Author's note: Quick warning everyone be on the lookout for pushy spambots trying to slam offers of unsolicited artwork through PMs, I've already gotten more than five this past week.
Now that out of the way please enjoy the chapter and don't forget to leave a review.
When Samuel was taken away from the Factory and back into the Black Carriage, he feared that his son Zev may do something rash out of desperation.
And with no news of his daughter, the possibilities were endless. Could Elisheva be locked in a dungeon in that castle across the river? Or did she escape join a rebellion out in the city?
Less than half an hour, Samuel was taken aboard an old ship - it looked like a full-rigged pinnace from the sixteenth century.
Light slipped through the slats in the ceiling and fell on them like prison bars. During the first few hours of his involuntary transfer, Samuel hadn't entirely been alone.
There were people shackled to the walls. People ranging from different ages and races, including, to his shock, children. He looked among the youngsters for the faces of his own children, and was relieved not to find them.
So many torn from their families and homes, forced into the Black Carriage, then chained and thrown into the belly of a Fang ship.
He tried to make conversation with those in the ship's hold. Many were wary, and rather bemused that Samuel knew next to nothing of what awaited him in Castle Throg.
One of the prisoners explained what it meant to be sent there.
Although the facts chilled him to the bone, Samuel also pondered a theory. If the tyrant terrorizing the land using these reptilian creatures had his child, then most likely by Samuel was on the fast route there.
The Fangs weren't even taunted him with answers, so there was only one way to find out.
One day later the ship had docked, then the prisoners were filed out. All except Samuel.
He listened carefully, and he overhead that these people were being hauled off to the Phoob islands.
Now all he had to do was wait.
Janner was sent directly back to the paring station.
He hoped Sara Cobbler hadn't been punished for talking to him. The Maintenance Managers hadn't seemed to notice her in the moments before they knocked him unconscious. The other coffins in the dungeon had been empty, so at least she wasn't there. He worked in a slow, steady rhythm, lost in his thoughts, finding the work almost soothing. It somehow helped him think, helped him dwell on the faces of his family, of Oskar, to think on the things he would have to do to escape.
A boy with short curls was pushing a wheelbarrow full of blades. Janner did double take, it was Zev!
"Talk later – we got bogeys watching!" Zev whispered, jerking a thumb up the catwalks.
He meant it as a way to say that the Maintenance Managers were watching, and their attentions were of the sniggering, malicious kind. They glared at the boys from their perches on the walls.
From the other side of the area, another little boy pushing a wheelbarrow containing weapons, and as he passed the wheelbarrow toppled over. So Janner helped him pick up the weapons.
"Thanks," the little boy murmured warily.
"Hey, I need to talk to Sarah Cobbler. Dark hair, bright eyes, really smart and nice, do you know her?"
The little boy didn't answer, he only hurried away.
Hours later, Janner got a chance. The same little boy he helped had approached him and whispered, "Spill your soup at dinner."
"What?" Janner whispered.
"Spill your soup at dinner!" the boy emphasized.
Before he knew it, the day had passed. He stood before a pile of pared swords and forks, and the boy with the red hat and the bell strolled by, whacking it with a hammer and saying, "Shift's over. Shift's over. Shift's over, tools."
At dinner, Zev walked slowly to his spot. All the children he passed ignored him intensely, girls and boys trudged on, staring at the ground as if it were the most fascinating thing they'd ever seen.
When Janner went to the dining hall after his shift, Zev discreetly elbowed him and motioned with his head.
"Play along." the older boy mouthed to Zev.
Janner got his bowl of soup then as he reached for a spoon he 'spilled' his soup.
"Oy!" One of the Maintenance Managers snapped. "Clean that mess up!"
"I need a rag!" Janner sputtered.
"You got a shirt don't you? Where's that mess mopper tool?!"
Sarah came over to wipe the soup off the floor Janner pretend to lean down and help clean the mess. Her face was still covered in soot, her dark hair still matted, but he knew it was her. She looked up into his eyes.
"I'm so glad you're alright!" Janner murmured in relief. "Sarah, I'm so sorry! That Fang took you because he knew were...because he knew we were friends!"
One kid moved past them. Zev was waiting his turn to get his meal, he intended to talk to Sarah too. If not now, than later just as everyone in the bunks.
Couldn't risk those jerks getting suspicious.
"But I'm making a plan to get us out now!" Janner said.
"No one gets out of here, Janner." Sarah said quietly. "Don't. They'll just keep throwing you in the box until they..."
"They threw you in the...?" Janner's heart ached for her. He wondered how many of the children in the factory had endured that awful place.
One of the Maintenance Managers grabbed ahold of Sarah's right arm. "Hey, what are you two chatting on about? Back to the kitchen with you!"
Janner and Zev glared at the Maintenance Manager's back. This made them all the more determined to escape no matter what.
As it turned out, Zev would get his chance to talk to Sarah sooner than he thought. Better yet, his bunk was right under the one next to hers.
"Good night, Sharpener." Sarah mumbled right after she crawled up on her bed.
But there was no answer from the other girl.
"Sharpener?" She checked the top bunk bed across from hers. It was empty. The sight of this made Sarah gasp. "W-where's Sharpener?"
"They tooked her, just before lights out." A tired girl replied.
What? Zev's eyes widened from his spot. He had a sinking feeling.
"A Fang... and the Overseer." the girl answered Sarah.
Sarah was distraught, she crawled over to the other bunk and held the pillow. "No...no, I-I told her they wouldn't! I told her."
Zev bit his lip. So they took that poor girl because she was too slow. He solemnly waited for Sarah's weeping to slow before he whispered to get her attention. "Psst! Psst! Yo, Sarah!"
She leaned down warily and softened at the sight of Zev, probably trying not to him see her cry. "What is it?"
Zev checked. "Jan boy's throwing up a wave."
"Huh?"
"Your boy Janner says hi."
Sarah was stunned. "How did-?"
"Shhh!" Zev quickly shushed. "Sarah, listen. This is wild, but he traveled with my older sister – the one I told you about?" Zev explained. "She's alive, and somewhere out there looking for me and my dad!"
Sarah smiled sadly. "That's… great."
"And we got a plan." Zev replied. "Figured you oughta be in the loop. Let's get some sleep, talk tomorrow, promise."
Sarah nodded in confusion. Did the boys have an escape plan?
Later on, the small boy from earlier delivered a helmet to Janner. "From Mess mopper."
Puzzled Janner took the helmet and in the inside he saw the words, 'Bully blossom' carved into it.
Finding the ridgerunner had been easy enough. He was always zipping here and there, climbing chains, leaping from coal pile to gearbox to table, a sort of Maintenance Manager for the Maintenance Managers. When Mobrik came near during the second shift, Janner had called his name.
"Tell me a tool didn't just speak to me without permission." Mobrik said disdainfully, and he zipped right over to Janner. "Tell me I don't have to waste my time filling out an impertinence report!"
"If you do, you'll miss out on a treat." Janner said in a sing-song tone.
"And what could a tool have that I would give a troll's stink about...?"
And with great satisfaction, Janner said, "Fruit." He held up one of the apples.
Mobrik saw it, his eyes widened and he swiftly took it in his hands. Then he narrowed his eyes at Janner, "I-I'm confiscating this! And I'm reporting you to the Overseer!"
Janner smirked. "Such a pity, you'll never get the rest of my stashed apples then."
Mobrik bit into the apple in his hand. He closed his eyes and chewed in ecstatic silence. Then turned to look at Janner in shock. "You have more?"
Janner chuckled. "I have many more."
Mobrik skittered forward and patted Janner's pockets. "Fool. If it's true you have these fruits, I'll tell the Overseer, and we'll search the factory until they're found. Then you'll be thrown into the box again. You don't want that, do you?" The ridgerunner smiled wickedly. "I heard you in there, crying and crying. It was pathetic."
Janner ignored him. "It's true, you might find the apples. But trust me when I say I've hidden them well. It may take you days and days to find them, and by then? The longer they sit..."
Mobrik's face fell. "The worser they get."
Just as Janner hoped, the ridgerunner couldn't bear the thought of letting perfectly sweet apples go to rot.
"Where are they?" Mobrik demanded. "Give them to me!"
"They're hidden, and if you can do me one little favor we can both be happy for a long time." Janner said.
"Tell me where the apples are hid or I'll..." Mobrik ordered, this time less sure of himself. "I might not report you."
"Promise me a favor." Janner said, "Swear it by the hills and the hollows."
"The Hills and the Hollows!" Mobrik gasped. "How does a tool know about such things?"
Janner shrugged. "Maybe tools aren't just tools."
"I'm not helping you escape." Mobrik turned away.
"I'm not asking you to. I want you to do something for..." Janner pulled out another apple much to Mobrik's delight. "Another one of the tools."
He tossed the apple to the ridgerunner, who held them.
Mobrik cocked his head with a glower at Janner and thought for a moment. "Fine. What do you want? Hurry, or the apples will worsen!"
That same morning Janner woke up to the residue of raindrops. Ships and sharks, always a way out.
Zev woke up to the sound of the bell.
"For the glory of the factory!" the bell klanger said.
"For the glory of the Fangs..." moaned the tired children still in their bunks.
Zev rolled, his eyes and made a rude gesture at the bell klanger. The annoying boy didn't notice, he'd been staring intently at Janner.
Either way, it was time to get up. They had to use their heads if they wanted this to work. Zev had thought the first step of Janner's plan was crazy. But Janner thought it wasn't half as crazy as Zev's idea.
Soon after eating their fill in the mess hall, Zev and Janner discreetly moved closer to Sarah to talk with her.
Sarah was wiping the main table area and cautiously spoke in low tones. "They changed my work assignment to the Carriage room. I start this afternoon."
"Good that's the first step."
"I'm still in if you need a diversion or two." Zev said.
"Zev whatever you've got, you need to be careful."
"I got em hidden. I'm more worried about my fi- I mean, my pet projects going off. Even if they doss toss me in the box again."
Zev...? Janner looked at him.
"Been there twice." Zev grumbled. "First was when they took away my dad. Second time was 'cause I wouldn't let those big goons push me around."
"Zev, you hit one of the maintenance managers with a hot poker!" Sarah reasoned sternly, yet her eyes held sympathy for the boy's plight.
Janner was stunned. Zev looked at his gruel glumly, he genuinely did feel a little bad about that. "I was lookin' to snag a crowbar – but I didn't know it was one of the hot stuff, honest!"
She didn't answer. A Maintenance Manager passed, and Janner looked down quickly and slurped a spoonful of broth.
"What's our next step?" Sarah inquired.
They looked back to see Mobrik admiring an apple and taking a bite out of it.
Janner sighed. "I'm going back into the box."
"What? Why?!" Sarah gaped.
"Trust me. Three days and we're getting out of here." Janner said.
"And you just leave the final diversions to me." Zev added.
Janner wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell everyone there that his father was the High King of the Shining Isle, though most of these children believed the place was only a story.
Sarah Cobbler smiled. Janner was glad she smiled. He knew he would need it to carry him through the next three days and nights in the coffin.
Janner and Sarah lightly touched hands, staring into each other's eyes. Zev grinned, he gets light-hearted ship teasing rights once they're outta here.
A young man with brownish gold eyes and hair warned, "You squirts better skedaddle. I'm not kidding. Those creeps like to punish those trying to hide."
The three youngsters scattered, though Zev could swear the young man winked as they did.
As soon as Janner returned to the paring station, he steeled himself for another run. He dropped his giant scissors, slipped the apple into his pocket, waited until the Maintenance Managers were looking elsewhere, and bolted.
This time he zipped through the aisles toward the staircase with ease. In fact, he worried for a moment that his escape was going too well. He heard none of the cries of alarm this time, no signs of pursuit from the managers. He bounded up the steps, a little frustrated because this time he wanted to get caught.
Then he ran into someone. Someone bigger than a child. Someone wearing a ridiculous top hat.
"Trying to escape again, Tool?" the Overseer said with an evil grin before cracking his whip.
Crack!
"And I thought you were one of the clever ones..."
Crack!
"I offered you a chance to be something in this place..."
Crack!
"To make some of yourself though labor and discipline. And this is how you repay my kindness?!"
Crack!
Zev had been close by, petrified at watching his new friend undergo such brutality. Even some of the Maintenance Managers looked away, probably because it reminded them of their own beatings from the same whip.
"Toss him in the box," the Overseer ordered. "Three days. When we speak again, you'll not find me half so pleasant."
The worst part about being stuck in the coffin this time was that he had no way to tend to his wounds. Welts covered his arms, his back, and his thighs. The Overseer had whipped him until Janner ended up backing up against two Maintenance Managers.
So Janner lay in the dark, thinking again of his family, of his wounds, of Tink, wherever he was. He thought of the clean snow of the Ice Prairies, the welcome arms of Gammon's people.
And if Elisheva was still in Dugtown, he hoped she'd remain long enough to wait for him and for Zev.
If only Janner knew how close Elisheva was at this moment.
Elisheva has spent the rest of the time searching for the Igiby boys and for her family.
On this night, after wandering the abandoned areas to avoid potential Fangs or what she suspected to be Stranders, Elisheva found herself in a very dark and foreboding neighborhood.
Briefly she'd stopped just three feet away from a huge rusty portcullis in the center of an immense brick building to fix the new footwear she'd bartered. Above the gate, a big metal sign bore the inscription, in bold, rusty letters, FORK! FACTORY!
At that very moment, the Overseer had stepped out from the building grumbling, his eyes scanned the shadowy streets of Dugtown, searching for any signs of trouble. Suddenly, his gaze halted, he looked up. There, three feet away amidst the gray and dreary surroundings of the industrial district on the other side of the portcullis, stood a young woman.
Unbeknownst to the young woman, her presence caught the Overseer's attention.
Who she is or whence she came, he knew not nor did he care. She was there now and that was all that mattered.
To be continued...
Author's note: Thought I'd leave you on a cliffhanger, the next chapter will show more of what Elisheva will go through during those three days Janner is in the box while Zev readies is experiment, and Sarah prepares for the next step.
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