The easiest way Viki could think of to get caught, and put into the dungeon just like Tom, was to get spotted while attempting to get inside the dungeon itself to free her brother. She was just a kid, so nobody would question such a stupid action.
There was one problem though. She still needed a way to hide the bottle. The first idea was to stuff it between her still-forming breasts, but they were too small, and it could be easily spotted. Then she tried her shoe, but the bulge could be seen even from a distance.
The idea it might be too dark for that didn't pass through her mind.
She kept trying other spots, and eventually put it in her pants, behind her back. It was tight enough there so it wouldn't just fall off, besides she could feel it very well, and the bulge remained hidden thanks to her shirt.
Then she headed straight to the city dungeon entrance. It was located in the basement of the city town hall and was accessible from outside, but you still had to first go through the guard room.
Moving through the city, even during such a dark night, wasn't much trouble for her, since she knew the streets by heart. She probably could do the same blindfolded. There was a bit of maneuvering included, as she wanted to avoid the guards, and get caught close to the city hall, but eventually, she got close enough.
Unfortunately, she couldn't spot any guards around. Thinking in rush, she decided to just try and get spotted going inside, so she approached the stairs on the side of the building, and slowly walked down the steps.
There was a heavy wooden door blocking the path, reinforced with an iron plate. Some muffled sound was reaching her ears from inside, so she started listening, trying to decipher the words.
- I'm telling you, she is the best, and the ale? Amazing. It's not like the piss you can get in the 'Salty Sturgeon' - somebody said.
- Oh how I envy you. You are free. My hag would kill me if I even approached the door to the 'Keg'.
She grabbed gently the handle, and slowly pushed it. The door gave out, and a very small crack appeared between it and the wall. There was some source of light inside, but she couldn't see much more than that. She opened it slightly more to reveal an unblocked path, with some light illuminating it a bit, coming from the table on the right. It was leading straight to stairs descending into darkness.
She kept pushing, ignoring the fact that the conversation just stopped, and then she saw a man, sitting by the table she just spotted, with some cards in his hand. There had to be some light source there, since his face was all bright, and was expressing a surprise.
- Shit - escaped her mouth, and she rushed to escape.
- Hey! - The man shouted and jumped to run after her.
Wiki climbed the stairs but made herself stip on the last step, landing on the ground, but not too heavily, because of the bottle in her pants. A sound of steps reached her, and before she managed to pick herself up, a hand grabbed her foot.
- Come here! - shouted the guard, pulling her.
He was a strong and tall guy. He managed to pick her up by the leg. She tried to kick him, but he grabbed her other limb. There was nothing more she could do besides punching him, but she would only hurt herself since he had a breastplate on.
- What the bloody hell... What were you doing here, love? - he asked with a smile on his face.
The guard evidently found this whole situation funny.
- None of your business! - she replied.
- None? Do you want to spend the night in a cell?
- Fuck you!
- Just get the fucking kid in, and throw her in the dungeon! - yelled somebody from down the stairs.
She couldn't see that person, because her vision was blocked by the one who grabbed her.
The guard holding her easily turned her around, before she even managed to react, and wrapped his arm around her neck.
- You are the thief arent you? You came here for the boy we just got, didn't you? - he asked. - It's the girl Jo was talking about! The one that escaped him!
- Just get her into a cell, Jeff!
The guard forced her to get down the stairs, and then inside. The source of light she noticed before was a bunch of candles, put into a big flat bowl willed with melted wax. On the chair placed on the opposite spot of the man who caught her, was another guy, also wearing the uniform.
He was swinging on the chair, with his back resting on the wall, and arms crossed at the chest.
- Just throw the rat in, and close the bloody door! - he nagged.
- She might have something on her, I need to check - he said and started touching Viki.
His hands went immediately to her breasts.
- Are the whores from 'Keg' not enough for you? You bloody bastard! Leave the kid alone - said the lazy guard.
Jeff gave him a look and forced Viki to move forward, down the second pair of stairs picking up keys from the wall on his way. Those were leading straight towards the cells, filled with now curious individuals. It was hard to see more than just outlines of their bodies because of the darkness.
The man opened one of the doors, shoved her in, and closed it. She fell and landed heavily on the cold stone. Meanwhile, the guard climbed his way up.
- Viki? - she heard a whisper almost immediately.
The voice belonged to her brother, she had no doubt about that.
- Yeah - she whispered back.
- What the hell are you doing here?
- I came to save you - she said as she picked herself up.
There were few others in her cell, but they remained curled in the corners, clearly trying to sleep. Tom was in another one, right in front of hers, grabbing the bars. She couldn't see his face because of the darkness, but she knew that he was scared.
The conversation of the guards restarted, and she could clearly hear them, but she didn't pay too much attention.
- Are you stupid? You only got yourself caught.
- Shut up, Tom. I tried to help.
- You shouldn't have.
- Can you shut up? - somebody asked them.
- Now what are we going to do? - asked Tom, ignoring the prisoner.
Viki sighed and took another look around to check the dungeon before getting the bottle out. Nobody was really paying attention to her, so she just pulled the bottle out.
- What are you doing? - asked the kid, as he couldn't really see what was going on.
- Nothing - she replied while unwrapping the bottle from the piece of material stained with blood, then she turned around to face her brother.
- I told you to shut up! - hissed somebody.
The person had to stand up, as they both could hear a bit of rustling.
- Quiet there! - yelled Jeff.
On the cell on her left, somebody grabbed the bars and got their face closer, to have a look.
- Psst. Is that a bottle? - asked the person.
- It's not - said Viki.
- I said quietly there! - the guard yelled again.
- What do you have there? - whispered the person again. - Rum? Moonshine?
- Leave my sister alone! - growled Tom.
The light source from above moved a bit, and the shadows danced around for a moment.
- Hide it - hissed the prisoner.
Viki panicked in the first second, but then prolonged it, trying to put the bottle somewhere it wouldn't be noticed as Jeff from above was clearly coming down. She ended up shoving it under her shirt, between her breasts.
The guard showed on top of the stairs and slowly walked down with a candle in his hand.
- Do you want to get beaten up? - he asked. - I said quiet, didn't I?
He stopped between siblings separated in two different cells and looked at the boy.
- Go to sleep boy, or I'll whack your ass so hard you will remember it for the rest of your life.
Tom stepped back, letting go of the bars he kept holding onto. Then Jeff turned to Viki, and clearly wanted to say something, but his lips froze shortly as he opened his mouth. Then he moved his hand with the candle closer to her, as he noticed something.
She stepped back, to hide in the shadows.
- Come here! - he demanded. - What do you have there?
- Nothing - she responded, but fulfilled the order making a step forward.
- Closer! - growled the guard.
She made another step, and Jeff grabbed her through the bars and pulled closer.
- What the bloody hell is this? Where did you hide it? - he asked, after pulling out the bottle from behind her shirt.
She didn't respond, and quickly moved back, as soon as he let her go.
- You kids are the vermin of this town - said the guard, and then he spat on the ground.
After that, he gave her an angry look and turned around to climb the stairs.
- Congratulations you dumb wench - said the prisoner. - You just lost it.
Viki smiled, as nobody could see her face in the darkness anyways, then she sat on the ground, to pull the wire out of her hair.
Meanwhile, Jeff got upstairs, carefully checking out the bottle.
- What do you have there? - asked his friend.
- I don't know - he replied and placed the candle inside the bowl.
Then he opened the bottle and sniffed the liquid. A nasty smile crawled on his face.
- I think it's a rum - he said and chuckled.
- Did the kid have it? - a sked the other guard. - Give it here, let me check.
- Yeah, she did - sadi Jeff, and gave the bottle to the other man.
He sniffed it, and then took a sip.
- It's a bloody rum - he stated.
After that, they shared it, as they returned to their interrupted conversation.
Viki waited in silence, completely still as she managed to get her lockpick out, listening very carefully for any indication that the poison worked out.
It took some time. It started with a gargling sound, as the foam gathered in the throats of the guards, blocking the windpipes. There was also a bit of a rustle and muffled shouts as they stood up, trying to call help. Then there was a loud noise of two bodies hitting the ground and the sound of metal and stone slamming into one another.
The prisoners heard it all and gathered by the bars, looking curiously at the stairs. Viki didn't waste a second. She rushed towards the lock and placed the wire inside. Then she closed her eyes and biting on her lip attempted to pick it.
- What did you do? - asked Tom.
- Shh! - she hissed.
- Did you poison them? - asked the prisoner who not too long ago called her stupid.
She ignored the question and focused her best on the lock. The whole prison had to notice what she was doing, as they became silent.
It took some time, but she finally opened the door, and then rushed forward, to give Tom the lockpick.
- Hey, what about us?! - shouted some prisoner
He put it to use immediately, ash she ran up the stairs, to get the keys. She found them on the wall, grabbed them, and jumped down.
- Free yourselves you fools! - she shouted and threw the keys inside another cell.
Her brother already opened his lock at this time. The men he was sharing the space with, weren't waiting and passed by the two kids, escaping the dungeon.
Viki grabbed Tom's hand, and they both ran out into the darkness of the night.