Oh yes, that was a terrible place for Jakob to wind up, wasn't it? And poor Frederick and Katherine, taken by the evil witch! Seems there's no end to their trials and tribulations is there? Oh what? What about Wilhelm? I guess it as been a bit since we've looked in on him hasn't it? You like Wilhelm don't you, I can tell by the look on your faces. I was quite fond of him as well. Well then, I suppose I will tell you what happened when he found himself in...
The Prison Without A Door
Finally the time had come. Will stood anxiously by the door-frame of the tower room. He had finally managed to remove the door and all that remained now was for him to wait a few minutes longer until the church bells began to strike eleven. As he peered around the corner he could hear the snoring of the castle inhabitants. Poised for action and holding his breath, Will knew he had a very short time indeed to make a break for it and escape before everyone awoke. Timing would be everything.
The first chime of the church bells rang out. The sound jolted through Wilhelm like electricity and he bolted out the door. He went charging down the hallway and rounding the corner, he jumped over the two guards that were sleeping on the stairwell. Down the stairs, up the full length of the hall and into the throne room he flew with the bells chiming relentlessly in his ears. He was counting them as he ran; three, four, five! Around the banquet table, over a sleeping Lord and out the door into the great hall; six, seven, eight! Through the great hall dodging sleepers, cups, wine bottles and other flotsam scattered on the floor, he made for the drawbridge. Nine, ten, eleven he counted as he kicked the block out of the way of the brake and the drawbridge opened, hurling its way towards the ground like a falling giant.
Not waiting for it to complete its journey, Will ran for the falling drawbridge only to feel himself suddenly stop and be dragged backward by the shirt. The next thing he knew, he was lying on his back on the cold stone floor of the castle staring up at a half dozen very pointy spears held by a half dozen very serious guards.
"And just where do you think you are going, little mouse?" This came from a rather large and worrisome fellow who chose to rest the point of his spear right under Will's chin. Trying to control the panic inside, Will looked down his nose as best he could at the head of the spear and hoped he could speak without stabbing himself in the process.
"I was um… well I", stuttered Wilhelm wearing a largely stupid grin on his face that he hoped at least came off looking somewhat charming, "I was just going out for a bit of fresh air. I would have come back you know, what with the lovely hospitality of this place and all. I…"
He was cut off by the spear pushing up into his chin which caused him to tip his head back farther in an effort not to be skewered. The large guard glowered at him and withdrawing the spear he announced, "Bring him!"
Two of the guards snatched Will up, one on each arm and proceeded to drag him backwards towards the throne room, his heels dragging on the floor. Nervously he tried to bargain his way out of his fate, but to no avail.
"I can't stay here! No really, I can't. My brother needs me and I can be of a great help, really I can! If you want to get the Princess back I…Ack!"
The next thing he knew he was twisted around in mid sentence and dropped face first on the stone floor at the bottom of the steps leading up to the throne. As he looked up, his eyes met with a very angry King.
"Trying to leave us so soon, Herr Grimm?" sputtered the King, "If I were a less patient man I would have your head this instant!"
"Your majesty please, I only want to find my brother and help him get your daughter back", Will put on his best smile and tried to sound as sincere as he could, "You see, my brother is a very smart fellow when it comes to books and such, but when it comes down to it he's not really very good at reasoning out how to handle some of the more bizarre things we've come across. I mean I really need to be there to guide him through some of the intricacies of some of the more difficult aspects of our work. I'm the one with the most experience with these unnatural occurrences that can change at a moments notice and he…"
At that moment the King's patience ran out, "Enough! That sounds like something that came out of the wrong end of a horse! I will not be treated like one of those village idiots that you're so fond of speaking of!" He motioned to the two guards that had escorted Will into the room earlier, "Take him back to the tower and secure the door!" Turning back to Will he warned him well, "You're lucky I'm putting you back there. I could throw you into the dungeon no window, no fresh air and plenty of rats to keep you company!"
Wilhelm raised his hands into the air and let them fall heavily against his sides in a fit of frustration. The two guards approach him from either side as an idea popped into his head. 'Village idiots? Of course!'
As they grabbed Will by the arms and were about to drag him away he began shouting at anyone who would listen.
"Listen to me! Lis…ten…to…me!! The king is bewitched! He is under the witch's spell! The only reason he's keeping me here is because she wants us to fail! She is keeping him from letting me go to find my brother so we can free the Princess! Unless you let me go, you will be stuck here in the nightmare forever!"
The guards stopped and stared at Will, then looked at each other not sure what to do next. Murmurs went around the room as the courtiers wondered among themselves if this revelation were true. Will was sure he had them because he had played right into their superstitious nature. He knew full well that no matter how well educated or what station you were in life, there was always that spark of doubt in the back of everyone's mind. If you played to it correctly, you had them.
"Search your hearts, you know its true!" he continued, "Your King is under her evil influence and she wants him to keep me here! She knows I can defeat her easily and she is afraid! So what say you? Free me or be trapped here for eternity?"
At that point the crowd fell apart. Loud voices in nervous conversation filled the room as they became more agitated. The din was punctuated by shouts of "Let him go!" and "Does our King deceive us?" A sly and devilish smile played across Will's face.
"Enough!" shouted the King's chamberlain, "Look at you! You're being taken in by a rogue and a conman! Turning your back on your King with just a few words from a man whose reputation precedes him as a liar and a thief? How dare you! This loathsome excuse for a human being has conned more than one village out of their money, their women and their dignity!"
Will was indignant about the charges being levied against him, but he kept his temper. The crowd was beginning to turn ugly, he knew he'd lost them and he knew if he didn't say something quickly his "little white lie" he told them was going to end up putting him into a fairly deep hole. At this point he figured humble and repentant was the way to go.
"Yes! About the money, I fully admit to that. The women", he sighed deeply, "unfortunately no, not so much and dignity? Well, I…"
"Silence!" the King stood and glared at his crowd of subjects, "If you continue this, I will behead you where you stand whether my daughter is returned safely and this horrid spell is broken or not and anyone else who chooses to side with him as well!"
The crowd grew silent and shrank back towards the back of the room. Will swallowed hard, 'It almost worked' he thought despondently. He also was well aware that he had been close to meeting his doom due to his madding inability to keep his big mouth shut!
"Take him back to the tower now and bolt him down well!" commanded the King, "and if you try to escape again you will be thrown in the dungeon in chains to await your execution!"
Snatching Will up roughly the guards proceeded to drag him away back to the tower room. With no other choice, he had resigned himself to the fact there will be no time for another escape attempt today. That point became very clear in the next few moments as the church bells began to ring in the noon hour. 'Oh no!' thought Will, as the urgency of his current situation hit him. He had no desire to be stuck in the excruciatingly exhausting loop of party after party after party. He thought it best to hurry the guards along up the stairs.
"Let me go!" he shouted desperately, the clock ticking out his fate. 'Dear God, that's six!', he thought as he kept careful count. He had to escape the enchantment, knowing full well if he didn't his chance to get out of there and find Jakob would be gone. Desperately he tried to wrench his arms free and bolt up the stairs, but the guards would have none of it. In their minds he was trying to escape and they only hung on tighter.
"Let me go damn it!" he swore. Now he was practically dragging them up the stairs in an effort to get back to the tower room. His time was running out quickly, just two chimes left and they were still too far from the door. Will had begun to sweat as he grunted and strained against his captors.
Desperation sometimes leads to small bits of genius. Will resorted to an old barmaid's trick that they used when patrons began to get a bit too handsy for their liking. As a matter of fact he had been on the receiving end of it himself a few times, so he knew it hurt like hell. Raising his leg up as high as he could and bringing it down swiftly, he jammed the heel of his boot directly into one of the guards knees, down his shin and into the top of his foot. The guard yelped in pain and let loose of Will's arm. Will yanked his arm backward out of the guard's grasp and swinging back forward hard, he made good solid contact with the other guards chin. He dutifully crumbled to the ground.
With one nearly out cold and the other one nursing his leg, Will saw his opportunity and took it. He ran full tilt for the doorway and almost too late for his liking, dove through the doorway and landed hard on the stone floor. He lay exhausted and sweating on the floor, he could hear the music from down below and he knew how close he had come to being caught. Wincing as he rolled over onto his back, he made mental note of the fact his knees, right elbow and left hip bone would surely be well bruised by morning. In fact he noted that the elbow was already sprouting a smudge that was a lovely shade of purple.
"Fat Christ!" he said sounding disgusted. He lay back on the cool stone floor and stared at the all too familiar ceiling. The guards in the hall had already forgotten the whole event as if it had never happened and had gone back down to the party. Lying there he knew that even with the door now off its hinges, he could not leave. The enchantment over the castle was now his barred door to his jail cell and there was no way to pick the lock on that.
Exhausted from his lack of sleep over the past day as well as his tussle with the guards, he pulled himself up off the floor and threw himself on the bed. He thought about just how unnerving it was that he had come so close to dieing today, however if Jake didn't come through in ten short days it wouldn't matter anyway,
Will clasped his hands together and stared up at the ceiling of his room. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly in humble resignation. "I'm not very good at things like this and I know it's my fault that I don't do this very often. You probably don't even know who I am, but could you see your way clear to help my brother out just this once? Not for my sake, for I'm sure I don't deserve it, but for everyone else's? Even after all that's happened between us, he is still my brother after all and I do trust him to do this, but a little extra help couldn't hurt, could it?"
Wilhelm couldn't think of anything else to say. Sticking his pillow under his head, the open door looming before him, he felt a wave of despair come over him. It was almost as if he could feel Jakob's grief as he lay at the bottom of the well. 'Hang on Jakob', he thought, 'You mustn't give up or give in! I swear if we make it through this I will make up for every rotten thing I've ever done to you, even if it takes the rest of my miserable life to do it!'
Sleep began to overcome him. He hadn't slept since the day before and only sporadically in the few days before that due to his frenzied determination at lock picking. In just moments he was sleeping peacefully despite the bright fall midday sun pouring through the window and all the music and noise coming through the wide open doorway that offered no escape.
I know this is a short chapter in the grand scheme of things, but I promise Will is going to get more attention later in the story. As always, thanks for the reviews. I love hearing from you and I would really appreciate hearing from you all on this chapter. Thanks.