Eventually, I fell asleep on the cold flagstones of the cellar we were being held captive in; just as Matty had said no one came to check on us during that time. By the time I woke up my head was still sore, but the world had stopped spinning and I was able to slowly get to my feet. I was weak though – both from the head injury and the lack of food and water. First things first though, I should free Matty, she had probably been bound to the chair from not long after I’d seen her snatched. She was currently asleep, her head drooping awkwardly down into her chest. It was still too dark to get a good look at her, but I could see now she was a lot taller than me and had long hair that was currently draping all over the front of her body. Not wanting to wake her until it was absolutely necessary I knelt down and using my dagger, began cutting the ropes binding her ankles to the chair, it was clear from the smell that reached my nose she had been strapped to the chair a long time, there was nothing to do about it other than pretend I hadn’t noticed and hopefully she wouldn’t think about it when I woke her up anyway. It was unavoidable if someone left you strapped to a chair for hours and it just made me madder than ever at our kidnappers.

I quickly cut her wrist bindings and then gently shook her shoulder to get her to wake up. I felt bad not letting her sleep longer but who knew how long we had to ourselves - we had to come up with some sort of plan if we were going to escape. Groggily she began to wake up and instinctively unfold and stretch herself. It took her a few moments to realise I’d freed her limbs.

“So they did leave you with a knife then, idiots,” she said with a chuckle.

“Yep, and now we need to think of someway of using it to escape,” I said.

“Yeah, good luck, they’re big men with swords and you’re a tiny boy with a knife,” she said, “but we’ve been over this haven’t we?”

“Yep,” I agreed.

“So, what’s your big plan then Neesh the knight?”

“Well, the way I see it we have three things in our favour: they don’t know I’m alive, they don’t know I have a dagger, and they don’t know you’re free.”

“So we have the element of surprise?”

“Exactly,” I said, “now there’s no way of us getting out of here without that door being opened, which makes things nice and simple in terms of a plan. I wait by the door, pressed against the wall, someone opens it and I stab them, simple. Meanwhile we find you something to use to jam the door so if there’s more than one they can’t easily shut it again.”

“Wow,” she said, sarcastically.

“Look, I know it’s not a great plan but really it’s all we’ve got.”

“Why did I agree to help you again?”

“Well…,” I began.

“Rhetorical question Neesh,” she said interrupting me, “but don’t worry I’m not going to back out now.”

“That’s a relief, I mean I’d still have to try it regardless as I’m basically dead if I don’t do something but it feels better to not be doing it alone.”

“Misery loves company, right?” she said, wryly.

“I wish I had my crossbow still,” I said, “I have the perfect skill I could have used.”

“No point in wishing, wishing just gives you false hope," she said, her gaze downward.

“Come on,” I said, ignoring her melancholy, “let’s find something to jam the door and see if there’s something you could use as a weapon.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

The cellar, whether it was intended as a storeroom or not, was largely bare, there were some shelves, the wood rotting, but nothing on them except plenty of dirt and a few rags but nothing that was useful. In the end I picked up the chair they had bound Matty to and smashed it apart against the wall. Perhaps that would attract some attention, but I doubted it, the walls seemed thick. In any case two of the chair’s legs would serve as both a door jam and a makeshift club for Matty, I passed her them and we took up positions on either side of the door. As soon as the door opened Matty would shove one chair leg into the gap between the door and the frame to wedge it open and then retreat, whilst I’d be stabbing as quickly as I could – I had decided to aim for the neck as the part most likely to be unprotected and to be a killing or incapacitating in a single strike.

I knew I had now taken lives, the bandits, the assassin, but I had never actively planned to murder someone before and my stomach cramped as I thought about it; I tried to tell myself they were hunger pangs but I knew deep down they came from the guilt I was carrying – both from what I intended to do and what I had done, even if it had been to save my own life and that of my sister’s.

We waited and we waited, hours must have passed, and we gradually slumped from our alert positions to end up sitting on the floor by the door. First Matty after about forty minutes; I tried to stay disciplined but I was tired, hungry and my head still ached and boy long after I followed her. At this point staying awake was about as much as I could do. We didn’t talk much during that time, there wasn’t much of use we could say and neither of us must have felt like trying to get to know the other more, I certainly didn’t, not that I wouldn’t want to if we got out of here – there was definitely something about her that interested me – her abrasiveness was amusing, or it would have been any other time, but I could tell there was much more to her than that. I wondered if she would want to get to know me too, silly really, as she would probably want to return to her mother and father and just forget about the terrible ordeal she must have been through.

I was thinking about that when suddenly my dangersense flared, I had just enough time to leap to my feet, and see Matty quickly follow my lead, and take a firm grip of my dagger. Moments later I heard the sound of a bar being slid out of place and a key turn in a lock. The door flew open and a man, carrying a torch, stepped in. That was lucky for me, as the torch meant his eyes couldn’t penetrate the darkness of the cellar, the extra moments meant he stepped fully through the door before he spotted Matty wasn’t still bound to the chair. By that time I was already thrusting my dagger towards his thick neck, he didn’t even see me until it I plunged it into him. I pushed until I felt it hit bone, then I dragged it back towards me with all my strength, ripping a huge gash in his neck. His eyes filled with surprise, then anger before fading as he collapsed into the ground in a pool of his own blood.

XP has been awarded for defeating [Thug, Lv 13]. + 1200 XP

Skill [Dangersense] is now Lv 2.

“Quick,” I called to Matty as I knelt over the dying man, taking his sword, I felt grim doing it but I knew if I was to stand a chance I needed a better weapon than a dagger.

“Oh gods, you actually killed him” Marry said, shock dripping from her voice.

“That was the plan,” I said, “now come on, we probably don’t have much time.” I quickly wiped my dagger against my jacket and pressed it into her hand until I felt her fingers close around it.

At some point the torch had gone out, so we were back in darkness, however, the corridor we were in was both narrow and short. Behind an unlocked door was a narrow staircase, lit by the light of an open trapdoor. I paused at the bottom of the stairs, still safely in shadow, and signalled for Matty to stay quiet and stay put. Who knew how many people were up there, or indeed where up there was, all I could think of was that I had to get up those stairs before anyone noticed me or they’d just lock us under the trapdoor until they were prepared to slaughter us. There were two ways of doing it, I could try and charge my way to the top before anyone could reach or I could go for stealth. None of my skills would help me charge up the staircase – acrobatics was good for dodging and falling, but currently no use in helping me pull off some sort of amazing somersault up the stairs – so that left stealth, I had my sneak skill, and whilst it was only level 1 it was something. Slowly, trying to keep as quiet as I could I began to climb, pressing my body into the shadow on one side of the staircase for as long as possible. I would still have to leap and scramble at the end but I’d be a lot closer to the exit if I could pull this off.

Stealth Check [A quiet climb]: Success value = 30 = Dexterity = 28

Stealth Check [A quiet climb] Failed

Stealth Check [A quiet climb]: Modified Value [Sneak] +3 = 31

Stealth Check [A quiet climb]: Successful

I made my way up the stairs as far as the shadows could hide my body. There were four steps between me and the floor above, I would take them two at a time and roll into the room. I braced myself, crouched slightly and sprang. This time it was my turn to be dazzled by the light as I pushed myself onto my feet. There were four men in the room, gathered around a table near the trapdoor entrance. I had clearly taken them by surprise, their weapons were leaning against their chairs and they were still holding cards in their hand.

“Shit the kid’s still alive,” I heard one of them shout as I stabbed through the empty space on the back of the nearest chair and into one man's back and out his stomach.

“He got Rabby,” another shout came, “gut the bastard!”

“What about Henri?”

“Must be dead, now pay attention and kill this son of a bitch, then go down there and kill the girl.”

Whatever advantage I initially had soon faded away as I now faced three angry men with swords in their hands all moving with murderous intent towards me, the fourth man was groaning on the floor but his groans were quickly quietening. The first blow came, a wild overhead slash that I managed to parry and attack with a slash of my own which he managed to avoid. I dodged the next, my acrobatics skill giving me unusual grace, and stabbed towards the third man. I was actually thinking that my superior training and skills might see me through this fight when my chest exploded in pain, I staggered, my eyes scanning frantically when I saw one of the men, had produced a triple tubed pistolbow, he grinned as he let the next two bolts fly at me, embedding themselves deep in my chest. I collapsed to the ground, consciousness slipping away as I saw one of the men come towards me to finish me off. My last thought as I slipped away was that I had failed to protect Matty and I swear in that final moment I heard something inside me shatter.