Uneasy Alliance (A Roleslaying with Roman story)

The Rescue

Warnings for this chapter: blood, chains, implied torture, imprisonment
This one's a bit heavy, folks.
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    Youngblood snapped out of his trance. The sun had just barely come up and the fire had burned out, but the soft light of dawn coated the campsite like mist. Youngblood immediately started to pack everything up, his steely resolve from the previous night firming once again. He shook Roman awake gently, and as soon as Roman was up and moving and they had packed everything up, they started back on the path, Youngblood having to physically calm himself down to keep from breaking into a full-blown run and accidentally losing Roman.
   
The two walked in silence for hours, only stopping to eat and drink a few times throughout the day. Despite being almost completely focused on their task, Youngblood worried slightly about how quiet Roman was being. He was usually very upbeat and extroverted, but he hadn't spoken a single word the entire day. Youngblood wanted to reach out to him, but he figured that it may just be that he recognized the seriousness of their situation.
   
By the time Neon came into view, the sun had already started to set again, and Youngblood and Roman both started to sprint as soon as they saw what was left of the walls of the city. Roman was steadily falling behind, but it didn't really matter because Youngblood would have to stop to let him catch up anyway. They made it to Neon before stopping to look at the map in the journal again. Roman handed it to Youngblood, who looked over it carefully in silence before nodding to himself and closing it to hand it back to Roman.

"I found a way for us to get in, just follow my lead." He paused to clear his throat, surprised at the sound of his own voice after not using it all day. "I imagine Noise must be held in the dungeons below the castle. I didn't even know we had a dungeon... doesn't matter, not the point..." By this time, he had started mumbling to himself and he looked up the college determinedly.
   
"There should be a platform that rises up to the island around here somewhere. Not particularly stealthy, but it's our only way up."
   
Roman nodded and followed Youngblood to where the platform was meant to be. Youngblood took a few minutes to remember how to activate it before it lifted up and they were carried to the island. Youngblood suddenly started to feel anxious as they drew closer to the college. He tried to not remember everything that had happened while he was here last and focus on the task at hand.
   
As soon as the platform connected with the island, both boys darted off into the bushes lining the walls of the building. Youngblood took a moment to steel himself and calm his heart before leading Roman around the side of the building to a secret passage that had been marked on the map. The grounds outside the castle were eerily quiet, and it put Youngblood on edge, but they had no problem getting into the passage. There was still no interference by the time they got out into the hallway that led down to the dungeons, which they both found extremely suspicious. This hallway was different from the others in the castle, because instead of quartz pillars lining smooth, white walls, the entire hallway was made from uneven stone bricks, giving it a spooky yet still somewhat natural feel.
   
There were still no guards around either the entrance to the hallway or by the stairs that led down towards the cells, but Youngblood and Roman were still both on high alert. They went down the stairs cautiously before stopping at the bottom, shocked. The room before them seemed to be another stretch of hallway, but this one was much longer than any of the others in the building. Every few feet, the walls were indented with small rooms closed off by walls of iron bars with heavy barred doors in the middle of every section. Despite the amount of people in the dungeon, it was still scarily quiet except for soft, labored breathing and the occasional rustle of chains.
   
Youngblood felt sick. The sight of so many people being held beneath the castle he had grown up in, completely unaware, was enough to make him want to fight the Bard King right then and there. He shook his head in disbelief and looked over at Roman, who had a look on his face that said exactly what Youngblood was thinking. Youngblood put his hand on Roman's shoulder and met his gaze.

"I know you want to get them all out, I do too, but we don't have the time, energy, or resources to do so. When we come back and defeat the Bard King, we'll be able to set them all free, but we'll need Noise if we want to be able to make that happen."
   
Roman sighed and looked down the hallway, some of the color coming back into his face. The two of them walked down the hallway, but not one person so much as looked up at them as they passed by. Youngblood assumed this was because his purple and black outfit reminded them of the guard's uniforms, so they thought that Roman was another prisoner being brought in. The thought made Youngblood sick again, but he reasoned with himself that the less people knew what they were there to do, the less likely they were to get caught.
   
Youngblood heard Roman's breath hitch as he stopped on a dime beside a cell at the very end of the hallway, and they both stood in shock as they looked through the bars at Noise.
   
The cell was too dark for them to see how badly he was injured, but they could tell that he was unconscious. There were rusted shackles around Noise's wrists, ankles, and neck just barely holding him upright, and even in the darkness, Youngblood could tell that he wouldn't have needed dark vision to see the crimson pool spreading out from beneath him.
   
Roman made a choked sound and immediately began to rummage around in his satchel for something while Youngblood called out to Noise to try to wake him up. Eventually, Roman stepped forward with a hairpin and a needle and started to pick the lock on the iron door, trying desperately to steady his violently trembling hands. Youngblood took over when Roman started to panic, and managed to get the door open. Both boys ran to Noise and kneeled down next to him. Roman began to pick the locks on his shackles as Youngblood tried to see how bad Noise's wounds were.
   
Most of the blood seemed to be coming from his legs, which wasn't helped by the fact that they were stuck beneath him. He also had a few, much less severe cuts in his chest and arms. Youngblood couldn't find his voice enough to heal Noise using his magic, so instead he gently brought Noise's legs out from under him, grabbed a roll of bandages out of Roman's satchel, and started to carefully cut the legs off of Noise's pants halfway up his thighs so that he could see the wounds better.
   
Roman managed to get him out of the shackles before moving down to help Youngblood. He took a deep breath and started to wrap Noise's legs with the bandages. He seemed to calm down and his voice steadied considerably as he started to tend to Noise's wounds.

"Okay. I used to do this on a smaller scale all the time back in Reston when people got hurt. Once we get his legs bandaged, we'll need to make sure that he doesn't have any bad injuries on his head, then we stitch up the deeper wounds on his chest and arms and he'll be okay. His legs will probably need stitches too, but the bandages should hold him over until we can get him to a healer."
   
He spoke quickly as he finished wrapping Noise's legs and carefully started to roll up his shirt. Youngblood nodded, trying to stay focused. He started to use the leftover bandages to put pressure on the worse cuts on Noise's arms, and by the time they ran our of bandages and stitches, they could hear his breathing start to deepen and steady.
   
Youngblood picked him up gingerly and brushed the tiefling's hair out of his face. "There you go, you're going to be okay..." he muttered, taking off his hoodie with one hand and wrapping it around Noise to conceal him. They got out of the dungeon, starting to pick up attention from the other prisoners, who realized that they weren't going to be staying.
   
A few of them started to call out with small sparks of hope in their voices, and Youngblood struggled to not turn back and break every single door in the hallway. Roman grabbed onto Youngblood's sleeve and squeezed his eyes shut like a scared child walking past a loudly barking dog. After what seemed like hours, they made it back to the stairs, the hopeful calls dying down as quickly as they arose. He looked back down the hall for just a second, vowing to himself that he would come back to free every single soul trapped in this godforsaken building.