Chapter 22

Name: Will

Age: 17

Mental Status: Slightly insane

Cause: Suicide mission

The door creaked open noisily flooding the room with light once more. Will was used to this by now and was only pretending to be asleep as he rolled over convincingly and gave a low grumble with his eyes closed. His senses on overdrive he could hear every creak, every footstep, even the slight panting of the guard in front of him. He pondered on how unusual it was due to his lack of vision that all his other senses seemed to have heightened.

Perhaps it was due to his lack of sight and the mounting pressure to escape that Will was feeling slight tremors in his hands from nerves and hearing the heavy thumping of his heart simply waiting to burst from his ribcage. He knew it was around time for his meagre sustenance and for a moment could hear the guard shuffling his feet indecisively wondering whether to wake him up or drop the food and go. Will lay completely stationary, his nerves building steadily inside him. One second, two seconds passed in absolute silence.

CLANG

The sound of copper smashing against the side of the man's head was reverberating around the room. Will opened his eyes just in time to see the guard drop to the floor as his legs gave way. Shanya caught him quickly before he could make contact with the ground; the clang of the metal had been loud enough they didn't need any more noises to arouse the suspicions of the other guards.

With what Will could tell was a great deal of effort Shanya dragged the unconscious guard next to him and giving Will a nervous smile she used the short dagger strapped to the guard's belt to hack away at the bindings attaching him to the wall. Every few seconds she would turn her head to look at the door to see if anyone was coming, after a while of doing this it made her look like she was having a nervous twitch. Finally the bindings unravelled and with help from Shanya Will managed to stand up and immediately buckled, he could feel a prickling unfamiliar tingling that could only mean that the blood was rushing back to his legs after weeks of inactivity. Stumbling slightly he pulled the armour and clothes off the guard's slim build and telling Shanya to look away, swapped clothes with him. After putting the drags of clothing unceremoniously on the unknowing guard he stepped back and allowed Shanya to refasten him to the wall where he would be impersonating Will. Then for safe measure Will ripped a small piece cloth from his jerkin and stuffed that roughly in the man's mouth causing blood to pour as some of his teeth were knocked out.

Shanya looked at Will with exasperation but he only shrugged. She couldn't expect him to be gentle with them, not after all they had put him through. This was his tiny form of revenge. Shaking her head slightly she bent down to pick up the bare tray that was holding his food and shoved it to him and nodding her head she gestured to the open doorway where they could proceed to the next part of their plan. Slamming the visor of his helmet shut so only his eyes were visible he followed her out of the door silently.

A few minutes progression had led both youths to a circular chamber brightly lit with a dozen or so long wooden staffs leaning against the walls. Spotting a man sized hole in the uneven wall Will shuffled softly and silently towards it, dragging Shanya with him so they could remain unseen. The men within the chamber were quietly playing dice with occasional mutters of conversation. Peering out a miniscule amount both Will and Shanya observed the playing men.

"How do we get rid of them?" Shanya breathed almost inaudibly in his ear. For all the short time planning they had done it was mainly focused on getting Will out of his cell. Now that they were out they hardly had any idea what to do next. He could hear her voice shaking slightly and felt a rush of gratitude towards her. She knew what this was costing her and yet she was doing it anyways. Scrutinising the guards Will gazed around the entire room searching for anything that could help them, one of Halt's many teachings that Will had remembered. Then he stopped, it hurt too much to think about Halt in his current situation.

"We need to distract them somehow." He muttered in her ear just as quietly. They both jumped as a round of laughter greeted their ears from the guards outside.

"Yes well I figured that out funnily enough the question is how?" Shanya snapped at him. Will glanced at her and decided to forgive her for her tetchy mood, both their nerves were on breaking point and they could not afford to have a fight. He scanned the room quickly and found what he was looking for.

"Shanya bend down quickly and get that small pebble for me will you? But don't be too quick otherwise that would attract the guards attention do it nice and slowly." He whispered in her ear. She gave him a pained expression as though wondering how this would help them but obliged. Crouching low she stretched her arm and though every instinct screamed at her to withdraw her arm as quickly as possible she heeded Will's advice and retracted it slowly. She gave the pebble to Will who was examining it quickly before telling her what he had in mind.

"You're going to throw the pebble in the opposite direction and hope they run after the sound?" She asked incredulously. Putting it that way made his plan seem a lot more stupid than he thought it was but he ploughed on anyway hoping he was right.

"Listen the guard we have locked up has been gone fifteen minutes already, they're bound to notice that something is wrong but they will probably be too lazy to go up after him, what we need to do is arouse their suspicions so they all leave the chamber."

"And what is the chance that all of them will leave to check on one guard?" Shanya asked sceptically.

"Not very high" Will admitted but when he turned to face her she saw a mischevious smirk playing his features. "But if they think he's been overpowered somehow then they're bound to all go after him aren't they?" Catching on to his plan Shanya permitted a small smile to flit across her face. She noticed his eyes no longer had a deadened look about them but were alive with a glint of impishness.

Receiving her consent of his plan Will threw the big pebble as hard as he could against the opposite wall watching as it clattered across it noisily. The laughing men outside stopped abruptly.

"What was that?" A rough voice spoke to his companion.

"Not sure but there's no point having a look it'll probably be the rats, come on let's finish our game." The other one said with a disinterested tone. The first guard however remained alert.

"You know it's been a while since Hakim came back from feeding the prisoner wonder why he was taking so long?"

"Oh it's probably nothing I mean what could the prisoner do to him he's chained up isn't he?"

"Yes but I thought I heard a clang sometime earlier."

"Stop being so melodramatic nothing has happened to Hakim, he may be an idiot but he's a strong one."

There was a smash as Will took off his helmet and banged it against the corner of the wall. He made a small grunting noise of pain as though he were unconscious and then tucked safely inside the manhole waiting for their reaction. This time both guards peered warily out of the chamber.

"There was no denying that sound." The first guard said angrily as he leapt to his feet. The second guard seemed less keen to get off his wooden chair.

"Yes I guess you're right." He said at last. Stumbling he followed the first guard out through the chamber, passing the spot where Will and Shanya were hiding without a second glance. Stuffing the helmet on top of his head again Will pulled Shanya by the arm and both of them ran full speed out of the opposite side of the chamber.

Half way through running in the middle of the mud formed corridor Shanya stopped. Will who was behind her instantly banged into her.

"Shanya what are you doing? Keep moving." He hissed. She turned to face him and saw a frightened expression on her face.

"But Will the guards will know you have escaped now, how are you going to get out? They will send warnings everywhere even if you do manage to get out of this cave then they will assemble together and most definitely kill you." She cried in shock. Will eyed her wearily and noticing his expression she said. "You knew all this already didn't you?" She asked feeling stupid.

"Yes I did." Said Will who was hurrying down the corridor once more with Shanya at his heels.

"So what are you going to do about it?" She asked worriedly trying to keep up with his pace.

"A whole lot of improvisation." Will grumbled as they pelted across yet another corridor.

"Will stop." Shanya muttered quickly. Will who was about to ignore Shanya's protest and continue running was forced to a halt as she grabbed his arm.

"What?" He asked irritably. He knew that the guards were bound to find out soon that he was missing and it was only a matter of time before they would alert others. He also had another motive. Now that he knew he was so close to the outside world after weeks of being kept in captivity he could hardly bear not running straight to freedom. He also knew however that Shanya more often than not had good intentions and would never want to deprive him of his freedom.

"Look over here." She whispered, her hand pointing to another big, jagged crack in the walls. Will his curiousity peaking tiptoed over to where she was pointing and peered through the hole in the wall. He took a sharp intake of breath. They clearly had travelled much further than he had thought in these passages for they were looking into another big sized cave room with a number of people inside it.

First and foremost there was a man Will assumed was the general sitting on the hard ground with a sheaf of scrolls rolled up by his feet. He could tell this must have been the general from his position and demeanour, and from Shanya's nod beside him he guessed his musings were right. Next to him was only a man who Will could presume was something of a battle master for he wore fancier armour though still light, and his face looked aged with the burden of war as though he had faced many in his lifetime. The third man Will could recognise as clear as day. Slagor was pacing standing beside the general and even from this far Will could see the look of sickening exhilaration on his face. He fought back the urge to puke.

But what Shanya was pointing at was not the general neither was it Slagor. For on the ground next to the cluttered pile of scrolls was another scroll almost straight from the amount of times it had been opened.

And to Will that scroll looked a lot like battle plans.

Hey people sorry for taking so long. I still have exams coming up pretty soon so I have been revising but here is another chapter since you guys have been waiting so patiently. Sorry for the delay and I hope you enjoy it. This story still has quite a few chapters left to go so we're not at the end yet.

But thanks for reading this and please make sure you REVIEW! The more you guys review the quicker I will be able to get another chapter up.

From

Oakleaf Girl.