Chapter Thirteen: Prisons and Pyramids

Day Four

Thursday morning

Raph stood still, mulling over the faintest possibilities of escape ideas. I wish Leo or Don were here. They always have a plan. Sometimes even three or four. Shell, even one of Mikey's crazy ideas does the trick once in a while.

The koala and panda shifted restlessly on the cell's lone cot they had somehow shared last night. Raph had taken the cold tile floor, but just when he had started to grumble about being cold-blooded, the hedgehog had tossed the single blanket over to him with a tiny smile, saying they both had fur.

Raph had already drilled the pair for any escape ideas or clues. The hedgehog had shrunk away again, while the panda had shushed him. "Hush! They'll spray us. Besides, very few Da'an escape the Othila. At least before…"

"Before what?" Raph had demanded.

The panda's voice had dropped to a whisper. "We hear rumors… it sounds like the humans gave the Othila a way to… change our minds. To turn Da'an into Othila."

"Brainwashing? That doesn't sound good. We'd better find a way ta get outta here. I don't even belong here ta start with; I'm not gettin-'"

The panda had all but jumped on Raph's face. "Will you be quiet, foreigner? Either you're crazy, a fool, or you really are from some other land, that you have not learned to fear the Othila and their technology."

Stop thinkin' about those two; they're no help. Unless I find a way outta here. I think they'd help then. He already knew the blanket wrapped around his hands did not provide enough protection from the shock of the bars, and he hadn't even found any keyhole, latch, or control panel by sticking his hand out at the side of the bars, bending his wrist at an awkward angle, and feeling the wall. One disadvantage is that I didn't get to see the outside of the cell before I got put in, since I was unconscious from their stupid drug.

The only amusement had come from Yisu, the annoying flying squirrel, who had finally shown up to lecture him earlier this morning. After listening to him sputter, rage, and insult for a moment, Raph had simply taken off the forgnathu, which really got under his skin. That had been a bit fun, watching his tiny face practically go purple with rage, before two others had come and led him away.

Raph's stomach complained. The Othila had either forgotten about their prisoners this morning, or didn't believe the Da'an had any use for breakfast. That rice and… whatever it was… was pretty good last night, at least, but that doesn't hold a ninja for twelve hours.

He sighed, and turned to face the back wall. Putting his hands on it, he leaned forward and stretched out his calves. He closed his eyes. At least I wasn't injured in the fight. That would be adding insult to injury… er, the other way around. Sheesh, who's tapping on the wall? That's really getting under my shell—wait. Tapping?

Raph's eyes snapped open, and he turned to stare at his fellow prisoners. Neither of them were tapping; they were resting, leaning against the side wall, not the back wall. He laid his palms flat against the wall. It wasn't a regular rhythm like that of a machine; it was irregular, almost like… Morse code.

He clucked his tongue, and the panda's eyes opened. Raph nodded toward the wall. Confusion and a bit of annoyance crossed the panda's face, but he stretched out his left paw and touched the wall. His brown eyes widened for a moment before he nudged his companion and deliberately relaxed his face into a blank look.

"Da'an," he whispered so softly the forgnathu almost didn't pick it up. "They came to rescue us."

He stretched as if he was still waking from his catnap, but his eyes were alight. He tapped the wall for a moment; Raph continued stretching his calves as if he was still frustrated and restless.

The hedgehog fidgeted a bit, but given how nervous he'd been this entire time, it wasn't too unusual.

"They say to get away from the wall."

Raph did so, stretching out his arms now, near the bars. The other two rose and padded over to Raph, as if to chat with him. Raph eyed the hedgehog's prickles and the panda's lack of them. Is this gonna be an explosive sort of rescue? He reached down, picked up the wadded blanket from the floor, and draped it over the panda's shoulders, who nodded appreciatively.

Loud clicking came from the other side of the wall. Raph pushed the other two closer to the bars and down, stepped between them and the back wall, turned his shell to it, and crouched down.

Boom!

A relatively small explosive rattled the room; debris bounced off Raph's shell and the panda's blanket.

Three animals, heavily armed and armored, raced in. "Time to go! The Othila will-" An alarm drowned out the rest of the coyote's words.

"My sai!" I really don't wanna leave it, unless I absolutely have to.

"Your what?" The coyote, who seemed to be the leader, demanded, while a ruddy cat and a chameleon rushed the other two prisoners out through a hole the size of an extra-large doggy door. "Unless you have a way to open those bars in three seconds-"

Raph had already spotted a way. "Gimme yer bo!" He grabbed the weapon from the coyote's back, reached the staff between the bars, and managed to knock down the wooden shelf entirely off the wall. All the weapons skittered toward them, and the coyote stabbed out a katana and helped draw Raph's sais in, plus two or three bonus weapons, before Othila swarmed into the narrow hall.

To say they looked upset would be an understatement.

"Let's go!"

Raph dove through the hole, the coyote right behind him, and sprinted after the other animals, through ferns and branches, to a waiting open-sided helicopter.

"Wow," said Casey, shielding his eyes from the burning sun, "Dose are some big, pointy buildings." I'm gonna burn. I'm used to city smog or moonlight, not blazing Middle Eastern sun.

Taevon squinted at him. "My friend, I am under the distinct impression that the pyramids do not thrill your soul, even when just completed."

"Uhh…"

The traveler sighed. "You don't really care, do you?"

The winds shifted, picking up sand and tossing it over and into their shoes.

Casey shrugged. "They're just pyramids, man. Just big blocks in a triangle shape."

"It's not a tri—" Taevon stopped himself. "That's fine. I guess it's not nearly as interesting as… the Colossus! It's another of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, according to your people's measure, and one of the ancients' tallest statues. Much more interesting than this 'triangle.'"

"But we jus' got here!" Casey moaned. "An' I'm so tired I could sleep right now!" He was tempted to flop down onto the sand, but he knew that would be a mistake. He was much more careful with his clothing after learning how difficult it could be to get new ones or wash dirty ones. Multiple times. Speaking of dirtying clothes, Casey twitched as he realized sweat trickled down between his shoulder blades. He glanced at Taevon: his golden-brown skin glistened, but only a little.

After London, Taevon had brought him to watch some guy give a speech about liberty or death, then back to Britain during World War II to hear a balding old guy talk about fighting "them" on the beaches and everywhere, then watched the Spanish Armada get defeated—Casey had been pressed into service on a British vessel—and after a couple other events, Taevon had gotten the idea of architecture. April would like those hanging gardens, probably, Casey mused, and Mikey would try to skateboard all over in that shiny gold temple place with the big statue. A few times Taevon had allowed Casey to go back to that starry path-world to peer at multiple places at the same time or just to rest, but mostly he just promised a safe place to rest at the next location and told Casey how to get himself there.

"You do seem rather tired," Taevon said, bringing Casey back to the present. Well, sort of. "I wonder… maybe it's because you're human. Maybe Jior are built to teleport… Well, I know we are. Traveling is easy for me, but you keep ending up in awkward places. Like on top of the cathedral."

"I was trying to forget about that," Casey groaned.

"Well, you can hardly rest here-"

"Tell me about it. Stupid sand. Hot sun. I don't think dose Egyptians'll like me, either."

"So, let's go to the Colussus in Rhodes, and I'll find you a place to sleep before we go see it."

Casey looked up at his pushy-but-friendly companion. "Promise?"

"Promise."