Another YouTube Fairytale: Matt's Life In Hope Square; Book 1

Chapter 16 - The Jailer

Matt swung in the air, still suspended by the rope. Jack had let go of the rope above, but he was still stuck swinging there, hallway between Hope Square and the Dagger's lair. When he looked up, Matt could already tell he was pretty far down, with only a distant drop of sunlight above him, and pitch blackness below. 

Matt looked around where he swung. Just below him, in one of the walls, was a hole in the stone. It was tiny, but Matt's curiosity convinced him that he might be able to fit through. Besides, he would rather take the chance exploring the hole than going to where he knew death waited. 

Matt started to swing on the rope, eventually gripping onto the wall opposite the hole and pushing off with his legs, latching onto the hole, feet firmly in place and hands gripping on for dear life. The hole was indeed tiny, but Matt was determined. 

Still curious as to what lay below him, he made sure to get a firm grip on the edge above him, and knocked a loose stone with his feet. Matt counted the seconds before it finally hit water, now hearing that it was much closer. 

23 seconds.

Matt held his breath, turning away from the darkness. He weighed the options between head or feet first, before deciding to go in head first. He managed to get in without much effort, (though he hit a bit of a snag when it came to his waist,) and popped out the other side, where he could see that the hole was actually much smaller on the other side. 

Looking under his feet, Matt saw that the ground below him had stones that were neatly arranged, very planned out. Meaning he had found a path. Matt stepped forward into the darkness, away from the little light that the hole gave, when he remembered; the reason why prisoners, Daggers, even Hopes, never got out of the dungeons, was because they were so labrynthian that no one could find their way out. 

To help guide himself slightly, Matt ripped off the end of his sleeve, turning one side of his elbow-length sleeve into a t-shirt sleeve. He wedged the green cloth between the stones in the wall, then looked around, seeing the light of a torch in the distance. Matt approached it, but he soon realized that it was coming from inside a room. 

Matt considered going inside, just to sate his curiosity, until he saw a shadow against the wall. A man, sitting straight up.

Matt slowly backed away, trying not to make any sound. To his dismay, he stepped on the broken glass of a discarded lantern, a sound that echoed in the darkness of the prisons. Noises went off all around him, little excited whispers in the dark. The shadow against the wall stood up, picked up the torch, and came to the doorway. 

The man's face was in shadow, but he could see Matt clear as day. He saw the mark on his hand as well. "You're a Hope?" 

Matt nodded slowly. 

"Well, sorry to tell you, but you just alerted every Dagger in the area that someone's here." The man pointed upwards, and when Matt looked up as well, he could see it; as his eyes adjusted to the dark, he realized that he could see figures, holding onto the roof above them. He didn't know if his fear was playing tricks on him or not, but he also didn't want to find out. 

The man pointed at the torch he held. "Daggers... they're afraid of the light. There's a fair bit of light inside my hut here. Step in, and you can wait them out." 

Matt, still looking up, managed to nod again, and stepped slowly towards the door, feeling at least a dozen eyes on him. He stepped into the door first, the man closing it behind them.

The hut was just a stone room with no windows,  more of a prison cell, really, but unlike the prisoners, he had a real bed, a table, even a very tiny bookshelf. The man put the torch back up on the wall then turned around to face Matt. Oddly enough, he was smiling.