Behind The Rebel Mask

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Captain Leevay

Ten years ago, my father served in the Airavian-Ekkarian Land War for Allerakin. Now, I have served the Allerakin King Chie faithfully. It's time to go back to war, and now we are not going against Airavia- we are going against their allies.

The Erelarians believe that our ancestors, Ha Ekkaria and Ha Airavia only wanted a small bit of land when the sisters and brothers claimed their land. But land means power, and power is everything. We forced Airavia and Ekkaria only to merge and not to surrender their land altogether through a treaty. We stopped fighting Erelaria, but now that we are all under a new leader, we can and will attack.

I have a high ranking in the army, and therefore I am right there on a horse scaling the army as they work to complete the arduous journey from the Allerakin Capital to the Erelarian. Walking takes several weeks to complete the journey, but by horse it would only take about one. Since the number of horses is limited, it has been about three weeks and we just crossed the border this morning. But as the day goes on, Lieutenant Shane gets impatient and makes the soldiers jog.

Once night falls, I can see the city. The only way, a spy soldier has told us, to get to the castle is by going down the town's main, and only street. The moon lights our path as we trek across the dirt path.

"Leevay!" Lieutenant Shane barks.

"At your service." I reply, hand snapping to my forehead as soon as the Lieutenant starts my name.

"I need you to make sure all of the soldiers have an adequate torch."

"Yes, sir." I gallop back to the lines and begin barking orders. Being a captain gives me big responsibilities, but there are still 8 ranks ahead of me. Depending on how today goes, I could become a Major.

Once everyone has a torch, which has taken some gathering and scolding, we continue marching. We begin setting fire to nearby houses. Men and woman flee from their burning properties, clinging to babies and young children. It's a sight that I love to see. I'm not scared. When I was a young soldier, I couldn't bear to see hurt and sadness, but now I can see that it is what our enemies deserve. They believe all of the wrong things, and they should be punished for that. I think back to a time when, as a young boy, my father was in battle. My mother clung to me as we waited in the underground storage are of our home to escape the fighting above. A soldier came down from above. He was Erelarian. He brought us up to see the fighting, tying us up and letting us watch the other men die. I couldn't bear to see it. They chuckled as I watched my father by stabbed in the leg.

I was skinny at the time and in my shocked state, slipped out from the ropes and ran. I ran all of the way, through forests and across fields to a small city called Elberta, never to see my mother again. I stayed there many years before I went back to the Capital to become a soldier.

Lieutenant Shane leads the way to the castle. As soon as we get close to the moat, I can see fire lighting up the sky from the torches. "Do not waste good fire!" Lieutenant Shane barks, turning to face the cowardly men. They quiver in worry. I do not flinch- yelling is something from the past that I know all too well. My father knew the yelling, too, and whenever I put a toe out of line, he would be like a raging fire, a storm.

Before I know it, the moat is down. We stampede across, and the passageway leads us to an open courtyard. I dismount just as the Lieutenant begins to hand out orders as if they are just pieces of paper. He sends me, along with a troop of the soldiers, to capture any Erelarians we see, no matter how rich or poor. We storm into an entrance room. Grand staircases curve around both side. The maids are first.

There is a cluster of them working, dusting the steps and scrubbing the floor. I send them with a soldier down to Lieutenant Shane and hurry up to the second floor. It's a hallway of offices. I kick down the first door. It breaks cleanly off the hinges in one piece. The office is empty. I set off at a brisk pace past a doorless stretch of wall to another door perched amongst the wooden planks. That door, too, gets kicked down.

In it is my jackpot. I draw my sword to face the 8 or so businessmen. They are all on their feet, frozen at the sight of me, an Allerakin Captain, but are too weak for me. I tie my rope around each of their heads with a simple adjustable hitch knot. They are too scared to fight back as I take the end of the rope and wrap it around my hand several times and set off down the stairs and back to the courtyard. Lieutenant Shane sees me with all of the men and heads over from the woman he was investigating.

"Where'd you get those?"

"Found 'em in an office room, sir."

He scales the line. "Did you get the King and Queen, Leevay?"

"I believe another of the soldiers found them, sir," I lie boldly, thinking of the Major role ahead of me.

"Go and fetch them. I want them here."

"Yes, sir." I salute the Lieutenant.

I turn and wander back into the castle, determined to find King Jaomalo and Queen Malia. I expect the queen to be in a sitting room, but after a thorough search of one of the towers, I begin to doubt that. I continue down an open corridor that branches out from the entrance hall, where a sitting room seems to be empty. I pause and step in. There, behind the door, are the two, frantically pressed up against the wall. They come out before me out of fear and respect. I tie the rope around their heads tightly enough so they are barely able to breathe and march them out to the courtyard, yanking the rope ever so often to watch them gasp for breath. What is life like without a joke? Lieutenant is taking an even longer rope and tying it around all of the prisoners' heads. I push forward the king and queen. They stumble but gather themselves up to present themselves at full posture to seem as intimidating as possible. They aren't.

"Here they are, sir."

"Ah." Lieutenant says, nodding as he inspects the prisoners, walking a full circle around them. "Leevay, I want you to find the castle prisons.

"Yes, sir." I turn and set off through the castle, searching for a decent area for a prison. When I finally find one, it's a solid stone room. There is a trap door attached to the ground with five different clasps. I begin to fiddle with them, and then see that all five must be opened with a key. When I look up, I see one ring of many keys hanging from the eastern wall. I pull it down, and begin to try each one in the lock. Of course it's about the fourteenth key I try that opens the first one, but at least I am one step closer to being in. I continue, and eventually open the last lock to reveal a dark chute. I peer a bit closer to see that there is no ladder, only about a seven foot drop. I jump, and land on my feet. Four years in the army has taught me something.

The prison has separate cells about three feet long and two feet wide. They have bars as the door, but the rest is solid stone. I smile. Stone is impossible to escape from. Each door has a separate keyhole, so with one key only one prisoner could escape. This only gets better. I decide to unlock all of the prison doors before I report to Lieutenant Shane, and once I do I face the challenge of getting out.

I investigate the edge where the trap door opens. In order to escape the prison, I put my foot on a groove in the wall and pull myself up and back into the prison landing. The keys are where I left them, so I grasp them and drop back through the opening.

It takes a while, because there are twenty doors, meaning twenty different keys. I search through the stack, but nonetheless it takes me about ten minutes to get it all unlocked and opened.

I climb back out and hold my head high as I strut back to the courtyard. It's buzzing with soldiers talking to prisoners. I approach Lieutenant Shane.

"I found us our prison, sir."

He begins barking orders for the soldiers to lead the prisoners to their cells. I go in the lead because I know how to get to the prison. We untie the ropes one by one and force the Erelarians into their cells. We put eight or so maids in the same cell, shoulder to shoulder so they are not comfortable, but everyone else has their own cell.

After slamming the cell doors shut, we head back to the body of the castle.