Escape From The Dungeon

After March 15th, Imperial Year 879 (date unknown)
Somewhere in the Court Dungeons

How long have I been down here?

The passage of time is a difficult thing to gauge when you don't have sun, moons, or even anyone to talk to outside of the guards who bring you food. And frankly, I can't quite tell if they've been delivering me food consistently or not.

I'm hungry.

From my cell, I could hear the rumbling of...something, from the outside. An earthquake? I hope they don't leave me down here.

Or perhaps being crushed by a falling ceiling would be better than rotting in here forever. As I mused about my potential fate, I could hear the guards frantically yelling between one another just outside of the door.

"Hold the door, they can't possibly-"

A yell and a rumble. I slowly staggered up as the rumbles got closer and closer, before the door to the dungeon slammed open and a horde of rioters rushed into the dungeon.

That's my chance.

"Anybody alive here?" I noticed the rioters going from cell to cell, tossing keys to the various other criminals locked up inside of their rooms. At last, one came up to mine.

"Hey, fellow pris...wait." The man waved a few others over. "Hey wait a sec guys, this one's a noble, isn't he?"

Even amidst the rush to get outside, a few of the prisoners took their time to enter the room and laugh at me.

"Hey, this is the one they said is descended from the Baselis? The reason we're in this blasted trouble to begin with!" The prisoners laughed mockingly, as they pointed their fingers at me. "It's the king killer! I bet he wanted to steal the throne for himself! Well too bad, because you're going to rot there forever, hahaha!" The mob laughed at me through the bars before taking off and disappearing into the crowd of fast moving rioters.

"Hey!" I yelled out. "I didn't....I...I didn't...ah, damn." I sat back into my cell as the flurry outside grew quieter, silently pissed.

Whatever guilt I'd had from failing to save Phoebe now had faded into sheer boredom throughout the monotony. I should have been faster, yes. I should have been smarter. I should have done something to save her. But that was then, and by now, I spent much time nervously pacing around the cell hoping that I could find a way out and save her. Somehow.

The rumble of the rioters grew thinner and thinner, until it was gone. Silence reigned once more - but now, even quieter due to the lack of any other prisoner in their own cells.

Another rumble. This one was louder. And yet another, which physically shook me.

"Hey!" I shouted, into nothingness. And then, from down the hallways, I could hear screams of terror, and shrieks of pain. 

Shit.

The ground rumbled once more, and the floor began to slowly growl. I could hear the iron rebar screeching as the stone bricks began to crack, one by one.

Shit, shit, shit!

More screams ahead. Then, everything went silent, save for the creaking of metal and the occasional cracking of stone. There was a low growl from outside of the door, as well as a small moan of pain, before it was silenced with a sickening squelch.

I looked around. A piece of iron rebar had fallen from the ceiling and onto the floor. I picked it up, the rust coating my hand. Back during the academy days, I would have loathed to pick up such a filthy piece of metal, but I'm not really in any situation to complain now. I raised the bar up, ready to defend myself.

It doesn't feel sharp in my hand. I hope it stays that way, because I've heard that rust in the blood can carry diseases.

There was a sickening squelch from behind the door.

Yeah, no.

If whatever was behind the door hadn't smelled me before, it sure heard me now. I began to hammer at the wall, trying to pry the cracked bricks from the wall. I'm no architect, but the rebar shouldn't be too long. Probably. I wildly hammered away at the wall, trying to break the already cracked stone bricks, when another rumble annihilated a portion of the wall, and almost sent me tumbling down. The pale moon light from above shone into my room, as did the orange flames from the nearby town.

On the flipside, the wall was gone, and freedom lay just before me. On the downside, I was actually quite high up. There were screams of terror coming from the other rooms, and by leaning out a bit, I could see that a giant diagonal gash had appeared in the castle wall, covering several rooms including one down below. Bingo.

Whatever was behind the door growled, likely not too pleased with the constant rumbling. Frankly, I was entirely uninterested in finding out what was outside of the door, and so, with the door to the dungeon beginning to slowly cave in, I took the perilous step onto the collapsed wall. The unstable nature of the wall fragment meant the brick I stepped on could crumble at any minute, let alone the constant rumbles - which I learned, just by looking out, was caused by a crude trebuchet parked just outside of the walls of the tower.

I'd be curious to know what the hell was going on here if not for the fact that I had bigger fish to fry.

I slowly placed my foot onto a brick, trying to descend down the tower walls. With any luck, I could make it into the room just below me, which was hopefully not another cell.

The trebuchet winded up for another strike, the tension ropes straining themselves as the counterweight slowly swung up into the air, just recovering from its previous shot. I moved a second foot to a second brick, trying to give it a firm push to ensure its stability. The brick slipped, and fell down into the abyss below me.

Glad I didn't try to lean on that one.

I moved my foot closer to another stone. Then another. And at last, I lowered my entire body weight onto the stone bricks that were now precariously holding me in the air.

The trebuchet might be ready to fire at any minute.

Nothing fancy, I would attempt to get into the other room the moment I could. I lowered another foot downwards, and gradually began to slowly climb downwards. Another step. And another. I curled my body up as small as it could, trying to squeeze into the gap as soon as possible.

No go. I suppose I'll climb lower.

Another foot, another hand. Careful, yet swift. Fast, but feeling like an eternity. The moment I lowered myself just a bit lower, I jumped into the room.

The room was the scene of apparently a very violent, but very short battle. Dozens of guards lay dead, having been hacked apart by axes or run through by spears. A few of the corpses had their faces smashed in, and others yet showed no visible wounds. There were few weapons - presumably, having been looted by the rioters. A single helmet with no owner or bloodstains sat upon a table.

I picked up the helmet and put it on my head. It was a nice one with a noseguard. As I took a second to thank my lucky stars I had found some protective gear of worth, the castle rumbled again, a massive stone having lodged its way into a level above us.

"Hands up in the air, prisoner."

While I was busy staring outside trying to assess the damage to the castle, I heard a voice from behind. A guard with a crossbow emerged out of the corner of my eye, presumably having entered the room while I had been distracted.

"Wait, hold on." I sputtered. This was absurd. The castle is collapsing around us and you're worried about me?

"I presume this is not your doing." The guard looked around at the corpses of his comrades. "Well, no matter. Just business, no hard feelings, you get me?" He raised the crossbow and pointed it straight at my chest.

A cold chill ran down my spine. Shit, not like this. As I looked for yet another way out, my eyes were drawn to the open hallway just behind the guard. There was a flash of yellow from behind, coming from the hallway. I pointed back.

"Hey, look, behind you!" I shouted. "Look behind you!" The guard snorted.

"So desperate, are you? You think I'm stupid?" His fingers curled around the trigger, but it never fired. The man's screams were not very long lived as his throat was torn out by the monster.

It was a malnourished looking creature, almost similar to a tiger or a lion in appearance, if not for it's larger size and great teeth. It had a piercing gaze, which seemed to stare straight into my soul. It snarled, and started to approach me.

I scanned the room for anything to defend myself with. There was a billhook - that's a type of polearm for you - in the hands of one of the dead guards. One of the few weapons left in the room. I grabbed the billhook up and pointed it outwards at the thing, which now looked at me with a raw hunger in it's eyes.

No, there was also fear. Else it would be happy to feast on the corpses, not hunting down survivors. 

Not so different, you and I.

I gulped, and raised the billhook up at it. As the monster lunged at me, I stabbed the billhook's spearpoint into the beast's eye socket. It roared in pain, and retreated back into the shadows, leaving a bloody trail behind it as it fled. I too, did not bother to stick around, despite exhaustion rapidly catching up to me. 

The rest of the flight was a blur. I ran down the stairs and outside, making sure to take the far side of the castle walls away from the besiegers as I fled. Away from the town, nevermind the fact that I had nearly been killed by an animal. I ran, and ran, and ran, the billhook in my hand like it was the only thing that mattered. I ran into the countryside until I collapsed, my weakness finally catching up to me.