One sunny day, Mouse had had enough. The Dungeons of Aquila only meant death. He was only a pick pocket trying to survive and that was his only sin. Hunter, affectionately named Mouse, knew he had to try and get free. He was slight of stature and being in the dungeons had helped him to lose even more weight that he didn’t really need to lose, but it helped with his plan. He was desperate. He knew his number was coming up. Death was his lot. So this morning, he decided was his only chance at freedom.

Opening the drain in his cell, he crawled down the narrow passageway to the sewers, pulling the drain cover back in place as he went. As he crawled his way to freedom he chanted over and over again, “Nothing is impossible, nothing is impossible, dig Mouse dig,” Grateful for his agility and ability to contort his small masculine body, he pushed and dug his way down. He left his crazy cellmate behind to tell the tale in rhyme only to be rewarded with being hanged for telling the truth. Many prisoners became crazy in the dungeons if they weren’t already. Mouse slowly made his way down the muddy pathway, digging his way to safety and out of his captivity. Because of his pain, he went down the drain. First a hand made it through, and then he pushed more mud clumps out of his way so that he could pull his body up and out. The narrow passageway reminded him of escaping his mother’s womb, it was so tight. What a memory and a recreation of that event as he pulled his way out of the entrapment. If this went well and he escaped he would be forever known as “The Mouse that escaped, the only person ever to escape in the history of the Dungeons of Aquila.” Actually, he is anyway because even if he did get caught, the tale would be told how ‘The Mouse” slithered out and escaped the dungeons. He was the first and he smiled at that thought.

It took a long time but suddenly he was free only to find himself falling into the waters below as the Bishop of Aquila was presiding over mass. Gregorian chants were being sung. As Hunter Montgomery gripped onto a ledge he prayed or more accurately tried to bargain with his Lord that if that thing he saw in the water may not be what he thought it was or that it would pass him, Hunter promised not to pick pocket again. How could he show his good faith if the creature ate him. However scared he was of being caught, this was scarier to him until he looked again as it grew near and realized that it was the dead skeleton head of an animal and definitely not alive. He sighed a sigh of relief and then started to climb up to a grate in the sanctuary.

Making it all the way up, his fingers gripped the grate hoping to push it away so he could get up and away but a little girl spotted him and squatted by the grate. “What are you doing?” She asked.

“Go away, go away! He exasperatedly hissed. The young girl’s mother pulled her away from the grate. She was to pay attention to the service and not the grate.

The bells were ringing of the escape. A lone man draped in a black hooded cape upon his horse with his hawk listened to the bells tolling knowing that something unique had happened and he sat up straight contemplating what it meant. Could it possibly be that someone had escaped the dungeons? He had been away from Aquila for a long time but he was being drawn to it now. A part of him, not yet knowing why he was taking this chance coming back after all this time, looked at the building in the distance and wondered if the curse could ever be broken? His hazel eyes showed a deep sadness and a longing for what his life once was. His chestnut hair glistened in the sunlight.

Some of the bishop’s guards came in with news and one of them walked over to the grate that Mouse was trying to move and stepped on Mouse’s hand. He couldn’t help but lose his grip and fall back into the water uttering a scream of pain as he unwillingly let go. This time he took a deep breath and started swimming his head under the water down he went until he reached a vertical grate or gate that had a part twisted away. He slipped through the open end and gratefully finally was able to take a breath outside of the dungeon.

At the same time, the guards stormed out on their quest to find Mouse and return him to the dungeon for a hanging. Marquee took on full responsibility just before as he told the evil Bishop of Aquila of the great escape. The bishop had said “No one has ever escaped the dungeons of Aquila. The people accept it as an historical fact. You will find him and bring him back. No one must escape. No one.”

“It would be a miracle if he could get through the sewer system.”

“I believe in miracles. It’s my job.”

“He is only a petty thief.”

“True. A raging storm starts with only a gentle breeze. A small spark can start the fires of rebellion.”

Marquee bends down and kisses the bishop’s ring as he departs.

Gathering his guards he warns them that anyone who let’s Hunter Montgomery escape his body will be brought to the bishop and whoever catches him will be brought to the bishop’s attention.

As the guards gallop on over the drawbridge in search of Hunter, Hunter pops up by the river bank where two guards are sitting on a ledge eating oblivious to everything around them. So adept at thievery, he removes a pouch of money from one of them and then swims away until he can get on land. As he leaves the river bank with his prize he talks to his Lord, “Lord, I know I promised but you know I am a weak soul.” In his wet clothes he travels barefoot and as he travels from a nice sunshiny day with grass under his feet, he is then seen shivering from the cold and snow under his feet. His chattering lips speaking out. “A little cabbage soup would be great right about now. Only 350 miles to go. Just 350 miles.” He says as he holds his clothes close to him. He hears a wolf in the distance and shutters from the fear he is experiencing. “Lord, please no wolves.” He says pleadingly. He is traveling through the woods. He is safe in the woods. Unfortunately, he doesn’t stay there and as he walks he comes by a family’s laundry drying outside and he grabs clean warm dry clothes and stuffs them inside of his shirt making him look a little pregnant and as he walks further down the line, he spots a pair of boots and swipes them but not before telling two girls to look away so that he can take them. “You’re taking my daddy’s boots.” One says.

“Right, you are.” Hunter walks away and is grateful that there is no more snow. At a safe distance from the theft, he changes into the clean clothes and boots quickly and then continues toward the next town. The grass under his feet is a brownish yellow. A man with a black cape on a horse stands by in the distance watching this small man heading toward an inn wondering if he does have the answer to his needs. Does he know how to get into the dungeons of Aquila and to the Bishop of Aquila? The man in black is wistful that someday he and his love will no longer live a life like they do never being able to touch in human form. Yet, he holds no hope. The only hope being to get the bishop to rescind the curse.