Panuk looked at the red haired girl standing before him. She seemed to be about 12 or 13 years old. She was very skinny and pale, like every other child in this prison. And her voice! It wasn't anything remarkable; in fact, her voice was hoarse and barely above a whisper. Yet, it still seemed to have some sort of power to it, a sort of magnetic attraction. In fact, her entire being was radiating power, although he barely felt it compared to the pain and terror all the children were giving off. Still, it was there, almost completely hidden by her pain and fear, but there.
"Hey, Panuk! Let's not dwindle here. The guards could come at any moment. It's a blessing that they haven't already.", his partner, Tulok, called to him as he began hearding the children up the stairs. Panuk collected himself and ushered the little girl towards the stairs.
"Come on, let's get out of here. We'll be safe once we're outside. Safe and warm." He grinned at her when he said that and was quite surprised, and pleased, when she actually smiled back. Granted, it was a watery, weak smile, but a smile nonetheless.
As they walked up the stairs, a short whistle came down, followed by three taps. Everyone stopped in their tracks, the two men looking at each other with grim expressions. "Three guards coming. We'll have to hide somehow." said Tulok.
Panuk nodded, then looked at the walls on either side of them. He held out his hand and concentrated. He felt the energy flowing around him, flowing through him, as he focused his will onto the wall, feeling that same power surrounding it. He pulled, and a part of the wall jutted forward.
The children looked on in astonishment, their eyes wide in surprise, their mouths hanging open in disbelief.
Panuk looked to his partner and said, "The walls can be controlled. We'll hide in them." Tulok shook his head. "The guards will look here first.", he said. Panuk replied, "We'll have to take that chance." Tulok looked like he wanted to argue, but instead turned to focus on the opposite wall. He felt something tug his sleeve, and turned to look. He saw the red haired girl, a worried expression on her face. "Don't be scared. We'll be well hidden.", he said to her kindly, despite the doubt he had. But she shook her head, asking in her strange voice, "What about the boy? The one with you. He's still upstairs."
Tulok looked at her in surprise. She's worried about Karim?, he thought, I thought she would be more worried about herself, considering what she must have been going through.
He shook himself, then replied, "Karim will be fine. There's a small hiding place up there, just for him. We must hide as well, before the guards arrive." With that he turned back to the wall and continued his task. Holding out his left hand, he pulled at the wall, making part of it jutt out, before pushing it to the side. He then pushed back at the space he just created, moving the wall there back, until there was a space large enough for a few people to squeeze in. All the while he just stood there, not moving a single muscle, except for his brow.
"Alright, three of you kids come with me. The other three, go with Panuk.", as he said this, he looked over his shoulder to see how Panuk had done. To his relief, Panuk was already finished, and was even now ushering three kids into the space. Tulok wasted no time in doing the same thing. Once they were inside the space, he held out his left hand and the piece of the wall he moved slid back into place, covering the space and hiding them from the outside.
Just in time too. Tulok could hear a lot of running and shouting going on at the top of the stairs. Soon, three guards came rushing by, passing the area in which the children were hidden. The people inside the hidden space shook with fear and suspense, all wondering the same thing; Will they be discovered? Will the guards notice something and investigate the area?
However, the guards simply went down the stairs, too engrossed in their task to check on the prisoners below to notice anything out of the ordinary. It was only after they nearly reached the bottom that they heard a grinding, then crashing noise headed towards them. As they turned back to see, two giant slabs of ice came sliding down, knocking them off their feet and pushing them into a pile at the bottom of the stairs. The sound of hard ice crashing into the guards, coupled with their screams of terror and pain, echoed to the top of the stairway, where the escapees were at.
Panuk was glad that the plan had worked. It had been a risky gamble, something he didn't normally employ, but it all worked out in the end. He turned back to the antechamber and gave a short, shrill whistle, startling the children. He waited for five seconds before he heard the sound of snapping, coming from a door across the room. The door opened, and Karim stepped out of a small space, likely a storeroom of some sort, closing the door behind him before running towards the group. Panuk nodded at him and then began running towards the archway at the other side of the antechamber, which was where they'd come through in the first place. Tulok began running as well, catching up to Panuk and signalling the children to run too. They knew that staying any longer would lead to their getting captured, which would make this whole operation a great failure for them and their allies.
The children began to run as well; or at least, they tried to. After months of torture and staying almost deathly still and silent, their bodies were unable to comply with their sudden desire to run to freedom. Many of them kept stumbling along the way, some of them tripped over each other or themselves. Karim, who was running beside them, noticed this and went to Panuk to inform him.
"Hey, Panuk. Slow down. These guys can barely keep up with us."
Panuk turned his face around when he heard Karim speaking. Immediately, he saw what the boy described. A small furrow appeared in his brow. They COULDN'T slow. That would mean getting captured. But there is another solution. He rummaged in his pockets, then turned to Tulok, asking, "Hey, you have the...", he trailed off as he saw what he wanted in Tulok's hand; a black orb with a bit of golden string at the top and bottom, bigger than a man's fist with the scent of charcoal.
Panuk snatched it out of Tulok's hand and, after testing its weight and texture, blew at the two bits of string at either end. The result was the two strings started burning at their tips, producing a tiny flame that proceeded to make its way to the orb.
Panuk looked back at Karim, asking, "Where's a good spot, Karim?" The young boy immediately pointed towards a wall that was across from where they were, not far from the dungeon entrance. Panuk grinned and nodded. It would do.
Taking careful aim, he tossed the orb towards the targeted wall. When it started to reach its highest point, he stopped running, turned and punched the air, before he continued running. A blast of air rushed from the spot he punched to meet the orb, propelling it further so that it would reach its target.
Just as the orb hit the wall, the flames reached the end of the strings, causing the orb to explode.
The effect was immediate. A large gaping hole appeared in place of the wall, slowly becoming visible as the smoke cleared. A corridor could be seen beyond the hole.
By the time the smoke cleared, the group had already reached and gone through the door. They made their way down the corridor beyond, which slowly wound left.
They ran and ran and ran, only stopping whenever they heard footsteps coming near, or when the children needed to rest. They would then hide until the guards passed them by and the children caught their breath. After that, they would continue on their way.
After about thirty minutes, they entered a large, circular chamber that was open up to the roof of the building, with balconies of every floor overlooking it. Grand pillars of ice that were embedded in the wall rose up from the ground to meet the roof, with intricate designs etched onto them and the walls. Four more pillars that were almost exactly the same as the others rose up from the central area of the chamber, most likely to provide more support for the roof.
Panuk let out a breath as they entered the chamber. He looked back at the group, saying, "Well, this is it. Beyond this chamber is the exit. We make it out of here, through those doors, and we'll be safe and free from this place." He pointed towards a large set of doors across from them, that stood opposite the balconies. They were only things in this entire place that weren't made of ice. Instead, they were made of a strong pine wood, with iron studs and bolts hammered into them. Iron rings bolted into the doors served as handles.
Panuk looked forward towards the door before saying, "Let's go."