The Dungeon (Escape Route)

Making their way down to the dungeon, Yelane can’t help but notice the bodies of the guards and attackers littering the halls speaking of recent battles that rocked the keep.

How could demons invade the keep? How did they breach the castle walls? How did the queen not know until they were already standing before her? These were only a few of the many mysteries that pervaded Yelanes mind as they began their descent into the darkness of the dungeon.

Down here only the flickering light of torches illuminate the damp stone of the walls and floors, down here felt just a little bit colder then it did in the palace proper and not purely in the temperature either.

The dungeon is a place Yelane had only the courage to visit once while exploring the castle grounds and even then it frightened him, a place built with the sole purpose of containing and breaking down the worst the kingdom had to offer.

The cells lie empty; the bars of the doors melted down from a great heat, the prisoners nowhere to be found… save for one.

At the far back of the row of cells, one remains untouched, the bars still very much intact and resting inside is a cloaked woman, resting on an old wooden bench, her head pressed into the cold stone behind her.

Lady Dunwall heads to the far wall, just outside the occupied cell and begins slowly running her hands over the moldy stone bricks and occasionally pressing inward, searching for a hidden switch or trigger mechanism.

Yelane cannot help but gaze into the remaining cell, at its sole occupant, the only creature that the demons did not deem fit for capture.

“Why did they leave you be..?” The question fell out of Yelane’s mouth of its own volition as though it had been dragged across his tongue.

“Because they could see me not, child… same as your companion there… but you can… can’t you..?” The voice is old and ominous, carrying no small amount of danger, like a shark hiding beneath a frozen lake.

Yelane turns to Lady Dunwall, looking to confirm the woman’s claims, only to find her still checking for some hidden switch, seemingly not even aware that Yelane had spoken to the seemingly invisible woman.

“Are you a witch…? Is that why they put you in there…?” This certainly wasn't any magic with which Yelane had heard of, granted, his knowledge of the mystical arts was middling at best.

“Oh, I’m guilty of nothing, you needn’t fear… I simply wish to speak to you… I would have introduced myself during the ball but alas… it seemed an improper time.”

“And what exactly is it you wish to discuss…?” Yelane was growing uneasy, this woman was in a dungeon and yet she seemed to be the only person in the castle that wished to be there.

“I foresaw this night, I knew you’d need guidance… protection… so I had come to humbly offer you my services and tutelage… I see a grand future for you little lord…. But before that, I must know you are ready to learn… open to change… as a sign of faith, I request you fetch that key over there, and open this cell.” She rises from her seat now, hands folded behind her back and yet her features remain obscured.

“If you’re so powerful and so wise, why can’t you do it? And how do I know that you aren’t some witch that belongs in that cell..?” Yelane had already witnessed demons storming the Icy Cradle, to release a witch too? Mother would never forgive him for that!

“It’s as I said, I need to know you are ready for what I am going to teach you, and for that to happen I need to see a… leap of faith, as it were.” Her words are measured, calm, almost eerily so.

Yelane looks over to the guards body, sure enough resting on his belt is a set of worn, iron keys.

“Why stop Lady Dunwall from seeing or hearing you..? Shouldn’t she know if you’re traveling with us…?”

“The Dunwall is closed minded by nature, what she doesn’t understand, frightens her, you however are open minded… curious, these are good qualities for the work we would be doing, but you needn’t worry… I can keep this shroud up for as long as I need it, she shan’t be any the wiser… at least until the time comes to show her the fruits of our labor.” Her words ooze dubiousness, why shouldn’t Dunwall know?

And yet… Lady Dunwall is only a single soldier, a skilled and accomplished soldier but still it will take more than a single soldier to retake a castle, or a city or a kingdom. Perhaps the strange woman knows something of value, she’s already demonstrated arcane skill in having fooled demons into passing her by, who knows what secrets she could share with Yelane?