They couldn’t have gone far.

The plan was for the group to be traveling as stealthily as they possibly could through the prison. Along the way, they would be gradually gathering what inmates they needed to free. In fact, there had been discussion on the way here that we should be freeing as many of the inmates as we possibly could, in order to assist during the escape.

Grey had been reluctant on this possibility. He had argued that the prison had initially been constructed for a very good reason and that many of the actual inmates deserved their sentences in these walls. He was a staunch believer that we should be careful in freeing those who had been captured by the Loyalist cause. Among those were the children of noble houses that had been backing the Uprising, and the leader of the Sculpted, Woodrick. Also, someone important to Grey and Sylvia named Lady Honoka.

I’d had a rebuttal, to Grey’s surprise.

I had argued that we had no idea how many other people that the Loyalists had unjustly imprisoned in Caer Drarrow. That, while there were likely plenty of people who deserved their fate in the prison, we couldn’t know just how many of them had been actually sentenced to this place and not just thrown in here because they were being inconvenient. Grey had reluctantly acknowledged my point, but had said he reserved final judgment while inside the prison as to who we freed.

The plan had never been for those we freed to come back the way we came. Once we had stealthily freed everyone we needed to, we would marshal our strength and then make a break for the Thorny Reef, which was supposed to be waiting for us outside. Of course, the plan had been changed slightly to include a bit of naval sabotage. At that point, it would become a bit of a running battle as we broke through the garrisoned forces on the island. I hoped it went that smoothly, at least.

All that to say, if they had already started freeing prisoners, then they couldn’t be moving too quickly.

Sylvia and I needed to move fast. Luckily, both of us had stealth classes.

I told her this, to her acknowledging nod. I activated Thorn Cloak, hopefully blending in better in the darkness of the prison. Meanwhile, Sylvia activated some kind of illusionary skill, almost completely fading from view. However, I was high enough level now that I was able to see the very faintest outline of her form next to me before she snuffed her small handheld torch and allowed us to be covered in darkness once again.

I wasn’t jealous of her superior stealth skill at all.

The two of us crept up the wooden staircase that led out of this cellar, being careful with our footsteps along the way. The stairs led to an exit with an accompanying door. Sylvia and I took careful positions on either side of the doorway. Slowly, carefully, I peeked an eye around the edge to see if the coast was clear.

Nothing. The other side of the exit led to a short, darkened hallway with no other doors. The only light that penetrated the small hall was a tiny slit in the anterior wall of it, that allowed sunlight to pierce the gloom. At the end of the hallway, I could see a thick wooden door blocking it off.

I gave the indistinct form of Sylvia across from me a nod. I think she nodded back. Either way, the two of us stepped out into the hallway and crept down it, still being mindful of our footsteps. Once we reached the door, this time it was Sylvia that elected to peek through. I saw a near-invisible feminine hand reach out and lightly depress the bar of the door handle. She pivoted and swept her gaze back and forth through the gap in the door, even briefly sticking her head through it for a quick glance around. When she was done, she pulled her head back into the hallway to nod at me and slipped through the door. However, before she did, she made a puzzling gesture.

She pointed up.

I followed after her, figuring that I would understand what she meant by that in a second. Once I was through the door, I saw that we had exited out into what must be a main walkway for the prison. It was a much larger and wider hall than the one that we had just come from, with burning torches set in sconces every few feet.

This was also where I was able to see some of Caer Drarrow’s cells for the first time. In a word, I’d call them dreary. In between the various torches were large wooden doors with two slots on them, a square one at head height, and a rectangular one near the floor. Inside the cells, there wasn’t much more than a pair of rusty chains attached to the far wall, a wooden bucket, and a small ratty cot in the corner. At the very least, though, there was a small barred window on the far wall, above the chains.

I felt a chill run down my spine at the sight of these cells. They almost seemed familiar to me.

They reminded me deeply of the cell I had broken Bleddyn out of back in Addersfield. I did my best to shake it off.

However, how was I able to see into the cells, if they were blocked by large wooden doors?

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Because all of the cells near us were opened, and empty.

I guess our party had already made a decision on the inmates in this area of the prison. Speaking of, I looked up like Sylvia told me to.

Above me were a myriad of wooden rafters, seemingly built as a way to strengthen the upper walls. I was just barely able to see the cloaked form of Sylvia peering down at me, crouching on one of those beams. I felt a smile creep across my face. I got it.

I cast Thorn Grapple at one of the rafters, directing it to wrap around it. Then I retracted the vine-like whip and shot into the air to land on the beam next to Sylvia. Exchanging nods, we started carefully maneuvering our way across the rafters above the prison cells.

As we moved further up the hallway, following the trail of empty cells, we started to see bodies lying on the floor. These bodies seemed to be of guards of some kind, dressed similarly to the Loyalist soldiers that I had encountered in the past. I noticed that all of them were missing any possible form of weaponry.

To my eye, it looked like they had been ambushed. Most of them looked shocked in some way, or as if they had been killed where they had been standing in an instant. I grimaced at the pool of blood that one was leaving on the black stone floor of the prison. This was likely the handiwork of our party. It seemed like they weren’t making an attempt at being subtle. I guess I understood, but I was a little uncomfortable at the slaughter.

I accepted the fact that the faction I’d aligned myself with was at war with these people, and that these were enemy soldiers protecting a facility holding children hostage.

But…

I shook it off. Some of these kills looked fresher, implying to me that we were getting closer to Grey and the rest. Sylvia must have come to the same conclusion, as we picked up the pace.

A glint of light off of gold ahead caught my eye. I squinted, trying to get a better look. After a moment, I let out an inaudible sigh of relief. Yeah, that was definitely Aurum up ahead. Now that I had moved closer, I could see a large group of people that he was hanging back from, clutching his staff. Grey must have decided to go whole hog on freeing prisoners, as that had to be a group of at least twenty people incongruously trying to creep down the hallway. The group was large enough that I couldn’t even see anyone else I knew in it. Oddly, it was working. For some reason, the entire group was moving in perfect silence.

I stopped suddenly, seeing something else. The group had decided to go down a hallway that led farther into the prison complex, instead of continuing on along the outer edges of it like they had been. However, I spotted something along the path that they had moved off of.

Another one of those guards, skulking along in the shadows. At first, I just thought he was trailing them. That would be bad enough, but no.

He was creeping up on Aurum in particular, as the Sculpted was trailing the group.

The guard had a dagger drawn.

Damnit Aurum, how do you keep getting into these situations?

My blood pressure spiked, and I started sprinting across the rafters as fast and as quietly as I dared. I was vaguely aware of Sylvia trailing me, but I was too focused on the guard to pay her much mind. I was going to have to take this guard out, but how to do it quietly? I didn’t know whatever method the main group was using to stay silent would work this far back. If I just dropped down on the guard and knifed him, he might still be able to let out a cry for help in time before he died. Not only that, but I was still feeling a little weak from my exertions astralizing the door earlier. I wasn’t sure if I could take this guard in a straight fight if I botched the kill. As I arrived directly above the guard in the rafters, I grimaced. I’d had an idea, but it was distasteful, to say the least. But I didn’t have time to agonize over it.

Silently, I recast Thorn Grapple. But this time, I didn’t send it out anywhere. See, when I’d experimented with the skill in the past, I’d discovered that I had more control over this skill than I’d thought. But it made sense. How else could I direct it to wrap around specific branches, then if I could control its movements completely with my mind?

The head of the grapple materialized in my open hand, clicking together once like the jaws of a hungry beast. Slowly, the grapple extended downwards silently, sinuously snaking its way on a thorny vine above the guard.

At my direction, the grapple exploded forward to wrap around the throat of the guard. Once it did so, the head bit down on the length of vine behind itself. At the same time, I stepped backward off of the rafter I was standing on.

The guard was suddenly jerked into the air from my impromptu noose. Meanwhile, I let out enough slack from the vine that I landed soundlessly on the floor beneath me. I grabbed hold of the vine created from my skill and held onto it, as the guard spasmed and grasped at the thorny vine curled around his throat. But it was useless.

I held the guard there, suspended in the air as if he was a criminal sentenced to hang at the gallows, as he slowly choked to death.

The guard dropped the dagger he had been stalking Aurum with, causing a slight clattered sound in the hallway. I grimaced, but continued my grisly work. However, that must have been enough to alert Aurum. He warily glanced over his shoulder. When he did so, his eyes veritably bulged in their sockets at the scene that I was presenting, causing him to let out a choking noise of horror. That alerted some stragglers from the main group, as several people that I didn’t know looked behind themselves. They stopped in shock as well, eventually alerting the entire group to my impromptu execution.

The struggles of the hanging guard slowly weakened, under the astonished gaze of the inmates that my companions had freed. I was somewhat aware of Sylvia dropping down next to me, but I wasn’t paying attention to her.

No, I was locking eyes with Grey.

My mentor had emerged from the crowd of people to see what was going on, only to stop in his tracks at the sight of me hanging a man. He tilted his head slightly, giving me a look as if he had never noticed me before. It wasn’t a bad, or even condemning look though.

More…contemplative.

At Grey’s side was a massive, hirsute man with long, dirty brown hair and hazel eyes. When that man saw what I was doing, he started laughing. “Now,” He said in a rough, amused voice. “That’s more like it.”

The guard captured by my skill stopped twitching.