Executed…tomorrow at dawn… The Inquisitor’s words stayed with Shawn long after the man had left. Executed.

  He hadn’t truly understood the danger he was in, alone in an unknown world. He wriggled his hands again, attempting to escape the ropes on his wrists, but it was no use. His hands remained firmly behind his back. He persisted, frantically pulling on his ropes for hours until he could feel blood dripping down his fingers.

  “Oh, Shawn, you’re so screwed…” He said to himself, still sitting on the cold floor. They’d taken his runes when he entered, but even if he’d had them, he wouldn’t have been able to cast with his wrists trussed like this. Hours passed, and Shawn drifted into fitful sleep. Suddenly, the creak of metal split the silence and light taps slowly made their way to his cell.

  “H-Hello?” Shawn called, squinting.

  The taps approached, then stopped. There was a low scratching sound, and then a flame bloomed, appearing in the dark. The match was pressed to a candle, which flared to life, illuminating a face.

  “You the guy they arrested for Dark Runes?” the face asked. The voice was high and decidedly female.

  “Uh…That’s me…?” said Shawn, thoroughly perplexed. Why is she here? Is this some kind of trick by the Inquisitor?

  “Good, I was afraid I had the wrong cell. Look, we’ve gotta get you out. Tonight.” The woman fumbled for something in her pocket, then leaned towards the lock.

  “What? Get me out?” Shawn asked, now more confused than suspicious.

  The woman paused to give Shawn a disbelieving stare. “You telling me you want to be executed? Yes, we’re getting you out.” She finally managed to insert the object, which Shawn now recognized as a key, into the lock of his cell, and opened the lock with another screech.

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  She swung a leather pouch into his chest, and he instinctively grabbed it. It was his rune pouch, now with the runes of Earth and Energy within. “This is yours, right?”

  “Uh…yeah. It’s mine,” Shawn replied, eloquently. Yeah. Eloquently. “Do you even know how to get out of this prison? And where will we hide in the city after all that?”

  She grabbed his hand and tugged him along the hall, candle lighting their way. “Yeah, I know a way out of here. But you’ve got it all wrong. We’ve got to get you out of the city. Once we do that, we can actually get you to Longstriden. We’ll meet up with the rest there.”

  “Um, excuse me. First off, who are you? And second, the others?” Shawn asked, trying to keep up with her.

  “Shhhhhhhh.” She put a finger to his lips, then started up the stairs. “First, I’m Vena. Hi, nice to meet you. And second, ‘the others’ means the other members of the Allied Leaders of Change. We’re a small group of those that actually acknowledge the prophecy and aim to help it to fruition. And now that you’re here, we can finally do just that.”

  They reached the top of the stairs and the woman quickly clammed up, as they entered the lit halls of the upper keep. She trotted down one hall to the left, then paused to allow a sentry to make his rounds before continuing down the hall to the gate he had entered through. Perplexingly, she immediately turned, going in nearly the opposite direction as the gate.

  “You know, that was the gate back there,” Shawn told her, motioning behind them.

  “Yes, I did know that. I also know that it’s far too loud for our purposes, and there’s a better way out.”

  She continued leading him down the hall, eventually stopping at what looked like a small door inset in the wall at waist height.

  “Oh good. Your plan is to become gnomes. Good plan,” said Shawn, sarcastically.

  “Oh, shut up and just get in.” She pulled open the door quietly and motioned towards it.

  Shawn hesitated for a beat, then began to climb into the shaft he could now see behind the door. “Where does this even go?”

  “It comes out around the waste pile. I’d recommend not breathing for this part.”

  “What?”

  She shoved him down the shaft.