Quest for the Crystals chapter 21

Well get ready because in 2 chapters there's another plot swist!

Enjoy fellow featherheads!

Oh and your gonna wanna remember the other person mentioned in the dungen...😁

Chapter 21 Escape Plan 

The dungeon was a purplish gray, rock color. Everything about it was faded. The ground was made of stone and the dungeons themselves were made of solid black iron. The guards led them through a hall of cells. Most of them were empty. 

But then they passed one that had an old-ish man sitting in it. He looked sick, his hair was long, he was incredibly skinny, and he had scars on his face. There were so many tally markers which counted years and years of being imprisoned that you could barely make out a wall. 

But the children didn't notice, they were too wrapped up in what they had just learned to notice anything at all. The guards stopped finally at a large cell made out of stone and iron. The woman guard opened the cell door and the two guards pushed the kids through it and locked the door. They walked away sneering at the old man when they passed. 

Sara sat in one corner while Janner, Kalmar, and Leeli sat in the other. No one said anything.The only noise was a small tap tap sound of raindrops as they hit the ground through a small crack in the wall next to a singular cot that looked like it had never been slept in before. 

Leeli rested her head on Kalmar’s shoulder, as tears rolled down her cheek. Janner just sat there thinking about the fact that everything that he thought about his father was a lie. Sara sighed and started rubbing her wrists where the rope had burned her. 

They sat like this for about 10 minutes until Sara broke the silence. 

“I'm not just going to sit around here while Mr. Artham, Mr. Reteep, your mother, and your grandfather get captured by Queen Opal! I have a plan, are you in?” she asked. 

The others didn't move but just kept looking at the ground. Sara's face softened as she sunk back to the ground and said, “I can't even imagine. I can't even imagine what it would be like if my father did that, but right now we need a plan. If we don't, Opal wins.” Sara said softly. 

Janner looked up at her and croaked out “...b-but… why would..he do that?” 

“I don't know, but we've seen that evil will turn people mad if they let it. I do know  that people always have a reason for why they do things. We don't know why Mr Esben and Mr Artham chose to do that, but right now we can save the others if we just make a plan.” Sara again said softly. 

Leeli and Kalmar looked up and so did Janner .

“You're right, so what do you have in mind?” Janner asked.

“Hold on….” Sara said she counted to five. Then the guards burst into the door to patrol the dungeons. 

When the guards came around the children bent their heads and put on a sad expression being careful not to make a sound. The guards grunted and went back through the door with a slam. The children raised their heads once they knew the guards were gone. 

“How did you know they were going to come in here?” Kalmar asked. 

“Because when I was first brought here to this castle, I saw the guards' patrol sheet.” Sara explained. 

“Anyways empty your pockets!” she said and they looked at her curiously. Then they all did what she asked, including herself. They put all the stuff from their pockets in a giant pile in the middle of the floor. “It’s not for me!”, Sara said with a smile and started searching through the pile. 

“no... no... no... yes!” She said, having found a pen. 

“Mind if I break your pen?” she asked Janner. “Uh no… I guess” 

“Great!”, she said and then cracked the pen and took out the ink tube and bent it in a little bit. 

“Wingfeathers, I present you with a lockpick!” Sara said, smiling. They all had surprised looks on their faces. 

“How do you know how to do this stuff?" Janner asked. 

“I don't want to sound like a braggart but I'm really good at science and engineering. My parents sent me to a higher grade because I wasn't being challenged enough. I would have liked to make something more high-tech and technical but I’m working with what we had in our pockets.” she explained. 

“I didn't know you liked science,” he said. 

“Well now you do!” 

“After the guards do their next shift we will use this in the door then  will run back to the docks. I remember seeing a little small brown boat docked there when I was brought here.” Sara said. 

“Are you crazy! So not only are we breaking out of a dungeon that we got put in here by a suspicious evil queen that hates us and wants to kill us, we're going to steal her boat?” Kalmar ranted.  

“Yeah, that's the only option," Sara said. 

So they waited and waited and finally the guards came through the dungeon to patrol the area and then left.

“Okay, are we really sure we're going to do this?” Kalmar asked.

“It's our only option.” Janner said, trying to sound a little smarter than he was. Sara put her hands through the bars and wiggled the lockpick through the keyhole. She had to try several times to get it to go through but on the fourth try, she got it! 

 They all raced out of the cell. When they passed by the man he didn't look up; he only just kept staring at the ground, occasionally looking up at some of the pictures he drew. They covered the walls like a collage. But the children didn't notice this. 

“Okay, how are we getting through this door?” Leeli asked. 

“We could.. try the lockpick again.” Sara said. 

“Or we can wait till the next shift and grab the key from the guard," Janner suggested. 

“Or we could just turn the handle.” Kalmar suggested as he walked over to the door knob and turned it with ease. 

“Oh, that works too.” Sara said, smiling.

They inched their way out of the door being careful not to make a sound. They tiptoed their way to what they thought was the room that led to the entrance, but it was not at all. It was the guards’ meeting room! They turned the corner unaware of what was in the next room and saw all of the guards! 

“Back! Back! Now!”Janner whispered, but they were too late. All of the guards saw them! 

“Hey! You come back here!” one of the guards said as he and all the other guards rushed towards them! 

“Run!” Janner screeched and ran as fast as they could with Kalmar leading, of course.

 “After them!” They heard one of the guards say as the children ran up two flights of stairs until they reached the room with a dark purple door that had a diamond shape carved into the wood. 

They took a minute to breathe, but then they heard the guard say “We got you now!” 

“We have to go into the room!” Kalmar said, absolutely terrified of the guards. 

Janner turned the door handle and they all tumbled into the room and locked the door behind them. The room had a large purple canopy bed with a little teal amulet placed carefully on top of the lavender comforter. There was a vanity with an assortment of different color makeups and there was a closet with one of the doors slightly askew revealing a bunch of dark purple dresses and silvery purple high heels. Next to the closet was a cape stand and hanging above the bed was a picture frame. 

The picture was of a family, there was a father with pale skin black hair and teal eyes. The mother had more of an orange glow to her skin, and had smooth brown hair with the tips colored green. She wore a dark green dress. Standing in front of them were two young girls, one is older than the other, the older one had a medium skin tone, bright blue hair and bright ocean blue eyes. And she was wearing a soft satin blue dress. The younger one had pale skin like her father, black and plum hair styled in a swept over bun with two strands hanging out on each side of her face. She had teal eyes, and wore a dark purple criss-cross strap dress. 

“This must be King Emerald, Queen Harper, Princess Skye and Ruby when Opal was a child”, Janner thought. The picture frame was burned and the glass was cracked. It “must have been in the fire when her kingdom burned down.”, He thought, thinking of Opal’s story but trying not to think of the part where his father had hurt her and her kingdom. 

“Oh, no, no, this is not good, we are in Queen Opal's room. You know the person that hates us for something that we didn't even do and is currently trying to kill us!” Kalmar screeched. 

“Well, we don't have another choice; either trespass in her room or go back out there and get thrown in that dungeon again," Janner said in a worried tone. 

“Oh, you don't have to wait to get captured.” Said the bone chilling voice that was so cold and heartless. They stopped talking immediately and turned around to see that the voice that spoke was from Opal! 

“Oh, why do you have to make this so hard? Just stay in your cell till I let you out!”, she demanded and she stepped closer. 

Kalmar put his hand on his sword and said “Not another step. I have a sword and I'm not afraid to use it.” 

“Oh you do, do you? it would be very foolish for you to use that right now.” Opal said smartly. 

“Kal, put it down," Janner said from the corner of his mouth. Kalmar put the sword back in its sheath and sighed. 

“Good, now come with me. Guards take these children to the throne room; we have company.” Opal said to the guards as they pushed the children to the throne room.