Before dawn, Raya woke up and began pacing her cell. Today was the day of the prison transfer. Today was the day that Saring would try to free her. When the small ray of morning sunlight finally reached the window, she had given up on trying to read one of the books. She was too anxious to calmly look across each word and assign it meaning in her mind. Of course, pacing around the cell was a good way to tire herself out. She had no idea how long the day would be.
By midmorning, she was starting to understand just how incredibly long it would feel. Soon, she was waiting for her meal and desperately wondering if White-Eye would bring her a note explaining the plan’s failure… or if White-Eye would even be permitted to serve her anymore—perhaps Saring’s capture would reveal the secret chain of communication.
By noon, Raya had nearly lost all her hope. She heard the jingle of keys and prepared herself for a livid Commander Ramas or some other guard captain. Then she heard a loud thump. For a moment, there was only silence—then the keys rattled in her door’s lock. Raya grabbed a book as though it could defend her. The door opened, and Saring stepped inside.
“Oh, thank the gods,” Raya blurted. She threw her arms around her rescuer out of instinctual reaction.
Saring quickly pulled away. “We’re not out of the woods yet,” he told her. “Come on.”
In the hall, a few armoured guards stood around one collapsed one. None of them were familiar to Raya, but they smiled politely to her. Raya recognized the guard on the ground as her usual cell guard—he had only been knocked out. One of Saring’s disguised friends lifted a short length of rope. Raya glanced at Saring.
The man’s short beard looked unkempt and his sweaty forehead gleamed in the torchlight. He looked at Raya apologetically. “We’ll tie it loose, but you need to look like a captive still.”
“Right,” Raya said, remembering the plan. She turned around and allowed her wrists to be wrapped with the rope. While her “disguise” was conducted, Saring and one of the others dragged the unconscious guard into Raya’s cell and locked it again.
“We still need to get your friends,” Saring said, as he led the way down the wide corridor. “But Kaio here has a map.”
They descended into the lower levels of the prison, where the hallways were only wide enough for single-file and the cells were dirt floors, not stone, like Raya’s room. Raya errantly wondered where the new prisoners would be kept, the ones that Saring and his friends had delivered here in order to obtain entrance as supposed men of the City Watch.
Avri’s was the first cell they found. The chamber stunk, but Avri smiled when they explained the plan. Her hands were also tied.
They heard Benn coughing from a few cells away; he emerged pale and shaky, but he told Raya, “I’m good. Let’s get out of here.”
While Saring worked at unjamming the lock on Dondar’s cell, heavy boots echoed down the hallway. Before anyone could react, a voice called, “What are you doing?” A guard strode out of the shadows with his hand on his sword. He marched past Raya and Avri towards a confrontation with the armoured rescuers.
At the last moment, Avri stuck out her foot. The guard tripped forward, going to one knee before finding his balance. The man named Kaio smashed the guard in the face with a club, collapsing him onto the cold stone walkway.
“That was close,” Saring said, after a moment. No further sounds of commotion echoed down the hall, so he resumed his work on Dondar’s door.
Dondar emerged looking far thinner than he had before, but Raya reflected that it was only because he had been the fittest of them. He had suffered the most on their restrictive rations.
With Dondar freed, the group set off for the exit of the main building. The narrow hall approached the blinding light of the courtyard. They passed a sentry-room in what seemed an unimaginably bold manner, and strode out into the daylight.
Raya blinked and looked around. The guards on the ramparts of the prison complex were continuing their patrols or chatting in pairs. None looked down at Raya’s friends for more than a glance. A man was working on the spokes of a wagon wheel under the eaves of a workshop built against the wall. He waved to Saring as the “guards” passed with their bound prisoners in tow.
There were four guards at the front gate. One walked toward Saring’s group as soon as he saw them coming. “Where are you going with them?” he called.
Saring shrugged. “Just following my orders,” he said. “Have to make room for the new transfers I brought earlier.”
The opposing guard shook his head. “I’m going to need to see some paperwork about that.”
Continuing forward into the archway opening in the wall, Saring held out his hands. “It was on the scroll I gave you,” he said. “All my orders were there.”
The sentry frowned. “Get the scroll,” he called.
Raya noticed a tremble in Saring’s knees. Was the scroll going to pass a double inspection? Clearly, this was not going according to plan. She looked through the gateway, but realized the four defenders would be easily able to block her way if she ran.
“Here you are, sir,” said one of the subordinates, passing a parchment scroll to the sentry that had stopped them.
They started looking it over together, while Raya watched Kaio slowly start to reach toward the sword hilt at his waist. This was going to go very bad, very quickly.
“Make way!” called another voice. Everyone turned to look through the gateway. A man on a horse was approaching, surrounded by five other soldiers.
The guard who had spoken to Saring stepped back to make way for the horse. He bowed his head and looked back up. “Commander Baradar,” he stammered.
Raya’s stomach sank. Commander, she repeated in her head. This man sat on the Advisory with Commander Ramas. They would be found out, most assuredly. She again assessed her chances of making a dash through the opening.
Commander Baradar glanced around, assessing the group of prisoners and the guards that escorted them. He locked eyes with Saring before turning back to the sergeant that had delayed their exit. “What’s the meaning of this? There shouldn’t be prisoners standing around at the gate. Clear this up!” he ordered. With an incredulous shake of his head, he rode through and into the courtyard.
The sentry with the scroll sheepishly handed it to Saring and said, “Get going, then.”
Just like that, Raya walked out of the prison. She didn’t look back as Saring led them down a street. They passed citizens of Pranan’s Hill, wealthy aristocrats that looked down their nose at the presence of criminals in their streets. But it was life. Even unpleasant life out here was better than waiting to die in the prison. They passed through a noisy market and Raya drank it all in.