Chapter 21: Cleaning the Prison

Not much later Liberty heading into The Bending Tower looking for a room she didn’t know existed: the prison room. Do we have a prison room, she wondered, or is Fake-Ash pulling my leg? She pushed the thought away; what would Fake-Ash gain out of her looking for a room that didn’t exist?

He had said the room could be found hidden by the elders’ room. Liberty figured it was hidden so when enemies invaded, they couldn’t get their prisoners. If it’s there, she added to herself. She didn’t know if the room existed or not yet. Something told her it did, but Liberty wasn’t sure why it was never mentioned before.

She was now outside the elders’ den. She could hear conversation happening in there, but Liberty didn’t care enough to try and listen to what it was about. The hallway was at a dead end, so Liberty looked around for any signs of a prison room.

Liberty noticed a slight shift in the wall, as if a patch of it was broken. Instinct told her that might’ve been the hidden entrance. She pushed it with her muzzle, and sure enough, the shift moved backwards, enabling her to push through. Dust fell around as she did, as if the entrance hadn’t been used in a while, and she made her way in.

As she entered she took in the room. There was dust everywhere, and the cells that were there were all rusty and looked very old. Next to the cells was a water tank, which must’ve been for animals who lived in the water, although Liberty wasn’t sure what’d they’d be doing out of the water in the first place. The walls of the room were gray, and Liberty could see cobwebs here and there. She wrinkled her nose. This place is disgusting.

Fake-Ash had ordered her to clean the place, but Liberty wasn’t sure why. The thought actually scared her; if she was to clean the room, that meant it might be being used soon. And there wasn’t anything she could do about it; one, who could she tell – that’d believe her – about “Ash” using the prison room again? And two, if she did, Fake-Ash would consider her a traitor, and her plan to spy on the opposite would fail, or she’d get killed. Maybe even become the first prisoner in the room.

Liberty sighed, deciding maybe she’d start tearing cobwebs down.  She approached one in the corner, when suddenly she heard pawsteps coming towards her.

She whipped around, only to see who was coming in: Nzuri, a light brown tabby she-cat Liberty had seen around The Bending Tower, and Sparky, an orange wolf who was Starlight’s sister.

“What’re you guys doing here?” Liberty demanded.

Nzuri blinked. “Same as you. Cleaning the prison.”

A feeling of dread washed over Liberty. “Did…Ash tell you to?”
“Yeah,” Sparky nodded.

Liberty glanced at him. “I thought you’d be with Starlight.”
“I was. But Ash said I should clean this room to keep my mind off it,” Sparky sighed. He then looked at her. “What even bit her…? That black gunk on her shoulder is spreading around her body…”

Sparky was getting choked up thinking about it – Liberty could tell – and she didn’t want to get sad about it either, so she spoke up. “Let’s not think about that. She’ll get better.”

“What even got her?” Sparky asked, looking Liberty in the eyes.

Liberty held his gaze for a few heartbeats but looked away and sighed, trying to decide whether to tell him the truth. Malroy and Ekaj saw it, she told herself. And I’d get mad if someone didn’t tell me what got her. “This shadow-like creature,” Liberty said, looking back at Sparky, who immediately looked confused. “It had a long purple tongue, bright white eyes and horn-like ears, with fire coming off its back, and black drool. That’s what got her shoulder when it bit her.”

Sparky and Nzuri both looked confused, and Liberty gritted her teeth, realizing how absurd her description of the Shadow Tracker sounded. “If you didn’t want to tell me the truth, you could’ve just said so,” Sparky growled.

“I am,” said Liberty evenly.

“I got a feeling the rumors going around about you are true, then,” Nzuri said coldly.

Liberty could feel the hair on her neck rising and she fought back the urge to snarl. “They are rumors. And that is what I saw. Ask Ekaj. Ask Malroy. Ask Starlight when she gets better.”
“What if she doesn’t?!” Sparky demanded.

“She will!” Liberty yelled. “I helped find the cure for her. Now let’s get started. Ash may not appreciate it if we’re just socializing.”

“He’s not that strict,” Nzuri frowned. “He’d understand our reason for talking.”

Not this version of Ash, Liberty told herself. “Let’s get started, anyway.”

On some kind of unspoken command they split up to get to different parts of the prison.

A while later the prison looked a lot better than it was when they started. Most of the time they had been silent – Liberty suspected Nzuri and Sparky thought she was still acting as her opposite had – and the few conversations they did have tended to be awkward, and with Sparky it was filled with tension, as he probably was still mad about Liberty supposedly not telling the truth.

“I think we’re done,” remarked Nzuri. “Good thing, too. I’m exhausted.”

Liberty nodded in agreement. “I just hope Ash approves it.”
“You act like he’s some kind of dictator. Ash won’t be harsh about our job,” Nzuri insisted. “I’ve known him since before he was leader. Deputy, even.”

Good for you, thought Liberty sarcastically. “Let’s just go find him. He—”

The wall creaked and Fake-Ash stepped in. He glanced around. “Good job, you three,” he said.

“See?” Nzuri whispered to Liberty.

“Thought this place was looking a bit bad. It’s good to keep things looking nice,” he said with such a nice, genuine smile Liberty actually was having a hard time remembering Fake-Ash was an evil opposite.

“What now?” Sparky asked.

“Well, it’s evening now, sun’ll be setting soon. Guess you guys can grab dinner,” he suggested.

“Good, I’m starving,” Nzuri remarked, leaving the prison. Liberty followed, heading out of the room, but stopped as she heard Fake-Ash speaking.

“I’m sorry about your sister,” Fake-Ash was saying.

There was hesitation before someone replied – Sparky. “I-It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not,” Fake-Ash insisted. “Your sister may very well be near death.” He sighed before saying, “but look, anything you need me to do to help you get through it, let me know.”

“Thanks…but I think I’ll be fine. Starlight’ll wake up,” Sparky insisted.

There was silence for not too long before Fake-Ash spoke up. “I don’t mean to drain you of any hope, but I just want to say that you shouldn’t keep them up. It’ll only make the grief worse if she dies.” He said it so matter-of-factly that Liberty herself began to feel sad, as if she really was not going to wake up.

“I…I got to tell myself she will. If I start thinking she will die…then I’ll get sad,” Sparky replied.

“Well…good job today, anyway. I hope the best for your sister.”

Not much longer Sparky left the room and glanced at Liberty. “Were you listening in?” he demanded.

Immediately Liberty shook her head. “No. I was just lost in thought.”

Luckily Sparky wasn’t always the greenest blade of grass, and he just nodded before padding off.

Liberty was about to get up when Fake-Ash came out of the room. “Hello Liberty,” he said.

“Hello,” Liberty returned.

“I have a feeling you were the leader in that operation, huh?” Fake-Ash said. Before Liberty could answer he continued. “You have good leader qualities, Liberty. Qualities this Tower needs.”

“Thank you,” Liberty nodded. “May I go now?”
“Of course.”

Liberty headed out to the yard to get dinner, but in the back of her mind she kept thinking about Fake-Ash’s words to Sparky. He’s trying to convince Sparky he’s a good guy, to win him over for his side, she realized. He must be doing that to the whole Bending Tower…

Author’s Note:
Hehe, sorry that I haven’t posted. School. :/