Chapter Thirty Four

Storming Stormtide Part II

MELODY

She hadn't been in the field like this for a good many months now. Well, she had been in a different type of field. Did battlefields count? Regardless, fighting an enemy with a thousand other soldiers charging and cannons roaring overhead was very different from the cloak and dagger adventures she had with the Warriors. Both were equally dangerous, but the latter required a lot more tact and stealth.

Despite months of disuse, her tactical and combat instincts were coming back to her as natural as it was diving back into the ocean after not being a mermaid for the longest time. Like a fish to water.

Melody's eyes darted from left to right, her ears listening for any sounds that would give away hints of an enemy's approach. She fished a compact metal contraption out of her jacket pocket, and jerked it forward. The contraption uncoiled, moving outwards like an animal stretching its limbs until it reached its full length, displaying in full glory her compound bow.

The bow had been given to her on her last adventure with the Warriors. Anna, Maui and herself had found themselves sent to a strange futuristic world by the Empress of Exon, and they had found a technology genius to devise a way to send them back. She had been gifted a new combat bow by the inventor, who had not much use for weapons, and since then she hadn't been able to use her new bow much. Now's as good a time as any, I suppose.

Compound bow in one hand, she undid the flap on her quiver, exposing the green fletchings of her arrows. Off she prowled, rounding the corner to stalk her prey.

Not too far in front of her were three guards, moving together in a trio with weapons poorly handled. Janus had previously mentioned that there were two guards on every wall, but Melody suspected that since he had escaped, security had been heightened.

But one more guard per wall isn't going to make very much of a difference. Melody drew three arrows from her quiver and nocked them together. Drawing the bow back, she had forgotten how different it felt from her old recurve bows. Compound bows tended to be much easier to draw back due to the pulley mechanisms on the limbs of the bow, which allowed the archer to focus more on accuracy and worry less about the draw tension.

Sighting carefully, she let all three arrows fly. They struck the backs of the three guards simultaneously, and they tumbled down without a sound. Doing things this way wasn't the most ideal, but necessary. Melody hated the idea of having to kill, even if the people she were fighting were positively evil and threatening, but it was a necessary evil especially in a time like this. She was quite aware of the fact that with every fresh kill, it would be easier the next time, and she made it a point to constantly remind herself not to go down that path and to hold fast to her morals.

But this is war, and so much more is at stake here.

Creeping up behind the next trio, she repeated the act, and then proceeded on to the next. This time, she did something a little differently. She tied a small, breakable vial to a single arrowhead and nocked the arrow. Drawing back, she aimed at the ground directly in front of the guards in between their pacing legs. She let fly, and the arrow hit the ground.

The vial cracked open, and an odourless gas fanned out. The effect was almost immediate. The guards let out a cough or two, and then collapsed like rag dolls, fading away into blissful unconsciousness for a few hours at least. This is so much more humane.

Melody did the same for the final trio of guards who were just passing by the front gate. Once they had been dealt with, Melody retrieved her final arrow, and glanced up at the roof of the prison facility.

There were no rifle barrels pointing outwards, so that was a good sign. Also no more bright lights from the lanterns that broke through the darkness like an eternal beacon of glory. It was pitch black up there, which meant that Janus had taken them all out successfully, as she expected of a man of his calibre.

She fished out a skeleton key from her jacket pocket and went to work on the giant padlock on the gate, which looked like it had just been replaced. It was a fresh lock free of rust and age, but it didn't take Melody long to work it free. The shackle popped open, and Melody pulled the gate open. She was pleased to see that the boat was already within sight. Within the next two minutes, the boat came ashore, and Oliver tied it securely to the coast.

"Good timing." Oliver grinned at her as they came farther inland. "Think this place has a bar? Would like to swig a pint while we're at it."

The two men with him sniggered. Melody couldn't help but grin. Oliver and his penchant for drinking. It would be irritating if it weren't so charming.

"Come on," she started back up the shore and through the gates. Where's Janus?

As if by clockwork, Janus slipped out of the shadows, seeming to appear out of nowhere. One of the men jumped and drew a knife, only to realise it was their ally. The ex-mercenary in black didn't seem to be very fazed though by it, though Melody couldn't tell for certain since he had pulled the hood over his head and his familiar black mask was snapped into place.

One could see why having him as an enemy would frighten the living hell out of his opponents. With the featureless black mask, full black attire and weapons across his entire frame, he really cut quite the imposing figure.

"The snipers are down?" Melody asked.

Janus nodded. He held a Martin Jaguar recurve bow in his hand, and a katana whose blade was already stained with fresh blood. Noticing the eyes on his sword, he sheathed it back into the scabbard on his side.

"We can't take the direct way in." Janus said, starting back towards the metal grate that Melody had emerged from, and she let out an internal groan. "Too many prowlers. We'll have to ascend to the morgue."

Ascending the morgue was a thoroughly grisly affair. As Janus had so elaborately recounted, the sewer tunnels were strewn with corpses that hadn't washed downstream into the river. The stench was far worse than before, now that they were directly below the morgue. Melody resisted the urge to throw up right there and then, choosing to avert her eyes from the mount of corpses.

Janus fired a grappling arrow up at the ceiling, and was the first to ascend up to a hole in the side of the wall which led into the morgue proper. Melody was the next to go, followed by the other three. She was utterly grateful to be out of that stinking hole, though the sight that greeted her wasn't much better.

The morgue was filled with, well, bodies. She tried to keep her eyes off them and waited for the last of their little band to climb up into the morgue.

"So, I'm assuming this is where we split up?" Oliver said, nose still scrunched in disgust.

"Yes." Janus retrieved his grappling arrow from the hole and nocked it. "There's too much ground to cover together. There are three cell blocks, one we're in right now, one in the east wing, and the other in the west wing."

"What about keys?"

"Follow me."

Janus led them to a small room, presumably an office of some sort which was guarded, but the threat was quickly taken care of by Oliver. The room held all sorts of keys, but Janus seemed to know which ones to take exactly. He fished out three bunches and handed them out.

"The locks are universal, according to my sources." Janus explained. "One key should fit all."

"How marvellously secure." Oliver said sarcastically. "For such a crucial institution like this one, you'd have thought the Warden would have taken better measures."

"Oliver, you take this central block and free the prisoners there. Use the skeleton keys. You two can take the east wing." Melody said as they exited the morgue and came out into an empty, dark corridor. "Janus and I will take the west wing where our friends are. Remember the plan. We'll gather up everyone quickly and meet outside in the recreation yard."

They nodded and fanned out when they reached the fork which diverted into the east and west wings. The prison building really was quite run down, and Melody wondered how it was still able to house all these prisoners.

"The women are being kept on the second floor, and the men on the third." Janus said.

"Right. I'll see you in a bit." Melody continued down the next flight of stairs as Janus got off on the third floor. Her bow in hand, she encountered her first guard, who only just spotted her coming round the corner. He gave a startled cry, and she slammed the riser of her bow against his nose. Smashing her elbow into the side of his head, she pushed him aside and he slumped against the wall and slid to the ground.

The loud cry would definitely alert others. Melody knew she had to move fast, and stepped over the guard's unconscious figure. Another few corridors to the cell block. Apparently the guard's shout had drawn the attention of others. Shit.

Lanterns cast erratic, swinging beams of light as the guards wielding them ran towards her. The corridor itself was almost pitch black, and Melody had to squint a little to adjust to the blinding light from the swaying lanterns. Bow in hand, she parried as the nearest guard attempted to club her down with the butt of his musket, and struck him in the midsection with the riser of her bow.

The metallic compound bow dealt a lot more harm than her standard recurve bows, even as a melee weapon, and the man staggered back clutching his stomach. A second guard came up behind him, lashing out with an overhand swing of his musket.

It was clumsy, and all Melody had to do was sidestep the guard, grab the musket with her off hand, and deliver a roundhouse kick to the small of his back. He stumbled and spun, nearly nicking Melody across her shoulder with the bayonet attached to the musket barrel.

Disengaging, she vaulted over the first man on the ground and spin-kicked a third guard who tried to make a grab at her. Riding off the momentum, she nocked an arrow and fired it into the calf of the second guard who was still oncoming. That halted him abruptly, and he shrieked as an arrow protruded from his leg, dropping to a knee.

A simple blow to the side of the cheek was all it took, and he went down in a flop. Three more guards dealt with. Let's hope it stops there. Melody picked up one of the lanterns from the ground, one with shutters in it to block out the light, and hurried down the corridor in search of the cells.

She finally came to the cells on the second floor, which seemed to be lacking patrols. Probably the ones I took care of on the way here. The commotion had by now roused the prisoners, some of whom had been sleeping. From what Janus had told her, it was now shortly after lights out. Some of the prisoners were pressing against the bars of their cells to see what was going on, and Melody hurriedly surveyed the cells, raising the lantern to see better.

Tracy was waving her over from her own cell near the side of the nearest row of cells. Running over, Melody produced her key and began setting to work unlocking the cells.

"Princess, are you a sight for sore eyes. It's been too long." Tracy said casually as Melody tugged open the cell door. She wrinkled her nose. "Anyone tell you that you oughta take a bath sometime? Bloody hell, you smell like shit."

"It's good to see you too." Melody reached out and hugged her best friend, who didn't seem to bother that the former's clothes were still wet from sewer water. Months of being apart, and it seemed Tracy hadn't missed a beat. "Janus said that you guys have a plan?"

"Yeah." Tracy stepped out of the cell and beckoned for Melody to follow her a few cells down the corridor in search of Deirdre and Jade. "We've gathered the support of most of the prisoners here. They'll work with us once they're free. They know to get to the recreation yard and wait for transport."

"Transport, huh?" That could only mean one thing. Tracy was going to open a huge Crossing Point and teleport them all off the island. Just what Melody had been counting on. It would save them a hell of a lot of time and effort. "Just as well. There aren't enough boats at the coast to ferry everyone across."

"Yeah, but." Tracy tapped the collar around her neck. "I could use a little help with this first."

"Right, right." Melody produced the skeleton key and set to work on the collar around her friend's neck. Something popped inside the collar, and for a moment the two girls stiffened. It couldn't have triggered something else, could it?

To their relief, it was just the lock mechanism inside, which slid back. Tracy wasted no time in tugging the thing off and tossing it aside with much contempt.

"Finally." She groaned, wriggling her fingers as if preparing for a concert performance. "I can feel the sorcery coming back to me."

"Well, you can feel it coming back to you along the way." Melody started down the corridor again. "Which one is Deirdre's?"

They soon arrived outside Deirdre's cell, and Melody set to work on the lock.

"About time." Deirdre grunted as Melody unlocked the door. "Thought Janus abandoned us in here."

"Show a little spine." Tracy snorted. "It's only been a day."

"Long enough. This place gives me the creeps." Deirdre walked out of her cell quickly, evidently glad to be out. Melody then did the same with Deirdre's collar, and after half a minute it popped off too.

"Much better." Deirdre turned over her palm and a tiny spark of flame ignited in the centre of the palm, before she extinguished it again. "Come on, we need to get Jade."

Jade's cell was on the other side of the cell block, directly opposite where Tracy's had been. Arriving outside, they found her sleeping and Melody began working on the lock. Jade stirred from her slumber, apparently undisturbed by the earlier commotion, and it took a moment for her to realise that it was her friends standing outside and not the prison guards.

"Melody? Is that you?" Jade mumbled groggily, sitting up from her mattress.

"Yeah, it's me. We've come to spring you." She answered as she finished her work on the lock. Tugging the cell door open, she stepped inside gave the girl a tight hug. "I'm sorry about Jordan. I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault." She muttered. "It was mine, and I deserve to pay for it. It was my job to protect my brother, and I failed. For that you should leave me here."

"Rubbish." Tracy said plainly. "We're getting you out of here whether you like it or not. You gonna come with us by yourself or do we have to carry you out?"

Obviously Jade preferred the former option, and stood to her feet sluggishly. She sniffled as Melody undid the magic dampening collar around her neck, and the latter was the one who had to take it off from her once unlocked.

"Are your powers working now?" Melody half-dragged her out of the cell, and raised her lantern to get a better look at the girl. There was a scar across her cheek, telling of a fight or a scuffle that had happened a day or two ago.

"Probably." Jade muttered.

"Good." Deirdre said. "Because we need all the firepower we can get. For the moment, shove aside your feelings and emotions till we're safely off this goddamned island."

"Whatever." Jade said unfeelingly.

"Where's Elsa's cell?" Melody turned to Tracy.

"Oh. Ummn…I probably should have led with that." The girl had gone sheepish.

Melody was confused. "What are you talking about?"

Tracy glanced over at Deirdre, who looked at a loss for words too.

"Where's Elsa?" Melody repeated.

"Uhh…" Tracy started awkwardly. "Well, she's gone."

Melody's heart skipped a beat, or possibly two. "Gone?"

"Not gone, gone." Tracy corrected herself quickly. "Not dead, at least, I hope not."

"What the hell is going on?" Melody asked, feeling her patience wear thin. "Where by all the saints is Elsa?"

JANUS

"For f-You have to be kidding me." Janus looked up at the hulking figure of Maui who was bent over while Janus undid the collar on his thick neck.

"I wish I was, man." Maui said as the bulging collar finally un-clicked. His strength surged back into him, and he snapped the collar with one hand, scrunching it up like it was nothing more than a paper ball, and let it fall away from his hand to the ground. "But Elsa's not here."

"Well, what the hell happened?" Janus demanded in disbelief. His heart had stopped when Maui dropped the bomb that Elsa wasn't in Stormtide any longer.

"It was part of the plan. She told us while you were in 'The Hole'." Maui explained. "She engineered the riot and got the attention of the Warden. Elsa was determined to get to the bottom of the sorcerers' disappearance. So like she planned, the guards came for her last night after you left. And this morning, we found her…gone."

"Damn it." Janus said under his own breath. "That stupid girl. Why did she have to be so damn self sacrificial and brave?"

"It's who she is. You would know that by now." Maui shook his head. "Look, nothing we can do to help her now till we're out. We're still following through on the plan to free everyone else, right?"

"Yeah." He started down the corridor, key in hand. It's what Elsa would want me to do.

Before long, he had freed the prisoners of the second level, all except the antagonistic Charlie and his "Big Boys" gang. He almost permitted himself a smile just seeing the look on their faces when their boss pleaded with him to let them all out.

Eventually after some grovelling on his enemies' part, Janus let them out, though the collars stayed on just in case. They would be able to free themselves later.

Everyone else began to swarm towards the recreation yard, where the prisoners from all the other cell blocks were heading. The guards had by now been alerted to this massive breakout attempt, and resistance had been put up. Firm resistance, it appeared.

Riots and fighting began to break out here and there, though the majority of the prisoners simply muscled past the guards armed with their muskets and shields. The guards were more or less helpless to stop the flood tide of liberated sorcerers, who all had their magic flowing back into them.

If the sheer number of sorcerers wasn't enough, their returned magic made the entire conflict a no-contest. The guards put up an increasingly feeble resistance, firing into the crowd a couple of times, and then turning to flee deeper into the prison compound.

Fires had broken out here and there, illuminating the once pitch black prison blocks in an ominous orange glow which was spreading quite quickly. Janus suspected that their own resident Warrior, Deirdre, had something to do with a few of the fires on the upper levels.

Both men and women streamed down the corridors, down the stairs, and out into the recreation yard outside. The doors between the interior and the exterior had been blown open by various blasts of magic, and the sorcerers were storming outside unhindered. The guards had long since fled the premises. To make things more chaotic, it had begun to snow and rain heavily again.

From a slight vantage point, Janus did a very quick, sweeping headcount and estimation. Most of the sorcerers from the west wing were outside now, along with the prisoners from the central wing, as well as the east wing. Almost everyone was there, squeezed into the not very large recreation yard.

Someone blew the fences away with some kind of strange magic, and the sorcerers roared, pouring out of the prison grounds and out onto the island proper like a horde of angry bees. Or a column of ants that had just found a feast.

It was chaos, but in a strange way, orderly chaos. All the sorcerers seemed to know what to do, and where to go. Sure, it was messy and all, but it'd been like they had taken orders prior to the breakout, and things were proceeding as orderly as could be - if the term could even be used.

He found Melody and the rest of the Warriors out front, directing the herd of sorcerers. All the collars had come off, and he noticed that Melody was looking a little angry as she rounded on him.

"Did you know?" She asked in a clipped tone when he came up to join them. "Did you know about Elsa?"

"I just found out too, damn it." He said, tone bordering on a growl. "I didn't know till Maui told me. Look, I came out to tell you that I'm going back. There might be a clue."

"Clue?" Tracy asked. Venetia, Monco and some of the other thieves were with her, along with the black market dealer and her bodyguards.

"Clue to what?" Deirdre sounded irritable, as usual. Having thousands of other sorcerers swarming the area wasn't helping her temperament.

Janus looked at Maui. "You said Elsa talked to the Warden before she disappeared."

"I did." Maui said. "But-"

"I'm going back to have a chat with him, see if he's willing to give up some information."

"Don't be a fool," Melody hissed. "You can't go back in there."

"It's the only way we're going to find out more about the disappearances!" Janus raised his voice to be heard above the shouting and roaring of the jostling sorcerers. "A chance to find out who took Elsa!"

"There's no way you're going to get there alive!" Maui protested. "The guards are gonna be protecting the Warden now that the prisoners are loose. You'll be walking into a massacre!"

"I don't have any other choice!" Janus roared. "I have to do this. Elsa would do the same for any of us!"

"Then I'm coming with you." Melody said, levelling him with an unmoving gaze.

"I'm not going to ask you to-"

"I'm not asking for permission." Melody snapped. "You're not going in there without backup. Hurry up and get moving. We don't have a lot of time."

"Fine." Janus relented. There wasn't time to argue. It wasn't like he couldn't use her help navigating through the blocks ridden with armed guards.

"Tracy, get those Crossing Points open now!" Melody shouted over her shoulder as they turned to head back into the prison. "Get these people to the safety of Swynvort! We'll be back soon!"

"This is bloody madness." Janus grumbled under his breath as they pushed back towards the broken fortress wall.

"I agree." Melody said, clutching her compound bow tightly in hand. "So let's get this over with."