Godbringer

Chapter 5

Unfortunately, when I went to sleep, my mind didn't. I shot up in the cell, trying to catch my breath; my heart pounding. I looked around, forgetting where I was for a split second. Then I noticed Hessah wasn't in the cell with me. Confused, I stood up, looking the cell over again. Then, behind me, the cell door opened. I spun around, thinking it was the guard coming to take me to my execution. But nobody was there, the door just opened on it's own.

I stepped out into the hall. I looked both ways, watching for guards. Empty. I started making my way down the hall, but as I walked the hall seemed to lengthen. Then I heard it, a guttural roar came from behind me. I froze, too scared to move. Then the ground began to shake. Boom. My heart raced. Boom. My mind raced, tripping over itself as it went. Boom. I take deep breaths, trying to collect enough of myself to move.

"Xander!" I hear Hessah's voice call to me. My legs start to work again. I begin to move toward her voice, away from the monster behind me. The monster's footsteps hastened as I picked up speed. Fear and survival motivated me, as I burst into a full sprint.

"Xander!" I hear Hessah again. This time she seemed farther away despite me moving toward her. But I keep running.

Boom.

To outpace the monster.

Boom.

I had to keep running.

Boom.

Then I see a door at the end of the hall.

Boom. Boom.

The footsteps were right behind me now. I crash through the door and feel a gravitational shift, pulling me forward. The floor I expected was not there, instead I feel as though I'm in free fall. Air rushed past my face as I fell toward a house in the distance. The house looked familiar but before I could recognize it, it burst into flames.

"Xander!" I hear Hessah's voice again, coming from all around me. I refocused on the house, The front door opening. As I fell into the burning house I screamed in pain. The flames wrapping around my body, burning me.

"XANDER!"

I jolted awake, breathing heavily. Hessah was shaking me by my shoulders. When she noticed my eyes were open she let go, but the room still shook.

"Xander, somethings happening. I don't know what but the whole castle is shaking." I stood up and rushed to the bars. The hallway was loud with voices. The prisoners that filled the other cells were yelling to be let out. But no one came to meet their demand. The guards who usually watch over the prisoners had left their post. Some stones from the ceiling began falling, adding to the chaos. Then the shaking subsided.

"What was that," Hessah asked.

"I don't know," I said back.

Boom.

The castle shook again and the fear of being chased down the hallway came rushing back.

"Hey! Someone let us out!" I yelled frantically into the empty corridor. From somewhere on the opposite side of the hall, I heard the clatter of armor. A guard was running.

"Let us out," the prisoners yelled to him as he ran past their cells and to the other end of the hall. He unlatched the door and left us in our cells without a word.

Boom.

The castle shook again, a piece of the ceiling fell, crushing the inmates of a cell far down the hall. The rest of the prisoners panicked, seeing now that dying was a reality.

"We have to get out of here," Hessah says, going over to the corner of the room and removing the brick. She takes out the knife and makes her way to the door. She thrust the knife into the lock, and within seconds the door was open.

"How'd you do that so fast?" I asked, amazed.

"I told you, I've escaped before," she replied, matter of factly.

We quickly left the cell, but before we could get out a voice came from our left.

"Hey kid," the voice called from the cell adjacent to ours. The owner, a big woman, tall and bulky. Her shoulders and forearms woven with scar tissue. She had her arm extended out toward us, as if trying to lure us to her.

"Unlock my cell, let me out of here," the desperation in her eyes didn't match her voice. "You'll need someone to take care of the guards. They know you're prisoners, even worse you were set to death today, right? They'll kill you on sight, but I'd take care of them if you let me out."

Boom.

The castle shook again, collapsing the far end of the hall. Screams of pain and panic echoed through the corridor. Quickly, Hessah moved to the cell door and began picking the lock. But before she could unlock the door, I heard footsteps running toward us. Quickly, I grabbed Hessah, pulling her away from the cell.

"Someones coming." The two of us hid behind the door that led out of the jail.

The footsteps draw closer and closer, until they are replaced with the sound of the door opening. One guard entered, but this one wasn't in armor. Hessah, wielding her knife, went to attack the guard. He dodged just in time, moving to his left, fading away from his attacker. The guard finds himself against the cell Hessah and I broke out of and drew his weapon. Then I recognized the guard.

"Wait!" I yelled, catching the attention of the two combatants.

The guard was Wik.