Teen Ink

March 4, 1,100 A.D.

Upon rising I was greeted by the faint smirk of the guard. He then chuckled deeply and walked around the low lit room. “So, you thought you could get away with what you did?”
Once I heard his deep raspy voice I learned that it wasn’t the guard that I thought was holding me hostage, but someone else. It could not possibly be the king because he had the smallpox. I then had an idea. Could it be the person that my wife had always talked about? The one who hated our family because Juliana refused to marry her own cousin? I quickly aborted the idea because the deep choppy voice I had previously heard could not belong to a woman.
“Sir,” I asked ,“What is your name?”
“ What is my name? What is my name, you dare ask me that?” The man was in disbelief . “Oh this will be all the more fun,” said the man, still laughing as his swaggered personality walked itself out the door.
I thought frantically about who the man was, why he was doing this to me and my family, and a possible way to get out of this soon to be death trap. Between the gap of thinking and just tinkering with my hands, I spotted a key on the ground. I pulled myself over to it, which was an almost impossible task considering my hands and feet were tied together. Once I finally got it I saw there was a paper under it. I read it and it said:
Use the key to untie yourself. It does not open the door you want it to ,but it will later .Put the key and note in your pocket. Refer to it later. I will let you out when I am supposed to bring your meal.

Ryce

As I finished reading the note I looked up, and there was the guard in the doorway, after a series of clicks and clanks of the old door’s hinges I looked at him.
“ Are you. . . ?” I tried to asked but he just covered my mouth and said , “ Yes I am. If you ever bothered to learn my name we would not be in this situation.”
He continued. “ Listen carefully.” He spoke extremely softly . “I will walk out with a knife to your throat, but,” he got a little louder, “ I will not kill you. We will walk out, go to your son’s holding area and use the key to get him out. I will escort you both out of the castle.”
“Then what?” I asked and sincerely wondered.
“Then you and your son are on your own,” he seemed to have a vexatious tone “ And do not forget to watch out for Yrre. He resents you for being herald. That is his rightful position but the King never liked him and as a result he appointed you instead.”
Just as I thought everything was going smoothly, Yrre walked past and yelled at Ryce. It was felicitous that Ryce knew just how to handle the situation. He shoved the small of my back and spoke gravely into my ear, “I am taking him to be wedged. I hope you know what you have done!”
“ Oh, very good, very good. I am glad to see you doing your job. Continue on.”
We went to get Cedric and Ryce snuck him out as planned. I was so happy to see Cedric, but I knew now was not a time for talking. I signaled my son not to make a sound. He understood my message and looked straight ahead as we once again ran into Yrre.
“What are you doing with the boy? I thought we agreed he was mine.” Yrre looked at Cedric in a malignant way. I could figure by his clenched fist and wrathful body language he would have inflicted much pain on the both of us.
“ The prisoner said that the boy was his son, I assumed they were together. It could not hurt to do them both at the same time. They would have to watch each other’s pain”
“Very well, then. I shall leave you to it.”
Cedric looked at me with fear but it was certain now was not the time to comfort him. It would ruin the elaborate plan Ryce had laid perfectly. As soon as we got past Yrre I quickly whispered to him that everything was going to be all right. Ryce shoved us outside and said, “Leave, hide, do something. Yrre cannot find you again. If he does, not only will you be dead, but I will as well. Pack your things. I will arrange for the King or Felix to try and get rid of Yrre for good. If it is at my power I will come and find you. That is, if I am still alive. I will bring you and your son back here to continue your lives. Until then, this is good-bye.”
We packed our things and left through the woods with special permission to go outside the perimeter of the walls. Once we were outside Cedric and I slept on the cold hard ground. How did our lives become so complicated? Only a little while ago I could remember our normal life. This was far from normal, but we could make this life work to our benefit. We both fell asleep. The darkness inundated the land as if it were in search of someone. It swept over us but it luckily did not stop to check who we were. This was the only technique the darkness could use to hold our sins against us. However our sins were no longer valid for our escape had taken them over.