Hours had already passed and he was anxious to get out. He couldn’t sit and wait for one of the Sisters to arrive on her own. Besides, if he had brought them trouble, then he felt he needed to help in some way. He would have to be stealthy, though, for now Jinorrah was keeping a close eye on him.
Garinor walked over to a group of three who were playing a chance game with dice and sticks. He watched them for a while and they explained that when one of them rolled the dice he would then either take sticks from another player or give away his own. The goal was to end up with no sticks. The trick was that it had to work out exactly.
Garinor declined to play, but he watched for a moment, his eyes trained on the door. He soon left the dice rollers to their game and shuffled over to another pair of boys who were trying to build a tower out of twigs one piece at a time, each laying one piece before the other boy took his turn. It was clear that the one who felled the tower lost.
A few spots later, Garinor was with a group of boys who were arm-wrestling. He thought this was a good place to dash off toward the doorway, for there were no other obstructions. It helped that the boys kept cheering at the end of a match and everyone nearby was desensitized to the noise. With the next set of cheers, the players traded around and Garinor made his move.
He bolted for the door before anyone even realized what he was doing. It wasn’t a long way to run, but Jin was ready for it and he sprinted ahead as well. The others watched what was happening, and though some of them returned to their activities, others joined in.
The door flew open and Garinor pelted into the darkness, putting his hand to the right wall, determined to follow it to the exit. The others crowded in behind him, reaching and grabbing for him.
“No, you don’t!” breathed Jinorrah, snagging a fistful of Garinor’s tunic. “You can’t go yet.”
But Garinor lunged forward suddenly. The motion caught Jin off guard and he lost his grip. Others rushed ahead, trying all the while to keep the noise down, but determined to stop the boy who would undoubtedly give them all away.
It was a mad scramble in the darkness and no one could see anything. Fists flew and friends banged into each other at random. Garinor was grateful for the chaos, for it allowed him to slip away. A few stray attacks marked him, but he didn’t care. He was determined to get out of this mess and push his way to sunlight. Keeping close to the right-hand wall, Garinor ran ahead.
As he approached the stairwell, the others pulled back, unwilling to expose themselves to the intruders who must be above. Refusing to be diverted from his path, Garinor plodded up the stairs and cracked open the doorway to the hall. But there was nothing of interest to see.
He crept into the hallway and listened for other noises. Footsteps padded everywhere and when he looked behind himself, he could see other children going around from one place to another in the complex. Some of them were carrying trays of food or blankets or firewood. They all went with purpose and not as if they were being coerced.
A hand grabbed Garinor’s shoulder and he jumped. “Hush, now, little one,” crooned a high voice. “You ought to have stayed down with the others for a moment longer.”
Garinor turned to see an older woman in her early sixties wearing a large frilly apron that was splattered with stains. She gazed at him with mild admonishment in her eyes, but she smiled sweetly and shook her head. “It—it’s just that—”
“Yes, dear,” she nodded knowingly. “You were impatient. But you should go back down now. Company is still here.”
“I can’t. I have to go.”
Her eyes narrowed and she frowned. “Now that’s a foolish thing to say. You’re safe enough here and—”
Heavy footfalls interrupted her and it was too late to do anything. One of the riders strode forward into the hallway with a slight limp. He eyed Garinor and recognized him as the boy who had bitten him the day before. “You!” he growled. He grabbed the woman by her neck and threw her to the floor. “How dare you lie to us about his presence!” Then he pounced.
Garinor jumped back a pace and managed to evade the man’s lunge. He didn’t want to run further back to where the other children were, but he didn’t see what other option he had. He waited until the man tensed and then he dashed away.
The hallway with the younger children was hectic. His quick glance had shown him an organized process for what was taking place, but as he drew closer, he saw that things were in disarray. There were toys scattered all about the floors and children ran about in various games. It was all he could do not to trample an unsuspecting child. He pounced over one spot of clutter then another, all the while pursued by the angry man.
Looking over his shoulder, Garinor could see that the man was not taking care to avoid the children. He merely bowled them over and the sight of it pained Garinor. He had to put a stop to it, but the hallway extended much further. Garinor stopped running and dove to the ground for anything he could use. Aside from stuffed dolls he could throw as a distraction, the only useful thing he found was a thick wooden spool with a string tied about its center.
Garinor looped the string around his finger and unraveled the toy. As the man approached, yelling in rage, Garinor readied himself and then let the toy loose. The man dodged the blow and saw that Garinor was unarmed. But Garinor snapped his wrist and the spool came hurtling back to his hand. He threw it again and caught the assailant in the forehead, stunning him. Garinor bashed him a third time, hard, and the man went down.
Children were screaming all over the place. They were terrified and some were hurt. Being the oldest among them, Garinor was plagued by their pleas for help. They called for the Sisters, and Garinor found himself ushered with the throng of children back the way he had come. The man, lying unconscious on the floor, was trampled by little feet.
Eventually, Garinor was right back where he started at the top of the stairs. Two of the other Sisters had come to tend the third one who had been knocked over by the man. Upon seeing him, the oldest one looked up and said sadly, “Foolish boy. Go back down there and we’ll get you when we’re finished here.” She gestured to the doorway leading into the cellar.
Garinor looked at the fallen lady and he knew that it was his premature appearance that had brought her pain. Glumly, he went back downstairs. It took a short while to calm the other boys there and he took a few more punches for his insolence, but then he sat silently and waited.