Chapter 4

Sar woke up to the sound of dripping water. His head felt as if it were filled with cotton and the back of his head ached dully. He found himself in a cot of straw. The dripping sound came from a small hole in one of the numerous pipes that ran above him. He looked around. He was in some kind of a holding prison. He wondered why they hadn't killed him. Maybe they liked to torture their prisoners. He tried to remember the last night. The details were grainy and he held his head in agony. It was as if his head had split. He looked around his prison. The prison held sure, there was no escape for him.

"Why did you hit him on the head? You could have killed him." ,a loud high pitched voice shouted somewhere above him. Sar held his breath. He could hear the voices above very clearly. Didn't they want him dead? Then who were they? He could feel another headache coming.

"I thought he was a guard or a spy in disguise. Luc was on the wall and in plain sight. We were on last night's duty." ,another meek and young voice replied.

"Kin, are you out of your goddamn mind? You thought he was a guard and you brought him here. In spite of your suspicion you brought a man who could clearly be a spy in peasants clothes, to our quarters",

"No, I brought him here when I was sure that he was not a guard or a spy. "

"For God's sake , he might be faithful to the upsurer. "

"No, I'm sure he is not-" .

"How the hell are you sure? Don't say it's your instincts again."

" Kira please listen. I know for sure because he does not have even a weapon on him. You know, the yesterday's wedding in the merchants. There was an uproar about an unwelcome peasant in the wedding. Then one of the guest merchants said that the peasant was an outsider who sneaked into the gates in his caravan-"

"What?...You are lying..."

" No you must believe me sister. You know that I never lie-"

" Then the merchant is lying...but then...he does not gain anything by it.. Instead there will be more investigations on him... "

"Exactly Kira, no one will lie about about such a thing and bring trouble upon himself. And that means he must be telling the truth."

"Impossible. How could he pass through the gate and guards? The only way is with our help. Through the tunnels. And no outsiders know these tunnels except us. Even the royal family do not know about its existence."

" Why don't you ask him yourself? He must have woken up by now... "

"I'll do that but then what happened after that."

"Luc was still on the wall. He was climbing down, when the guards began their manhunt. In the rain I saw somebody running towards us. Mistaking him for a guard, I sneaked behind him and hit him. Only when I saw his clothes I realised that he was the person the guards were searching for. I did not want to leave him on the street for the guards to find. So I brought him here. "

The person Kira sighed and said, "What is done can not be undone..go to the dorms and sleep..I'll talk with the prisoner to check whether you have brought a foe or a friend."

"Don't you need me there? He can dangerous."

" Kin, you have done a lot last night . And no offense, you look like a dead person. Catch some sleep. And on your way ask Val and Joey to meet me downstairs, where the prisoner is held. Ask Val to bring her kit with her. "

"Okay. Consider it done sister."

Sar had held his breath till now. He tried to process all that he heard. These people had rescued him from the guards. The person Kira had said something about a tunnel. He must be in that tunnel. And from the conversation he just heard, the tunnel was a very closely guarded secret and he did not find anyway these people would let him free especially after being in that tunnel. They would not leave him alive. For the first time after crossing the gates, he regretted coming to the capital. He was stuck in a place, a prison with no hopes of coming out. For all he knew the people were more dangerous than the guards. Towards his right he heard sounds of footsteps coming towards him. He braced himself. He knew that it was futile to pretend to sleep. They would not hesitate to wake him up. He sat straight, his eyes open. He took a deep breath and waited for his jailors to come to him.

.....