Alnwick Chronicles

Six

Aerith

I'm speechless. I always suspected these people were upto no good, but this? This is harder to believe.

"Are you sure?" Adalyn voices my thoughts.

Skyla nods. "The exact words were: 'Update on the attack. The Hadleigh mine went off at 7.32 pm. Injured 9 soldiers, need immediate medical attention. But Nes is down, so overall it was successful. Over.'"

A chill goes down my spine as the most horrible thought enters my head. "She said mom and dad worked for them. What if..." I can't say it. But I don't need to, seeing the expressions on their faces.

None of us utters a word, and the only sound I can hear is my own rapid heartbeat.

All of a sudden, Adalyn gets up and tries to ram his way through the metallic door. He keeps on hitting it, kicking it, and banging it, but can't get it to budge. The only thing he's managing is making a ruckus.

"It won't work."

The voice isn't his, Skyla's, or mine. That's strange. I must've imagined it.

But Adalyn stops fighting with the door and looks up, towards the small window high above our heads. "Who are you?" he calls out.

After a moment, the same voice answers, "A fellow prisoner."

Skyla and I exchange a look of perfect understanding, and without speaking a word, we get to work. She positions herself in a kneeling position right under the opening, pressing her back to the wall for support. Without removing my uggs, I place one foot on her shoulder. Then I jump with my other leg, and push down with the first. It generates enough pressure for me to go high enough and grab onto the bottom edge of the window. I haul myself further up till I can see what and who is on the other side.

Caelyn

A bandaged head peeks through the window to my right, with a dark brown braid emerging from under the gauze and resting on one shoulder.

"Um... Hi," she says. I wave in response from my slouchy half-sitting, half-laying down position on the floor.

"I'm.. Ash."

I catch the slight pause between the two words and snort internally. She isn't telling me her real name. "Kelly," I reply just as casually.

"So, um..." She seems unsure of what to say next. "How did you end up here?"

I think before answering. "Let's just say I, uh.. pissed them off." She doesn't question any further. Instead, her eyes scan my room and land on the door.

"How'd you do that?" She points with her nose towards the handle, which has been twisted at a 90 degree angle downward, and the portion of metal where it was earlier has been slid inside the thickness of the door. So now, there's an opening just big enough to slide an extremely slender hand through.

"I've been here long enough to pick up a few tricks," I respond with a smirk.

Suddenly, I hear a scuffling noise from the girl's room and she rocks backward dangerously, thankfully with her hand still clutching the windowsill. When she's stable again I see her say something to someone inside, but before she's done talking she tumbles inside with a muffled crash. She probably landed on one of her friends. I don't know if that's better or worse for her fall.

I hear some yelling, which turns into arguing, which turns into low whispers. I don't understand any words, however. Even earlier, I'd only heard them banging at the door when I spoke up.

Someone returns at the window, but it's not the same person. This girl has copper hair tied up in a messy bun.

"Do you know how to pick a lock?" she asks straightaway.

No point in lying. "In theory, but I've never actually done it." I tilt my chin towards the door. "And I haven't been able to try it here 'cause my hand is too big to fit through."

"Do you think," she struggles to transfer all her weight to one hand on the windowsill, and shows me the free one. "Do you think mine would fit? Stay still Adi," she adds hastily to the person holding her.

I squint at the hand still on display for me. I can't be sure if it's small enough, but no harm trying. "Maybe," I nod back at her. "Do you have a plan?"

"Not exactly, but I'm hoping we can work something out together."

"Huh. Okay. How many of you are in there?"

"Three."

My brain starts whirring. Four might just be the number it takes to carry out the escape I've been thinking about for the last six days. I hop up and move closer to the girl. "Okay listen to me carefully. There are two guards stationed at each end of the hallway, which is about 8 to 9 such rooms long, and they have weapons. Now, what I need you to do..."

After I've detailed my plan to the trio, they want a minute to discuss it themselves.

They don't trust me yet. Which is understandable.

When they're done, copper appears in the window again and tells me they're up for it. Good.

***

Five minutes later, we're dashing down hallways as fast as our legs can carry us, with six or seven guards hot on our tail. They're going to catch up with us any second now.

Earlier, the girl with the messy bun was able to pick the lock on their door from my instructions, before jumping through the window (and getting stuck once) and unlocking mine too.

I look behind me at my three accomplices. For a split second, I consider leaving them and saving myself. But I brush that thought away quickly. Without them, I wouldn't even have reached this far.

Loud footsteps become even louder and I turn to see one of the guards right behind me. I panic and send a punch straight to his face. It makes him stumble, buying us extra time. Even if just a little.

"Do you know where you're going?" I whisper-shout to Ash's twin, who's lead we're all following blindly. He just nods. I look back again and feel dread creep up on me. The number of guards chasing us doubled at some point, and they're closer than ever.

On the bright side, however, my little stunt must have inspired the girls, as they start punching and tripping whoever they can. When they collectively take down their second vitim, I snatch up the dagger from his temporarily loosened grip, and before I can overthink it, I slash his throat.

When I realize what I've done, time freezes. I'm unable to move, unable to think, unable to do anything except stare down at what I've done. The horrified, wide-eyed looks I'm getting from my companions don't help either.

I unfreeze when another guard manages to knife my shoulder, and blood stains the sleeve of my grey hoodie. Out of nowhere, the boy (Adi?), sends a kick to the guard's shins, causing him to fall headlong. Then he grabs my hand and continues running, which I'm thankful for as I'm still not sure if I can walk on my own.

We're never going to make it. We're all out of breath, injured and dead scared. I don't know why we're even trying anymore.

We reach an intersection where the passage branches into two, and I see hesitation cross his face. He doesn't know where to go. I look around. Hope renews in me as I recognise the area. It's just a few turns away from the main entrance. We might still have a chance. "Go right," I mumble, and he turns without question.

As we round the last turn, the gates appear in plain sight.

And so does Elvira, standing right in front of them with no less than eighteen people by her side.