Glenn kept punching the wall as he heard Joren's cries of pain for the past three weeks. Not only him but all of Joren's friends were angry hearing what he was going through.
"Is the plan ready, Carter?!"
"Tonight!" Carter expressed. "She informed me that everything is ready and if no unexpected variables come into play, then we are leaving tonight!"
"Good. I can't bear to hear them hurt my nephew any longer." Normally he would have said he couldn't bear to stay there any longer but his parental instincts kicked in and he focused on Joren instead.
"Rest until then, we'll need as much energy as we can get." Carter sat down and lay on the cold floor, going to sleep.
...
Hours later, deep in the night, Kara made her way to the dungeon holding keys in her hands so they wouldn't jingle and alarm anyone. Slowly opening the door to the dungeon, she entered quietly and closed the door without alarming anyone, not that they would hear anyway.
You see, a part of her plan was to make sure the other prisoners didn't get wind of their operation and they needed to make sure they didn't wake up or were still up when things went down, so in their meals today, Kara laced it with a sleeping drug to make sure they weren't caught.
"Carter, you up?" She whispered into the cell where Cater and Glenn were sleeping on the hard cold floor as she started to open the door.
"Yeah, I'm up, let's do this."
After waking Glenn up, the three of them went to the cells of Arnold and Lenny, as well as the cells of Pantera and Derry. Kate removed the collar around their neck and they all felt mana return to their bodies, strengthening them, but since they were without it for a while, it would take some time for them to fully regain their strength.
"Last is Joren, let's go." They all headed to Joren's cell and saw him curled into a ball sleeping with tears running down his face. His arms and legs were badly beaten and the stars and burn marks were visible on his body.
"Those bastards!"
"How dare they!"
"Poor Joren."
They opened the cell, walked over to him, and removed the collar from his neck. Joren woke up slightly feeling his power return.
"Uncle?" He asked weakly.
"Yes, yes I'm here. We all are." He fell to his knees, hugging Joren. The rest of them followed and hugged him, relieved that he was okay.
"Sorry to cut your reunion short but we need to go," Kara spoke.
"Yeah, let's go." Glenn sniffed as he helped Joren stand.
Walking out of the cell, they made their way to the entrance of the Dungeon.
"We're leaving through the front door?" Lenny asked concerned as this was usually not the best option.
"Yes, I know the shift changes, and for the past three months, I have studied them to make sure no guards will be in the area. Now let's hurry up before some unseen factor messes up our escape."
'Oh great, she might have jinxed us. Please knock on wood to make sure everything is okay. No? That's fine, I'm talking in my head anyway.' Joren chuckled to himself, feeling a bit of pain when he laughed.
"Joren, I wanted to ask, what happened to Lady Tessa?" Even in the situation he was in, Carter was still concerned about his duty.
"S-S-She's in the capital."
"Really?!" Everyone turned to him with proud looks as he completed the mission.
"W-Well, I don't really know, but..." He explained the entire situation and emphasized that they were two weeks away from the capital and it had been three weeks and yet she still hadn't been found. Not only that, but he also threw her super far which shortened the distance. Little did they know they she arrived in the capital within a few days because she happened to come across her friend.
"Thank you Joren, truly. Whenever I get the chance, I will repay you." Carter breathed a sigh of relief knowing that Tessa was now safe and out of her family's reach.
"D-Derry, Pantera, c-come here." Feeling more of his strength returning, Joren thought it was time to put his sigil on them.
"What's the matter?" They walked to him, taking over his aid from Glenn and Arnold.
"Here, don't resist it." He put both hands on their navel and engraved his sigil on their body. They felt their emotions skyrocket and wanted to embrace Joren right here, right now, but because of their current situation, they resisted their urges.
"W-What is this?!" Derry questioned, fascinated by new magic she hadn't seen him perform before.
Joren explained what it was and what it did. At least the clean version as he didn't want to tell them the exact functions of his sigil as they would look at him differently.
"Amazing! I need to study this." Even in their bad situation, Derry was still a magical nerd.
Joren also put his sigil on Arnold, Glenn, and Lenny but he didn't put it on their navel, instead, he put it on their arms. It was the shape of a flame with a lightning bolt piercing it. Instead of feeling a sense of pleasure as the women do, they feel a sense of respect and loyalty towards Joren.
They made their way out of the long staircase and entered the lobby area that had many doors leading to different areas. Kara led them to a staircase that led upstairs and they kept walking until they reached to top of the fortress.
"We're on the roof! What are we going to do now?" Glenn asked with a look of untrust.
"Don't worry, walk over to the edge," Kara ordered.
They all did as they were told and looked down. What they saw was a river flowing southward away from the fortress. The river was a deep one so even if they Jumped at their current height, they wouldn't be injured.
"You want us to jump in the river? That's our escape plan? Seems lackluster if you ask me?" Lenny expected something more grand like riding a dragon, or a flying carriage, instead, he got a flowing river.
"Hey, do you want to leave or not?! This river is located on the south side of the fortress where there is little to no servalence. You can stay if you like but this is the only chance you'll get."
Just as they were about to jump, a man came running alongside eight other people. "I knew you were acting fishy Kara, just couldn't put my finger on it. But look at you now, helping prisoners escape. Once the family head gets wind of this, you and you're family are all dead."
"Ugh, I was hoping I wouldn't run into you. You're always sticking your nose in other people's business."
"Nice chat, I'm not sticking around to continue." Lenny jumped into the river.
Everyone froze as Lenny's jumping was so unexpected. Then Arnold jumped as well.
"Hey, wait stop!" the man yelled
Pantera and Derry both jumped together.
The man shot a jet of flames at them but Kara countered with her own and put off a wall of flames to block their path.
"Go, I'll hold them off, it's best of you escape."
"But-"
"Now!" Carter tried to speak but Kara interjected.
"Stay alive." Carter jumped.
"Let's go Joren." Glenn got ready to jump but Joren tugged on Kara's shirt and asked her a question.
"Does Sir Carter know the area?" He asked
"What are you-?" She paused before continuing. "No, I don't think so, why?"
"Do you know the area?"
"Yes, I do."
"Joren what are you doing? Let's go!" Glenn spoke in a hurry.
"It's best if you leave with them, miss. You know the area so you would also know the best spots for them to hide if anything happens. I'll hold them off as best as I can, although I doubt that would do anything."
"Absolutely not! You are coming with us! Now let's go!" Glenn grabbed Joren's arm, pulling him toward the edge, but then a jolt of electricity forced Glenn to move his hand.
"If any of you guys get caught, you'll probably die. But I'm still of use to that man. At most, I'll be beaten. I'd rather be beaten than watch you all die." A tear rolled down Joren's face as he contemplated his actions. Did he want to leave? Of course, he did, but he also knew of the potential consequences of his friends getting caught and he didn't want them to die.
"No, I will not-" Kara pushed Glenn off the edge before he could finish. She fist-bumped Joren's chest, telling him "Good luck." before jumping off herself.
"NOOOOOO!!!!!" Shouting as he fell, Glenn cursed himself for not being strong enough to protect his family.
"Sorry Uncle." Smiling wryly, the firewall vanished and revealed nine men standing waiting.
"Look what we have here. A lost little lamb in a wolf's den." They all walked over to Joren cracking their knuckles.
Lightning crackled around Joren's body before sizzling out. The men look on confused at what just happened. Once more lightning crackled around him before again sizzling out. This happened a few more times until the lightning finally stayed on his body.
"Ahh, this feels good." He looked up at the night sky and breathed in the fresh air. "Let's get this over with." He bolted toward the weakest person there and collided with him face-first.
Since his body was still injured and had not healed properly, he wasn't in the best condition to fight, but that didn't stop him.
Not letting the pain get in his way, he stabbed the man in his eyes and electrocuted the inside of his brain, killing him. He got up to find his next target but was kicked in the face.
Skidding on the ground, Joren barely got his footing back as a fist was planted right in his abdomen.
"Arghh!!" He grabbed the fist, even though he was in pain, and headbutted the man who punched him. The others came over and started beating him up.
Joren hit them all with lightning strikes, not enough to harm them, but enough to annoy them which caused the men to beat him up even more, but that was his plan. He never expected to beat these men, hell, he was shocked that he even killed one. What he wanted to do was stall for time and keep them focused on him, which he did.
"Hey! What's going on up here?!" A guard who heard the commotion ran up to see what was happening when he saw eight people beating up some kid.
"N-Nothing sir! We were just punishing this boy who tried to escape!" When one of the men spoke those words, he remembered the others. "Oh shit! We need to sound the alarms, there are escapes."
"What?!" The guard asked, confused about the situation. The men informed him what went down here and he agreed with them to sound the alarms.
"Take this boy back to the dungeon and see to it that he doesn't escape again."