Asmund complied with Ronan's words. But, unfortunately, he did it all too well.

As soon as he jumped out of the cell, the feline scurried the rest of the prison, stealing keys and upsetting the guards with every cell he opened. The prisoners didn't care that a humanoid cat had opened the gates of freedom. They didn't have time to process that when they had a chance of getting out of there, thus evading the gallows.

Of course, once Asmund reached the roofs of the prison, the feline puffed out his chest with pride at the sight of the chaos he had wreaked. As Ronan requested, that distraction put the entire guard to work on something unrelated to them.

Finally, Asmund came down from the rooftops of the fortress and was lost in the darkness of the night. That would be his last night in that city.

Below the prison, the situation was still not pleasant. The cat had distracted the guard so well that there was now an all-out war in the fortification.

Each of the three marked ones was carrying some prisoner with him; Fynn, with his great strength, was taking the larger ones as if they were nothing. Idda lost and regained consciousness, the blows had left her too dazed, and at times she became a dead weight on Yue's shoulders. Those who could walk helped carry most wounded ones, as they all had to support each other to get out of there.

"What's going on up there?" asked Yue, listening to the clashes of swords and shouts.

Ronan concentrated on trying to hear what the girl asked. "Our distraction. That rascally cat spared nothing."

Leading the prisoners through the underground of common criminals, the first ravages of the commotion were already beginning to show. Some were dead, but local guards were among them, the last being killed by the surviving criminals who could steal their weapons and then move on.

"Was it your idea to let them kill the guards as well?" asked Yue to Ronan, watching the mess with revulsion.

"Don't start with those rants," Ronan spat out annoyance. "You didn't say anything when I almost killed the guard who had the key to your cell."

"Don't start arguing with each other," Fynn exclaimed, trying to mediate the situation. "How do we get out of here?"

One of the prisoners, badly wounded and over Ronan's shoulder, asked, speaking as he raised his hand, thus getting the group's attention.

"Through the second floor, a door leads to an attached building. It's near the main office of the captain of the guard. It used to be used by the servants of the fortress."

"How do you know that?" asked Ronan to the boy over his shoulder.

"My mother used to be part of the servitude here."

"Sounds good to me," Fynn expressed, smiling at that boy. "Thanks for sharing."

The boy shrugged, "It's the least I can do with my new title of 'traitor,' don't you think?"

"Are you all here because you helped one of us?" the marked boy asked, moving up the stairs to the place with his companions.

"My brother and I are here because we were accused!" exclaimed a tanned man, pointing to the young guy on his back.

"Accused of what?" asked Fynn again.

"According to the union men, doubting and scoffing that a demon like you can rot fields with the blink of an eye is a severe matter. My brother laughed at the wrong person, and when we realized it, they turned our home upside down and found 'evidence' that we had helped someone like you."

"It's not the first time I've heard something like that," Ronan exclaimed with a heavy sigh.

Ronan attempted to open a door but, in doing so, quickly shut it when he heard an angry charge from a group of men against a group of armed men. Then, at least half a dozen shouts could be heard, and even some arrows embedded themselves in the door's wood.

The group must have taken another path, longer and down another of the stairs.

"Fynn," Yue caught her friend's attention, "Do you think they'd do something like that to Erna and Samson?"

The boy watched her friend and soon realized what she was referring to.

"Do you think anyone would be able to rat them out?" the boy asked in alarm. "But, we helped a lot of people that day..."

"Samson's helpers were angry because you didn't kill the bandit leader. So they might take it out on them."

"What's going on?" the voice of Idda, soft and exhausted, drew the children's attention.

"Idda! Can you hear us?"

"What's going on? Where am I?" the girl asked, barely able to open her eyes because of her blows.

"We're getting you out of here. Don't worry, everything will be all right."

It was true that reaching the next floor posed a severe threat.

The stairs they had taken soon became infested with bodies. Some bandits tried to get to the next level, to walls and one of the weapons arsenals of the place.

With increasing caution, they advanced down one of the corridors of the level they were on, not without having to leave a couple of bodies on the way.

"He's not breathing anymore," exclaimed one of the prisoners, wounded but still able to carry one in worse condition than him. But, unfortunately, the one he was taking had died. In this way, and despite the anguish it represented, they had no choice but to leave them there.

The marked group also had to get rid of inconveniences on the way. So Ronan had no choice but to order the Akajsi girl from a distance to finish off some more of the enemy. Thus, Idda was now to be charged between a prisoner and Fynn.

It was then that Idda recognized the boy.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, confused and with a puffy look. Still, she seemed to recognize the boy. "You made it to the city. I'm happy for you."

"It was because of you, Idda," the boy expressed with a smile. Then, still alarmed, the boy must have asked her what had happened to her.

Idda looked down and was able to utter a couple of words, "He and his friends turned me in the next day. He turned me in as if I were worth nothing to him. He and his friends, my friends, called me in so many horrible ways..."

The girl could barely cry, for just doing so caused her pain.

Fynn felt a lump form in his throat, and huge guilt washed over him as he learned that. He blamed himself for not coming back for her, for not having done more to stop the woodcutters' madness.

Quickly, Yue shot a couple of arrows at a duo of criminals who had come out of a room. They both saw the group, and when one of them tried to shout to alert his companions, an arrow pierced his throat, falling to the ground. His companion was petrified, but the girl again delivered a deadly shot when he tried to do the same.

As Yue approached that criminal, she soon noticed something familiar.

"This guy, I feel like I've seen him before..."

Ronan approached and soon illustrated.

"Take a close look at that symbol." Ronan pointed to the criminal's shoulder pad.

Just like that, they both realized that that armor and that symbol belonged to The Black Rats.

"Looks like they've locked up a couple of those rats here."

"The Refer's thieves were here?" asked Fynn, approaching in a hurry and almost dragging those hanging on him.

"They've made too much chaos around here the last few days," exclaimed one of the few prisoners left with them and him who had led them there.

"They must be pretty desperate," exclaimed Ronan. But then, he watched as one of the prisoners he was carrying on his back rushed into the room from where the bandits had come out.

Confused, he watched the prisoner and saw that he had thrown himself down to eat the scraps of food left there by them.

"Do you have to do that now?"

"I haven't eaten for two days!" cried the prisoner, eating the leftover bread and cheese he found on a table.

"Come back here, let a rat eat them!" Ronan shouted in annoyance and soon felt his stomach churn at a rat peeking through the stones in the wall. "Ugh, like that one over there..."

"Rats..." exclaimed Fynn to himself.

The boy was startled and let out a gasp of surprise.

"Yue!" shouted the boy, thus calling out to her friend, who turned quickly, thinking that perhaps he was being attacked. Then, in dismay, she looked at him, "Can you call out to that rat?"

"What?" asked Yue.

"Can you call it?" he asked again.

"Oh, don't," exclaimed Ronan.

"What do you want to do that for?" asked Yue, his friend.

"What you did with horses, you can do with other animals, right?"

"I guess so," said the girl hesitantly, for she hadn't done that trick with anything other than the horses they rode.

Yue watched the rat and, with a gesture and a word, commanded it to come to her.

"Come here."

The rat hurried over to where Yue stood. Ronan took a step back as he watched it scurry towards them.

"Can you tell him to call some more?" asked Fynn.

Yue watched him, unable to comprehend what his friend meant by it. Finally, she understood after a few moments and turned her eye to the armor.

"Bring your friends!" shouted Yue to the rat, hoping that would work.

"What the hell are you up to?" asked Ronan to the boy.

"The farmers said they didn't get support against The Black Rats because they didn't attack the cities," Yue explained to his friend.

The boy smiled as he saw that his friend had noticed that detail, "They use the rats as symbols. What would people think if they saw many of them together, maybe tied up?"

Ronan watched him and was surprised, "The attention would go to them, instead of us," the man nodded in amazement at the boy's idea. "I don't think it would last forever, but by the time they realize it was all a lie, we won't be here anymore. Good thinking, boy."

The boy leading them noticed that the door was locked from the other end. However, after Fynn took a good breath, he kicked the door, and the wooden lock at the other end snapped.

The less injured prisoners helped the more injured ones down that way. Then, each of them thanked the others.

"You know the way out of here. You lead them," Ronan ordered the boy who had guided them through the fortress. "Get away from the city forever, don't look back, and start a new life anywhere else. Travel north to Windcall, and if you can make it, get to Ianor and get lost among the tribes."

Fynn tried to get Idda to go with them, but she clung to the boy, afraid to walk away. The boy then looked at Ronan, seeking help for that situation.

Idda, after everything she had been through, did not want to part with her saviors.

"Don't worry, I'll take her somewhere else with us."

As they were talking, at least two dozen rats were seen advancing toward them as they crossed around a corner. Ronan felt his skin crawl and both Fynn and Yue watched in disbelief that this had worked.

"Stop!" shouted Yue to the rats, and several stopped on the spot.

"Unbelievable..."

"Too many rats," exclaimed Idda, listening to the squeals of the animals.

"Get this over with quickly. I think I'm going to throw up..." exclaimed Ronan in disgust.

"And now?" asked Yue.

In the silence of the hallway, which was only interrupted by the shouting and fighting in the courtyard and elsewhere in the fortress, multiple discussions could be heard behind a door at the back of the compound. The door was the captain's guard, who had barricaded himself and several of his advisors there.

"Ronan, do you have anything to tie up in your magic bag?" asked Fynn.

"Oh, don't give me that..." gritted the man's teeth, sighing heavily.

Chaos reigned among the advisors and the captain, who had locked the door with furniture inside the room. From one moment to the next, everyone inside the room heard pounding from outside, blows from a hammer and nail accompanied by multiple shrieks.

Once the conflict was over, they would leave the room at dawn after having spent the whole night there and find a message on the door.

Tied from the tail and still wriggling and twitching in desperation, half a dozen rats were tied with a small rope to each other to a thick nail outside the door.