The Fallen World

Escape - Part 2

     They emptied a few bottles of perfume, washed them out and filled them with water, just in case they did make it into the caverns and had to survive on their own for a while. They also took knives from their last dinner tray. Uselessly blunt as weapons in their present condition but perhaps they could be sharpened. Thomas was alarmed to find that the material components for his spells were getting rather low. He only had enough sand left for two or three more sleep spells and he had no idea where to get more in a moon. Maybe a bit of powdered stone would do as well, he thought.

     Of course, the real purpose of the sand was to act as a prop for his mind, he knew. Having to hunt for the sand, or whatever material component a particular spell required, helped fool his mind into thinking that the spell would work, which made it more likely that it actually would work. With time and growing confidence, some wizards reached the point where they could cast the spell without these material props, but Thomas knew that he was a long way from reaching that level of mastery in The Art. Fortunately, most of his other spells didn’t need any material components, requiring only magic words and hand movements, and so presented no problem in this regard.

     He then looked at the clothes hanging in the wardrobe and thought of the filthy rags Shaun and Matthew had been given to wear. He picked out a couple of outfits, thinking that the woodsmen might welcome the chance to change into something clean, but they were too bulky for the wizards to carry around without being noticed and arousing suspicion. The only items of clothing that could be scrunched up small enough to be hidden amongst their own clothing were the silken bathrobes. They weren’t much, but they were better than going around naked, which he suspected the soldiers would rather do than go on wearing those rags for much longer. He picked two of them out, therefore, carefully folded one of them up and tucked it inside his shirt and gave the other to Jerry who did the same. When they examined themselves in the mirror, the bulges they made were barely noticeable.

     They spent one last couple of minutes looking around the room, to make sure there was absolutely nothing else small enough to fit into a pocket that might come in useful, and then they left, hurrying towards the stairwell down to the dungeons. They’d decided to do phase two before phase one, as Diana couldn’t bear the thought of her brothers being locked away in those damp, vermin infested dungeons a second longer than necessary. They would still have to remain in the dungeons while they performed phase one, but at least they wouldn’t be locked up any more and the dungeons were as good a place as any to find a guard to enchant.

     They were stopped by the first pair of guards they met, who told them that it wasn’t visiting time, but Diana lied outrageously for once in her life and told them they had special permission from Lord Basil. The guards looked doubtful, but they weren’t going to risk angering their Lord and master, and if the Tharians were lying, they would be punished later. After all, they weren’t going anywhere, were they? They stepped aside, therefore, and allowed the Tharians to pass.

     They hurried down the damp and slimy steps to the dungeons, and when they reached the bottom they looked into the mostly empty cells as they passed them by, all of them thinking the same thing. Even Lirenna gave a soft sob of anguish, echoing loudly in the silence of the dungeons, and Thomas knew that, if she hadn’t known the truth before, she’d just figured it out. His heart went out to her, but there wasn’t time to stop and comfort her now.

     A minute later they reached Shaun and Matthew’s cells and were stopped by another pair of guards of the nasty variety that weren’t allowed in the mansion above.

     “Well, well, well,” said the first, drawing his sword and advancing menacingly. “You’re not supposed to be down here at this time of day. His Lordship’ll have to hear about this, and then we’ll see what kind of punishment he has in mind for your friends here.” The other guard laughed, fingering the knife on his belt in anticipation.