The Cage Breaker

4 - The Great Escape Plan

I can't wait to tell Gray! I'm sure he'll be happy. I mean, we're friends, and he'll be happy for me. He has to be. I know he will be. My thoughts are going round and round in my head as I practically skip through the cells. I hear voices, asking me why I'm so happy, or why I'm smiling like an idiot. But they don't penetrate my happy bubble. I round the corner to Gray and Skylars cells and bring myself to a halt.

Skye has caramel hair that reaches half way down her torso and eyes like the blue sky. I think that's where her mum got the name from. Also, Skye walks with a bird like grace- I saw when she was walked to her cell, flanked by burly guards- almost like a skylark. That's why she's called Skylar! Skye has full lips and a spattering of light freckles on her upper nose and cheekbones that could've been painted there by an artist.

I'm about to say 'you won't guess what!' when I realise that Skye and Gray are deep in a hushed conversation. I don't want to be rude, but I want to know what they're saying, so I lean in closer to hear what they're saying.

"Gray, this is not going to work!" Skye sounds desperate. I can't see her face, because her back is to me, but I can picture the look of desperation on her pretty face perfectly.

"Yes it will!" Gray retorts ,"Listen, ok. Just hear me out. Ok. So, we have to do it this way because otherwise she may be left behind. We need to get Cage out too, it's essential for the entire plot! Estefany clearly stated in her message that we need Cage to know, and if she doesn't, then we can't carry on at all! Come on, Skye, you know it's the truth," he smiles, knowing he's won. Skye sigh and nods too.

"Fine. You win. But I'm not telling her."

"It depends who gets her on her own first."

"Ok. Whatever you say, Gray," she sighs again and begins to turn away. She might see me! But before Skye has turned around fully, I'm gone.

•••••

What was that about? What did they mean, I had to know? Who's Estefany? What's the whole 'plot'? And what did they mean by 'she may be left behind'? I think I might be the 'she'. Are they planning an escape? Is the plot a prison break?

•••••

I've been pacing up and down my room for hours now, trying to work out what's going on. My feet are so sore, and the blood is flowing freely from the open wounds. I almost don't hear the bell ring, I'm so preoccupied. But the cries of the prisoners alert me to the ringing. The ringing signals a royal visit. Hale never rings, he doesn't care. Only the King Keiran, Queen Carnation and Princess Adelaide ring the bell. And the royals (except for Hale) nearly never come down here.

I run out of my room- straitening my tatty dress in the process- and head toward the entrance to the cages. Unfortunately, Gray and Skye's cages are right next to the entrance.

"What's going on?" Gray asks me in confusion. In my breathlessness, I forget about what happened earlier and reply:

"No idea. The king never visits. Never. "

The door creaks open, and in come two guards dressed in their blood red uniforms. Both are burly men in their late 20s. But they aren't the interesting ones. Next comes the Royal Family.

First to enter is King Keiran Beauregard the 3rd of Mori. He is draped in a red velvet cape and silken, ivy green ropes. On his dark hair lies the crown, a huge, golden monument, incrusted with many many rubies. Red is the colour of Mori. Even though the Kings attire is magnificent, the King himself is a less striking sight. Yes, he is handsome in his own way, but he really is so small. He has dark, suntanned skin and much darker, strait hair. His robes swamp him, and if he weren't the king, I would almost find it funny.

Queen Carnation is next. She, on contrast, has rich, luscious blonde curls in a plaited halo around her glowing face. Her eyes are a rich, almost glossy brown, and her lips are full and dark. She is beautiful.

Then is the Princess. Adelaide, however, is not a princessy princess. She has her mothers golden hair, but it is strait like her fathers. She has grey blue eyes, like neither of her parents, and a roundish face. She is only 14, but she's extremely brave. She wants to be a warrior, and she sneaks of with the Knights the majority of the time.

The last member of the royal family to enter is Hale. He looks stunning in robed of a luscious, rich red, and I am surprised to find my heart jump in my chest at the sight of him.

But it's not the royal family that surprises me most. It' who comes next. A girl in a yellow silk dress enters, a shy look in her face. She looks about 17, and has mouser brown hair pulled into a long braid down her back. She is tall, with a strait nose and small lips. And she has stormy grey eyes, the exact colour of mine.

Next to me, I hear Skye's sharp intake of breathe and Grays gasp of recognition. And so I do not bow to the King, I offer no polite hello. Instead, I gasp:

"Avelyn!" and fall to the ground in a crumple heap, totally, utterly and embarrassingly unconscious.