Did you really think we'd only update with one chapter on such a big day?
Lol....it's true!
Good news. You thought wrong! Here's another chapter for you all to enjoy since after all, we did leave the last one on a slight cliffhanger.
The palace was silent. The moon shone through the windows, lighting the hallways with their silvery light. A shadow covered briefly over these silvery paths as someone slipped along the hallway. A pair of blue eyes flicked around in the darkness and stopped on a door that was open just a crack. The person smirked and tiptoed over to the door but tensed in fear when a voice called.
"Shawnee! What are you doing up?" Chris said loudly. Shawnee spun around and loudly shushed him. He came up alongside her and the two of them stood facing each other in the hall.
"I could be asking you the same question Chris." She retorted. Chris shrugged.
"I couldn't sleep. Your turn." Shawnee sighed and looked at the door briefly before pulling Chris back down the hall so as not to wake the room's occupant.
"I'm going to steal D'Artagnan's keys and uniform and go search the Bastille for Brenna." She told him in a rush of air. Chris snorted and gave her a disbelieving look.
"You're kidding! You're asking to get killed aren't you?" She shrugged and turned to head back to the room.
"Well, do you want to help me with this? If you do, go wake up Jordan and head to my room. I swiped the other three's old uniforms when I came upstairs last night. Go change and wait there for me. I have a couple other things to get." Chris raised an eyebrow at her and smirked.
"You're serious about this aren't you?" She nodded, her face blank, and he shrugged again.
"Alright then. Don't get caught!" He called to her as he walked away. She rolled her eyes and crept back over to the room, carefully nudging open the door to the office with her boot covered toe. She squeezed through the slightly wider opening and breathed a small sigh of relief which was quickly stifled when she heard the musketeer shift in his sleep.
She lifted each foot delicately and placed them on the carpet as lightly as possible, creeping closer and closer to his bedside. She clenched her fists to stop them from trembling as a slight fear about what she was doing finally began to set in. He was facing away from her when she finally made it into his sleeping chamber at the back of his office behind some curtains. He rolled away from the door as she entered and she felt herself jump for joy inside.
'He's facing the other way! I can duck out of sight if he wakes up!' She dropped into a crouch and moved closer to his bedside table. On top of it was the key ring with its many clanging metal keys. She frowned as she saw the keys, trying to figure out how she could get the keys without them making any noise. She slid one finger along the table top and hooked the tip over the edge of the ring and began to slowly slide it towards her. It scraped slightly on the wood and she looked over in fear at the sleeping man and seeing that he hadn't stirred, continued with her progress.
She gulped and wiped away some sweat from her face as the keys drew closer to the edge. She reached up with her other hand and positioned it with the tips of her fingers touching the edge of the table then gently pushed the keys onto her spread palm. The made the smallest sound when a couple keys touched each other but it wasn't enough to awaken the musketeer.
She stood and began to tiptoe back out when she paused as she passed his sword and baldric and uniform coat hanging from a hook. She looked back to the still form worriedly before biting her lip, grabbing the uniform and folding it over her arm then began to gently lift the baldric from its hook, trying to keep from allowing the sword's sheath to touch the wall in the slightest way. She gritted her teeth and tensed her shoulders, pulling the sword towards her.
She slid out the door, still holding the sword at arms length until she was a few feet away from the room. Then she threw the baldric over her shoulder, leaving the sword resting at her left hip, tucked the keys into her pants pocket, and walked as calmly as she could back towards her room where she hoped the boys were waiting for her.
Meanwhile, Brenna was in some trouble of her own. She had no idea who her kidnappers were and she had no idea where they were taking her since they had put a cloth sack over her head. With her hands tied, she was unable to remove it. All she could tell was that wherever she was, it was cold and dank and damp and just overall, very unpleasant.
The men dragged her up what seemed to be a very long staircase, her tripping now and again since she could not see the stairs. They stopped suddenly and she heard the jangle of keys and a loud click of an unlocking door.
They cut her rope bindings and pushed her forward into the room, closing the door behind her but not locking it. She became surrounded by a somewhat menacing silence and she reached up slowly, pulling off the sack and brushed some loose strands of hair aside.
"I was wondering when I would get to see you again you traitorous fool." A slightly muffled voice came from behind her but despite its lacking in sound; it was filled with menace and rage. Brenna turned to see a man sitting on a bench attached to the wall behind her, his head incased in an iron mask. She gave a shocked gasp and took a couple of steps back. He narrowed his eyes at her from holes in the mask and came closer to get a better look at her.
"I was hoping to have D'Artagnan brought here so I could deal with the traitor myself but I guess you will do. You are one of those future children are you not?" Brenna didn't move but stared at him with a heated glare. He gave a cold chuckle, grabbed her arm and led her over to the bench. He sat her down on it but remained standing before her, blocking the exit.
"I want to know about the future. And you are going to tell me all about it." Brenna shook her head defiantly.
"Not on your life Louis! There's nothing that you need to know that I could tell and even if there was, you wouldn't get it out of me!" She crossed her arms and glared at him with all the might she could muster.
"Very well then. It seems that you will keeping me company for awhile. At least until you share all that you know about the future. After that, you will be allowed to go free."
"No." She simply stated. He growled at her defiance and slapped her. She groaned at the blow but sat back up after a couple of seconds.
"I will not tolerate your insolence! Tell me what I want to know! Now!"
"Never!" He resisted attacking her this time but stormed from the cell in a blind rage. The door was locked immediately after him leaving and Brenna sat back and rested herself against the wall.
"I guess there's nothing else to do except wait…" She said to herself, trying to fill the silence.
"Are you two ready for this? We cannot have ANY mistakes! We only get one shot at this and if we blow it, we'll probably get killed for it." Shawnee warned. Chris and Jordan shook their heads.
"Go back to the palace and miss all the fun? Not a chance!" Chris said.
"It's better than playing with dice all the time." Jordan muttered. Shawnee nodded and peered around the corner of the alley they were in to see the Bastille, the shadows around it thick and dangerous looking, looking for the entire world like an impenetrable fortress.
"Let's go." Shawnee said before rounding the corner and, sticking to the shadows, led the boys to the back door they had used to get into the prison before. They reached the large wooden door without any trouble or suspicion but when Jordan tried to pull it open, it refused to yield. It was locked.
Shawnee pulled the keys from her pocket and began trying to fit each one into the door's lock systematically, finally opening it with the last one.
"Why is always the last one?!" She muttered angrily as she held the door open for the other two to go in before ducking in as well and pulling it firmly shut behind her. Jordan was at the far end of the room they were in and was peering through a crack in the door at that end, watching to see if there were any guards making rounds.
"This may be easy! There are no guards anywhere!" Shawnee shook her head in disbelief.
"That can't be right… I'm sure there should be guards." Chris rolled his eyes.
"Don't complain about it. We can get in, find Brenna, get out, and go back to bed and no one will know any different." They opened the door and slipped into the hallway and looked both directions.
"Chris, Jordan, you two go right. I'll go left. If we split up, we should be able to work faster."
"Aye Aye Captain!" Chris crowed as the two boys took off down the left hall before Shawnee had a chance to protest. She looked down the right hall and started walking, stopping at every corner she came to and peering around it before continuing.
'This place is too damn big… What the hell was I thinking leading us here?! This might as well be a suicide mission!' She thought as she continued deeper into the prison.
And that's the end of this chapter. Hopefully you enjoyed these two chapters and we'll see you all next time!