Book One Chapter Nine: The Escape Plan

Nick formulates an escape plan to escape Saja's clutches. As he attempts escape, he finds that Saja has more than a few tricks up her sleeve...

Chapter Nine The Escape Plan: I spent the next few days thinking of a route of escape. Anything I could exploit to escape. I didn't want to draw Saja's attention, so I remained quiet. Saja only visited me once in the last few days to ask me about the Chosen one and Tigiti again. When I had told her the same things as I has before, she got angry, ran towards me, jumped over the gap that separated us, and bit me again. After those few days of examining my surroundings, I looked at my bonds yet again. There was a grate on the ceiling that let in light, and my chains were tied to that. I figured that if I could somehow get up there, I could untie my chains. Yes, that could be step one, but that was another ten feet above me, so that would be twenty feet to the ground, I would need to leave one of my chains on so I could climb down, but how would I get that one off? All this thinking was making me tired, I decided to just rest my eyes...

 

I woke up feeling very sore from being in this position for so long. I looked up at the grate and thought that I could use my upper arm strength to climb up the chains. I moved my wrists and grabbed the chains. Well, not a brilliant plan, but it was the best I had. I moved my right hand up the chain, then my left. I pulled myself upwards like I was climbing a rope. That worked for a few seconds, then my hands slipped, I caught myself before I had to completely start over. The chains jangled a bit, but Saja did not enter, so I was probably fine. I climbed to where I was and continued, I was nearly at the grate, when I heard it. Footsteps coming from the hole in the wall. I wasn't fine, Saja was coming. I immediately let go of my chains and fell back into my normal position with a loud clang from the chains. My body became bruised from the drop.

 

Saja emerged from the hole.

"What were you doing?" Saja asked, her crimson eyes seemed like they were reading in to my every move.

I felt a slight jolt of fear in my gut. I had to think on my feet.

"Chin ups." I said without really thinking too hard.

Saja stared at me for a little while longer. I had a feeling that she knew exactly what I was doing. I was about to come clean in hopes that it would lessen my punishment for trying to escape, but what Saja said next made me think better of it.

"Credit where it's due, Nick, you aren't stupid enough to let your muscle tissue deteriorate." She said.

I almost let out a sigh of relief. Had she waited a few more seconds, I would have given myself up.

“Is something wrong, Nick? You look… Relieved.” Saja said with curiosity.

I shook my head, my heartrate took off in fear. Did she know that I was trying to escape? Was she just toying with me when she made the chin up comment?

“No, I’m not relieved. I’m stuck in this prison of yours with no means of escape. Why should I be relieved in any way?” I asked.

Saja nodded.

“Fair enough. Perhaps I read too much in to it.” Saja said.

When Saja realized that there wasn't anything else to be said, she left, leaving me to my thoughts of escape. I almost sighed with relief, but she would probably hear me. That was a close one. I had to be more careful. I tried climbing again. I made it halfway up and almost slipped yet again, but I threw my hands up and got above the slippery part, what was that stuff anyway? I finally made it up to the grate and grabbed it with one, then both hands. I had made it.

 

Once I was up, I started working on the bindings on my left hand, which was hard with the wooden bar getting in the way, I had to start over twice. I got frustrated, but I had to focus on my task of escaping. I finally pulled the chain loose and the chain dropped down, taking the wooden bar with it. No! It clattered to the ground. If only I had been more careful! I untied both my legs quickly, now that I knew what to do, and slid down the remaining length of chain that was still tied to my right hand. I tugged my right hand free from the bar and I was loose, but still in the pit, ten feet below the hole in the wall. I heard Saja call from above.

"Where did you go!?" She shrieked.

I was directly below her, out of sight for the moment. She looked down and looked around the pit.

"I can hear your heart beating, Nick." I heard her call from above.

With that she jumped down and had me backed against the wall. She tisked me.

"Trying to escape are we? Not wise, Nick." She said.

Okay, so it totally creeped me out how she knew my name, and it really creeped me out being in a pit with a vampire, with no weapon. She closed in on me. I was going to surrender, I truly was. And then I looked beside her, to the rear, it was one of the wooden bars from my bonds, only a few feet away, but it may as well have been miles with Saja between me and the bar. Rage filled my chest. I raised my fists.

"Oh, what are you going to do with those?" Saja asked teasingly.

I reeled back and punched her right on the jaw. I felt a slight pang of guilt for hitting a girl, but she was a vampire, and she would probably kill me if I didn't fight back, and quite frankly, I wanted to live. Saja's head jerked the way I punched it. She turned and looked at me with an open mouth and her hand on her jaw.

 

She lunged at me. I dove to the side without thinking. I made a break for the bar, but Saja threw me out of the way and against the far wall. Pain spread as I realized what had happened. Saja pinned me against the wall and put her forearm across my throat, restricting my breathing. She punched me once in the jaw with her free hand, after around two or three punches, I managed to catch her hand and block the next punch. I was no action movie hero, but I have been in my share of fights. I pushed against the force of her punch, and I could feel her choke hold she had on my throat loosening. When there was enough room to move, I threw her off of me and I bolted to the side and went straight for the bar, I managed to grab it this time, but when I turned to use it on Saja, I was met with her fist going into my face. Hard. The blow stunned me for a few seconds, and I could feel the pain of Saja's blows to the rest of my body.

 

I came out of the stunned haze and hauled Saja across the side of the head with the bar. My body was pretty battered, but I was hyper charged by adrenaline. Saja fell to the side, clutching her head, I smacked her again and she staggered, twice more and I floored her, and she was vulnerable. I didn't see her get up, so I turned my back to her, big mistake. As soon as I did so, she used some vampire speed and bit me on the back of the neck. I was so shocked, I didn't expect that. Twin needle points of pain appeared, representing her fangs. I fell to the floor on my hands and knees, but didn't lose hold of the bar. Good thing too, because I could hear Saja coming up on my left side, so that's where I swung the bar. It hit here on the knee and she reached down and clutched it with a pained cry. I struck upwards and hit her face.

 

My strength was almost gone, I had to finish this or I wouldn't be able to climb the chain and escape. I forced myself to stand. I cracked her on the back of her head three times and she fell to the floor. I continued, not wanting her to get up. She was still, had I killed her? I had mixed feelings about it. Should I feel bad? Or was it that since was a vampire, did it make it okay? I put those thoughts aside and started to climb the chain. I was halfway up, when the chain sagged downwards. It was going to come loose! I sped up the chain and grabbed the ledge as the chain fell down, clattering to the floor below. I was hanging on only by my hands, the rest of my body was in the pit, If Saja woke up, she would grab me and finish me off. Using that thought as motivation, I hauled myself up onto the ledge.

 

I walked in a weak limp down the corridor of a medieval castle. Yes, I had spent the last few days in a dungeon. Was I in Europe? I staggered down the corridor and came into a huge hallway, I saw the huge door just up ahead, and the gates were opened. I heard Saja from the pit:

"Lexan! Finish him off! Bring me his heart!"

Uh oh. Who was Lexan? I then heard a dog snarling. I turned to my right to see a big, big brown dog. Fear gripped me, the fear pierced the adrenaline and found its way into my stomach, forming a hard pit. The huge dog starred at me and snarled, and I could have sworn that its mouth formed a nasty grin. I ran for the gate, it was dark out, and I could see the moon, it was full; a round, white disc afloat in the starry sky. A fleeting thought came by in my head: was that big dog a werewolf? The thought didn't surprise me. I was still weak from Saja's bite and was not running as fast as I thought I was. The dog thing (werewolf?) caught up to me in a second and pounced on my back, I could feel its claws digging into my back. Pain flared, representing each claw that impaled my flesh. Its paws were big, and its claws were sharp. I probably would have died if not for what happened next.

 

I saw another big dog, but this one was as white as the moon itself. The wolf jumped at me. I thought it was all over then and there, but the wolf did not pounce on me, it pounced on the other wolf! I heard barking, snarling, and finally, yelping. I didn’t know who won, and I didn’t know what would happen next, but my adrenaline hypercharge had worn off, and I passed out.

 

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Author's Note

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