63. Midnight Rescue

63. Midnight Rescue

Dessin

I’ll admit, it’s takenme too much time to figure this out.

The object they use to throw off a prisoner’s equilibrium is not a magnet. Every day in the showers, I tilt my head to let in water. Once I’m out, I let the water drain, and it carries away the residue of a white solidified chemical. The same look as taking a pill and watching it dissolve in water.

This entire time, they’ve put a slow-releasing capsule in our inner ears, working with the natural chemistry of our body to release on moments of defiance to authority. This must have taken their savants years to test out and learn the correct way it would filter into the bloodstream. Once the frontal lobe of the brain displays an impulsive action to misbehave toward authority, the capsule is triggered by the change in brain chemistry. It releases into the bloodstream, affecting the cerebellum, which is what gives us balance and coordination.

Before our cages close, I create a funnel with items I found in the stadium and commissary and a bubbling solvent that I first test out on myself. Only a few drops, and it sizzles the inside of my ears like crinkling paper. It burns, is uncomfortable, and I’m having trouble hearing now. But the dissolving white substance comes pouring out of the side of my head.

One by one, I extract it from Marilynn, Warrose, Niles, and Ruth. The only one to give me a hard time is, of course, you guessed it Niles. Warrose and I are the only two who complain of hearing loss, but it’s fucking worth it. We’re no longer tied down by a choking collar and leash.

I give Marilynn and Niles a list of supplies we’ll need for the journey. Protective wrapping for Ruth’s legs, water, food, and a few other items. And as I secure a bag in my cage, a strip of black leather and shiny metal catches the light of the red and yellow bulbs in the far corner. Hidden in the shadows is my weapons belt.

“Shit,” I exhale slowly.

“What’s wrong?” Warrose leans against the entryway of my cage.

I turn on my heels and dangle the belt in front of him. Those hazel eyes sparkle with childlike giddiness as he realizes what it is.

“How the hell did you get that back?”

I examine the sharp tools and weapons with pride and have visions of myself using them to break us out of here. They’re flipping images in my mind, slashing through sentinels, sending throwing knives through the air to take them out one by one. I haven’t felt like myself in a long time. I’m a wild animal that is not used to being caged without a way to freedom.

How did it get into our cage?Kane asks.

But he’s quickly swept away from the front as I recall Kaspias’s body, or what was left of it, being gawked at and defamed on the main stage.

It was him, wasn’t it? Kaspias really was trying to help us.

I secure the belt around my hips, standing eye to eye with Warrose.

“Looks like Kane’s brother did one last good deed before getting Skylenna out.” I wish those droplets of emotion didn’t enter my voice without invitation. But my tone is edgy and weighted like I need to clear my throat. Warrose lifts his chin in understanding as he hears it, too.

Before he can say something to try and get me to open up about the whole ordeal, I hold up my hand to stop him. “I’ll be ready to talk about it when we get the fuck out of here.”

The calm smile that used to comfort me after a beating when we were children spreads across his cheeks. He rubs his hands together, making a dry, sandy sound. “When do we leave?”

Niles and Marilynn return to their cages, hiding the supplies they’ve gathered.

“Midnight.”

~

In the exact moment ourward’s night sentinels switch shifts, Niles picks each lock in impressive silence.

Sneaking into Ruth’s cage, we all agree it’s best if he carries her for this. The rest of us will need to fight if it comes to that. Without exchanging any words, Niles gently circles his arms under the backs of her thighs and around her ribs, lifting until they’re out first. The rest of us—form ranks around them. Warrose is in the back to defend if anyone sneaks up on us, and Marilynn and I lead the way.

In the community shower, there’s a laundry chute. A tunnel that drops down to a washroom. In the washroom is a plumbing drain that filters out on the ground behind the east tower. From there, we’ll run through the courtyard, and I’ll rig the pulley of the iron gate to lift. I believe there are dangerous creatures guarding the courtyard, but those can be dealt with by using a sentinel as bait.

It’s all laid out. There, of course, is room for error, but we’re running out of time. Ruth won’t survive another Fun House Night.

Shuffling quietly through the prison halls, we pause mid-step as a Blood Mammoth crosses over to the next hallway. The giant being drags his feet lazily across the serrated floor. Chains clink together. And his oily hair sweeps behind his footsteps.

We hold our breath, then continue on, dashing on our toes to make it to the community shower. Each moan, grumble, or snore from the sleeping inmates that we pass makes us flinch with heightened senses. The crackling music, flickering lights, I dig my nails into my palms, scraping my teeth against each other.

You’re going to get them out, Dessin. No one is as masterful at escapement as you, Kalidus says coolly.

I glance behind me at the obvious stress and fearful expressions plaguing our group. What would Skylenna say to them now to give everyone some reassurance? I hate how I don’t know the real her like I should. I hate that I can’t sort out my own feelings about her. At least I can go back to that kiss before the Fun House Night. At least I have one memory to hold onto in moments of doubt.

“Dessin,” Warrose whispers in an alert voice from behind us.

He points over his shoulder to a Blood Mammoth trailing behind us, slowly, aimlessly, as if he doesn’t even see us in his line of sight. I motion the group along to move faster; we need to put as much distance between us and that thing as possible.

We don’t have much farther until we get to the showers. And I’d prefer not to get into a bloody fight before then because it would draw way too much attention.

“I’ll go down the chute first to make sure it has a safe landing before we have Niles and Ruth make that trip,” I whisper-yell to Marilynn. She nods, understanding that when I’m gone, it’ll be up to her and Warrose to be on guard in case they run into any other Blood Mammoths.

My strides are cut short when I notice a group of three sweaty, bulbous bodies blocking the entrance of the showers. Seven feet tall. Cages that sit on their heads like masks. Sores that ooze creamy fluids. The Blood Mammoths have us surrounded, sniffing the air like dogs, distracted, and clueless that we’re only a few feet in front of them.

I dig my heels in, holding my arm out to stop the others. It takes three seconds for gasps to break out between Niles and Ruth.

“God fucking damn it,” Warrose growls under his breath.

I consider hiding us in the vacant cages around us, but what would be the point? We’d be stuck there. Escape failed. And I do not fail. Pulling my shoulders back, I look down at Marilynn. “You take one. I’ll take the other two.” I crane my neck to make eye contact with Warrose. “You take the one behind us, and make sure they don’t get near Niles and Ruth.”

For a split second, Warrose gazes through the flickering lights at Ruth’s pale, frightened face. Tendons in his jaw pulse, and he flashes that indomitable gaze back to me with a sharp nod.

Ragged, animalistic panting comes from a few paces ahead of me. They’ve finally noticed us waiting here like sitting ducks. Their chains rattle back and forth as they shove each other to get to us first. Heavy, thumping feet shake the ground with the same vibrations as a stampede of elephants. I hand two katanas to Marilynn, lightweight and easily wielded, toss a spiked mace to Warrose, and for myself, a ring sword.

Niles hugs Ruth close to his chest as they prepare for impact.

And with their last three giant steps, the Blood Mammoths jump to throw their full weight into us as a way to use brute force to their advantage. But before I can even flick my wrist to use the ring sword as a small tool to slice into their main arteries, a snowstorm of white blasts from behind them.

Terrifying white, furry heads with unhinged jaws soar through the air over the Blood Mammoths’ heads, clamping down on their shoulders and throats in an explosion of snarls and fangs and fireworks of clotted blood. Six bodies of White Wolves’ attack without mercy, ripping into muscles and meat, overpowering the Blood Mammoths from the element of surprise and their savagery of strategic attack.

A smaller wolf goes for the Achilles’ heel, wiping them out by the legs. The others spread out with planned precision as if they’re operating from a telepathic system of aiming for the weakest points to strike.

And it’s over before it’s even begun.

Blood Mammoths scatter the floor in heaps of spurting arteries, splayed, exposed nerve endings, and glistening strips of flesh detached from the bodies.

Our group stands in mute shock as they finish their work, ensuring the enemies are dead.

What the fuck is going on?

“Should have known ya wouldn’t have waited for a rescue!” A gruff, northern accent plunges from the darkness, walking up behind the white wolves.

Of course.

Garanthian grins, hands on hips, with a few men and women dressed in Stormsage-themed warrior attire. His carrot-red beard is longer than last time, twisted into messy braids and metal fixtures.

I smirk back.

“I’m not the type to wait like a damsel,” I say, letting him hug me with a manly slap on the back.

“Who is this?” Niles asks in a quivering voice.

“The Stormsages, from the ancient colony in the North Sapphrine Forest,” I reply.

“And how the hell did you manage to get this pack of white wolves in here?!” Warrose kneels down to scratch the head of what looks like the alpha. He’s beaming at the large creature, letting his tan fingers disappear in the fluffy white fur.

Garanthian is about to answer before I stop him. “Do you have a better way out of here than the sewage pipes?”

“There’s a hidden fire escape in the commissary. Let’s go!” His son waves us forward.

I nod to the others, feeling a desire to thank God for this divine intervention. A better alternative to making us all trudge through the sewer in hopes we can manage to escape without waking the prison.

“There’s a pulley system we can leverage that’ll drop us in the courtyard,” Garanthian explains as we run. I notice a few dead sentinels they clearly had to kill on the way. They must have been as silent as a night’s breeze because we never heard any sign of violence or struggle.

“And what about the security measures in the courtyard? I heard there are foul beasts down there. I was going to throw one of the sentinels down to distract them,” I say through a few deep breaths.

“Swamp dawpers.” Garanthian nods his head, then smiles down at his trotting wolves. “My pack took them out. But there may be more coming. We’ll have to be swift.”

As we turn a corner, one of the smaller wolves rubs against me. I grit my teeth, missing DaiSzek terribly. I’m always confident in my ability to dominate in a fight, but with him…we become the epitome of violence and terror.

I hope Skylenna has found him.

“Niles.” Warrose dips his head in Ruth’s direction. “I’ll take her for now.”

Niles’s upper body is shaking a little, and his forehead is shiny with perspiration. He smiles at Warrose and places Ruth in his arms gently. “Just for a little while.”

We open the door to a tar-black sky with a blurring wall of rain. The clouds are the boisterous size of krakens and slopping wet sea monsters, carrying a cataclysmic amount of rain. The kind of rain in biblical tragedies with flooding rivers, uprooted trees, and fat drops of water that hold the weight of falling rocks. Yellow lightning forks across the sky, crackling and popping, booming into the earth with its shrieking thunder.

It takes several minutes to be lowered on a wooden pulley in the blustering winds carrying the scent of dirty rain and landfills full of manure and rotting fruit. We’re drenched as we hold on for dear life, braving the mighty storm like a small boat in a hurricane. The platform we stand on quakes and rumbles, making Ruth bury her face in Warrose’s shoulder. We’re so high up, but the view doesn’t frighten me. What’s bothering me is the thought of failing. Especially since the Stormsages have come all this way with their pack of wolves to help us escape.

Do you think when all of this is over, Skylenna will help us recover those memories? And maybe we won’t have such conflicting feelings about her anymore?Kane paces near the front, filling me with anxiety and a feeling of loss.

I shake my head. I can’t think about that right now.

But I do anyway. I remember the taste of her lips, the smell of her hair, even the musical notes of her laugh. Though…I don’t know how I can remember something I’ve never heard.

I want to know her.

I want to stop obsessing over the thought of being with her.

“My men have already taken out the archers, but once we hit ground, we need to stay low and exit quickly. I have two men holding the gate, but we attracted the sights of a few spine-toothed eagles on the way in.” Garanthian watches the bizarre skies carefully. “I suspect they’ve gone back to their nests by now to take shelter from this apocalyptic weather.”

“Okay.”

The wooden platform thuds against the rocky terrain, slanting at an angle to which we hop off, scrambling toward a slippery stone path that leads toward the iron gate. I squint my eyes through the soft fog filling the night air, focusing on the two young men squatting and gritting their teeth as they keep the gate from coming down.

“Holy shit. We’re really getting out,” Warrose whispers.

My heart radiates with longing and joy and throbbing anticipation. I get to see my boy again. I get to ask Skylenna all of the questions I’ve had since we kissed. But I steady my breathing as we crouch low, jogging lightly toward that rusting exit. The wolves are even more quiet next to me. They’re in a predatory stance, surrounding us in a circle they’ve formed to protect the humans.

“When we drop the gate, it’ll likely be loud enough to wake up the ranks on standby. We’ll have to run like hell through Foul Falcon Forest!” Garanthian hisses loudly to the rest of us.

“Come on, ya cock hairs! This thing is bloody heavy, and we’re practically drownin’!” the young man holding the right side of the gate whisper-shouts.

We’re cautious enough not to slip as we thump through puddles that go ankle-deep. And if it was not for the whooshing sounds overhead that aren’t quite the same as the murderous, incessant winds, I might not have noticed the giant flapping wings swooping down above us.

“CAAAH!” An eagle the size of a small lion whirrs past us, snapping its sharp beak at Ruth’s hair. She slams her hands over her mouth to muffle her yelp just as Warrose ducks out of its line of sight.

“The hell?!” Warrose grumbles to the sky.

And that’s when we all see them. So many of these large birds circling us, they could be mistaken for a trembling roof over the courtyard.

“That’s them!” Garanthian doesn’t bother whispering anymore. He pushes me in the back, shoving the rest of us along to forget about the notion of being quiet. We run like hell.

The squawking acts as an organic alarm system, sending reverberating echoes against the brimstone walls, and it happens too fast. There isn’t enough time to process how they managed to react with the right weapons or fill the courtyard with both Blood Mammoths and new swamp dawpers.

They appear in the yellow flashes of the splintering lightning. Archers taking their positions along the tops of the walls that surround the courtyard. The crazed, rabid beasts come from all angles, and we’re now left with a choice. It’s fight here or die running.

Warrose passes Ruth off to Niles, and we form a protective wall around them. The fight breaks out like a collision of two apex predators sprinting in the same direction. The wolves attack the beasts without an ounce of fear, soaked from the rain, and smeared in blood from their earlier wins. They are the first line of defense.

And as I fight four sentinels at once, my stomach is punctured with a blast of fury and heartbreak as one of the wolves gets shot down with three flaming arrows, whining at high frequency.

“NO!” Garanthian roars through the thudding rain.

The wolf tries to rise back up and keep fighting, but the swamp dawpers attack ruthlessly, ganging up on its weak points, drawing a heavy cry from Ruth as she watches helplessly.

Fuck. We’re outnumbered!

“Form lines!” Garanthian’s son commands the pack of wolves, pointing for them to help usher us toward the gate. And they do, well trained and fierce as they fight the enemy while backing us toward the two men still holding strong.

“Make a run for it!” Garanthian shouts to us with the dominating tone of a true leader.

I jerk my head to Niles first. And he obeys without question, sprinting through the trembling gate as the men struggle to keep it up. I nod to Marilynn next, then to Warrose as they keep the wall strong, fending off arrows with Garanthian’s men swiping at them midair before they can hit a target.

“Go, son!” Garanthian hollers over his shoulder to me.

I back away with a few more steps, slipping under the gate.

They’ve formed a strong enough wall that they are good to follow me now. I form my hands around my mouth to increase the volume of my voice.

“We’re good, let’s go!”

Just as Garanthian looks back at me to exit, seven flaming arrows land on their newest targets. The two men holding the gate. It comes crashing down on their bodies, crushing their bones and impaling their backs.

“FUCK!” Warrose screams in agony.

“Get them out!” Ruth begs in a hysterical cry.

My jaw locks as I try to lift the gate. “Help me!” I beg the Stormsages, signaling for them to lift. But they don’t move. Even one of the wolves looks back at me with a look of honor that could almost pass as a human expression.

Garanthian bows his head to me.

“I can get you out!” I bellow through the storm. As Warrose comes to help me attempt to lift the impenetrable iron, Garanthian holds up his stiff hand.

“Garanthian!” I grunt, using every ounce of strength to lift this fucking gate.

“Dessin.” Marilynn places a hand on my shoulder.

“NO!” Are tears seeping from the corners of my eyes? My heart is collapsing on itself as blood rushes to my face and muscles.

“Go, son,” Garanthian says calmly, bowing his head once more.

And searing into my brain for the rest of my days, the alpha of the pack bows his head to me, too. In a chaotic outrage of soaring arrows, chomping teeth, and disembowelment—they join the rest of their pack to keep fighting a battle they will never win.

“Garanthian!” I scream through the bars, pressing my face against them with a helplessness I’m not used to feeling.

Warrose and Marilynn have to pry me off the gate as I struggle to hang on.

“We have to run!” Warrose tries to bark some sense into me.

And he’s right. I know he’s right. I have to think about keeping them safe, no matter the costs to those who came to save us. Those who have only ever shown me kindness.

We charge through the mud and the splashing puddles, hearing the fighting of wolves and beasts and clashing swords lower in volume, until it finally goes silent.