Two days later, Ember and Cathy were ready to carry out their plan. They had gone over it time and again and they were sure that it was a rock solid plan. They were both certain that it would work out just as perfectly as they had planned it.
"Hey, are you ready?" Ember called over to Cathy. Her whole body was jittery with excitement. In the past week, it was the first time Ember really felt alive.
Cathy had been excited about the plan, but on that day she just developed a really strange feeling about it. "Well, I don't know Ember. The whole plan just seems a little bit too easy"
"Sometimes easy is good. You don't have to overthink everything", Ember said as a way to reassure Cathy. It was the conviction in Ember's voice that sharpened Cathy's own resolve.
She shrugged. "I guess you're right", she said. The thoughts of freedom after a whole decade of being locked up was electrifying to Cathy. For ten years, this dungeon had been all that Cathy knew. The darkness of the dungeon was familiar. The musty smell was what had felt safe to her.
What if she went to the outside world and had become so out of touch with actual reality?
Ember noticed that beneath Cathy's act of being brave, she was scared shitless. She would go over the plan with Cathy once more just to calm her nerves. She asked, "How many guards usually come to drop off your meal?"
"Two. One usually stands outside the dungeon to keep guard while the other one brings the meal to me" Cathy explained.
Ember nodded reassuringly. "Right. It's just one guard. You can take down one werewolf warrior, can't you?", she asked.
Cathy nodded. She didn't know if she wanted to sound convincing to Ember or to herself. She was out of practice because she had not been involved in combat for over five years. "Of course, it's just one Lycan warrior. Easy peazy"
Ember gave her a wide smile. "Just stay calm", she told Cathy.
Three Hours Later…
The warrior came in holding a bowl of Animal blood for Cathy, and another bowl with mashed potatoes and gravy for Ember. Without making any contact with them, he slipped their different bowls into their cells.
"Breakfast is ready!", the warrior announced.
Just as he turned to leave, Ember called to him. "Hey!". He ignored Ember and continued making his way out.
She called again with much ferocity. "Hey! It's urgent! Listen to me!". Her voice had an urgency to it and the warrior couldn't ignore it. He walked back to her muttering under his breath, "This better be good".
"What, Ember?", he asked. There was no hint of a smile on his face. Ember contorted her face to look like she was really in a state of panic.
"The girl in the other cell", Ember said, pointing to the cell which Cathy occupied. "Last night, she was screaming in pain. She was being so goddamn loud and annoying, I couldn't get a wink of sleep. This morning, she just collapsed"
Ember sounded so convincing that she even started to believe herself. "You have to help her. Go and check on her", she told him. Her voice was frantic and full of worry.
The warrior stared skeptically at Ember. Was this girl up to something, he asked himself. Her expression seemed to be genuine, but he couldn't be so sure.
Ember, sensing that he was not buying her act, cried in a loud voice. "Would I lie about something like that? That girl's life might be in danger. It seemed like she was in so much pain", she paused and soon started crying. "Oh My God! She might be dead by now. Oh, God, is she dead?"
The warrior was not in the mood for the drama Ember was putting up, so he agreed to check on Cathy. "Okay, okay, just quit crying. I'll go check on her". He walked gingerly to Cathy's cell and true to Ember's words, Cathy was laying on the ground, passed out.
She just lay there on the floor, still and motionless. With a rising sense of panic, the warrior opened Cathy's cell and walked into it. He crouched down beside Cathy and tapped her side, but there was no reaction from her.
Cathy stayed as still as a corpse. As he made to carry her up, suddenly, Cathy's eyes popped open and this surprised the warrior. With a great force, she kicked him in the face and this sent him flying to the corner. A loud grunt escaped from his mouth as he crashed to the hard floor.
Cathy hurried out of her cell before he would regain consciousness. Just as she made her way out, she stopped in front of Ember's cell. "Thank you, Ember", she whispered.
Ember smiled widely. They had done it! It was also just as easy as they had planned. "You deserve this chance at freedom, Cathy. Go" Ember replied.
Cathy reached for Ember's hands and squeezed them tightly, a wistful look in her eyes. She continued saying, "I owe everything to you, Ember. Thank you so much"
"Go before he wakes up. Get out! Now!" Ember practically screamed at her. She scurried away, leaving Ember smiling victoriously. The plan had actually worked.
For once, something was going right in her life.
Just then, she heard a loud yelp from Cathy and an even louder crashing sound as Cathy crashed to the floor in the distance. "Cathy?" Ember called out, terrified. She listened for a response from Cathy, but none came. This sent a pang of terror to Ember's brain.
"Cathy?", she called out again, banging on her cell gate loudly. What could have happened to Cathy? "Cathy?", she called out again, her fear rising every time she called out for Cathy.
In that instant, another warrior came in, pulling Cathy by her legs. Ember stared in horror as Cathy's still form was dragged into her line of sight. She had been caught. Ember couldn't believe this.
"What did you do to her?"Ember asked. By now, tears were flowing freely from her eyes. All she wanted to do was to help Cathy escape and now she had made matters even worse for her.
The second warrior chuckled evilly at Ember. "You both planned for her to escape? Did you think it was going to be that easy?". A wave of regret washed over Ember. She should have listened to Cathy. An easy escape plan is a very bad one.
"What are you going to do to her?"Ember asked still, her eyes brimming with tears.
"Just know that you're never going to see her again, and we will punish her accordingly" he told her.
"Please, just let her go. I am the one that put her up to this. Punish me instead" Ember pleaded but the warrior shook his head slowly. "You should have thought about that before you planned to let her escape", he said.
Cathy was dragged away by the soldier and kept in a secluded part of the dungeon, away from Ember. They strung her up, tying her both hands to the ceiling of the dungeon.
"Please… don't… don't do this" Cathy pleaded with the soldier.
"This is your punishment for trying to escape", he told her coldly. He brought out a long whip and dangled it in front of Cathy. "A hundred strokes of this will take away any plan to escape from your head", he said sardonically.
"Please" Cathy pleaded but to no avail. He connected the whip with her bare back over and over again.
"Ahhhhhhh!" Cathy screamed, her voice ringing loudly throughout the dungeon.