The thick ring through which his wrist manacles linked appeared to be two halves, the top portion of which could slide up a few inches in a slot to open. As far as Keith remembered, levers outside in the hall controlled the rings. Only a moron would design a jail where the lever to open the rings sat within reach of the prisoners.
He couldn’t tell how long they’d been down there. Only flickering torches out in the hall gave off any light. A guard had returned some time ago to collect their bowls and set ewers of water on small shelves they could reach if they stood up. Every so often, a guard walked back and forth outside.
In the dread silence, Keith stared into space, picturing the Dark Wizard Yzil gliding across the countryside heading toward them. Their three-day lead wasted away.
A pap in the hallway made him glance to the right. Sarah heard it as well and lifted her head. The patter of small feet approached, but nothing seemed to be moving.
“Wow,” said Carlos. “Big rats. Did you hear that?”
“Yes.” Sarah leaned forward, looking around.
Two small eyes appeared against the opposite wall, near the empty cell. The inky silhouette of a small skinny girl peeled away from the stone and crept closer.
“Tira!” whispered Ash. “What are you doing here?”
She padded up to the bars at the edge of their cell and slipped between them. Her armor, Bottomless Bag, and bandolier of knives were missing, as well as her shoes. She’d kept her skirt and cloth top, both matted down under a thick layer of black mud, as if she’d gone rolling in it. She looked like someone had cut a human shape out of darkness.
“I’m busting you out of prison,” whispered Tira.
“What’s with the gunk?” asked Elliot.
“Wow, you really need to read the book.” She gestured at her slime-covered body. “It’s a +3 modifier to stealth checks in the dark. I’m the same color as the walls down here.”
The distant door opened with a creak.
Stifling a gasp, Tira hurried to the back corner of the cell between Keith and Carlos, where the least amount of light reached. She pressed herself against the wall and closed her eyes, becoming as invisible as one could get without magic. The heavyset guard walked by outside, peering in at the kids as he passed. He didn’t hesitate at all when his gaze swept over the corner, and kept going, all the while emitting a continuous, surly grumble. A few cells to the right, the guard verbally abused a drunk-sounding man before walking back. When he passed by their cell again, he didn’t even look in at them. Footsteps trundled off to the left for several seconds.
As soon as the thump of the distant door echoed, Tira stepped away from the wall and whispered, “Shh. I found a way out, but you all gotta stay quiet and follow me.”
Ashur rattled his manacles. “Get these locks open. Your character’s a thief, you can still pick locks.”
“I’m a rogue, not a thief.” She folded her arms.
“What’s the difference?” asked Carlos.
“Ugh.” She rolled her eyes. “Rogues use stealth and cunning to defeat their enemies. Thieves steal. I don’t steal.”
Ashur frowned. “You stole the Bottomless Bag.”
“And from those merchants the first day,” said Elliot.
“I was only curious about pickpocketing mechanics.” She stormed up and pointed at her brother’s face. “That bag is gonna save all your butts. If one of you had it, we’d be in deep trouble.”
“Come on, man.” Keith gripped the chains leading up from his wrists and pulled himself to stand. “Give her a chance and stop wasting time.”
Tira backed up to the middle of the cell. “I don’t have time to get the handcuffs off you guys right now. The guards are patrolling every eight minutes. We’ll be caught if I try. There’s a lever outside that opens those loops on the wall. I’m gonna pick the door lock, wait for the guard to go by again, and pull the lever. When you’re out, follow me and don’t say anything. Don’t make any noise.”
Ashur groaned.
“Do what she says,” whispered Sarah. “We can kinda walk. The chains aren’t that short. She can pick the locks once we’re safe outside somewhere. There’s four locks on each of us and it takes a minute or two to open one.”
Tira crept over to the cell door and peeled lock-picking tools from a muddy pouch. Being eye-level to the keyhole gave her a perfect vantage point, and she soon did a little victory shimmy before darting across the cell to hide in the dark corner once more. With her eyes closed, only her toes remained visible.
“Toes,” whispered Keith.
She pivoted her feet apart, flush against the wall, and completely vanished.
A minute or two later, the big guardsman walked down the hall and back. Like a background character in a video game, he abused the same drunk with the same taunts and went back the way he’d come from. Tira crept out of hiding before the door at the end of the hallway shut, and waited by the cell door. As soon as the familiar thud echoed outside, she pulled the door open and hurried into the corridor, where she jumped up and grabbed a lever beside the cell.
For a second or two, her legs waved in the air. It took all her weight to move it, but the rings parted a half inch. Tira grunted and bounced the lever down inches at a time. After four tugs, it gave way and sank all the way down, dropping her on her butt in the hall. Keith, Sarah, Carlos, Elliot, and Ashur pulled their wrist-chains free from the open clamps and shuffled out of the cell.
Sarah stooped and grabbed the chain connecting her ankles. “Don’t let it drag on the floor. It’s loud,” she whispered.
The others did the same. Tira ran to the right, opposite the direction the guard went when he left, and waited at the end of a stone corridor, past six more cells. Only one prisoner occupied the dungeon except for them—an unconscious drunk with a wild explosion of grey hair and beard.
Tira waited at the end, waving at the others to hurry. With an ungainly stride, Keith shuffled as fast as he could to her. A low-lying opening with bars in it sat near the floor. Before he could feel disappointed, Tira squatted and pulled away the two middle bars, which she’d evidently sawed out.
Keith guided Sarah to go through first and followed into a flooded tunnel with a low ceiling that kept him hunched. Icy water came up to the middle of his chest. Sarah tried to wrap her arms around herself as best she could with the manacles. Her teeth chattered hard and her lips faded to blue in seconds.
“I’m really glad he can dry us off,” whispered Sarah.
Ashur slithered in and went headfirst underwater. He burst back up, gasping, barely holding in a scream at the cold.
When Elliot reached the opening, Tira grinned and pulled away another pair of bars, widening it. He smirked, but still struggled to squeeze in. Carlos, behind him, placed a foot on his butt and shoved. Elliot popped free and hit the water with a splash that soaked Keith’s hair and knocked the other two over.
Carlos ducked in with ease. Tira lowered herself in feet-first, and replaced the metal rods that had once been bars in position. After a little adjusting, any guard giving the opening a casual glance wouldn’t know it had been breached.
Tira dove under, swimming out of a cloud of inky blackness. The mud stayed mostly behind, though her clothes would likely never return to their former burgundy. She surfaced on the other side of Keith and Sarah and kept swimming. Everyone followed her around a leftward corner. No one bothered holding their leg irons up from the ground underwater, and shambled onward as fast as possible. After about forty feet, a ladder leading up to a round metal hatch stood to the right of an opening where the water poured over a ledge and went down into a lower chamber. On the floor at the base of the ladder sat Tira’s Bottomless Bag.
She picked it up and slung it over her shoulder. “We gotta go down. Unless you wanna run around the city all chained up.”
Sarah shook her head. “N-no. W-we’ll g-get arrested ag-gain.”
“Don’t be scared,” said Elliot.
She twisted to
glare at him. “I’m n-not sc-scared. I’m f-freezing.”
Tira sat at the opening, and jumped down the miniature waterfall.
Sarah nodded to Keith. He sat in the frigid flow and scooted his butt off the ledge. After a four-foot drop, he plunged underwater in a deep cistern. He couldn’t see anything, but instinct kicked in and he wound up dog paddling to the surface. Alas, the air above remained as dark as the water had been.
“’Los. Can you toss up a light spell?”
“Yah, no problem.” Carlos mumbled a few bizarre words and a small comet of red-orange light glided down into the chamber.
The pool he treaded water in looked bigger around than his entire house. Overhead, a natural rock ceiling stretched far off to the left, the flooded cave continuing well into the distance, narrowing to an underground river. Keith whistled at the sight. The city’s underground must’ve broken into this cave system, perhaps on purpose for the water.
Sarah slipped in next, landing with a faint splash. Keith caught her arm and pulled her to the surface. Ashur jumped. Sarah looked up the same moment Elliot squeezed past the gap. She stifled a scream and raised her arms to shield her face from the effect of his cannonball dive. His landing turned the water into a wave pool for a few seconds.
Carlos dropped in with little fanfare.
“Over here,” said Tira, a touch louder than a whisper.
She stood ankle-deep in water to the right, at the edge of a rocky shelf covered in grey sand. While no passageways offered an escape from the ‘beach,’ it did have enough room for everyone to climb up and rest.
Everyone swam for shore and dragged themselves out of the icy water.
Tira held up her lock picks. “Who’s first?”
Keith threw his chained arms over Sarah’s head, lifted/hugged her, and carried her over to Tira.
She tried to laugh, but couldn’t get much past her chattering teeth.
Carlos dried everyone with magic, and flopped on the ground to wait his turn under the lock pick.
Tira sat cross-legged and attacked the manacle on Sarah’s right leg.
“Where are we?” asked Ashur.
“Under the city,” said Tira, not looking away from her task. “All your guys’ stuff’s in the bag.”
“What?” Sarah blinked. “You got everything? My sword?”
“Our money?” asked Elliot.
Tira paused her lock picking and looked up with a grin. “Why do you think it took me so long to break you out? And we’re walking away from this a little richer. Those guards had to pay a stupidity tax.” She went back to work. “I decided to grab your stuff before they sold it all.”
“I had a feeling,” Keith muttered. “Tir, you may be tiny, but you are awesome.”
She smiled. “I know.”
Ashur ruffled her hair.
Over the next forty minutes or so, Tira freed everyone from their chains, which wound up in an unceremonious grave at the bottom of the deep cistern. Elliot used mild healing magic to mend bruises and cuts.
Tira stood. “Okay. Do you want your stuff now? Or after we swim out?”
Sarah emitted a faint whine. “Now. We’re safe here. Where does this tunnel open up?”
“Umm, somewhere outside the city.” Tira opened the Bottomless Bag’s flap.
“Yeah, definitely now.” Sarah nodded to Carlos. “He can magic us dry once we’re out. Better we have our weapons and armor at the ready.”
“Okay.” Tira plucked item after item out of the bag, far more than the small satchel looked like it should be capable of holding.
Soon, everyone had dressed and armored up. After pulling her shoes and armor back on, Tira closed the bag and reattached it around her waist.
Ashur scooped her up in a massive hug and swung her around a few times. “Time for a new game.” He handed her to Keith like a huge doll. “Hug the rogue and pass her around.”
Tira giggled and playfully protested while they passed her from one person to the next and squeezed.
“Seriously, that was awesome. Brave… smart… sneaky.” Ashur put his hands on his hips and stared at her. “I can’t even believe that you’re only nine.”
“Upgraded firmware.” She stuck out her tongue.
“Dude.” Elliot patted Ashur on the back. “She’s gonna have a college degree by our age.”
Tira scrunched up her nose. “Maybe sixteen. I don’t want to overextend myself.”
“We gotta go.” Keith glanced at the water. “Anyone know how long we were stuck in that cell?”
“Couple hours,” said Tira, yawning. “It’s like really late now.”
“Maybe we should rest here?” asked Elliot. “Nothing can find us here.”
“Except Yzil,” muttered Sarah.
“True, but if we only lost a few hours, and it’s like two in the morning…” Carlos also yawned.
Ashur glanced at Sarah. “What do you think?”
She edged toward the water and peered down the length. “I want to keep going and not stop, but we’ll be in trouble if something happens and we’re all zombies.”
“I can’t cure necromancy,” said Elliot.
Sarah laughed. “Not literal zombies. Haven’t-slept zombies.”
“Okay,” said Keith. “So we rest.”
“It’s wet here.” Tira frowned. “I have blankets and stuff for everyone. Can we sleep outside where it’s dry?”
“Next time.” Ashur patted her on the head. “We’d be close to town and they might spot us before we woke up. The whole idea of resting is not to have to walk for hours before we sleep.”
“Oh, all right.” Tira wandered around, hunting for the driest part of the damp sand.
Ashur stretched out flat, and waved her over. “C’mon. You got us out. You can be dry.”
With a smile, Tira curled up on top of her brother.
Keith settled down for a nap. Lying flat was way more comfortable than sitting against a stone wall with his arms dangling over his head. Sarah scooted up beside him, using her green cloak as a blanket. Much to his surprise, he found he had little trouble dozing off.
30
Hauling Chain
Gentle prodding at his shoulder woke Keith from a bizarre dream where he’d been riding his bike down the hallways in his school, fighting goblins like a knight on horseback. He peered up at Sarah, who crouched next to him.
“It’s morning.” She sighed at her satchel and closed it. “And I’m out of rations.”
Elliot groaned and sat up, brushing grey sand off the sleeves of his white tunic. “How do you know it’s morning? There’s no windows here.”
“Speaking of which.” Ashur looked around. “Where’s the light coming from?”
Carlos pointed at the baseball-sized orb of orange glow hovering near the cave ceiling. “My personal sun.”
“I don’t know how I know,” said Sarah. “I just know. Must be a ranger thing.”
“You’d make a good park ranger.” Keith sat up. “But I think you’d rather be a vet.”
Sarah stared at him again, one hand at the base of her neck. After a few seconds, she looked down, picking a finger at a small mound of sand at the tip of her boot where it dug in. “It feels like I’ve been in here so long, that feels like the fantasy.”
He put an arm around her back. “You are going home. My dad always says that things happen for a reason. I mean, he’s not like religious or anything. More like he thinks the universe just kinda works itself out. Bet I got into that fight for a reason.”
“Fight?” Sarah looked up at him.
“I got into a fight at school that day and got a black eye, so I wasn’t in a hurry to get home. My parents are weird about that stuff. Took the long way home, which went by your house. I saw the yard sale and wanted the book. If I didn’t have that fight, I would’ve gone straight home and never met your grandmother or gotten the book.”
Tira took her soft shoes off one at a time and shook sand out of them. “If you release some kin
d of gas in a given volume of air, the gas will eventually distribute itself evenly.” She swatted sand off the seat of her skirt before adjusting her bandolier of throwing knives. “Keith’s dad’s idea kinda makes sense in a way.”
Elliot grunted and ripped one.
“Speaking of dispersing gas,” said Carlos. “We should run.”
“Dude.” Ashur covered his mouth. “Stop. Really. I swear I saw sand go flying.”
“Sorry. Next time, I won’t order the prison slop.” Elliot held up his hands. A second later, his expression morphed to one of horror. “Oh, man. That’s bad.”
Keith tugged Sarah over to the water’s edge. “C’mon. If El can’t take it, we don’t stand a chance.” He peered back at Tira. “So… jump in and follow the water?”
“Yep.” She patted the Bottomless Bag. “You guys wanna stash your stuff so it stays dry?”
“Weapons,” said Sarah. “But Keith and Ashur should put their armor in the bag. They’ll sink like stones.”
The boys removed their armor and packed it while Tira held the flap open.
Carlos jumped in the water. “Holy crap, that’s cold.” He spent a few seconds shivering before muttering something about drying and magic.
Gagging on fumes, Ashur ran and dove in.
“Here we go.” Keith felt weird going swimming fully dressed, but waded in anyway. As soon as the water reached a certain sensitive height, the coldness paralyzed him.
Sarah closed a flap on her quiver of arrows before entering the water. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” He gulped. “Water’s cold.”
“Faster you go in, the faster we’re out, dry, and warm.” Sarah jumped on his back, tackling him underwater.
He kicked up from the bottom and chased her, wanting to laugh but not daring to open his mouth. A great splash came from behind. That even here, trapped in a bizarre world after escaping from jail, Elliot still couldn’t resist doing a cannonball made Keith grin.
The Cursed Codex Page 23
