The Water Warrior(Book 1)(Completed)

Chapter 19: A Sort of Rescue

Aqua trudged through the Forbidden Forest and towards Sinergy's lair, furious that Firestar, her best friend, refused to help her rescue BlackHawk. Her footfalls made lots of noise as she stopped out her frustration.

After another ten minutes of nonstop walking and jogging, the Lamada Castle began to make an appearance on the horizon. Aqua remembered her last encounter at the castle when she met BlackHawk for the first time. He had been a great friend and had helped her many times; it was now her turn to help him. There was just one problem with the rescue which she did not think about until just now; Aqua had no idea where anything in the castle was.

Aqua approached the gate and noticed there was double, almost triple, the amount of guards than the last time she was there. Knowing there was no way she could fight six armed guards, Aqua decided to look for another way in because if there is one entrance there is always another. Aqua walked to the back of the kingdom's walls and noticed it was covered in vines and plants. She approached the vines thinking they were probably part of a garden, but the years of neglect had created a jungle behind the castle.

Aqua grabbed ahold of one of the vines and tugged. Seeing that it was pretty sturdy, she began to scale the wall with ease. As she neared the top, Aqua carefully peered over the top to see if there were any guards positioned in the once-was-a-garden, but there was none. Being about thirty feet above ground, Aqua was not about to jump, so she climbed down on the opposite side.

The old garden was disgusting. It was covered with plants of all sorts, some alive, but most dead. The worst part though was trying to get through it all. Thorns cut Aqua's legs, arms, and sides as she trudged onward. No wonder there are no guards out here, they probably would not think anyone would be crazy enough to go through this jungle. Good thing she was.

Finally, at the covered door that led to the inside of the castle, Aqua pulled out a dagger with a sharp blade from her pocket and began to separate the plants from the door. It was a hard task, but the door eventually opened and in crept Aqua.

Seeing the inside of a castle was still a little new to Aqua especially since she had only been in it one other time. Knowing that the library was to Aqua's left, she opted to go right. Since most of the guards were protecting the kingdom and castle's entrance, navigating the hallways was easy.

The first door Aqua saw was large and made of mahogany. She tried the brass handle, but it was locked tight. Moving on, the next door looked a little nicer and it opened with the slightest tug of the handle. Aqua closed the door quickly when she saw several guards sleeping on very old cots. Surely a king with such expensive taste could have afforded to buy new or at least better beds, but it just proved that he was a very selfish man who cared about his personal greed. Seeing that there was only one last door, Aqua opened the door quickly and rushed inside as she heard guards approaching.

Once inside Aqua was met with a very angry guard. Before the guard had even a moment to react, Aqua grabbed a nearby chair and slammed it over his head. Conscious, but a little groggy, the guard tried to stand up only to be met with a kick to the head. He slumped to the floor, out like a light. Noticing the large locked door, Aqua searched for a key on the guard's body and found it on his belt. She unlocked the door and was met with stairs that led underground, knowing this had to be the entrance to the dungeon; Aqua pressed on determined to rescue BlackHawk before it was too late

The dark dungeon smelled of dead rats and human body odor which was both a good and bad sign. Torches were the only source of light in the pit of darkness and threw shadows in every direction.

Aqua passed the first few cells that had either very few people in them or did not have any of them at all. It was not until Aqua was in a separate room all together with a single cell taking up most of the space, that she saw BlackHawk.