Feathers & a Dash of Magic

Chapter 44: Are Those that Bloom in Revenge Part 2

CW: cages, kidnapping, death, implied battle, blood, grief

"So what do you say?" the gorgon asked.

"Would love to do that but..." Remus held up his arms, making the chain clink together.

The gorgon hummed in thought. "Yesss... these cuffs are quite annoying, I can feel them draining my energy." He shifted till he could move his arms under his legs and in front of him, lifting the chains up to his head where the other snakes inspected them. "Do what you can."

"What can your snakes do? There's no way they can bite through."

The gorgon remained silent as the snakes bit and tugged at the lock. There were several clicks until finally the cuffs were pulled off. "They don't need to bite through when the locks are quite simple. Sad really."

"Nice, like your own living lock picking set," Remus whispered in admiration.

"They can only pick simple locks. But luckily their teeth are indestructible, so I don't need to worry about it chipping. Or keeping up their dental, do you know how hard it would be to care for sixteen one sets of teeth?"

"I really like you."

"The feeling is most certainly not mutual."

"That just makes me like you more."

Although the gorgon couldn't see him, he made a face of disgust and rolled his eyes. "Let's just get out of here while they're sleeping."

"Are we gonna release the others?" Remus asked, looking over to the rest of the caged creatures.

The snakes on the gorgon's head licked the air before the gorgon sighed. "I suppose, they could at the very least create a distraction should it not be possible to sneak out."

Remus looked around and spotted something on an empty cage. Oho... these hunters were so dumb. "They left the set of keys in here. It's like they're begging for us to escape!"

"Can you reach them?"

"Nope, they're out of reach. But if one of us can get out then they can free the others."

"Right. Uh... can you see the lock on my cage?"

"Oh, hold on." Remus crawled to the side of his cage. "Hey, little phoenix dude." The bird looked up at him with a soft and sad trilling. "I know you're tired, but if you can make your flame just a little brighter, then we can help you out. How does that sound?"

The phoenix trilled in joy before curling up. Their flame burned brighter and illuminated the room.

"Good job, just like that," Remus whispered in encouragement. He turned to the gorgon. "Can you see now?"

"Yes, that's perfect." The gorgon moved closer to the lock and the snakes on his head knew what to do immediately. They searched the lock before one took charge and opened its mouth, sticking it's fang in the keyhole and searching around.

Several minutes went by as there were slow clicks, and the snake clearly struggled before the lock came undone. The gorgon sighed when he opened the cage slowly, the snake retreating back. He gave the snake a soft pet before crawling out.

"Keys are over there," Remus told him, pointing to where they were at.

The gorgon slowly made his way over, holding his hands out as he moved further from the light. He slowly picked up the ring key and made his way back. He squatted in front of Remus's cage and tried several different keys. As he went to work, the snakes slithered through the bars and looked at Remus in curiosity. The witch waved at them with a smile before hearing a click.