Chapter 10
Bite and Cut raced to the locked dungeon doors. "We have to stop them before they get in!"
Claw unlocked the door and the two rushed out. Claw started to lock the door back up when she paused. She looked behind her at Silence and Ape. "I should stay."
Silence motioned for her to leave. Ape nodded. Even Lucy whispered "go". With a smile, Claw tossed Silence the keys and went out the door. Silence locked it.
"Right," said Ape. "Everyone grab some of these sharp knife things. Silence, you wait in the shadows by the old cells. I'll wait by the door. Lucy and Old Man, go back behind all the bookshelves and don't make a sound.
"Now wait a second," started Father Pierce "Don't be counting us out of a fight. I can-"
"Not now father." said Lucy as she grabbed his arm and pulled him behind the shelf.
They waited quietly. Silence glanced out the window and signed that the brothers had made it into the house. Occasionally they could hear banging sounds and shouts of fury, but not cries of pain. The brothers knew their house well, and it was clear they were hard to catch. Finally, they heard footsteps coming to the locked door. From behind the bookshelves, Lucy could see two slender shadows. It wasn't Cut or Bite. They heard a rattling as a key was put in the lock. The door started to swing open. Ape swung out from behind the door and tried to slam it shut, cutting at the hands in the way, but a shot rang out hitting Ape in the shoulder. Silence, Lucy and the priest came out of their hiding spots and charged but Lord Bryan grabbed Thomas' gun and leveled it at Ape rising from the floor.
"Drop the knives and sit down or I'll kill him." Silence dropped her knife and sat down so hard Lucy thought she must have broken something. Ape tried to run Lord Bryan down but he kicked him in his injured shoulder. Lucy and the Father dropped their knives.
"Thomas, pick them up."
"He's not here Bryan. I know he's the one who did it and he's not here."
"They'll be careful about coming down here. They'll know we have a trap." Lord Bryan looked keenly at Lucy. "But I think we can find a way to override their logic. Keep a gun on the slight girl in the corner."
Thomas pointed a gun at Silence, but his eyes were on his brother.
Lord Bryan crossed over to Lucy and struck her across the face. The Priest stepped towards them.
"Back away!" shouted Thomas.
"Go on," goaded Lord Bryan as he threw Lucy against a wall. "Scream. Cry out."
Lucy gritted her teeth.
"I see your leg is healed. Is it still tender?" hissed Lord Bryan as he grabbed a tool from the wall and whammed it into her back leg. Lucy let out a small cry as she heard the crack and felt the pain fresh like the day in the fire. Father Pierce rushed forward and grappled with the Lord. Thomas was frozen on the spot, but Ape's movement on the floor jolted him and he fired at the Priest. Lord Bryan finally managed to smash his fist into Father Pierce's face and sent him sprawling as Thomas kept his gun trained on Silence and Ape. Lord Bryan grabbed a knife and walked back toward's Lucy's form on the floor. "Go on, call for him to help you. He hates cuts after all," he stated as he slashed Lucy's arm.
The sounds of running footsteps echoed near the door.
"That's it. Louder!" cried the Lord as he stepped on Lucy's injured leg. She cried out in pain as Father Pierce, dazed and struggling to his feet, screamed at Thomas "Are you going to just stand there like a coward?!"
"Bryan stop!" cried Thomas. "They're coming, you don't need to do any more." A fire burned in Lord Bryan's eyes, and for a moment Lucy thought he was going to cut her again, but he stepped back and turned to the door. Lucy looked at Thomas, standing pale with his gun pointed at Silence. A horrible look of fear were in both of their eyes.
"Why?" gasped Lucy. Lord Bryan turned but she kept her eyes on Thomas as he stared down at the floor.
"Why?!"
"For my sister. You're Cut killed her in cold blood."
"And he will pay with all of you," snarled Lord Bryan.
"But Cut would never have hurt a defenseless girl."
"Why? Because he spared a sniveling cripple like you?" asked Lord Bryan.
Lucy stared hard at Thomas. "Cut's never struck a priest, or threatened a mute girl, or beat up on a cripple. I can't believe you have a sister who would-"
"Shut up!" screamed Bryan striking Lucy across the face. "Our sister's gone, and" he said turning to his brother, "we will make them pay. We're almost there," he added as the sound of footsteps drew closer. They could hear Bite and Cut's voices as they started down the steps. Lord Bryan had reloaded his gun. Claw's voice came over loudly warning to be quiet. Silence sat up straighter, her eyes hooking Thomas' as he saw his own fear reflected in them. With a glance between them, Father Pierce and Ape charged Lord Bryan. He fired at the Priest, hitting him in the chest. Ape slammed Lord Bryan to the ground but Thomas had his gun at his head. Bite, Cut and Claw charged into the room. Thomas raised his pistol at Cut when he was grabbed from behind. Spinning he saw the girl. The mute with the scars. She held his gaze, and then moved her lips. Lucy watched her too. She was saying something. Thomas stared in horror as he realized the words she was forming with her silent voice.
"I killed the girl."
Lord Bryan had used the distraction of everyone staring at Thomas and Silence to grab a club. Swiftly he felled Bite to the ground. Thomas dropped his gun which Claw picked up. She fired at Lord Bryan, but missed. He flipped a knife out of his sleeve and slashed Claw across the face while she clawed at him. Cut ran to Lucy pulling her up into his arms. Claw was motionless on the ground. Thomas rushed at Silence with a savage cry, but she ran out the door with him following. Lord Bryan turned to face Cut and Lucy.
"You're a monster." stated Lucy. "It's your fault your sister died."
"It was her and Thomas' fault for coming uninvited and disrupting my other guests. Thomas wanted to check up on his patients that I had taken under my wing. Well, at least I still have you two. If you want to live, move to the cell. I'll come back for you once I've taken care of my brother." Claw rose up from the ground.
Lord Bryan turned at the sound.
"You know, I really hate you," she said as Lucy, shuddering, drove her knife into his back. Cut rushed forward and knocked the screaming Lord to the ground landing hit after hit on his face. Lucy rushed over to Father Pierce's side. The wound was deep, but it didn't seem to have hit his heart. She ripped her dress and pressed the cloth into the wound. Father Pierce started to open his eyes, but that's when they heard a cry of pain. Lord Bryan had kept a knife in his belt, and he had slashed Cut across the face. Cut fell back, clutching his face in his hands and crying. Claw ran forward, but Bryan knew the two of them could kill him in this room. Even the cripple would be dangerous. Grabbing some vials from the table he flung them at his two experiments, sending a gas at them.
Crawling forward and snatching a fallen pistol, Lucy blocked the door. She wouldn't let Lord Bryan escape, but he instead rushed for the window, throwing himself through the weak boards and the glass. Lucy fired off a shot, but it went wide. She started to crawl for the window, but heard Claw and Cut gasping on the floor. Holding her collar over her mouth, she crawled to them instead, and dragged Claw, the lighter of the two, out of the strange gas. Claw recovered quickly and helped Lucy pull Cut out.
As Cut's eyes and nose cleared, he looked toward the Priest, slowly trying to sit up, and then towards the door. "Do we know where Silence is?"
Thomas chased the slight figure. His gun was gone, but he still had his knife. She was climbing higher. He heard the creak of the old wooden door that led up to the observation tower. He pushed the trap door open. Leaning against one of the walls by an open archway, was the mute.
"Why?" croaked Thomas.
The mute just shook her head. She wasn't even crying. Just looking terrified. Thomas charged her with his knife. She tried to step out of the way, but they both fell out the window.
Silence reached out and grabbed the ledge, but saw a dark shape falling past her. She reached a hand out and felt a tug. The younger lord had grabbed her hand.
Thomas looked up to see whose hand he had grabbed. It was the mute's. The tension around her eyes eased when he looked up, but then she started gasping. It was a miracle she had held herself up with one hand, let alone a grown man's weight. Shapes appeared above in the window.
"Silence!". Thomas quickly shut his mouth.
"Silence, are you all right?" asked the creature with claws. The mute nodded.
Thomas swayed in the wind as "Silence's" friends tried to haul her up.
"I can't hold her!"
"Silence," growled the one with the teeth, "just let him go. We can't save you both."
Silence shook her head.
"She won't drop him Bite. Ape, get Cut. Bite, help me lower this rope. You down there! We're lowering a rope. You've got the free hand so grab it."
Thomas waited as a rope was lowered to him. He grabbed it easily and let go of Silence's hand. The rope was holding. He started to climb up. He was eye level with Silence. She was holding on to her friend and trying to climb, but the snow and rain had made the stone slippery. She turned her eyes towards Thomas. The red scars shone even brighter against her pale skin in the twilight. Groaning, Thomas swung towards her. She grabbed the rope and started climbing hand over hand with him till they could crawl in through the window. By this time all the "freaks" had come upstairs. They had all survived, though they all had bloody wounds on their heads or arms.
Thomas turned to Lucy. "I believe I owe you an apology." Lucy started towards him with her fist coming up but the mute, Silence, stopped her. Thomas turned towards her. "As far as I'm concerned, you're all murderers."
"No worse than your brother." replied Bite. "You think we were all born like this? You don't remember us?"
"You were patients my brother..."
"Did I have claws like this when you saw me last? Did you ever have such freakish patients? With cuts and scrapes? He made us into these monsters! You two killed your sister! Not just Silence!"
"Silence?" Cut's face was drawn in confusion. "It' couldn't have been. She's the gentlest. She'd never hurt a fly."
Silence hung her head and shook it. She turned to Claw.
"She did. The night we escaped, Silence got up the stairs the fastest. While Ape and Bite were trying to break down the Lords' door I ran to find Silence. I walked into the Sister's room. She was lying on the floor between her door and her bed. Her skull...it was...broken. I looked behind the door. Silence was standing there with a smoking gun. She dropped it the second she saw me. She looked so horrified. Cut came in and we heard the commotion on the other end of the hall. We headed towards the window, but Silence was trying to drag the girl to her bed. We lifted her in and Silence covered her with the sheets before we ran out the window."
"Why! She had done nothing to you! But then again, you were the most violent ones. Murderers already," cried Thomas.
"Cut was never a patient of yours. The Lord kidnapped him as a young boy, but you never bothered to notice," spat Ape.
"Yes, we were dangerous. Little Silence, abused since she was a little girl, finally fighting back one night and getting incarcerated for it. And I had killed. They asked for it you know. It wasn't your brother who burned my hands. It was the filth on the street, all because I wasn't respectable, snapped Claw.
Thomas turned to Silence and pushed her against a wall. Claw and Father Pierce moved forward but Silence motioned them away.
"Why did you kill my sister?" demanded Thomas.
Silence mouthed the words carefully.
I did not mean to. When she screamed, the noise...I...I...I jumped…..I
Silence started to cry. Silent sobs, she couldn't make a sound, but they shook her whole body.
"She was scared and she reacted." finished Claw. "We all have a dark side. We came to your asylum to have it cured. Instead you gave us to the Devil."
"Speak of the Devil" said a venomous voice as Lord Bryan stepped out of the shadows, a loaded pistol in his hand "and he comes."