+++Donovan's Perspective+++

It shouldn't have been possible.

The Dale convoy had an anti-magic barrier deployed from the moment we stepped into the Talisbane Theocracy; it should have obstructed any mana-based spells from hitting the caravan that was Lord class or lower.

Any instant teleportation-based spell currently known is at least Royal class and the mage guard would have detected such massive mana usage from a mile away.

And yet Rafine and the two children were nowhere to be found.

"Lord Derick, you've double checked the mana stone, correct? The barrier has not been tampered with?"

We had halted the convoy barely outside the Runewoods in order to take full grasp of the situation, Lord Derick had called for a meeting in his tent and most of my party were in attendence.

"I oversaw the mages during the inspections and even fired a few spells into the barrier myself. It holds." A dark grimace held on his face as he responded.

"Nya. The coachman isn't talking either nya. Says he's innocent nya." Prisilla walked over to the meeting, gloves still stained red.

I would have normally chastised her appearance, but now is not the time.

"What about our tracking tags Swift?"

"No good," he shakes his head. "Isn't working for some reason. Probably something to do with those weird symbols on the trees."

"I thought you said those were infallible nya." Prisilla commented.

"Tch. They should be."

We stood in silence for a moment before Sylvestra spoke.

"I knew this was a bad idea." I could see her gripping her hands violently, "We should have never agreed to get involved with the nobility."

"Sylvie..." Prisilla patted her back to calm her down, but to no avail.

"You must be overjoyed Lord Derick. To have hired an adventuring party that just so happened to have children in tow. And to just so happened to give them permission to ride in Caspian's carriage. How lucky of you." Sylvestra spat out.

"Sylvestra that's enough!" I stepped in to stop her.

I can sympathize with her but to accuse our employer during a job is tantamount to suicide.

"How dare you! The Lord Derick has been gracious enough to bless your party with a ludicrously profitable contract and you spit in his face like this? In the face of his selfless diplomatic mission?" I turned to look at the bearer of those words, it was one of Lord Derick's advisors, I believe his last name was Ramwell.

I can't say I held him in high regard, especially after that comment. I noticed Prisilla's ears flatten and even Swift gave that scowl he usually reserved for nasty ale.

"Mr. Ramwell, you'd do well to watch your words in front of them. It is one thing to fight in an escort contract, it's another thing entirely to lose your children to it." Lord Derick rebuked coldly. "Organize the knights and have the mages look for any traces of them. We will delay the march tomorrow."

"But sir, the diplomatic mission is already running beh-"

"You mention that diplomatic mission one more time and I will part your head from your shoulders." Prisilla was barely holding back Sylvestra from gutting the guy.

"Mr. Ramwell, this is your last warning." Lord Derick gave him an icy stare.

"Yes sir, I'll get right to it." He said as he left.

+++Rafine's Perspective+++

I awoke to pain.

Dull, heavy pain that filled my senses whenever I took a breath. Whether it was from my wounded pride, my cracked ribs, or my destroyed memento of my sister I didn't know.

I waited and waited but it didn't go away.

"Dammit!" I looked towards the direction of the voice, barely able to see out of one eye. There stood Alfon, keeling over in a pool of ice shards, blood, and vomit close to the door of our cell. His arms were lined with a red hue and the skin had peeled clean off of some parts and blood had begun to leak from his open wounds. This was a dangerous state to be in, so much so that it is surprising that he still stood.

".... kill.... going to kill them.... will skin them.... their guts and.... a metal spike..." Concerning muttering came from my left. Nina was softly hugging me while biting her nails, an ineffable smile upon her face. She appears to be worried about Alfon... I hope.

"A-Alfy. Stop." I coughed out. The sight of the children had shaken me from my stupor. I must exhibit the strength and pride befitting their teacher.

I must bring these children home.

"Rafine, you awake!" Nina cried out.

"Master Rafine you'r-" Alfon's attempt to greet me was cut short when he vomited on the floor.

"Sorry," he began again after he recovered. "Nina has some food they gave us this morning, you should have some."

"Alfy, what did I tell you about using spells excessively." I was angry, angry at my incompetence that had led him to this state.

"I know master," he clutched his wand and stood, his knees barely holding his weight, "but I need just a little more."

"Stop. That's an order. You will permanently damage your mana circuits. I can't watch you destroy your future like this, you have a bright career of magic ahead of you."

"It's fine, Nina said she can use recovery spells so I-"

"WHAT?" I spun my face towards Nina, "Nina, please tell me you haven't used any of those."

She shook her head rapidly.

"Alfon, listen to me well, using a recovery spell without a potion is suicide. Recovery spells are not miracles, the spell takes the needed elements from your body in order to heal the injury. Recovery potions are specially designed to substitute these elements; using recovery spells without them can easily kill you."

He nodded.

My chest screamed at me to stop talking, but I continued: "Nina please do not cast any recovery spells, not even as a last resort. Alfy will be dead before the spell finishes taking effect."

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She nodded.

I started coughing and midway through I started laughing a little as well.

I was certainly in no place to lecture them, but what matters is getting them out of here alive.

At all costs.

+++Alfon's Perspective+++

It had been half a day since Master Rafine woke up.

I had spent the night casting icicle spear over and over again in attempts to break the barrier, but I had only a mana-shot arm and nausea to show for it. The red veins and open flesh on my arm still racked my senses in agony. Master Rafine says it would take at least a week to recover.

Not my smartest move, I must admit.

On the bright side Master Rafine had concocted up a plan and told us to get some rest in the meantime, so I took the opportunity to take a nap. By the time I had awaken it was getting dark again, but feeling had returned to my arms. I could move them somewhat now.

I learned that Master Rafine had been attempting to construct a specific magic sigil during the day, but since we did not have ink....

She was doing it in her own blood.

I freaked out when I discovered this, but Nina calmed me down.

"Alright, its done." Rafine handed me a torn piece of her robe, a carefully painted sigil of blood was inscribed upon it, "You know what to do right Alfy?"

I nodded my head.

She had, through trial and error, constructed two separate sigils so we could perform our breakout plan. The larger one was drawn on the ground and disabled the barrier while maintaining the manaflow so we wouldn't be discovered.

The other one was an activation sigil. I don't know the details on it, but I was supposed to just stick it on her staff, which, according to what she saw last night, was located two floors above us.

She has also given me a few tiny spell cards she kept sewn between her robes.

"Listen Alfy, the transmutation spells imprinted upon them are extremely delicate. You mustn't move too much when you activate them." she tutored me.

Rafine initially wanted to go herself, but I convinced her otherwise when I pointed out that she couldn't even stand.

Since Master Rafine couldn't use mana in her shackles and I was forbidden from using spells, Nina had to pump mana into the sigil on the floor until I returned.

The reason being that Master Rafine wasn't especially knowledgeable about sigils so the one she crafted was a sort of brute force key to the barrier and the detection magic that accompanied it.

One use only.

Depending on Nina's mana pool I had between two to thirty minutes before someone notices.

I sincerely hope it was closer to the latter.

"I... I apologize for putting such a heavy burden on you Alfy." Rafine looked upon me with sorrow, "If you had a stronger master... If I wasn't such a fool...."

There were a million things I wanted to say in response to that, but I had neither the vocabulary nor the time to say it to her.

So, I took a page from Nina's book and just smiled.

"I'm off Master Rafine."

"Good luck young Alfon. May the World Weaver guide your path." She signaled to Nina and the ground beneath us glowed a soft red. I unlocked the cell with a conjured earth key Nina crafted under Rafine's instruction and took a careful glance down the hallway before I tiptoed upstairs.

+++Clair's Perspective+++

"Honestly, that rune mage is a piece of work." Clair poured her frustrations against the doll propped up on the side of the cave, "Seriously, what is with his 'holier than thou' attitude. He acts like kidnapping children is something to be proud of."

The doll said nothing, it simply stared back at her.

"Still, those weird tricks of his are the real deal, best not to get on his bad side. Getting the wrong targets will really tick him off, I hope he gets angry enough to off Orily. Wouldn't that just be ideal?"

The doll again said nothing.

"I feel bad for the kids though, I'm sure they're hungry. Oh well, they won't live much longer to suffer anyway." Clair stepped forward and lifted the doll with two hands. "Once we finish the mission, Orily says he'll let us take a holiday. It'll be you, me, and brother; where do you want to go?"

The doll, again said nothing, for it could not speak. However, something did answer Clair: a soft ringing in her left ear.

"Hm, someone left the dungeon. What a surprise, the mage said his barrier was foolproof." A grin spread across her face, "bested by a crippled guard. What a joke."

Clair donned her black hood and took off down the hallways. It was a short distance from her temporary quarters to the entrance to the dungeon, though what she saw when she arrived surprised her.

"Ha? That's the kid. What the hell is wrong with his arms, they look like they're going to fall off."

The child before her was creeping slowly across the rocky ground trying to stay silent. There was a faint shimmer of something covering him, Clair figured it was some sort of transmutation spell.

Not like it mattered to her. Her eyes were special.

"Looks like the kid hasn't noticed me yet. Let's have a bit of fun."

She shrouded herself in darkness and attached herself to the roof of the cavern, making no sound as she did so, observing the child's actions with interest.

A young boy, crawling on the ground and the silent observer directly above him.

Clair would occasionally knock some rocks off the ceiling and a few even hit their target, but the child did not cry in pain, much to her surprise.

"The kid's got grit, so young too. Looks like he's headed to the exit. Trying to make it out alive, is he? Oh well it was fun while it lasted."

But just when she was about to reveal herself, the child turned left and went up to the second floor.

"Just where is he going?" Clair thought about just hopping down and asking him, but that would ruin her fun. "Oh well, let's just try to make him talk."

Another kick, and a chunk of rock fell down, this time striking the boy directly on the arm.

The movements of the child stopped, but still, he did not utter a word. He looked up, eyes watering, but just like the previous times, he could see nothing.

"I'm starting to think something is wrong with this kid."

The boy turned left into the storage room, and suddenly Clair realized.

"Oh? He's got some sort of item up his sleeve then, but what exactly? We triple checked their belongings; nothing is infused with enough mana to cause an issue besides the staff.... wait...."

Clair hopped down as the child crawled into the room. Even with the darkness, she could see him clear as day.

"Okay." She said, this time removing the shroud around her, "That's far enough."

The child jumped to his feet, but before he had time to react, she grabbed his right arm and twisted it hard enough to break it.

"You were quite interesting, but let's get you back to where you belong okay?"

She expected no resistance. After all, kids cry when in pain and follow the words of the adults. She's dealt with plenty of children before, back in the village.

But this child was unusual, so maybe she should have expected him to bite down on her fingers like a wolf.

"OW! You little!" She let go and he bolted. "Just my luck."

She positioned to chased but stepped on unstable footing and tripped herself.

"What in the Savior's name?" She rubbed her bruised elbows; the cavern floor was quite rough.

She grabbed the strange object and threw it to the side, "Who left a freaking paint brush lying on the floor? Which idiot even owns a paint brush?"

She placed both feet in position and shot after him. She was right, he was after the staff. It lay at the far corner of the room, wrapped in dirty white cloth.

The boy was almost there, but her speed was superhuman.

"You're going to pay for that you know?" She caught him right before he could grab it and held him up firmly this time. "Didn't your parents teach you to behave? Do we need to kill them too?"

".... go..." the kid was mumbling something.

"Speak up."

"Let me go."

Clair sighed.

"Listen buddy. I don't feel too good about this either so how about I cut you a deal. I'll let you run home scot-free, if you tell me the name of your parents and where they are hm? I don't really want to do this either and you've been quite interesting so how's that?"

She could watch the rune mage squirm in frustration and get some ransom money on top of it. Quite a deal.

The kid contemplated in silence.

"Will... will you let Rafine and Nina go as well?" He asked softly.

For someone this young he was quite articulate, Clair thought.

"Who? Oh, your friends. Uh, listen that's going to be a tad too suspicious. Especially since the bodyguard can't even walk."

The boy did not respond.

"Hey, the deal's expiring soon, you are taking it or what?" she was getting bored of holding his arm up, and Orily and the others were scheduled to return any minute now.

"Give me a moment."

"A moment? Listen kid, how about I cut off a finger for every minute you keep me wai-"

But something drew her attention right then, a soft red glow behind the child.

Her eyes told her that this crimson hue was dangerous.

She threw the boy aside and spotted a ruby sigil upon the white cloth. She tore it off as fast as she could, but the glow did not stop. She tore apart the cloth and laid her eyes upon the staff.

Firey red lines emerged upon the wooden rod, sending the scent of burnt wood down her nostrils. The center jewel glowed a deep crimson, an explosion was imminent.

"You.... what did you do?"

The boy said nothing, but just coughed out a laugh.

She bolted from the room as fast as she could.

...

BOOM.

A pillar of flame burst from the cavern and lit up the night sky.

+++Alfon's Perspective+++

...

My arm must have been broken in multiple places and my knees and elbows were bleeding from crawling around on that rocky floor.

But the pain pales in comparison to the joy I was feeling.

There she was, floating amidst the pillar of flame.

In all her glory.

Horns of red and eyes of gold.

The A ranked adventurer.

My angel of flames.

Rafine Veritus Hagglethorn, the Royal Fire Mage.