Inside the prison
Inside a dirty muddy environment, was a tunnel leading to an underground dungeon almost like a secret village on its own, the place having a lot of tunnels led to a place with voices rapping inside the big hall, surrounded by bars made of steel with chains binding the outside to another outer space to the secret statue of Denier, the first King of Mystic City. A lot of people were moving about inside this huge prison-like free men. The prison was divided into several sections, where one place showed several Gates, and each floor of the prison is divided into gates. The gates with the least numbers have more guards securing the prisoners. A fire burnt through the edges of the Prison Gates, There were bees that spread around the entire place keeping watch over every activity of the prison. The guards stood with their arrows made ready to shoot.
There was a wide distance separating the two prisoners as the mice crawled through the corners of the room. In the other prison cell, a young prisoner keeps screaming in fear as the mice nibble around his feet, placing a young boy in jail meant for adult prisoners, the child could not bear the stench of the cell. The sewers passed through the corridor of the prison cells. “Help, help, I need help”
Terrin goes to hold the child closer to his side as he removes the ticks from his hair. After six months of being placed inside the cell, it felt almost like a year, it began snowing as a pellet of snow entered the window foaming at the window side, where the wood galvanized was located to prevent the metallic frame from rusting. The cold penetrates through the heat inside the cell, combining the rot in the cell with the cold, Terrin watched on as the young man, Dagwood bit his fingernails, continuously scratching through his hair.
“I brought food,” the first elder entered through the gate as he entered the inner prison to watch Terrin and Greg scrambling around the floor, suffering from thirst. The elder chews an apple in front of the two men as he emptied one cup of water.
“Do you know your sin, Terrin? You were not supposed to free this monster from his suffering.” He spits on the floor and smirk as he looks at the face of Terrin, he hastens but soon laughs out loud as he roars at the guard for interrupting him. He returns to his usual calmness, “I knew your father, Terrin. Everyone knows you did not spend time with him, you were never one of us. An outcast clan, killers of men” he finds Terrin sitting in the cell unmoved by what he kept saying.
A man with a white-black beard, short with a broad chest area, bearing a blade in his chest, scar marking through his shoulder, having tied hair viewing his broad forehead, wrinkles forming around his face he talks with his masculine feminine voice as he addressed the first elder “can I have a word with the prisoners, your grace”.
Gerald responds with a smirk as he looked down at the man seeing him as a kind of dwarf.
“Have not seen you before,”
“I was in the junior archery, I only got promoted to be a member of His majesty’s guards.”
“Alright but make it quick don’t want anyone bothering the prisoners” Gerald leaves the prison in his long black and ash attire with his hat decorated by peacock feathers.
“Faer, is my name, I was sent here to carry a message.” A scroll falls from his hand into the dirty water as it travels in a snake-like manner into the cell. He turns and leaves making a sign indicating sunrise. He shut the gate and the entire place becomes quiet and dark.
In a year’s time when the sun breaks the shadows to the new year, the bell will be rung for your judgment, the system has been corrupted from the fear of the sorcerer as the king locks away inside his castle allowing the elders to do as they please. Some of the elders are spies, my friend, we all know what to do is to find the healer before he dies as the prophecy says, “The sorcerer knows he shall burn into ashes should the flame consume his heart” the flame to heal the plaque can also kill the sorcerer. Some of us are too old to accompany you but I shall lead you out before the dawn breaks. Prepare.
The scroll burns and turns into a key after minutes of reading the message. Terrin looks in amazement as he sees Gregory molding the key using the soil inside the earth. A light shine from an orb Gregory takes from his scarf too small to be noticed. They open the cells, and on entering the opposite cell, Greg was drawn to the beautiful ocean, a picturesque of the mountains surrounded by the forest. He was drawn to almost loosen his guard when Terrin hit him in the head, bringing him back to his senses. They both went to carry the two men inside the cell while Deagmund opens the rest of the prison cells freeing the other prisoners locked inside. The prisoners gathered in the corridor of the cells awaiting their helpers to unlock the final gate, they waited for a while and Gregory did not open the gate.
He placed his ears to the ground as he listened to the rushing waters flowing through the sewer. There was a large steel gate that could only be opened from the outside. The prison was beneath the street of the city, Greg followed the sound and detected the water traveling to a river source.
“Dig this side of the cell”, all the prisoners entered the 11th cell and found there was no window inside the cell, inside the cell, no one can bend their nature to use any form of power, so they used their hands and scraps of plate found in the prison to dig, they gently removed the first two upper blocks holding the steels together and gently breaking all nine sheets of steel they scraped of the sand revealing a thick iron plate. Hammering the plate will prompt the guards outside to be alert. They needed to figure a way out of the loophole, in the meantime dawn was fast approaching as time was running against them. In an act of desperation, Terrin uses a piece of stone on the ground to hit the plate but to no effect. One of the prisoners tries to freeze the plate in an attempt but he feels a shock which collapses him to the ground.
“This was unexpected, so long as we are here, we cannot do much” a frightened voice booms from the small crowd. The twenty prisoners look through the sky as they realize any moment from now, they will be facing judgment. A rodent moves swiftly through the floor and enters a small hole beneath the ground, Deagmund takes the broken steels and starts breaking the bricks around the edges of the hole to enlarge the hole. Two prisoners join him in his quest to enlarge the hole, three prisoners stand behind the prison gate to stay on guard.
“I see light”, shouted the fatter muscled built prisoner with dredge locks who gave his name as Banaing, two more prisoners rush to join them as they kept digging, and soon water gushes out from the enlarged hole. Gregory uses his hands to scope the dirt surrounding the hole he places his head inside the hole and finds a stream of water flowing through to the other side. A mounted golden statue of the old golden phoenix and gold stored inside a warehouse. The underground was divided into four sections, where the last section contained young children being made prisoners.
Gregory withdrew his face from the hole, bound two of the steels together, and used the edge to knock down the hole splashing the water into the prison, Greg entered through the hole and swam his way towards the golden light which shone through the water.
“What are we doing, won’t we follow” Terrin in a frightened manner carried Dagwood as he gives him some water to drink, he then follows Gregory into the hole. He swam as fast as he could, catching up to Gregory who was trying to push a stone beneath the water base which was blocking the water flow, the sun was about rising and the prisoners had to leave for their daily morning inspection.
The prison guards came to record the name of the prisoners, during the usual assembly where the prisoners were allowed to roam in a large space, it felt like an endless corridor, the more prisoners who entered the small space the larger the place became. There were no trap doors or windows, the air felt very warm inside the corridor. The guards stood on elevated platforms, the walls were very high blocking the viewers from seeing the other side of the wall. The wind carried the waves into the corridor as the prisoners felt the sea breeze.
"we are at sea," said one prisoner
"No we are behind the sea," said another prisoner
"I heard we are inside the castle," said Daelan, a man who is in the same Gate cell with Terrin.
A prisoner with a bulky appearance with a smooth mustache, recognized Gregory, he quickly rushed onto Gregory, “Curse you, wizard, curse you,” he began punching Greg with his heavy hands, Gregory who was being watched by most of the prison guards hesitated in fighting back, after taking in a huge amount of beating, Gregory lost his anger and retaliated punching the man to hit a metallic chair, the guards came to fetch Gregory to a very dark place with no light penetrating through the place.
He shivered from the cold, and could only struggle with his breath, there was no warmth inside the cell, only darkness, Time moved swiftly without Gregory noticing the prison guard opened the cell and found him lying on the ground, stiffened, and they carried him back to his cell. Gregory lay beside Terrin with a smile “You are too hot for someone who has spent two days in that bloody cold cell?”,
Gregory did not respond he only lay on the bed with curiosity, “How come, the prison guards could not find the holes we dug, we made a lot of mess here.”
“It’s quite simple” answered Terrin, the two young men who casted the illusion in their cell, popped inside Terrin’s cell holding hot water, and almost all the prisoners in Gate 4 of the prison section, gathered around Gregory. “Once you are able to overcome the spell placed in the cell, you will be able to use your magic, the secret lies in knowing your weakness”
“Break apart and allow the person to see” the entire cell returned to its old stature as Gregory left it to be.
Gregory found the strength to move from his cell, he entered the 11th cell to find the hole made larger. The water slowly filled the cell.
"Banaing, froze the edges of the water to prevent the river from entering the cell", Terrin said behind Greg.
"While how did you guys recover from the effect of the migraine." he continued, "Our entire chi has been blocked"
"I know, we swallowed some of your tea leaves, turns out it released our flow of energy, once you get past the horrible bitter taste. It works wonderfully" Terrin said smiling triumphantly.
Gregory unfroze the water, the golden light pierced through his sight. "We need to leave, we are delaying. Every moment spent is a life being lost to the plaque"
Terrin stood in front of the entire as he addressed them "My friends and I are leaving the prison cells, who want to join us on our crazy escape. It does not matter if even the King himself tries to stop us we need to be somewhere. the plaque has not left our cities. They have been lying to us, we were brought here because we have determined to expose them."
"I heard there is some kind of healer," Daelan said
"Yes but we do not know where he is, should we leave this prison, we shall hit the sea searching desert and valleys, we shall travel into the sun if we have to!" applause came as Terrin ended his speech.
"when are we leaving" the young voice of Dagwood resonated through the crowd.
"Right now" Gregory entered the opened hole and swam through towards the golden light.
After swimming for almost three hours, the light disappeared upon reaching a dead end. Terrin swam to the surface, where they saw the squarely shaped prison, holding the children.
"These are the King’s guards, I can't believe the prison is beneath the castle all this while,"
"It runs through the castle to the central street of Flower city" Daelan popped out of the water. "I know this part; we cannot head any further towards the light its bad news for us. Once we find the mouth of the river we can get to the open sea."
The guards took turns in watching the river, Damien blew through the water causing a foggy mist to appear, and the guards got alerted by the fog.
"There are 10 guards in all" we cannot make it, follow me". Daelan led the prisoners through a narrow channel, filled with fireflies leading their path. “The river will lead us to the open sea. We need to be cautious of the guards”