The Whisper in the Stars

Chapter 1

It has been three weeks since the bandits abandoned the prison I'm locked away in when muffled voices of several men echo through the empty corridors. I hop off my bed and run to the locked door of my cell to see if I could get a glimpse of who they are, even though I was down a flight of stairs and well out of sight. The foot steps of two people dragging a third person stop in front of what I assume to be one of the closest cells to mine. The sound of an iron door being unlocked and opening echos through the prison not too long after that. "Put the prisoner in here. Make sure you shackle him so he doesn't try to escape." One of the men, possibly a high elf from the voice, says to whoever accompanied him into the prison. "Yes sir." the other man, also a high elf judging from his voice, replies. After what felt like an eternity listening to the elf struggle to restrain their prisoner, the footsteps of the elf exit the cell and the door closes with a metallic clang. The two men's footsteps echo as they start to walk back towards the rest of the prison when I hear one of them stop. "Sir, we haven't checked down that staircase yet. There might be something important." The elf who locked away the new prisoner says. The other grunts in reply, their footsteps now heading in my direction.

I back away and grab a loose rock that I pulled free of the wall behind my bed weeks ago just as the two elves appear in front of my cell door. "How in the world have you been able to survive in here?" The elf, who had suggested investigating my little space in the first place, says in astonishment. I shrug the question away as the other elf squints at me like I'm some trinket on sale. "Just leave her Eric. If whoever locked this woman away forgot her here, she must not be of much importance." The squinting elf says to Eric, who just pulled his eyes away from studying my room from the other side of the door. Before Eric could protest, his superior walks off back in the direction they came from. Eric looks back and forth for a few moments before he runs off after his companion. I let out a sigh and sit down at the small table in my room to write in my journal. I spend the next couple of hours writing down the current events in case I die when I hear the door to my cell unlock and creek open. The elf from before, Eric, walks in quickly and places armor and weapons on my bed.

"Hurry and change. I'll be at the top of the stairs." Eric says as he rushes back up the stairs, leaving me in utter confusion. I take the chance and change into the new armor, tying the sword to my hip. I race up the stairs after I finish to find Eric waiting for me in front of the cell to the right. "Hey just to let you know, my name is Randi Skyhaven. Thanks for springing me." I say when I walk up. He nods in response and smiles. "I'm Eric, but you probably heard my supervising officer mention it already." he responds. Before I could continue the conversation, Eric opens the door to the cell we had walked up to. I walk into the cell ahead of Eric and over to the male prisoner, taking a note of his red eyes and red tattoo on that runs down his face, glaring me down. "Once I get out of here, I'll kill all of you myself." The man growls after Eric comes to a stop behind me. I roll my eyes at the threat, taking the key Eric offers me. "And I'll turn into a chicken and fly away. But that won't happen. I'm not with the thalmor. Neither is our friend here it seems. Now stay still, we're getting out of here." I say, unlocking the shackles that kept the man from moving around the cell he was put in. I shove a healing potion I swiped off a table near my cell into the man's hand after he sat on the floor.

Once the potion healed whatever wounds the man had, he stands up and rubs his wrists. "Thanks. Guess I should save wondering why a high elf that helped get me here is now helping us escape for later. Do either of you know where the other elves put my things?" He asks, watching Eric walk over to stand behind me. "I think I saw one of the two others that came with me and my former boss take your things over through the hole in the wall just over there. We could see if he's left your sword and armor in the chest." Eric says as he walks over to the hole in the cell's wall.  Me and the man stare after Eric for a few minutes before he looks back at us from the hallway on the other side of the hole. We catch up to Eric, the two guys having me take the lead since I was the only one with an actual weapon and armor at the moment. We head up a small set of stairs and turn into the room where Eric said the chest was when the elf that we hoped had left got up from the table to our left. After fighting the elf, eventually killing him, Eric helped the prisoner gather his things. "Could you two mind waiting at the bottom of the stairs while I change?" The prisoner asks awkwardly. "Already ahead of you." I say, half way down the stairs. Eric joins me a minute later, starting up a conversation about what we think we as a group should do once we get out of the prison.