"Is this how you River People always live?" she asked.
With a shrug, I said, "Yes, only with more fishing and fewer people trying to kill us."
Brogg ran down the hallway to see what had happened to Gossel. The pistol in his hand was cocked and ready. Instantly, our eyes locked.
I hesitated. Even if Weevil and I had a chance against him, our fight would alert other wardens to come after us.
But Brogg only nodded, lowered the pistol, and turned to disappear from where he had come.
Weevil was back on his feet in an instant. "Are you and that warden friends now?"
"He shouldn't expect gifts from me anytime soon," I said. "But I don't think we're enemies either. How's Gossel?"
Weevil leaned inside the bin. "Very sleepy," he said. "Also, with that lump on his forehead, I think he'll need a larger hat."
Then Weevil rose up with the warden's keys in his hands, which he tossed to me. "You could've used one of my needles to pick those locks."
"It wouldn't have worked. Anyway, I broke it inside a different lock."
"What lock?"
"I'll explain later, but it was for a good cause. Besides, whatever I did, I think it's worse to climb the tallest tree on the island during a lightning storm."
Weevil grinned. "It's hard to be worse than you at anything, but I think I finally did it!"
Once I finished freeing Jonas from his cell, he clumsily shoved the knife into my hands before running to Della. Then I unlocked one more cell and handed the keys to the man inside. "You must get all the others out," I said. He nodded and continued down the hall where I had left off.
"Let's go," Weevil said.
We started toward the infirmary entrance, but by then, other wardens were aware of our presence. Worse still, thanks to the hole knocked into the west end of the building by the storm, the infirmary was beginning to flood. We'd never pull the door open with so much water in the way.
"Come on," I said, leading everyone with me toward the physician's office. We opened the door to see the floor covered in water, and oddly, fire on the walls and shelves, having spread from what I had started in the pit. It made the room at once both hot and cold. "Watch out for snakes."
"Snakes?" Della asked.
"Snakes and fire," Weevil said admiringly. "You've been busy." He glanced down. "Snakes, Ani--where are your boots? And what happened to your dress?"
Luckily, most of what I'd cut away was an underskirt behind me. But Weevil had noticed, so maybe it was worse than I'd thought.
"Help me brace the door," I said. Though it was heavy, we pushed the examination table in front of the door, and just in time too, for wardens were already on the other side, pounding to come in.
"I see a snake!" Della cried, leaping into Jonas's arms.
"It's dead," I said. "But they might not all be. Let's go."
I pointed to the door at the far end of the room. The wooden shelves on either end were almost entirely consumed in flame, and the door itself had blackened from the smoke and heat.
"Nothing will be out that door," Della said. "Just the pole fence behind the infirmary."
"But I've got a plan." I turned to Weevil, realizing he had just said the very same thing. What was his plan? Mine would work, but his were usually better. In fact, knowing the absolute foolishness of my plan, I could guarantee that this time, we should follow his idea.
"Can we discuss this after we're away from the snakes?" Jonas asked.
"We're all wet," Della said. "If we keep our heads down and run, the fire won't bother us."
Weevil went first, using what remained of his shirt to open the hot door. Jonas ran with Della next. I followed, but not before looking back one last time to be sure nothing still remained alive in this foul room.
Maybe that didn't matter. According to Gossel, Doctor Cresh had other Dulanian vipers back in his office on Keldan.