The Windcaster [Fantasy/Adventure | Featured | Complete ]

Chapter 30: Jailbreak

"What do you want?!" the boy squawked as he was hauled from his seat. Nintu and Sin, the other Windcaster trainees, watched in surprise as Tia half-dragged the cocky Balcarry apprentice to the nearest corner. "Let me go!"

"Do not hurt him too much!" Nintu called after them, grinning.

"Tell me how Capital's cells work," Tia said, once out of earshot. Nisroch wreched his arm from her grasp and rubbed it, scowling. "You have been to the cells with Master Shamash, have you not?" She grabbed his arms again and shook him.

"All right! All right!" he yelped. "I do know! Graces, stop hurting me. What is in it for me though?" he backed away as she raised her fist. "Fine! I shall tell you!"

****

The guards get a debrief and relief at sunset every day, Nisroch's voice echoed in Tia's head as she slipped through the open window placed at knee-height, and landing softly on the floor of the basement room. Sharp green eyes darted around the interior of the building built with stone bricks. She had tucked all of her hair under a large, floppy cap and she was clad in a simple tunic and soft-soled shoes, dressed for escape. With no children and very few teens in Capital, it was unlikely the guards would buy her story of 'got lost' or 'was looking for someone'. No, if it all went wrong, her first priority was to run.

The room was empty and the surroundings quiet. Brooms and other equipment with long wooden handles leant against the wall. Shelves lay half-collapsed against each other, covered with layers of dust. The last of the sunlight gave her enough to see by, in the lightless store room.

For a secure house of the ministers, the security itself was surprisingly lax. With an easy distraction of blowing a distant gate shut with a loud bang, Tia avoided the burly guards without any hindrance. It was so simple that Tia felt that Nisroch had certainly exaggerated the security in jest.

She held her ear to the wooden door. There was sound of distant talking and footsteps, but they echoed from very far down the corridor. She opened the door a crack and peeped out. Candlelight poured through the small gap. She sighed with relief. There was nobody nearby.

She remained on alert along the length of the interior. One hand was shoved in her pocket, gripping the few metal rods that Nisroch had given her that would 'aid her expedition'. The layout was exactly as he had described. She went past the large, decorated doorway, which opened to stairs leading to the way out.

Flaming torches held in the wall brackets gave off flickering, orange light, throwing moving shadows onto the walls. She followed Nisroch's instructions, weaving down corridors and down further steps, tiptoeing past the guards' rest room, where the door was left ajar.

"...in preparation for Gwent."

She stopped.

"They are second line? Third line?"

"I believe third line." The voice was grim. "It was the best... compromise King Ea could make."

"And yet we are conscripting everybody else." The dissent was evident.

"If we want them on our side for the future, we must abide by that."

"I see." It was obvious that the speaker didn't see.

Tia was sure that they were talking about the Windcasters' roles in the upcoming invasion. She was disgusted at the obligation the soldiers appeared to expect. Wind was never meant to be used for the advantage of humans; it was a direct violation of the Casters' alliance with the Wind, without which there would be no Wind for anybody. She grimaced and made to move on.

"And the arrest tonight?"

She stopped again, eyes widening.

"Yes, sir. We will be approaching the town hall from the south; the other squadrons will close in from the other directions."

"The source is reliable?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Be sure to catch every one of them. We need to eradicate this pestilence once and for all."

"We also have news from Londis..."

Tia resumed her stealthy progression to the cells, feeling temporary relief Enlil would not be part of the rebels arrested later on that evening. The disapproving tone in the guard's voice about the Windcasters made her angry, but she put aside that emotion. Enlil was more important.

A downward spiral of stone stairs led to the cells. It was poorly-lit with flickering torches. Tia paused on the last step, listening for any sounds of pacing; there was none.

Cells, separated by metal bars, were on both sides of the room. Straw spilled from the interior onto the path that ran down the middle. The weak torches didn't cast enough light to illuminate the far corners; each cell stretched into the ominous darkness. She could hear snores from the barely-visible black figures.

"Enlil!" she whispered. She heard some shuffling and the rustle of straw before a familiar but battered and bruised face peered at her through the bars of the cell at the very end. She went to him immediately, crouching down at face level.

"Tiamat?"

He really did look a sorry state. There was a vivid purple bruise above his left eye and another one was blossoming on his right. Blood had dried and crusted under his nose. His hair was matted and his face streaked with dirt. He reminded Tia of how he looked when they had first met, many months ago in Mooncliffe.

"I have come to free you!" She grinned. His pale eyes flicked over her attire and then at her hands, which were gripping the metal cell bars. He snorted.

"With what equipment, may I ask? I see you have not acquired the keys."

Her jaw snapped shut. She could feel her face flushing. She hadn't thought this through.

"I see Mommu had no role in this expedition of yours."

"You think he would not follow through your rescue?" she shot back.

Enlil shook his head in pity. "No, it is not that." He looked almost amused. "Mommu would have known one needed keys to release someone locked in a cell, Tiamat. Only you would come barging in and claim rescue without the means to do it."

She swelled with indignity.

"So I shall leave you here then," she huffed.

"I appreciate your incentive, Tiamat, but unless your Windcasting can break the wall behind me or you have some miracle metal-dissolving potion in your pockets, my short-term situation will not be changing."

"Windcasting does not work like that–" she began, but stopped. She didn't have any metal-dissolving potions in her pockets, but she did have that set of small metal rods Nisroch had given her. She dug them out of her pockets. "Will these help?"

"You can pick locks?" Enlil's eyebrows shot up.

"So that is what these strange pieces are for." Enlil sighed and she scowled at him.

"Pass them over," he said, holding an open palm. Tia emptied her hand into his and straightened up, on the lookout for any guards. Enlil busied himself with the lock, with lots of metal scraping on metal and clinking. She fidgeted, waiting for the resounding click that would indicate freedom.

"Come on, Enlil."

"Nearly there." Clink. Clink. "Lucky you are here, and just in time too; I have business to attend to very shortly."

"If it is about the rebellion this evening: you are not going," she said, glaring down at him. He blinked at her in surprise as he paused.

"What do you mean? I have to go."

"You do not have to do anything – and especially not a stupid thing as that! The guards are planning to arrest them all tonight and you are not to be caught in it."

He glowered.

"It is even more reason for me to go," he said, not wavering. "They need me. This has been planned for several weeks."

We need you, Tia wanted to say, but at that moment, her sensitive ears picked up the faint sound of footsteps from the top of the stone staircase. Her heart sped up and blood drained from her face. This was a dead end. There was no other way out!