The Healer

Shortly after the guard left, it was mealtime. Each prisoner was given a meager roll of bread, most of which was moldy, and a cup of water. To Acacia’s mouth, which had been spoiled by the fresh, flavorful berries in the woods, the bread seemed especially dry and tasteless. Despite that observation, she knew that she needed to eat something - else she would not be able to withstand the torture sessions - so she grudgingly ate.
When the food was gone, the cup was taken from her cell and she and the girl were once again left alone. She expected to be dragged off to the interrogation room soon after the meal, but no guards came for her, not even the one who had promised an escape for them.
“I just realized,” she said, “that we still don’t know each other’s names. I am Acacia.”
“My name is Ilka. Pleased to meet you.”
“And you as well. Maybe we will get to speak more after this is all over.”
“Hopefully.”
Then Acacia pondered her own words. Why was she craving to know this girl better? As soon as this was over she would return to the peacefulness of the woods. Not the same part of the woods where she was captured, but still the woods. She would travel far away from all humans once again, where she could continue to protect the forest.
But, she realized, maybe that isn’t what I truly want. At that moment she decided that she didn’t want to simply remove the humans from her life. She wanted to show them how to survive in her world without destroying it. She wanted them to know how to find food in the forest; how to tread on her territory without crumbling it. She wanted them to understand.
As she was thinking this, she vaguely noticed that there were other prisoners being led to the interrogation room as well. Their sessions were quick, and when they came back they seemed unharmed, almost excited. After just four of the other prisoners were taken and returned the same way, Ilka’s door was opened. She cowered from the guards, neither of which was the one who had volunteered to help them. As soon as she was drawn out of her cell, two more guards appeared. This time, as the sentry opened Acacia’s door, she saw that one of them was the young guard they had met before. His earlier soft expression had transformed into a hardened mask. Is he acting? or is this all a trap? Why are they taking us both in at once? Was this his plan? She knew that she would just have to wait and see, but still she looked at him for some sort of sign that he really was there to help. He remained expressionless. She let the guards pull her along without resistance; if they were to escape within a few moments, she would need as much strength as she could get. She would not waste it in a useless, and possibly harmful, effort.
Through one door, then through the interrogation room door. Ilka was already seated in the chair with the binding contraptions, and another was set beside her. The young guard fastened her in, giving no indications that the action would be coming soon. After both Ilka and Acacia were restrained, the guards left. She watched him carefully. He was stationed outside of the door, motionless. Acacia’s concentration was broken by the Interrogation Master’s obnoxious voice.
“I have decided that perhaps you two will respond better if it is not your own hide that is at stake, since you both seem to be close. Now, shall we begin?”
Ha! Acacia thought. It wasn’t even his idea. She knew immediately that it had been the young guard’s idea.
“What is the settlement’s population?” He stared darkly at Ilka, daring her to oppose him. She shrunk back, silent. Instead of harming her, he strode over to a box that Acacia had not noticed before and pulled out a rolled up whip. Wasting no time, he unraveled it as he walked towards not Ilka, but Acacia. It whistled through the air before slicing across her already scraped arm. She recoiled, groaning. But her pain soon seemed to vanish as she saw something outside of the door. The second guard laid motionless on the ground while the young guard stood with a knife in his hand, scowling at the interrogation master. Without dropping the knife, he lifted the bar that held the door closed, tossing it aside. The Interrogation Master was glaring at him, whip held ready.”What do you think you are doing?” he growled.
“Getting out of here.” The guard lunged at him, knife in hand. The interrogator dodged, swiping the whip through the air towards the rebel guard. It slid across his chest, but his leather tunic protected him from it’s sting. The interrogator leapt to the box he had retrieved the whip from, pulling out a serrated knife. To think that he planned to use that on us! Acacia was disgusted. Without letting any more precious time slip through her fingers, she began awkwardly scooting her chair towards Ilkas as fast as she could with her shackled feet. Ilka, seeing her plan, did the same, moving slowly towards Acacia. The men fought on, stabbing each other at every opportunity, making no move to help or stop them.
Finally the two girls reached eachother, and Acacia began feeling for the hook that Ilka’s manacles were attached to. There! She toyed with it until it opened, and Ilka quickly began to work on the hook holding Acacia. Soon it opened as well, and they each unclasped their own ankles. Acacia edged over to where the interrogator was circling the guard, oblivious to her. As soon as she was close enough, she reached her bound hands over his head and placed them under his chin, pulling with all of her might. He gasped for air, clawing at her hands with the knife still in his hand. It sliced a ragged line across the back of her left hand before she threw her body forward, toppling them both to the ground. She quickly adjusted herself so that her knees pinned his shoulders down, still choking him. Her scabbed side tore open, and she hissed in pain. Ilka had gone to help the guard, who had been stabbed multiple times by the interrogator. Minutes passed before the interrogator went limp, and Acacia slipped her chained hands back out from under his head. She went over to where Ilka stood supporting the guard, a shoulder slipped under his arm, still shackled. “Lets get out of here.”
“Wait,” the guard stopped them. “Lets move the other guard in here and lock them both in. It will take longer for word to get out that we escaped.”
Ilka and Acacia led him to the wall outside of the interrogation room, resting him against the wall. Despite his protests, they refused to let him do the heavy work. “Not in your state; you will loose too much blood,” Acacia scolded. She still did not feel that it was safe enough to risk healing anyone, so he sat reluctantly against the wall while the two girls dragged the second unconcious man into the room.
Acacia was ready to close and bar the door when Ilka called. “Wait; I have to get something.” She briskly walked out of sight, returning a few moments later with several weapons; a short war hammer; a heretic’s fork with the strap still attached; and two knives. She set them out on the floor next to the young guard, who busied himself separating them. Ilka helped to bar the door after Acacia closed it.
Soon both Ilka and Acacia had chosen their weapons; Ilka took on one of the knives, which was long amd single-edged with an inward curve, as well as the short war hammer. Acacia grabbed the other knife - a stylized straight dagger with a larger hilt - and the heretic’s fork, which she removed the strap from. The guard kept his own knife, a double-edged dagger with a shorter blade and a crossguard. Acacia helped him to stand up again, supporting him while Ilka led the way. The guard had better knowledge of the dungeons, but he was in no state to lead.
Cracking the door open, Ilka peered down the hall, quietly closing the door again a second later. “How are we supposed to get past the sentry?” she whispered.
Immediately the guard spoke up. “I’ll go. He won’t suspect me, so I’ll be able to get close enough to knock him out without him questioning it.”
“Have you forgotten something?” Ilka asked rhetorically. “You are covered in blood; how is he not going to question that?”
Maybe now is a good time to make use of my powers, Acacia thought, listening to the argument.
“Well, he might, but at least he isn’t going to attack me as soon as I step foot into the hall!” The guard said, almost rising off of Acacia’s shoulder.
“You can’t walk! How can you expect to beat him over the head in your state?” Ilka responded heatedly.
“I can help.” Acacia had decided; if this was the most promising chance of escape that they would get, she would risk her cover.
“What?” The guard asked, looking surprised. “How?”
“Ilka, do you remember what I said earlier?” Acacia asked.
“About fixing this?” Ilka asked.
“Yes. I think now is a good time to show you.”
“Show us what?” the guard interrupted.
“You will see,” Acacia assured him, “but you must promise not to ask me about it excessively until we are away from immediate danger. Do not dwell on it here, else it will distract you.”
“I promise.” the guard agreed, and Ilka repeated him. Nodding, Acacia led him over to the wall and helped him to sit down, kneeling next to him. Her scabbed skin felt like it had torn open again, but she only winced slightly, knowing that she would be able to repair the damage to her own body soon. Taking a deep breath, she overlapped her hands on a stab wound in the guard’s abdomen, concentrating as deeply as she could with her concussed mind. The guard gasped, long and shaking, and impulsively grabbed Acacia’s right arm, fear making his entire body shudder. Acacia could not speak to tell him to let go without loosing her concentration, so she continued as best as she could, his trembling hand gripping her. A moment later she had succeeded in closing the wound, although not as well as she would have liked. The guard’s interference and her concussion had lessened her success considerably; she could tell that his skin where the Interrogation Master had stabbed was not as strong as it was before, and it would take time to heal completely.
“Kindly try not to do that,” Acacia said, feeling more drained than before. “It makes it much more difficult when I am interrupted.”
“S-sorry,” the guard said feebly, releasing her arm, “its just… I don’t… That isn’t natural.”
“Of course it isn’t,” Acacia replied, “but it works. Will you be able to stay still while I heal the rest?”
“I’ll try,” he said, sounding unsure.
Acacia picked another of the more harmful looking wounds, a deep stab on his side which slipped between two ribs. Again she covered it with her hands, and this time the guard was able to keep his arms at his sides, although he still shuddered. A minute later she was able to move on to another wound, and then another; after each repetition her energy faded, until after healing the last of his wounds she was left slouching against the wall, shivering. The guard pushed himself into a standing position, silently marveling at his pain-free skin and then at Acacia. “Are you alright?”
Her mind even more slow than before, Acacia eventually answered, mumbling; “Yes… Ilka, I can heal you as well-”
“No,” Ilka replied quickly, “you are too weak as it is. I will be fine until we get out of here and you recover. Are you able to walk?”
Without speaking, Acacia gradually lifted herself up from the floor, leaning heavily on the wall. She pushed away from it, wavering on her feet, but still standing. “I think so.”
Unconvinced, Ilka strode over to her, moving both her hammer and her dagger into her left hand, and silently lifted Acacia’s chained hands over her own head, bearing both of their weights. Acacia was secretly relieved to have the support. “Lets go.”
The guard opened the door, purposefully closing it before Ilka and Acacia could slip through. Appearing irritated, Ilka led Acacia over to the door, opening it just enough for them to see what the guard was doing. He had walked down the hall only a few yards, blood still splotching his clothes, before the sentry appeared in front of him, looking startled. Quietly enough that they could not hear it from their hiding place, the sentry and the guard exchanged a few words, the sentry appearing more doubtful and anxious by the second. Before another moment had passed, however, the guard had raised his dagger and rapped him on his temple with its hilt, felling him immediately. Without wasting a moment the guard dragged the sentry’s limp body back to the door where Acacia and Ilka were waiting, pushing it open and dropping the limp sentry once the door had shut. After a moment’s search he found a ring of keys, each varying slightly for each lock they opened. He quickly separated one of the keys from the rest and strode over to Ilka, undoing her restraints and then Acacia’s. Both of the girls readjusted; Acacia had been partially relying on the manacles to keep herself up on Ilka, but now they shifted so that only one of Acacia’s arms was over Ilka’s shoulder. Taking both of their undone manacles, the guard dragged the sentry to the door which led into the interrogation room and chained him to the door, crossing his arms behind him and above his waist to restrain his movement more.
When the guard was finished and Ilka and Acacia were fully adjusted, they silently opened the door and slipped back into the hall where they had been kept, with the guard in the lead. They passed by over a dozen stalls, each with a gaping prisoner inside, watching as the trio escaped. At the end of the hall they passed through another door, but as it closed behind them three guards stationed at the exit caught sight of them. Before they could fully react, the rebel guard rushed ahead and struck the first guard on his temple, and he crumpled to the ground. Ilka quickly set Acacia down against the wall in order to help; the second and third guard had caught on and pulled their daggers out of their scabbards, ready to fight. Ilka took her hammer and bashed one of them on the wrist and he cried out, dropping his dagger. She immediately curved the hammer back towards his neck, hitting it with a force that made it crack, and he fell as well. At the same time, the last loyal guard went limp from lack of air as the rebel guard choked him. As Ilka returned to help Acacia up, the rebel guard said, “We need to leave now, or we’ll never get out. I hope you can run.”
In truth, Acacia couldn’t run at all, and Ilka was weak from lack of food and interrogation for so many weeks. Regardless, they turned through another door which led outside. The two patrols stationed outside were, thankfully, away from the exit. The rebel guard came to the side of Acacia that Ilka wasn’t supporting and helped to carry the weight; he was only slightly taller than Acacia, but he was half a head taller than Ilka, making it slightly difficult. As soon as he was in place, they dashed away. Neither of the girls knew where they were going, but the rebel guard seemed to know and gave instructions as they went. “Right.” They turned a corner and slowed down, out of the sight of the prison “Left.” An alarm sounded, and they redoubled their pace. “Straight. Right. Straight.”
They were met by a slowly closing gate, through which Acacia could see a dirt road surrounded by trees. Almost there; just need to make it past that gate. No-one was watching it; whoever was before was occupied by closing it. They darted through with feet to spare, and went along the road for only a few minutes before the rebel guard directed them off the path, into the woods but still away from the gate.