Page 91 of Tiger's Dream
“I will.”
A moment later, I heard the swing of his door as it creaked open, and soon the young boy was working on my lock.
“I can’t do it,” he said. “Here. You can try yourself,” he added, trying to pass me the knife through the bars of my cage.
“You’re going to have to do it,” I said gently. “My hand has been injured.”
“Did he take your fingers?” a voice two cells away asked. “He took two of mine.”
I sucked in a deep breath, trying to swallow the pain I felt for this young person who’d suffered at the hands of the soulless turbaned man. “No,” I answered quietly. “I just can’t move my hand. I’m sorry he hurt you,” I told him. “We’re going to get free. All of us.”
It took several more minutes for the boy to pick my lock. Then he moved to another cell. He’d opened several locks and had started working on the other side when we heard the click of boots on the floor above us. “Hurry back to your cell!” I said. “Don’t forget to shut your door and hide the knife!”
The boy had just managed to get into his cell and shut the door when the cellar door opened. “Here’s your dinner,” the man said as he ladled a pungent stew into a bowl and shoved it toward the grasping hands of each child. When he reached the third cell, he banged his arm against it and the door creaked open.
“You bleeding idiot!” the man said to his helper guard. “If the master found out you’d left the cage unlocked, he’d break your ankles and leave you in the desert to rot!” In disgust, he locked the door and then studied the next one. “This one too? Unbelievable! Check them all.”
When they got to my cage, they both eyed me suspiciously, but I lay facing them, pressing my shirt to my mouth, and groaning. They searched me but found nothing. Continuing on, they methodically tested all the cages, and since only a few had been unlocked, the guard blamed his fellow rather than suspecting foul play.
Once all of us had a bowl of stew and a cup of water, they opened Ana’s cage and pulled her out. “Master wants to see you,” the man said. They stood clear of me though I still lay prone near the wall. They must have heard the story of how I’d killed the other guard.
The moment they disappeared and the cellar door closed, my young friend began picking his lock again. “Hurry,” I said. “I’ve got to help her.”
When he opened his cage, he began frantically working on mine. Once mine was unlocked, I took the knife from him and headed to the cellar door. Even with the weapon, there was no way to open it. I cursed the fact that Ana was in the hands of the turbaned man and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.
The young man tugged at my shirt and asked if he should open the other cells. I shook my head and then explained since he couldn’t see me, “No, not tonight. We have to wait for the right opportunity. I need to figure out a plan of escape that will succeed.”
We returned to our cages and I gave him my stew but drained the cup of water. I sat awake all that night with my head in my hands, imagining the terrible suffering my Ana was going through. This was my fault. If I had been a better tracker… If I hadn’t left the door to our home open… If I hadn’t run every time things became hard… Over and over I berated myself.
Every day, I kept vigil over her small cage, watching her trembling limbs and the way she stared distantly at nothing. Every night, I made myself look as she was removed from her cage and taken upstairs to entertain the turbaned man. The man had only come down once to summon Ana himself. He stared directly at me as he did so, fully knowing he was breaking his promise. In the torchlight, I could see there was something different about him.
His skin looked sallow. He’d lost flesh and the veins in his hands appeared dark, almost black beneath his skin. The whites of his eyes were bloodshot and his fingers shook as he told his men to hurry. I remembered then the warning the phoenix had given me. He’d said that the heart of the phoenix within the truth stone would destroy anyone who used it to hurt others. Perhaps the turbaned man’s sickly mien was indicative of this.
The fifth night, our opportunity came. We listened for the telltale click of the lock on the cellar door after Ana was escorted upstairs, but it never came. My skin was feverish and I knew I was suffering from blood poisoning. My wounds had gone untreated and they were beginning to fester. Despite this, I was determined to save Ana at any cost, even if I died in the process.
My young friend opened his cage and mine with his secreted knife and then proceeded to open the remaining cages. Since they weren’t shackled, the children were able to move quietly. In the time we’d been together, they’d given me a detailed description of the home. One even knew of a hidden passage that led out from the master’s bedchamber in case of attack. Our plan was to head directly to the master’s room, kill him and any guards who stood in our way, and then make our escape through the passage.
Quietly, I lifted the cellar door and motioned for the children to go out first. They were adept at finding hiding spots. Their instructions were to stay hidden while I engaged the guards and then follow me as silently as possible. When the last child had disappeared, I crept out and made my way directly to the master’s chamber.
I took out one guard by slashing his throat, catching his body as he fell. Leaving him behind, I went on. When I looked back, I saw the children stashing his body in a cupboard and cleaning up the blood. There was a brief scuffle as I took out two more. As quickly as the first, the bodies were taken away. Then we were at the hall leading to the master’s chamber. Lacking an easy way to sneak up on them, I knew I’d have to attack them directly.
Before I could, the brave boy who I’d called my captain darted out into the hall and then stood there long enough for the guards to see him. They called out after him and gave chase. I took down one and then sunk my knife into the spine of the second as he was dragging the boy back to the cellar. The children tossed the bodies into the cellar and locked it. Now nothing stood between us and the door.
I tried the handle but it was locked. Quietly, I put the knife between the two doors and lifted the latch. The room was lit by a small coal fire and a huge bed sat in the center of the room. On a nearby table, sitting on a pillow, was the gleaming truth stone. I pointed to the young boy who’d been my right hand and the stone and he nodded. He nabbed the stone and handed it to one of the girls behind him as he dug through a pile of clothes until he found a shirt and made a makeshift bag from it.
The master was sprawled on the bed, snoring loudly. As I approached, I noticed his skin was now tinged blue and it appeared as if it was peeling in many places. It wasn’t until I got closer that I could see a small body pressed against his. I slid the blanket down a bit and saw Anamika, her eyes glossy and wide as she stared up at me. Her face contorted in pain and she whimpered softly. I cursed softly, knowing I probably looked like just another looming man in the dim room, and quickly stepped back so she couldn’t see me.
While I was at the bed, the children found the hidden passage, and the young boy was waving his arm, making sure all of our young prisoners escaped. Raising my knife, I plunged it into the neck of the snoring man, who woke suddenly, squealing like a pig. Quickly, I dashed around the bed and scooped up Ana in my arms. She suddenly came alive, bucking and kicking, but I’d grabbed the blanket at the same time and wrapped it around her, securing her limbs and wishing I had more time to be gentle with her.
With a final look at the dying man, I turned and headed down the passage following the light of a torch held by one of the children. Ana suddenly stopped struggling. Her head fell to one side, her eyes still open. It was as if she’d locked herself far away. My own eyes filled with tears as I bent close and whispered to her, “Please forgive me.”
Chapter 20
A Man-Eater and a Miracle
We followed the dim passage for the better part of an hour and finally emerged through the opening of a cave tucked away in a desert mountain. The children pushed aside the brush so I could get through without pricking Ana’s legs on the thorns. Squinting in the darkness, I made out the bumpy shapes of many animals dotting the land. I blew out a breath as I considered the camels.
The children helped me round up three of the beasts, and I tied them together using the sash at my waist and the sleeves of the boys’ shirts. Once the children clambered on, I climbed onto the back of the lead camel and cradled Ana’s inert form in front of me. We set off toward the west, the opposite of the direction I wanted to go, but it was farther away from the citadel of the turbaned man, and I thought it best to put as much distance between us and his mercenaries as possible.
