All I could hear was the rushing of blood behind my ears as I waited. Half of our army was inside the castle, ambushing the main guard as we had ran through countless times. Blasius and Silva were in there too. I had hopes to keep an eye on them, but I knew it was better if we were split in half when leading our group to success.
I perked up at the first sign of movement, and when I saw who emerged from the castle doors I was beyond relieved. It was my mother, delivering a large set of brass keys on a keyring that was far too big to be necessary. I grabbed them from her as she wished me luck. Her appearing from within the castle could only mean one thing: we were headed in the right direction.
Gathering up protection for Menas and I, we slunk within the castle walls. It took me longer than I had hoped, but using a conjured-up image that floats behind my eyes, I lead our small division of people to the dungeons. There seem to be a lot less than I remembered, and I could only wonder how many had died while we had the luxury of escaping. The keys fumbled in my hands, missing the slot. I was so nervous that I could barely think.
Sighing in relief when I finally got the door unlocked, I swung it wide open and infiltrate the area.
"Listen up, everyone! You go outside and you get a weapon," Menas explained our plan to them, "They're not going to let everyone out of here without a fight, so hurry up and get what you can!"
"If anyone needs medical attention, there's a tent outside, too!" I added, moving out of the way of the door before I could be trampled alive. Luckily so, as once we finished talking, everyone races for the now opened doorway in the cell wall.
"Hopefully we were fast enough." I nodded in response to Menas's words. Those fighting upstairs could probably use all the help they could get. Our job was to release everyone from the cell, besides the obvious reason of freeing them from imprisonment, to assist the fight going on upstairs.
The overwhelming sound of hundreds of footsteps stomping all at once grew quieter, calling me from my thoughts. There was still more too do. I couldn't get distracted now.
"Downstairs another level?"
"Yes, let's go," I replied, leading Menas and our backup down a flight of spiraling stairs. Using the next key on the ring, I opened the cell to find children of all ages, some looked barely older than 2. My heart felt gutted, as if I had been stabbed, at the whirlwind of feelings they must have been going through for the past few months without their parents. There was no way I could let anything happen to them.
"Hi kids, I'm Amicia. I'm here to help you escape. If you arrange yourselves into groups, we'll take you upstairs a few at a time to ensure your safety," I spoke softly, but authoritatively, hoping they would do as I saw but not be too scared of me. Not that I was scary, some of these children were almost as tall as I was.
As I watched the children move themselves around the room hesitantly, I wondered if some of them could even understand me. After all, English wasn't the only language used throughout the country. In fact, it was mainly used in the human-filled territories and if these children were human they certainly wouldn't be locked in here. So Menas and I helped them gather themselves up and lead them outside group by group.
The last group of people were the elders on the last and final floor of the dungeon. Getting them out was much more difficult than the children, with the amount of them that were immobile at this point. It took way longer than expected, but we eventually got everyone to a safe spot beside the medic hut.
"Is everything alright here?" I asked the nurses as Menas ran off to find armor and a weapon for himself. I looked around, seeing the overflow of children taking up the medics' attention. I momentarily panicked. I remember my vision from before showing me how many people were inside the castle's dungeon, but the nurses looked to be way in over their head with the amount of children and elders that were waiting for assistance. I swiveled my head to watch the castle entrance. If anyone was to get hurt in there, bloodied and bleeding, we would definitely be in trouble.
"We got this," one with strawberry blonde hair replied, waving her hand my way, signaling for me to leave.
I nodded and smiled, trotting my way over to the weapons. I picked up a small wooden pike, rolling it over in my hands a few times. The pole of it was thin and light, easy to wield, but the end of it was a silvery metal, and unmistakably lethal if plunged into the right place. With the weight of the weapon, sending it through someone's body wouldn't be a hard feat at all. I shuddered at the thought. I didn't want to kill someone. Or hurt them. I just had to make sure that I could avoid that while in the castle.
When I finally ran up to the entrance, I was shocked. Bodies were already laid lifeless on the floor, soaking up the same blood that was erupting from their wounds. The coppery smell made me feel physically ill, but I swallowed it down. Although it sent the nausea down my esophagus, the lump in my throat remained.
As I slipped through the doorway and snuck my way around people dancing to violent songs, I scoured the room for Blasius to no avail. He had other tasks, I knew, but I so badly wanted to know that he was okay. That the life wasn't seeping out of him while I played it safe.
"Amicia!"
A piercing scream sounded from my right and I twirled around, weapon out in front of me. A little ways up the grandiose staircase was Silva.
My heart jumped into my throat and the vomit came back up with it as I inspected the situation unfolding before me. She was lying on the stairs, feet clambering to get some kind of grip. A man stood before her, sword in hand. It was long, and shiny enough that I could most likely have seen my own reflection in it if I had put it up to my face.
But it was piercing her stomach. Only slightly, enough to break blood, but not to do any damage.
My gaze shifted from her stomach to her face and I instantly regretted it. The look of sheer terror that clouded her eyes was unbearable. If it wasn't for the adrenaline, I would have broken down right there.
"Let her go!" I screamed, running as fast as I could to be by her side. "Leave my friend alo-"
I trembled. The blade punctured her abdomen in a fell swoop. My mouth, still open, fell silent despite the cry my vocal cords attempted to push from it.
Arms wrapped themselves around me, pulling me back and I let them. At some point I was dropped onto the cold grass, left to stare up at the overwhelmingly blue sky.