Prison Break

Only one person visited Will the following morning after he dreamt the strange voice. And that was Edworth, one of the few actual professional guards in the town. Backing up as he approached, Will watched wearily as the big man entered his cell. He had reason to be nervous. This Guard was one of the worst that the village militia had. He was known for being nothing more than a thug, someone who seemed to actively take pleasure in the hurt he caused.

The man’s beady little eyes fell on Will, but as Will met them, he found them to be empty of all emotion. He didn’t know whether this was any better if he was being honest with himself.

After a moment where the stare off continued uninterrupted. The Guard seemed to remember the reason as to why he was there in the first place. At which, he dropped a bowl of what looked like the world’s worst slop, onto the ground. The plate shattered, and Will watched what was clearly supposed to be his meal for the day seep out onto the floor.

Not that the Guard seemed to care, as he was already leaving the cell, locking the door behind him and walking away.

Will returned to stare at his pitiful meal. It continued to leak out of the broken bowl, hitting the ground with an annoying dripping sound.

Restrained as he was, Will had no idea how he was supposed to eat; the Guard had purposely failed to unlock the chain that kept his wrists and ankles restraints together.

A thought came to him then, and he grimaced at the sick realisation of the Guard’s game. In order to eat, he would have to bend over and lick the food off the ground on all fours like a dog.

No.

Will might be on death’s door, he might be in no position to ask for anything, and that the slop might be his last meal. But even now, he had standards, and some pride left. He wanted to shout at the Guard, to demand that he have at least some of his dignity and pride back. But he couldn’t, his mouth was incredibly dry. Partly from not having been able to have a drink of anything since the accident. But mostly just due to the realisation that it wouldn’t do a damn thing.

The hours began to pass, or at least Will thought they did, as what little daylight reached him in here started to disappear.

“Well Will. Tomorrow you die.” Will said to himself as he sat up as much as his chains would allow. “At least I’ll be able to see Alice when it’s all over.” Will finished. He knew that he wouldn’t go to the four hells. It had been an accident; the priests were always reiterating that an accidental death would be forgiven. Will could only hope that having twenty on his conscience would be equally forgivable.

The same dream, where he was left powerless to answer the crimes being hurled at him from the people of Harthpoint. Only this time, his tongue did not reappear, and he was left to watch in silence as worse and worse accusations were hurled at him.

What was different this time, was the tapping coming from his ankle. Will looked down in the dream and saw nothing. But as he continued to stare at his ankle, the tapping continued more forcefully.

It was this that finally woke him up, the pain was magnified by the fact that whoever it was, they were kicking the cuff, and causing the metal to be constantly driven into his ankle bone. It was this, rather than the noise of the chain clattering together, that had brought him back to consciousness.

Opening his eyes, Will saw who had been systematically driving the metal shackle into his ankle. And he met the gaze of the Edworth.

Though something was different about the guard this time. Where there was usually a slightly odd hungry look about him. Now he looked vaguely out of it. It was weird, like the Guard was possessed or something, a puppet with invisible wires.

What was weirder though, was the fact that the Guard was not alone. Looking behind him, Will saw a man, at least he thought it was a man, leaning up against the bars of his cell.

This stranger was tall, and all Will could see of him under the black cloak he wore, was a thin mouth and a beard, the rest of his features, were covered, either in shadow, or by his clothes.

“Take off his chains. There’s a good man.” The Stranger said in a casual voice.

Will would have been surprised, if it wasn’t for the very next second, Edworth silently complied with the instruction; taking out his key, and unlocked the shackles from his wrists and ankles.

The chains fell to the ground with a loud clang that Will was worried was heard by the entire town. But that thought was rapidly vanishing at the realisation that he could finally move his arms and feet without meeting any resistance.

Only one thing remained however, the collar around his neck, the one that the Witchfinder had claimed would stop him doing anymore magic. Will made to grab it, now that he could properly get a hold of the metal band, maybe he’d have a better chance of prying the thing off. But he stopped as the hooded man shook his head at him, as if anticipating that very reaction.

Reluctantly, Will heeded the advice and lowered his hand back down. He guessed this man was a friend. He had after all just convinced the Guard to release him. But if Will knew one thing, it was to never trust anyone; for all he knew, this man could be trying to lull him into trusting him, just to send him to the flames sooner than he expected.

“What’s going on?” Will asked, wanting answers to this whole situation.

The Stranger however ignored him. Instead turning to Edworth.

“Lie down and fall asleep. When you wake up you won’t remember any of this.” The Stranger said, before making a quick hand gesture.

Just like before, Will watched as Edworth walked in a daze to the far corner of the cell, lay down, and fell asleep.

“What did you do?” Will said staring at the now snoring figure of Edworth, then returning his gaze to the Stranger. That Guard had caused him and his friends so many problems in the past, and this man had just arrived and worked him like he was a puppet.

“Does that matter?” The Stranger asked as he stepped forward. Causing Will to back up a few paces, right until he hit the wall and felt pain shoot up his now unbent back. “You know you’re incredibly jumpy for someone who asked me to help you.” The Stranger said as he stared down at Will.

“Wait. Was that your voice I heard last night?” Will asked. It didn’t sound like it was. But then again the voice had been in his dreams. So, he might have made the whole thing up.

“No, that was The Magi’s.” The Stranger replied as he walked forward after making sure that Will wasn’t going to go and bolt again. “But he told me to come and collect you from out of here. This whole situation has gotten him more worried than I’ve ever seen him, you weren’t supposed to start showing for another year”

“Show what?” Will looked up.

“Magic boy.” Hunter said as he examined the collar, looking at the band intently.

Will stared at the man. So, he hadn’t imagined it. He was magical, and he had been able to unlock his stepparent’s cupboard door.

But then a worse thought came to him. He still didn’t know if this man was a friend. For all he knew, his rescuer could have been sent to trick him by the Witchfinders. A last trick to get him to brake before he burned.

“Prove it.” Will said sounding a lot braver than he actually felt right about now.

“Prove it?” The Stranger asked taken aback by the command.

“Yeah. Prove it. Prove that this Magi heard me last night.” Will said, and given the way the Stranger’s teeth visibly ground together at this demand, Will was already starting to have second doubts about this idea. But before he could take back the demand, the Stranger spoke up.

“You asked for help. Or to have a quick death. Something by the way, that I’m very tempted to give you right about now William Sharp.” The Stranger said after seeming to lose his patience.

“What’s your name?” Will asked, trying to keep his voice more polite now that he had seemed to seriously piss this guy off.

“You can call me Hunter.” The Stranger replied curtly as he knelt down and began to examine the collar around Will’s neck. “Now stay still and let me see.” Hunter said as he took out a short piece of wood, prodding the metal. Will remained still as he did this, not wanting to distract the man, but also afraid of what he would do if he asked any more questions. “Simple enough. Resterta.” Hunter said with contempt in his voice.

The collar grew white hot at these words, and just as the pain was starting to bring tears to Will’s eyes, the metal band fell to the floor with a clang.

“What was that?” Will said staring at the man who had just burned him. His hands reached up to his neck, and felt burn marks around his skin.

“That was me undoing a serious enchantment that would have sent you to the pyre. So, you’re welcome.” Hunter said as he stood up, before grumbling to himself. “No wonder I gave up collection jobs. You can get up now by the way.”

Will slowly rose himself shakily to his feet. It felt odd, like all the feeling had just evaporated from his legs, so much so, that he felt himself sway.

“Is he going to be alright?” Will asked staring at the sleeping Guard. Ten minutes prior, he wouldn’t have believed that he would ever have asked that question. But after having been on the receiving end of one of this man’s spells, he felt something like pity for the man.

“He’ll be fine.” Hunter said nonchalantly as he walked back towards the door, then turning around like he’d briefly forgotten that Will was still here. Seeing that Will hadn’t took so much as step to follow him, he glowered at Will. “Can you walk?”

“Yeah.” Will replied after making sure to steady himself. The emptiness in his legs had now been replaced by a throbbing sensation, most like from being stuck in the same position for so long.

“Good. Follow me then.” Hunter said as he strode out of the cell. Leaving Will to follow in his wake.

Will’s initial assumption that he had been held in The Cliffs turned out to be a correct one. Not that it was a great achievement in deduction, it was the town’s only prison. He and Alice had even gone inside to explore when they were younger. It had taken a lot of explaining that time to get out of trouble when they were discovered. And Will suspected that was when Mayor Harthpoint had first started his dislike of him.

They must however have been in a part of it that they had never discovered, as the corridor they were in was much longer than the entire town square, let alone one building. Torches were attached at irregular intervals along both walls, and the sound was only interrupted by the dripping water coming from the ceiling.

“Where did they even keep me?” Will said, more to himself than his permanently annoyed companion.

“You don’t know?” Hunter asked.

“No. I woke up in that cell after the explosion.” Will replied looking around at the torchlit corridor they were walking down. “I thought I was in The Cliffs.”

“You are though. The Witchfinder’s powers have already begun to meddle with your mind.” Hunter said as he stopped abruptly, causing Will to collide into him. But he paid it no mind as he looked along the right-hand wall, before placing a hand on the rough cobblestone. “Viderat.” Hunter whispered and drew a vertical line down the uneven stones.

Before Will’s eyes, the wall began to split in two, the stones forming a small archway revealing the Guard Captain’s quarters on the other side. The new said captain, a man named Kort was in a similar position to the guard now currently inhabiting Will’s cell, completely asleep and dead to the world around him.

“Was that always there?” Will asked as he stepped though the newly created archway. He wondered also what else this town held. He began making plans to tell Alice and Oscar all about it, before remembering that Alice was dead because of him, and Oscar probably wanted nothing to do with him anymore because of that.

“Yes. It just takes a trained mind to see it.” Hunter said as he closed the archway the same way he opened it. “Now I need you to do everything I say, exactly how I say it. The Witchfinders will already know about your escape, so this needs to be done quickly.”

With that, Hunter grabbed hold of Will’s tunic, and half dragged him, half marched him through the office, then down a flight of steps, and out into the town square.

The moon hung over Will and Hunter as the two of them exited the prison, compared to the slight muggy smell that had been his constant companion back in the cell. The smell of fresh air on Will’s face made him want to experience this moment all over again.

That thought was halted as he saw the remains of the square though.

When he had caused the explosion, he had been in the eye of it. And had then lost consciousness straight after. Now thought he could see the damage first hand.

A large crater, a meter deep and five meters wide, was all that remained where two days ago there had been several stalls on the stone ground. Directly behind it, two of the older buildings had collapsed, probably from the shaking ground.

In their place though, a new structure was almost fully erected.

A large wooden structure stood just behind the crater, hay bales from the local farms surrounded it, and in the centre was a long metal pole that reached nearly as high as the smaller buildings.

“Is that?” Will started, but he was unable to finish the question as he stared at the pyre.

“Yes.” Hunter replied, understanding what Will was trying to avoid asking. “That was where they were going to burn you.”

“Why are we out here?” Will asked, looking up at Hunter.

“I’m going to teleport us out of here.” Hunter said as he began looking around the crater, mumbling all the while.

“Couldn’t you have done that in the cell?” Will said as he watched the man seem to settle right in the crater itself.

“It has to be here.” Hunter said as he leapt down into the hole. “Now get down here Will.”

“I can’t go down there. Please, can you do it up here?” Will asked, he didn’t want to go down there, it would remind him of everything that he had done. But Hunter was not having any of that.

“Now.” Hunter growled at Will, staring in every direction for any signs of life. But as Will shook his head, backing away from the hole in the ground, he decided to elaborate. “Look William. The Witchfinders will be able to trace my magic. And a teleportation spell, that will have them on us like an Sabrecat to a deer. Unless I can mask it with something more powerful, and right now kid, your explosion charm is the only thing within twenty leagues that is strong enough, and for that, I need to be right at the source. So, get down here now.”

Finally, Will walked forward and slid down the steep bank of the crater that he had created.

“Just do it quickly. Please.” Will said. He could already begin to feel the memories coming back to him. The rage; the anger at his stepfather; the way that the town had been looking at him like he was a freak; the way the Witchfinder had been smirking all the while; the way that Alice had tried to calm him down.

“Just about. There.” Hunter said, as he finished a complicated little motion with his wand.

Appearing out of thin air directly next to him, what appeared to be a window in the middle of thin air. It wasn’t showing though anywhere in Harthpoint. Instead, a large and empty field greeted Will’s view.

Before he could marvel at what he was witnessing, Will felt a crude shove in the middle of his back. He saw his legs giving way and he fell through the portal to who knew where.