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Sera didn't know what had happened after she was so suddenly shown Cederic's true intentions.
Her vision was blurry and she realised she had been fighting on an empty stomach for almost 24 hours. Her wrists felt like they were on fire. As she tried to move, her head banged against a wall and slowly she made out that she was in a tiny cell with bars and underneath the iron cuffs, the blood from her wrists had dried.
She closed her eyes. Feeling so useless. Played on. Betrayed. She had brought war to her people. And for what? All that blood lost for nothing.
A clanging of chains alerted her but she realised she really had no protection. The clanging continued for sometime and then silence. Sera thought she heard a low voice say, "Who's that?" from the darkness in front of her.
She inched slightly forward. The low glow from the torch in the dungeon hallway did not light up her cell much but she could faintly make out another cell right in front of her and in the shadows another person sitting bound in chains.
They cleared their throat cautiously and leaned forward so that their face appeared out of the shadows.
Sera's heart skipped a beat. She had seen this man only about twice in her life but she could never really forget his striking features. Sitting there jaded and bound in chains was the charming Lord Easton Cruez, ruler of the Cruez clan.
"Lord Cruez?" whispered Sera, "How..."
"Oh!" Lord Cruez sighed, "Sera Rivera if I'm remembering right. Well how unfortunate." His face retreated into the darkness.
"Lord, you are the leader of this castle, what brought you to this fate?" said Sera.
"You would know," came Lord Cruez's bored voice through the shadows.
"Cederic?" asked Sera.
"The Lord of Newcastle, yes," said Lord Cruez, "Now let's shush it, the guards will kill me if I speak. They'll be here soon."
"What would they be here for?" Sera was beginning feel the lack of food and the effect of exhaustion.
"Food," Lord Cruez's face appeared out of the shadows again. There was a cautious clang and Sera saw him push something over into her cell through the common bars in between them.
It was a little bowl with bread and mashed potatoes in it.
"You better finish it up, doesn't seem like you'll be getting any food here," he went on, "push it back when you are done." He disappeared into the darkness again.
Sera picked the bowl up and ate hungrily.
She was feeling confused by the kindness shown by Lord Cruez but then he had always been kind to her.
Honourless creatures. Cruel murderers. She remembered everything she had heard about Easton Cruez and his father and ancestors.
The food made her feel much rejuvenated. She returned the bowl and sat up straight.
"Is there a way out?" She asked. "I need to get back, there might still be time to stop the war."
"No way out, I've tried. These shackles won't open. As for war, your pigmy army killed half my men and are now surely attacking your castle."
He spoke so low from inside the darkness that Sera couldn't believe she had heard him right.
But before she could answer, heavy boots sounded on stone stairs.
A soldier came into Lord Cruez's cell and picked up the empty bowl. Then he unlocked a little gate in between the bars and walked over to Sera.
Sera was slumped against the wall her eyes closed. As he set his spear down to shine a lantern in her eyes, Sera kicked the man in his stomach with her knees. As the man was reeling from the unexpected attack, she snatched up the spear from the floor and drove it into his throat.
The last screams of the man echoed through the dungeons as his lifeless body dropped on the floor.
Sera reached for the bunch of keys in the man's belt and frantically tried one to open her cuffs.
The fifth key fit and she freed herself and got over to Lord Cruez's cell.
"Genius," said Lord Cruez, "Now we'll have the entire regiment down here."
"Listen, halfway up these stairs there's a hole in the wall which leads outside on to the castle wall. Go!"
"I can open your bonds, we need to stop the war," said Sera, her agile mind already making fresh plans.
"There are 15 keys in that bunch," said Easton Cruez, "Get me the spear."
He took the spear and broke through the locks on his cuffs.
Even in the face of imminent death, Sera couldn't help but smile. The Cruez were really all about brute strength.
The two ran out of the cell and made their way up the spiral stone stairway. A low commotion could already be heard in some distant part of the castle.
On the outer wall of the stairwell, about halfway up was a round hole through which a dim light was shining.
"Through there!" Lord Cruez said.
Sera leapt up and peered outside. The countryside was washed up in pelting rain and hail. The wind was howling so loudly that Sera was surprised she hadn't heard it all this time. But what concerned her most was the castle wall was at least a foot and a half away from the hole and the hole was too small for her to get a foothold. It was a sheer 20 feet drop onto stone.
"Hurry up, I can hear the guards coming," came Lord Cruez's voice from below.
"It's a sheer drop, we'll be killed either ways," Sera dropped onto the stairs beside him and said in contempt.
"I thought you said death before dishonour," said the lord. "Well you have one chance."
He took the spear, leapt onto the hole and disappeared straight out of it.
Sera looked around her in exasperation. She heard footsteps coming down and she was completely unarmed.
She peered outside. Lord Cruez was standing on the castle wall drenched in the rain. Sera barely made out him saying "I thought you were never coming," over the sound of the rainstorm.
A second chance, Sera thought as she threw herself out of the hole towards Easton's outstretched hand.
Was her decision right? Can the lord really be trusted? Peace ~R
