Justice for the Forest-Beasts

Chapter Five - In Which there is a Dungeon

Harriet led the twins down two flights of stairs, taking them all the way to the dungeon in the basement. There, the walls and floors were made completely out of dull, gray stone that made everything seem cold and gloomy. The dungeon consisted of one long, dark hallway, lined with prison cells on both sides. The only thing separating Harriet and the twins from the criminals that had been banished to the dungeon were the black, metal bars at each cell. The inhabitants of the cells would usually be left inside until death, only given food once a day, if at all. Many criminals were allowed to move freely in their cells, but others were chained to the wall or floor.

As they walked, the twins' heels clacked against the stone floor. The nearing sound alerted a guard who sat in a wooden chair against the hallway's stone wall. "Do you have permission to be down here?" he asked defensively, despite having just woken up.

The guard was Aila, a cocky faun who had always bragged to the twins whenever he beat them in a game of hurray or stickball. However, Aila was extremely easy to trick, and winning against him was not much of a challenge at all. Surely, Samara had only chosen for him to become a Royal Guard so she could stick him down in the dungeon.

"Calm down, Aila," Harriet said, "We've only come to visit Rain."

As Harriet and the twins approached Aila, the twins searched the nearby cells for Rain. In one of them, Rain sat, slouched, on the stone floor. Xyr attention had been caught by the sound of xyr name, and xe rushed towards the steel bars of xyr cell door, holding onto them and looking at the twins with an excited expression. Rain grinned, knowing that the twins were already there to save xem.

"The new guy?" Aila asked, glancing towards Rain, "Philomena just barely got them down here, why do you need to check on them already?"

"Oh, come on, you couldn't say no to the prince and princess, right?" Harriet 's impish smile was back.

"I mean. . . I suppose not." Aila seemed unsure. "Whatever. Go ahead."

"Thank you," Harriet said, "May Skaizened and Mianebi bring you peace."

The twins hurried to Rain's cell, while Harriet stayed to smooth-talk Aila.

"Here so fast!" Rain said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Of course!" Estelle said, "We wouldn't just run off after letting you get arrested! We had to come back for you."

"Putting you in the dungeon is so unreasonable," Lucian signed, "Dramatic."

"And bind my wings! Cannot open. Look." Rain turned xyr back towards the twins to show them xyr wings. Xe tried to extend them, but they'd been tied together so that xe could hardly move them at all.

"Does it hurt?" Estelle asked.

"No. Uncomfortable," Rain said, sitting back down on the floor near the bars, "Like if. . . arm bent, always." Xe bent xyr arm at the elbow, bringing xyr hand towards their shoulder, "Uncomfortable," xe repeated.

"Ah, I see," Estelle said. The thought of having another limb was odd to her. It was hard to imagine.

"When did you wake up?" Lucian asked.

"Short ago. Something under my nose, I smell, I wake up. Do not know what," Rain said.

"I'd assumed the Queen would've just wanted you asleep on the dungeon floor," Estelle remarked, "You can't do any harm if you're not awake. Although, I suppose you can't be miserable if you're not awake."

"And they can't question a sleeping person," Lucian signed.

"Step aside," Aila demanded from behind the twins, gesturing for them to get out of his way. Estelle's eyes immediately found Harriet, who grinned and gave her a double thumbs-up. Thinking that can only mean something good, Estelle took Lucian's hand and stepped aside with him.

Aila unlocked Rain's cell, then opened the door. It creaked and groaned loudly, all old and rusted. "Stand up and turn around," he said to Rain, who quickly followed his orders. Aila took out the knife that had been holstered on his thigh, and used it to cut the rope that bound Rain's wings.

"Oh, thank you," Rain said, before turning back around and stretching xyr wings for a moment, "Free now, yeah?" xe asked as Aila cut the rope that bound xyr hands.

"Not quite, kid." Aila holstered his knife again, shaking his head, "The Queen'll be furious that you escaped, and I'm going to have to lie about what happened so I can keep my job. She's going to be even more pissed at you, so you're absolutely going to have to leave. You can't stay here, 'cause it'll be too dangerous for you."

"I go. . . home?" Rain said. Disappointment showed in xyr face and hung heavy in xyr voice. Only two days in the city, and xe'd already been imprisoned and sent away.

"You can go anywhere in Branalum except Castle City," Aila confirmed.

Rain's gaze turned towards the twins, hopelessly searching for something to say. Xe looked lost, tears welling up in xyr eyes and xyr hands fidgeting with the hem of xyr sleeve.

"We'll come with you," Estelle decided suddenly. She got shocked expressions from nearly everyone in the room, as Lucian jabbed her in the arm with his elbow.

"You will?" Rain asked, joy taking over xyr expression.

"No, no," Lucian signed urgently, "We won't. Too dangerous."

"We'll be safe, Luc. We're responsible and we can fight. That's all we'll need," Estelle said, "Besides, we're not as important as everyone makes us out to be. There are three other heirs to the throne, after all."

"But where do you plan on going?" Harriet asked.

Estelle thought about it for a quick moment before she said, "Rain, you said you're from the Wild Beast Hills, right? Up north?"

"Right," xe said.

"Let's go there, then," Estelle said.

Lucian made no attempt to hide the anxiety he got from the idea of going to the Hills. He struggled to keep his hands from flapping as he signed, "That's a terrible idea. We'll get lost, starve to death, then die." While he could somewhat control his anxious hand flapping, the verbal sounds of fear were unavoidable.

"That is not going to happen. Rain, you know the land up there quite well, right?" Estelle said.

"Right," xe confirmed, "Rain always finds home."

"There we go. We can take the train—the one that goes up to Chidentra—but hop off when we reach the Hills. From there, we can walk until we find Rain's village." The plan was put together haphazardly, but it didn't seem like a bad plan to Estelle.

"When does the train leave?" Harriet asked.

"5:30 tonight, as of the last time I checked the train schedule."

Lucian clearly didn't want to go, but he still signed, "We need to hurry. That's very soon."

This, Estelle certainly agreed with. "Harriet, Aila, thank you so much," she said, "I know you're going to get in trouble for this, but I hope the punishment is nothing too serious. If it was in my control, neither of you would be in trouble at all. I hope the gods give you their mercy, especially Alasdaz."

"Thank you, sire," Harriet said, "May Mianebi keep your travels safe."

"I wish you all the best of luck on your journey. Don't get caught," Aila said, "Whatever she just said about Mianebi, too."

"Come on, let's go out the servant exit," Estelle said to Lucian and Rain. She held Lucian's hand, while Rain just followed closely after them.

Estelle led Lucian and Rain to the laundry room, where the entrance to the servants' quarters was. The servants' quarters was located behind the castle, in five small buildings, each housing four to six servants. Around the five buildings was a tall, stone wall, much like the enceinte that surrounded the castle. And in this enceinte, there was a much smaller exit than the castle's main entrance. Like the main entrance, the small exit was guarded, although the guards that were positioned there were only meant to question the people going into the servants' quarters, and not who was leaving. Of course, that is, unless a person is especially suspicious. So, the guards only gave Rain and the twins an odd look as they walked out and started down the street.