CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN: TROUBLE WITH A PLAN

Not a single thing could have prepared Calin for what happened. One moment he was in tears pressing down on the pillar taking all the rage and frustration of Ta-Reen’s betrayal out on it. Then he was standing outside the cell.

Eyes wide, he looked to the cell he had just occupied. It stood open. The four bars of the cell door were gone. So were the ones of the next cell.

Eli was standing there with his mouth hanging open looking at him as if he was a ghost.

“What are you?” Eli asked in a quivering voice.

It struck him like a blow, his hands couldn’t stop trembling. The way Eli looked at him showed fear and it shook his foundations. But before he could respond, Eli dragged a hand through his long hair and stepped out of his cell. The fear, that had been so prominent on the man, slowly ebbed away from his features.

“Lad, in all my years... never... Calin, what happened?”

In disbelief he stared blankly at the pillar, not knowing even how to start to answer either of those questions.

His voice finally forced itself through his dry throat.

“I don’t know... I-I-I just... I—” Then he jerked upright, remembering why he wanted to get out. He steeled his voice and said,

“Right now, I don’t care what the heck happened. I’m leaving! You’re welcome to accompany me, but I’m not waiting.”

The man’s eyes were still wide, but he said, “Of course I’m coming. There was never hope of me getting out of this place, but now ....” Eli stared at him with wonder.

A weak smile tugged at Calin as he said, “We don’t have much time, let’s move.”

Eli nodded and they both took off towards the door of their cell wing. Not wasting a second, Calin went bursting through it. With it, he caught a prison guard unaware, busy removing his armour.

The shock of finding the man standing there sent adrenalin pumping through him and he jumped forward tackling the guard. He slammed his fist down on the man’s face, it connected, but then a fist shot up into Calin’s jaw. The guard came rolling over pinning him with an elbow and making ready to punch again. He cringed as the guard’s fist came down. The weight disappeared from Calin’s chest. He looked up to see Eli strangling the man. But before the man could kill the guard, Calin shouted,

“Don’t! Let’s get out of here.”

Eli did something with the guard sending him down to the ground unconscious. Then as the bearded man hid the body behind one of the armour cabinets, he said, “Don’t worry lad, I’m not that kind of man. Let’s go, there is bound to be more coming.”

A bit surprised with his fellow prisoner, Calin stared for a moment and nodded before moving on.

Just before they reached the next door, the sight of two gauntlets stopped him. They were his. He grinned broadly at finding the two gauntlets that had saved his life with the Nighthound. He grabbed them and as they opened the next door he started donning them. It was an awkward attempt, but as they descended the long curving hallway that led down, he finally succeeded in his efforts. It was odd for Calin, when he was brought into Prison’s hold he was so down and out about Evany being taken away; he hardly even realized how long the hallways actually were.

As they ran, he desperately hoped the plan Jerry had given him had a solid way of getting out of the building. The inner courtyard was a no go without a doubt. There were far too many guards all around the only exit from the great prison. He couldn’t help but wish he had read the whole escape plan. Silently, he swore for losing all hope.

Now every second counted and he didn’t even know half of the plan of how to try and get out.

The pair reached the next door, luckily it was slightly open. This was where things would get interesting, there would be guards everywhere. Calin prayed that they could find a way past them. He took a breath and led the way into the next room.

It was the room with a circular stone counter with a man in its midst cataloguing in a book; the man was probably keeping note of all the prisoners that was going in and out of Prison’s Hold. He snuck towards the closest stone counter. Just as he reached it, the furthest door burst open with two guards dragging a prisoner. Calin could only freeze out in the open.

If it wasn’t for them having to force the bound man forward, the guards would have seen him and Eli sneaking through the room without a doubt.

As it was, he rushed to the stone wall of the counter. There were symmetrical gaps between it and the floor. It went in even portions all the way along it. But thankfully it wasn’t big enough to reveal his and Eli’s hiding place.

Sitting there, without a plan behind the counter, was tearing at his nerves. He turned and the man Kirri, who was behind the counter, was busy chatting to the guards, all the while cataloguing the prisoner. It was idle chit chat about what was going on in the core city and if there were big enough clouds coming that would hamper the light from the Morning trees.

Through it all, Calin was barely able to contain his frantic breathing. He needed to be as quiet as possible. But the possibility of being caught was hanging like a heavy blanket between him and Eli. He looked at the man and whispered in a very low voice. “What now?”

The bearded man shook his head and whispered back, “I don’t know lad. I’ve never thought I’d even get out my cell, much less this far.”

It was understandable. But it still didn’t give them a way out. The seconds were ticking by with no idea what to do next.

Then he spotted the window, barely two metres away from him, and what he had read last in the note Jerry had given him came to mind. It had been about the window. Hope of a plan surged in him and he whispered to Eli, “Jerry’s note said something about a window. I’ll be right back.”

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He could see Eli wasn’t happy, but he scooted backwards towards the man sized glassless window.

While shifting backwards, Calin watched with piercing focus for any movement from the guards. But luckily the features of the room gave him somewhat of a blind spot to exploit.

When he reached the window, there was a freezing gust howled through its recesses, a frighteningly strong wind. He stuck his hand out, and it was hard to just keep it straight in the wind. This is going to be tricky.

He worked his body over the flat edge, all the while looking for any change in the room. He hoped Eli would warn him if the guards were coming. With his head in the hammering wind he looked out over the edge, hoping there would be a way down.

That hope was outright and completely dashed by an immense sheer drop at least hundred and seventy metres down from the window to the closest perch which was the road snaking up; and it was at least hundreds more than that to the valley floor.

It was the front side of the massive natural pillar that housed Yera’s Crossing. The window looked out over the whole valley and over the seven other large pillars. He looked down with fear at the drop. There were no handholds whatsoever. Not even one.

It was smooth rock almost like marble the hundred and seventy metres down and then it started to curve away into the trees that thrived on the edge. The path the caravan had used coiled up against the pillar, but it was unreachable from the prison. The closest part of the road was where the rock started to slope.

There was no possible way down. His heart sank bitterly as he edged his way back into hiding behind the counter. Upon approach, Eli had a hopeful look, but Calin shook his head heavily in answer. They sat back against the stone wall of the counter. Eli was probably thinking of what came next, but what he wondered about was why Jerry had mentioned the window in the first place.

The window itself was purely there to remind prisoners that they had nowhere to go. Yet the torturous thought that the road to safety was in sight from way up here. It was a cruel joke.

***

The last vestiges of hope seemed to veer on the edge of shrivelling up. The heck with it. Calin rubbed his forehead in intense thought.

His shoulders slumped and he fished out Jerry’s note. Though, as he opened it and began where he left off, it started making a terrifying sense.

From halfway through the note the hand writing changed to that of a woman.

It said, “Nísir Calin...” Mictoria without a doubt, he continued to read: “When you reach the window, there is a way down. You have to trust me, it will work, but you have to listen carefully. In a bag hidden under the stone counter, there are two crystal rocks with round handles. Take them; it is from my country, almost the same as those we use to make our caravans float. However, these are much more powerful. They will lift you about a bit more than a story high in the air. But before they can do that you have to start their...” From there Jerry’s hand writing budged in again saying. “—long story short, hit the rocks together outside the window and jump...I’m sorry mate, it’s the best we got. To stop them, hit them together again. By the way, if you are even considering actually trying this... then you are mad and I am going to drag you to a crazy house if you get out! But good luck.”

The note ended and Calin stared at it like it was gibberish. They want me to do what?!?

It was stupid, that was all to it.

Just then the guards on the other side of the room seemed to finish up as they said, “Get moving you slime bag! You’ll not see the outside of your cell for a very long time.”

Calin squeezed himself closer against the wall as there was movement. A door opened and it closed a moment later. The guards were gone.

Eli was just about to look up over the counter when there were more voices of guards. Calin pulled him down and motioned to his note.

Slowly he laid down flat on his stomach and looked under the counter. There to his utter surprise sat the bag, strapped to one of the solid legs that held up the counter. Again, he marvelled at the gypsy woman. His hand slipped under and he reached for it.

After he unstrapped the strangely heavy package, he almost dropped it, but after a few close calls, he finally got it out. An already anxious Eli whispered, “What is that?”

All he could do was shrug his shoulders, even with the note he wasn’t sure what to expect. He slowly opened the bag.

Inside there were two small rock-like crystals, they had a cyan colour to them. Out of their smooth edges, metal handles stuck out wrapped in leather, with barely enough grip for a hand each.

The palm-sized crystals looked as if there was a light somewhere deep inside them. It was strangely compelling to look at.

“Wow,” He said, almost too loudly.

Realizing his error, he grabbed his own mouth as one of the guards queried, “Did you hear something?”

An intense moment passed. Then Kirri said, “With that window, there is always something to hear.”

The rattle of ornaments jingled behind the counter.

An almost imperceptible sigh escaped his lips as relief washed over him.

He looked over to Eli to whisper sorry, but the man was transfixed with what was in the bag.

Finally Eli whispered, “Lad, you have some very powerful friends. In my many years, I’ve only heard rumours of rumours about those crystals, never even dreamt of actually seeing them.”

Surprised at the notion, Calin whispered back, “Yeah I’ve never seen them either. Okay, here are the facts. These crystals, when I hit them against each other, will start floating. It will give a play field of about as high as this roof.” Calin pointed above him before he continued. “Problem is, I’ve never seen them or used them, so I don’t know if they’ll carry one, much less know if they would carry two...”

That fact settled between the two and they sat there staring at the crystals. Eli’s face became serious, as he said, “For our only chance at freedom I think I’ll try the odds, you?”

It was enough push for Calin and he couldn’t help but nod at the notion. He had to get to the others so they can go get Evany back. Neither could he leave Eli behind to fend for himself. It didn’t sit right with him. So Calin whispered, “When the guards leave we go for it, alright?”

Eli readily agreed.

With that in mind, it was almost a no brainer what to do. But the fear was gnawing its way up in his belly. There was something that could disrupt everything.

He was still deathly afraid of falling.

***

As they waited, Calin had almost given up on the plan a hundred times in his mind. He didn’t want to jump. The fear of it was driving his senses crazy. Eli had tried to calm him down as best he could. His hands were still shaking.

After a while, the guards seemed to finish, and as they started leaving the room his heart was pounding away.

But he readied himself regardless of his fear.

He was about to signal that they crawl to the window when a chilling familiar voice sounded from behind. It was Xyri, without even a hint of a doubt.

“Mishael, it is not that I would harm the boy too much. I just want to see him scream a bit. I do so love the hunt.”

Then a voice, that carried a lot a slick charm drifted to them.

“No, you are never careful. This boy is the only chance I’ve got to find and kill Darrus. I will not allow it. But enough, let us go meet the last male heir of that accursed family and finish this. I have not waited six years at the Veil to get a chance at killing them.”

Then Xyri said, “Forgive me master, I forget how long it takes you to pass through the Veil. I’m much more impatient than that.”

Eli stiffened next to him. Something was said that was upsetting.

But Calin had his own worries. His heart was thundering away in its cavity. He almost expected his mad heartbeat to be audible and the men to come claim their trophy.

The footsteps came closer and he forced his own body to move further right around the stone counter.

Eli stayed beside him, silent. And through it all, he waited in suspense for Mishael and that creature of a man to pass by them.

They could just as well have sat out in the open for what cover they had.

If the men turned at all, the game was up. It was a foolish hope to assume the door would keep their attention.