Dodger watched as Yellow-Eyes picked and scrabbled his way up the well wall slowly. He was certainly not trying to make any speed records here as he tested every hand and foothold in the meager and slippery ridge that the stone block wall afforded. Yet advance he did without any serious mistakes until he reached the top far above her. The light filtering down was dim, but compared to the utter blackness of the tunnel she found it was more than adequate. Then he was lost from view and she waited an anxious minute till he came back into view again, lowering down his rope slowly. When it reached her, she tugged on it and saw him tie it off before going out of sight again.
Dodger was not exactly without prowess physically. In the marsh, climbing and jumping were part and parcel of life as there were plenty of dangers there that far exceeded the civilized environs of the Humans. While she was by no means confident she could have tackled the bare well walls as Yellow-Eyes had done, climbing up them with the help of the rope was child’s play. Most of her effort was in trying to keep herself from making any noise. Yellow-Eyes helped her once she’d gotten to the top and he recoiled the rope and put it back around his neck, all silently.
Then he held a catch on the bucket mechanism open and fed the bucket back down to the bottom of the well while Dodger went to the open arched door and peeked out. No one was in sight and soon Yellow-Eyes was back. He motioned to the left and they slipped out and headed down a curved hallway cautiously. While they didn’t see any guards, Dodger could hear some talking coming from somewhere not too distant.
Yellow-Eyes stopped at a barred door, but the mechanism was barring people from the inside and he slid the bolt back carefully, making only a quiet thud as it opened and the door shifted a bit. They stood motionless, but the talking continued unabated. He then drew something odd from his pack and poured something over the large hinges on the door. Oil, she decided, for though the door creaked alarmingly when he first tried to open it even a little, it stopped as he continued and they slipped in before closing it again.
Inside the room was dark, but for light coming from an area below. As she stepped to a railing that ran around the room and looked over, the presence of a variety of vicious-looking tables and devices below left her with no doubt that this was the observation room. What had gone on in the room below, she didn’t care to contemplate. Yellow-Eyes tied the rope off and lowered it down, it’s slack coiling up on the stone slab floor below. He then climbed over the edge with Dodger following close behind while Yellow-Eyes held the rope.
Then she saw the Captain. He lay sprawled atop a device evidently meant to stretch people to the breaking point, it’s ropes and pulleys belaying it’s purpose. He was breathing, she could see, but appeared to be sleeping. When she looked back towards Yellow-Eyes, she saw the familiar figure of Veronica nodding to him. She was in her whore’s outfit again, she noticed, her cloak covering her. She gestured them outwards to the right, then retreated back inside before catching up with them with the Captain’s keys.
Fortunately they didn’t have to go far and Veronica produced a key that opened the Solitary area where they presumed Grey was kept. Within Dodger saw stone walled cells with their outward faces only barred. Most were empty but there was one in the back with a sleeping form under a blanket. It’s tail was evident poking from the blanket.
“Grey!” Yellow-Eyes half-whispered. The form stirred and a Khajiit head looked around before seeing them. It’s eyes went wide and round as it climbed out of the bed and crept to the door.
“Kem? What are you…”
Veronica instantly silenced her, pointing towards the way they came. Then she tried a key in the lock. It didn’t work, followed by a second, that also didn’t work. One by one she tried the rest, all failing. Finally she looked hopelessly up at Yellow-Eyes with a panicked shrug. None would turn in the lock even slightly. Grey looked at Yellow-Eyes, and took his hands, shaking her head. The scene looked familiar to Dodger, but it was desperately more earnest. She was trying to tell Yellow-Eyes to give it up. Veronica shook her head violently. It was obvious she was not ready to quit.
Yellow-Eyes thought for a moment before whispering, “Tower”.
Veronica turned her head curiously to him and she pointed to the door but Yellow-Eyes mimicked running with his fingers. Grey shook her head, her eyes becoming large and worried, but Veronica assured her silently. They all stood back from the door except Yellow-Eyes who shouted the word of command while connecting to the door strongly with his outstretched palm. The noise was deafening and the shouting from guards clearly audible. They ran.
The Captain was still sleeping when they got to the torture chamber but alarm bells began to ring. A guard rushed past the door but didn’t look inside. Then the four saw it. Or more precisely, they didn’t see it. There was no rope.
Veronica shook her head sadly. “It’s over,” she said in a quiet but conversational tone. “They’ll be here any second. You gave it your best, Kem.”
“No! There must be some way!” Dodger said, looking around desperately, but Yellow-Eyes put his hand on her shoulder.
She looked up at him. She could see the rope still tied to the railing over his shoulder, but it’s length was now inside the observation room. Someone had pulled it up. Then she looked back at him, at Veronica, to Grey and to the torture device.
“Grey, get on all fours right here,” she demanded.
The other three looked at each other confused.
“Do it! There’s no time! Veronica, you stand here,” she said indicating a position a few feet beyond where Grey was now. She obviously didn’t understand either, but did as she was bid.
“Yellow-Eyes, you stand right in front of the rack. When I say so, I need you to jump straight up.”
Understanding began to dawn in their eyes as she backed off almost to the door. Then she raced towards Grey, holding nothing back. The leap off of Grey’s back was strong and knocked her to the floor, but Dodger was continuing and kicked just as hard off of Veronica’s shoulder, shouting “Now!” to Yellow-Eyes.;
Between the slight boost off Yellow-Eyes’ shoulders as she kicked him hard and a touch on the top of the rack, she hit the wall with a vertical momentum and kicked again against the wall up and to her left to gain the last few inches to the edge of the observation room above. She managed to get a claw on the edge of the floor of the observation room. For one panicked moment, she felt herself losing her grip, but a sudden jolt on her scrabbling feet was just enough to secure her hold. She looked to see Yellow-Eyes, on the ground below, having made a desperate leap to help her. She didn’t dare look long though and finished her mad scramble to the top. She grabbed the rope and tossed it back over as shouting voices sounded like they were nearing.
Grey came first, scrabbling up the rope in an instant. She was followed by Veronica, wide eyed and obviously frightened but Yellow-Eyes helped her and she was soon over the top. Yellow-Eyes came last, untying the rope quickly before leading them all back to the well. Below, shouts of “Captain!” came to Dodger’s ears but she had no time to waste with that now. They were at the well. They should have a few minutes before the guards figured out where they were.
“Grey,” Yellow-Eyes was saying. “I need to explain this quickly. We’re going to get you out through the well, but you can’t make it on your own. This is Dodger. She and I will get you and Veronica out, but it’s a long way underwater. You will not be able to breathe, and you will black out, but we will get you out alive. We’re going down into the well, and when we get to the bottom I’m going to need to tie you both up and tape your nose and mouth. You will struggle, but we’ll be at the other end of the rope so you won’t slow us down. Grey, this will work, but it’s going to be scary as hell. You’re going to think you’re suffocating. Understand?”
Grey looked down into the well anxiously, her eyes widening as she began to understand the ordeal she and Veronica were about to go through, but the sound of the guards shouts were getting closer. “Got it,” she gulped. “What are we waiting for?”
Yellow-Eyes nodded, then turned to Veronica.
“Veronica, that cloak has got to go. It will slow us down.”
She was out of it in an instant and was climbing down the bucket-rope. Dodger and Grey followed, then Yellow-Eyes brought the bucket up and jumped down the well while the others retreated to the sides of the well, holding onto the wall while he hit the water hard and went under. He came up with his waterproof pack and quickly tied Veronica and Grey’s hands up with the ends of the rope. Dodger took the middle of the rope.
“Putting the bucket back up may keep them from figuring out where we are a little longer,” he explained while he worked. Then he pulled out the tape.
“Breathe,” he said to both the mammals. “Breathe hard and fast. Dodger, hold this tape out of the water till I’m ready for it.”
He let them hyperventilate for a few more seconds, before saying, “Ready?”
Grey and Veronica nodded, closing their mouths.
He did the job quickly, testing to be sure they were secure. “Sorry for this,” he said, then turned to Dodger and nodded. “Let’s go. Swim fast and straight. Don’t stop for anything till we’re out and don’t let go of the rope. Not for ANYTHING. Now GO!”
With that, Dodger was under. Her fins extended to the max, she swam down with Yellow-Eyes right behind her. The slack on the rope became suddenly taut and she knew she was dragging the two underwater. She didn’t like to think what they were feeling right now, but she didn’t have to. She had one job. Swim.
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