Chapter 25: All Part Of The Plan

                                    

                                          
Isla ran as fast as she could towards the palace, not daring to look behind her and distract herself from what was in front of her. Looking only slightly upwards, she could see how close she was getting to the palace.
She was doing pretty good for someone who didn't know her way around an abandoned kingdom. Then again, Uncle Levi's lessons in direction did include finding her way around unfamiliar places. 
She looked at the corner of her eyes and spotted the proximity of the Scaths. It was clear they were fast, they ran only several feet behind her. They were gaining fast. 
Isla closed her eyes for a single moment, and muttered something under her breath in her Sacred Language. With newfound speed and strength to go forward she continued to mumble and mutter so that her strength and speed remained. 
When alas she arrived at the castle, she ran straight inside and looked around for an inkling of the dungeon path whereabouts. Following a voice in her head, and continuing to mutter, Isla managed to find the dungeons. She looked around for a way to hide and settled on an idea. Isla used the rusted orange bars of a cell and propped herself up to jump to the opposite wall somersaulting off the wall and reaching the not lit iron chandelier on the high, 34 foot stone ceiling.
The chandelier was held up by a rusted chain; Isla hoped it would hold her weight until the Scaths passed her by. She mouthed in her Sacred Language and held as strongly as she possibly could to the thin spooled candle holders of the chandelier. 
Isla chuckled at the thought that Liam right about now -if found in the situation- would've seen some sort of bright side like, "At least, if it breaks no one will miss it" or "you could be swinging there over the edge of a cliff." She found herself amused with the idea of his almost hilarious sense of there being good in every situation. 
God, she wished he were here he'd definitely make this circumstance much more appealing or at least just easier to get through! She slightly considered letting everything go and fighting them all off. No one would really miss her if she didn't make it back alive. Almost no one. Some people. 
Liam would miss her, as odd as it felt to think. Little Jonathan would miss her, too. Brooklynn and Leo would.. Somewhat. Taylor and Amari were different situations. They barely knew her, they'd be surprised at the very most. Uncle Levi? Maybe he'd miss her a little bit. Honestly she wasn't very sure about him.
The consideration dissipated as Isla thought more on the idea. She promised Liam she'd come back. He'd be expecting her return, she couldn't abandon him. Not even for the chance to ease their escape. 
Her arms beginning to tire, Isla held on for her life as the Scaths finally managed to catch up with her. They searched around for a single sight but saw nothing. They walked forward, few of them running.
There were probably over a hundred of them now which was 60 more Scaths than had been present when she first convinced them to chase her. 
Isla waited as patiently as possible for the army of Scaths to finally pass her. 
Alas they were gone. 
Isla released the chandelier and flipped to the ground, careful not to let her skirts lift so high to show her under garments. Once her feet touched the stone floor her right ankle took the place of her right foot and it sprained.
Isla nearly tripped but she stood firm, attempting to ignore the throbbing pain in her ankle. "Idiot!" She said quietly to herself. "You just had to sprain yourself!" She silently scolded herself and pushed herself to ignore her pain. 
Just then, A few more Scaths burst from the exiting doors. Isla stumbled to the side of the door, praying hard to not be seen or caught. When they left in the same direction as the others had gone, Isla sighed and wiggled her ankle around to stretch it out and get it used to moving again.