You probably will be surprised by the end of this chapter. That is all I will say.
Escaping captivity, Astrid mused, was much easier than holding someone captive. For the captor, it was all about locking down every possible means of escape. But the captive only had to find one place where their captors had overlooked, and they would be free. One tiny slip up, one tiny gap in the armor. And so, Astrid spent several hours searching for that gap.
The first option, calling for help, was a laughable prospect. Though Drago's men had not gagged her, she doubted there would be anyone to hear her, much less be inclined to help her. Which meant that Astrid, like so many times before, was on her own.
Breaking the shackles was nigh on impossible, though she did toyed with the idea of trying to work them free of the setting in the wall and pulling them free. That too, she discarded, for that would leave her hands still locked in the cuffs, and dragging them around with her seemed… counterproductive. Not only would they make a terrible racket, but if she ran into any trouble, she wouldn't want to be carrying around a set of metal chains behind her. If she was recaptured, the security would only get stronger.
If the shackles couldn't be broken or torn form the wall, then perhaps she could slip out of them. She worked her wrists around for a good long while, twisting and turning to the extent of her flexibility , though it amounted to nothing in the end. The shackles were excruciatingly tight, and short of breaking several bones in her hand, she had no chance to slide through them.
She bounced the ideas back and forth through her mind as the night dragged on, as she started to grow tired, hungry, and thirsty. She couldn't sleep, even if she tried, and no one had come to give any kind of food or water, nor did she think anyone would be obliged to do so any time soon. Soon her stomach was grumbling, her throat felt lie it was coated with salt, and her eyes were beginning to feel heavy, though her sore muscles and awkward position made sleep impossible.
Then, finally, it came to her.
Bracing herself against the wall, Astrid took all of her weight onto her sore wrists, lifting her feet clear of the floor. It took he several Astrid several attempts to accomplish what she was trying to do, but in the end, she could not be deterred. She brought herself high of the ground, close enough for the for her almost numb hands to get at her braid.
When she slumped back down, she held a tiny white feather in her right hand.
So tiny and insignificant, it had almost been forgotten, though Astrid had placed it there for just such a situation like this. A stray feather from one unfortunate seabird that a terrible terror had feasted on, one that Astrid had braided tightly into her hair. Most of the time, she didn't even remember it being there, but now, it was her key to escape.
For the root of the feather worked as an excellent lock-pick.
Granted, lock picking was much easier when you were not the one locked up. Or when your hands were not completely numb and purple from lack of proper circulation. Or when you were not tired, thirsty, hungry, and sore. Or when you could actually see what you were doing. Or when you weren't pegged to the wall and stretched out like a taut bowstring.
All in all, a daunting task. But one Astrid was up for.
She worked the small feather back and forth in the lock holding her right wrist, relying solely on feel and sound to guide her. The work was slow, with many, many false starts. After several minutes, Astrid still had nothing to show for her efforts, but she pressed forward with a growl, listening for the sound of tumblers moving, looking to turn the mechanisms at just the right angle for…
There we go! Astrid silently cheered as the manacle snapped open, and let out an audible sigh of relief as the pressure on her right wrist eased. It began to prickle as the feeling rushed back into it, blood flowing in and lightening the ugly purple of her hand.
But she didn't have time to enjoy the sensation, for her other hand was still held fast, not to mention her legs. Quickly, she shifted the feather to her other hand and began working on the manacle around her left wrist.
Not moments later, there was sound of movement outside the door of the room.
Quickly, Astrid thrust her right hand back up, snapping the manacle around it to an almost closed position. The feather, her one hope of escape, was clenched in her right fist, held above her fist as she assumed the same position as she was in minutes before, with the exception that the manacle around her right wrist was no longer locked.
And it was not a moment too soon. Just as Astrid finished, the door to her prison room burst open, and two men walked in, illuminated by torchlight. Two men that Astrid did not recognize.
Both of them were rather stocky, and only one of them had the height that matched his girth. As they moved into the room, Astrid saw the shorter of the two carrying a dim torch, which she could see their features. Both wore the wolf skin cloaks and armor like most of Drago's men, and they both had swords strapped to their waists. For the shorted one, his sword was on his left hip, but for the other, his sword was on his right, Astrid noted.
Guards, then, or just common soldiers. What were they doing here?
The taller one leaned over and whispered something to his friend as he approached, and the shorter one sniggered. She had no doubt at all that they noticed she was not unconscious or asleep, yet they did not say a word to her. The simply continued to move closer they were only an arms-length away from her, an uncomfortably close distance. The shorter of the two set the torch in a sconce on the wall before moving up to stand beside his companion.
"Feels horrible to be the loser, eh, Valkyrie?" The taller one said. His eyes roamed her up and down, and Astrid had to fight the urge to tear her hand free and crush the man's nose.
"You cost us a good batch of money once, girl. Things like that might make people hold a grudge" He went on. His breath was sickening, and it was all Astrid could do not to gag at the stench of it. She had to consciously remind herself that if she struck out, she would reveal her plan of escape. So she would tolerate him. At least, to a point.
She did not respond to the man, but just turned her head away, unwilling to meet the man's eye. It was only moments later, though, that he grabbed her by the chin and forced her to face him again. He favored her with a gap-toothed grin, a sight that was utterly revolting.
"Well, Drago won't mind if we don't do any permanent damage, and seeing as how you can't pay me back in money…" his hand drifted from Astrid's chin, grasping the front of her tunic.
That was enough to make her snap.
Whatever he was about to say next, Astrid would never know. Probably more taunts as he had his way with her, helpless as she was. Unfortunately for the man, he had no idea that he had just made a terrible, potentially fatal mistake.
With a click, the manacle around Astrid's right wrist fell free, and Astrid's fist flew forward to smash the directly into the fools face. He didn't even have time to register the fact that he had been hit before he was suddenly unconscious. In wake of it, Astrid's hand hurt abominably, though she supposed she should have suspected that this one's skull would have been particularly thick. She couldn't waste a moments time nursing that hand, however, for there was still one other man to deal with.
But, perhaps because of her level of exhaustion, Astrid was a fraction of a second too slow as her hand shot out to grab the second man's tunic, missing it by a scant few fingers-breadths. He was out of range for her to grab him with her one free arm.
Luckily, Astrid had another plan. For Valka's staff still lay on the floor by her feet, right where Drago had left it hours before. Close enough that she could reach it with her toes. And that was enough.
Hooking her toe under the staff, she flicked it up into the air, snatching it up and turning it as it flew, letting it fly out to its full extension. It shot out after the fleeing man, and this time, Astrid got more luck than the time before. The hook at the end of the staff snagged on the back of the man's cloak, and he came to a jerking stop that nearly wrenched the staff from Astrid's hand.
Using all the leverage and brute force she could muster, Astrid yanked backwards. Caught off balance, the man stumbled backwards towards Astrid. Dropping the staff, Astrid's arm shot out, locking her elbow around the man's neck, and began to squeeze.
He struggled mightily, grapping onto Astrid's arm and trying vainly to break her hold, but she held on stubbornly as he thrashed like a hooked fish. Several times, he almost broke free, but Astrid threw everything she could into the chokehold, and gradually, his struggles ceased as he began to lose more as it became more and more difficult to get enough air. Finally, several long minutes, he subsided completely, gasping for air.
Astrid eased the pressure on his throat, though only a little bit. Moving her head so it was right by his ear, she hissed out the words.
"How many other dragon riders were captured? And how many of their dragon?"
"Please" The man gasped out, barley able to force enough air from his throat to make a sound. "Please… let me go… I… I won't say… that you… got out."
"Answer the question" Astrid snarled, though her anger and apparent strength were largely bravado. If her mustered p enough strength to try and break free again, the doubted she would be able to resist. Fortunately, the man did not know that, and it was all he could do to get enough air to speak as it was, let alone struggle.
"Ju-just two dragons… no…o-other…riders" He gasped.
"Don't lie to me" Astrid said angrily. "Another woman, a bit taller than me. Brown hair, green eyes. Ring any bells?"
But the man was adamant in his original statement.
"No… no others. Just you.. a-a nadder… and a st-stormcutter"
Astrid mulled it over for a few moments. Two dragons, one of them she assumed was Stromfly, the other probably being Cloudjumper. She doubted that the man was telling her about the dragons yet deliberately leaving out facts about Valka, but if that were the case, where was she? If it had been her that was captured, then Cloudjumper might have had a decent chance of escaping all on his own, but if he was captured, the odds that Valka could have escaped were slim indeed. Furthermore, Valka's staff was right here in front of her, an item Valka was rarely without.
So the choice came down to whether Drago was lying to her to torment her, or the man she was holding was lying for… whatever reason.
Whatever the case, Astrid knew her time had just become a precious resource. She removed her arm for the man's throat, only to smash it into his temple an instant later, dropping him like a stone.
Another mistake on the part of these two. The shorted one carried a set of keys.
Astrid was surprised that the manacles on each limb all required separate keys, though all those keys would be placed on the same key ring. Probably, it was to make it that much harder to pick the locks, but Astrid was not one to complain at the stroke of good fortune. Within half a minute, she was standing free, massaging her left wrist and ankles as the blood began to circulate through them.
She needed some weapons.
She locked the two guards in with the manacles that had held her, each with one hand in. She also took a small knife from them, as well as a blowgun and several darts coated with a poison Astrid know to be a tranquilizer. With those and Valka's staff, she now had a few weapons. She wondered whether or not she should take their swords as well, but then thought against it. She was more comfortable using Valka's staff as a weapon then either of those rusty pieces of iron.
So, very, very slowly, she eased open the door and looked into the darkness beyond.
A long, dark hallway, running from left to right, disappearing into darkness in both directions. As far as she could tell it was empty.
And so she crept through the hold, navigating not by sight, which was all but useless in the pitch-black structure, but by feel and sound. She kept one hand in contact with the wall at all times, feeling her way long like a blind person, while she pointed Valka's staff out in front of her so she wouldn't run into any obstacles. Twice, she could have sworn she heard the sound of footsteps, but she never saw a flicker of movement anywhere.
And so she went on. And on. And on. The halls twisted and turned like some sort of insane maze, and Astrid began to suspect that this ship-if it was a ship at all- was much larger and more complex than it seemed to be from the surface. Pathways didn't just turn side to side, but sloped downwards and upwards now.
In the darkness, Astrid doubted there would be any way for her to navigate out by herself. Still, she pressed forward, if for no other reason than to keep herself moving away from anyone else who might be roaming around after dark. Of course, she might just as easily run into them.
Then, when it seemed like she would simply slump to the floor out of sheer exhaustion, she felt a slight breeze. So slight, she thought it might be, it was a definite breeze, nonetheless. Quickly, she started to moved towards that breeze, hope lending her new strength. As she moved, the slight wind grew stronger, a small, teasing bit at a time, but definitely blowing more strongly.
And so very suddenly, there it was. A stairway that moved up and up and up, leading to what looked like a door. Light, faint light, streamed through the cracks in the door. She began to move towards that blessed light.
Then the door opened.
Astrid's elation turned to horror as the door swung inward, and no less than four men began to move down the stairs.
Astrid panicked. She was close enough to the bottom of the stairs that the men had not seen her yet, but it would only be a matter of seconds before they did, if she didn't move. Even if she did, the chances that she would be able to outrun them in the darkness were slim indeed. One of them carried a torch, she noted, and they probably all know the ship better than she did. Astrid found herself frantically backpedalling, down the stairs and into the hallway.
As she turned around, she was so intent on the men behind her that she didn't see the arm reaching out to grab her until it was too late.
One arm encircled her midsection, pinning both her arms to her side. She let out an instinctive yelp, but it came out as no more than a squeak as a huge hand clamped over her mouth.
She tried to twist and turn, but the grip of her captor was like iron, and she had not the strength to resist him. Dragged along as if she weighed no more than a newborn kitten, Astrid found herself moving to the yawning portal of one of the doors she must have passed earlier.
All Astrid could do was writhe helplessly as she was dragged inside, and the door was kicked closed with a hollow slam. Complete blackness surrounded them.
"Shut up" a voice whispered in her ear "Before you get both killed. I'm trying to rescue you."
That voice. It was familiar, but probably the last voice she expected to hear from someone what wanted to rescue her.
The hand around her mouth moved away, and Astrid couldn't help but blurt out his name in sheer disbelief.
"Blade?"
There we have it folks.
As always, review, follow, favorite, and as always, have a good one!
I'll see you next update!
