Linden helped Mavis to his feet, and let his friend lean on him for support. He thought the boy looked shaky and unbalanced, but Mavis insisted on walking for a little bit on his own. With Linden's help they both followed Raven towards the bars where the girl was being held, albeit a little bit slower. "Can you find anything?" Linden asked Raven.
Raven glanced back at Linden, then looked back at the bars "We either remove the pins holding the hinges, or break the lock." she said, motioning to them
Linden motioned towards Terrick. "Try that bar, you might be able to use the leverage to get it off the hinges." Although he didn't voice it, he was concerned that the strength of the metal tube might not be enough to lift the door. The bars were made of solid metal and the tube was hollow, but all they needed was a little bit of leverage...
--
Pike watched with growing discomfort, knowing the bandits were not far behind. While Terrick, Linden and Raven sorted out how to break the girl out, he decided to backtrack a little bit down the tunnel and keep watch. "I'll keep an eye out for any bandits... Raven, do you have any more light stones? Col took mine."
Raven glanced to Pike and frowned slightly before taking her bag off to dig in it again. She pulled out a stone and gave it to him. "I will need to get the other back from that bandit." She said to herself as she looked in her bag again.
Pike nodded in understanding, the light stones must be very valuable to her, he figured. Using the white light from the stone he left the cage positioned himself in the entrance to the tunnel connecting the two areas (the cage and the cave area where they had emerged from the narrow tunnel). In order to conserve the energy in the stone, and make his position less obvious, he tapped the stone twice to shut it off and stood in darkness. His arm still felt tingly and weak, but his ears still seemed to work okay so he relied on them to hear the bandits approaching instead of physically seeing them.
Raven looked back to Terrick, Mavis and Linden, then to the bars and the female inside. She looked to her bag again. Did she dare use the last of the powder? Or let them use that bar?
Terrick nodded, quickly trying Linden's suggestion. "Girl..." in his hurry, it took Terrick a moment to recall the girl's name. "Maple," he said once he remembered, "stand back a little from the bars."
The door of the cell raised up slightly as Terrick used the cot tube as a lever, but he could see the tube starting to bend already.
--
It wasn't long before Pike heard the sounds he'd been listening for. "Through here," came Col's voice along with the noise of multiple sets of footfalls.