Bernard sat on the hardwood floor of the receiving room he was locked in. The moment he and Thérèse had entered Bayonne's castle, guards swarmed them and pulled them apart. Bernard was blindfolded and his weapons were taken. It took four of them to lift and carry him to the elegantly furnished room. He had kicked and fought the entire way. Bernard had no idea what had happened to Thérèse.
The first thing he'd tried after being locked in was to break through the doors. Solid mahogany, so not a chance. Then he'd tried the windows. From what he could tell, he was on the second floor. This would have made an escape relatively simple, were it not for the thick iron bars covering the only window in the room. These rebels were smarter than he planned on. Finally, Bernard tried screaming, in hopes that one of the others would hear him and come to his aid. Not necessarily the best choice, but Bernard felt it was the only option he had left. After about a minute of screaming at the top of his lungs, a guard came in and threatened to carve his tongue out of his head if he didn't stop. So Bernard slumped to the ground, defeated.
He felt embarrassed. A great military leader like him should have known better. He should have expected the ambush. But no, he let Prince Henri and his perfect little troupe take the lead. Now here he was, sitting on the floor and waiting for something, anything to happen. Would he be executed? Possibly. Would that be better than waiting around for Henri to come save him? Most definitely. He'd rather have his head roll than owe his life to Henri.
Bernard started as the mahogany doors swung open. Another body was tossed roughly onto the floor, and the doors were locked again. A thin frame topped off with a mess of red hair sprung up and pounded fists against the door.
"It's no use, Caram." Bernard said. "I've tried screaming, pounding, and the window. Nothing."
Caram whirled around, previously unaware of Bernard's presence.
"Shit, not you, too." he said. Bernard nodded solemnly.
"How'd they get you?" Bernard asked.
"I was trying to slip through the kitchens pretending I was a guard. One of the servants caught on. Before I could escape I was hit over the head and knocked out. Next thing I know, they're opening the doors and tossing me in here. What about you?"
"They swarmed Thérèse and I as soon as we got in." Bernard replied. "They took my weapons and tossed me in here."
"What about Thérèse?" Caram's fair, freckled face was full of concern. Bernard shrugged.
"Don't know. I was blindfolded, and I'm guessing she was too, so we could't see where the other was taken. Do you know anything about the rest of the group?"
Caram shook his head. "No, we all separated once we got inside. Henri thought it'd be better that way. We could cover more ground and be less suspicious than we would be if we moved as a group."
Bernard laughed. "Of course, the ever-intelligent Henri." he said sarcastically.
Caram stiffened. "What do you mean by that?"
Bernard rose to his feet. "All I mean is that every time Henri has one of these little ideas, it only works out for him. I bet he's out there roaming free right now. He'll probably find Thérèse and leave the rest of us to rot here."
"That's not true!" Caram barked. "He's loyal, and a good man. We just have to be patient, this will all get figured out."
Bernard opened his mouth to speak, but the two were interrupted by the doors opening once again. Mehala was pushed roughly into the room. Her hands were bound with a thick, dirty rope. A guard kicked her in the back of the leg so that she fell to her knees.
"Oh, come on!" Bernard threw his hands in the air as he yelled. The doors swung closed, and the three heard it lock from the outside. Mehala shifted so that she was sitting on the ground, instead of laying with her face down on the floor.
She held up her bound hands in front of her. "Can someone get me out of this?"
Caram and Bernard stepped forward to help. Neither of them had any weapons, so there was nothing readily available to cut the rope with. Caram looked around for anything that could be turned into a makeshift knife. There was a wardrobe on the opposite side of the room. Caram opened one of its doors and managed to snap off one of the bronze hinges. It was fairly old, so the hinge came off easily, leaving a jagged edge. Caram took Mehala's wrists in his hands and started making small chops with the sharp hinge. The rope fell from Mehala's hands a few moments later.
"So if the three of us are in here, that means only Henri and Zin are left." Mehala said. A cloud of silence hung ominously in the air.
"Well, and Thérèse." Bernard said. "She's capable of more than most people usually think she is." Mehala nodded silently. Caram said nothing.
"We have to get out of here." Bernard continued. "There has to be something we can do. We can't just sit in here, waiting."
The trio jumped in sync as the doors creaked open once more. Five guards entered the room, carrying the gargantuan Zin. He was fighting, just like Bernard had. But despite his massive size, he was defenseless against the five guards. He was tied at the hands and feet, gagged, and blindfolded. They dropped him unceremoniously on the floor, and turned to leave. As they began to pull the doors closed, Bernard was suddenly struck with inspiration. In a blink of an eye, he lunged towards them. The doors swung shut, but not before he was able to wedge a few fingers in the crack between the two doors. Bernard bit his tongue to keep from crying out in pain. His hand was positioned halfway up the door. Because of his fingers, the doors weren't able to lock completely. The four listened silently as the guards tried to lock the door. After a second try, they heard a man say, "Good enough."
"What are you doing?" Caram hissed at Bernard. Zin was lying at his feet, two-hundred-and-fifty pounds of blind, mute, and immobile rage.
"Mehala, help me over here. Caram, you take care of Zin." Bernard let out a pained groan. He was losing bloodflow to his fingers. Mehala and Caram were still staring at him, dumbfounded.
"Now!" Bernard snapped. The outburst shocked them back to life. Mehala pressed her ear to the door and listened for the guards to leave. It took about two minutes, but to Bernard's fingers, it might as well have been two hours. Once the footsteps faded, Mehala wedged a few fingers into the gap between the doors that Bernard had created. It widened a few centimeters. Bernard slowly wiggled his fingers higher, until he felt the deadbolt that was now only partially locking the doors. He heard Mehala groaning slightly from the extra weight added to her hand as he moved. She was kneeling now, with Bernard hunched over her.
Caram bent down to help Zin. Zin started thrashing again, not knowing who was touching him. His elbow connected with Caram's nose, and sent him onto his backside.
"Zin, you big idiot, it's me! It's Caram!" Caram yelled. He held his hand to his bleeding nose. "Damn it." he whispered. Caram wiped his hand on his pants. Zin laid still as Caram untied the blindfold and cloth gag. He once again pulled out the repurposed hinge, and got to work freeing Zin's hands and feet.
Bernard's numb fingers met the smooth, cool metal of the deadbolt. He used the pads of his fingers to push up on the deadbolt a few times in quick succession. Once it was loose, his fingers inched the bolt away from the rest of the lock. After what felt like an eternity, the lock clicked into the open position. Bernard nodded to Mehala and she slowly pulled her fingers out of the crack, messaging her hand. Bernard looked back at Zin and Caram. Zin was now free, and standing grumpily next to a blood-smeared Caram.
Bernard pulled his hand free and prepared to open the doors.
"We'll have to move quickly." he instructed. "We have no idea who or what will be waiting for us out there." Bernard's ears perked up. Footsteps, in the hallway, just barely within earshot. It could very well be a guard returning to his post. It was now or never.
Bernard threw open the doors and the four burst into the hallway. Zin lunged to the right and immediately took hold of the man who was approaching them.
"Zin, stop!" Caram yelled. Mehala and Bernard whirled to face the giant. In his muscley arms, he held Henri in a chokehold, mere seconds away from snapping his neck. Zin released Henri, an embarrassed look on his face. He started to stutter out an apology, but Henri cut him off.
"We don't have time for that now. We have work to do." Henri turned on his heel and started down the hallway, the rest of the group following close behind.