Shad took a couple minutes just catching his breath. He lifts his legs up in a ball over his head, bracing his hands on the ground beside his head and kicks his legs down, pushing up while doing it. He did it once before, so he thought he could do it again. He did, resulting in him standing upright. He made a mental note to practice that technique more. Last time he did it, he hadn't exerted himself that much. This time, he was a bit winded, but he rested a bit first. Would he be able to do that during or immediately after an exhausting battle? Probably not. Shad thoughts went back to the noise he heard, the noise that cause Eli to run off, and walked in that direction with some haste.
After not too long, Shad came across two bodies on the ground. He looked down near the bodies and saw two hair ties, a red one and a blue one. He knelt down and grabbed them, and saw a familiar colored strand of hair intertwined. These belonged to Maisie. "Shit, that's what they meant by merchandise. They meant us." He looked at the two bodies and saw a familiar looking weapon on the waist of one of the men. He recognized the axe as one belonging to one of the veterans who served his father. It belonged to knight named Brutus, a Western Islander who swore fealty to the Hyperion family after losing a bar fight to Maddox. "Of course they looted the bodies," he commented, removing the axe and placing it on his own waist. He stood up and looked in the direction of the smith. I wonder if any of their equipment passed through his shop.
It was then heard a low pitch moan. He turned and saw the other man was still alive. Shad's latent rage bubbled over his reason and he kicked the body over so it was on its back. Shad sat down on the mans chest and looked up. He looked around and saw that there was nothing to rush him. No impending attack, nothing. He could just relax, take his time, and enjoy this. He cracked his neck, then his left wrist, and braced his right hand on the mans left shoulder. And slowly began punching the man in the face repeatedly with his left hand, his expression unchanging.
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"You know what, Lita. You could have told me the suit was filled with fifteen cats if you wanted to, it's not going to change how thankful I am right now," Taika said as Goldhardt helped her up. She turned to face the armor, "No offense. Your help is appreciated," she said softly to the the armor, despite knowing he won't reply. "Can you go a head of me? I'd prefer to walk behind you." She requested of the suit. He did as she asked and she propped herself against his back as they walked, as she figured it would be easier to keep herself up that way.
When the got close to the inn, Taika looked around the suit and saw Satsume and Cecily outside. She slipped under the armors arm and got in front of the ground, falling to a knee after she did. "W-wait. They are friendly. Friendly." The suit helped her back to her feet once more. "I don't know what happened, but these two saved us from those men back there." She looked backwards and heard a faint sounded in the air. There it was again. She couldn't describe it, but it sounded bad. And it's not stopping. Every couple of seconds the sound repeats. It actually sounds worse each time, like it's...wet. "Uh...where is Shad?"
Lita placed a hand over her mouth as she let out a smug chuckle to Taika's comment about what was inside of the armor of her companion. It was hard to tell but Goldhardt probably wasn't as amused. Still, they did their job in carrying Maisie.
Before they managed to enter the inn though some people came out that didn't look like more of the bandits. One of them was rather hurt but pulled out a spear to challenge them anyway. Goldhardt looked at Satsume, probably because of the potential threat that spear indicated. Fearless, Lita stepped forward after Taika made sure they knew that they were friendly, pushing the tip of the spear to the side with one finger.
”You should be more careful where you point that. Someone could get hurt,” She said with a smirk. ”But yes, we're helping. I'm Lita, that pile of cats in armor is Goldhardt,” Goldhardt's unseeable gaze shifted over to Lita who was already turning to look in response. ”It's a joke. You really need to learn to lighten up a bit, but I suppose that's why you're with me.”
Turning back to the others she said, ”But I would like to hear just what it is we're helping with. I mean they've already made an enemy of us but knowing more about the situation would be nice.”
Upon Paige's instruction, Ellie lowered her dagger and plunged it into the right thigh of the bandit at her feet. With a shriek, the man buckled beneath his own weight and grasped at the wound.
"If you pull it out, you'll bleed to death," Ellie spoke gently, kneeling beside the man. "You cooperate, maybe you'll wake up when we're gone."
With that said, Ellie watched as her companions shuffled their way out of the room, Satsume slowing the group down considerably. A few moments later, she helped the bandit make his way down the stairs behind them, kneeling him in the street as the giant hulk of armor and their quirky lady accompanying it introduced themselves.
”But I would like to hear just what it is we're helping with. I mean they've already made an enemy of us but knowing more about the situation would be nice.”
Digging her knee into the man's kidneys, she shoved him onto all fours and grasped at the hilt of her dagger. She looked towards Paige, then towards Lita.
"If you'd be so kind, mister?"
Paige was impressed that Satsume, despite his crippled state, could manage to be moved. Granted he needed Cecily and herself to stand, but it was a vast improvement. That wasn't to say it was easy getting him outside. The pain was evident. This was probably far more than anyone in the group bargained for.
"Whatever she is paying you..." Paige commented to Satsume. As Cecily's bodyguard, she hoped he was getting compensated well, especially now. She wasn't able to finish, for they had run into strangers. Fortunately, they were friendly. Satsume was in no condition to fight (despite his brave face) and her attempt to use her light brand may have contributed to his condition. Needless to say, she was very glad they didn't have to continue the battle.
Lita had inquired about what the situation was. It was a question Paige wanted to know as well. Just then, Ellie joined in with the only living assailant, freshly wounded. To coax the brigand to start talking, Paige began the inquiry.
"Let's start simple. Who are you, and what do you want with us?"
Cecily was prepared to give Satsume a verbal lashing as he raised his arm in her direction. But, when she realized what he was doing, those thoughts eased away. Given the situation, she relented to the unvoiced request. He was a lot lighter than she thought. That was not to say he
was light, but certainly not as daunting of a lift than she anticipated.
When she and Paige managed to get outside, Cecily watched Satsume inquisitively as he readied himself for another fight. From having felt how much he relied on herself and Paige to move, it was pretty clear that he was not in good state to fight. Given that they had only known each other for a relatively short period of time, Cecily was impressed by Satsume's resolve. That prompted her to back him up as the newcomer pushed aside his lance.
"You can help by explaining why you came to this town," Cecily said, stepping alongside Satsume.
She did not trust these two yet. It did not seem convincing that a duo would be traveling by night and appear to conveniently rescue her companions' friends. It would not surprise her at all if they were actually Lausian assassins with a plan to cause the group to lower their guard before doing their job. Given her near death experience was how she and Satsume met, Cecily felt sure that at least her retainer understood her paranoia.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The interrogated bandit took a few moments to overcome the rather large amounts of pain that he was subjected to.
"Jeez, I haven't even started anything and this is what you do?" he moaned.
The expressions he received quickly changed his tune. "Okokok, please don't. Hux is me name. We've been, uh, taking travelers for our own..."
The bandit had opened up, but what he said could have been easily surmised from personal experience. Paige wanted to investigate the connection between the town's eerily quiet atmosphere and the bandit activities. She pressed further.
"And the townspeople just...let you? And you've been doing this without anyone in the army getting involved?"
The man was cooperative enough, but his vague response begged further questions. Why would the townsfolk so willingly be accomplice to such a scheme? Paige was right to question the lack of military involvement, especially situated directly on the border with Lycian-Bernese tension on the rise. She shifted her eyes to meet Paige's as she inquired further, then shifted her eyes to the sky. The air was cool and quiet, the stars bright and not a cloud in sight. Surely Leroy couldn't be too far off, Ellie thought.
Ellie took a moment to sit a moment, releasing her dagger and getting as comfortable as the ground beneath her would allow; what with all the attention the brigand was getting, she figured the conversation would unfold rather effortlessly from here.
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"There it is," Leroy muttered, his hands trembling. Nestled in the mountains was Castle Burg, a few minuscule specks of light flickering against the silhouette of the castle. He relinquished the reins with one hand and reached for his back, releasing the battleaxe from it's holster and pulling it to his side, gripping the haft near the blade. "Make haste, boy!"
SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
With a hard tug downward, the wyvern tucked its wings momentarily and dove quickly, its sharp claws brushing the tops of the trees below as it spread its wings into a glide. With a powerful flap of its wings, it ascended a few meters to clear the brush and darted towards Castle Burg, and in doing so, towards a familiar face.
Shad's hand was screaming in pain. He ignored it. A few faint cracks were able to be heard during the wet impacts, faint enough only for Shad to hear. He ignored the ones that obviously sounded from his hand and focused entirely on the cracking skull in front of him. He stopped to take a breath and looked at his work. He couldn't really make out any features on the man, after Shad's cathartic bout of punching. He looked at his left hand and saw it covered in blood. He didn't notice the multiple lacerations on his own knuckles, oblivious to the fact that some of that blood was his own. He sat there taking it in. He then scratched his left eyebrow, unconsciously resting his cheek on in his left palm while scratching his brow with his index and middle fingers, smearing the blood on to his own face.
Shad got up to his feet and began taking some steps away from the body, before turning back and kicking the head full force, again unconsciously, with his own self-inflicted wounded foot. He feel to a knee after that, finally register the damage he'd done to the foot. He looked down at the boot and noticed some discoloration. "Damn it," he spit, believing it to be blood in his shoe. Before he could dwell on what damage he'd done, he heard something in the distance. It was kinda familiar sounding actually. Like it heard it just the other day...
"Wyvern." Shad tried grabbing his tome with his left hand and only dropped the book, cringing in pain at the act. He looked over his hand and noticed that it was swelling pretty badly. "Did I break something there, too?" He picked the book up with his right hand and began making his way to the inn. "This doesn't bode well." Shad said, retreating. Who knows who this rider is allied with? All Shad knows his that he can't fight that.
He got to the inn and noticed the large gathering outside. He noticed a large guy in armor carrying someone in his arms. Shad realized it was Maisie. "Put her down, metal head!" Shad yelled out. Taika looked back and saw him walking back, favoring his right foot. His hand was dripping blood...then Taika saw his face and screamed. "Taika?! Wha-?" He looked more and saw the rest of the group gathered was none other than the group he came here with, plus too more.
After Taika realized who it was, she tried to defuse the situation, again. "Shad, calm down! They helped us! No more fighting for tonight!"
Shad finally made his way proper to the group, and noticed that they were smart enough not to kill everyone. "Sorry for my tardiness...but let me chime in. I-I think they planned on selling us. Or maybe just the girls. I heard someone on the pass mention 'merchandise'. Is that true? Are you bastards planning on selling my sister?!" Shad was about to start moving towards the brigand, but felt something grab him.
Taika held Shads arm, trying to calm him down again. "I don't think he knows who you are to answer that question. But considering someone was carrying Maisie and myself back to the castle..."
"We've been, uh, taking travelers for our own..."
Satsume whirled around upon hearing the bandit speak.
"And the townspeople just... let you?" asked Paige. "And you've been doing this without anyone in the army getting involved?"
"Look around you, lass - ain't no army here! They're busy fightin' Lycia." Hux seemed incredulous at Paige's inquiry - or at least what passed for it on a man of his standing. "Strongarmin' the town was easy as it's ever been."
"And the castle?" asked Satsume. "Their guards?"
"Uh... not much 'ere. Condemned a while back, that place was. All we 'ad to do was put down a couple o' stragglers-"
"Put her down, metal head!" came a cry from the street. Satsume and the group turned to find Shad, hobbling aggressively toward Goldhardt. Taika moved to diffuse the situation.
"I think they planned on selling us, or maybe just the girls," said Shad. Satsume glared back at Hux, who refused to look him in the eye.
"How many are in the castle?" he said, stepping away from Lita and standing an inch from the brigand's face. He tried his best to put away the pain that was brewing in his side as he walked.
"Uh... we got maybe a dozen of em locked in there, and-"
"No, not the goods." Satsume stole a glance back at Shad and winked. "The gang."
Hux gulped, and didn't reply. Satsume raised his shortened spear and held the tip underneath the bandit's neck. His thumb settled under the button.
"If I press the button, you better hope to Elimine that I don't miss your brain, dog."
"Waaaahhhhh, all right! All right! A dozen- wait, no - fourteen or fifteen of us r' in there! Please! PLEASE!" Hux whimpered and struggled to crane his neck away from Satsume's spear. Satsume lowered his hand and turned back to Shad.
"That wasn't too hard." He holstered his weapon and walked carefully back to Cecily's side. He reached gingerly to the straps near his broken ribs and began to undo them. A feeling of relief washed over him as his armor's weight shifted around. He was able to breathe a little bit better, too. Maybe just until I can get fixed up..., Satsume thought. He exchanged glances with Cecily, then spoke again - loud enough for the group to hear.
"Given that the silent approach doesn't seem to have worked out," he said, peering over at Shad, "I think it's time we paid that castle a visit through the front gate."
Paige looked incredulous at Satsume's suggestion to Shad that they take on more than a dozen bandits by marching against them.
"Are you crazy?! You two can barely walk without help. Even if you were fine, there isn't 15 of us to fight."
Despite her apprehension on taking on so many, Paige was thinking of ways to approach the castle. She sighed as she came up with a rough plan.
"If you were to do this, one of you would have to show up as an ally. One with...'goods'. It seems Shad has already met them, so it would have to be Satsume. We would have to take them by surprise if we're to have any chance of winning."
Ellie took in the information before she spoke - fifteen was a large group, what with Satsume and Shad already injured; it surely didn't bode well for them. A plan came to mind, however, when Paige suggested Satsume's involvement.
"I'll go with Satsume. Leroy will be on his way to the castle, if he's coming," Ellie started, standing with a momentary stretch. She shot a glance in Shad's direction before looking up at the castle. "I don't think they'll be too happy to see me, but it'll buy you some time."
She pulled her bow from her shoulder and handed it to Paige, breathing deeply as she did. "Keep it handy?"
Paige's eyes widened as she took Ellie's bow. She realized that the plan she had come up with in an afterthought was quickly being put into play. The librarian was not confident in how the diversion would play out. Would a surprise attack give them enough advantage to come out the victors? Their chances of seeing the sunrise rested on whether this Leroy character showed up with a platoon of wyvern riders.
"I think we need to be careful about implementing this plan," Paige added. "Do you think we should wait for your brother to show up before going through with this? Even with the element of surprise, the numbers are against us."
Lita stood back and watched as, despite being grilled for her and her companion's reason for being there, the group she had offered to help seemed a bit more concerned with getting information out of a captured brigand than harshly pursuing the details of their new allies.
"Would it be too hard for you to believe that I am merely a traveling dancer with her bodyguard, here for the upcoming festival that I had heard word of? Certainly I arrived here late and in the midst of this ordeal, but I assure you with every fiber of my being that we aren't associated with those human trafficking ruffians that you're dealing with, nor anyone else you are probably afraid of us being. I'm not entirely sure who any of you are, what about you, Goldhardt?”
Goldhardt turned and stared at her for a moment, silent as always.
”See, complete strangers that have just gotten wrapped up in this mess, and from the sounds of it you could probably use our help. If you don't want it then we can retire to the inn as we were expecting to. Certainly it sounds a bit tossed about, but Goldhardt can block a door to give us some semblance of comfort. Although I have a feeling you'd much rather have them help take down some doors for you.”
Cecily simply could not accept Lita's explanation. What kind of dancer would travel with no one other than a bodyguard? Wouldn't solo performers stick to local areas until they are picked up by a troupe? Despite all of this, Cecily's thoughts unknowingly paralleled Lita's; everyone else seemed to be more intent on questioning the brigand instead of identifying these newcomers. Then there is Satsume suddenly suggesting they pick another fight with the local brigands. Cecily had to resist the urge to punch him in the chest, instead giving his wound a sharp poke.
"Did the brigand clobber your brains as well as your innards? You are in no condition to be fighting anything right now. Did you happen to pack a vulnerary, for Elimine's sake? We do not even have a guarantee that this Leroy would come, tonight or at all!" Cecily glared at Satsume. In her burst of emotion, it slipped her mind that perhaps Satsume was sane enough to consider seeking some medicine beforehand.
She flashed Lita and Goldhardt another stern look. It seemed like they were going to be doing whatever they wanted at this rate, to Cecily's chagrin.
Shad couldn't believe what he heard. They had maybe a dozen people up there? There was no way that a dozen of Shad's people were up there, which made him, in his own mind, complicit in the capture of innocent refugees. This was his fault. He left the castle undermanned and now a band of brigands were using it for human trafficking. He should have sent more men than what he had. Why didn't he just leave twenty men with Leon and send the rest of his men here with Maria? He knew it was for Maria's safety. Too many people would have drawn attention, but he refused to acknowledge that.
When the brigand told them how many men they had up there, Shad started laughing. "Was that including the men on the pass? Because, guess what? They are dead. Which means its more like ten or eleven guys up there instead of fourteen or fifteen." Shad turned his head to Satsume. "We found and cleared the pass. Well, there are some rotting corpses there now, but I have no emotional attachment to those."
When Paige interjected about there injuries, Shad just had to chime in. "They didn't even lay a hand on me." He looked himself over and saw the blood all over him. "This...was me venting. It's not like those crossbowmen that we encountered back in Santaruz."
The girl on the other side of the suit of armor apparently began trying to explain their reasoning for being there. "I..recognize that accent. You're an islander, aren't you? One of my men, Brutus, came from the Isles. I'm sure they would have targeted you, just like us." Shad looked over the suit of armor.
"Shad, you're not going to get a word out of him. That's Goldhardt."
"Sounds like he's from Bern, based on the name. But I think if our foes had the funds to completely armor up someone like this, they wouldn't be resorting to taking refugees to sell as slaves," he replied. Shad looked around. "But don't listen to me. I'm the reckless idiot that got us into this mess." Shad began walking away from the group, back towards the smith.
"Where are you going?"
"To get a spade. After we take back the castle, I'm burying my men." He took a few more steps, before turning back to the group. "OH. Did anyone else hear that wyvern cry? I'm not going crazy, am I?"
The newcomers seemed intent on proving their innocence given the state of things, but they were also quick to offer assistance. Ellie nodded in Lita's direction as thanks. As the group discussed further, Cecily also expressed her doubt.
"I'm sure he'll come; he always had to have all the answers growing up."
As Shad walked off towards the smithy, he stopped suddenly and turned on his heel. He eyed the group, before looking to the sky momentarily.
"OH. Did anyone else hear that wyvern cry? I'm not going crazy, am I?"
Ellie spun quickly and looked to the sky herself, hoping to see any sign of a rider... but there was nothing. Nothing discernible, at any rate. She looked to Satsume, then back to the sky.
"We need to hurry. If Shad's right, we need to get inside before the fighting starts."
Ellie was visibly shaken, her heart was pounding; she had little faith in this plan, but it was the only idea they had. She thought back to her childhood, thought back to the days she spent with her brothers; hiding, hunting, learning to fight. Leroy always told her the key to trapping a predator is bait... and she was it.
Despite the support of newcomers, Paige still had doubts about the surprise assault. Though Ellie assured everyone that her brother was coming, the question was when. Would he come to help them fight or come to bury the bodies after a botched rescue? She didn't want to assume Bern soldiers would come at the exact moment they were needed.
"I wish we could hold off for Bern soldiers, but perhaps time isn't on our side," Paige said in regret. "The bandits have already been attacked. With their losses, they're probably getting ready to move to another village. We may never find them again after this."
With Ellie visibly shaken, Paige thought it best to start fleshing out their plan.
"Shad knows the castle better than anyone here. When he gets back, he'll help us stage for the assault. Once we're in position, Satsume and Ellie will provide the decoy. The rest of us will swoop in when given the signal, whatever that is."
Satsume stepped away from Cecily as she poked him. "Hnnngghh! What the hell?!"
"Did the brigand clobber your brains as well as your innards? You are in no condition to be fighting anything right now. Did you happen to pack a vulnerary, for Elimine's sake? We do not even have a guarantee that this Leroy would come, tonight or at all!" cried Cecily, in a rare display of frustration.
"Even if you were fine, there isn't 15 of us to fight!" added Paige.
"First of all, I am fine." Satsume leaned his upper body and attempted to slide out of his breastplate and pauldrons. His ribs disagreed and jolted him with pain as he did so, causing him to struggle and grunt in pain. Finally, the armor fell to the ground with an unspectacular clatter.
"Second of all," he huffed, "the castle types haven't seen me yet, so I can pass for one of them as long as I don't look like a soldier." He stuck a finger out at Hux. "And he's going to walk us in."
More widened eyes converged on Satsume. He sighed. "Look, it's like this..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Satsume walked just behind a nervous Hux along the path to the castle gate. His ribs ached with every step - it felt like there was a blade stuck in them. But he gut it out and kept on walking, trying not to imagine how much worse it would be if he still had his armor on.
In his right hand, he held a length of rope, which was loosely tied around the hands of Paige and Cecily - enough to fool a quick eye into believing their bonds were inescapable. His belt clattered with Paige's weapons, as well as his own. Eli walked next to him, palming a blade, ready to pounce on their captured brigand friend if he dared stray from the plan.
A faint wyvern screech sounded in the distance. Hux froze briefly and snapped his head in the direction of the noise.
"Wh-what was-"
"Keep walking," Satsume said with a growl. Eli gave him a poke in the back with the end of her knife, jolting the bandit into motion again. Satsume gave a tug on the rope wrapped around his fist, resulting in clamoring footsteps behind him. Cecily walked up close behind him.
"I do not approve of this plan," she said quietly.
"I know."
"It is bad enough that you talked everyone into this horrible idea," she hissed, "but do try not to act like you enjoy having me in bondage like this."
"You blow our cover and it won't be me holding the rope," he whispered. "Now shush. We're almost inside."
Before long, they were at the gate. Satsume stepped forward and nudged Hux. “You’re up.”
Hux looked at Satsume with some uncertainty before cupping a hand to his mouth. “Oi, lads! It’s me! Open ‘er up, I got a haul here!”
A brief pause, then the faint glow of a torch came towards the archway. The light illuminated a face only a mother could love. “Hux! Bout damn time you came back!” He held out the torch and squinted at Satsume and Eli. “What’s all that?”
Satsume stared at Hux, as if to say, “go on.” Hux gulped and turned back to the lookout. “Couple o’ new bloods and some wenches for the lot of us! Come on, open ‘er up!”
Satsume could feel two pairs of eyes burning holes in the back of his head as the doors to Castle Burg slowly creaked open. Another wyvern call warbled through the air, slightly louder. Satsume peeked over his shoulder into the woods nearby. His eyes met those of someone hiding behind the trees.
Here goes nothing, Satsume thought as they walked inside.
Paige was in a similar situation with Cecily: tied up and walking behind Satsume and Ellie. It wasn't her proudest moment, but she felt she was handling it better than Cecily. Paige kept quiet so as to not alert the guards of anything suspicious.
As they entered the castle, she immediately started glancing around. The prisoners were not visible from where they were. Nor could she see all of the enemies. In the back of her mind, Paige was wondering if they were the ones walking into a trap.
Paige could hear the wyverns coming closer. She hoped that was the sound of the wyvern knights coming closer. They were the only thing keeping this plan from going sideways.
Shad did exactly as he planned to do. He acquired a spade and came back during Satsume's explanation of their plan of attack. All he knew was he was sneaking in the the new blood and attack when their trap was sprung. He had gotten to the point where his self-control and restraint was right on the verge. Deep down he knew that this plan wasn't going to go off without a hitch. He knew the moment he got within those walls, he'd either beeline it towards the cells or start killing whoever on the way to those cells. Shad didn't vocalize this at all. They knew he was a bit of a wild card at this point, if Satsume didn't compensate for that in his plan, it was his failure at the planning stage.
Shad suggested to Lita that he goes separate from her. That perhaps she and Goldhardt could shadow the group from the tree line straight through to the entrance. He had to stick around briefly to help with the unconscious woman Goldhardt was still carrying in his arms. Shad and Taika helped Maisie to a bed and Shad tasked her with waking the unconscious healer. With that, he traveled back up the path alone, to his knowledge.
----------------------------------------------------------
Shad had found the side entrance that he was told about. It was less a passageway and more of broken border wall with a sheet of wood leaning against it as a makeshift door. Marcus must not have known about this otherwise he would have had someone fixing it. Shad pushed aside the wooden board and slipped through the opening. He was surprised to see another door right in front of him. Their was a building almost right to the wall. In fact, as he looked around, it was closed off on where it seemed that building ended. Was this actually a secret passageway out of this building that can't be seen from other angles? It obviously meant nothing if the bandits figured it out, but perhaps they didn't figure it out on their own. Shad pushed open the door and slipped through that as well.
This new room was very dark, save for a sliver of light. He reached out in front of him and touched wood. He reached around and found a handle. He tried pushing but it didn't work. Instead he pulled the handle away from the light, opening up yet another entrance. It was a dummy cupboard, sitting in a slightly sunken portion of floor to act as a hidden door. He walked in and grabbed a torch from a nearby sconce and walked to the end of the corridor. He turned at the only available direction to move and kept walking. That's when he found something. The prison. There he saw a dozen or so people locked up among the cells.
"L-lord Shadrach?"
In the corner, free from the cells was Lowell Fen, oldest son of Tyber Fen and the betrothed to his sister, suspended from shackles attached to the ceiling with a ball and chain attached to his leg. The poor boy had lacerations all over and was covered in dirt and grime. "Lowell?! What did they do to you?"
"If this how they treat a child..."
Shad got the gist of it. Lowell was hanging as an example to the others. Try anything and this or worse can happen to you. Shad walked towards the cells and examined to the doors. He tugged on them a bit with little give. He looked over each prisoner and saw chains bring their arms and legs together. The blacksmith made chains that looked just like it. Damn it! This town is just as complicit with these monsters as the innkeep! He didn't see Maria in the cells, but was hearing something a bit feint. "Where is she?" Shad said, as he approached Lowell. He had a tired look on his face.
"Your face..."
"Maria, Lowell. Where is she?"
He tilted his head up towards the opposite wall. There was a heavy looking metal door. Shad ran over to the door and paused. He thought he heard something.
"I know not what evil is coming"
He pulled the door open a bit and heard singing?
"But my heart feels sad and cold;
A song in my head keeps humming,
A tale from the times of old."
Shad pulled the door as hard as he could and jumped through the doorway in to the room, holding torch out in front of him. The singing stopped as Shad looked at the site in front of him. A small girl with long barley corn colored hair sat in a fetal position leaning against the far wall. She was clad only in a nightgown, which resembled her current state right now. Bloody, battered, cut up, and dirty. The torch dropped to Shad's feet as he looked on. The girl raised her head, turning it towards Shad at the same time. The face was made the sight all too undeniable. The striking blue eyes of his father. The bangs that always makes her look defiant and angry, even if they were failing right now. Exhausted looked eyes, a slight gauntness due to malnutrition, a large scrape just under her left eye and various blood stains down her face. Shad dropped to his knees at the sight and the siblings only stared each other down. They both looked foreign yet familiar. Neither have ever seen the other in their current states. It was overwhelming to Shad. It had been almost five days of this.
"You look a lot like dad did when he was younger."
"I think he had less blood on him than I do." Shad was surprised at how strangely calm Maria was when she said that. He played along, figuring it was the better decision. "But how do you figure that?"
"Paintings. There are a bunch of painting hanging here. I never seen what our parents looked like till I came here. I'm happy I came here."
"But-"
"I'm safe, for now. Make them pay."
Shad punched the cell, with the bad hand, out of frustration. He hit it hard enough that he actually heard the crack this time. Maria heard it too and ran over to the bars and grabbed his hand. She kissed the top of his left hand, as if trying to kiss the pain away. Shad patted Maria on the head with the other hand. "They'll pay for every drop." He got back to his feet, trying his best to ignore the pain. To distract himself, he went to ask Maria one final question. "Why did they lock you up by yourself?"
Maria looked him straight in the eye and coldly said replied. "Wouldn't you lock up your biggest threat?"