For the rest of the day, I received no more visitors. I had been chained back against the wall and had nothing to do but count how many bricks the floor consisted of. Turns out it was five hundred and sixty eight for this one jail cell. Night did not fair any better. I had fallen asleep for almost an hour until I was woken by the door being unlocked from the outside. Damn, I was kind of hoping that they were going to schedule the execution a little later within the morning instead of one minute past midnight.
"Fennu must really want me dead if he plans on collecting me this quickly". I muttered to myself.
"Good thing I got here first before him then".
I looked up. Standing in front of my wasn't Fennu at all, but Yinshen?
"Your boss send you"? I asked raising an eyebrow.
"Not exactly". She spoke as she walked next to me and... freed the restraints holding me?
"What are you doing"? I hissed.
"Saving your skin. Someone has to, right"?
The chains fell to the ground with a soft thud after only a few seconds of Yinshen tampering with them. She gestured for me to follow, but before I did, some questions needed to be answered. I grabbed onto Yinshens wrist, gaining her attention.
"Why are you doing this"? I asked firmly, showing that I wasn't messing around. Yinshen took a second and replied.
"Let's just say I've lost too many people I've come to know". Was all she said before pulling her wrist out of my grip and walked through the door with me following close behind. From there, a long staircase leading downwards was the next obstacle. We moved down quickly but carefully in case a random guard happened to show themselves whilst heading up the stairs.
"You are aware that Fennu will kill the both of us if he catches us. Right"?
"He won't".
"And you are sure of that how"?
"Simple. We won't get caught".
"... Can't argue with logic"... I spoke with a hint of sarcasm.
The last of the stairs were in sight next to a wooden door with iron hinges. I slithered over before Yinshen and pulled on the handle and as luck would have it, it was locked.
"Oh great. That's just great". I hissed angrilly. "Now what"?
Yinshen sighed and pushed me aside gently.
"Let me show you the proper way to do it". She boasted as she knelt down to the keyhole and started fiddling at it with her claws for a few seconds until I heard the door unlock.
"Easy when you know how". The feline taunted before using one hand to gently push the door open.
"Yeah yeah, no one likes a showoff".
Yinshen peeked round the corner and quickly pulled back. She looked to me and put a single finger to her lips to order me to stay silent. I did so and looked round the corner. Two gorilla guards had their backs to us and were speaking to each other. Yinshen signalled me to follow. I did what she asked and the pair of us sneaked up to the two giants. As we did, I heard them talk of something that made me nearly throw up.
"It is to be killed by having its head removed".
"Argh. What a waste of good food. My gut aches for snake flesh! It has been much to long since I've eaten something raw".
Okay so the gorillas here, much more savage and brutal than the gentle types back where I come from. Not to mention the fact that these ones ate meat was all too much. What the hell kind of diet had Fennu issued them?
I thought less of the idea as Yinshen was crouched on all fours behind one guard and I the other. As they continued to speak, Yinshen held up three fingers, then two, one.
I jumped up to the head of the gorilla as Yinshen did the same and grabbed onto the beast as it grunted in confusion. Before it could yell for backup, I slammed its head into the other gorilla while Yinshen had had the same idea as she smashed her gorillas head into mine just as hard. The blow was enough to knock out both gorillas and send them onto the hard ground.
"Not bad. For a snake". Yinshen complimented.
"I was going to say the same thing. Just replace snake with the word thief".
"Funny".
"I try".
So far we had made it down about thirty, maybe forty stories of steps from both the tower and the ones we were travelling down right now. No other guards had been sighted just yet but even so, I remained cautious. After the last few stairs, we faced a new problem. A hallway which went in two directions.
"Which way"? I asked.
"...The right".
Yinshen led the way and I followed. But almost instantly...
"Wait, no it's the left". She spoke, turning back round. I on the other hand was not too convinced.
"You're certain? Because I don't want to get lost in this place"!
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing".
"Trust you. Like I have a choice"?
"You said it yourself. You make your own choices".
I said nothing and let the black cat continue to back track as best she could. As the hallway narrowed, Yinshen stopped next to a single door.
"This doesn't look like the way out". I spoke quietly.
"It's not. I just need to grab something before we can leave".
The both of us entered the unlocked door and found an empty room with several large shelves nailed to the sides of the walls.
"Now that I think about it, exactly what is the plan? As far as I know, step one was to free me, check. But how do we get out of here and back to the Valley of Peace? Steal an airship"?
"If we tried to take one, we'd be shot out of the sky instantly, not to mention it's too heavily guarded to get too. We need to sneak out and get back to your town on foot".
"You can't be serious. That'll take too long"!
"Do you have a better idea"?
"...No".
"Then we're sticking with my idea".
Yinshen was quick to grab something shiny and golden from the closest shelf on the left. At a glance, it looked like a necklace but I doubted that she would have come back just for that. Upon closer inspection, it looked more like a locket shaped like a heart and was strung by a golden lace.
"What's that"?
"A personal item from my old master". Was all she said. Nothing more was discussed on the matter and I dropped the questions for now. All I wanted was to get out of this place.
We left the room and kept walking in the same direction. The hallway and the doors were replaced with weapon racks and the weapons themselves. One I took notice of was a double sided blade type weapon. One blade longer and more curved than the other. I think I've heard of it somewhere before. It was a Shaolin spade, used as both a weapon and a tool. A very dangerous weapon if used against you. Dozens of them hung on the walls as well as crossbows, swords and God knows what else. No wonder this placedhad never been overrun before.
The stone wall became white iron and things got colder. Upon seeing another window, and by window I meant an archers lookout post, I looked out seeing the wasteland with the moon as the only source of light.
"You okay"?
I turned back to Yinshen who had stopped a little further down before noticing that I had stopped myself. I slithered back to her.
"Yeah... I'm good".
"You sure? You seemed distracted".
"It's just, despite everything. I'm actually... scared".
"We don't have far to go. We'll be out of this place soon enough".
"No, I don't mean... This. What I'm doing. I meant along the lines of... if I don't make it back. If I were to die...". I took a second to pause and swallow. "Can you promise me something"?
Yinshen gave a small nod.
"If I were to die, then... tell Viper... that I said thank you. For everything she's done for me".
It wasn't the first thought that I had hoped to have been passed on if I died. I had another thing to say but I felt it was, like Yinshen and her locket, a more personal matter which I could only say for myself. I suppose that's one of the few things that are keeping me going.
"Of course. You deserve that much".
I gave a small laugh and the both of us continued, hearing what sounded like marching above us. If I were to take a wild guess, I'd say we were right under the Galadriel gates themselves. We reached the end of the hallway and found another wooden door. Yinshen reached for it, but before she could even touch the handle, we heard footsteps from the other side. Someone was coming this way and there was nowhere to hide...
...
So Yinshen helped Mike out. Be honest, did any of you see that coming? Cause I'm betting a few of you did ^^ Anyway, this will be a bit of a break away from the main characters of the show themselves and will focus on Mike and Yinshen for a it, at least another two chapters.
Onto a more important matter. I'll be going up to Scotland for a week in three days time. I should be able to get another chapter out but this is just a heads up in case I am unable to. Cheerio!