long and confusing as the last, paths branching off into all different directions. But so far, they couldn’t see any cells. At least, cells that they could recognize. Richard felt as if they would wander the halls for hours, endlessly lost in the maze of wood and stone.
But at last, they could see into a room that held the keys. A man sat at a desk in the corner, slumped asleep with a drink in front of him. Richard realized he was drunk as drool ran down his chin and his head rested in his hand. The keys lay underneath his right palm, just barely peeking out under his thick fingers.
Almost as drunk as his father used to get a few years ago. He would drink until he passed out, scaring Richard every time he’d get up in the middle of the night to see his father with his face on his desk, not breathing much. A few times, Richard thought he had died.
But he shook away the memory as Luke slowly crept into the room, crouching low as he made his way over to the keys. The rest of them stayed out in the hall, their weapons drawn in case anyone decided to take a stroll down the hall.
Luke was as quiet as a mouse, and Richard quickly realized why he in particular walked into the room. As a hunter, Luke had spent years perfecting a walking stance that would silence his footsteps in the brush, so no animals would hear him and spook the moment Luke got close to any.
Now, Richard hoped those years of silence would help Luke more than ever.
As he reached up to where the man’s hand lay on the table, Richard held his breath. Any noise, any movement might wake the man, and then they’d all be dead.
Luke gently picked up the man’s hand, moving it away from the keys, before the soldier snorted and readjusted himself, moving his head farther on his hand. Richard released a breath, not realizing he had been holding it as Luke had been reaching for the keys.
He quietly picked them up, holding each key together so as to not make any noise. Then Luke slowly made his way back to the others.
And they were back out into the hall. Out of the corner of his eye, Richard saw the drunk man’s head fall forward onto the desk, hitting the wood with a thump.
He bit his lip hard, motioning for the others to quickly get out of sight of where the guard might see them. Then, Richard peeked over the door into the office, seeing that the guard was still fast asleep. Or, rather, passed out.
With the coast clear, they continued to make their way through the maze that was this prison. Following the walls and making their way up flights of stairs, they finally seemed to find what seemed to be a cell.
A wooden door stood at the end of a hallway, a barred window at the top. Richard peered through the bars with the dim torchlight they had and saw a person curled up in the corner of a stone cell.
“Hello?” he whispered through the bars.
“H-hello?” a weak voice answered, the sound of a young man.
“Uh…we have some keys,” Richard told him, “We’re here to set you free.”
There was a sound of clanking chains, scurrying across the floor until Richard came face to face with the prisoner.
The man’s face was covered in dirt, his hair at chin length and a rough beard growing on his face. As Richard looked into his dark eyes, he saw sadness and pure hopelessness he had never seen before. It sent a chill through his spine, that being locked up in a cell for that long could drive someone to such a state.
“You-you’ll…help…me?” his voice was hoarse as the man asked Richard, almost as if he couldn’t believe it.
He nodded to the man, sending a crazed smile across the prisoner’s face.
“He’ll…he’ll help me,” the man whispered in disbelief, turning around as if to face someone. “Did you hear that? He’ll help…me.”
Richard moved his face closer to the bars to look inside the cell, but he saw that nobody else was there. Must have been a lunacy the man had developed from the isolation and mistreatment given by this prison, and Richard once again felt saddened by the sight of the poor man.
Richard searched through the key ring, trying each key to see which one would fit the lock on the door until finally, the keyhole turned and the door unlocked, swinging open to reveal the man’s full body in the dim light of the torch hanging on the hall’s wall.
It was even worse than Richard thought. This man didn’t even look like a man; his arms and legs were twigs, and through the holes in his shirt Richard could see the man’s ribs sticking out of his skin. Even Peter, who had been homeless, had looked better than this.
This man was a skeleton.
As the man stood in the cell, shivering from either the cold or excitement. Probably both.
Richard slowly made his way into the cell, fumbling for the keys to unlock the shackles around the man’s ankles. He almost couldn’t see how they could fit on his leg, which was skinnier than Richard’s arm.
“There,” Richard said softly as the metal cuffs fell to the floor with a soft clang, “You can go now. You’re free.”
The man exhaled in relief, a smile clear on his face again. “I’m…free,” he whispered in disbelief, “Free…”
As the man continued down the hall, Richard could still hear him muttering how he was free. Hopefully, he could make it out of here alive.
They quickly made their way to a turn to the left, which led to a long hall filled with barred doors. They made themselves work fast, freeing every prisoner in the hall. The captives ranged from adult men and women to frail elderly, and even some children. Some even looked younger than the children of the prophecy themselves. Each was skin and bones, underfed, mistreated, and covered in wounds.
But just as things seemed to be looking up, they quickly fell apart. Right as Richard was wondering about how quiet this fortress seemed to be, a patrol made their way down the hall, watching as the seven of them freed more prisoners.
“Hey!” One of the guards shouted, breaking into a run as they tried to chase after them. Richard and the others made a break for it, sprinting through the halls and up and down flights of stairs, trying to lose the patrol.
An alarm soon sounded, a horn frantically blowing in the silence of the night. So much for stealth.
As they turned down another corner, they were met with more soldiers. And now they were surrounded...
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