Red West II.

Chapter twenty one - With the blast

A very quiet and melodic whistle in the dark made two Riders and pretty brunette, who were anxiously waiting by the cart, turn in the direction of that sound with hope and worries at the same time. The dark figures of their companions, with the black scarves still covering their faces, appeared in the dim light coming from the kitchen.

"Where's Jack?!" Patrick snapped as soon as he noticed that the third person they had expected was not with them.

"He wasn't in the barracks," Ryo replied, pulling the scarf down from his face with a depressed sigh.

"One old man told us he wanted to change shifts with him," Kame, uncovering himself as well, completed the information gloomily. "He's inside the mine now."

"Shit!" Carl kicked the closest stone angrily, sending it to the pile of its buddies.

"That idiot..." Esler peeked from behind the cart's barrier with a worried expression. "He probably plans to do something foolish."

"So, what will we do now?" Patrick paced alongside the horses, which were still harnessed to the carriage. "It won't take long before somebody notice the slaves are gone!"

Carl stepped up on his tiptoes, to check the kitchen through the window, as they had left two tied guards inside: "We should leave quickly at least with Esler, as long as we have a chance."

"But what about Jack?!" Jane snapped at him. "Are we just going to leave him here?"

"I almost hate to say that but I'd feel really bad to escape without him," Esler joined her in a dangerous tone, making the young Rider blush.

"I didn't mean to leave him entirely!" Carl defended himself. "We can come back for him later..."

"That would be too late," surprisingly, Kame opposed him as the first. "Once the guards realize what happened, they'll be much more careful. We need to get him out now."

"For once, I agree with you, kiddo," Esler reacted, piercing Kame with a sharp look.

"But how are we supposed to do that?!" Patrick scratched his chin desperately.

"We don't know how many guards are in the mine," Carl supported his companion.

"Usually not many," the oldest Rider informed him right away. "They rely a lot on those chains, which restrain everyone here."

"Ok, but... What about Jack himself?" the anxious youngster continued. "We have no idea how deep in the mine he is and..."

"It's clear that we cannot handle this without a great risk," Ryo cut into his pessimistic speech. "But..."

"But it's worth trying," Kame finished his thought surprisingly calmly.

Ryo glanced at him smirking a little: "Yeah..."

"We have a certain backup right above the mine, if you didn't forget," the younger one reminded them. "We just need to distract the guards in front of the entrance and then find Jack without causing much ruckus."

"I can do the distraction," Jane stated with a wide smile. "I'm quite good at that, so I'm going with you, guys."

"All right," Kame nodded without hesitation.

"Even so, there's too few of us to pull off something like that!" Patrick growled unhappily.

"Even less than you think," Kame reacted harshly, already getting upset about the defeatist attitude of those two. "Look, there's no time for arguments. If you don't want to give up on Jack completely, we need to do it right now."