Chapter 11:

One week later...

I had suffered countless tortures, and with the lack of food, I could feel my mind going numb. However, each time I was hurt, Light would heal me with his magic, and through the pain, I would make it through. Today was the day of the escape, well tonight to be exact.

It was already late at night, I knew because of the intervals between times where the guards brought us food. There were no windows down here in the dungeon.

“Atch, it’s time, pretend to sleep,” I heard Light hiss at me as he pulled his thin, dirty covers over him.

I nodded back at him and slipped into bed. It was time for phase one of the plan, getting out of the cell. Light had told me the plan was to bait the guard to the cell door and pickpocket his keys. But I guess we were just waiting till a later time for that.

As the guard walked back up the stairs and the glow of his dim lantern disappeared, I noticed Light look back at me. He grinned, and I watched as he pointed his hand toward the bottom of the cell door. I didn’t see anything at first, but within seconds, a foot by two feet worth of bar vanished into seemingly thin air.

I looked at Light in amazement as he hopped out of his bed. Sliding against the dirty floor he exited the cell. I followed.

“That wasn’t part of the plan,” I looked up at him in confusion.

“Sorry I lied, I wasn’t sure if I could fully trust you,” he grinned. “But I’m putting all my trust into you now.”

“Okay,” I nodded. “I’ll follow you.”

“Good, let’s go,” he said, dashing silently toward the staircase and pressing his body against the wall.

We slinked up the cobblestone stairs and into the next room. It was practically empty, just a few barrels and a table with one chair lying in the center. I could see the glow of the guards’ lantern in the distance, slowly disappearing into the next room.

“We’re still not above ground,” Light whispered. “But I’ve got another trick hidden in this room.”

We silently crept over to the very leftmost corner of the room, carrying the table. Standing on the table, Light touched the ceiling. As soon as he did a small portion of the ceiling, only five or six bricks worth of space opened up. Light pulled himself up into the ceiling and then held his hand down for me to get up. I grabbed it and was hoisted up into the darkness.

I could see nothing, nor hear anything. Once again, this was not part of the plan.

“Where are we?” I whispered.

“This is a tunnel I’ve been digging for the past year and a half,” he said, letting out a deep breath. “It takes us right outside the main building into the courtyard.”

I felt joy rush through me, only to be replaced by sudden fear when I heard a yell from below.

“The prisoners have escaped!”

“Fuck, they’re onto us,” Light grit his teeth, quickening his crawl through the tight tunnel. “We have to hurry Atch, or we’ll be caught.”

Quickly crawling through the tunnel, I felt my elbows and knees becoming raw and bloodied as they scraped against jagged rocks on the way. As we got to the end, Light touched something, making it disappear and leaving moonlight shining through.

I had only been incarcerated for a week and one day, though the moonlight nearly brought tears to my eyes.

“Okay, Atch, now’s the hard part,” Light said, helping me out of the hole. “They’re already on to us, earlier than I’d expected, so we have to be extra fast.”

“Okay, I’ll be right behind you,” I grinned, wiping some dirt from my cheek.

Light nodded down at me and proceeded forward. We slid through town, dodging guards and lurking in the shadows. My heart was beating so fast, nothing in my life had ever been as overwhelming as this.

But then, I fucked up. We were so close to the outer walls of the kingdom, but as we were crossing the last street, I stumbled. My foot knocked into a broken glass sending it flying and crashing loudly across the dirty, cobblestone streets. We both stopped dead in our tracks, I felt the blood rush out of my face and my heart leap into my throat.

“Over there!” I heard a yell from behind us. “They’re over there in the alley! Get em!”

I looked up at Light who stared down at me in fear, “We have to go, now!”

He ran, grabbing me tightly by the forearm and dragging me behind him. At every turn of the alleyway there were guards, and each time we barely managed to slip by a new turn before more showed up. They were closing in on us, and fast.

“This is bad,” Light said, huffing with each step. “This is really bad.”

He was clearly exhausted, his stamina completely used up from the escape. Not to mention, we were already weak from the malnutrition of being in captivity. Sounds of guards echoed from the path in front of us and we quickly turned. But from behind us, guards were also on the way. Before we could make any next decisions we were trapped, trapped off by guards in full, plated, steel armor.

“Halt!” One of the guards yelled, drawing his sword as other units surrounded us, pushing us against the brick wall of a building. “You kids are gonna be in big trouble.”

“I’m sorry, Light,” I murmured, feeling a drop of sweat fall from my brow. “This is all my fault.”

Light didn’t say anything, he just glanced around at the situation.

“Call for backup,” one of the guards said. “Who knows what kind of magic these kids are capable of.”

Light looked down at me for a second and grinned. “Keep running kid, and find my brother for me.”

“What?” I asked, confused. “What do you mean?”

Light took a step forward, and light shone from his hands. “Find my brother, Atticus, and tell him I might not be able to see him again.”

I was speechless, and could only watch as everything went a blinding white. But I ran, pushing past some guards in the commotion. Tears rushed down my face, but all I could do was keep running forward. Light had given everything for me, I wouldn’t forget this.

Dashing through the streets I eventually exited the castle walls. All guards and townsfolk alike were brought to the commotion of the bright light, giving me the perfect chance to escape. I was back on the empty roads again, though I knew I couldn’t go home. Looking over my shoulder one last time, I closed my eyes and continued forward. I had only one goal in mind, vengeance.