The Runaway King (The Ascendance Series, Book 2)

It was the pain that eventually awoke me. The shock of Roden’s strike had sent me into unconsciousness, but that had gradually evolved into a restless and unproductive sleep. The chains around my wrists were too high on the wall to allow me to sit on the ground, so when I tried to balance on my injured leg and adjust my weight, a bolt of pain tore through me. My eyes flew open and I cried out. When I focused on Erick and Fink, I saw them standing on their end of the room, staring at me in horror.

“How long was I out?” I mumbled. Neither of them responded so I focused directly on Fink. “How long?”

“A couple of hours maybe.”

It wasn’t quite dark yet. From the angle of the sun coming through the window, I guessed there were still another two or three hours until sundown. Not much time.

“How does it feel?” Fink asked.

“Like butterfly kisses, what do you think?” I leaned my head back to stretch out the muscles, but it did little good. My neck had been in one position for so long, it was now angrily protesting my attempts to use it.

“Why did you talk to Roden like that?” Erick asked, clearly still upset with me.

“I made a mistake.” My hope had been that if I got Roden angry enough, he would challenge me to another sword fight. Clearly, that plan hadn’t worked.

“Here’s what I don’t understand,” Erick said. “You were a king, you had everything. Now you’ve sunk to our level and you’ll lose everything. Not only your life, but he’ll come for your kingdom too.”

“You’re wrong on all counts,” I said. “I’m still a king. My title isn’t determined by my crown; it’s in my blood. Gregor is imprisoned here, so at least for now, my kingdom is safe.” Then I looked directly at Erick. “And my stature never sank when I joined you. You may be a thief, but there is far more good in you than bad. I’m better off for knowing you.”

Erick’s eyes fluttered and he finally looked down, silent.

I turned my attention to the more immediate problem. Roden wasn’t clear about when the supper would begin tonight, but without question I was running out of time.

The complication was that Imogen’s pin was in the boot of my leg that Roden had broken. I made a vain attempt to wiggle the foot, even though I knew it would hurt and would be useless in helping to remove the boot. I couldn’t get my hands down as far as my feet to pull it off, and even if I could, the manacle around my ankle made the boot tighter than usual.

I nodded at Fink, calling him to come. He hesitated and I said, “Don’t make me beg for help. Come here.”

Fink glanced at Erick, who didn’t acknowledge him, then crossed the room to me.

“As gently as you can, you’ve got to get this boot off my foot.” I winced as I spoke and Fink paled. To encourage him, I added, “They’re a little big on me anyway, so they should slide easily. Just go slow.”

Fink knelt beside the injured leg. I couldn’t do anything to lift it for him, and when he raised it slightly and tugged at the heel, I cried out and told him to stop.

“New plan,” I said between shallow breaths. “Try rolling the leather down.”

Fink touched the top of my boot. He pulled at the sides, and the pain flared inside me, but this time it was him who gave up. “I think that’d be worse than just pulling it off,” he said.

Still on his side of the room, Erick muttered something to himself, then stood. Without looking at me, he reached into his own boot and pulled out a small folding knife. “Back off,” he ordered Fink, who quickly obeyed. Then he went down on one knee and began cutting the leather down its side. It was a slow process since the knife was so small, and every time he moved my leg even by a hair, I gasped and tried not to pass out again.

When he reached the sole, it was a comparatively easy thing to lift the rest of the boot free from my foot.

“There’s a pin in it,” I said between breaths. “Give it to me.”

“Let me do it,” Fink said. “You can’t reach the lock on those chains anyway.”

Fink widened the pin to its full length, then slid one end into the manacles locked around my wrists. He toyed with it until he found the lever he was seeking. With one careful push, there was a clicking sound and the manacles pulled apart. He next went to work on the ankle manacles, and when they unlocked he was very careful in removing them.

Free from the chains, I crumpled to the ground. It hurt to fall, but my good leg was too tired to lower me more carefully.

“What now?” Fink asked. “The lock is on the other side of the door. We’re still stuck in this room.”

I glanced up at the window, grateful for the first time that I had recently become so thin. Erick stared at me, incredulous. “Do you know where we are? More than a stone’s throw above the beach and nearly the same below the cliff top. There’s nowhere to go.”

Fink pressed close to Erick’s side and whispered to him, “Roden said he could climb.”

“Up a cliff?” Erick shook his head. “Maybe with two good legs, but not one.”

“Punch out the glass,” I said to Fink. “Then pray there’s no one below us.”

Fink held out his hand for Erick’s knife. Erick sighed loudly before handing it over. Then Fink grabbed the chair from the corner to stand on while he broke out the glass. We waited in silence for the sound of footsteps outside the door, but none came. Roden would want a big dinner. I was sure he was keeping everyone occupied.

When the window was cleared, I gestured to the chair on which Fink had stood. “Now break that. Don’t split the longer pieces.”

“A leg brace,” Erick muttered. “Yeah, that’ll make all the difference.” But he went to the chair anyway and began hitting it against the wall.

While he did, I asked Fink to remove his shirt and rip it into the longest lengths he could. Then I laid my head flat on the floor and closed my eyes. Roden was going to regret having done this to me; I’d make sure of it.

With one final hit, the last joints of the chair fell apart. Most of it came to pieces in unusable sections, but Erick was able to break away enough to end up with one straight piece of wood nearly as long as my entire leg. I told him to break it even more. I needed to bend my knee if I was going to keep my balance.

They did the rest of the work without any further instructions. Fink held a piece of wood both on the inside and outside of my leg while Erick tied the strips from the shirt as tightly as he could. I hated that I needed their help, all the while knowing this would’ve been impossible to do on my own. My leg still pulsed with pain, but once it was braced with the wood, it was more manageable than before. I stood and tested my stance on the floor. I made no effort to put weight on my injured leg, thankful that years of climbing and walking on narrow ledges had given me good balance and strength.

“Now scoot the table beneath the window,” I said.

“You’ve got no chance on that cliff,” Erick said.

“I’d rather fall from that cliff than wait here to be killed!” The fear I felt came out sounding like anger. “Now help me. Please!”

“You’re a complete fool,” Erick said.

“So I’ve been told.” I stared at each of them a moment and said, “I think I’ll be discovered before anyone comes here looking for me. But in case I’m wrong about that, you should come up with a story to explain how I escaped here on my own.”

“I knew I’d hate you before this was over,” Erick said.

“I’m sorry you do. You’re one of only a few people who I’d have preferred to like me.”

Erick looked down at his knife, sighed heavily, then held it out to me. “Take it.”

But I shook my head. “It’s your last defense. I’ve taken enough from you already.”

I sat on the table, then got to a standing position. I clamped my fingers around the windowsill, but there was no traction on the wall for my foot. Erick sighed again and pushed the table away, using his own strength to lift me until I angled my way through the window.

I paused to sit on the windowsill, with everything but my legs already on the outside. A cool breeze washed up from the sea below us, and I took that in with a deep breath. Erick had underestimated the distance, both to the ground and the cliff above me, yet the texture of the cliff wall was better than I’d hoped for. Vines and plants grew dense and well rooted, and there were many rocks and missing chunks of earth. I didn’t know whether I could make it to the top on one leg or not, but I thought it was a great day to try.