Chapter 8

-Eir-

I wanted to bash my head against the wall to end my misery. That's why we were put here together; we would annoy each other to death. Ash talked a lot and most of it didn't make a lot of sense. She tried digging a hole, which made even less sense since the floor was made of very hard tile and the fact we were already underground. She tried the walls, a similar situation. I had paced the room a few times, also checking how sturdy our cell was, but I didn't have any hope for escape.

"I don't see why Xen struggled killing you," Ash complained. "You're useless."

I huffed. "And yet we are still trapped in a cell. I fail to see you doing anything to get us out of here."

Ah sent me a glare, but I was sure she'd prefer to have sent me a kick. "Wait until we're out of here, then we'll see which one is more competent." Her words dripped poison and were filled with hate. The memories of our previous spars were clear in my mind. We were about even, which made the fact that Xen had beaten me even more surprising. Ash was a few years older than me, and I'm assuming that Xen isn't too far from my age. Therefore, it piqued my interest when sparring with the Stranger, she was more skilled than Ash, so why hadn't I bumped into her before?

"If we get out of here. You know what he's like." I glared at the ceiling, feeling her gaze soften.

"Unfortunately," she muttered before balling her hands into fists and punching the wall. A crack could be heard but all she did was grunt. "What's that?" she asked as she waved her hand around.

I followed her eyes to see she was looking at a crack in the ceiling. I shrugged. "It must be where the light is connected." I brushed it off. The fluorescent light was annoying at first, but I had grown used to it. The fact that it was here was surprising, but I brushed it off.

"Surely a way to get ourselves killed," I said. "Maybe he wants to see which one of us is dumbest to try it first?" I spoke as though he wasn't my father, the one who raised me. "I vote that you do it."

Ash scoffed. "Charming." Either way, she moved over to the corner of the room and stood on the bench. She wasn't quite tall enough to reach the ceiling. "Help me," she commanded.

I raised an eyebrow. "Being with the Strangers didn't make you polite." I ignored her glare and stood by the bench, weaving my fingers together. "Don't get electrocuted."

"I'll electrocute you in a minute," she muttered under her breath and pushed upwards. The crack in the ceiling started to widen. A gleam caught my eye. "What the-" Ash continued to push on the ceiling until the gleaming object fell out.

I nearly dropped Ash as I was hit in the face by the small object. "How did that miss you?" I groaned as she hopped down from my hands.

"I don't know, maybe you just have a face which things like to hit. Maybe you can give my fist the pleasure sometime," she replied in a sing-song voice.

I picked up the object and examined it. The object was obviously a key, it was on one side and shiny silver on the other. I didn't know what it was for, but I tried the obvious first.

It wasn't the key to the cell.

Ash grunted and kicked the bench. The kick caused no harm to the piece of furniture, but Ash's hails dug into her palms. "Waste of time!" she seethed. "What's the point of hiding a key in here, which doesn't even open the door?"

I bit my lip. "It might not open the door, but it might lead to a way out." I dropped to the floor and rolled under the bench. It wasn't unusual to see seats like this in the Dragon's lair. I had one in my room. It didn't lead to anything, but it was fun. Under the bench were several holes. It didn't look very unusual if you saw it at a glance. It looked like any other bench with an interesting pattern underneath, you wouldn't think anything of it. If you were a member of any organisation like this one, you'd know there's no such thing as simple.

I noticed it earlier, but you needed the key \and the code. One of which we had.

"We need the code," I told Ash. "Did you see anything when investigating the walls?" I couldn't quite see her from where I was lying, only her boots and the bottom of her pants. Her foot flew forwards and I shuffled closer to the wall in order to not be kicked in the face. "Watch it."

"Whoops, sorry," she said sarcastically. She knelt down and looked under the bench. "I'd hate to hurt that pretty face of yours."

"Save it for Stone," I said, pushing her out of the way so I could move out from under the bench. "You still talk to him, yes?"

Ash's face was turning red; I was unsure if it was from anger or blushing. "Es, I still talk to him. He lives in the same house as me."

I raised an eyebrow and whistled. "So, you get close very often then?"

She punched me in the arm. "Just work on finding the damn code."

I checked everywhere I could think of, which was not many places to be fair. We were in a room with one door, one bench, and a light above us. There weren't any patterns on the wall or floor. It was just a dull room.

We had checked each individual tile twice over for pressure points or heat. Anything which could distinguish one of them from the others. We hadn't been interrupted, another thing which I found suspicious about the citation. We weren't given food or water, even though I'd had enough for the latter. They wanted us to die in here.

"We're stupid!" Ash suddenly exclaimed from where she was lying on the bench. "We are morons."

I'm assuming she came up with some kind of answer. I leant on the wall with my arms crossed. "Go on."

She rolled off the bench with a thump and rolled underneath. "It's the ceiling."

My mouth formed a circle. That was genius, stupid of us to miss, but genius. I crawled under the bench with her, though half of me was still hanging out of it due to how small the bench is. I put the key into the hole, two down three in from the right, and prayed.

A click sounded. In fact, several clicks sounded.

I gasped and pulled Ash out of the way as projectiles shot out from under the bench.

"Get off me," Ash demanded. She pulled her arm out of my grasp and stood up, facing the now open door.

"Next time, I'll let you get shot," I commented and stood up as well. The door was ajar, darkness was visible through the gap.

"We didn't go very far, did we?" I asked. I couldn't remember walking far from the punishment room.

"No, I don't think." Ash didn't sound sure, but she opened the door further and stepped into the dark.

The light from the cell revealed very little about the short hallway we were in, it stopped just as the room opened up. I suppose it was designed that way on purpose. The floor was sticky under my boots, I thought that the blood would've dried by now.

There was nobody guarding this room, there was no need since there were no prisoners other than us. Whenever you went into one of the cells; you weren't expected out again.

Banging came from upstairs. It wasn't at all loud, but any kind of noise down here was a rarity. "Can you hear that?" I asked. "Or am I just going insane?"

Ash scoffed. "Going?" she remarked quietly. "I can hear something."

It was still too dark to see anything. Ash's sword had been taken away, as well as my knife. If that wasn't the case, I'd be very doubtful that both of us would still be alive at this point.

I found the left wall and traced it until I found a light switch. I had caught the blade of a few weapons too, but a nip here and there didn't matter too much. I turned the light on and immediately went back on myself, grabbing as many small knives as I could fit on my person.

"This is much better than I remember," Ash said with a grin. She picked up a katana from the right wall. "Much better."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, because you faced the other wall whenever you were down here." I moved to the stairs before she could respond. I stuck my head around the corner and saw nobody.

It was time for our not-so-great escape.