‘Funnily enough, that’s one of the things on Maxin’s list. I’d be wary of what he buys you, though; his reading skills aren’t up to much. Oh, em, don’t tell him I said that, eh?’
‘Get me some cigarettes and it’s a deal.’
The servant smiled, and retreated from the room and locked it again.
Kelsey grunted. ‘Pyre’s knackers, I’m so sick of pretending to be friendly to these arseholes.’
‘It was your idea,’ said Aila, as she got off the bed to inspect the contents of the tray, ‘and, I must admit, it has kind of worked. They never bring crossbows with them when they give us meals any more, and he would never have stood there for a chat when we were first put in here. All the same, it hasn’t got us out, has it?’
Kelsey brandished the blunt and bent spoon. ‘Whereas, this might well do the trick.’
Aila picked up the tray. ‘If you say so. Are you still craving a smoke?’
Kelsey scraped the spoon against the mortar. ‘Now that you mention it, no, not really.’
‘Then you should stop. I mean, you’ve done the hard bit.’
Kelsey laughed. ‘My mother would disown me. Actually, that’s a good reason to do it; to annoy her. Anyway, how was I, you know; was I unbearable?’
‘You were a nightmare for oh, about twenty days. That’s why I don’t want you to restart; I don’t think I could handle being in your company if you had to stop again.’
‘That’s fair, I suppose. You haven’t been much fun, either, Miss Aila, just so you know. You’re like the opposite of Corthie; I’ve never met anyone as pessimistic as you. How does he put up with it? I can feel the negativity radiate off you at times.’
‘Corthie and I balance each other out, I think,’ she said. ‘Well, we did until he got it into his head that he was destined to slay the Ascendants; that was a step too far for me. I was also extremely annoyed with him for not telling me why he allowed Van to go off with you.’
Kelsey shrugged as she scraped the mortar. ‘I’m quite proud of him for that. Holdfasts stick together, even when we fight and argue among ourselves. If you’re a lucky girl, you might get to be a Holdfast one day, who knows? We’ll see if mother approves.’
‘Half the time, I don’t know if you’re joking or not. You hate your mother, but you’re unswervingly loyal to her as well.’
‘It’s called being part of a family. I know you demigods don’t… oh.’ She stopped scraping.
‘What is it?’
‘Well,’ she said; ‘you know that I was only really doing this scraping malarkey to pass the time, but, eh, come and take a look.’
Aila placed the tray onto the bed and walked to the window ledge. At the base of the thick bar, a large chunk of mortar had come loose. Kelsey wedged the spoon under it and it slipped free, revealing the end of the iron bar. She took hold of the shackle and eased it through the gap, freeing her chain from the bar. She smiled at Aila, then did the same with her chain.
‘Wait,’ said Aila. ‘They’ll notice as soon as they walk in.’
‘Then we rush them, and run for it.’
‘What, with each of us trailing ten-foot lengths of chain behind us? They’re still attached to our wrists, if you hadn’t noticed.’
‘We passed a little workshop in the basement when we were put in here. There’s bound to be hammers and stuff we could use to get rid of the chains.’
‘But they’ll hear us.’
‘Pyre’s arse, Aila! Come on, this is the chance we’ve been waiting for. We can stop sitting here passively, and actually do something. I’m fed up being a damsel in distress, waiting for the boys to rescue us.’
Aila frowned. Kelsey was right. She tried to summon the spirit of Stormfire. She was unable to use her powers to mask herself, but everything Stormfire had done had really been done by her. Her heart began to pound at the thought.
‘Right,’ said Kelsey; ‘here’s the plan. We eat, then we sit by the door and wait for the next time someone comes in. And then we go for it. You can fight, can’t you? I mean, I can’t, but you can, aye?’
‘Yes, I can fight.’
Kelsey grinned. ‘That’s more like it. Now you’re thinking like a Holdfast.’
* * *
The waiting was excruciating. Kelsey and Aila crouched or sat by the door, their chains piled behind them, as the day slowly went by. Kelsey had tried to pass the time by playing word and guessing games, but Aila’s nerves were shredded, and all she could think about was Amalia’s touch, which could bring her death in seconds. Apart from that, she might get a crossbow bolt in the guts, and she remembered how awful that felt. There were a million problems with Kelsey’s plan, but the young Holdfast woman refused to listen to them, at one point sticking her fingers in her ears and singing to drown out Aila’s objections.
Eventually, the light in the basement cell dimmed as evening approached, and footsteps bringing their dinner approached down the hallway outside. Kelsey’s eyes narrowed, and she nodded to Aila. They moved to the side of the door, so that they would be out of sight when it opened.
Aila handed the end of her chain to Kelsey and tensed.
I am Stormfire. I am Stormfire, she repeated in her head. She didn’t need the disguise. She could do it.
The key sounded in the lock, and the door was pushed open. It was the young servant again. He peered into the room, and his smile faded as he glanced at the seemingly empty cell.
Aila pounced. She sprang up, a length of chain in her hands, and wrapped it round the young man’s throat, hauling him backwards. He dropped the full tray, its contents clattering to the ground,
