Ascension (39 page)

I
’
ll be swinging the gallows at
the end of a rope

The man looked up at Croxley while
he continued singing through a toothless mouth, the corners of his
lips turned up into an eerie, crooked smile. Croxley turned his
eyes away and focused on the path ahead.

When he made it to the next set of
cells, he showed the guards the note and received a similar
response. This time, he asked where the girls were, and was told
that they would be three more floors down.

As he descended
through the floors, he trained his eyes to wander less and less.
The sights grew increasingly gory with each passing cell, and the
smells even worse. Finally, he made it to his designated floor.
There were three guards on this level, signifying that they had to
increase the security for the more dangerous criminals. He gave
them the letter, this time explaining,
“
Our Highness Lena sent me down here to question the rebel
slaves. While I
’
m questioning them, she asked that you meet her in the
garden to assist her with some tasks.
”

The guards looked
at him skeptically, and he didn
’
t blame them. He expected that
this was the first time any such request had been made, and knew
that they wouldn
’
t leave without an explanation. If the plan were to get
tricky anywhere, it would be here.

“
What would she
need with us?
”
One of the guards
questioned.

“
I
’
m not too sure, but you know the
rumors. When she wants something, there isn
’
t much you can do to change her
mind. I would think that you would prefer to help her with whatever
task she has than to deal with the King once she complains that you
have disobeyed the future queen
’
s orders.
”
They guards all looked at each other, wondering what to do
with this. Croxley added,
“
And I will be
here to watch the prisoners. You have nothing to worry about.
Unless, of course, you don
’
t follow Lena
’
s commands. I
wouldn
’
t keep
her waiting, if I were you. And you may want to ask for some of the
guards
’
upstairs to help you out.
”
They
still didn
’
t
budge, so Croxley added,
“
Take it from
me, if you get on Lena
’
s good side, she will definitely ensure that you are finely
rewarded. Especially now that the Prince is no longer by her side,
I would imagine she is feeling quite lonely
…”
Croxley drifted off, giving them time to realize his
implication. He raised his eyebrow in a semblance of false
confidence, while inside, his gut was in turmoil, roiling with
nerves and the smells of the dungeon.

Apparently his farce was a good one,
because the guards hastily agreed that they would hand the watch
over to him.

“
Oy!”
Croxley
called, before they could leave all the way up the
staircase.
“
I think it would be best if
you left the keys with me. That way, if one of the prisoners starts
acting up, I can take care of it.
”

The guard with the keys, a skinny
lad with a whitish pallor from all the days in the dungeon, tossed
them to Croxley and headed up the stairs. When they were out of
sight, Croxley let out a sigh of relief.

He began
searching through the cells, which proved much harder than he
thought. Every time he probed them, he would stumble upon a barely
moving body, a beaten figure crouched in the corner, a thin, wasted
frame crouching over a chamber pot. When his search finally brought
him to the slave girls, he didn
’
t have a problem recognizing
them among all the other prisoners. Rather than having their color
robbed from their skin after years in the dungeon, they were tanned
and still had some meat on their bones. But the heavy bags under
their eyes suggested that it wouldn
’
t be much longer before they
started to share the same appearance as their floor-mates. Croxley
rushed over to their cell, startling some of the girls closest to
the gates. They ran to the far side of the bars, huddling up as if
trying to protect themselves from him. Croxley could make out
twelve girls total.

“
Don
’
t worry, I
’
m not here to hurt you.
”
They stopped their jagged whispers and eyed him
warily.
“
My name is Croxley. I am a
friend of Fara
’
s. I am here to get you all out of here.
”

A young woman a little older than
Fara, tall and lean with long, braided brown hair, broke from the
group.

“
Did you say
Fara?
”
Croxley nodded, and she came
closer to the bars in front of Croxley. When she was near enough to
the flame he still carried in his hand, Croxley could see that her
shoulders had deep purple bruises on them. She walked stiffly,
telling of other bruises not visible to him.
“
Did she make it? Did she escape?
”

“
Yes, Fara
escaped. Or at least, I think she did. I
’
m not sure I know the whole
story. All I know is that when I came back, Fara and the Prince
were gone and the palace was in a ruckus.
”

The woman sighed
with relief.
“Thank goodness,”
she
said.

“
Do you know her
well?
”

“
Yes. Fara was my
roommate. I helped her escape after Mathelda realized what we were
planning. Her and I met with Heath and solidified the plan you had
helped come up with earlier. The Prince and Fara were planning on
using Cethin as the congregating point for all the colonies from
which they would then set up a blockade around Stonewall.
”
Croxley nodded, relieved that the plan
hadn
’
t changed
much from the original.
“
At least,
that
’
s how it
was supposed to go, before that traitor Lydia betrayed us all to
Mathelda, who sent the guards chasing after Fara and the Prince and
promptly sent us to the dungeons,
”
she
said, spitting Lydia
’
s name.

Croxley bristled
in defense of Lydia after hearing this.
“It
’
s because of Lydia that I am
here. She feels terrible about the whole thing, especially about
you all being arrested.
”

The woman shook
her head, not wanting to believe it, wanting more to hold her
grudge than forgive Lydia. She wrapped her arms around her body, as
if cradling herself, and replied,
“
I
don’
t care how bad she feels about it
now. The damage is done.
”
The tone with
which she spoke carried the weight of one who been betrayed and
disillusioned too many times.

“
You might change
your mind after I get you all out of here,
”
Croxley said, dangling the keys in front of her face. She
leaned in close to inspect them. This close to her, he realized
that she was awfully pretty, in a no-nonsense, very natural way.
Croxley, this is no time for flirting, he chastised
himself.

“
Once I let you
all out, you have to be quiet and follow me. I can get us through
the servant
’
s
quarters, but first we have to go back up through the dungeon. The
guards should all be gone. Lydia is taking care of them.
”
Croxley spoke as he undid the lock of the cell.
The nearby inmates started to clamor, begging Croxley to release
them as well. He tried to tune out their desperate cries, some
pleading, some threatening, and others downright vulgar. He herded
the group of girls quickly out of their cell, and they remained in
their huddle, holding on to each other
’
s hands, moving as a single
unit.

“
This
way,
”
he urged as the last one joined the
group. They walked in the middle of the lane, trying to stay away
from the hands reaching out of the bordering
cells.

Croxley heard
heavy thudding, but amidst all the noise, he
couldn
’
t locate
the source of the sound. He was on alert as they approached the
staircase, and he saw shadows coming down the stairway.
“Damn,”
he whispered, among other, more uncouth
curses. He held his arm out to stop the girls, looking for a way
around the guards. He spotted a dark corner near the base of the
stairs, and hustled the girls to hide over there. He watched as a
stream of guards ran past them, towards where they had just been.
After the last one ran out of sight, Croxley hurried the girls up
the stairs.

A frustrated oath
and a sharp command signaled to Croxley that the guards had found
the empty cell. He pushed them on, faster, and they had made it up
two flights of stairs when one of the girls tripped. Her hand
cradled her ankle, and Croxley could see it was twisted and already
swelling quickly. Her friend pulled her up and shouldered her
weight, but still the pace was too slow. Croxley grew antsy and he
could hear the guards growing closer, so he stepped under her other
shoulder and propped her up. He knew that eventually they would be
caught, but he couldn
’
t give up, not after making it all this
way.

They had almost
made it to the last floor when Mathelda came around the corner,
more guards in tow. She pointed at Croxley and barked a command,
but Croxley wasn
’
t able to hear it. The girl he was helping was crying,
begging for them to stop. Croxley could feel their energy failing,
finding that many of the girls were too tired from their time in
the dungeon to keep up.

“
Keep going!”
He
yelled, but the guards quickly overtook them.

Croxley had to
release the girl at his shoulder to fight the guard at his right.
He ducked under a swing and gave a hard punch to the gut, satisfied
to hear the wind escape the guard
’
s chest as he fell. In the same
breath, another came up behind Croxley, and he dealt a firm kick
that sent one guard tumbling into the other. On and on it went, the
staircase working in Croxley
’
s favor, as it only allowed a
few guards in at a time.

The slight
advantage only lasted so long, as Croxley grew tired. But he
didn
’
t want to
pull his daggers because he was afraid he might hit one of the
servant girls in these close quarters. There was a brief lull in
the onslaught of guards. Croxley took this moment to look around,
and realized that he had been separated from the rest of the girls,
who were now being taken back down the stairs.

After dodging a
blow to the chest, he stumbled back and ran into someone. He turned
around, just in time to catch a fist heading towards his face. It
belonged not to a guard, but to the woman he had been speaking to
earlier. She looked slightly crazed, adrenaline hazing her vision.
Her brown hair was wild, and her cheeks were flushed. She
recognized Croxley and withdrew her fist. After working together to
take the next guard out, he told her in between breaths,
“We
’
ve lost the rest
of the group.
”
She looked around, her
eyes widening, obviously having been too caught up in the fight to
notice that they had been separated.

“
We
’
ve got to get back to
them!
”

“
We can't. We
have to keep going. We wouldn
’
t be able to make it through
with all of them. If we go now, we might be able to get out of
Stonewall and reach Fara and Erik. And if all is successful, they
will be free soon. That, or we all will end up in jail. Either way,
it
’
s our only
hope to rescue them now.
”

Croxley could see
the battle in her eyes, and knew which side won when she looked
away from where the rest of the girls had been taken. He stood in
front of her, and pulled out his daggers, giving one to her. He
held his out in front of him, warding off the guards still coming
up towards them. Croxley backed up the stairs with the woman
looking over his shoulder, facing the guards coming at them.
Suddenly, Croxley felt the pressure change from behind them, and he
spun around to see Mathelda grab the woman by the arm. She tried to
fight Mathelda off, but Mathelda had the advantage of surprise and
wrestled the knife out of the woman
’
s hand, flipping it around and
holding it against her neck.

“
Put your weapon
down or she gets it,
”
Mathelda
threatened. Croxley immediately put his dagger down, and as he
stood up he felt some guards come up and grab him from
behind.