Mischief in the Stars

Little Warlock

Eliphas examined the guards carefully, taking in every detail. He watched their every movement: the way they talked, how they held themselves, everything. He fixated on one guard, in particular, the witch with a snarky attitude. Rory rolled her eyes when he whispered that she would be the easiest for Rory to impersonate. The girl had stark black hair, jaggedly cut to her shoulders. She wore the same uniform as the rest of the coven, fitting her comfortably. There were only two guards; they needed to get one of them to go upstairs to get the other guard alone.

Rory waited anxiously for the plan to commence, knowing that as soon as they started, she couldn't back out. They chose Rory for a few reasons, but mainly because she had seen more of this place than the others. Despite her protests, they believe she'd know how to work Caeler. She promptly reminded them that the last time she thought she outsmarted him, he carved into her hand. She knew she learned from that mistake, but the idea of confronting him again still terrified her.

"Wait, are the amicordas still in the village?" Rory murmured to Eira, who nods. She felt terrible that she had forgotten about her loyal vulpide, but with everything going on, she forgot.

"Yeah, when we were being taken away, I saw them in the woods. They seemed to understand not to move from where they were. I'm sure when we get out, they'll help us," Eira explained in a quiet voice.

Eliphas had told her that the glamour wouldn't last forever and wouldn't be quite as strong when she was not as close to him. Rory thought that once she got to Caeler, she wouldn't need the disguise- she hoped so, at least. The problem was that she wasn't sure how long it would take to find him in the castle. When Eliphas turned away from the witch, she knew it was time.

The warlock turned away from the guards, his back to them. He closed his eyes and seemed to do a spell in his head. An explosion could be heard from upstairs, making everyone jolt in surprise. The guards immediately jumped to their feet. "What was that?"

"We need to go check!" the woman shouted demandingly.

"No, I'll go. You stay here with the prisoners," the man told her. Before she could say anything else, he was already running up the stairs. Rory then realized how lucky they were that both of them didn't go upstairs and that the diversion worked. They were also incredibly fortunate that the woman was the one who stayed behind. Eliphas had studied both of them, but Rory could act as the woman the best. Then again, their entire plan revolved around them having dumb luck.

The witch turned to the prisoners, a sneer evident on her face. "What did you do?"

"Not too much... yet," Eliphas grinned before twisting his hand. "Funem! Silentium!" the witch was immediately immobilized, falling to the ground, he placed a silencing spell on her as well. She wiggled around as if bound by an invisible rope. The spell was different from the one used on them all earlier. "Habere..." he continued carefully, pulling his hand towards him. The witch was magically dragged towards him, hitting her head against the cell. "Oh, oops!" he said insincerely. "Lastly... reserare."

The lock to the cell was open, the door swinging out. He pulled the witch in, shutting the cell door quickly. Eliphas didn't undo the body bind as he crouched down above her, grinning widely in pride. "Hello there!"

"What is this, you twat!" she spat at him, grunting against the invisible rope. Eliphas hadn't realized he had lifted the silencing spell, quickly placing it back over her. Her mouth continued to move, but no sound came out.

"Don't ask stupid questions, you know exactly what we're doing," he rolled his eyes before he turned to Rory. "Down here, twinsie."

She obeyed him eagerly, ready to commence the plan. Eliphas held his hand to her face, his other hand hovering over the witch's face. He took a deep breath before the palms of his hands turned a light blue color, glowing slightly.