Author's Note:
Happy Boxing Day! Hannah's helping Dad with the dishes, so she won't bother me for a while. I'm sitting here with wet hair, wearing red fuzzy Christmas pyjamas and scoffing a big bag of Crunchie Nuggets (Disclaimer: I do not own Crunchy Nuggets). And I'm thinking: This is the life! WAAAHOOOOO! It's time to party!
…
…
*cough* Like, you know, Whatever… *cough*
Anywho, Hannah has been working really hard to churn out all these plot ladders so fast, so I guess she deserves some credit!
In this chapter my writing might not be up to standard, as I hate writing violent scenes, and tend to shy away. It totally ruins the effect of the story. (I also hate romantic scenes, which is why I rarely have ships in my stories) This Chapter is going to be very difficult, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to strangle Hannah with my bare hands for giving me this to write!!!
Lots of kicks and punches,
Trudi
Chapter Three
"When we got up to the doors, this guy called Benjamin came out and invited us both inside. I knew perfectly well Mushra didn't want to go in, but if he just said, 'No, thanks,' and disappeared, the big guy was bound to suspect something. So I told him I'd get him out in half an hour, only the blanket fell off him and some guards caught him. They've taken him away somewhere, and I don't know what to do about it! It's all my fault!" With that she broke down again, and Kutall reached up and took her hand.
"Now, now, Yakumo, don't cry," he said soothingly. "He's very capable. I'm sure he can survive in prison or wherever he is for a while. Now go and get some sleep. Sago and I will try and come up with something useful that we can do to get him out."
Yakumo glared at the two Enterrans. "How can I sleep tonight when-"
"We're going now," Sago warned suddenly.
Yakumo looked at him in surprise. Sago, obviously feeling rather smug that he'd got her attention, continued. "We're going down to the end of the path," he said smoothly. "You go to sleep, because right now you can do damn shit all. We'll work out what we're going to do to get Mushra out, and we'll tell you in the morning. You can't do much now, so you might as well get some sleep. Kapeesh?"
Yakumo stared at Sago. "Uh…right. I'll meet you here at eleven o'clock."
"Good. See you in the morning."
When Sago and Kutall had walked out of earshot, Kutall said, "That was smooth."
"Yes, well, it's my nature, you see."
Yakumo sighed as she shut the window and walked into the bathroom. She hated to feel like this. She hadn't felt so useless since she last held her friend's Enterran cards. The difference was that there was something she could do to help them then.
There was nothing she could do now.
She made the shower as hot as she could stand. She stood there for what seemed like hours, trying to wash off all the filth she felt she had gathered in the last few hours. She kept thinking, Why aren't I doing anything about this? Why did they take him in the first place? He hadn't done anything. Why? Why??
She sighed as she dried herself off, and got into bed. She knew she should be wherever Mushra was right now, telling him not to be frightened, telling him that it was Okay. But she didn't have any idea where he would be. Besides, if she got caught, she might be locked away too. And then Sago and Kutall would be furious that she hadn't done as she was told.
She shook these thoughts from her head, and got dressed again. She'd have to find the dungeons. She knew it was down the stairs that were in the big purple hall. It would be the one with the torn curtain.
Yakumo tiptoed quietly down the stairs, through a door and into the familiar blue corridor. The rug was still folded up in the middle from all the people running along it. Mushra's small, muddy footprints could be seen all the way down the hallway. They led first to the door on the far right, and then they overlapped themselves as he had struggled to open the door. The footprints then veered to the left, and disappeared. Yakumo put a hand on the door handle and gazed at it for a minute, as if he was still there. Then she opened the door and stepped into the purple room.
Nothing had moved since she had left it. The curtains lay in a torn heap by the window, and the curtain rail was lopsided, and sloped down to the ground. Mushra's footprints had begun to fade by now, but she could just make them out on the curtains. It must have been very late at night by now, as she could see nobody nearby. Most people were probably in bed… where Kutall and Sago thought she was.
Her eyes fell on the staircase in the floor. "There we go," she whispered and descended them as quietly as possible. It got darker and colder the further down she went. The place smelt damp and the air was heavy with moisture. Her footsteps echoed as the thick purple carpet ended and crumbling stone began. As she reached the bottom of the stone steps, she shivered in the cold air.
There was a long corridor before her, lined with small cells. There was little light, as there were few windows, be she could just make out that some of them were occupied. Trapped in the one closest to her was an old man with shifty eyes and a sly smile. Yakumo shuddered, but she realised that this wasn't the time to get picky.
She approached the bars of the man's cell. "Excuse me, I'm awfully sorry to bother you, but-"
"Whaadaya want, girl?"
"I'm sorry, but my friend was taken away earlier tonight, and I was wondering-"
"You looking for that Enterran kid?"
"Uh…yes. Do you know where he is?"
The man bared his teeth and pointed to the left. "He got took into there, see, in solitary confinement, he did. Enterrans spread disease, you know."
"Um…of course, Sir. Thank you."
Yakumo turned left and walked past another long line of cells, carefully avoiding eye-contact with the people inside. As she got further into the prison she heard sounds. And not the just the grunts and spitting noises coming from the prisoners she had passed.
She could now hear a series of thuds and rattling – and men's voices.
"Ben, that's enough!"
Thuds.
"Ben, I told you! That's enough! It was enough ages ago!"
"They have to learn."
"You'll kill him in a minute. How will you explain that to Ken?"
"Don't be an idiot, Duffy. He never gives anything more than a warning!"
"Ken knows perfectly well that if he takes any sort of action against what you're doing, he'll be next."
"He's a coward."
"No, he has sense. You don't have any right to do this. He's just a child! It's illegal for you to even lay a finger on him, even if he is an Enterran."
"Don't be such a wuss, Duffy! The little devil can take it, can't you?" More thuds and Yakumo tensed as she heard Mushra cry out in pain.
"Ben, stop it right now! There won't be anything left if you keep hitting him! What do you have against him, anyway? He hasn't done anything…"
"Enterrans caused nothing but trouble on this planet from day one. And no matter how may we keep here, they always get released. This one's not going anywhere!"
"You're sick, Ben. Really sick. I know he is what he is, but he hasn't actually done anything yet!"
"Breaking and entering, vandalism…those curtains will have to be replaced, you know… resisting arrest… he gave me a right mouthful of abuse when I locked him down here."
"That's no reason to treat him like this! Just leave him, be, now. If you hit him any more, he'll die. Ken will have your head!"
"He won't. But this isn't any fun now, anyway. He doesn't yell as much as the rest of them. It's more entertaining when they cry and beg for mercy. We'll be back, you little savage. Same time tomorrow!"
Yakumo ducked into the shadows as Benjamin strode right past her, followed by a man about Sago's size, who was looking a bit annoyed. As soon as she heard them disappear up the steps, she ran to the cell they had come out of.
"Mushra?" she whispered into the dark. She could just about make out her friend's shadow in the corner of the cell. She took a match from her pocket and struck it.
Mushra squinted in the light and looked away. She could see one of his eyes was surrounded in blood. There was blood in his hair, too, and he was chained to the floor. The guards hadn't bothered to take off his handcuffs, so he was basically restricted to the dark, damp corner. "Hey – how did you get down here?"
Yakumo didn't answer his question, just tried in vane to stifle her tears. "Oh, Mushra, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen, honestly! I wish I'd left you at the gates!"
"…"
"Please say something!"
"Sorry. I'm not mad. I know you didn't mean for any of this to happen. There's just… nothing much to say."
Yakumo looked from her small, rather childish-looking friend to the bars on his cell. He looked so… ghostlike. It wasn't natural. He'd only had one beating. She felt a burning hate for Benjamin, with his big hands and even bigger biceps. To her horror, she felt anger surging up inside her. Mushra looked at her curiously.
"Are you okay, Yakumo?"
He shrunk back into the shadows as Yakumo threw herself at the bars and began to pull savagely at them. "Yakumo! For God's sake, control yourself! We're not getting anywhere like that!"
Yakumo sighed and let go of the bars. "Oh, Mushra. I'm sorry. You just… you look awful!"
"Thanks."
"You know that's not what I meant. Oh, my God… Why didn't you do something? Anything!"
"I gave my spear and crown to Sago, remember? Besides, if I used them, they'd take them away. It wouldn't be a good idea. I don't think I'm really up to going hyper, anyway."
"Of course not. I doubt you'd be able to do much about the chains, either. Listen here, Mushra –I'll come back tomorrow night with Sago and Kutall. We'll get you out before that Benjamin guy comes back for round two." Yakumo told him determinedly.
"Really? How will you manage that?"
"Oh, I don't know. We'll think of something. Does it really hurt?"
"Yea. But remember, I was supposed to be a slave. I was built for a bit of wear and tear. I can take it."
The match had long since gone out, so she lit a new one. "Why don't you fight back?"
"I'm not much without my weapons, and I couldn't use them anyway. I don't know where the keys for the cell and handcuffs are. If I just shut up, they'll let me go soon. I was speaking to another Enterran who came in yesterday. He says that they're usually released within days."
"But can you take much more of this?" Yakumo said, squealing as the match burned her finger.
"Of course. It looks much worse than it is."
Yakumo sighed. "I'll be back tomorrow." She turned away and began to walk towards the stairs.
"Thanks. And Yakumo?"
Yakumo stopped and looked round.
"Be careful, will you?"
BLARGH! Someone strangle me! I hate writing things like that… Well it's now the day after Boxing day, so the Crunchie Nuggets are long since eaten by Hannah. L I'll survive. My sister's insisting that she speaks to everyone:
hiya im hannah im trudis sister this story was my idea so it was and I ate the crunchy nuggets ha ha from hannah
*Gag* and not at all full of herself…
Anyway, From here on in it's going to be cliffhangers and not a dull moment (unless you think the fic is dull of course. Which you don't, right? JJJ) for this fic! Hakuba is going to make his appearance (finally) and loads more crap…
Matilda's on TV right now so Hannah's taken herself off to stare blankly at the TV screen for a couple of hours. That should give me some peace and quiet for a bit…