Witch of Gadia

The Chareton Capital Prison was a dark, dangerous place for a seventeen year old girl. Even with her head lowered and her greasy, limp, dark hair hiding her pale face, Luciana was an obvious target for the other inmates as she was led to her cell. They yelled and jeered at her through the bars, for although she probably smelled as dirty as them in the prison attire - a yellow shirt and shorts that were far too thin to protect her from the cold - she was clearly not from this planet.

The cat-calling grew louder as she drew more attention with the extra guards escorting her. The arresting officer had assigned four guards to her, but Luciana knew it would make no difference. If she'd had her magic, they'd already be dead. Instead, she had to think smart - come up with a clever plan to outwit the guards, and avoid a fight at all costs. She might have been able to take on two, maybe three guards. But four elementals? Not likely, even for Luciana.

Shit she thought as they suddenly stopped at an empty cell. As soon as they locked her up, her chance of escaping was gone. That was not an option.

"Step in the cell," one of the guards said, unlocking the door.

Ears pounding, she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. You have not been abandoned, she told herself, pushing away all thoughts about the incident. It wouldn't help her now. Should she fake a sudden illness? The guards probably wouldn't care, especially seeing as she was an outsider.

A meaty hand shoved her forward. "Come on, girl."

"Girl?" Luciana growled. "I'm a witch."

"Do I look like I - ?" the guard was cut off by Luciana as she cracked, whirling around and wrapping her fingers around his throat. He was taller than her, but she held on tight, knowing it was only a few seconds until the other guards reacted. The trick wasn't how long she could choke him for, but how tightly she could squeeze.

Her mentors would be yelling at her right now. Of all the ways to escape, fighting her way out was the worst decision she could have made. No going back now Luciana thought as she let go of the guard's neck and leapt back, narrowly missing a sharp tendril of mist that snapped like a whip in front of her. The guard who cast the tendril drew back, letting the third guard rush forward to help the one she'd been choking.

As the fourth guard summoned a fireball in his hand, she began taking mental notes: one air mage, and one fire mage so far. They were the two most common forms of elemental magic, and the most effective in physical combat. With the guard she'd choked being tended to by the third guard, she was still up against two powerful elementals. The fire mage cast the fireball.

She ducked and rolled to the side, the fireball grazing her arm and singeing the uniform. A moment later, a blast of air knocked her down. Her body went limp at the impact of falling to the ground, before she rolled to the side, raising up an arm as if to deflect any further attacks. "Please," she gasped, her eyes wide and pleading. The two guards loomed over her, another fireball forming in the fire mage's hand.

"We were going to wait until there was a free interrogation room. But now is as good a time as any. Confess, witch." The flame in his hand flared brighter and hotter.

The third guard appeared, arms folded. "She's got a strong grip, but he'll recover," he told the other two guards.

The fire mage smirked. "Lucky girl. Now tell us what a witch like you is doing trespassing in Elemental territory."

Luciana shifted back, her dark hair falling in her face as she looked up fearfully at the three guards. "Please don't hurt me."

"We'll be nicer to you if you confess." The fire mage stepped over her, holding his flaming hand near her face.

"Okay," she breathed, "I… I was just…" she trailed off, mumbling under her breath.

"What?" He leaned in as she spoke softly again.

She stopped and stared at him, all submissiveness gone from her face. Before he could react, she jerked forward, head-butting him with a resounding crack.

The fire mage reeled back. She jumped to her feet and quickly jabbed each hand under the chins of the other two guards, snake-like strikes that momentarily distracted them. With the fire mage stumbling around, she pushed the gagging air mage on top of him, and they both tumbled to the floor. The remaining guard recovered from her attack and struck out at her, but she ducked and pushed him to the side, using his own weight against himself.

Leaping onto one of the guards who was fumbling to get back up, she struck down on his face viciously several times, before moving onto the other three. When she was certain that none of them would be getting up any time soon, she stopped and caught her breath. Still straddling the last unconscious guard, her hands in fists, the sounds around her suddenly became clear.

The other prisoners were cheering. At least, some of them were. As she got to her feet, the cheering, jeering and cat-calling grew louder. She glanced around at all of the prisoners, savouring their applause. Men and women, young and old, there was no clear organisation in Chareton Capital Prison.

She had to think quickly, before more guards showed up. Taking down four guards had been bad enough, she couldn't handle more at this point. Besides, there was a throbbing pain in her shoulder where the fireball had burnt her skin, and it was starting to really burn.

"Hey witch! Let me out, will you? I've got no magic to hurt you with - look!"

As Luciana turned to begin running back the way she had come, a prisoner caught her attention. He was perhaps in his early twenties, only a few years older than her, with a tall, thin build. Long straggly blonde hair hung to his shoulders. He was pushing back the sleeve of his shirt, revealing a tattoo of a familiar rune. It was a binding rune, the worst kind of punishment an elemental could receive apart from death. He could never use his elemental magic again. Which meant he was probably a terrible person to have received that punishment, someone Luciana shouldn't trust.

It also meant he had nothing to lose. "Do you live in the Capital?" she asked, getting closer so she could lower her voice.

He nodded.

"If I get you out, will you help me find someone? There's a man I'm looking for."

"Yeah, I can do that. I - I have eyes in the city."

He didn't look like the head of any gang or spy organisation, but she wasn't in a place to be picky. If he was lying, then she would just find some other way to get what she wanted. He couldn't harm her even if he tried.

"Okay, I'll see if there's a key on one of the guards." She began looking through the guard's pockets.

"Can't you just use your magic to unlock it? You are a witch, aren't you?" he called. She didn't answer, and instead continued to rummage through the guard's pockets until she found a set of keys. There were only five keys to try, thankfully, and she told herself that if none of them worked, she would leave him behind.

"What's your name?" she asked. The third key clicked into place, and she began twisting.

"Sega. I'm - I was a fire mage." His voice wavered.

The door swung open. Sega was instantly out of the cell. The rowdiness of the other prisoners had escalated as they all tried to convince her to unlock their cells as well. "We should get going." She eyed him, pocketing the keys. "We need a way out. I can retrace my steps, but that will lead us to more guards. Any ideas?"

Sega looked up and down the prison hallway; a shadowed, narrow path that almost every prisoner was reaching into from their cells now, pleading desperately for freedom. His body tensed, and he nodded down the way Luciana had come. "The way you came has an exit we can use. It's not - I mean, you won't enjoy it."

"Doesn't matter, as long as it's free of guards. Come on!" Her resolve was stronger than whatever this prison could throw at her.

They ran through the prison hallway, quickly gaining speed. As they reached the turnoff, Luciana took out the keys, praying to the Goddess that one of them would unlock the door. The fourth key fit. "Thank-you," Luciana whispered quietly as she swung the door open.

Not bothering to close the door behind them, they ran down the empty hallway, which was so long that Luciana almost couldn't see the end. They had left the prison block behind, and as the shouts of the prisoners faded, their light footsteps seemed to grow louder. They passed windows on both sides that showed views of the prison courtyard from above. The firelight from several fire mage guards patrolling from below cast a flickering light on the empty space.

Luciana noticed that Sega hadn't even glanced out the windows.

"How many times have you been put in here?" she asked.

It was a moment before he responded. "Six." His voice was even, he wasn't out of breath despite how hard they were running. No guards seemed to be chasing them yet, but neither wanted to wait around for that to happen.

"And you've obviously escaped this way before, yes?"

He nodded, "Once before, but there's no telling whether they blocked of the chute."

"Chute?"

"The garbage chute. It's in the kitchens."

"Won't there be chefs?"

"Cooking at this time of night? We prisoners don't get midnight snacks. All of the staff are gone, we only need to worry about the patrols. Rule one of escaping a prison: always escape at night."

She thought she saw him smirk.

They had long left the courtyard behind as they reached the end of the corridor overpass. Sega led her through several smaller passages and stairways until they found the kitchen doors, locked.

"How did you get through last time?" Luciana asked as she tried yanking on the handle again. None of the keys had worked.

Sega was standing back, looking more gaunt than before. His eyes were wide. "With fire," he mumbled gruffly, glancing at his arm where the binding rune lay.

They were both silent.

Sega turned to her. "Couldn't you just use your magic?"

There was a question Luciana didn't want to hear. She shook her head.

"But - I can't be wrong, you're a witch, aren't you? Your dark hair, your pale skin…"

"I can't use my magic." He wasn't supposed to hear this - the secrets of the witches. Once he knew, he would tell everyone.

"Why not?"

He needed an answer. A logical answer as to why she wasn't using magic to get them out. She huffed. "They put a binding rune on me as well," she lied. He raised his eyebrows in silent questioning: where?. "I can't show it to you. It's in a … " was she really about to say this? "… private area."

Sega frowned. "Ah."

"Yeah."

"Hm."

They still needed a way into the kitchen. "Okay, moving on. We'll have to barge our way through. Come on."

They began throwing their weight against the door. The sound was unbearably loud every time they hit the door. After several tries, Luciana put a hand on Sega's shoulder, motioning him to stop. "I think I hear guards."

Footsteps echoed. They were at the end of a decent sized hallway, but the other end was shrouded in darkness. They exchanged a panicked glance, before throwing their weight against the door again. With the guards rounding the corner and spotting the two escapees, flames were conjured. Dread tugged on Luciana - an ugly feeling in her stomach. Her other shoulder was still burning from the last fire mage.

The door gave way suddenly, making Sega and Luciana fall inwards. They scrambled to their feet as the doors swung shut. The guards were still coming down the hallway. "Garbage chute!" Luciana glanced wildly around the room. "Where?"

Sega took her hand and pulled her with him. The chute was near the back, just big enough for someone Sega's size. Luciana opened it. "You first," she said. She felt like she could trust him, but instinct and training had taught her to always make sure. She had to be sure there wasn't an incinerator or blades at the end of the chute.

Sega hoisted himself in. "See you at the other end," he said, before taking a deep breath and sliding down. Luciana waited a breath before jumping in after him.

The chute was dark and slippery. Luciana tried not to think about the various things she felt stuck to the sides as she slid downwards. Slowly gaining speed, she could hear echoes of shouting guards from the kitchen. Then, a flickering light entered the chute from above. She glanced up, but could see nothing except the flickering light slowly growing smaller as she fell farther away.

She gasped. Her momentum was slowing - the air growing thick around her. "Bloody elementals!" she growled. Her hair began to float around her as she slowed to a complete stop, hovering. An air mage guard was attempting to lift her back up the using the air around her. But Luciana had researched their powers well. She knew that it would take a lot of training and effort to lift her using air.

She placed her arms on the sides of the chute and pushed down. The air mage's force lessened; she dropped a few centimetres. That was all it took to get her body moving again.

She pushed harder and harder until she was sliding down the chute again.

It seemed another couple of minutes before she finally reached the end. The chute levelled out; and suddenly she was plunged into a mound of rubbish. There was a disgusting rotten stench that made her gag as she resurfaced, climbing out of the mound and onto the ground. She was on a deserted, dark street. The prison towered up behind her, and on the other side was nothing but trees. Sega was leaning against the side of the bin, grinning at her.

She was free.