Arkalia

Chapter 6 - The Great Escape

Lilia sarcastically whispered to herself before making a stink eye towards the hallway of cells. She took slow and quiet steps, she didn't want to wake the guard in her most crucial moment. She reached the table but still couldn't reach it as the ring was still just a few inches away.

She stood on her tiptoes, one hand on the edge of the table next to his feet, balancing herself. She grabbed the bunch of keys to stop them from their loud jangling before it could wake the guard up.

She jumped and the keyring unhooked itself from its hook on the wall. Lilia had always been a clumsy person, it was no surprise when she accidentally slipped on the wet cobblestone floor and fell.

Her metal armor fell with her to the floor and ended up with a loud clatter. She winced as she looked up at the guard. He stopped snoring and started to grumble, his eyes started to open slowly.

Lilia started crawling away from his sight. He slowly closed his eyes again and went back to snoring away. She heaved a sigh of relief, she got up from the floor and quietly made her way to the dark hallway lit by a few torches every few inches.

She ran down the hallway, quietly calling out to Jae, "Jae? Jae! Where are you?"

"Over... here!" She heard that familiar voice coming from the end of the hall. She sprinted all the way to the end of the hallway without looking through the other cells.

At the end of the hallway, a big cell stood by itself. The metal bars had spikes and he couldn't even touch the bars without getting cut by it. Jae was on the floor, sitting down while his arms were chained to the cuffs on the wall. His legs were also chained but there were metal balls attached to the short chains.

He had bruises everywhere on him, his cloak and mask had been taken off and they changed him into a torn and tattered shirt and pants. His cheek had a cut across it and another cut was found on his abs, the blade had cut his shirt in the process. He panted heavy as his nose dripped with blood.

"Oh my god! Jae!" Lilia whispered in horror. She took out the set of around 20 keys and started sticking in each key into the lock. Jae slowly opened his eye, as blood dripped from his forehead.

"Lilia? What are you doing here?! Did you get the piece of the sword yet?" Jae whispered as he tugged against the chains. She finally found the right key as she unlocked the cell and took out the keys before trying the keys again for the cuffs around his limbs.

"I needed help to find the treasury but I was right to come here first! Did you know you were going to be beaten up like that?!" Lilia asked worriedly. As she looked into Jae's eyes for a moment. His hazel eyes turned dark as he nodded.

She took the last key of the set and stuck it into the cuff's lock. Click! It opened. She quickly unlocked the other cuff trapped on his wrist. Once she had done that, she went to find the keys for his legs. Jae rubbed his wrists and told her, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I was scared you were going to worry about me and wouldn't agree with my plan."

He looked at her with worry as she unlocked the last cuff. You could see her face, she was pissed. But that didn't matter at that moment. She helped him up as he stumbled a bit before regaining balance.

"Let's get going. The guard is going to wake up soon. We need to get out of here by dawn." Lilia ordered coldly. Jae felt guilty and he wanted to talk to her right then, but he knew it wasn't the time or place. He just nodded and they took off running back down the hallway.

They were back up from the dungeon as they were running through the castle's long hallways, each turn they made, they ran into the same looking hallway. Soon, they arrived at the throne room. Jae ran to the back of the throne as he turned to Lilia.

"Okay, I know how to get to the treasury from here. Follow me." Jae whispered as he waved her over. She rolled her eyes and ducked behind Jae.

"Oh come on, I'm sorry alright? We'll talk later." Lilia heard the annoyance in Jae's voice before he ran to the other side and hide behind a pillar. She was about to go to him when she heard that disgusting, egotistical voice sounding out from the entrance of the throne room.

Her eyes went wide and her heart started to beat faster. She looked at Jae and he had the same reaction. She shrunk herself even smaller so that she couldn't be seen. Jae ran behind a wall as Lilia peeked from the side to see Jae's brother walking to his throne.

"I wonder what I should do now..." He asked himself out loud before sitting on the throne. He sat for a few moments thinking while Lilia's heartbeat was the only thing she could hear at the moment. She closed her eyes and hoped he would go away.

"Maybe I'll visit that gorgeous girl that captured my brother." He chuckled as he got up and walked to the other exit they came from. She sighed of relief before running over to Jae.

They nodded and knew they had to hurry. It was only a matter of time before the King realized Lilia had helped Jae escape. Jae led the way to the treasury and in a minute or two of sprinting down the hallway, they made it to the big red doors.

Jae pulled the door open as wide as they can fit their bodies, Lilia quietly shut the door. She panted from the run and wiped her sweat. Gym class did not prepare her for all this running she had to do in Arkalia. She caught up with Jae at the back of the room, rows of shelves lined the walls with all the gold she could ever wish for.

The moonlight from the big window shone onto the golden chest on a small pillar. She used the key that she had pocketed earlier to unlock it. Surely, inside was a glowing purple piece of metal. Jae picked it up and examined it to see if it was the real one, before tucking it into his satchel. Nearby, he found his cloak mask and clothes, he ran over to them and changed back into his clothes.

Lilia went to the doors to check if something had happened while they were inside. She could hear guards shouting and they were coming closer.

"Jae! The guards are here! What do we do?" She panicked and ran over to him. He pulled up his mask and took a gold ingot from one of the shelves and threw it at the window. He held her hand and they ran to the edge. The guards busted open the door with the King standing right there.

"Seize those thieves!" He ordered as guards came running towards them. The duo exchanged a look before Jae pulled Lilia along with him and jumped into the ocean. She screamed hysterically as they hit the water. The guards ran over to the edge but they didn't surface.

~ To Be Continued ~

A/N: Sorry for the long chapter guys! This was a really exciting one I must say! I'm not as good at making suspense but... I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!

Are Jae and Lilia alright? Will they survive the fall? Stay tuned to find out!

Follow me on Instagram @chloe.cwrites for sneak peeks and updates! Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoy this story!