Ashera: Chapter 16

NOTE: I’m so sorry that I haven’t had time to upload a bunch of Ashera, I’ve been so so busy but my schedule is going to be getting less busy (hopefully) so I’ll have more time to write.

    Ashera, Ryan, and Fox stood outside the jail, looking up at it in doubt. 
    “Do we really have to do this?” Fox asked. “I mean I’m sure there has to be another way to-”
    “Come on,” Ashera said, grabbing Fox’s arm. She dragged her to the top of the steps leading up to the building. The stone was well-worn and it looked like it could fall apart at any moment. Ashera didn’t know how it held such evil, powerful people so securely. In fact, she didn’t understand how it hadn’t been destroyed long ago.
    A guard stopped Ashera and Fox’s approach with her staff. “Name?” she asked.
    “Ashera, Sneaky Fox, and Ryan Howe,” Ryan said, walking up behind them.
    “Business?”
    “We need to talk to Malic.”
    “Maic is a high-security prisoner,” the guard said. “You’ll need written permission from the Captain of the Guard or some other authority figure of equal or higher rank to be permitted to see him.”
    “What? No, please let us in,” Ashera said. “We’re on a mission. There’s this sorcerer that’s terrorizing Golivun and we think he’s after the Orb of Reality-”
    “The Orb of Reality’s a myth. Hasn’t been seen in hundreds of years.”
    “Maybe it is, but we need to talk to Malic,” Ashera said. “Please let us in. For the good of Golivun.”
    The guard looked her up and down, then each of them in turn. “I’m sorry, I can’t help you. Talk to the Captain of the Guard.”
    “But-”
    “We completely understand,” Fox said. “Thank you so much for all of your help.”
    “But Fox-”
    “We’ll be on our way now. Come on guys.”
    Ashera squinted suspiciously at Fox. “What are you doing?” she mouthed. Fox waved the question away, grabbing Ashera and Ryan’s arms. 
“Thank you so much!” she called over her shoulder as she dragged them away to the shade of a nearby tree.
“What the hell was that?!” Ryan asked Fox.
“Yeah! We need to get in there and that guard was the only way!” Ashera huffed and kicked a clump of dirt on the ground. “What were you thinking?”
“Oh calm down guys.”
“Calm down?!” Ryan exclaimed. “You just ruined everything! I am not going to calm down!”
“I didn’t ruin anything, you’re just being a bunch of babies. That guard is the only legal way in, sure, but-”
“What did you do Fox?”
Fox grinned slyly, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a ring of golden keys. “While you two were busy chatting, I did something actually useful.”
“No.”
“Do you want to get in or not?” Ashera started to answer, then hesitated a moment. Fox’s grin got larger. “C’mon, let’s go talk to Malic.”

They snuck through the halls, pausing at every door they came across to peek inside. There were a few close calls where they were almost caught, but for the most part, the group passed along without issue.
Eventually, they came to a door labeled “High Security”.
“Ugh are we sure we want to do this?” Fox asked.
“You’re the one who got the keys,” Ryan pointed out.
“Yeah, but after having to be shoved into an enclosed, tight-spaced cupboard by you, I’m less thrilled.”
“How was I supposed to know you were claustrophobic?”
“You-”
“Shhh!” Ashera said, glaring at both of them. “Let’s go before we get caught please.”
Sighing, Fox unlocked the door. Ashera braced herself, ready to fight off whatever spells, weapons, or creatures that would come her way. Together, the three of them opened the door and walked inside.
Ashera was taken aback when nothing came at her. She expected for these high-security prisoners to be insane-fighting tooth and nail to get free. Hell, she saw some of the normal prisoners doing just that. She thought this would be ten times worse, given how insane that author had made Malic seem.
However, the jail was deathly silent. When they walked in, a couple of the prisoners had looked up in mild interest, saw they weren’t guards and weren’t carrying food, and then went back into whatever mindset they had been in before. No one spoke, no one moved, Ashera wasn’t even sure if they were breathing.
It was certainly different than what Ashera was expecting, and she knew immediately that this prison-the high security, the bars, the warnings-were all a facade. Whatever prison these people had in their minds was much worse than this. The steel wasn’t what held them back, but rather the bars of insanity and despair. This was a room filled with people who had lost all hope long, long ago.
For a second, the three heroes stood still-locked in place from all of this information hitting them at once. Despair often has that effect on people, sometimes there’s so much of it in one place at one time that, for a second, you are completely suffocated by it.
After a moment-a long moment-Ryan cleared his throat, snapping the rest of them back to reality. “Let’s find Malic,” he said, his voice hoarse.
“How?” Ashera asked. “We don’t know where he is or what he looks like or-”
“Wait,” Fox said, holding a finger to her lips. “Listen.”
Ashera and Ryan went silent, listening intensely. Whispering, coming from down the hall. As one, the group started walking towards it.
At the end of the long, L-shaped hall, they found it-the source of the whispering. Malic.
He looked terrible. Some day, long, long ago, he could’ve been handsome. But any evidence that thise days had existed was long gone. Greasy, matted gray hair covered his head and face in wispy patches. His pale skin clung to his bones so that his face looked almost skeletal. Torn, ratty clothes-or at least scraps of them-wrapped around his small form. Chains held his ankes and wrists to the floor of the cell, but Ashera could see that these chains were unnessecary. Like the others, all hope was gone from him. If the smell was any indication, he hadn’t moved form that spot in days.
Bu tthe most unsettling thing about him were his eyes. Green and filled with madness, they stared straight ahead, but you could tell that they didn’t see anything. His vision was focused somewhere far, far away from this cell.
“Look at him,” Ryan said. Something was off in his tone. Ashera couldin’t place what it was. “He was one of the most powerful people in all of Golivun and now…”
“Don’t tell me you actually pity him Ryan,” Fox said. So that’s what it was. “He took the lives of so many. He causes chaos everywhere he went. He ruined so so much. He deserves this.”
Ryan shook his head sadly, not taking his eyes off Malic. He said softly, “No one deserves this.”
Ashera gave Ryan a small frown, then turned back to face Malic. She decided to focus on the task at hand. “Can either of you hear what he’s saying?”
They all listened carefully. At first, he talked so quietly that they couldn’t hear it. But eventually they were able to make out the words cold, Orb, spell, Rickshaw, Quinn Killow, Ice, going in a constant loop.
“What does that even mean?” 
“I don’t know. I think Rickshaw is a mountain range, but other than that I have no idea.”
“Well we need to figure it out soon,” Fox said. “Maybe we should go to-”
The door down the hall burst open. The guards who walked through spotted them, frozen in place. “Hey! You’re not supposed to be here!” one said.
“I-uh-”
The guard rushed forward and grabbed Ashera’s arm, yanking her forward. “Don’t touch her!” Ryan yelled, smacking the guard’s arm away.
The guard scowled at them, then turned around. “Follow me,” he said.
The three of them followed the guard to the outside of the jail. Once outside, the guard sighed heavily and turned to them. “What were you doing in there?”
“We needed to see Malic,” Fox said.
“What was he saying? Who’s Quinn Kilo? What does it all mean?” Ashera asked the questions in rapid succession, giving the guard no time to actually answer.
The guard sighed again. “You shouldn’t be paying attention to all of that stuff, it’s all gibberish.”
“Who’s Quinn Kilo?” Ashera repeated.
“She’s a priest. You can find her at St. Richard’s,” the guard said. “Now please leave.”
“But-”
“Leave,” the guard said. “Before I have to report you to the Captain of the Guard.”
“Fine,” Fox said, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “I was just going to give you back your keys.”
She held the ring up, the keys dangling and catching the light. The guard looked like he was going to attack her. Smirking, she tossed them to him.
“C’mon guys, let’s go,” she said, a triumphant smile on her lips.

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