Alcingeria

Chapter Fifty One: Repercussions

Chapter Fifty One Repercussions:

Monday July 5th 1690

Gerald, Edward, Edwin, Darwin, Robert, Don, Macalister, Stella and I all acted as guards for the remainder of yesterday. The other guards haven't been suspicious of us, which was perfect. Edwin did a good job of covering us. Even though Gerald was the leader of those four, sometimes I swore it was Edwin. He seemed to be a little more down to Earth and reasonable, whereas Gerald's optimism wasn't quite realism, it painted him as a more pleasant person. That didn't seem to matter to Edwin, though. Either way, they were both good leaders. It also occurred to us that they weren't really in a hierarchy of command. All being officers they were each capable in their own right, and they didn't waste much time with worry about rank. They each contributed as much as an individual leader would. It was an interesting experience.

We had spent the night in anxiety, not daring to sleep in the guards' quarters for fear of drawing attention to ourselves. We caught an hour or so here and there while we worked in shifts to keep an eye on the situation. The fact that they had developed a weapon like they did was terrifying, and could have devastating implications. The prototype was always under heavy guard, and we had deemed it too much of a risk to go after it directly just then. We had to wait for an opening, and we had to rescue our friends.

At that moment, we were just starting to escort the prisoners to breakfast. I was tired from almost total lack of sleep from the night before. I made my way to the cell containing my friends, discreetly, and spoke to them in a lowered voice. I kept it short, so the others wouldn't get suspicious:

"Hold out a little longer. It won't be long now."

They met me with stony expressions, concealing their joy and relief. I tried not to think of what I was doing as I put iron shackles on each of my friends. I had to be given a special pair for Walden, who put on a show of resistance, but ultimately submitted.

"We're working on a way to bust everyone out. Just hold out for a little while longer." I whispered.

I motioned for them to get out of the cell, giving Tabatha a shove. Not hard enough to hurt her, but using enough force so the other guards would just shrug it off as normal behavior. She turned on me, surprised, but I gave her a quick wink and another shove, a little lighter this time.

"Lad, you really think that'll get the point across?" Laughed a man a few years older than me.

He stepped up from behind me and I could see that he was bigger than me. He shoved her against one of the cells, hard, and I heard her cry out as her head made impact.

"That's how you should treat these heretics." He told me.

And then for emphasis, he slapped her across the face, walking off while a few others laughed and cheered. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't help her up. I saw Don snarl, but he held himself back.

"Get up, maggot." I barked.

She knew it was an act, she knew me well enough to know I would never abuse her like that seriously.

Not giving her enough time to react, I roughly hauled her to her feet and we both joined the flow of people.

We were all bound for the mess hall. When we got there, I let Tabatha go, giving her a brief apologetic look, and she went to go find the others. Not wanting to tail her, I waited until she sat down with them. Wisely, they had chosen a table near the wall. Even better, most of the others were lined up along it, so no other guards took the spots. Like that, we could talk to them without suspicion.