Hellena Prison
Dart couldn't persuade his mother to remain outside. Claire insisted on coming with him, and he hadn't the time to argue. Besides, it would be nice to having a fighting companion, and he hadn't seen his mother for five years.
Hellena Prison was a maze of stinking corridors and endless rooms filled with wails of torture. By sheer dumb luck, they had stumbled into an escapee.
Claire recognized the emblem on his tunic as a knight of Basil and shoved a Sandoran away from him, down an abyss in the middle of the room. Fruegal, who ran the prison, had a twisted sense of humor.
Dart took care of two other soldiers, but it seemed that the Knight was perfectly capable of protecting himself with his lance. He turned the point towards Dart.
"Who are you? On whose side do you stand?" the knight growled.
Claire walked forward calmly. "We stand on the side of Basil." She said, at the same time Dart said, "On the side that is right."
"We came here to rescue a friend of ours." Dart told the knight. "My name is Dart. This is my mother Claire."
The knight put his lance away. "I am Lavitz, leader of the first knighthood of the duchy of Basil, serving King Albert. I am escaping as well. Perhaps I can help you find your friend. What does he look like?"
"She. Her name is Shana." Claire interrupted Dart, knowing that he couldn't give a five-year-outdated description of Shana. The girl had changed greatly since her son had last saw her. "She has brown hair, and brown eyes. She has a sweet voice and a kind heart. She's young and hasn't been here long."
The knight nodded. "There aren't many women in here, and certainly not young ones. I heard someone humming as I was running from my cell. It was definitely a girl, and she had a sweet voice. And she must be new, or else she wouldn't be humming. This way."
They followed him to a cell with two downed guards. "I was wondering why they guarded this girl so particularly, but they were in my way, so I had to knock them out." Lavitz explained. "She's in there."
Claire ran to the small squared barred hole in the door. "Shana?"
A small shape in the corner of the room uncoiled itself and ran to the door. "Claire? Is that you?" It was definitely Shana, with teary eyes and hope in her voice.
"Yes, Shana, it's me. Stand back. We'll get you out, okay, sweetheart?"
Her light footsteps backed away as Dart hacked away the lock on the door, opening it easily. "Shana? It's me, Dart. Remember me?"
How could she forget you, son? She asked me everyday if I received a letter from you. I wondered the same thing, but you never wrote. Do you know how worried I was?
Shana emerged from the darkened cell into the light, squinting at the sudden brightness.
Claire could feel her son's surprise. Shana had grown from a giggling little thirteen-year-old into a fully bloomed eighteen-year-old, petite, with smooth skin and innocent brown eyes. Claire wondered if her son still saw Shana as a little sister.
"Claire, I was scared." Shana ran forward to grasp her hand. "Everything was so dark and I couldn't figure out what was going on." She paused, staring at Dart for a long while. She tilted her head, walked up to him. "Dart?" She asked quietly.
"Hi, Shana."
"Gods!" She flung her arms around his neck. "Why didn't you ever write home in five years? Claire and I were so worried! I thought about you everyday!"
Lavitz smiled as Dart pried her off. "Um, okay. We have to get out of here, and then you can tell me everything, okay? Just stay behind me."
"No." Shana lifted her head high. "I can fight too." She picks up the bow and arrow by the door.
"Good girl." Claire praised her. "Never give up."
Dart looked dismayed. "Are you sure you can do this?"
"I'm not a child anymore, Dart. I've grown up, and I've learned how to fight."
"Argue about this later, you two." Lavitz said, nervously. "But let's get out of here first."
"Not so fast! You're not going anywhere!" It was not difficult for them to locate the owner of the voice as an obese man in bronze armor, the warden of Hellena Prison, Fruegal. Besides him were several soldiers, all completely armed.
"Run!" Claire hissed to them. "There's too many of them! This way!"
The small party, now numbered four, turned and ran down the corridors. Claire ignored the sounds of the prisoners cheering for them, trying to reach out of the cells to grab the soldiers and stop them. She was suddenly very thankful of all the running practice her father had given her. Shana was just as fast, lean and petite. The two males were slightly slower but managed to stay ahead of the warden and his soldiers as they reach the exit.
The drawbridge was rising.
"Jump!" Lavitz yelled.
Dart reached out for Shana's hand; she took it and they leapt the drawbridge together, tumbling onto the solid ground outside. Lavitz followed them with some difficulty, and Claire had to push herself off the rising wood, jumping, flying…
A foot too short.
She latched her fingers onto the lip of the jagged rocks to avoid falling into the raging ocean and being swept away by the currents. Pain flared in her arms as she held on, trying to pull herself up.
Gods, I'm getting old. There was a time I could have done that without any trouble."Mom!" Dart's face appeared in her sight, and he and Shana grabbed hold of her arms, pulling her up.
"Gods, Claire, are you all right?" Shana asked anxiously, probing the older woman's arms and legs for injuries. While Dart was gone, Shana had been very interested in medical studies.
"I'm okay." Claire gasped. "Just a bit winded, that's all. I haven't been training lately."
"It'll take them some time to get the drawbridge back down again. Let's go before then. We should head to Bale." Lavitz suggested. "I have to deliver reports to King Albert, and you will be safe there. It is not safe to go back to wherever you came from. It's better if we stay together anyway."
"Mom?" Dart looked at her.
Claire shook her head. "Your decision. You're the leader here."
He frowned but nodded. "We'll go with you, Lavitz."
"Great. This way."