Locked In

Escape

"Quick go further down the tunnel," Black Hawk said.

"But how will we escape?" Lucinda asked.

"There is an opening at the back of the cave. We can go out that way and sneak around back to the castle. I'll go into the castle and get the rest of our escapees and then we'll flee."

"We'll have to be quick Black Hawk. The hunter dogs are getting closer."

"What are hunter dogs?" Kenya asked.

"We'll explain later if we get out of this alive. Go!" Candy shouted.

They ran down the passage with Black Hawk leading the way. The four Muslims were in the middle with Candy bringing up the rear. All of the escapees knew of the secret cave and the hidden pathway. As they slipped out the back of the cave they stopped and listened. Black Hawk and Candy were wondering how the hunter dogs had gotten down the path. They had been careful to avoid being seen as they fled the castle.

"I think it's safe," Candy said quietly. They took a few halting steps and then Candy ducked. "Hunter dogs," she said quietly.

Black Hawk peered through the bushes and saw three hunter dogs and seven horses with guards on them. They stayed quiet until the hunter dogs wandered off. "Go!" Black Hawk shouted.

They ran around the cave and through the woods. If they were caught now their plan was hopeless. The Lords and Ladies of the Devil's Thorn had made it clear that anyone caught helping Muslims would be thrown in training camps. All the slaves of the Devil's Thorn knew that training camps were brutal. They were like concentration camps only five times worse.

Panting they managed to make it back to the castle. "Candy stay with them." They were in a small cluster of trees. "I'll go inside and try to get the others."

Black Hawk stealthily crept past the guards on duty and managed to get back into the castle. He ran along the tunnel and stopped panting at the door to his room. Quietly as possible Black Hawk opened the door and saw the others still there. They looked up as he entered with fear on their faces.

"We ended up finding three more Muslims in the cave," Black Hawk said.

"How did they get there?"

"They took shelter from the storm and want to come with us."

"But even we do not know where we are going."

"There is also something else. Hunter dogs are loose tonight."

"Hunter dogs!" Everyone shouted.

"Hush. We all know the penalty for being caught trying to escape." Black Hawk said.

"Do you all have everything you can carry?"

One by one they nodded. They hurried down the passageway and outside. They then ran for the thicket. As they got halfway a tremendous barking went up. They froze and saw the guards mounting their horses. "Slaves are trying to escape!" One guard shouted.

"RUN!" Black Hawk screamed.

Just then a hunter dog appeared. Hunter dogs were ¼ each of Hyena, Wolf, Mastiff and German shepherd. They had a very powerful bite and had to be kept away from the horses. A scientist who worked for the Devil's Thorn had managed to mate a Hyena and Wolf together by breaking the Hyena's teeth out and had spliced some genes of the Mastiff and German shepherd into the embryos. Able to produce ten pups in a litter, they were the perfect killing machine and were used to guard and hunt down the slaves who tried to run away. That is why no one had ever managed to successfully escape the service of the Devil's Thorn.