Eritopia

A Way Out

The captain of the guard took off his cap and tucked it under his arm. He bowed. 

'Your Majesty, Melos has gone.'

'What do you mean?'

'He has left, swept out of the Palace and over the mountains to wherever he came from.'

'But why?' Barnabas was both relieved and perplexed.

'There is worse news,' the captain added. 'The wolf has gone too.'

'With Melos?'

'No, that's the strange thing. Melos laid my guards unconscious and let the wolf and his companion escape.'

'Let them go? That is strange. With the wolf gone, we have no bargaining power.' He then asked the captain, 'How long since?'

'An hour, your Majesty.'

Despite the wolf's escape, the news that Melos had gone cheered Barnabas. A dark cloud was lifting from his mind.

'Search for them. Mobilize the guard. Call off all leave. Whether young or old, ready or retired, prepare them for battle. And find the wolf!'

****

'I can smell more men,' Not-Bear said as they stood in the corridor. 

'How did you do that?' Martin asked as he and Beetle arrived and saw the two unconscious guards.

'It wasn't us,' Jod said. 'And now is not the time to wonder about it. Men are coming.'

'This way then,' said Martin, and he ushered them back the way he and Beetle had come.

'Hurry, there are soldiers everywhere.'

As they turned the next corner, three more soldiers lay motionless in a corner.

'Melos,' Jod breathed.

'Melos?' said Martin. 'What has he got to do with this?'

'He came to see us in the cell. When he left we opened the door and saw those two guards as you did.'

'But no one came past us.'

'Interesting,' Jod said. 'Despite his protestations he still has power.'

They peered around the next bend. All clear. Yet they heard the sound of chattering laughter. It came from the military restroom they had passed earlier.

'There's another way,' Martin said, and he led them to a flight of narrow stairs. They descended and negotiated more corridors. Soon they found themselves outside a familiar storeroom.

'This is where they kept us when we first arrived,' Martin explained.

They went in. The boxes were still at the back and the hatch was open. Their escape had remained undetected. Following the same route they were soon back in the kitchens.

'What now?' Not-Bear asked.

'We're in the Eastern wing of the Palace,' Martin said. 'Outside are the kitchen gardens. There's nothing there but an overgrown hedge separating the Palace from the Wastelands.

'Wastelands?' Jod echoed. 'Gordon used that name.'

'And a good one,' Beetle said. 'It's an area beyond the Palace, stretching across to the Mountains. Where the citizens 'ave dumped all their rubbish over the years.

Home to those what prefer the disorder of the Wastelands to the structure of city life.

'And how do we get there? Through the hedge?'

'Well, here's the thing. It's called an 'edge but it's all twisted trees and thorny bushes that stretch all the way around. It's at least ten feet thick and there's no way through for anything bigger than a spider. The only other way is through the front gates. And as you know, that's well guarded.'