Chapter Twenty One
Stormtide Prison
ELSA
The journey to Stormtide Prison was a rather unpleasant one. Elsa and the rest of the Warriors had surrendered four days ago, and the trip to Stormtide was taking that long. She hadn't known the Blue Wolves to dawdle, but that was exactly what they had done. Either that, or the route towards the prison really was that tedious. In all honesty, she didn't know which, since most of the time she and the rest had sacks stuffed over their heads.
Presumably, the two Witch Hunters, Hansel and Gretel, had disappeared to collect the bounty from the Confederation after having successfully apprehended the Snow Queen and her cohort. Gretel, at least, had been a little hesitant to follow through with the job after learning that the Warriors weren't exactly the evil witches she had made them out to be. Hansel on the other hand, just seemed happy to have had a chance to fight Janus.
As expected, the Blue Wolves had come prepared with the standard issue magic dampening cuffs, which they had clapped onto Elsa and her friends. With their wrists restrained behind their backs and the musty smelling sacks dumped over their heads, the Blue Wolves had deemed them no longer a threat, only prisoners to be thrown into Stormtide.
Along the way, Elsa had quite a fair bit of time to think. These magic dampening cuffs, which she had seen since the early days of her interactions with the League, had always struck her as strange. Painfully uncomfortable too, and it wasn't just purely the physical aspect. There was a more mystical aspect to these handcuffs, Elsa was sure of it. She could almost sense it. An opposing force to her magic, as if her magic was a flame and the handcuffs were boots trying to snuff out the flames.
These magic dampening cuffs couldn't have been created by scientists. Elsa guessed that they were a product of some demonic force, which had been harnessed somehow. Ingrid Grendstav, the Sixth Pilgrim who had blackmailed Elsa into joining the League, had been in possession of one of these cuffs, and so had Eleanor Tal Yin back during the occupation of Denmark.
And now, the Blue Wolves had them in abundance, most likely supplied to them by the Confederation. Which was extremely odd, now that Elsa thought about it. Where did these magic dampening cuffs come from? One thing was for certain though. They were powerful enough to suppress magic and all sorts of supernatural abilities to the point where Elsa really felt powerless to do anything. She saw no way of escaping yet.
All along, even though she had told the others to surrender with her, breaking free had always been a part of the plan. Eventually. Wait for the Blue Wolves to become complacent somehow during the journey, suddenly turn the tables at the right moment, and then escape with the Warriors unharmed.
But no. The sacks and handcuffs had been kept on at almost all times, except for pockets of time on the road that had been reserved for meals. Only then would the sacks would be removed, but the cuffs stayed on. Along the way, the large carriages ferrying the prisoners across the uneven rocky terrains and forests would stop at eleven in the morning and seven in the evening like clockwork.
The Warriors would then be forced out of the carriages, and the sacks would be ripped off without preempt. The first time, Elsa had been shocked to see that there were other prisoners being transported along with them. Apparently, after the carriages had moved off, the Blue Wolves had managed to nab a number of other sorcerers along the way and send them on towards Stormtide together with the Warriors.
After the first two meals, Elsa settled into the realisation that there would be no way for them to mount a surprise escape. The Warriors were conscientiously kept apart from one another, and their arms were restrained behind them at all times, and the Blue Wolves, however incompetent, could not be faulted for being lazy. Accompanied by numerous armed escorts, they watched their prisoners all the time, and even took precautions to feed them during the two mealtimes.
As for bathing, the Blue Wolves didn't even bother giving their prisoners that basic necessity. They had probably figured that it was too much of a risk, and instead resorted to pouring a half canteen's supply of water over each prisoner's head every evening.
Therefore, by the end of four days, Elsa felt extremely unclean, and her clothes clung uncomfortably to her skin. Her pale flesh was stained with grime and sweat. Having her head stuck underneath a musty smelling sack really didn't help matters, and by the fourth day, Elsa had gagged quite a few times, narrowly stopping herself from throwing up and making the smell a whole lot worse. Therefore, it came as a relief to Elsa when the Blue Wolves finally informed the prisoners at dinner time that they would make their final leg of the journey by boat in the morning.
"We will reach the coast by mid day. Then the ride over the river to Stormtide." The Blue Wolf in charge of feeding Elsa told her, peeling off a bit of tinned meat using his knife, and hovering it near her mouth. "After that, you'll no longer be our problem."
The Blue Wolves had been using their generous supply of rations to keep the prisoners fed on the journey to Stormtide, and by now Elsa felt quite sick of eating the same tiny portion of dried meat and hardtack for every meal. She accepted the food with much disdain, and wondered how the food in prison would be like, though she wasn't deluding herself into thinking it would be royal standard.
As the Blue Wolf had told her, all the prisoners were piled back onto the carriages early in the morning, even before the sun had risen, though honestly Elsa couldn't really determine for sure with the thick sack over her head. The carriages travelled for hours, and at the end the prisoners were forcefully pushed out.
Elsa heard water, and knew that they were already at the coast opposite Stormtide. She and the others had then been packed onto boats which rocked back and forth above the slightly rough waters, and then subsequently the boat set off turbulently.
The boat lurched a couple of times, and she could hear the Blue Wolves shouting to watch the prisoners in case one decided to leap overboard. In any case, that wouldn't have been a very smart thing to do, with sacks over their heads and arms restrained behind their backs.
In fifteen minutes, the side of the boat knocked against a wooden platform, presumably a dock. The boat was then tied up securely, though still threatening to break free and careen off by itself. Blue Wolves dragged the stumbling prisoners off the boats, and Elsa felt herself being roughly lifted onto land.
Something was roughly attached to her neck, and Elsa struggled a little, feeling as if someone was trying to strangle her. But no, a cold metal which fitted securely around her neck clicked into place and rested against her collarbone, and her assailant withdrew.
The sack was then ripped off Elsa's head and she took a great gasp of air in relief. The air tasted salty and cold, and had an ominous feel to it. But it was still a welcome respite from the horrid sack.
She looked around at her surroundings. If escape had been marked as difficult previously, it was damn near impossible now. They were on an island, and she could barely see the coast they had journeyed from. There was a thin fog that hung over the air that matched the weather of a cold, bitter winter, making it virtually out of the question to swim back even if they could somehow break free from their captors.
The Blue Wolves all around the prisoners were now accompanied by men in grey prison guard uniforms, literally doubling the number of hostiles as compared to before. These men looked even nastier than the Blue Wolves, which was really saying something. Elsa felt a chill run down her spine, and no, it wasn't from the cold.
"Welcome to Stormtide Prison." A man standing in front of a large steel gate in a uniform called out in a booming voice with a flavoured Molcorran accent. "My name is Leonid, Deputy Warden of Stormtide. From this point on, you all belong to me, and you will never step foot off this island ever again."
"Terrific." Elsa heard Janus mumble from beside her. She remembered that he had been born and raised in a prison island called Moordeloch, and she couldn't begin to imagine how traumatic it was for him now that he was in another. To his credit, he didn't show his discomfort it on his features though.
"Remove their handcuffs." Leonid gestured to his guards to go about setting the prisoners free from their restraints.
The guard nearest to Elsa freed her wrists, and she rubbed them gently, wincing in discomfort. There were painful red rings around her wrists that felt sore to the touch. Scowling, she watched the guards freed her friends. The moment the cuffs were taken off Deirdre, the fiery tempered sorceress immediately spun like a wild cat and forcefully jerked her hands in the direction of the closest guards.
Similarly, some of the other prisoners that had been picked up along the way to Stormtide also did the same. Nothing happened.
Leonid threw back his head and gave a nasty roar of laughter, and he was joined by the and sneers and jeers of the prison guards and Blue Wolves. "Gets me every time," Leonid cackled. "To see you pathetic wizards and witches try to use your sorcery the moment you're free from those cuffs. If you would take notice of the collars around your necks?"
Elsa had expected something like this. For one, when the cuffs had been undone, she didn't feel her powers returning to her. For another, it wouldn't have been wise to launch an assault just yet. Not with these many enemies ready to swarm them.
"Magic dampeners." Leonid explained with a wicked grin on his cruel face. "Similar to the cuffs. You will never gain connection to your magic ever again." He nodded at his guards, who began to shove the prisoners roughly towards the gate. "Escort our new friends inside and give them the induction programme."
JANUS
What the deputy warden called the induction programme was in reality a rather sobering and depressing imitation of a vacation island tour. Once all the sorcerers had been pushed past the enormous gate and into the prison grounds proper, the wretched steel was shut with a malicious clang which seemed to scream that there would never be a way out.
The entire prison compound was quite large, cordoned off from the rest of the small island by tall, sturdy fences. Barbed wire was entwined at the very top, running the entire length of the fences. Guards patrolled the fences in tight rotations, leaving no wall unguarded at any one point in time. There were also snipers up in vantage points built into the prison's roof which were at least four or five stories high, overlooking almost the entire island.
The prison building itself was a fortress. About a hundred and fifty years ago when the various kingdoms fought for the Tenyorn Channel in the naval wars, Stormtide had been a military fortress greatly coveted after because of the strong geographic position it held.
The fortress was big enough to hold an entire division, built specifically for the purpose of employing great eighteen and twenty four pounder guns in water batteries. It also served as a supply depot for troops, and a very good spot to dig in during a protracted firefight with enemies. It wasn't hard to understand why the armies all sought to capture Stormtide, and once they did, endeavoured to keep it out of the hands of besieging armies.
After the war had ended, the fortress had been more or less abandoned. That is, until the Confederation instated the CAST, outlawing all sorcerers and damning them all to a life of imprisonment for the crime of being different from regular humans. It angered him to see the prison guards roughly handling Elsa and the rest of his allies, but to his frustration there was nothing he could do, not yet.
In theory, he was the least affected of the lot, since he didn't have powers of his own. No magic, no hidden abilities. He was just a regular human. The only reason why he was in here with the rest was because he was reputed to be aiding the League of Sorcerers, earning him the status of a public enemy just like the rest who had sorcery.
But no, even though he was no longer restrained by those damned cuffs, Janus knew this was not the time to try to escape. It would be foolish, with so many trigger happy guards and in broad daylight too. No. He had to bide his time, and hope that he could figure out a plan to escape in due time with the rest of the Warriors.
All the while, Janus made mental notes of the prison's infrastructure, its security measures, the fortifications and the brief layout of the place. Not enough information to go on yet, but he would continue to learn more about this place. There's no way, he determined with a set jaw, no damn way that I'm spending the rest of my life in here.
Janus had already spent his entire childhood in Moordeloch prison, having been born on that cursed island for crimes he never committed. His mother had been murdered in prison, and that had been the turning point of his life, which would set him down the course of becoming Bruvesqk's most feared mercenary.
However, that time was past, and now he found himself in another prison, not for his crimes as a mercenary, but for trying to do the right thing for once. It made Janus really question himself if he had made the right choice in turning his back on the life of a mercenary. Don't, he internally growled at himself. You chose to follow Elsa, to be with her and to finally do the right thing. Don't relapse back into your primal instincts. Not now, not when the others need your help.
A couple of times when one of the guards caught him looking around too long and shoved him severely towards the rest of the group, Janus wanted to bring round his elbow and smash a jaw and knock a couple of skulls together. He restrained himself, and allowed the guards to lead him and the others into the prison itself.
To put it plainly, the interior of the building was much worse than outside. The atmosphere and general look of the place reminded him of Moordeloch, and for a brief moment he had traumatic visions of his childhood, which he quickly brushed aside. Focus, he forced himself. Look out for any weak spots. Opportunities for an escape to be formulated into a plan later.
The first level was largely made up of a common area, just a wide empty rectangular space that would have once been used as a parade square by its military occupants. Right now, all the prisoners were in their cells.
The cells were located on the next three levels, built with all four sides of the prison facing each other. As the guards took the group up to the next level where they would be formally processed as new inmates, Janus noted that there was a narrow corridor running in front of each cell, probably for the guards to conduct spot checks on the prisoners. Essentially, it was like any other prison.
The cells themselves were small, cramped spaces, allowing barely a few paces in any direction. Thick iron bars were layered horizontally and vertically across the width of the cells, though these bars were already rusted over. A lock and bolt secured each cell, though these too didn't look very new either. Nonetheless, Janus knew enough to know that though the cells were old, they would hold up for quite a while.
Inside the cells were the standard items. A stone basin, a sorry excuse for a toilet in the corner, and a stone slab being held in place by chains etched into the wall. Nothing out of the ordinary, though it certainly didn't help Janus in devising a plan of escape.
Here on the second level, the prisoners were all brought further down the corridor into another cell block, where a quartermaster was waiting with his assistants to deal out prison uniforms and basic supplies to the new inmates. Janus watched as the Blue Wolves that had accompanied them handed over the prisoners' belongings to the prison guards to store away. His weapons, mask and other gadgets would be stowed somewhere in here, and he made another mental note to pick up his gear if he managed to find a way out.
After receiving a towel, blanket, toothbrush and grey fabrics, the males were separated from the females, to be taken to their separate levels. The women were incarcerated on the second level, whereas the men were kept on the third. Janus caught Elsa's eye as they were forcibly parted.
He hadn't even gotten a chance to speak with her in private since they had been captured in the marketplace five days ago, and he desperately wanted to tell her that he was going to figure a way out of Stormtide. She didn't look scared, as far as Janus could tell, but there was a certain melancholic look in her eye that he had managed to catch. He felt an internal stab of pain as she was taken out of his sight.
Out of the Warriors, only Maui and himself were still kept together on the same level. They were taken to be hosed down with shockingly cold water, before being thrown into their cells with their wet clothes still on. Thankfully though, perhaps by some oversight or complacency, the guards had put Janus in a cell next to Maui, which would make it easier for them to discuss a potential exit strategy.
By the time the entire process was over, the sky had already turned dark and there was nothing else much to do but settle down for the night. Janus changed into his new prison uniform. It was a short sleeve grey shirt and tight fitting grey pants to prevent prisoners from concealing anything, with a white long sleeve undershirt for the cold weather. The shoes issued to him were a pair of cheap white loafers that didn't fit him quite right, but by now it was too late to request a change - not that the guards could care less.
By night, the guards prowled the various levels, carrying lanterns and holding them up to the cells to check on the prisoners. All in all, Stormtide was as secure as it could be. No wonder the Confederation is shipping their sorcerers here to be imprisoned for life.
Disgruntled, Janus lay down on his uncomfortable cell cot and it rattled with his motion, sounding as if it was threatening to give way at any moment. Thankfully it didn't. Not yet anyway. Leaning back, he could feel the back of his head pressing through the thin pillow against the stone slab. But I'll find a way, he resolved as he stared up at the low rough stone ceiling. We will get out of Stormtide.
