Chain Reaction

Have you ever tried to sneak in brass armour? It makes more noise than you might expect. Unless, of course, you are a Valkyrie, a semi-angelic maiden of battle. Then, as you might imagine, you get used to it. And it shimmers golden in the flaming torchlight, which is nice. Keeps the spirits up when you’re picking magical locks on the way through a deep dark gaol. And now she stood before the final door. A quick bit of the old trade secrets with a specially shaped crystal, a glowing gem, and a whisper in the right direction and that too evaporated into smoke. She wafted it away with a wave of her hand and stepped through.

The cell was lined with stone, with slivers of light filtering down from an impossibly high window set with bars. There were chains and all the usual accoutrements, including vermin, musty straw, and the company’s own damp. And, in the shadows, there was a prisoner, curled in on himself on the bare stone away from the straw. ‘William,’ she whispered softly, ‘is that you?’

The prisoner looked up vaguely from the shadowed darkness, uncurling slightly. He was almost painfully thin, she considered – not so much physically, but spiritually – as if he’d been forced to rely on energy from breaking down the muscles of his own soul to survive. She extended a hand...

...and he flinched back against the wall, pressing himself fervently into a corner. ‘Please, please, no more …’ At least she thought that was what he was saying. It was so slurred and mumbled and weak. And as he shook there, that was when she heard the sound of the other chains. Not the ones hanging there for show, but the ones hardly visible, wrapped around and around him, draining the very life from him. Chains made of something like the reflections of shadows. Right, she decided, she’d had quite enough of this. There was a musical ting! as she drew a wide flaring sword, and raised it above her head. ‘William, I need you to hold very still.’ And she brought the sword whistling down…

…and the chains broke – broke with a high-pitched keening wail, like a silent scream on a level that only the soul could hear – and then vanished.

William lay shivering on the floor, breathing very shallowly.

‘No, no, time for sleep later,’ the Valkyrie said, extending her hand again, which this time he took. She raised him, slowly, to his feet. ‘It’s time to go home.’

His lips numbly framed the word, ‘Home?’ It wasn’t even quite audible.

She nodded, with a smile of the kind only a Valkyrie can give. And for the first time, he brightened up. He put one foot in front of the other. With her other hand, she raised the sword again and brought it down through the air. A glimmering portal opened up, with edges that glowed. And, shielding his eyes as he went, they stepped through. The portal winding its way shut behind them in a whooshing, sparkling zigzag, as the air carried the echoes of the ringing of alarms and the howl of guards. As the final bit of portal sewed itself shut, it gave a bright star-like glow and a poof!

When the jailers rushed in, they were highly put out about that. And then they were apprehensive. Someone wasn’t going to be happy about this …