Rhidian again handed the grid to him, but this time Red held fast. Rhidian took the cover and placed it back. Red held it in place while the engineer poked his fingers through the slots. He twisted the screws, which were still attached by only a thread. Now it looked normal and any guard that wanted a snack wouldn’t notice. The three prisoners shuffled along the narrow corridor, making as little noise as possible.
They looked like three lost sheep ambling along the metal pipework. Rebus had the flashlight and Rhidian still carried the knife in case he needed to undo any more screws. There was a sound like air escaping from a balloon and Red wretched.
‘Oh, Rebus, did you just fart?’ Red asked, his face screwed up in disgust.
‘Oops, sorry,’ came the wizard’s apology. ‘Sprouts for lunch, I’m afraid.’
‘Oh, Red,’ Rhidian’s voice seared from behind. ‘That’s disgusting.’
‘It-it wasn’t me,’ Red said innocently. ‘It was, oh, never mind.’
‘It’s too confined in here for that,’ Rhidian complained.
‘Okay, shut up you two, we’re nearly there,’ the old wizard declared. Rebus stopped and switched off his flashlight. There was a waft of fresh air pouring over them from the outside.
‘Yes,’ Rhidian gasped. Red was beaming too, as the stale air of the tube dissipated. There was a vertical, square vent cover ahead.
‘Red, give me a hand with this. We don’t want to make any noise, usual drill,’ Rebus instructed.
‘I know, Rebus, you’ve told me a thousand times,’ Red bit back, fed up of being constantly reminded.
‘Hey, a little respect,’ Rhidian scolded from behind. ‘He’s only saying.’
‘Sorry, Rebus. I guess I’m a bit agitated,’ Red apologised. Rebus then switched off the torch.
‘No problem, young fella, we’re all a bit scared,’ the wizard agreed. ‘Right, let’s lift this off.’ But it was fixed on the bottom and when they pushed away from its fixings, it fell out of their hands and slapped down on the wall outside. The bottom hinges held it in place, but it made a short clanging noise when it hit the brick surface and everyone stopped. Rebus was waiting for the fallout, but after a minute of waiting there was no movement below or inside.
‘Phew, that was too close,’ Rebus gasped. ‘Come on, we have to climb down to the ground quickly.’
There was a full moon, which was not in their favour. A full moon was brighter up in the clouds where the prison was situated. Rebus could clearly see the outline of the prison perimeter and the jetty was lit up. Just beyond the jetty were the sparkly lights of the sky ships – there were two. One preparing to leave and the other would be moving off in the morning.
They had to make sure no one saw them crawling down the wall. The drop to the bottom was only a matter of two metres or so.
Rebus awkwardly clambered out and climbed down the grid. Once he was at the end of the frame, he let go. He landed with a light thud.
It was Red’s turn next and he did the same. Shortly after, Rhidian joined them. There was no way of closing the vent cover, so they had to leave it open. Hopefully they would be far away from here before anyone noticed.
They ducked into the tree line and hid amongst the shadows. It was only a matter of moving from their position and slipping past the guard on the jetty. Then they would be home free.
The only problem was that there were two guards tonight and that was going to be a more difficult task. Rhidian looked at Rebus. Rebus gravely looked at the two of them and shrugged his shoulders. How were they to get past these two?
Chapter 6
Sky Ship
The three darkened figures – Rebus the wizard, Rhidian and Red – moved as quietly as they could through the trees and tried as they might to keep under cover.
‘I don’t like this, Rebus. We’re totally exposed out here,’ Rhidian shrieked breathlessly as he ran along the open ground. The moon was big and full and totally wasn’t helping in the “hide and seek” operation. When the cover became so sparse, they had to duck down and scurry along a shabby line of bushes, which was perched on the very crest of the jetty.
‘We all here?’ Rebus whispered. ‘Red?’
‘Yeah, I’m right here,’ the boy responded. Rebus could see Rhidian as he popped his head over the edge of the bushes, only enough so that the enemy couldn’t see him.
‘What can you see, Rhidian?’ Rebus mumbled, trying to push up and look for himself. Rhidian restrained him by pushing his head back down.
‘Stay down,’ he hissed. ‘There are definitely only two guards on the pier,’ Rhidian observed. ‘How are we going to get past them without giving ourselves away? There’s only one route,’ he said, his mouth barely open when he spoke. He squinted and looked beyond the guards at the two ships that waited for them. So near, Rhidian thought. A sinking feeling filled the pit of his stomach. Time was running out. The three of them realised that at some point, someone would notice that their cells were empty. How much time did they have left?
‘Don’t tell me we’re stuck here?’ Red sounded scared. The fear of being forced back to that cell made him feel ill. He was almost in tears. ‘I didn’t come all this way to go back. I’m not going back.’ He was determined. He was losing it and someone had to do something. Rebus reached out and grabbed his arm.
‘Oi, get a grip, boy. If it wasn’t for me you’d be stuck in your cell right now,’ Rebus snarled. ‘I never said things would be easy, did I? We just have to find a way out of this situation,’ he continued on a more positive note. Red was taken aback.
‘S-sorry, Rebus,’ Red apologised, realising how right the wizard was.
‘Keep quiet, the both of you, or we’ll be caught for sure,’ Rhidian snapped.
They did indeed have a huge problem and a plan had to be formulated and fast. It wouldn’t be long before the first ship would be ready to take sail.
‘What time do you reckon it is?’ Red asked. Rebus held his hand to the moon and half covered it with his fingers.
‘It’s about eight forty-seven,’ Rebus answered. Rhidian and Red looked really impressed.
‘Wow, how on earth do you know that, old man?’ Rhidian pressed. ‘Wizard’s magic?’
‘No,’ Rebus said, and produced a pocket watch from his pouch. ‘I just looked at this,’ he said with a smirk. The engineer and Red rolled their eyes – they’d been duped. Rhidian turned to look at the jetty again.
‘That means we have just about forty minutes to get past the guards, board, and make a clean getaway,’ Rhidian said with a hint of despair. ‘Sounds easy,’ he said sarcastically.
‘That’s right, so let’s get on with it,’ Rebus insisted.
The two sky ships were nestled in the bay. Both were tethered to each side of the long, sweeping jetty. There was one with its zeppelin-type balloon floating high above. It was the ship that had brought Rhidian there, and the other carrying the airbag below.
At the centre was a bench with two prison guards. They were just chatting to one another rather than guarding the ships. No one had ever attempted to climb aboard a ship, so they weren’t overly concerned.
Twilight bathed the whole scene in a whitish glow, making it impossible for the three prisoners to sneak past without being detected.
‘We’ll be seen straight away as soon as we step out. The moon is like a searchlight out there,’ Rhidian grimaced. ‘Crap,’ he cursed. He had one last look and then slipped back down with his colleagues and huffed.
‘There’s got to be another way,’ Rebus said, a real concern in his voice. ‘We do have one thing going for us.’ There was silence for a moment.
‘And what’s that, Rebus?’ Rhidian said with folded arms.
‘The element of surprise,’ he said with confidence. ‘They won’t be expecting us, and that’s our saviour.’
‘But that’s not going to make much difference,’ Red said. ‘There’s only one way across, surprise or not. I don’t mean to be negative, but it does seem hopel
ess.’
‘Oh shut up, boy. If you can’t think of anything positive to say, say nothing at all,’ Rebus scolded. He rubbed his chin and thought as hard as he could, looking for an answer.
‘What if we cause a distraction?’ Rhidian said, as his eyes rolled around, grasping for an idea to help them. ‘Then when they go to investigate, we can slip on board. Would that work?’
‘No, that won’t work, Rhidian,’ Rebus was adamant.
‘Why not?’ Rhidian looked wounded.
‘Because only one will investigate. They’re not stupid,’ the wizard said and shook his head. ‘And if we try to take the other one, that could cause a huge commotion and we don’t want that. No, we have to think of something else. This is the last obstacle and we can’t fail now.’
‘What do we do then?’ Red chirped up again.
‘Well, let’s think about this.’ Rebus weighed up the situation. ‘We’ll be seen if we simply walk up to them. There’s no other way to slip past them either. We can’t distract them.’ Rebus was beginning to look as dismayed as the others.
‘We can’t approach them dressed in these orange boiler suits. They’ll see we’re inmates for sure,’ Rhidian said and puffed out a mouthful of air.
‘Really, we need to be ghosts…’ Rebus stopped talking for a moment and then his eyes lit as if he’d been given the keys to a world of wealth. ‘That’s it,’ he exclaimed joyfully.
‘That’s what?’ Rhidian asked.
‘Yeah, what have you come up with, Rebus?’ Red added, sounding impatient.
‘It’s a long shot, but we haven’t much time for anything else,’ he mumbled.
‘What’s a long shot? You’re not making much sense, man.’ Rhidian hated being kept in the dark.
‘Hold on a sec. Let me try something first,’ Rebus added. Rhidian and Red looked on with wild curiosity. Rebus sat down and pressed his index fingers to his temples and closed his eyes. He meditated for a minute or so with a stern look of concentration on his face. The tightness of his facial expression soon relaxed and was replaced with a broad smile. The wizard opened his eyes and sat looking completely smug.
‘What?’ Rhidian uttered, getting to the point of boiling over.
‘Yeah, come on, Rebus, don’t keep us in suspense,’ Red said, hoping there was a way out of this.
‘Get up,’ he said and stood in full view of the enemy. Rhidian tried to grab at Rebus’ sleeve, but the old wizard swiped off the advance.
‘What are you doing? Are you mad?’ Rhidian rasped in anger. ‘You’re jeopardising our whole escape – get back down here.’ But Rebus stood his ground.
‘Just trust me. Get up,’ Rebus repeated and looked calm. Rhidian looked at Red and shrugged his shoulders. The engineer had noticed one thing though: either the guards hadn’t seen the wizard standing up, or maybe he hadn’t been seen because something else had taken place. The two reluctantly stood up next to the wizard, cringing, waiting to be spotted.
‘What are we doing, Rebus?’ Rhidian felt so exposed out here as he followed the wizard onto the jetty.
Red reluctantly dragged himself after them. What am I doing? the boy thought. He couldn’t believe this was happening. He felt his heart beat loudly in his chest.
‘Are we just going to walk up to them?’ Rhidian squeaked through thin lips.
‘Just follow my lead,’ Rebus said, sounding really uninhibited.
Red kept quiet in the background. He hid behind the two men, as if concealing himself behind them would make any difference.
Rhidian walked tentatively along the wooden jetty and noticed something odd. They were halfway along and the guards hadn’t challenged them yet. He peered at Rebus in wonderment. The jetty moved slightly underfoot, as a cool breeze wafted over them. They literally felt as if they were walking on air.
‘This is weird,’ Rhidian said, feeling a little more confident too. Why hadn’t they been spotted yet? Something was going on.
‘Keep going, Rhidian, there’s a good fellow,’ Rebus instructed, not taking his eyes from the guards. Rhidian turned back towards Red and nodded. The boy acknowledged, but his face was tight with fear.
The trio had made it three quarters of the way, and could almost see the eyes of the guards in the half-light. If it hadn’t been for the fact that they were escaping convicts, it would seem as though they were only taking an evening stroll in the moonlight. Red darted his eyes around like a manic chicken.
‘What are they doing?’ Red piped up from behind. ‘I thought we would have been escorted back to our cells by now.’
‘Keep quiet, boy, and just follow me. We may just get away with this yet,’ Rebus hissed in an intense whisper.
Red stopped talking and continued to follow on wobbly legs – his nerves had really got the better of him. Whatever Rebus had formulated seemed to be working. They were almost there and, suddenly, as the three fugitives approached, one of the guards stepped forward. They all stopped and held their breath. There was a momentary lapse in time, where everything appeared still. One of the guards broke the silence.
‘Is it that time already?’ he uttered, looking directly at Rebus.
Rhidian was gobsmacked. Here they were, three prisoners in orange prison-issue boiler suits and the guards were treating them as the changeover shift. Whatever Rebus had done was definitely working.
‘Yes, we’ve come to relieve you fine gentlemen,’ Rebus said with such sickly charm that would make a turtle dove throw up. Rhidian had to stifle a snort.
‘Fine by us,’ said the second man. ‘I’m starving. Come on, George, it’s stew night.’ The two prison guards stood up and stretched.
‘Yes, you go and enjoy your meal and rest up,’ Rebus added.
‘Enjoy your shift, lads,’ one said with a snigger.
‘Yeah, nighty-night,’ the other joked and then the two officers didn’t ask any more questions and walked off contentedly. They had no idea that they were indeed letting three prisoners escape. Rhidian watched them step off the jetty and turned to Rebus. All three of them let out a huge sigh, trying not to laugh.
‘You crafty devil,’ Rhidian said. ‘How did you know that the magic had returned? In fact, how has your magic come back?’
‘The answer to that is simple – it hasn’t,’ Rebus assured him. ‘It was a chance I had to take – it’s mind control, not magic. It would either work or we would have been discovered,’ he said.
‘A chance? So it could have all gone terribly wrong? Well I’m glad it did work,’ Red remarked with a sigh.
‘There was no other way. Come on, there’s no time to lose chitchatting. We need to take one of these ships and get out of here as soon as possible. They are bound to find out soon and I would like to be many miles away by then,’ Rebus confessed.
‘Yeah, me too, Rebus, but which one?’ Rhidian asked. ‘Won’t they have a small crew on board?’ he added.
‘No, I’m hoping that both crews are in the civilian canteen back there,’ he said, and pointed to one of the darkened buildings in the distance. ‘That’s why they have guards – to make sure no one boards the empty ships while they’re eating. This one should be ready to sail,’ Rebus said, and indicated one of the craft. He’d researched this in great detail. It was the one without the balloon thankfully. Rhidian was relieved.
‘How do you know that?’ Red asked.
‘Everything is tied down, lad.’
Rhidian then realised why Rebus had chosen it. ‘I’ve seen this a million times. I guess you have too, Rebus? If everything is secured then a ship is ready for its voyage.’ Rebus nodded in agreement. In fact, seeing the ships coming and going was all he’d been focussed on since being trapped on the rock.
‘Let’s take it then and get out of here,’ Rhidian said, and made his way to the ship Rebus had chosen. ‘If we untether it, it will drift off without any noise and once we’re out of earshot, we can start her up.’
‘Sounds good to me,’ Rebus agreed, and so did Red for on
ce.
Chapter 7
Voyage
‘OK, let’s get on board, but quietly,’ Rebus whispered. ‘We’d better be careful and check to make sure there’s no crewmen left, just in case.’ Rebus didn’t want to be too confident and compromise their escape. They’d only need one person to sound the alarm and the whole escape would be fruitless, and probably their last chance to break free from Skytraz Prison.
‘Quietly, Red, follow Rebus and I and don’t make any sudden movements,’ Rhidian insisted, as he steadily walked up the gangplank.
The wooden board dipped slightly with their weight, just as if the ship were moored on the sea. The air was cool and still and only the fleeting sound of a gull ripped the silence. Rebus, Rhidian and Red climbed onto the deck. The worn timbers groaned and creaked, like an old sailor complaining about the weather.
The vessel was a medium-sized supply ship and Rhidian was fairly sure he could pilot it. He’d worked on similar ships in the past – being an engineer he had to be versatile.
The three of them stealthy searched the cabins for any signs of life. Time was ticking away and every moment counted. They regrouped on the deck after finding no crew on board. There was a sigh of relief from all concerned.
Rhidian disappeared for a minute or so and left their ship and climbed on board the second ship. Rebus looked on in puzzlement; he grimaced.
‘What’s he doing?’ Rebus quizzed Red. ‘We haven’t time to mess about – we have to get out of here.’ He was annoyed, his eyes filled with fire.
‘He said it was to make sure there was no one on that ship too. So they wouldn’t alert the others.’ Red relayed what Rhidian had told him. Rebus said nothing to this, but peered into the shadows of the sister vessel. He raked his fingers through his well-groomed beard and appeared tense.
‘He wouldn’t have gone if it wasn’t important, Rebus, I’m sure of it,’ Red said in Rhidian’s defence. Rebus admired Red for his loyalty; the boy’s learning, he thought. A few gruelling minutes ticked by and eventually there was movement on the deck of the other ship.
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