Escape

A small piece of flash fiction which speaks for itself...

The walls are wet with mould and the only sound that can be heard are the rats and the forlorn dripping of the tap

Vorn is silent, as am I. The chains linking our feet to the decrepit stone wall keep us too far away from each other to make any physical contact; yet I long for nothing more than to touch his face and kiss his lips...

Through the chain door we can see that no one guards our underground cell near enough to hear us speak, and even if anyone is in earshot, they cannot understand us.

The stench of the prison was so fierce that the odour of the putrid broth wafting down to us smells almost pleasant. It’s nearly time.

“Jas, are you ready?” he says to me.

I nodded. “Aaaaahhh!” I shriek, breaking sharply through the silence. I keep on screaming as the prison guard with our food comes down the stairs, upon hearing me he hurry to the cell.  Stopping at the door, he yells at me in his native tongue.

“Pain, in pain, kiroth lacryr!” I saey before resuming my act.

He hastily unlocks the door and sets down the broth, trying to console me into silence. Over my voice he could not hear the silent incantation Vorn had begun speaking, I’m careful not to look over at him.

Without warning the guard passes out and falls on top of me, I go straight for the keys at his belt.

“They’re not working!” I scream at Vorn in panic as none of the keys undo my shackles.

  I breathe a sigh of relief as one finally comes lose. Running over to Vorn, I undo his and he grabs the sword off the guard who is slowly regaining consciousness.

We run hastily through the unlit tunnels, Vorn striking down guards before they hear us, and fighting off their partners.

Eventually we reach a window and break through to the outside, the last step is taking a boat. The night air is crisp and for a few moments we manage to make it across the grounds unnoticed but before we get to the shore there are guards on our tail.

“Quickly,” he says to me, untying a boat big enough for two.

We get in, paddling to freedom.

“It worked,” I say in disbelief, “It really worked!” I laugh. I lean over and kissed Vorn straight on the lips as I had been dreaming to do the second I’d been dumped in that cell. I owe my life to him.

“Thank you Jasia, I never could have escaped without your help,” he whispers to me through our embrace, “but I don’t need you anymore,”

“Wha-” before I have a chance to reply, or even to understand, I feel the cold kiss of metal penetrating my back. The life I owe him, he takes then and there.

“I’m sorry,” are the last words I hear before he pushes me overboard, where I spent my last breath.

Author's Note

This is a piece of flash fiction written for a competition where I could have no more than 500 words, I think this might have the potential to be full length novel. Thoughts please...