The car drove off and snaked its way up the twisty road that led to the main entrance. Finally, the car drew up outside the house and the door was opened for Mia to get out. At least she wasn’t going to the Jenta-Lor police headquarters, but why she was in handcuffs? She had no idea.
‘What am I doing here?’ she asked with a little more courage, and tried to wrap her dressing gown tightly around her body; it was difficult with the handcuffs. She felt vulnerable and silly still dressed in her nightclothes and the ground was cold on her bare feet.
‘Could somebody please tell me what’s going on?’ she pleaded to her captors, but they didn’t respond. It was at that point that she realised that all Jenta Force officers only seemed to respond to instructions, as if they were in some kind of trance. She relented and waited for whatever was about to happen.
The building was vast and in the light of the entrance the walls looked a pale off-white or cream. Still not uttering anything, the two officers escorted Mia past the front door and into the foyer. It felt more comfortable to step on the smooth marble floor. The grounds outside were rough and grated on the balls of her feet.
‘Take off the handcuffs,’ Morbid said, as he stood, obviously waiting for her to arrive. The officers did as they were asked. ‘You may go,’ Morbid squeaked. The officers turned and exited the building. Mia stood rubbing her wrists and wincing. She raised her eye level to Rhidian’s assistant and pulled on her robe again, feeling vulnerable in her night wear.
‘Did they hurt you, my dear?’ he said, his eyes dark and uncaring, contradicting the words.
‘N-no, not really,’ she replied. ‘I-I…’ but nothing else came out.
‘Please, follow me. His Excellency will see you now,’ he instructed and turned away.
Mia, confused and nervous, followed Morbid obediently. What was going on? Where was Rhidian? Everything was swimming through her head at the same time. She walked, taking in the surroundings. The ceilings were high and beautifully decorated, the walls smooth with exquisite paintings set at exactly the same distance from each other. She’d remembered this from her previous time here.
Morbid came to a door and stopped before giving it a gentle tap. Mia stood waiting behind him, her heart beating hard. She didn’t have a good feeling about this at all.
‘Come,’ a muffled voice emitted from beyond the door. Morbid twisted the gold handle and disappeared inside, closing the door behind him.
Mia waited patiently. It wasn’t cold, but her body trembled as if it was. This was ridiculous; she was standing in Jenta-Lor’s stately home in the middle of the night, dressed in her bed wear. She took a deep breath and tried to prepare herself with some diplomatic questions. But none of them would reveal how she really felt: confused and annoyed.
Soon, Morbid opened the door and called her inside. Mia took another deep breath, and tried to control her tremble as she tentatively walked over the threshold and into an audience with the ruler of Valusha, Jenta-Lor!
Chapter 5
Escape Plan
All prisoners were led back to their cells after an hour in the exercise yard.
Earlier, it had been a strange and scary experience in the mess hall. Everyone seemed to be looking at the new recruits. Rhidian sat eating his food nervously; this was one experience he would have to get used to, unless he could actually escape. Red had the same problem in a different part of the canteen. Once they were outside in the “general population area”, Rhidian met Red for the first time.
The engineer gazed at the lad with a sense of sadness. He was only a boy, blond hair, skinny frame and the look of innocence. The other inmates were staring at both of them, but with Rebus as a chaperon, the other prisoners kept their distance. Wizards definitely held an air of authority even as a prisoner. Rebus was right.
Rhidian was scared, but this boy must be terrified, he thought, especially in a prison full of adults. Rhidian couldn’t protect him in the long run – he didn’t even know if he could protect himself in this hellhole. Rebus wouldn’t be around all the time, so they would have to help each other, and neither of them would be able to defend themselves against a seasoned gang of inmates!
The buzzer sounded for everyone to go back to the cells and this gave a small jolt of relief. Red and Rhidian couldn’t wait to leave this place and return to the safety of their section. Finally, Rebus and Rhidian were locked back in together. Red was also put on his own again in the cell next to them. He was still worried as to whether they would put someone else in with him. Rebus was just relieved that they were all together, so the plan still had a chance.
‘Don’t worry, kid, you’ll soon have a cell mate in the morning,’ the guard said and grinned at the boy. Red began to sob and this seemed to give the guard a dark thrill – he laughed as he locked the door. They listened as the heavy footsteps faded into the distance. They waited until the last tinkle of keys pierced the air and the door was finally locked. That was it – they were all left in silence. The next thing to happen was the light in the main corridor extinguished and all was in darkness.
It was too quiet and Red couldn’t stand it any longer and had to speak.
‘What’s happening, guys?’ he whispered with a tremble in his voice.
‘Shh, just sit quietly for a while, Red,’ Rebus hissed. ‘Walls have ears and we don’t need anyone listening.’ Red did as he was told. He sat with his heart pumping and his body tense.
They waited quite a while and that made the boy even more distraught. The last guard made his final rounds an hour later. That hour seemed endless – every second seemed to dance around and tease them. Once the beam from the guards’ torch distinguished and the lock clicked, the plan was put into action.
‘Right, that’s it until morning. It’s eight o’clock now and we have two hours before the ship sails. The only reason any guard will come during the night is when there’s a problem. They don’t want to stay in here any longer than they have to. We have to be on that ship before the crew start boarding at nine-thirty, or it’ll be all for nothing. We have to get on board while it’s hopefully empty,’ Rebus said, with all his experience of the prison and timetable.
‘But, what if he comes back on the off chance, though?’ Rhidian was looking for all the things that could go wrong.
‘Then we will get caught, pure and simple,’ Rebus replied bluntly. ‘There are no guarantees with this. No one has ever escaped Skytraz Prison before and there’s good reason. We’re above the clouds and there’s no other way off this place. I suspect that there haven’t been many attempts because I’ve not heard of any since I’ve been here. So they won’t be expecting us to try. Right, I’m hoping that the guards are playing cards or sleeping until the morning. They used to make a patrol once in the early hours but that stopped some time ago. People just accept their fate that there’s no escape from this place.’
‘What happens now, Rebus?’ Rhidian pushed for some kind of answer.
The old wizard got up and walked towards the corner where the wall met the bars. He began picking at the surface of the cement. Rhidian could only hear the scratching, but still looked on, intrigued. Rebus dug at the seam between the steel and cement.
‘What are you…?’ Rhidian was about to ask, but was stopped from going any further with his enquiry.
‘Shh,’ the old man uttered. Rebus stabbed at the wall with his finger and slithers of cement fell to the floor. The old wizard had dug a seam the length of a pencil and the floor was a small mess of debris. He then pulled out something. Rhidian was burning inside with curiosity. Rebus turned to Rhidian, grasped his arm in the dense blackness and pressed something in his hand. Rhidian flinched at first, but played with what he’d been given. To his utter amazement, there were two pieces of metal – long and slim.
‘Can you pick the lock with those?’ he uttered casually. Rhidian examined the metal with more urgency – the length, thickness and also the ends. To his surprise, one end was offset at the tip, like a dentist’s
instrument and the other, a straight point. These would be perfect for manoeuvring the tumblers inside the lock, he thought.
‘They’ll be just right, Rebus. I hope, anyway,’ Rhidian expressed, totally in awe of the wizard’s ingenuity. ‘How on earth did you hide them so well?’
‘That’s not important now. We have to move quickly in order to get to the boat,’ Rebus said with urgency.
Rhidian wasted no more time and knelt in front of the keyhole. He fumbled in the darkness of the cell and felt for the lock. He’d done this a million times before, but never blind and never under so much pressure.
He took a few shallow breaths, closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind of everything except the lock. He smoothly felt his way inside the mechanism with the needle and for a short while tinkered about blindly. When he was satisfied, he used the other curve-ended pin and flicked at the barrel.
Rhidian’s face would have been a picture if the lights were on. He twisted and contorted with every movement of the skeletal keys. It was hard trying to feel the movement – he had to be at one with the instruments. Rebus stood behind, hoping this would work. If not, then all the years of waiting would be in vain. Rhidian grunted and groaned as he toyed with the lock. Come on, come on, he urged himself silently.
‘How’s it going?’ Rebus rasped in his ear.
‘Shh,’ Rhidian replied, trying to concentrate. He didn’t need the distraction, not at this point. After about two minutes there was a click… and then another, and Rhidian stepped back. ‘Phew,’ the engineer gasped as he pulled the door to one side, quietly easing it on its rail. He could hear the restrained, child-like laughter of Rebus in the dark.
‘You did it, you beauty,’ he gushed and shook Rhidian’s shoulder in admiration.
‘Okay, I’ll sort Red’s next,’ Rhidian said with confidence. He stepped outside and felt his way to Red’s cell. He stooped down again and started the procedure all over again. This time it didn’t take long, a few moments and the door slid open.
Now, all three were in the passageway, groping along the wall. Rebus led as Rhidian and Red followed up the rear. Red thought he would pass out – the dangerous excitement of being caught was overwhelming.
The group soon found their way to the steps. Rebus moved up to the next floor and came to a stop at the top. He knew there was a steel door to tackle. The others settled next to him and all three stood for a moment, listening. All seemed quiet; well, they hoped it was anyway.
‘Rhidian,’ Rebus uttered in the dark. Rhidian knew exactly what he had to do. He worked his magic on this door too and within a few moments, and after a little struggle, it gave way with a crack. Red was about to walk through when Rebus grabbed his shoulder.
‘Hold on, lad,’ Rebus whispered. ‘This leads to the open part of the prison,’ he said gravely. ‘We’ve got to be deathly quiet. If anyone hears us, anyone, prisoners or guards, it’s all over.’ Rebus’ tone was dire, and was totally understandable to the two new inmates. ‘Follow me quickly to the kitchen and try not to make any sound at all,’ he repeated. ‘Is everyone ready?’ Rebus could hear the rustle of movement and assumed they were nodding.
They gently pushed the door open the rest of the way and closed it behind them. They were on the south side of the prison, facing the end row of aisles. From this vantage point, the prisoners couldn’t see them. And the escapees were far enough away from the guardhouse not to cause suspicion.
Keeping low, they slowly edged their way to the kitchen, following the wizard. They quickly realised that the soles of their boots screeched on the newly polished floor. Rebus stopped, and so did they. He slipped his hand in his pocket and handed Rhidian a small block of wax.
‘Rub it on the soles and heels of your boots,’ he hissed, ‘and hand it to Red.’ They did as he’d asked, and quickly handed the wax back to Rebus. The squeak was gone, but the ground now was slippery. So stealthily, and as safely as they could, they made their way along the floor.
The open space was vast and the crew felt small scurrying around in the darkness. As they approached the kitchen door, Rhidian stepped forward to do his stuff as expected. He’d only been tampering with the lock for a few seconds when suddenly Rebus gripped his shoulder, tightly. Rhidian stopped immediately, wondering why.
Then he realised; there were footsteps fast approaching and panic ensued. The fear of being caught halfway through a jailbreak terrified all of them. In the distance there was a dancing beam of white light – obviously the flashlight of a prison guard. Rhidian, Rebus and Red were confused. How had the guard been alerted? Was it all over? Rebus assumed, with no alarm raised that it was just an inspection. But that was going to foil everything when the guard realised that they weren’t in their cells.
‘Come on, move,’ Rebus hissed and tugged at their sleeves. He urgently guided them across the floor. He hoped, if memory served, that there should be a set of steel steps opposite. This led to the first level of cells on the upper platform. They couldn’t go up there to hide – that would definitely alert the other prisoners.
So, without saying a word, he pushed them down under the stairwell and quickly crouched in behind them. He hoped the guard wouldn’t shine his torch in their direction because there wasn’t much in the way of cover. They cowered down as low as they could.
‘Keep quiet,’ Rebus said, at barely even a whisper.
The footsteps got louder until the guard came to a stop outside the kitchen. All three prisoners held their breath. The guard only carried a small flashlight, which emitted a dim glow and that made Rebus smile. The prison officer pointed it at his ring of keys. He held them up in front of his eyes and selected the one he needed. Once happy with that, he slotted it into the lock and twisted – the door clicked open. Suddenly, the guard was gone. There was a hiss of relief at not being discovered.
‘He’s raiding the fridge,’ Rebus said with a throaty chuckle. ‘It’s not an inspection.’
‘Maybe we can slip inside the kitchen while he’s in there?’ Rhidian said in a hushed tone.
‘No, it’s too dangerous. We could easily be spotted,’ Rebus grunted.
‘Why didn’t he put the light on inside when he went in there?’ Red asked.
‘Because he’s not supposed to go in there. There are rules for guards too in this place. He’s obviously stealing food. Anyway, the light would wake everyone up and that would be hard to explain to the warden,’ Rebus answered. The guard seemed to be taking an age, but the escaping prisoners could do nothing about it.
‘Come on, come on,’ Rebus grumbled under his breath. ‘Time is running out.’ It was as if the guard had heard him and appeared again at the entrance. The small flashlight this time was under his arm, the keys were in his right hand. He was also carrying a paper bag under his other arm and was trying to juggle everything together. It was too much and he dropped the keys and stood rigid, like a shop dummy. He then gingerly waited for some reaction from the prisoners. When there was none, he stooped down to pick them up and finally slipped away down the corridor to the guardhouse.
‘About time, too,’ Rebus whispered. ‘Come on, we’ve wasted enough time sitting here.’ They climbed out from their hideout and moved quickly to the kitchen again. Rhidian pushed the metal skeletal key into the lock and the door just swung open.
‘Wow, that was fast,’ Red gushed in his ear.
‘He hadn’t locked it, the idiot,’ Rhidian smiled back.
‘Come on, inside quickly,’ Rebus ordered. When they were in, he shut the door calmly and quietly behind him. He got Rhidian to lock it, just in case another guard came back and got suspicious.
‘Where now?’ Rhidian asked, the high pitch of his voice swirling around the cavernous room.
‘Just follow my lead. Move slowly through here, the both of you. It’s filled with pots and pans, as you’d expect, and if one falls in this metal room it will echo for eternity. We’ll have the whole prison service in here in seconds. Got it?’ They both nodded and
Rebus took it for granted they’d agreed. The wizard suddenly dipped down and scurried about on the floor, like a rat looking for food.
‘What are you doing?’ Rhidian quizzed when he heard movement ahead.
‘There’s a flashlight in here somewhere. We could do with some light for the next part.’ Rebus was fumbling in a cupboard and eventually found the torch.
‘Won’t the light give us away?’ Red spoke up.
‘Not this far in. We’re fine, the counter and cupboards will block the light. Okay,’ he announced, ‘we have to get into that.’ He pointed the beam to the ceiling. Small particles of dust floated around and illuminated inside the light array. There, above them, was a grid with an air vent behind it.
‘That will take us out of here. The vent leads to where the heat needs to escape the building and that’s where we need to climb out. There is a piece of ground outside with some trees for cover. Then it’s only a small walk to the jetty and finally the sky ship.’ Rhidian and Red now realised how much work the wizard had put into this whole plan and had a renewed respect for the old gent.
They climbed onto the counter and Rhidian got a knife from the cutlery drawer and unscrewed the four screws that fixed the grill to its frame. The engineer didn’t release the threads completely, and left the screws still fixed on each corner (an old engineer’s trick). He and Red pulled off the front cover and placed it on the worktop. They realised that any sound in the stillness of the night would project and amplify, like an explosion.
‘You go up first, Rebus,’ Rhidian insisted. ‘You know the lay of the land. We can sort this out,’ he said, pointing to the grid that had to be replaced.
Rebus climbed up with the help of the other two and quietly clambered into the squared extraction pipe, the flashlight clamped in his mouth. Then Red reached up and climbed inside after him. Rhidian gave Red the vent cover to hold so that he could climb in too. But Red fumbled it and it dropped. The square metal grid fell straight into Rhidian’s grip to everyone’s relief. Red’s mouth was wide open – eyes bulged. Rebus shook his head and pointed the torch in Red’s face. The boy looked rather sheepish.
Wizards' Exile Page 4
