A Prisoner's Obligation

The door slams shut, and Kurri hears the closing of the metal latch and the click of the lock outside. He is trapped with Kalen and Lein inside a small storage building. Their weapons were taken and their hands are bound in metal manacles. No light enters the room, and they got only a short look at it by a soldier’s lantern as they were being thrown in here.

“Everyone okay?” Kalen says, quietly.

“Hel no I’m not okay!” Kurri says.

“Try not to panic, comrade, we can think of something if we keep our heads cool,” Kalen says. “Now, what did you see on your way in? We need to construct a picture of this dark place. I saw mining tools--shovels, hammers, pickaxes.”

“There was only one door and no windows,” Kurri says.

“It’s locked from the outside by a padlock,” Kalen says.

“Metal walls, no floor,” Kurri says.

“Sheet metal, crudely fastened together, a freestanding structure that they can move when it’s time to blow up the ground it sits on,” Kalen says.

“Have you spent time in discordium mines before, Kalen?” Kurri says.

“This isn’t my first time in one,” she says. “The other piece of this is the enemy’s intentions, why bother to lock us in here? They took Nisho to the airship, but not us. Clearly we are not their main target,” Kalen says.

“Razha!” Kurri says. “They were very interested in her the other day.”

“We cannot let them use us as bait to capture our comrades,” Kalen says. “If we should escape this room, what will we be up against outside?”

“There were eight soldiers plus the Lieutenant, and the wizard,” Kurri says. “Then three split off to take Nisho and the wizard away.”

“Yes, something strange happened with the wizard,” Kalen says. “It seemed like she lost control of it and had to sedate it somehow. So perhaps it is no longer a threat to us.”

“But they had two wizards on that ship,” Kurri says.

“Assume one may be closer than we think, they are quite skilled at making themselves not noticed,” Kalen says. “But there is the possibility they took the remaining wizard elsewhere, possibly to lay another trap for our comrades. One possibility is that they have gone to lay an ambush somewhere else, leaving just a few soldiers to guard us. But there is the possibility that their ambush is right here, outside our cell.”

“What the Hel do we do?” Kurri says.

“One problem at a time,” Kalen says. “Have you ever been bound in these standard issue K.D.F. manacles?”

“No! I’ve never been arrested.”

“Neither have I, until now, but I have used them. They have many uses. Unless they have diversified them--and that would cost them money--they are a universal size, designed for holding strong enemy combatants. Perhaps too big for tiny little wrists like yours, Kurri,” Kalen says. “Can you crawl your way over here to me? Follow my voice.”

He stumbles blindly across the floor until they run into each other.

“Okay, turn around, okay...okay, I’m going to hold onto this, and I want you to squeeze your hand into the narrowest shape you can make, and...there, and I’ve got some leverage on you now, push off of me with your legs, they’re your strongest muscles, and I’ll pull. But keep your wrist lax, okay?”

He does what she says and pushes away from her with all his strength. The cold metal digs into the skin of his hand, but finally he slips out of it. The jagged latch scrapes across his skin, cutting him.

“I did it!” Kurri says, with both hands in front of his body now.

“Great, Kurri!” Kalen says.

“I’m hopeful that this place holds more than shovels and picks,” Kalen says. “Feel around these shelves and see if you can find something round and hard, a helmet.”

Kurri feels around in the dark, going over the racks of metal tools. He finds a shelf, and feels out the shape of a helmet. “Helmet. Okay?”

“Find the front of it, and there’s an electrical switch,” Kalen says.

With a click, the room is full of light, so bright it hurts his eyes and he covers them reflexively, hitting his face with the metal manacle hanging from his wrist.

“That’s what they get for insisting on keeping the workers here past sunset,” Kalen says. “Now Kurri, take one of those pickaxes. I want you to break these damned things off of me,” Kalen says.

“I don’t know if I really know how to do that safely,” Kurri says.

“It will be fine, these little chains won’t hold up to that heavy pick, even if you drop it from just half a Length, okay?” Kalen says.

“Okay, I’ll try it.” He sets the helmet on his head and lifts one of the pickaxes from the rack, making some racket as it bumps into the others.

“Try and stay quiet,” Kalen says. She turns her back to him and leans her hands on the ground, pulling the chain tight between them.

Kurri lifts up the heavy pickaxe, he can barely raise it. With his hands shaking and struggling against the weight, he positions the tip above the chain and brings it down. It crashes to the floor, striking the metal, and shattering the chain. “Got it!”

Kalen pulls her hands apart. “Thanks comrade, those things are so uncomfortable. Now you can rest, I’ve got it from here.” She reaches out and takes the pickaxe from him. “Lein.”

Working quickly, Kalen breaks Lein free. He stands up tall, looks down at them and nods approvingly.

“Now what?” Kurri says.

“This is no fortress, these walls would cave under a few blows of a sledgehammer,” Kalen says.

Kurri shakes his head. “The second they hear us banging on the walls they’ll be in here, guns out.”

“We can take advantage of that, lay an ambush. We have all the weapons we need,” Kalen says.

“With two fighters?” Kurri says. “I doubt I could even lift these hammers let alone find the will to smash a person’s head in.”

“We may be lacking in numbers,” Kalen says. “But human emotions may be the key here, surprise is a powerful thing.”

“What if we also had fear on our side?” Kurri says.

“Hmm? What are you thinking of?” Kalen says.

He runs his fingers across the head of one of the shovels and pulls his hand back covered in black dust. “Do you suppose these soldiers are from the mountains?”

“No way, they talk like flatlanders,” Kalen says.

“Then they probably haven’t ever seen the blight before.” He runs his finger down his wrist, drawing a thin black line across his veins.

“Clever, Kurri,” Kalen says.

“It’ll be most obvious on the lightest skin,” Kurri says. “Lein, come here, we’ll make a monster out of you.”