Escape from Whitestone Hold

Releasing the Beast- Chapter 14

"Psst... Sapphira!" She suddenly heard from across the arena. Maltheus waved to her from another set of double-doors that he had somehow opened. She quickly made her way across the pit to join him, clutching her sword and rifle by her sides.
"I hope you've had better luck than I have..." Sapphira groaned, flexing her bloody hand.

"See for yourself." Maltheus nodded behind him, gesturing to an iron door labeled "Project Corvus."

"You found the citizens?!" Sapphira gasped, swinging open the door to reveal a large prison with long, multi-story hallways branching out into darkness. A colorless maze of metal grates and catwalks and pipes complemented the equally-drab iron bars of countless cells that held all manner of prisoners. Sapphira saw mostly unfamiliar faces, presumably of people who had gotten on the Magistrate's bad side before the battle had begun. But all of them seemed desperate, muttering hopefully as they watched Maltheus and Sapphira enter. Sapphira stepped over the bodies of 4 more guards that Maltheus had apparently already incapacitated when entering this area. "Ok, explain to me how you found this so easily, while I ended up in some shark's solitary-confinement zone with a bunch of Magistrate soldiers?" Sapphira complained at Maltheus. He chuckled and smiled.

"You're the one who wanted to split up..."

"Oh, shut it." She mumbled, walking along the upper catwalk that the entrance had led them to. "So... Uh... How do we find your father?" She questioned, looking around the massive complex. "Why does EVERYTHING in this place have to be so huge and mysterious!?" She stomped her foot in annoyance.

"Hey... Calm down..." Maltheus reminded her. "Let's start with following those wires."

"Wires...? What for?" Sapphira gazed at the little metal tubes more closely, seeing that one pipe for plumbing and one conduit for magic-transfer were pathed to every cell. These bundles of pipes then met up and traveled down the hall along the ceiling, and around a corner.

"Look at the cells. The doors don't have individual locks." Maltheus pointed out the lack of keyholes on each door. Sapphira was mildly distracted by the frantic begging of a man in the cell beside them, who was pleading vehemently to be released. "Yeah, its ok, we'll get you out in a minute, sir. Relax..." Maltheus assured him empathetically. "Anyway, it looks to me like they have some kind of mass-control system going on here to open doors in groups... So rather than spending ages trying to break open each cell individually, maybe we can find some controls, and open all the cells at once! And if we see anything that looks out of the ordinary, maybe that will lead us to my father."

"You make it sound too easy..." Sapphira observed skeptically. "Why do I feel like everything is going to go horribly, terribly wrong with this plan?"

"What's there to go wrong?" Maltheus shrugged.

"You!! It's you!!!" A familiar voice suddenly called out above the other prisoners. Sapphira turned to face the cell from which the sound arose.

"Oh, my lord... You again?" Sapphira rolled her eyes.

"Yes! It is I! The legendary Wazando, master of the 5 arcane elements, lord of-"

"You've GOT to be kidding me..." She laughed, shaking her head at the scraggly man, who still wore a lavender bathrobe. Maltheus gave an amused smile and continued down the path, following the wires.

"No, no! It is really me!" He beamed. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance once again! Are you here to rescue us?"

"...Yes... Is there any fancy magic you can do to help us out, or are you still too tired?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"Oh, I can do all kinds of amazing things for you today! ...The only problem is, I lack my black crystal, which really is essential for many of my spells... So... Uh... No, I suppose I can't do much for you at the current moment..." He admitted.