A plan in motion

A little over half an hour after Hin left, the door opened again, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw he had returned.

I held out my arms to him. He rushed over.

"Are you hurt? Did anyone see you?" I demanded to know.

"No, no. I am fine. Although there was a frightening moment when I thought I was spotted, but it was all just paranoia."

"Okay." I said studying his face for a moment.

"Here." Hin held out a bundled jumble of cloth rags for me to take. "Just double check it is the right one."

I took it from his outstretched hand and set it on the floor, before carefully unwrapping it. Since it was a Holy artifact, I had to be careful not to touch it with my bare skin; it would burn worse than the dipped silver did.

"Yes, it is the right one." I replied as I securely re-wrapped it. "Let me check the other two."

Hin quickly produced two more cloth covered shapes from his robes and handed them over. After a quick look, I noted all was in order. I handed the two cloth bundles back to him.

"Take these and go get a horse, ride a safe distance away from here. I will wait for the sign before I make my first move."

Hin stowed the bundles away safely and turned to leave.

"Wait," I said, "take this to help on your travels." I handed him a hide pouch filled with garnets, pearls and chunks of pure gold. He checked the contents of the pouch and smiled.

"Thank you." He said before he left.

Another half an hour or so more passed before Hin sent me the sign. A red ball of demonic fire energy appeared in the room with me and glowed brightly for a moment, before fading away completely.

I smiled and sent a surge of demonic energy to relight the torches on the stone walls. I was pleased at the return of this ability. 'Hin must be making good distance.' I mused.

Some men awoke because of the sudden light cutting through the darkness. The rest of them awoke a few moments later. I went to where Cadmus Brutus lay, and shook his shoulder.

"Wake up!" I told him.

Cadmus Brutus sat up and looked at me with bewilderment. "My lord?" he asked, "What is going on?"

"Help me to quietly wake all the others." I instructed him. "We are escaping here, and with valuables. Hin has already paved the way for us, unlocking these doors, the doors to the treasury and to the livery."

Cadmus Brutus went to stand up, but I stopped him. "But first, I want you to swear your loyalty to me as my servant. Obey me and I will repay you with good treatment; prove yourself and I will put you in charge of all the servants of my household. You may own property, valuables and marry."

While he knelt there, I held out a hand. "Do we have a deal?"

"Yes," he replied. "It is a deal." He took my hand and shook it.

The veins of his hand glowed bright red through his skin for a moment, and then all returned to normal. At the same time, Cadmus Brutus was heard suddenly taking in a surprised gasp of breath.

"It is a deal, indeed." I agreed, letting go of his hand.

We went about the room waking the men up, they also helped wake others and spread the word around. As one man made a sprint for the door, I used my abilities to bar it, by making it too heavy to be possible for a human to open.

"Now, now," I reprimanded, "If we are all going to escape, we are going to do it properly."

Now that all the men were awake, I addressed them. "The next room is unlocked. Everyone go on in and find something to use as a weapon. Defend yourself if you come across any guards. Once we are suitably equipped, it is on to the treasury. The treasury is already unlocked, and so are the livery and stables. Take as much loot as you can and get a horse or two and start your lives over!"

The men cheered and went to find weapons. A few minutes later, I undid my work and made the door its regular weight again. The men, Cadmus Brutus and I burst out of the doorway like a burst aqueduct.

We rushed and easily defeated the guards on the other side. I led my men away from the prison compound and towards the treasury. We defeated all who stood in our path, with the element of surprise on our side as well as blunt force trauma implements in the hands of the men.

I had located an iron brand and transformed it into a short sword. I then infused the sword with demonic fire energy to result in a flaming sword.

I blew the treasury doors off their hinges with a single blast of energy. It was better to see if anyone was coming to stop us.

"It's all yours, gentlemen." I declared.

As they rushed past me, I turned to Cadmus Brutus. "Grab as much as you can, quickly. We must swiftly leave."

Cadmus Brutus grabbed as much as he could carry in five minutes time and returned to my side.

"Let's go." I said. We made our way to a servant's exit in the side of the fortress, killing a handful of men in the process.

When we reached the livery, dripping in sweat and blood and adrenaline pumping in our veins, I filled Cadmus Brutus in on the plan. My mood improved with every kilometer farther Hin traveled from the fortress, as my powers were restored to me bit by bit.

Cadmus Brutus helped me to free all the cattle, donkeys, goats, camels and the surplus of horses of lower breeding. I drove them towards the hills, corralling them and herding them out of the boundary of the fortress and towards the surrounding hills and countryside.

Able now to change my form at will, I took up the most devilish one I possessed, with fire red skin, black, empty pits where my eyes should be long, sharp teeth, skeletal purple-black bat wings and red-orange flames for hair. I appeared and disappeared at will to make the frightened animals go where I wanted.

By the time I returned, the mob of newly rich prisoners were opening stalls and finding themselves racehorses to ride. I took a moment to resume my earlier form but kept my wings.

Half of them had mounts and rode away by the time a phalanx of royal guards arrived.

"Hurry, get out of here!" I shouted to the remaining men.

They scrambled to move faster, and Cadmus Brutus rode towards me.

"Grab two more horses and ride out of the fortress boundary." I yelled to him. "I will meet you with the herds of animals we released from here, atop the hills."

He turned his horse to go do as I commanded.

I turned back to face the better half of the Emperor's private army.