TRUE HEIRS

Chains rattling, torch flames crackling, barging footsteps banging and dragging. The hounds as they howled and barked. The chilly night, the screams for life and death, the whips as they lash through tough tired flesh... Carta Hill, the one place everyone dreaded, where traitors were secretly sent to face judgement, where no man dared to escape, where for the rest of their lives, convicted men worked. Mining precious gold for the high king. The wardens of this treacherous mine; knights of the capital, Eradea, changed their shifts one final time. A new carriage came in.

Fifteen more to work till they have earned their freedom, or fifteen more men to face execution. They were dragged out and lined up, and one knight; the vice warden came to take account, marching slowly around them and observing each man with a torch clutched in his left hand. Fifteen it was as they had expected, twelve to be confined and made to work, and three to be questioned, tortured and executed.

They were thus separated and led away, each of them chained by hands and feet, and guarded by knights both fore and behind. This was one night that was remembered by all who had lost hope in Carta, the night when as thought impossible, not one but two people escaped alive. The three were led away towards the deepest end of the camp and locked in the same pen with numerous other men on death row. Each of them was chained to the ground which was dirty and muddy all the way around and covered with sprinkles of hay. Their escort shut the bars and locked it, then ordered them all to shut up. There were two guards before the cage, and they were to keep watch throughout the night. The three new convicts secluded themselves in the corner and one of them, old and unable to carry the weight of his own eyelids, fell asleep instantly. The second one, a man possibly in his twenties, looked sheepishly at the last for a moment, spat out some dust that had managed to get into his mouth and laughed, or rather giggled, as it was so silent that only the third heard it. The third convict did not mind, and yet it seemed paying no heed to the man made him laugh even more. He stood up after a long laugh and walked in closer, and the other who had kept his face down all the while pretended to not notice. His chain clanked, it had reached its limit and he couldn't step any closer to the other and yet it didn't bother him. It didn't matter, he was just about a meter away and nobody seemed to be paying any attention to him. Everyone was either moping about their certain death by the next noon or carelessly asleep in the mud as though they were swine in a farm. He looked around to make sure. No other people in the cage were watching, and the guards weren't either. He sat down where he had reached and leaned against the wall.

'Too bad, you're going to die first tomorrow. I hope you're ready,' he said and still the other kept quiet and looked to the ground nonchalantly.

'You can keep quiet all you want, but I already know you shouldn't be here. Carta is a place where men and only men are convicted. You do not fit that description,' he said again and this time the other raised his head, slowly as though broken-hearted or sick. Just as the man had suspected, he... was a she, and she was in Carta, which was meant to be a place for men to reform or disappear. The guards, the knights, they all had probably already noticed her gender and to keep it a secret from everyone else they have her dressed in a peasant male's clothes which looks pretty hideous on her. She was a problem and her being female was his basis for saying they'd execute her first thing in the morning.

'What are you doing here?' He asked her and she shrugged, quickly and graciously.

'Waiting to die. What else is there?' She replied in a very feminine voice, it was a good thing she had stayed mute the whole time.

'So she talks, and she's humorous too,' he said and she turned to face another way, then sat quietly for a moment.

'What I wanted to know was why you came here in the first place,' he said and she remained mute for a moment before answering.

'It doesn't matter, does it? We are both going to die anyway,' she said and he leaned back again, noticing finally that he had raised his back off the wall.

'Maybe you are, but not me. I'm getting out of here,' he said and she scoffed.

'That's impossible, no one can escape from Carta Hill,' she said and this time he scoffed instead.

'They sure do keep their chains tight, but that doesn't mean I'm going to die here, it stinks of piss and shit,' he said as he picked the locks around his feet with a small piece of wood. It clanked and the chains opened and dropped to the ground. He stretched his feet to bask in his new found freedom then started to pick the locks around his hands as well. She looked on, surprised as he freed his arms as well. The cages were dark inside and the guards with the lazily burning flames of their torches didn't notice as he performed this feat.

'Now all I've got to do is wait until everyone is asleep,' he said as he began to shift away. 'I just wanted to confirm if you were a girl.'

'Wait,' she retorted. 'Take me with you, I can help you.'

'No you can't, you're going to give me away, and you're going to slow me down,' he said rather arrogantly.

'You don't know that! Okay I'll pay you when we get out of here,' she said and he still rejected her offer.

'I guess I'll report you to the guards then,' she warned and he laughed at her feistiness.

'If you do that everyone will find out you're a woman, and with how dainty you look, half the men in here will try to rape you before daybreak. They've got nothing else left.'

'I have a lot of money. If you get me out of here I'll pay you. How does five hundred zenins sound?'

'I already said no, but for a thousand zenins I might reconsider,' he said.

'Deal, but that's only if you get me out of here safely,'

'That is not going to be a problem. I've been studying this place for years, I never thought I'd actually end up here,' he said and looked through the bars at the sky.

Hours later when everyone in their cage was asleep and the time he waited for had finally arrived. He freed her from her chains as well and with the same piece of wood he unlocked the cage. The guards were attentive, but they faced away from the cage. He grabbed the first one by the mouth and stealthily stabbed his throat with the piece of wood, then pulling out the guard's sword he stabbed the second who noticed him a bit too late. This little scuffle woke some of the men in the cage and when she joined him she robbed the corpses of their keys and threw them into the cage.

'What are you doing?' He asked her and she told him she wanted the men free, so they may act as some kind of a distraction to the guards.

He left and she followed close behind him, silently. Both of them hiding and sneaking, she seemed to be at least obedient as he led her through numerous guard stations, all the way uphill. Suddenly the bells began ringing and there came an uproar from within the camp. It seemed the guards had noticed the escape attempt and had started to lock the place down. They were almost there, north of Carta Hill, the place with the least number of guards. The only place through which one could escape from Carta Hill.

'Wait... aren't we going the wrong way?' She asked and he assured her they were headed where they should. The gates were to the south and they headed north which greatly confused her. They reached the peak of the hill where a small unit of guards were stationed. All the guards however were asleep, having been awake the whole day. They were tired, and behind their unit was a deep, seemingly dry gorge without a bridge. There was no way to cross from there and this was the reason why nobody had been able to escape from the north of Carta Hill. They were upwind and the bell tolls couldn't reach this unit of knights. This was the only night they could escape from this dreadful place not because the knights were asleep but because by this time in that season, the gorge was filled with just enough water to prevent one from smashing into the rocky bottom. The gorge was so steep that even with that much water it was still a life gamble. Fear gripped her as she looked down and couldn't see any water.

'Come on, we need to jump,' he said and she shook her head and began to retreat.

'No, it's going to be the death of us, there's nothing down there but rocks and hard ground,' she said.

'No. I've been studying this place for years, I told you. For one week every year this gorge is filled halfway with water, and if I'm correct we are still in the week. You need to come with me before they find out about us.'

'No, you go then,' she said.

'Come with me! You're going to die anyway, what's dying a few hours earlier going to do?' He told her.

'So I am going to die!?' She panicked.

'No you're not. Trust me you will not die!'

'Hey where do you think you're... where do you think you're going?' A guard asked from a few meters behind them, he had woken up to ease himself and had found them by the edge of the gorge.

He unsheathed his sword and asked them not to move.

'I don't want to have to kill you. Step away from that gorge, you won't make it if you jump,'

'Well it's your funeral girl. I can not force you to come but God knows I tried,' the man told her and leapt off the edge.

'No! stop!' the guard shouted, managing to grab her before she tried to follow him. She flailed her arms as he pulled her back, tore a piece of her shirt and toppled her from the top of the gorge. He had hesitated to stab her, he was forced not to when he saw her face in the light of his torch and noticed she wasn't a man. He looked down into the gorge and saw nothing but darkness. The lights of the torch couldn't reach far enough and yet he was sure he heard a splash.

He returned to the camp and woke the others just as the guards from the main camp arrived there.

'You let them escape?! Both of them?!' Commander Jaime yelled in exasperation when he was told about it. He was the warden of Carta Hill and this was the first time in history that someone had actually managed to escape from that place.

'People wouldn't be convicted here if there was a way for them to escape whenever they wanted!' He said angrily, bashing his hands on his table.

'I'm sorry sir,' the guard who had actually seen them pleaded so he would not face punishment, he also added that one of them that escaped was a woman in male clothes.

'Nonsense, there are no women in Carta Hill, do you think they would be able to stand this harsh environment? Why do you think only men were convicted here? This is an execution ground and no woman can survive to work here!' Commander Jaime said.

'I'm sorry sir, please forgive me for my stupidness, I should've known better,' the guard said again and handed the warden the piece of cloth he had torn off her shirt.

'What is this?' Jaime asked.

'I was able to get this off her... his clothes. I'm sorry I couldn't stop them sir, this shall never happen again.'

'Leave!' The warden said as he took the piece of cloth from him. The guard went out of the warden's tent just as another entered. He was a thick tall man with a thick straight beard. His clothes were dark and covered with the fur of the bear with whose skin they were made.

'Ah Demascas, I was just about to send for you,' the warden said, giving him the piece of cloth.

'This belongs to her... find her and kill her, we cannot allow her to cause any more trouble. This is as important as your own life and you know it. That girl should not be allowed to escape no matter what,' the warden said and Demascas left immediately. He and his squad of seven were the best trackers and the only people who could complete this task successfully.