Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid, you grakking chal! What was he even thinking? He could kill himself, fumbling around like this. Cutting the blood flow to his head was such a terrible idea.
Yet he knew why he did it anyway—he was confident it wouldn’t work. He was sure he’d fail. Never in his wildest dreams did he expect his first attempt to be a success. It had worked! Just that it’d worked too well.
He sat in silence for several minutes as his headache and nausea abated, reflecting about how he’d have to exercise caution with his experiments from now on.
“Psst. Hey! Hey you! Oh, c’mon. Wake up!” a voice whispered from somewhere nearby, interrupting his thoughts.
“Maiya, we’ve got company.” Vir nudged his friend awake, suspiciously eyeing the stranger outside their jail cell.
An emaciated girl with long, pasty black hair stood barefoot at the entrance of their cell, skittishly glancing down the hall. Her wrists and legs were so thin, Vir felt like he could snap them without even trying. She looked to be a few years younger than Vir, and her dress was a stained patchwork of repaired fabric and holes.
I feel like I recognize her from somewhere…
Vir exchanged glances with Maiya. Whoever this newcomer was, they clearly didn’t have permission to be here.
“Who are you?” Maiya whispered.
“Someone who can help. I can get you out!” the girl said, holding up an enormous keychain with dozens of keys on it. “Let’s see… This one? No, this one.”
She slotted the key into the lock, but didn’t turn it.
“I can help you escape. But…”
Vir narrowed his eyes. There was always a but.
The girl looked at him sheepishly, then rubbed her thumb against her fingers, in the universal gesture for money.
Of course. The girl looked like she was starving. If it was coin she wanted…
“How much?” Vir asked.
“Everything you have.”
Maiya snorted. “That’s hardly reasonable. We can give you a quarter of what we have.”
“Look, mister, I’m only here because your friend over there was a lil nice to one of our own. Guess I read you wrong. Oh well,” she said, pulling the key out of the lock.
For the first time, Maiya panicked. This negotiation wasn’t going according to her script. Vir stepped in to help her out.
“Wait,” he said. “We need the rest to buy supplies. Please understand.”
The girl held up two fingers, a sly grin plastered over her face. “Half.”
Vir gave Maiya a small nod.
Maiya understood his message. “Okay. We’ll come with you,” she said. “But we need answers first. And we’ll need the gear we were carrying with us.”
“No way. No, no, no. Too dangerous!” The girl shook her head vigorously.
“Look, you want our money? It’s in our gear.”
The girl looked at them incredulously. “You don’t hide your money near your privates?”
“What!” Vir and Maiya said in unison.
“Your privates! They never check down there. Nevermind. Alright! Fine. I think I know where they keep stuff they’ve taken from prisoners,” she said, unlocking the door, which thankfully swung open silently. Vir wondered why there was no Magic Lock on a door like this, but he realized the guards likely considered them harmless.
“Thank Yuma!” Maiya whispered, clasping her hands together in prayer as she stepped out of the cell. “So, where to?”
Their savior beckoned them to follow, and they did. Magic Lamps placed on the walls at regular intervals filled the dungeon hallway with plenty of light. Which only made sneaking around that much harder.
Riyan had once told them that true subterfuge meant being able to walk into a king’s palace and walk out with no one being the wiser. Along those lines, the best disguise for a dungeon like this was a dungeon guard’s uniform. Not that they’d ever prepared anything like that. Vir wondered what Riyan would do in this situation.
Who am I kidding? Riyan wouldn’t have allowed himself to be captured in the first place, Vir thought.
The hall ended in a T-junction, beyond which voices could be heard. Sounds of grumbling and gossip came from somewhere on the left junction. Vir braced himself for a fight, but the girl turned to the right, away from the voices.
She then turned left, and left again, putting them at a wooden door.
Vir and Maiya both had the same thought—the girl was far too good at this. She moved with the confidence of someone who’d infiltrated the prison several times in the past. Just who was she?
With practiced efficiency, the girl picked the door’s lock, but this one had a Magic Lock on it as well.
“How are you going to—oh,” Maiya said as the girl swung the door open effortlessly.
“They didn’t build these doors properly,” she said. “If you get past the lock in the right way, you don’t need to worry about the magic one.”
“Smart…” Maiya commented.
Vir bolted inside the moment the door swung open and handed Maiya her rucksack. He opened his own pack and rummaged past the rice and other supplies they’d bought. He breathed a sigh of relief when he located the money box he’d hidden within. Intact, locked, and just as full as before.
Alda held out her hand expectantly.
“Now?” Vir breathed. The girl didn’t seem like she’d compromise. Vir handed the box to Maiya, who unlocked it.
“Show me everything in there,” said the girl.
Maiya obeyed, showing the girl the contents of their coffer—six silvers and ten coppers—before handing her three silvers and five coppers. The girl took the coins, handling them with reverence, before depositing them into a leather sack she’d pulled out from who-knew-where, giving it a satisfied pat.
Vir retrieved his katar, slipping it inside his waistband, hiding it under his shirt. Maiya did the same.
“Let’s go,” he said, hurriedly donning his rucksack. Though they’d been fleeced, he still couldn’t believe their luck. Which was why he knew it wouldn’t last. Ever since they’d left the cell, he’d been on guard, ready to spring into action the moment they were spotted. Every time they approached a turn, he prepared himself to encounter a half dozen guards on the other side. Every sound they made, he was sure the guards heard.
Vir’s nerves continued to fray with each empty hall and silent corner they encountered, to the point where his heart felt like it would jump out of his chest. He contemplated trying to activate Prana Vision, but decided against it. If he blacked out again, it’d be disastrous.
Yet as time dragged on, and only after they crawled through a hole in the prison’s foundation, leading to an alley, did Vir recognize they’d made it out. In secret, and with no issues at all.
Maybe the gods are real after all… He couldn’t imagine having escaped so easily without the blessing of at least a handful of deities.
No. He refused to grow complacent. Things never went this well. They’d not only escaped ten years of hard labor, they’d escaped the very same day, with their supplies! It was too good to be true. Which probably meant the girl was leading them into another trap.
Saran’s city lights illuminated the streets against a darkening blue sky—there were no windows inside the jail, so Vir had no idea how much time had passed. By the looks of things, it’d been at least six hours, and dusk had just fallen.
Vir didn’t know who this girl was or what her intentions were, and he wasn’t going to find out. They’d mistreated him, and he was angry. Angry enough to turn on the person who’d helped them. Perhaps it was paranoia, but it was the cautious who survived.