Chapter 25

The maid, Alissa, showed her the armory and the scullery, the kitchen and the stables, which made her miss Krennan all the more. She was curious where the visitors' horses were kept, since Alissa told her that all guest horses, and horses seized, were kept in a separate stable, but they weren't allowed to see it, and Deanna didn't really want to get Alissa in trouble, so she let it slide and they continued on the tour.
As Alissa showed her the gardens, she thought about how best to bring up the dungeons.
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"So, nice weather we're having, huh?" Cayle said after what seemed like hours of silence.
His friends just glanced in his direction. He sighed.
"Any idea how we're gonna get out of here?" Finn asked in a small voice.
"Working on it." Cadman said from where he sat by the bars.
"Finn, why are you shaking?" Alroy asked, noting Finn's shaking hands. Finn shrugged.
"No reason." He said; Alroy gave him a look and he sighed. "Fine; I don't like tight spaces."
"You're claustrophobic?" Alroy asked, and Finn nodded.
"And all of us crammed into this cell isn't exactly helping." He said.
"Understandable." Alroy said, nodding. "We'll get out of here soon, I'm sure Cadman has some idea running through that thick skull of his."
"That's it!" Cadman roared as he lunged at where Alroy reclined on one of the bunks. "What the hell do you have against me?"
Alroy simply looked at him without moving. "I could ask you the same thing."
"I don't trust you," Cadman said, glaring daggers.
"Oh?" Alroy said, not sounding surprised.
"You show up randomly, won't talk about your past, you evade every question we ask about your past and where you come from; not exactly the kind of attitude that inspires trust." Cadman said.
Alroy began to respond, but was interrupted by laughter.
"You all make so much noise, a deaf man would complain." A voice said from the next cell.
"Who are you?" Cayle asked, getting to his feet.
"Me? I'm a nobody." The voice said. "But you seem to be more than that considering the company you keep."
"What?" Cadman asked.
A chuckle. "You'll find out."
"Where are you?" Cayle asked, trying to see through the dark corridor.
"I'm down a spell," The voice said. There was a sound of rustling, and then curses.
"Curse these chains," The voice said.
"We can free you, if you'd like." Cayle offered.
More laughter. "How can you free me if you can't even free yourselves?"
"We'll find a way." Cayle answered.
"So tell me," The voice said, curious. "How did you get yourselves thrown in here?"
"Apparently we trespassed." Cadman said.
"Apparently?" The voice asked.
"We have no idea how we got here," Cayle explained. "We were passing through, following the trail of a girl, and then the next thing we know, we were arrested and then told we had trespassed and needed to await trial."
"What girl?" the voice asked.
"What?" Cayle asked.
"You mentioned a girl." The voice said. "Who?"
"Uh, her name is Deanna." Cadman said, confused at the change in topic.
The voice didn't respond.
"Do you know her?" Cayle asked.
"I did not get her name, but there was a young woman thrown in here not two days ago." The voice said.
Cadman and Cayle shared a glance. "Could we have caught up to her already?" Cadman asked.
"It's possible." Cayle said.
"Caught up to her?" The voice asked.
"Yes we're, uh, searching for her." Cadman said.
"Not to hurt her, though?" The voice asked, a strange edge to his voice.
"Course not." Cayle said before he knew he'd spoken.
"Good," The voice said. "I like her."
"Who are you?" Cayle asked again.
"I told you," The voice said. "I'm nobody."
"What's your name?" Cadman asked.
"Haven't got one."
"Can you give us a name?" Cadman asked.
"Hmm," The voice said. "Call me... Bart."
"Bart?" Cadman and Cayle said together.
"Yes, I rather like that name." Bart said.
Cadman and Cayle shared a look.
The door to the dungeon creaked open and footsteps could be heard, but they were lighter than the guards'.
They approached quickly, stopping at some of the cells, coming closer and closer with every second.
The footsteps grew ever so close and then they paused outside a nearby cell.
"What are you doing here?" Bart demanded. "If you got away you should stay away!"
There was the sound of metal on metal and then the sound of a door swinging open, and then whispers.
"Thank you," Bart said, relief obvious in his voice. "Now get the others?"
"Others?" A female voice asked and Cayle caught his breath as the footsteps came closer and a man's face appeared at the cell door and then turned to face someone behind him.
The other person approached and everyone's, except Alroys, jaws dropped. The woman who appeared at the cell door was the person they had spent months searching for.
The woman was Deanna.