“Is he looking this way?” I asked my cellmates, Ghala and Barth. They both gawked at the same time. I let out a groan under my breath.

They turned back and the bard said, “He is, but I think he can’t see you very well.”

The river was downhill that the camp was set up at. I grabbed the lock and a spell that would release the tumblr from the pins.

Ghala’s eyes went wide, “SO YOU DID STEAL THE HONEY!”

I glared at Ghala, “Keep. It. Down.”

I turned back and started my chant again, focusing on the lock. As my elven spell started to work, A bright light revealed elven scrawlings on the lock. Then a sting of pain. I shot my finger back, waving it around to cool it down.

“What the hell?”

The bard was still looking down at Ynec, fetching me the water.

“What is going on back there?” He asked through a reassuring smile and wave.

“The lock burned me. It wasn’t supposed to heat up.”

“It’s probably Ibexian. They’re craftsmen that imbue their metal with elven scripture.”

That was why they separated us. “Okay… so they were able to afford a single lock… or they managed to pilfer it off of one of their hunting trips. You know what that means? It means the cage probably isn’t Ibexian.”

I grabbed the iron bars.

Ghala asked, “Can you make the iron bars disappear?”

“I can’t break the rules of reality. I can only bend them.” I held the iron bars instead and started my chant. The bars started to glow red from the heat my palms were emitting.

“Okay,” I whispered to the other two, “Things are about to get wonky. Forget our weapons. Forget the magical instrument. Our best shot is just to dip out. It’s daytime, our jackals are all tired. This is our best shot. Ghala, take your shirt off.”

“Why?”

“Becau-”

“Psssst!” Kaavi cried out to us from the cage, “Are we escaping?” He asked.

“Yeah,” I whispered.

“What’s the plan?” Kaavi inquired.

“Uhh, just get ready.”

Ynec came back with a chalice of water in his hand from the river. I smiled at him, dropping my head as my hands were still on the bars, “I told you I wouldn’t leave this spot.”

It almost looked like Ynec smiled at me. He reached over and held out the chalice of water.

“Bars are red?” He asked.

“I’m so sorry,” I snatched his arm, pulling him forward and throwing him off-kilter. His arms bumped the sides of the jail. As he started to scream from the heat, Ghala understood what the tunic was for. He stuffed Ynec’s mouth with the shirt, stifling the scream.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I said, “But the bars are red because I turned them hot with magic. If you don’t comply, I’m going to have to burn you. Got it?”

He nodded his head.

“Amazing.” I said, “Like I said, I really didn’t want to hurt you. We just need-”

Ynec plucked his spear from his holster and started blindly trying to stab us through the bars. Ghala and I shifted to avoid an attack.

“Yep. That.” He spiked the spear through the bars and I kicked it out of his grip, “Barth! Spear!”

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Barth picked it up, both hands gripping the bottom, making the weapon seem unwieldy in his hands. Ynec had a panicked look. He tried to use his free hand to scratch us but I grabbed that and held it too. I asked, "Do you have the key on you?”

Ynec shook his head no.

“You promise? Ghala!” The boy quickly checked Ynec’s garments as best he could from the elevated position. There was nothing in his jacket except for a rotting fish head.

“Okay. Barth, place the spear in the metal and crank it. It’s probably cooling down rapidly so act quickly.”

Barth placed the spear in between the two hot bars and pulled, so that each bar acted as a fulcrum for the other. Barth could not do it alone. He called out to Ghala to help. With both of them pulling, the bars opened up. Ynec whimpered into the rag, completely at our mercy.

“You’ll be okay,” I said.

He shook his head. Try as I might to soothe him, Ynec was convinced he would not be okay.

Through some more struggling, Barth and Ghala had managed to open up a hole big enough.

“Okay… I still can’t let you go… you’re going to have to be our hostage. Do I have your consent?”

Ynec shook his head ‘no.’

“Sorry.” I replied limply, “That was a dumb question.”

Ghala took the spear and pointed it right at Ynec. “Let me knick him a little for what he’s done.”

“No!” Kaavi and I both yelled. Kaavi and I exchanged glances, then I said, “No, Ghala. If we can get out of this without hurting anyone, we will. Got it?”

Ghala kept his spear pointed at Ynec, the point ever so close to the Chacali’s muzzle.

“Got it?” I demanded.

Without dropping the spear, Ghala reluctantly said, “Got it.”

Barth took over holding Ynec’s arms. Since the heat wasn’t emanating from me anymore, grabbing the bars would have burned me. I had to be more general with my magic. It was simpler to command all the metal around me to cool. It did drain a lot of mana though.

Once that was done, I climbed through the bar first. All the kids in the other cage were watching us, including the duchess and Porta, her handmaiden. I gave Ynec a full pat down. He wasn’t lying. He didn’t have the key.

“No key. He wasn’t bluffing.” I said, “Sorry for doubting you.”

Ynec was still muffled by Ghala’s rag. Ghala crawled out next and we both held one of Ynec’s arms as Barth crawled out last. Ynec had stopped wailing his arms trying to break our grip. He had become pacified.

Once Barth was out, Ghala took over and held the spear.

“Don’t take my sweaty shirt out or I don’t care what Egen says. Got it?”

Ghala rested the point right on Ynec’s back until a drop of blood was drawn. Ynec nodded as I slunk over to the other cage. Everyone inside was eager for freedom as I grabbed the lock. When I started to command it to open, I felt sweat pour down my forehead. The truth was, I had used a lot of magic already. Still, I prayed to Osiris that the lock wasn’t magical and murmured the same spell as before. The lock clicked open. Success.

I gave everyone a ‘shushing’ motion and opened the door. Then, I whispered, “We’re not stopping to get weapons. We’re not getting our instruments. We’re leaving with our limbs and souls intact. We’re going to jump into that river downhill. Everyone got it?”

A concord of head nods from my troupe, the duchess and her handmaiden. I helped Yajaira down. She was still wearing her dress and, although tattered, still made movement difficult. Then I helped Porta and when Kaavi stuck his hand out for help I told him to figure it out. The troupe jumped down and we all approached the water.

“Ynec,” I said “Once we’re in the river… We’ll let you go… but please give us a head start.”

We walked him down to the river with us.

“What if we encounter crocodiles?” Ghala asked.

“I’d rather take the crocodiles to be honest,” I said. If there’s a big group of us, we should be okay though. Let’s create a circle around Yajaira and Porta.”

“And Barth, right?” eked out Barth.

“And Barth.” I amended.

Although they should have been worn from the day in the cage, the boys were all eager to take up the mantle and be paladins again. They got in a circle and walked Yajaira, Porta, and Barth into the water.

I turned to the young Chacali, “I really am sorry, Ynec. But you know what they were planning to do to us.”

I took the rag out of Ynec’s mouth.

“Please. You’ve killed me.”

I stared at him, confused, “You’re free to go, Ynec.”

“I have failed. I have even helped you escape. I’m dead.” He said, his human-like eyes betraying his fear.

“Sounds like you have to come with us,” I said.

Just then, we heard howling from the camp.

“Leave him to die,” Ghala said from the river, “He was going to do the same for us.”

Ynec merely watched as I waded into the river, “Please, Ynec,” I said, “Come with us. You don’t have to stay.”

Ynec didn’t move. He was paralyzed. The Chacali had started running down hill.

All of us moved deep enough that the river started to carry us. We kept up with it, paddling and keeping afloat as the river took us. I kept looking back at Ynec.

“Come with us!” I yelled at him as he got smaller and smaller. He just stood there, looking at us as the rest of his people caught up with him. Including the leader, his father. They could barely see our bobbing heads as we shrunk smaller and smaller down the horizon. I saw them cuff Ynec. He didn’t run.

“He didn’t run!” I yelled, “Why didn’t he run?!” Water sloshed in my mouth so I stopped talking. But my mind raced. Why didn’t he come? We all drifted for a while in silence, swimming with the river. It allowed us some distance. If they were planning on chasing us, they didn’t catch up. After about an hour, Kaavi broke formation and started swimming toward the shore.

“Kaavi!” I screamed, “Where are you going?!”

“Back.”