It was a stone room with a heavy metal door to one side. Two men manned this room as well, looking more alert than most of the other guards, but still bored. And there was another blocking mechanism. What looked like a heavy metal plate, perhaps five feet to a side, and probably thick and heavy. It was propped up against one wall by two planks. If those planks were removed and the plate knocked over, it would cover the trap-door and be very hard to move. So, these men would need to be dealt with before he left as well.
Now came the hard part… waiting. If it came to it and he was going to have to deal with the guards down here, he’d been told to wait — for as long as he could — to see if the guards switched at all. If at all possible, he’d want to eliminate the guards after a shift change, so that their deaths wouldn’t be discovered quickly.
But he knew time was precious. It might mean the difference between Alvere being alive and dead. And that ate at him as he sat there, hoping and praying to all the Spirits that the guards would change soon.
He didn’t know if it was seconds, minutes, or hours that he sat there, but finally, the door to the small room opened and men came in.
“Go grab some grub,” one of the men coming in said.
Silence took the moment while the group was milling around in the room, to rush out from the trapdoor. He dodged boots as he scurried out the open door. From the size of the group in the hall, it was clear all of the guard stations here and below were being switched out.
Good.
Now he just had to find Alvere and get back here to deal with these guards as quickly as possible. He ran off to explore the lower levels of the estate.
It took some time, in this small form, to check the various doors and tunnels in this sub-basement of the estate. But then, finally he slid under one door into a dark room, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness from the barely-lit hall behind him. Mice didn’t have particularly good sight, but he caught a familiar scent in this cell. He sniffed around until he was sure, then transformed back to himself.
“Alvere?”
“Silence?” The voice was hoarse and so very desperate. It made Silence’s heart break. Especially given what Silence knew was coming. “Are you here to free me?”
“No,” Silence said, his heart shattering a bit more. “But!” he added quickly. “We are on our way. If I took you now, we’d not be able to get past all the guards.” That wasn’t entirely true. Silence was fairly confident he could deal with the guards and would have to on his way out, but the truth was they suspected Alvere had been cursed like the queen and couldn’t leave without dying. But he didn’t want to say that to the sorrowing man. So, as much as it tore at his heart, he lied. “I just needed to know where you were so we can come and rescue you. Don’t worry Alvere, I’ll be back soon with others.”
“Silence? No, please, don’t go, not yet.” And Silence knew he couldn’t. With no light in the room Silence felt his way around until he touched flesh. Alvere gasped, then wept. Silence’s hand swept over naked skin, feeling the roughness of what he assumed was dried blood, and the raised flesh of long cuts. “Don’t. Please!” Alvere begged, pain in his voice.
But Silence drew closer and raised his hand to find Alvere’s face; it helped that they were roughly the same height.
“Don’t worry, my love, we’re coming, I’ll be back soon.” He kissed the man’s forehead softly.
Alvere was weeping, sobbing. “I… had hoped… so much…”
“And we’re here. Can you wait just a little longer?”
More sniffs and sobs. “Yes, I can… but… please hurry.” The pure agony and desolation in the once-strong man’s voice tore at Silence. He tensed his jaw.
“Yes, we will. I need to go now, to bring the others all the quicker.”
“Yes, go,” Alvere said, still weeping.
Silence, though it wounded his soul to do so, veered into his mouse form and ran from the cell, retracing his steps back to the room with the trap door. He pressed himself as flat as he could to squeeze under the well fitted metal door and before he entered the room, he glanced within. One guard stood, the other sat beside the trapdoor.
Silence had no desire to kill these men, but it had to be done. So, he hardened himself for what was to come. He cut out any sympathy for the guards and told himself they deserved what they got; that they’d kill him given half a chance. They were working for inhumane masters, given what had been done to Alvere. It was easy to harden his heart, knowing how his friend and lover had been treated. There would be no mercy tonight.
He scurried out, between the legs of the man standing, then veered, returning to his normal form even as he drew forth a dagger and drove it up under the man’s jaw and into his skull.
Without pause a second knife, made for throwing, was in his hand, then hurdling at the man sitting. The guard let out a clipped cry before the knife found his eye and sank into his brain. Then he was silent as he fell back, limp.
But he’d made a bit of noise…
Silence stood stock still, listening.
Had the men below heard that?
“Everything well up there?” One man from below shouted.
Bloody bones!
Silence whipped opened the trap door and dropped down, landing lightly to slash out quickly, again taking one of the guards before he knew what was happening. The other didn’t have his sword out, but he tried to draw it. Silence was there before the sword cleared the scabbard, plunging his blade into the man’s eye. The guard went down like a board, falling flat.
