Alive With Voices

Blaire's Pov

Jamil did not like the idea of us breaking the rules because despite the fact that he was the most outgoing of all four of us, he also happened to be the most rigid. Weird combination, right? But with the two of us on his case, he had no other choice than to join us in our prison raid. I had returned my mother's bunch of keys before she would notice they were gone but that was only after I had removed the keys to the dungeon.

With their help, I had been able to secure more supplies which was more extensive because Jamil insisted I bring a gift or something as an act of goodwill to the other prisoners. According to him, bringing something for one prisoner, especially when it was against the rules, would make the other prisoners mad which might make them pick on the prisoner or worse, report the prisoner just to spite him. The simple cure to that, is to bring something for them as well. They would be pleased with the thoughtfulness and voila, all would have been saved a lot of trouble.

Dusk came quickly this time unlike the previous night when it seemed to have rolled on forever and soon, it was time. They helped me bring the package to the palace and by package, I mean, food, drugs, first aid materials to tend to his wound which would no doubt still be healing, and well, food again. It was a dark, moonless night which could be interpreted to mean two things. One, the moon so favored our mission that she decided to reduce our chances of being spotted by not showing up or two, the moon was so disgusted by our act that she decided to not be a party to it.

Jamil seemed to think it was the latter because he was quiet the entire way, not even bothering to make any of his trademark jokes. As agreed, Jamil would keep watch inside the palace, by the row of steps that led deep into the heart of the palace where the dungeon was. Ulo would continue with me till we got to the entrance to the dungeon where he would keep watch as well and be ready to help if anything went wrong. Their precautions made me wonder if they didn't know I had come alone the previous night. Not that I was complaining though.

I inhaled as I clutched the package to my chest with one hand and with the other, held the blazing torch before me. Unlike the upper area of the palace that always had torches burning every few feet, this place was absolutely dark. So dark you couldn't even see your arm if you placed it before your eyes without any light.

"Just call out to me if you get into any trouble, okay?" Ulo whispered, his arm never leaving his sword as he unlocked the heavy gates. I nodded although I didn't really see how anything could possibly go wrong after all, I was only a lady who was performing the regular task of bringing her friend help when he needed it the most.

Walking into the dungeon, I half expected the long corridor to start boiling over with the cries of desperate men. Instead, I was met with silence that was so overwhelming, it made me uncomfortable. So uncomfortable that I flashed the torch either way as I moved, trying to figure out if they had suddenly winded up dead overnight. Not that I would mourn them though but I found the silence to be extremely unnerving. In the silence, I could hear the squeaking of rats and the scurry of tiny feet. Maybe not so tiny. I wondered how big their rats grew in here without being curbed and all. I thought about running into one of them and it was enough to make me shudder.

I made my way to Indrik's cell which I now knew by heart from having spent time, painstakingly looking from cell to cell for him the other night.

I brought the light close to his door but he was nowhere in sight. At least, not in my line of sight which was very limited by the way. "Pssst!" I hissed and waited without getting any response. "Indrik!" I called again without any change. I panicked as I wondered what had happened with him. Fiddling with my waist, I hurriedly extracted the key and unlocked his door before dashing in, half expecting to see the worst.

I was relieved to find that he was okay, just sleeping. If that could be called sleeping. He was curled up in a ball by the far wall of the room and must have been straining a muscle or two because he was groaning heavily in his sleep and Indrik never snored. As before, I was hit by the stench of an unhealthy mix of endless damp, rot and a third element that I could not place a name too but was worse than the other two combined. My heart twisted as I bent and shook him awake.

He groaned, muttering those words that manage to slip through your mouth from the world of unconsciousness as he roused. It took a moment for him to focus and see that someone was standing over him with a torch. When he did realize, the speed with which he sat up both amused me and hurt me especially because I could see he hadn't noticed it was me. From the look of fright that flickered in his eyes under the torch, I could tell that he had had more to worry about than damp floor and huge rats.

"It's me, Blaire." I whispered and was glad to see him relax slightly. This relief was premature though as I saw a look of urgency cross his features.

"What are you doing here?" He rasped, his eyes flitting.

"What do you mean what am I doing here? Of course, I am here to take care of you."

"You shouldn't have come." And as though to confirm his statement, the entire dungeon suddenly grew alive with voices.