North x Northwest

Previous

On the other side of the wall, the heavy breathing and screams of the man and woman nearing their climax gained momentum. Ed and Lil could both hear it, albeit muffledly. To divert her attention, Lil ripped down her dress as if she were ripping off skin and stamped the heels of her new boots on the floor.

‘This prison is insane. Nothing about this is normal. Even the laughter from the banquet hall can still be heard from afar. I don’t want to comprehend how insane the world has become for things like this to occur in a prison…’

Coming back to her senses, she raised her voice deliberately while putting on her belt and sword.

“Did you see Alain and Marenzio earlier?”

“No.”

“Why on earth were they in the banquet hall? They were happily eating meat no less.”

“…”

Ed had already changed into his shirt and vest, and approached the bed.

“Those crazies didn’t even recognize their captain and completely lost their minds…”

“What do you mean lost their minds?”

“…No, never mind…”

“So, Alain and Marenzio were in the banquet hall? That explains why two sailors were missing from their designated cells.”

“Yeah. Now what?”

“It’s impossible for the guards to know the names of each of the imprisoned sailors, and since there were only two missing, they said they must’ve died somewhere, sometime ago. Discipline has become very lax in Gualtiero. You know what they say, wherever money flows and stagnates, that place is bound to rot.”

“To let prisoners enter a banquet hall solely for personal reasons, this place is truly insane… Damn it, then where can I find Alain and Marenzio?”

“Chances are, they’re where Julio is. Cell designations are normally fixed.”

“Understood.”

“…”

After finishing their preparations, Lil stood up. Sensing this, Ed placed a gun in the inside pocket of his jacket and turned to face her. Lil tried to say something different but quickly changed her mind.

“…What about the guards?”

“The streets should’ve been cleared by now.”

‘The Devito Harbour has recently been filled with sailing ships from the Western Continent. It’s one of the most chaotic times of the year, with merchants trading cargo carried by dozens of ships. As a result, security tightened, and a network of sentries was established throughout the city’s alleys. Even though these sentries were hired by Roahn, seeing multiple suspicious wagons speeding through the city will still be alarming. So, with Linhardt’s assistance, Ed cleverly altered the guard deployment and created empty alleys.’

Lil took the map from her pocket and double-checked the route.

“Devito Harbour. Second dock. No. 14.”

“…”

‘The Bell Rock can be found there. On paper, it had been captured by the Navy and converted into a merchant ship. But because a little more than a hundred people is such a notable number, Ed and I will bring the wagons through different routes to reach the port. We’ve also employed a dozen wooden crates to avoid suspicion when boarding. The crew will board the Bell Rock by pretending to be these crates’ carriers.’

“Whoever arrives first will take the crew onboard and prepare to set sail.”

“…”

She was stating the obvious, but Lil was caught up in anxiety, causing her to obsessively repeat even the smallest details.

‘The crew needs to leave Gualtiero without leaving any trace. Not even a single footprint should be found.’

“If we don’t all arrive by midnight…”

“Only those who are on board will successfully depart.”

“…”

Nodding her head, Lil folded the map and placed it in her pocket again.

Her heart pounded. She tried to suppress her nervousness by pulling on the wide-brimmed hat, one similar to the ones worn by the guards. After pacing back and forth for a while, Lil finally walked past the bed and wiped her sweaty palms on her pants. Meanwhile, Ed handed the bag of luggage containing their clothes to the servant outside the door. The servant, brought from Ed’s mansion, bowed his head and disappeared in an instant.

Lil moved closer to Ed and gently touched his arm. The latter had opened the door and was peering down the hallway, but turned to look back at her upon feeling her touch. Lil hesitated about what to say and ended up standing idly without saying anything. Her throat had dried. Noticing her complexion, Ed spoke calmly.

“There is nothing to be concerned about. You will undoubtedly succeed.”

“…”

Lil barely managed to swallow her dry saliva and nodded her head. But no matter how hard she tried to calm down, her mind went cold as she recalled the war that would erupt if she failed and the images of the sailors who would be beheaded or hanged.

“There’s no one in the hallway right now.”

Ed opened the door a little more to be completely sure. As Lil approached the door, it was now Ed who hesitated. It was like he wanted to say something as well. Lil ignored his overly cautious attitude by getting past him.

When she finally glanced back, she only left a short remark.

“…See you at Devito.”

***

As Lil descended the stairs, the noise of the banquet went away. The air around her gradually became humid and a strange odour filled her nose. Two chatting guards approached Lil from the other side. Putting her guard up, she glared at them, but the moment their eyes met, they just laughed and simply waved their hands at her. Lil could clearly smell alcohol as soon as she passed them in the relatively narrow hallway. Although she had no idea if they had stolen the expensive alcohol from the banquet or if Avar had given it to them, Lil was relieved nonetheless. After all, for her it was the ideal state of mind for them to be in.

Lil walked with more assurance.

The murals and lambris vanished after making her way through the ground floor. She briefly took a look up at the ceiling, where the lavish banquet was still going on and the moans of unbelievable pleasure sounded like auditory hallucinations. Looking down again, there was nothing but darkness on the staircase leading to the dungeon without a single lamp. Ed had given her some balsam, but it wasn’t enough.

Lil returned the way she came for a moment and retrieved a torch that was hanging on the wall.

The empty sound of wind echoed along the spiral space enclosed by a mouldy stone wall, while water drops falling from somewhere could occasionally be heard. Lil took her time descending the stairs. She had to be cautious with each step she took because she was afraid she would step on a rat and slip.

‘I don’t even want to think about the problems that will arise if I fall…’

As sweat ran down her brow because of the heat of the fire, the smoke billowing from the swaying torch captivated her senses. Her nose began to become runny, and her vision started to blur. Her face was so hot that it was bothering her, while the hairs on the back of her neck were still standing due to the tension she felt…contemporary romance

Soon, a massive iron gate appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Lil rummaged through her pocket for the round key ring. Keys thicker than her fingers clanked with every movement. Eventually, the sound of heavy iron scraping against the stone floor rang through the air. It was so loud that it sent chills up her spine.

Keeping the gap between the wall and the door as narrow as possible, Lil quickly pushed her body through it.

In contrast to the staircase, several torches were hung on the wall beyond the iron gate. Despite this, the environment didn’t improve due to the foul odour that permeated the increasingly humid air.

Lil paused for a moment and peered through the opening of a small guard post to her left, witnessing the guard, who apparently had awoken briefly due to the sound of the door opening, resuming to doze off again. Fortunately for her, he too was holding a bottle of alcohol.

After hanging the torch she held, Lil moved more stealthily in order to conceal her presence.

‘Turn left, right, then right again and into the second room.

Only the Bell Rock’s crew can be found in the eastern dungeon.If so, there should be nobody else beyond this, but why do I keep feeling like someone’s watching me…’

Lil hastened her steps and recalled the blueprint for this place. The structure was close to a maze and in addition to the corners she recognized, there were countless narrow pathways.

‘One wrong turn can be fatal…’

The intermittent torches in this part of the dungeon were neither spaced well nor bright, so Lil had to rely solely on her memory to find her way.

She eventually entered a section where there were no torches at all. Due to the dark space being so unnervingly quiet, a chill seeped into her collar. Lil took the balsam out of her pocket, but she couldn’t completely remove the cloth wrapped around it, out of fear that a guard on patrol would see her face. Although her current attire was that of a guard, they would quickly realise that she was an unfamiliar face.

Lil turned the final corner.

‘One, two… the second room.’

Lil groped for the wall and put her ear against it. But there was no sound. She tried to find the food outlet to check inside, but it was nowhere to be seen. With no time to spare, Lil gave up quickly and decided to open the door directly.

‘There should definitely be a keyhole here somewhere… found it!’

TN:

Hi Guys, apologies for the late upload. Life kinda happened and we were unable to finish the chapters. The good news is that we’re almost done with the second and third chapter for this week and so you can expect them later today or tomorrow (depending on your timezone). 🙂

done.co