A Will to Leave

CHAPTER NINE

Bright hot metal flowed through the stone chutes that spread like slides everywhere throughout the storey. Stone bricks accompanied by platforms with yellow balustrades held the chutes from falling. Under all those chutes was the army of knights, from whom I couldn't spot a single knight without an arm. I climbed on the stone and walked on the edge of the V-shaped chute. The knights who were missing from the mill were all there. The noise of the machines was still audible, but the flowing and bubbling of hot metals overlapped them. The chutes led to the stone furnaces, above which a series of airshafts were built. I scanned my surroundings and used the platform to get into a shaft. The walls were wider, hotter and dryer. I could feel my hands being cooked under the gloves. After a long crawl, the shaft took me to the other edge of the storey, with large furnaces lined along. I jumped into the platform hanging above them, the furnaces roared, and boiling metal popped like water bubbles. I spotted a knight before me on the platform, warming above the furnace. I decided to jump down but knights were surrounding the furnace, so I took the connecting chute and walked between the platform and the furnace. When I finally reached a shaft I went into it. I crawled straight, climbed a wall, slid through a slope and eventually reached the opening. It was an opening down, below which I could see the stairs. I opened the metal plate and peeped out, there weren't any knights, so I jumped down onto the platform and hid under the shaft. I felt the presence of the knights near me, so I crouched and crawled through the stair. However, when I reached the opening, knights were guarding it again. I quickly hopped under the stairs and took a shaft again. It was a different shaft, not something made for foundry. The walls were perfectly polished and clean. I climbed the slide like a mouse climbing a mountain. "Your negligence kills me," Edwin's voice echoed all through the tunnel.I rushed my fingers to switch off the communicator but it was already off. I could see the great hall through the opening under me as I crawled towards the voice. It was a room filled with folders. Edwin's room. The door was locked, and Edwin was sitting on his desk with his hands resting on the communicator. "He won't cross the foundry," a familiar voice said. I bent down to get a clear view, big blue armour, huge chest plate, fur collar, blonde hair, scissor jaw and a familiar smile. "I hear thee say that for the third time." "We should play it carefully, more than this will kill him," the knight commander said. "I want him alive." "What if Orzaghmen abandon him," Edwin said, "Orcs don't care for their blood." "But elves do, don't they?" "Do they?" There was a moment of silence. "Anyway, I have seen enough today. I want you to leave-" "Immediately after we get him. You have my word," he took a sip from a nicely sculpted metal jug. "I have reached your storey," I could hear my voice echoing from Edwin's communicator. The jug dropped, and the knight commander jumped to his feet and rushed to the door screaming at his colleagues. There was an immediate commotion. A wave of footsteps raced away. Edwin stood from the desk waiting for the silence to reappear. "How?" He pushed the communicator switch. "The foundry-" "I sneaked through the airshaft." I kicked the grilled plate. The bolts came off, but the plate didn't move. Edwin's head immediately looked up, staring into my eyes. I kicked again, the plate flew into the room. Edwin jumped to the corner, pushing the chair and a few folders from the shelves. He was fresh and elegant, just the way I saw him before, his hands trembled to hold something for support. He didn't speak a word, even when he saw the arm pointing at him. "Listen," he said, lips tipped, and a bead of sweat falling from his forehead. "It's unintentional. I was-" A loud crashing noise interrupted him. He pushed more folders down, shivering to death. "Trying to stop..." "No, you didn't," my other hand shook like a litter can. There was a wave of footsteps... Approaching. I turned back at him, he tried to push through the shelves away from the arm. "They are coming," he said in a mild quivering tone. The footsteps got louder. I stood between him and the door looking back and forth. The shaft was unreachable. There were no windows. I dropped the arm and smashed out the door. There was the knight commander, running towards me followed by the other knights. I rushed through the opposite side into the corridor. There was a loud angry roar and a burst then a harsh announcement. "Use no arms, I want him alive." I pushed back when I ran into another group of knights. I was blocked either way. No, no, no... There were no airshafts to climb, so I triggered the ring and dropped the last smoker I had. I used my left shoulder to smash through the window. I felt the air and I was out. I was out of Condor, I was away from the knights, I was far away from the knight commander, and I was falling. Falling through the soft blue sky, towards the giant cluster of clouds. I pushed myself in the air and turned upwards toward the giant castle with huge wings floating in the sky. 'Condor' not because it was big, but because it flew.