An Aimless War - Chapter 20: Chapter 20

I sat down between Acen and Mandell. The knights were sitting in a circle, watching Jalor scratch lines into the floor. Even Ender was paying attention, although he was sitting stiffly, still clearly in pain.
"That third turn was a left," I said.
Jalor looked down at his rough drawing of the corridors that had led us through the prison. "I'm pretty sure it was a right."
"It was a left," I repeated. "I have a good memory for maps. Acen, be honest with me. Are they hurting him?"
"No," Acen replied without pause. "Probably not. Not yet, at least. There are protocols. He'll need to be taken to the king first, and there will probably be some bargaining with Tandrin. They might try to interrogate Tannix for any useful information. They'll threaten him, but it won't work. And then they'll probably threaten us, which is more likely to work. They'll save hurting him, at least seriously, until last. He's worth more uninjured."
"What sort of bargaining with Tandrin?" I asked.
"Maybe a ransom demand. Or they might just want to brag that they have him. There are a few different ways it could go. But we have to acknowledge that if the demand is too high, Tandrin likely won't pay it."
"What do you mean? Why wouldn't he pay his brother's ransom?"
"Not for lack of wanting," Acen replied. "But as much as he loves Tannix, Tandrin is going to take his duties as king very seriously. If saving Tannix means crippling the kingdom, he won't do it."
"It'll be hard," Jalor agreed. "But King Tandrin will let his brother go for the good of the kingdom. We all know that. Tannix knows it, as well."
"That said," Acen continued. "We're here. We're the ones who can do something to help Tannix now. We could use your... professional expertise."
Despite the worry gnawing away at me, I smiled at the idea that anything I was good at could be considered professional. "What do you have for me to work with?"
Acen's eyes flickered over each of the knights. "Nothing, unfortunately. We were all searched a second time before being locked in here. So all you have is us."
All I had were five highly trained knights. Six, if Ender recovered enough to be useful. That didn't seem so bad.
I looked around the cell. One wall was made up of bars, the other three were very smooth stones. We didn't have any chains that could be used as weapons, none of the stones looked lose enough to pry out. The only light came from a narrow window high on the wall.
The window. I could fit through that window. I got to my feet, aware of the knights watching my every move. The wall beneath the window was too smooth to climb, but I wasn't alone. I had six knights. I could use them.
"Mandell," I said. "Could you lift me up to that window?"
"Could I?" Mandell chuckled as he stood up. "Right now?"
Acen got up and stared at the window, his arms crossed and his head tilted slightly in thought. I could easily imagine the thoughts flashing through his head. The strategies and ideas that had given him the position of captain. It wasn't long before he nodded.
"If you could get into the corridors, you could get the lay of the land," Acen said. "Find us a place to get weapons, maybe even figure out where Tannix is being kept."
I nodded. I could find Tannix.
"He's the priority, of course," Acen said, "but you can't get yourself caught looking for him. For all we know, he might not even be in this building. Just take a look around. If we break out and rescue Tannix, we'll be in for a fight. We'll need good weapons, and we'll need to know the fastest way out of prison. Can you do that? Don't take any risks. Don't get caught."
"I never get caught," I said, and then added a little reluctantly. "Well, usually I don't."
"Tannix is going to kill me when he hears that I let you do this," Acen said. "But it's the only idea we've had. So go ahead, if you're feeling up to it."
I joined Mandell under the window. He cupped his hands and once I stepped into them, he very easily lifted me above his head. As soon as the bars around the window were within reach, I grabbed them. It was a very narrow window, and a tight fit. For the first time I was really aware of the weight I'd gained in West Draulin.
On the other side, I hooked an arm through the bars and pressed my feet against the wall, firmly perched until I could take in my surroundings. We were higher up than I had thought, and with some shock I realized I was clinging to part of the city's outer wall. I had a clear view of the wide river, the lush pants growing around it, and across the water, the enormous pyramids.
The outside wall was just as smooth at the inside had been. I couldn't go up, and I couldn't go down. I could only move sideways. There was a very thin lip running between the windows, a chink between stones that I could just grasp with my fingers.
I started to move along it slowly, sending quick prayers to every god or goddess I thought could help me. It was a calm evening, with only a slight salty wind blowing in from the ocean. It was ideal weather for climbing. Still, getting to the next window took a little longer than I liked.
It was another cell, but I held the bars to give my fingertips a bit of a break before continuing. The next window was at the end of the long hall. I squeezed myself through it and landed lightly on the other side. Cells just like ours lined both sides of the hallway. Up ahead, I could see where the hall met up with another one—that would probably lead to the knights. I cautiously started forward.
"Finn?" A voice hissed my name.
I nearly jumped out of my skin, heart pounding, until I realized what I had just heard. I took a deep breath in an attempt to steady my nerves and turned to the cell beside me. "Joen."
He moved to the front of his cell, stepping around multiple other prisoners who were sprawled out on the floor. Hopefully asleep. It was hard to tell. Joen only looked as healthy as he did because I'd been sneaking him food on the ship.
Joen slipped his arms through the bars. "What are you doing?"
"Sneaking around. It's what I usually do," I whispered.
"You do seem to be in your element," Joen said, his slight smile bright against his dark skin. "Are you looking for your knights?"
"No, I was just with them. They sent me to look around."
He looked pleased. "The knights are well, then?"
"As well as they can be."
"What about Lord..." he trailed off, casting a quick glance over his shoulder at the other prisoners.
I shook my head. "We don't know. Yet. He's probably all right, for now."
"Oh, well, I think I can help you," Joen said. "I was dragged past a guard room when they brought me here. I bet that's the kind of place your knights would be interested in." He gestured down the hall. "Where the corridor splits, there, turn left. The door should be on your right. Probably locked, but judging from what I've seen so far, that shouldn't cause you too much trouble."
"Hopefully not," I said. "Thanks, Joen. When we get out, I'll come get you."
"I hope you can," he said softly. "But if you can't, I still wish you well. Your lord helped save my wife and daughters. I'll pray for your success. At least I had some helpful information for you."
I almost insisted, again, that I would get him. But I knew that was a mistake. Even if I planned out everything perfectly, our escape was bound to be messy. I couldn't risk freeing him if it meant jeopardizing our escape. He probably knew that, in the same way Tannix knew Tandrin couldn't sacrifice the kingdom for him.
"I'll do my best," I finally said, because I would. That was all I could promise.
Joen nodded. "May Zianesa bless you."
"And you," I said.
There was nothing else to say, so with a final nod I continued down the hall a little less cautiously than before. Any prisoners awake or alert enough to see me didn't seem to care about me. I probably looked like a Deoran messenger or servant, as long as they didn't think about how I had appeared at the end of a dead-end hall. At the intersection, I paused just long enough to check both directions for guards. There weren't any, just long, dark corridors stretching out in either direction.
I went left, and came across a heavy wooden door. It was locked, and it was too dark to see anything through the door's small barred window. It seemed safe to assume that it was the guard room Joen had seen.
I ran back down the hall, this time continuing along the right side. When I came across another split, I paused, and pictured what I already knew about the prison's layout. I thought the knights were down the right hall. I was about to head down it when I heard voices speaking Deoran.
The hallways were bare. I hurried down the left side, but there was nothing to hide behind. It was dark, just not dark enough to hide me. I bolted down the hall as quickly as possible. I couldn't worry about being cautious. Relief flooded through me when I reached a bend, and I leaned back against the wall.
I had barely calmed down when I realized that I could still hear the voices, and they were still getting closer.
My gaze darted around, looking for anywhere I could hide and landing on a window high on the wall. Then I eyed the wall. If I had enough momentum, I could probably run up the wall and jump for the window. Probably. It wasn't a trick I tried often enough to be completely confident in it.
There wasn't time to think of anything else, and I really didn't like the idea of running deeper into the prison. I took a deep breath. Then I pushed off the wall and ran.
I crossed the hall in three steps and ran another two steps up the wall. I jumped straight up, reaching with my left hand. Stretching as far as possible.
My fingers found the edge of the window. I immediately swung my right arm up to grab the bars, and hoisted myself up to the window. I squirmed between the bars just in time. As I hung outside the window, I could hear the guards' voices get closer, and then start to fade away as they passed by. I waited until I was sure they were gone before climbing back through the window and dropping into the hallway again.
My right wrist ached. I rolled it carefully as I started back down the hallway, to the fork that would take me to the knights. Before long, I rounded a corner and was relieved to see the knights ahead of me.
Most of them were sitting in a circle again, whispering. Behind them, Ender was standing. Or Kor was holding him up. Either way I was impressed. I leaned against the bars before any of the knights had noticed me.
"Hello."
Acen nearly sprung to his feet. "You made it. We were starting to get worried."
"Acen was fairly certain he had sent you to your death," Evrik chimed in.
Acen shot him a look, then turned back to me. "Did you find anything?"
I gestured at the hallway behind me. "I'm pretty sure I found a guard room back there, and I found Joen, too." The look of confusion that flashed across Acen's face reminded me that I had never actually said anything about Joen to him. "The blacksmith Tannix and I talked to in East Draulin. He wants to help us."
"Or he wants us to help him," Ender spoke up.
I crossed my arms, suddenly feeling very defensive over Joen. "Ender, you're barely alive. When we escape I bet you'll appreciate a giant blacksmith who can carry you."
Ender chuckled, which caused him to wince. "All right. Lay off, mate."
"No sign of Tannix?" Acen asked.
"Oh... no. I mean I didn't really do much exploring," I said.
"All right. It was still a successful trip. Now that we know you can do it we can keep planning. Get back in here before you get caught."
"I'll be right there," I promised, heading back down the hallway. At least I knew I could get back up to the window by myself.