Slave to Sapphire

She snuck back to her room. Once in her room she strapped her dagger and the long fork to her hip. She took her boots off and switched to the leather slippers making sure to transfer the paper into her slipper. Iris hated to leave her boots behind, but didn’t think she could climb the drain in them. Iris braided her hair, twisted it into a bun and stuck the silver pin in her hair. Holding her nose, she popped the herbs Imogen had given her in her mouth, grimacing at the bitter taste. Once she swallowed the herbs, she lifted her mattress and removed the rope, looping it across her chest. Iris pulled her cloak over her shoulders and left her room.

Iris crept through the cool night air, the warmth of Ezekiel dissipating from her as she continued to the Capitol Hall. She avoided being seen by any of the guards. Samson had joined her when she stepped outside, his presence was reassuring after having left Ezekiel. She and Samson hid in the shadows when they approached the drain that she would use to climb to the roof. She waited a couple of minutes before she heard the bird call that signaled Julian was there. Iris paused and crouched down beside Samson, she scratched beneath his chin “Find me tomorrow outside the Palace.” Samson took her in with his luminous green eye, flicked his tail, and ran off.

Iris waited for the guard to pass. She reached the drain at the same time as Julian did. Julian nodded in greeting and signaled for her to start climbing. Iris climbed up the drain with Julian following behind her. Her arms were protesting when she pulled herself onto the roof. She lay on her back panting, waiting for Julian. Julian had more difficulty climbing and minutes stretched by before he pulled himself next to her, his breathing heavy.

“I better not fall on my way back down and sprain my ankle,” Julian grumbled.

Iris chuckled. “They didn’t teach you how to scale buildings in spy training?”

Julian glowered at her; he paused, catching his breath and then gestured for Iris to lead the way. She moved over the tile roof keeping her center of gravity low so as to not slip on the slick tiles. When Iris had taken the appropriate number of steps that lined her up with the first window to the Capitol Hall she stopped and handed the rope to Julian. Julian looped the rope around his waist.

“Good luck, Iris, I will see you tomorrow.” Before handing her the rope again he gripped her hand and whispered. “Do not forget how strong you are, Iris.”

Iris took the free end of the rope from Julian. He winked at her, and she descended over the edge of the building. She made it into the Hall the same as before. Once on the ground of the Capitol Hall she tugged on the rope and Julian pulled the rope back onto the roof. There was no turning back now.

Iris picked the lock on the chain around the lever with ease and opened the trap door that led to the dungeons. She then used her dagger to prop the edge of the trap door open. She loosely looped the chain through the lever and locked it. Hopefully the guards would just think that the last person to lock it had done it incorrectly. She lowered the lever until her dagger strained under the weight of the door. Iris then dashed across the floor to the door sliding across the floor and through the narrow opening grabbing her dagger. The door slammed closed above her, the lever hitting the ground. The inky darkness of the dungeons was absolute. Iris inhaled deeply; images of the mines threatened to consume her. “I am strong. Fear is not my master.”

She descended into the dungeons; her feet raced down the uneven stairs as fast as she dared. Iris didn’t concern herself with stealth, the slamming of the trapped door could have alerted a guard from outside the Capitol Hall. There was no time to waste, she needed to find what remained of Horatio. The feel of the packed dirt floor through her thin slippers was a relief. Iris reached her hand out expecting her fingers to brush against the stone walls, they were met with nothingness. In her haste to reach the dungeons she had lost track of her mental map. Iris scanned the darkness trying to picture the layout of the dungeon, but she couldn’t orient herself.

“Maddox.” She whispered. Nothing. She strained to hear anything in the silence. “Maddox.” She repeated slightly louder, fighting to keep the panic from her voice.

“Iris?”

Iris moved towards the sound of his voice until her outstretched hands groped the cold metal bars of Maddox’s cell. “Maddox, it’s me.”

“Thank gods Iris, I didn’t think you were going to come to save me. They are hanging me tomorrow.”

Iris reached through the bars and grasped Maddox’s frigid hands.

“We will rescue you tomorrow at the docks just before the hanging.” The tight grip of his hands loosened. “I have also arranged passage to Volos for you, Sabine, and Cora.” Iris didn’t bother to lie to Maddox.

“You aren’t coming with us.” Maddox spoke the statement into the darkness.

“I can’t, Lucious must be made to atone.” Iris released Maddox’s hands and bent down, removing the folded paper from her shoe. She pressed the paper in his hand. “Maddox, listen carefully, once you all have made it onto the boat you must give this to a man named Julian.”

“Don’t do this Iris, come with us tomorrow.”

“I have to do this; Lucious murdered my family and betrayed us that night on the docks. I should have killed him the day I returned from the mines.” There was a resoluteness to her voice as she spoke.

Maddox’s grip on her hands tightened, pausing before speaking again, Iris wished she could see the expression on his face. He knew her well enough not to argue further. “I understand. If you plan on rescuing me at the docks, how are you getting out of the Palace?”

“There is a man who was tortured to death recently, do you know which cell he is in?”

Iris’ plan dawned on him. “Cerise, Iris. He is three cells down from mine, his corpse is already starting to smell.” Iris imagined the look of disgust on Maddox’s face as he spoke.

Iris squeezed Maddox’s hand a final time before dropping them. “I will see you tomorrow,” she whispered.

Iris crept down the dungeon, running her hand along the bars of the cells. As she got closer, she was met with the odor of Horatio’s corpse. When she reached the third cell from Maddox’s, she moved her hands along the bars of the cell until her fingers found the heavy lock. It seemed extreme to lock a corpse in a cell. She used her hair pin and the fork to pick the lock. Once she was in the cell, she closed the door and reached through the bars locking herself in with the corpse. The knowledge of sharing a cell with a dead body made the surrounding darkness feel sinister. She cautiously moved forward until her foot bumped into something. Iris crouched down and her hands foraged over a form wrapped in heavy canvas. The canvas was held closed with thick rope. She pulled back the canvas, a rancid smell emanated from it and her hand brushed against Horatio’s clammy slightly moist skin. She jerked her hand back and fell away from the corpse. Iris scrabbled to the other side of the cell and vomited until there was nothing left of her dinner. She couldn’t do this. Iris tried only breathing through her mouth, and then she imagined that she was tasting the corpse, the thought made her wretch again. Iris sat with her head hanging between her knees, whispering encouragement to herself “Come on Iris, you can do this, it’s disgusting but there are worse things than spending several hours wrapped up with Horatio’s rotting corpse.” She couldn’t think of any at the moment though.

Iris willed herself to return to the corpse. Lucious will soon be a corpse like this. It took some difficult maneuvering until she managed to get herself wrapped in the canvas with Horatio’s corpse. She lay on her side, her face pressed up against the body’s back, her cloak the only thing separating her. She was going to have to find a way to make Julian pay for this. Being cramped in the trunk of the carriage was definitely preferable to this. Time stretched out in the darkness. The only thing to mark the passage of time was a quiet dripping sound that echoed through the dungeon. Iris couldn’t stop her imagination from coming up with different scenarios of what was dripping.

She wanted to sob at the reprieve brought by the sound of the trap door of the dungeon opening followed by the footsteps of the guards. Iris was sore from laying on the stone floor and whatever fluids oozed from Horatio’s body had soaked into her clothes. It was concerning that she had gotten used to the smell of the corpse.

From the footsteps it sounded like there were two guards.

“The trap door to the dungeons wasn’t locked correctly last night. I am not going to take the blame if the prisoner’s gone.”

“Stop your groaning, he is sitting in his cell.”

They retrieved Maddox from his cell and left before returning for her. The cell door creaked as it swung open.

“Cerise, that fucker stinks.”

In the guard’s absence she had wrapped her arms around the body, so that it wouldn’t feel like two separate bodies when they carried her out.

The guards lifted her and the corpse one at either end.

“This asshole is heavy!”

Iris held her breath as they carried her out of the dungeons, and out a back door of the Capitol Hall. A sliver of light shone through the canvas. The guards swung Iris and the dead body into the cart that Maddox was caged in. Iris kept herself from grunting when she hit the wood floor of the cart and slid into the wall. The door to the cart banged shut and a lock clinked into place. The horses attached to the cart pawed the ground and snorted in agitation, a whip cracked on their backs, they jolted forward causing the cart to bump along. The Palace courtyard was abuzz with activity. Carriages clattered across the brick; people shouted at one another. The cart rolled out through the Palace gates into the Lavender district; the chaos of the crowd was deafening. Based on the roar of sound, the streets must be lined with people. The crowd hurled insults and refuse at Maddox.

Maddox nudged her in the back with his foot.

“You there?”

Iris grunted in response.

“This shit they are throwing at me is disgusting, but it’s not as bad as having to cuddle a decomposing corpse.”

Iris smiled to herself, the past weeks in the dungeons must have been awful for Maddox; she was happy he still had his sense of humor even if it was at her expense.

The smell of the ocean became stronger and Iris could decipher the sounds of the port. The jeering of the crowd mingled with the shouts of merchants still trying to conduct business. The cart halted and the lock on the door clinked open. Maddox was led out of the cart to the gallows. The door slammed shut, but no one bothered to lock it with only a dead body left inside.

Iris turned herself away from the corpse. She used her dagger to pierce through heavy canvas and make a big enough opening for her to escape from. Having cut through the canvas she waited for her cue. The Inspector announced Maddox’s crime.

“Maddox Hawthorne has been found guilty of the crime of possession of a large shipment of azure with intent to sell to the people of Orinth. The punishment for such crime is death by public hanging.” The crowd was momentarily hushed by the Inspector’s booming voice.

With the pronouncement of the crime and the punishment, the crowd became thunderous, the people roared with anger and excitement. Iris imagined the noose being looped around Maddox’s neck. Then her ears popped from the sound wave that was caused by the explosion of one of nearby warehouses. Mayhem erupted.