Mageia and her companions tippy toed
across the roof of the west wing to the
entrance of an old chimney now used to
transport laundry. Dean used his hammer to
break the lock and the latch and opened the
metal door. The shoot's supposed ladder was
broken and partly gone, as expected, when
she peered down into the darkness.
"Ladder," she said.
Gibby took off the ladder he wore across his
torso and they dropped it into the shoot and
secured it. Mageia silently prayed as she went
first down the shoot, sweat dribbling into her
eyes and her arms sticky with nerves. Dean
followed in suit, but Gibby stayed, staying low
to the roof to prevent being spotted.
Time was of the essence as she passed the
fifth floor and halted at the fourth floor. A door
had been built to the back of the chimney and
to her relief it possessed no lock. She placed an ear to the door, listening intently and heard
children whimpering. Remembering her own
unfortunate time in this very quarter, there
were no supervision. Placing a foot on the
ledge and holding the ladder, she pushed the
door open. She cringed as it creaked, but she
chanced it and peeked in. A new chimney had
been built beside the shoot due to the fire's
bright light and massive heat.
She caught eyes with a child sitting by the
chimney. He couldn't be more than ten with a
very small head and boney shoulders. Trails
of tears decorated his dirty face and his lips
opened as if he wanted to cry out. She placed
a finger to her lips, and he nodded rising to his
feet. Mageia crawled into the room and stood
seeing no supervision.
Unable to sleep in their ordeal, the children
sat up in their beds, faces crusted from hours
of nonstop crying. Mageia knew a few hours
from now, guards would enter with basins
of water and sacred robes for the children
to change into. With the level of celebrating
rising outside the front gates of the Taefo,
a decision could be made to prepare the
children earlier.
So, they had to move fast.
"Are you here to save us?" the ten-year-old
whispered.
"Yes," she said as Dean crawled inside.
"I need you to gather everyone, silently," she said and the sorrow in his eyes quickly lit in
strong determination.
He went to each child, all of them under
the age of ten with various ailments and
deformities. Mageia thanked the gods
seeing no one was sick to the point she'd
have to leave them behind. They ushered the
children to the laundromat shoot and one
at a time they climbed up to the roof. One
of the smaller ones had a very bad leg that
curled inward. Leaving his crutch behind, the
ten-year-old offered to carry him on his back.
The rescue was going fast and smooth, to
her liking, but the hairs along her arms sat on
ends. Any sudden sound could have a guard
enter within seconds.
With soft feet, Mageia went to block the door
with a chest of bed linens and toiletries.
Beyond the only exit in the room, she heard
men talking and laughing down a hall amidst
the wails of the condemned. A slight whimper
arose to her far left within the darkness and
she froze. Sitting in the corner of the room
was a wooden crib. That's when she realized,
she had counted only eleven children when it's
supposed to be twelve.
Gods in the Serene, she thought approaching
the crib. Lying asleep inside was a baby girl.
The structure of her skull was unnaturally
squeezed, a defect that automatically marked
her for a mercy death.
She waved Dean over and he glanced inside.
"Great gods. We can't take her."
"But she's a baby."
"Ay. A baby that cries. Plus look at her skull.
She has to have some type of brain damage."
"So, what," she said.
Mageia's eyes watered staring at the beautiful
baby upon whom the Fairest would call ugly
and unworthy to take care of. Did not this
baby have a right to live, to grow, and to die
free?
She shook her head and carefully wrapped the
baby from head to toe. "I can't leave her."
"Damn Geia, she's going to weigh us down."
"Just make sure everyone else gets out okay."
She picked up the baby and it stirred for a
second causing her heart to skip. When it
stilled, Dean helped to tie it around her torso.
Dean went to the last child, a girl, eyes coated
white from blindness, and placed her on his
back and began to climb up. Mageia waited,
until Dean and the girl was out of the shoot
and all the children were across the planks
before she ascended. As she quickened her
pace, her foot slipped on the ladder causing
her to partially fall. Her body swung and
slammed against the shoot and the thud
sound echoed downward.
The baby stirred awake as she clutched her
close to her bosom and the shoot erupted in
wails.
"Shush," she stated however the child used to be scared
and did what it knew best. Cry.
"Hurry," Dean said above.
Boots plundering the ground arose from the
children's quarters and the door burst open
only to slam towards the chest. The guards
shouted their alarm.
Mageia reclaimed her footing and quickened
her ascension.
"Hey," a guard shouted from the room and
within seconds they have been peeking up the
shoot. "Escapees!"
"Mageia come on," Dean shouted.
"They're on the roof," any one bellowed.
As she handed the fifth floor, she heard
thunder approaching the door. It flung open
and a hand gripped her ankle. She peered
down and shook her leg, catching eyes with
the irritated guard. When he observed her eyes he
gasped, loosening his hold. She yanked her
leg from his grip and kicked at his face. He
jerked away just in time.
"It's the Purple Thief," he shouted.
Mageia climbed faster, ears ringing with the
guards' shouting, the baby crying, and her
heart drumming. Getting caught was the
last thing on her wish list. Then the ladder
snagged beneath her as two guards joined
her in the shoot from the fifth floor.
"In the name of the Crown, stop," they ordered.
"Come on, Geia," Dean shouted from above.
Reaching the top, she felt something sharp
enter the back of her left leg. She screamed
almost letting go of the ladder. She glared
down at the guard, grinning up at her as he
pulled his dagger from her calf. He took hold
of her bleeding leg. With a hard squirm, she
managed to yank free and kicked him clean in
the face. This forced him to let go and with a
terrified scream fell down the shoot, crashing
into the other below.
"Take the baby," she ordered Gibby as Dean
pulled her out the shoot.
Gibby held the crying baby close and ran to
the planks as a warning horn was blown.
Word had either reached the guard on the wall
or the patrollers on the ground below.
"There they go," someone shouted below
spotting Gibby. "Get guards on the other side
of the wall. They're escaping through the
forest."
Mageia blinked hoping to cease the blurring
in her vision as the pain in her leg heightened.
Dean helped her climb onto her feet to the
waiting plank. Lightning bolts shot up her leg
and into her chest.
"Agh," she cried dropping to the roof tiles.
Blood drenched her pantleg and formed
droplets around her boot. "You're gonna have
to leave me."
"No. I'm not going to do that."
"Dean," she said grabbing the boy by the
collar. "Go. The family still needs a leader."
"But-," he managed to say before an arrow
swooshed pass his head. They both ducked.
They searched for the archer and noticed the
patroller on the wall was running towards the
planks, bow and arrow in hand.
She pushed him to go, knowing she would
only weigh them down.
"Go. That's an order," she screamed.
The boy's eyes widened in sorrow and
rebuttal, but he leaned in and planted a long
kiss on her cheek. "Return to us," he said and
sprinted across the planks. He ducked from
an arrow that barely missed him. He crossed
the wall and disappeared over the side.
While the wall patroller aimed his arrow over
the wall, searching for Dean, she plucked out her dagger and cut the rope. Mageia pressed
a hand on the stab wound and seethed her
teeth. Thudding sounds arose from the shoot.
The guards had recovered from their tumble
and the first one was scrambling out with a
bloody nose. She forced herself to a limp just
as the archer turned his attention on her. His
arrow whizzed pass her back, but she kept
going and disappeared around a corner clear
of his aim.
Mageia grinned in her disheveled state and
dashed across the unleveled roof as three
guards from the shoot were now on her tail.
She ran to the opposite side of the wide
building, staying low to avoid crossing with
an unexpected arrow. She peered over the
roof's edge for the privy pipeline to descend
and was instantly spotted by guards on alert
below.
She cursed, trying to figure out what to do
now. A headache formed in the back of her
head and her breathing grew into pants
despite the pump of adrenaline in her veins.
She glanced at her leg squirting blood with no
mercy.
"Hey," a guard shouted coming around a bend
in the roof.
She then noticed the three nearest chimneys
and knew what she had to do. She pulled the
dagger from her hairband and threw it with
great skill into the pursuing guard's knee.
He buckled over with a scream and tumbled
down the side of the roof. His friends came around the bend just in time to chase after
him before he flew off the edge