32 Escape (1/2)
They had been apart for half a day but it felt like years. There was so much she wanted to say, so much she wanted to do. Kissing was first on the list, right above punching.
Jonathan gave a low grunt of pain and held his side where she hit him, ”what was that for?”
”For not lying back then.” Dene knew his reasons for telling the truth and was happy for knowing how he felt. But it didn't annul her anger over what he did. ”I know how highly you regard honor, but sometimes you must be willing to lie. What if instead of the dungeons, your father had ordered my execution. Worse, what if it was your brother coming here? You don't know how anxious I've been.”
Jonathan said nothing and Dene took the time to calm herself down. It wasn't fair to blame him, especially when this whole situation started because of her.
”I'm sorry, it's been hard waiting here,” she said after some time. It was hard, waiting in the dark with no one to talk to, while Jonathan was confined to his quarters. She got up from the ground and took another look at him.
He was wrapped in a nondescript black cloak that extended down to his ankles, revealing only the leather boots he was wearing.
She offered him a hand, but he didn't take it.
”You're not going to hit me again, are you?”
”Not unless you want me to.” He didn't seem totally convinced but took her hand anyway. ”Again, I'm sorry for hitting you.”
”It's okay, I understand. But why would I want you to hit me?”
Dene chuckled. ”I'll explain it to you when you're older. Now tell me how did you get here, and how can we get out.”
”Well, do you know how this castle wasn't built by the Olsens? The ones who built it, I can't remember their names, but they died out long ago. Anyways they put a lot of secret passages here, some that not even my father knows about.”
”And I take one of those passages is in your bedroom.”
”Almost. It's actually in yours. Behind the wardrobe, there's a movable wall. I discovered it when I was a kid. That's part of the reason why I never had any servants using it, as I was afraid that someone would find out.”
Dene took a deep breath. ”So you're telling me that this whole time I've been sleeping there and someone could've just come in, slit my throat, got out and no one would know who did it.”
”No, I'm the only one who knows about it.”
”As far as you know.” She took another breath. The idea of punching him again was gaining form. At least she could be sure that his father didn't know, else he wouldn't have confined Jonathan to his quarters. ”Forget it, how do we get out?”
Right, you're gonna need this, Jonathan reached inside his cloak and she caught sight of a red glint. She quickly identified it as the ruby carved with the inscription of a dragon he had as the pommel of his sword. At least he came prepared. From inside his cloak, he grabbed another similar one along with a pair of knee-high leather boots.
”I understand the cloak, but why do I need these boots to get out?”
”We're not going through where I came, none of the passages up there lead outside. That's why instead, we're going down to the third level.”
”So there is a passage down there that will take us outside?”
”Kinda. It will take us to the sewers which then will take us outside.”
”At least we're getting out,” she tried to look on the bright as she put on the boots, donned the cloak and followed Jonathan down into the third level.
The sewers smelled as well as one would imagine. With only the single lightstone as a source of light, they walked through the dark galleries, following the water flow while ankles deep in freezing filth. After half an hour they changed directions and started walking upstream. Continuing downstream, according to Jonathan, would take them to the Grey River that ran adjacent to the city's north and eastern walls.
The river was too wide and the current moved too fast for one to swim in it. And that was not taking into account the freezing cold. No, they would have to leave the city through the gates.