The Secret Within

Chapter 16

The prisoner had a kind face and seemed to have been here for only a few weeks. He was not as emaciated as the others. Rosaline remembered him from her training days, but there was also something more familiar about him. Where had she seen that face? 

She walked up to the prisoner after making sure that there were no other Visenin guards nearby. She rapped on the bars of the cage and held up her finger to her lips as she warned him to be quiet. The soldier looked up confused, but he listened and kept quiet. Rosaline then whispered to him through the prison bars. 

"Hey, I don't know if you recognize me, but I am Rosaline. I trained with you. I am going to rescue all of you, but I will need your help." 

The prisoner nodded in understanding. "Yes, I remember you. What can I possibly do to help?" 

"Do you know where the lost princess is kept?" 

"Well, not exactly, but that Witch talks about her often. She is always talking about what she would do if she could only get her to cooperate. I have never seen her with the lost princess, but I do know that the lost princess is not in this prison. I think the Witch keeps her somewhere else." 

"I see, thank you. How many of you are there?" 

"About two hundred. More come every day. The Witch has doubled her efforts lately and seems intent on capturing the whole lot of us." 

"You have been very helpful. What is the fastest way out of here?" 

"If you follow the row of cells that way you will come to a sort of tunnel which leads you out." 

"Thank you, I promise that I will come back and rescue you and the other soldiers. But, I must find a way to do it. Give me a few hours. Meanwhile, could you try and tell the others to be awake and ready for an escape?" 

"Of course, and if we do not make it, I ask that you tell my wife and son that I love them and give them this?" 

The prisoner handed Rosaline a crumpled letter from inside his tattered shirt. 

"Yes, I will. Where do they live?" 

"A little ways from the river, in a manor. It is..." 

"I know where that is. I met them only a few days ago. They are doing well now and I will be sure to give this to them." 

The prisoner thanked Rosaline and she took off in the direction of the tunnel. Rosaline hoped with all her heart that she would be able to rescue the lost princess. She would be the answer to all of her problems. If she could find her, she could free those poor prisoners and she would be able to get back to her normal life. 

Meanwhile, miles away... 

The boys had just woken up and Freya was already up and cleaning up the camp stuff. She seemed to be very excited about something. And she was not the only one. Raven also seemed to be in a very good mood. 

"Wake up, you two! Wake up and see your dreams become reality! Look!" said Raven excitingly as he went over to the two boys. 

And then they saw what Raven and Freya were so excited about. Frederick gasped and Alistair just stared with his mouth open. 

On one side of the camp there were four dazzling white horses. Starmane was one of them. They were the most beautiful creatures that Freya and Frederick had ever seen. 

"Where did they come from?" asked Frederick. 

"They are the last of the Straelon," answered Raven. "Starmane must have known where to find them. It is said that no human could ever find a Straelon. This is just what we need. We will be able to get to Elvira's castle much quicker now." 

The small party packed up and each chose one of the Straelon horses. 

"Follow me," said Raven as proudly mounted his horse. He urged the horse that he was on and leaned forward. The horse reared up and neighed and then shot off. Freya noticed that he did not go towards the mountain path that they had thought was the correct way. The horse must have known the right way to the castle. 

Alistair was the next one to take off. Frederick was next. Freya took a deep breath and then urged her horse on. She had forgotten to lean forward and almost got knocked off the horse when it shot off. As the horse galloped at an incredible speed, Freya tried to look around her to see where they were going. But all that she could see was a giant blur of trees and earth. Sometimes she thought that she could see a glimpse of the others, but it always turned out to disappear as she got closer to it. 

The ride lasted for about twenty minutes. Freya was glad when her horse finally came to a stop beside the others. She felt quite dizzy and was glad to feel the earth beneath her again. Once her head stopped spinning, she looked around at where they were. The place was quite dark and gloomy. They were in a forest, but it was not a pleasant sort of forest. The trees and vines all seemed to have been diseased with some horrible infection. There was very little light and it took awhile for Freya to realize that it was not coming from the sun, but from a miserable little torch that was hanging from one of the trees. 

"What is this filthy place?" asked Alistair as he looked around. 

"I myself am not exactly sure," answered Raven. He seemed to be more alert than ever. "I am sure that we are not far from Elvira's castle, but I do not know how we are to find it." 

They all busied themselves as they looked around and tried to figure out a way to get to the castle. Freya looked at the torch that hung from the tree and suddenly had a burning desire to touch it.