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Seth
I watch as Sapphire talks to the vampires, a shy yet innocent look about her as she twists a lock of her golden hair that had escaped from her long braid, almost like she does when she's worrying about something, except now she's twisting her foot in the snow in a shy manner. Unfortunately, I can't hear what her and the guards are saying as Alastor had us stop out of range of their sensitive noses. Apparently the only reason we can be close enough to see them is because of the cold air and the snow on the ground that tends to kill scents. I see her flash her mirror at us behind her back as they turn around together, her arms in theirs. I can't help but feel a little jealous, despite the knowledge that she's faking the whole charade.
Alastor leads the way to the door and opens it. We creep through the halls. This place reminds me of a maze with all its twists, turns, and junctions. Finally we come to what looks like an inner courtyard with five wooden doors leading up to the towers.
“Okay,” I tell everyone, “we'd better split up so we can cover more ground. Everyone takes a tower and we'll meet back here. If there are any problems, flash your mirrors out the windows, the rest of us will be there to help.”
“Hey, Alastor,” Mella says as she turns to the bloodsucker, “Do you know just how many people are in each of those towers?”
“About two each. They only keep to women at the tops of the towers, they're not as wide as they look. Prepare for a lot of stair climbing, and try to be quick; the guards tend to do rounds every hour or so. I'd say we have about 45 minutes before the next pass-by.”
I really don't like him. He's just such a know-it-all about everything. I feel so angry when I see him taking charge, when I'm the leader.
We split up. I take the North tower, Mella takes the East, Jana takes the West, and Alastor and Ethan take the two south towers. I open the heavy door to find, just as Alastor said, a lot of stairs. . . narrow, winding stairs. How does he know about all this?
It takes me a long time to reach the platform at the top. I have to look around for a minute before I notice the trap door in the wooden ceiling, a small ladder under it. I climb the ladder and knock on the door. Hearing no answer, I decide to knock louder, when a young woman opens the door. Her face is pale and thin, with straggly tendrils of dull looking hair hanging in her shine-less, weary eyes. She looks at me, first with fear, then shock, then curiosity upon finding me not to be a vampire.
“Um. . . can I come in?” I ask as nicely as possible. She slowly nods her head and backs away as I climb the rest of the ladder up into her room. It's a decent sized room with two fourposter beds, dressers, mirrors, and chairs, along with a small table that I presume is for meals. I first look at the girl who had opened the door, then at her roommate, lying in one of the beds. They both look very thin and unwell, as if they'd been starving for months. Their thin clothes are torn and ragged and hang off their bodies as if the girls were merely spectres causing them to float. I see the one in the bed shivering and sweating at the same time. I finally manage to gather my thoughts enough to introduce myself to the ghosts of women before me.
“My name is Seth. I'm a protector. I'm here to rescue you.”
The first girl looks at me in disbelief, while the second sits up and stares at me like I'm a mad-man. “No one has ever escaped from the towers live,” says the first one to me in a small, scratchy voice, “What makes you think you can get us out?”
I must honestly say that I don't know, but I try to show confidence to the helpless girls. “I happen to know a vampire who knows this place inside and out. He's going to help us get you out of here and to a safe place.” He'd better, I think to myself. I don't trust that bloodsucker, but I have no choice.
“YOU'RE WORKING WITH A VAMPIRE!!!!” yells the first girl.
Then the one in the bed, a little more calmly, asks, “Are you crazy? And who's 'us'?”
“I know. I don't like it either, but we have no choice. 'Us' is basically me and the other protectors.” They look rather unbelieving, so I try to console them. “Don't worry, we'll get you out of here, but we have to hurry. Grab what you need.”
They look through their dressers, the one who was in bed coughing most of the time, and find some warmer cloths and put them on over the clothes they have on. We slip out the trap door quickly, if not quietly. We start running down the steep stairs, me in the front and the women behind. The women who was in her bed slips several times, but is stopped from falling by me and her roommate.
We manage to reach the bottom in what I hope is a matter of minutes. I open the door to find the others waiting in the courtyard with the prisoners they'd freed, all except for the vampire. We wait anxiously in the corner beside the tower entrance he ascended. Finally, after what seems like forever, Alastor emerges from the door with two unconscious girls in his arms.
“What did you do to them!?” I yell at him.
“I didn't do anything, I found them lying on their beds like this. They must have just been bled tonight. We'd better get going, the patrol will be coming by any minute. We have to be absolutely quite from now on. Follow me.”
We follow Alastor back out of the labyrinth building and out the same side door we had entered in. We cross the distance between The Heart and the alleyway and are soon waiting outside the entrance to the tunnel. Mella climbs to the top of the wall and tries to find Sapphire. She flashes her mirror several times before descending. Now we have to wait.
 Girl of the Dragons · Thu Dec 30, 2010 @ 04:15am · 0 Comments |
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