The Three Kingdoms

5: Escape

Beinion was finding himself growing rather irritated with being blindfolded all the time, and when the bag was finally removed from his head and his hands were unbound, he found himself being thrown into what could only be described as a cell, though the cell was much different than the ones that were used deep in the mountains. Instead of metal bars, Beinion found himself kept inside by what he could only guess were enormous roots. In fact, the entire cell seemed to be encased in roots. Even more perplexing was the fact that there was no door to go in or out of his cell at all, which made him unsure of how he got inside in the first place. He was, nonetheless, trapped inside a rather small room, which included a rather small cot, and not much else.

Outside, through the roots that contained him inside, was a corridor that led to a winding set of stairs going upwards into darkness. The entire corridor and his cell were not completely dark, but were very dimly lit by strange glowing mushrooms that grew off the sides of the walls, which appeared to be giant roots themselves.

Beinion also found that his battle axe, and his knife were both gone, but he really didn't expect them to permit prisoners weapons anyway. Beinion let out a sigh as he let himself slump onto the cot in his cell.

"Captain?" A voice echoed in the hall.

Beinion was pleasantly surprised to hear the voice of his kinsman, and best friend, Bor.

"Bor!" He shouted back into the hall, as he hopped off his cot and threw himself to the bar-like roots, trying to see further down the hall. "Are you alright?!"

Beinion could hear shuffling, and could only imagine Bor was positioning himself in a similar fashion.

"Yeah... I'm alright. A bit sore, but alright. They did a pretty fine patch job on this arrow wound to be honest." Bor grumbled.

"And Nithron?" Beinion asked enthusiastically.

"You know Nithron, the young one heals quicker than we do. He's fine. He's probably sleeping now, he's a few cells further down. The boy doesn't miss out on his beauty sleep." Bor answered, chuckling rather loudly.

Beinion paused, and in the distance, he could hear a faint snoring coming form down the hall. Slowly, he sat back down on his cot, and let out a small laugh. Despite the undesirable situation, he was most relieved to know that his friends were safe.

"Quite a mess we've gotten ourselves into, haven't we?" Beinion grumbled.

"We? As captain, this is your fault. We were just following orders. You're on your own for this one, brother." Bor teased. If there was one thing Beinion could depend on Bor for besides having his back in battle, it was his sense of humor. It never seemed to fail, even in a place like this.

"I suppose you're right. Lord Vehiron will have our axes for this one." Beinion couldn't help but smile as he pictured Lord Vehiron's face contorting with outrage. At least, he hoped he would have the pleasure of facing Lord Vehiron's wrath. For the moment, he wasn't even sure if would be able to make it out of his cell. "You have been down here longer than I have. What have you learned about our cells?" Beinion asked.

"Well, captain, they're unlike anything I've ever seen. They say the roots are the strongest part of plants... and this tree is no different. There's no way we would stand a chance at breaking out, even if they had left us our axes... And, well, to be completely honest, captain, I don't even know how we got in here in the first place." Bor confessed.

Beinion frowned. He knew that their absence from the mountain kingdom wouldn't go unnoticed for very long. He had only made plans to cover their absence for a few days. No one, however, would think to search for them in Gúl. It would be up to him to save his men and plan an escape.