Maji Born

04 - Twice Attempted

Lavinia managed to steady herself, holding back another wave of nausea at the smell. She was attempting to understand the thief's words. An heir to the throne was alive. Suddenly her situation didn't seem quite as awful. Lavinia sat up, finding the bars of her cell to steady herself.

In the other cell, there was muttering. "An heir? What's the King going to say about that?" "Let's discuss this upstairs." That was Carsire. She could hear him storing the whip away. Even as he wrapped it around his hand Lavinia heard it flick against the ground and felt a mixture of fear and revulsion. The thief was gasping for air, she could feel him struggling with staying awake.

"Thank you, you've been very helpful," Carsire said, then she heard him usher the guards out of the cell and re-lock the door.

"I'm sorry Princess." He murmured on his way out, sounding genuinely pained. Lavinia was shaking, her fingers gripping the bars for support. She felt tears pouring down her face. It was a long time before anyone spoke again. The thief kept fading in and out of consciousness, Lavinia could feel his weakening pulse.

"Hey. You need to wake up." She said, gripping the bars tightly as she forced herself to her feet. Lavinia was aware of the putrid smell of her own vomit and tried to push away the feeling of nausea that accompanied it.

"Did you hear me?" she said this louder. "WAKE UP!" she slammed her hand against the bars and as she did so, her rings clanged against the steel. Her rings! She was wearing rings. In her anger, she had completely forgotten and the guards had not bothered to remove them.

Lavinia hastily removed them, hoping against hope that one of them was flimsy enough to bend. One was cheap, it was a gift from Carsire for her tenth birthday. It was small, a slim bronze band that pinched at the joint. With a cry of relief, Lavinia began to bend it, using the grouting between the stone bricks to pry it apart. Slowly she felt the metal warping, hopefully, it would do the trick.

She felt her way to the lock. Her fingers stiff from the cold damp of the dungeon. She shakily inserted the bent metal into the hole and wiggled it, listened for the click of it unlocked, continuing to spin and wiggle the metal. Cl..cll.cllick...clack..

The lock sprung open and Lavinia let out a deep breath feeling triumphant. Now she just had to get to the thief. She quietly pushed the barred door open and made her way across the cell, one hand outstretched for the other barred door. When her hand collided with it she began searching for its lock. It didn't take long to find it, after all, it was in the same place as the previous one. It took Lavinia less time to crack the lock. After only a few minutes she heard it click and entered the cell.

The thief's heartbeat was very shallow and when she reached him, feeling her way along the wall till she collided with the shackles, he didn't react to her presence. She tried not to think about all the blood around her, though it was making her dizzy even though it was mostly dried now. Lavinia fumbled around, searching the manacles for a keyhole. When she found it she put her new skill into practice.

The man's wrists were coated in grim and cold sweat, she felt it on her arm as she grazed his. Curses. The lock was much more difficult to pick as she had to fully extend to reach the cuffs, but after a while, she heard it click open and breathed a sigh of relief. She opened the manacle and the man's hand dropped to his side, waking him in the process. He jerked awake and blearily squinted into the dimly lit room, frantically searching for what had woken him.

"What the? What are you doing?" He asked feebly. "How'd you get in here?"

Lavinia moved onto the other cuff now, "I picked the lock. I'm getting us out of here." She inserted the metal, "Can you stand properly?" She could feel him swaying. "We'll need to bandage you up before heading upstairs. We'll need to make it quick though."