Future History

Chapter 3: Escape through the battle

Peeking around the frame of the door to see if the coast was clear, I made my way to a familiar hallway and toward the stairs that would take me to the gaol. A group of soldiers ran around the corner ahead of me and I quickly ducked back behind a door way until they passed. I had to do this several times, after the third I had to stop myself from laughing at the thought of doing some stupid ninja, secret agent shit while trying to break into a gaol in the past. I peeked around the corner to the top of the stairs that lead down to the gaol and found no guard, not a single one. There were no guards in the halls as I snuck my way through either. No wonder they lose this take over, I thought as I approached the door. This was too easy, I thought as I looked to the lock on the door, keys. One was already in the keyhole while others hung from a big loop connecting them all together. Could they truly be this stupid? I thought as I unlocked the door and slowly crept into the gaol. It was still dark down here, the two lanterns lighting the room and casting shadows. The perverted man in his cell was laying back, eyes closed and chest slowly moving up and down. I looked to the cell the students were in and rushed forward to unlock the cell door. The students were all sitting down on the ground, head rested on their knees and shaking from the cold. Mrs. Nugget was holding one of the girls as she whispered to her and Charles was standing by the wall shaking his head.

"Sup?" I asked with a quiet voice. They all looked at me shocked until a few smiled and everyone started throwing questions at me.

"How did you get in here?" Charles asked rushing to the open cell door and grabbing my upper arms.

"They left the keys in the door." I said with a shrug as if it were nothing.

"We were sure you were done for." A male student said rushing to exit the cell. The other students followed and Mrs. Nugget smiled to me before looking at the dress I wore.

"What is that?" She asked, trying her hardest to be polite I was sure.

"I am not really sure." I said ushering her to the door. "The castle is under attack, we need to be careful and fast." I said running to the door and peeking out up at the stairs. Once at the top I peeked out the next door and when I was sure there was no one around I ushered the students and Mrs. Nugget through. Charles stopped beside me and smiled softly before following the students and taking the lead.

"Head to the stables, but be careful." I called forward while keeping my eye behind us. The last thing I wanted was to be caught in the castle by the guys in green, or the guys in black. Charles led the way to a servant exit to the outside gardens where we all huddled by a tree in the drizzling rain. We had been lucky enough so far to have not seen any guard or servant running about inside the castle walls. Our luck had just run out. None of us cared for the rain, we cared for our lives more than getting wet. Instead we kept our eye on the soldiers fighting around us, men wielded swords, swinging and jabbing them at each other until a man in green fell down, blood pouring from the freshly inflicted wounds and mixing into the rain. Charles ran forward, followed by the female students, Mrs. Nugget then the boys and me. We dashed between trees and bushes until there was a clearing between the garden and the stables. The fighting was still on the sand but Charles was making sure we would not be spotted as he guided us through the garden.

"Stay here, I will make sure it is safe." He said before running across the open area to the stables. He disappeared inside and I waited breathlessly for him to reappear. The students sobbed and shivered before me as we waited for what seemed like an hour for him to pop his head out and wave us over. Sighing with relief I sent one student at a time, keeping my eye on the fight as I rushed them across one at a time. When the last student was in the stable I looked to the beach and bit my lip. It was not until this moment I realised my heart was pounding so hard and fast that I could not hear the fight, not a single clash of a sword or cry of pain from the men. All I could hear was my own heart pounding faster than it had before in the chambers. Taking in a deep breath I stood straight and ran. Looking back at the beach I stopped running, there on the beach, stepping out of a row boat was the warlord himself. Black armor shimmering in the rain, whole and beautifully pieced together. In the flash of a second I saw him he disappeared behind two fighting men. When the soldier in green fell, holding his throat and trying to scream, the man in black turned to me and pointed his sword my way shouting something. My eyes went wide as I looked to the stables where Charles was shouting for me to hurry up, the female student I had come to like during the tour was looking at me with concern and Mrs. Nugget was crying. I shook my head and ran off in a different direction. I heard more shouting and kept running, from what I knew of, I was running toward the barracks of King Henry's men that sat behind the castle before the forest edge. Or I was running that way until a large group of soldiers. A mix of green and black came into my view. I skidded to a stop and looked behind me. A small group of soldiers in black were rushing my way. Looking to the cliff behind the stable in the distance I judge my luck and ran. I rounded a small stone building and jumped back as sword swung low and into the thigh of an overweight soldier in green. Blood splattered from the wound and the man screamed in pain, falling to the ground. I kept running, dodged past another man dying and fought back the tears. I did not know these men, they were dead before I was born, and none of this should upset me or bother me. But it was. I was feeling hurt and heartbroken to see this, I had seen movies with dead people, where people died all the time but seeing it in real life was so different, real even. The coppery smell of blood soon drowned out the smell of fresh rain and caused me to stop running and gag on the taste that built up in the back of my throat. The lump that had risen made it hard to breathe as I looked around myself. Death. That was what I saw, blood flowing with the rain, spouting from fresh wounds and old. Shining metal shimmering in the rain as swords swung high, low, jabbing and twisting into flesh. Black armored men stood triumphant as soldiers in green tunics lay and squirmed on the ground. The sound was chaotic, metal clashing, screams of pain, howling even, cries and sobs, begging and pleading. The worst thing about all of this was I was starting to remember. I was crying, almost to the point of curling up in pain from my abdomen muscles being shaken as such. I clutched my abdomen and fell to my knees, looking at all this destruction of lives and blood made me feel sick. Hands clasped around my upper arms and I felt my body give in to the demands the hands were giving.