Prisoner

Chapter 32

John Hansson

I ripped the silk from above the crib in one swift motion and pushed it at Adaryn, who looked at me quizzically.

"What, do you really think you can fight and get us out of here while carrying a baby? Here." I showed Adaryn how to cradle the baby against his chest, then wrapped the silk around the two of them securely, making a sort of baby carrier.

Adaryn looked down at the carrier and smiled a little.

"Smart."

Adonis approached us with an impatient expression.

"Come on, we must go!" He told us. Though this plan was not his to begin with, I was surprised to see that he was a raw nerve. If we were to get caught, he could easily switch sides and pretend to have found us first, freeing him from blame.

We started for the door, but Adaryn stopped in his tracks, cradling Danya against his chest protectively.

"Wait, we cannot go the way we came," he told us. "We will surely be caught."

Adonis had apparently not thought of this. Some leader.

"Well...how else can we gain access to the hall?" He asked.

We stood in silence for a long while. I turned my head to look around the room. Surely there was some sort of passageway. I had seen enough movies and read enough books to know that old castles always had something, whether it was a bookcase that swung away, or a candlestick that acted as a lever...

"We could climb out the window."

At Adaryn's suggestion, I mentally kicked myself in the face. This was why I wouldn't be able to write a book. Then again, after all I had been through in the last months...

"Good idea. That should get us to the wall, which wraps around the entire building. We could get to the window to the hall and get to the king without a problem," Adonis said with a nod. He walked up to the wall bearing the window I had seen before and looked up at it with a frown. The window was easily ten or fifteen feet high.

"Now would be an opportune time for one of your movie things, John," Adaryn said with the hint of a smile on his face. He was bouncing a little back and forth to sooth the baby. I was surprised he knew to do this, since he had only had the baby for less than five minutes.

I remembered the plan we had used to get into the army camp safely. Coming up with a way to get us out of a high window proved to be more difficult, seeing that we didn't have any sort of rope.

Then, something came to me...

...and I instantly regretted it.

"Well..." Both Adaryn and Adonis looked at me with hopeful expressions. I took a deep breath.

"How much strength do you guys have in your arms?"

*

"There is no way this is going to work," Adaryn pointed out. He stood back a ways with Danya and watched Adonis and I with an amused look on his face.

I crouched down on the floor against the wall.

"Hurry up, Adonis, we need to get moving."

Adonis, who still didn't look convinced, shook his head slowly, then did as we had planned. He stepped on one of my shoulders, then the other. I groaned under his weight.

"Quiet," he muttered.

I let out a laugh that sounded more like a grunt, then slowly began to straighten my shaking legs. Adaryn moved and put one hand on my shoulder and the other on one of Adonis's calves to steady us until I was at full height.