Ten: The Prison Break
I didn't sleep that night. I sat with my back against the stone walls of my cell and waited for the Sun to come up. The second there was enough light to see, I stood up, pacing the short length of my cell. I cursed myself silently for not kissing her. I kicked myself for not just dropping the entire bag, crown and all, into the lake instead of trying to give it to the Stabbingtons.
What must have Rapunzel thought when I didn't come back? Was she okay? Had she gotten away from them? My heart ached as my mind ran in circles. I was supposed to protect her and bring her back home safe. I only hoped that she'd gotten home- that those two brutes hadn't laid a single finger on her. I felt sick not knowing what had happened and knowing I'd failed to keep her safe.
I gripped the bars on my window that looked out over the gallows. Behind me the door to my cell creaked open. I turned and saw the head guard flanked by two other guards standing there. "Let's get this over with, Ryder."
"Where are we going?" There wasn't an answer to my question and I already knew the answer. It was outside my window. My hand went to my throat. "Oh." One of the smaller guards came in with cuffs and I turned and put my hands behind my back. There was no use in fighting. I'd let the Stabbingtons have Rapunzel. I couldn't protect her.
As I walked, resigned to the fact that I had failed and was about to die for a stupid mistake, I let my eyes wander to the other inmates that were waking up to the sounds of my chains. Sitting in a cell together were two overly sized redheads, sitting against their bars. Anger boiled up and I clenched my jaw before ramming my shoulder into one of the guards and then the other before jumping over my arms so they were in front of me. I reached through the bars and grabbed the collar of one.
"How did you know about her?! Tell me! Now!" I yelled, pulling him so his face was smashed against the bars that separated us.
"It wasn't us!" He sagged against the bars. "It was the old lady!"
"Old lady?" I repeated, thinking. "You are not leaving this tower! Ever!" The voice rang in my ears as the guards pulled me away from the cell bars and started forcing me down the hallway again. "Wait! You don't understand!" I yelled as I struggled against the three guards that were now pulling me. "She's a troubled witch!" I screamed. I thrashed against them. Rapunzel is alive. We passed a window as I fought and I saw the noose sway silently in the wind making me shrink back.
Anxiety prickled under my skin as we neared the end of the last hallway. The door suddenly slammed shut. Then all of the doors in the small hallway we were in closed one at a time. The guards looked from door to door.
"What's this?" The head guard yelled. He slammed his fist on the door that would lead to the gallows. "Open up!" He demanded.
"What's the password?" A sluggishly intoxicated voice slurred from the other side of the door.
"What?"
"Nope." The voice was from one of the drunkards from the Snuggly Duckling.
"Open this door!" Shouted the guard, becoming angrier as his confusion grew.
"Not even close!"
As the guard argued through the door, a second door opened next to me and the other two guards. Vladimir from the pub grabbed one, his hand covering the mouth that was about to cry for help. Hook Hand grabbed the other from the ceiling, pulling him out of view. The head guard turned to see me standing alone in the middle of the hallway. I smiled and gave a small wave.
The door behind him opened and Attila emerged, holding a frying pan. He brought the frying pan down on the guard's head as hard as he could. The guard crumpled to the door immediately.
"Frying pans! Who knew, right?" I smiled. The door from where I had just come busted down as guards flooded in, racing for me. I ran through the door next to me along with Atilla while Vlad and Hook Hand took two different routes. I followed Attila blindly as the guards followed us. Attila led me straight into the courtyard where the hangman's noose waited. I froze as I saw hundreds of guards spilling down the stairs into the courtyard. Hook Hand grabbed me from behind setting me down next to him.
"Head down!" He instructed and demonstrated, his eyes on me. I copied his movements and words. "Arms in." He said, moving his arms closer to his body. I copied again. "Knees apart." He said, moving his legs to a wide stance.
"Legs apart." I repeated, moving to copy him. "Knees apart?" I asked but it was too late. Behind me, Vlad jumped onto the plank of the wagon I was on, catapulting me up. I let out a scream and closed my eyes.
I landed hard enough that my legs and groin hurt but safe enough that I was alive and unbroken.. I opened my eyes slowly and saw that I was now sitting in the saddle on Max's back. "Max. You brought them here?" I relaxed my arms down to pet his neck. "Thank you."
Three guards burst through the door directly behind us. I dug my heels into max's sides and he started running at a full sprint. I grabbed onto the reins and ducked to avoid the arrows that were being shot at me. Max was running straight for the edge of our path that had to be several stories above the ground. There were dozens more guards filling the end of our path in front of us but the horse kept running.
"Max?!" I yelled right before Maximus leaped off the edge. A strangled cry escaped my throat as we soared and then crashed onto a rooftop. This didn't slow him down. He jumped off of the roof and onto the paved ground of the town. "Okay, Max. Let's see how fast you can run." As I said it, Max pushed even harder, gaining speed faster and faster straight over the bridge and into the forest.