The Devil's Runner Part 2

Garret considered himself a master thief. It didn’t take long for authorities to make it official. The authorities of course didn’t know that his name was Garret, or anything else about him, just that someone was really good at taking things that didn’t belong to him. He was known by a different name wherever he went, but his favorite was definitely ‘The Devil’s Runner.”

Garret got so good at thievery that it was starting to become boring to him. He actually had decided to retire on the riches that he had stolen, for he had stolen a lot, when he heard the news that he had been caught and sent to the Fortress Prison. He of course hadn’t actually been caught, but people apparently thought that he had been. He figured that they caught someone they suspected near enough to the time that he had stopped thieving and figured that since the thieving stopped that they had caught the right guy.

At first, Garret had laughed at his good fortune. He was completely free and would never have to worry about his past catching up to him. His supposed capture was the talk of the town that he retired to, but so also was the topic of the Fortress Prison. The Fortress Prison was apparently where the worst criminals and enemies of state were sent. The lucky ones were sentenced to death, while the unlucky ones were doomed to forever rot there, for it was said that those who enter never return. Garret heard many terrible rumors about the place that whoever had been mistaken for him had been sent.

Garret did his best to ignore the rumors. He had no need to bother himself with them, no reason to feel guilty. Yet he did, though he fiercely denied it. He wouldn’t admit that someone suffering so much for what he did bothered him, but it did. He found that his retired life irritated him to no end, his irritation peaking whenever he heard his new neighbors speaking about his capture and supposed torture.

Convincing himself that he was just more bored with retirement than with his life of thievery, Garret set out for what he promised himself was his final job. There was nothing that Garret couldn’t sneak into, nothing that Garret couldn’t take, no prison that Garret couldn’t bust a prisoner out of, and the fact that everyone assumed that he had been captured in a place that no one ever left was insulting, and so he set out to the Fortress Prison to free himself and pilfer anything that he found there that tickled his fancy, just to show that it wasn’t impossible to steal from or break out of this place, and that it was impossible to hold him, even if it wasn’t him that was being held.

Garret had to do a lot of information gathering. None of the common class knew just where the Fortress Prison was, so Garret had to sneak into some very high ranking peoples homes, again, and look through their records and listen to their conversations. Eventually he found out why Fortress Prison was so well hidden and where it was. It wasn’t a fortress at all; it was called that to throw off people who were looking for it. It was actually an enormous cave system. After gathering all the information that he needed, Garret headed for the caves, confident that this job would be simple.

The entrance wasn’t guarded by men in uniforms, that would only draw attention the place, it was instead guarded by several official signs that stated how deadly the cave was. The first sign of guards was deeper into the cave, before the path could split. Anyone foolish enough to ignore the warning signs either knew too much or would soon and all who entered were then imprisoned.

Garret found that getting past these guards was simple. Not only did they not expect anyone to enter, but if they did they usually weren’t masterfully concealing themselves. There were patrols and seemingly random guard postings along the way, but Garret had already memorized the patterns long before he actually set foot in the cave. He had located the cell where he was supposed to be imprisoned. This was the first time that Garret used any force. He figured if he was going to bust himself out, he would do it in a way that everyone would remember. The Devil’s Runner was impossible to hold for any length of time, and there would even be rumors that they had gotten the wrong guy and the real one had set the wrongfully accused free. All started and spread by Garret of course.

The cell that Garret was looking for was very deep into the prison. It was supposedly where they kept all the most dangerous prisoners. There were five guards in that hall, one for each cell, and Garret would have to take them all out before he could rescue himself. Taking them out would be simple. He had a special poison that rendered one unconscious for hours that he had tipped several pins with. He ran through the corridor, sticking the guards with pins. They were down before they knew what was happening. He then unlocked every door in the corridor and whispered inside, “I am known by many names, most notoriously The Devil’s Runner. I am here to set you free, the door is unlocked, and I will clear the way ahead.”

Soon a haggard group of people stood before him. This would be the most challenging part. These people were unable to fight or defend themselves, so he would have to protect them on the way out. But something was off. There were only four prisoners standing before him, and there were five cells that were being guarded. Garret looked through the cells until he found one that contained a terribly thin girl staring up at a patch of sunlight that had filtered through the roof of the cave. She was alive, but perhaps too weak too move. “Are you okay? Do you need my help?”

The girl didn’t respond at all. She just continued staring at the ceiling. Perhaps she couldn’t hear anything? Garret moved closer to her and waved his hand in front of her face. She briefly moved her eyes to look at him but then stared back up at the ceiling. Garret almost gasped when he saw her eyes. He had seen it somewhat in the other prisoners, that nearly soulless look, that complete hopelessness, but it was much worse in this poor girl. “My word, how long have you been here?” Garret asked.

She didn’t answer him; she just closed her eyes and moved her head away. She didn’t try to fight back the tears. “Don’t worry, I’m going to take you away from here,” Garret said.

Garret picked her up and walked out of her cell. There was still no sign of any guards coming, but Garret was sure it wouldn’t be long now. Garret turned to the group of people he intended to rescue. “Now, which one of you was mistaken for me?”

A lad much too young raised his hand. Garret wanted to be offended, being mistaken for that kid. It wasn’t his fault though; he was probably just really unlucky. “I think you’ve been here the least amount of time, can you carry her while I lead you all to safety?” Garret asked him.

The young man nodded and Garret carefully handed to poor girl to him. The girl weighed almost nothing, but this kid didn’t look to hot himself. He was able to easily carry her though and they set off.