Chapter 5: In Prison

The prison was dark and cold. Water dripped from the ceiling. Midnight shivered and hugged herself. Cats hate to get wet.

Midnight glanced over at Tabby, her yellow eyes glowing the dark. Tabby was staring into the blackness, blinking her amber eyes once in a while. Then she stretched and started to pace.

“Sit down,” hissed Midnight. “They’ll think something’s up.”

She nodded at the guards. The guards were big and brawny, with big metal suits of armour and big red spears. Two guarded the entrance to their ‘cells’, which were actually flat rocks, tiny islands in the big abyssal sea of blackness. There was no bottom to the dark void below them. The ‘entrance’ was actually just a flat strip of rock leading to the edge of the empty space. Beyond the rock was a steep cliff, and beyond that was another. Beyond that was the exit.

Living here was lousy, sure, but a tiny part of Midnight was glad that she still had life. Sure, she was evil, sure, she was a supporter of the Dark Faerie, but she really hadn’t done anything wrong. And in Sidhe, no one can be killed unless they’ve got a really good reason to.

And at least they got food. Well, water at least. Every now and then a piece of meat was doled out. Daily rations were usually just thrown down to them. If they lowered a bridge to deliver the perishables, the cats might escape.

Which was what Midnight was planning to do today. If everything went according to plan.

She looked at Ginger, who was sleeping, curled up in a ball, her blonde hair and petit snow white ears spread out daintily on the cold rock floor. Midnight blew a strand of jet black hair out of her eyes and tossed an empty water bottle at her sleeping associate. Ginger woke with a start and did a back flip in the air. She came down on all fours, tail bushed, blue eyes wide.

“Shut up,” said Midnight. “And be quiet while you’re at it.”

Ginger relaxed and flopped back down on the floor. “I was.”

“Well, you were asleep.”

“Was I snoring?”

“Cats. Don’t. Snore! How many times do I have to tell you? Besides, I need you awake. On my mark.”

The guards looked down at them from their perch at the edge of the strip. They nodded to each other. Another guard came walking down the strip, holding a box with three large water bottles, their daily ration. No, prison life was not good.

Midnight tensed.

The guard grunted as he struggled to lift the water bottle.

Midnight got ready to leap.

The guard swung back his arm.

She only had one shot…

The guard lobbed the bottle into the air.

Midnight leaped. She grabbed the water bottle in mid-air and bounced off it, landing in front of the stunned guards. She bared her teeth and hissed.

The guards stood dumbstruck. Then they came to their senses and drew their spears.

Midnight smiled.

Ginger and Tabby watched as the bottle came sailing their way. They leaped just as Midnight had, and joined their friend in front of the guards. They struck fighting poses. Ginger extracted her claws. Tabby flattened her ears.

The guards threw their spears. The cats leaped in the air. Midnight twisted her body around like only cats can do and grabbed a spear. She swung around and threw the spear at the guards. The guards hollered and jumped out of harm’s way. Midnight took off running.

By now, all the guards had been alerted. Midnight looked up and saw about fifty thousand arrows pelting down at her. She bared her teeth again and stopped running. As the arrows came, she began to spin. The arrows bounced off her. The guards’ mouths fell open in surprise.

Tabby looked to Midnight’s right side and saw a guards raising his spear. “To your right!” she yelled.

Midnight leaped to the right, right at the spear. She spun it around in mid-air and sent it hurtling back at the guard. He toppled off the edge of the rock and fell into nothingness.

Midnight looked up at the steep climb ahead of her. She grinned and extracted her claws. She started to climb. Tabby and Ginger were right behind her.

The guards pelted them with arrows and spears, but the cats were to fast for them and dodged every attack. Midnight reached the top of the cliff and leapt up, ready for battle.

A fleet of a thousand guards stood facing her.

Midnight narrowed her eyes, panting hard. She couldn’t out fight them. But she had to escape. She just had to.

“Ready to give up?” a guard called, mocking her. “You’re not seriously going through us, are you?”

Midnight looked behind them, to the last cliff with the exit, and saw the ledge the exit sat, the way out. It was completely unguarded.

“No,” she said in a steely cold voice. “I’m going over.”

She crouched down. Her legs became rubber, and she sproinged up, over the guards, and onto the ledge. She flipped through the doorway in the rock and landed on the grass outside. She saw Tabby and Ginger sail over her. Tabby landed beside her and rolled over onto the grass, panting. Ginger flew over Midnight and Tabby’s heads, her tail all bushed. She landed on a patch of daisies. She sneezed and sniffled, “I hate daisies.”

Midnight peered through the hole and almost giggled at the guards, who were staring up at them like they were aliens. Midnight waved at them. “Slán!”

“Go bhfeicfimid arís tú, suckers!” Tabby yelled after Midnight.

It was a pleasant day. The sky was a pure aquamarine blue with big patches of extremely puffy white clouds. Green fields stretched on for miles, and Midnight knew that a portal was not that far away.

Tabby began to smooth down her ruffled fur. Ginger sneezed again and then fell asleep.

Yes, it was a very pleasant day, and it had just got pleasanter.

While her friends slept and preened themselves, Midnight only closed her eyes to savour the moment.

She was free.

I like this chapter a lot! In case any of you are wondering, in Gaelic, ‘Slán’ is ‘goodbye’, and ‘Go bhfeicfimid arís tú’ is ‘See you’. So, did you like this chapter as much as I did? Or did you hate it? You can let me know by simply clicking that green button below that says 'Review' on it. Did you know that 'review' means 'if you click this button and review this chapter, you will get free candy'? It's true! Try it!