Howl's Twisted Castle

44: Showdown

With the wooden leg gripped tightly between my hands, I waited for Howl's signal. The man came closer, but with the torch held out in front of him, I could not make out his face. 

As he grew closer, the man raised both his hands in a gesture of peace and I felt my breath catch as the torch illuminated the mans face. 

Howl let out a long sigh and relaxed his shoulders. A ghost of a smile played on his lips. "How did you know where to find us?" 

The man lowered his torch and tossed us a roguish wink. "Wasn't hard to follow the blazing inferno you two left behind," Alex remarked slyly. 

Astonished, I let the wood fall from my hands. It echoed so loudly down the hall that it earned me an angry shush from Alex. 

Alex glanced over his shoulder as if, at any moment, someone might appear behind him. "I'm trying to get you out of here alive, so it would behoove you both to keep silent. Getting down here wasn't that easy given that I had to subdue a few of the royal constabulary just to get to you."

"Quiet as a mouse, understood." I pressed my lips together and made a show of sealing them shut. 

Howl suppressed a laugh and gave Alex a hearty pat on the back. Momentarily startled by the gesture, Alex tossed another glance over his shoulder before he shrugged off his satchel. Digging into its contents, he produced two balled up uniforms and tossed them to us.

"Both of you need to get changed and quickly, we haven't much time. The guards will be making their rounds within the hour and we do not want to be here when they discover a couple of their own have been bound, gagged and relieved of their garments."

I didn't need to look down at the lump of clothes in my hands to know what sort of person wore them. The fabric felt greasy like it had been sweat in and never been laundered. The pungent odor seeped through the thick material, confirming my earlier suspicions and I was forced to breathe through my mouth. 

I would have burned the clothes out of mercy if I had the choice, but it seemed I had no other viable option-- that and Alex seemed eager to get moving. 

Howl made no protest over the state of his own disguise. He shucked off the tattered remains of his clothing, the hard contours of his bare back glowing in the fire light. Faint lines of his scar traced their way down his chest like rivulets of melted wax. I thought of reaching out to touch the coarse lines that marred his body as a quiet chuckle pulled me from my day dream.

"Do you intend to stay in that dress then?"

"Oh-- no no," I looked down at my forgotten clothes and blushed. Avoiding Alex's pointed look, I moved out of the light of his torch. Pulling the red coat over my head, I stepped into the outrageously over-sized pants and clutched them with one hand to keep them from sliding down. Realizing my predicament, Howl removed the belt from his pants and handed it over. I cinched my waist with the worn leather to keep the pants secure, but I knew if I had to run in them it wouldn't hold for long; that small amount of leather was no match for the sailcloth swathing my legs. Discarding the dress in a pile on the cold damp floor, I stepped back into the light and awaited Alex's instructions.

Howl's lips quirked with a hint of a smile that he quickly rubbed away with a hand and polite cough. 

Hitching my hands on my hips, I gave them both an incredulous look. "I hardly think I'll be convincing in the get-up, but what choice do we have?"

"I won't let anyone get close enough to notice," Howl replied, "but now that we're changed, we should probably get out of here."

"Right," Alex nodded, "so by my estimation there are too many guards stationed outside of the dungeons. I noted four of them in the entrance armed with bows and another two in the guard tower, not to count the two that I laid low just down the hall. It would be best if we avoided them altogether so we will have to slip out the way I came in; through the castle larder. There's a ladder just down the hall to the left that leads up into the back of the kitchen. It appears to be an access point for the guards to supply themselves with vittles when they are posted in the dungeon, so we should not linger lest we find ourselves in their company. Fortunately for us, it's late enough that none of the kitchen staff will awake, so we need not worry about them sounding the alarm. Once we are inside, we will exit through the kitchen and follow the hallway a small window I had left open when I came in. There should be a length of rope tied nearby, tucked into the trellis. From there it's just a quick scale down the side of the castle and we should be out in no time."