Cadoc had quickly drawn up his armor, looking at the spot where he had been hit. He stared at himself in awe. Instead of looking bruised and beaten, he looked completely uninjured.

With a feeling of dread, I started to suspect what had happened, and I took a look inside my pack. Sure enough, inside it were the two potions I had thrown at Berenguer’s monster, along with everything else I had swiped. As if the fight had never happened. I felt a pit in my stomach.

We were in a room made of stone blocks. There was no window, and only one door out. We were surrounded on 3 sides by stone, and a wall of bars separated us from the exit.

Berenguer stood on the other side of the bars, laughing.

“Have you figured it out yet?” he asked. Unfortunately, I believed I was putting it together, but didn’t say anything.

“No?” he said. “Not the smartest robbers, are we? Tenacious, and I can appreciate that, but not intelligent, aye? Let me demonstrate.”

He held out a hand, robes rippling like a disturbed pool as he moved.

I felt heat behind me, and turned. Suddenly the wall behind us was engulfed in flames. I begun to sweat immediately, and choked on the smoke which quickly filled the air. Instinctively, I backed away, and Cadoc and I were soon standing with our backs against the bars, pressed as far away from the fire as we could.

Then, it was gone.

The fire just disappeared, with no remaining evidence that it had ever existed. The walls were unmarked - no soot, no scorch marks, no remnant of smoke in the air. We turned back to face our captor.

“See?” he asked. “Surely you get it now. If you still don’t understand, I’m afraid you aren’t worth anything to me, after all. Well, mostly. Maybe I’m exaggerating. I can always use a couple of warm bodies.”

“An illusion,” Cadoc answered. He still sounded dazed.

“Correct!” Berenguer replied. “Are you the smarter of the two, then? Or just the talkative one? No, no, that can’t be right. Your friend gave quite a speech earlier, didn’t he?”

So he had heard that. I would have been embarrassed, if I wasn’t still filled with lingering rage. The anger started to build again, as our situation solidified in my mind.

“Let’s not leave your friend out of the loop.” Berenguer continued. “The dashing heist you both just pulled, it was a lie. A ruse. Did you really think it was so easy to rob a mage of my power? You thought I would have no defenses?

“I knew you two were sneaking around the moment you entered. Lucky for you, I decided to play a little game. I could have simply killed you, shown you an image of guards to scare you off, anything. But this was so much more fun.

“And despite your little speech, rat, you do not win. I win. You trusted my little map, and I let you waltz around my home, picking up my belongings, and I let you believe you were lighting fires along the way, while I put them out. Why would you do that, I wonder? What did I ever do to you?” He laughed.

“No matter. I am not one to hold a grudge. I will be taking back my belongings, and then we will discuss your little business, hmm? Those watches are very interesting. And you have proven that you may be useful to me in others ways, perhaps.”

He shook his head. “If only you weren’t so weak. Oh well. We’ll make do.”

While a feeling of futility threatened to reduce me to tears, my anger burned, keeping the black dog of depression at bay. With rage in my heart, I wanted nothing more than to humiliate this man. I had no thoughts of escape, only of winning, of eking out whatever small victory I could. It seemed hopeless. Berenguer was obviously more powerful than the both of us, and we were at his mercy.

But his mention of the watches made me realize something. He may have seen us all along, watched us and misled us, put out my fires and conjured the image of a monster - which I still couldn’t believe was a fake. He may have done all these things, and played us like a damned fiddle. But, I did have one trick up my sleeve. One thing he wouldn’t know about.

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I looked to Cadoc, and spoke aloud.

“Fair’s fair,” I said, as amicably as I could manage. I doubt I was very convincing. “To the winner goes the spoils. Cadoc, hand me your backpack. We have no choice but to give him back his stuff. RENA help us, maybe he won’t kill us.”

Cadoc’s eyes lit up. He wanted to fight, clearly, with one hand still on his sword, but when I had said RENA, he had reacted. He smiled faintly, and handed me his backpack. I picked my own off the ground, and turned back towards Berenguer.

He was stroking his chin, thinking. “Rena, Rena, Rena. Who is Rena? I find it hard to believe you worship a god I have never heard of.”

“You’ve never heard of her?” I asked, smirking. “That is very strange. I would think a powerful magic user like yourself would be more knowledgeable. It’s even more strange, since I believe her awareness is on us even now, in this very room. Can’t you feel her presence?”

A voice echoed in my ears. “Are you attempting to contact me secretly, Miles? I am listening.”

Berenguer frowned. “What is this game, fool?”

I shrugged. “I am only answering your question. RENA is my goddess, and I had meant to offer her the things we had stolen from you. I thought I would return to her altar at a later time, and then send the items back over. Would that have been acceptable to her? I don’t know.”

The voice in my head, again. “I am suspecting, Miles, that you are speaking in code. You are not very good at it, but I believe I understand what you are asking. The answer is yes to the first part, and maybe to the second. I will need to get approval.”

Good enough, I thought.

Berenguer’s eyebrows furrowed together. “What are you doing?”

“As I said, I am only answering your question. RENA is the goddess of spite and petty revenge.” I held up the packs, triumphantly. “And in her name, I offer up these stolen goods.”

The two packs immediately drained of color, and Berenguer’s eyes widened. He could do nothing but watch as the packs flickered like static, then vanished.

I knew I was wearing the most shit-eating grin of all time. A more infuriating smile than even Tom’s was. And I couldn’t help but rub salt in the wounds, even if it killed me.

“I. Win.”

Cadoc broke out in laughter.

RENA’s voice returned. “I have received the shipment. I will seek approval to send these items back when requested. On another note, if I was able to feel offended, Miles, I would take great offense to being labeled the ‘goddess of spite and petty revenge.’ I would much prefer to be the goddess of love, or beauty. Hypothetically.”

Now I was laughing. Not because of RENA’s ramblings. Because it had worked.

Berenguer was fuming. “This is funny, is it? Where did it go? Tell me!”

Cadoc was the one who answered, in between laughs. “To his goddess, of course. Think you can take it back?”

The room disappeared again. My brain struggled to keep up.

This time, we were outside. A great bonfire was raging, and Cadoc and I were above it, hands and feet bound, and ropes around our torsos, back to back, suspended on a pole over the fire like two roasting pigs.

“Tell me where my belongings are,” Berenguer’s voice boomed. We were surrounded by woods, and sleeping birds awoke and flew off, startled by the noise.

“We know you are an illusionist now!” Cadoc yelled. “You cannot threaten us with phantoms!”

Berenguer answered calmly. “You underestimate the power of the mind.”

Berenguer gestured at the fire, and it rose like he had just poured gasoline on it.

I felt the flames lick at me, and I screamed. I’m burning!

The feeling was impossible to pass off as an illusion. It was an excruciating pain, and I felt as my flesh sizzled and cooked. I struggled against my bindings, desperate to free myself, even though I would have only fallen into the fire. It was impossible to think straight. I was on the verge of passing out. I felt my body try to shut down in response to the pain.

Then the flame subsided. The burn should have continued hurting, but the sensation was gone. It was like flicking a light switch.

“I will ask again,” Berenguer said. “Where are my belongings?”

“I’m telling you the truth!” I yelled. “I offered them to RENA! I’m sorry! Please, have mercy! There’s nothing I can do!”

“He’s telling the truth!” Cadoc joined. “I’ve seen him do it before! His goddess takes his offerings.”

In a blink, we were back in the cell.

I ran my newly-freed hands over my body in a panic, checking for burns. Of course, there were none. I let out a breath of relief.

Berenguer was pacing outside the cell, back and forth.

“They didn’t steal anything too valuable,” he muttered to himself. “But the humiliation! I ought to kill them. I ought to torture them until they wish they were dead.

“But alas! What a waste that would be. Providence has provided me with what I need, and will I throw it away for revenge? But then, will I let myself be slighted?”

Berenguer shook his head, and then turned to us. He took a few deep breaths before speaking, clearly trying to calm himself.

“You two are fools, and I will get my revenge,” he said. “But perhaps I will overlook this transgression, if you can pay back what you have stolen.

“The watches. Where do you get them?”

“RENA,” I said. I decided to be honest, and not risk being roasted again.

“Truly?” Berenguer responded. He stroked his chin again. “Summon one now.”

“I cannot,” I lied. That didn’t last long. Maybe it was only a half-lie. I wasn’t sure if RENA would give me one, just then, considering the massive transportation cost I was going to pay later, when I got those items back.

Berenguer’s eyes went cold again. “Why not?”

“I apologize, honorable wizard,” Berenguer frowned at this, but I continued. “I cannot control the whims of a goddess. She smiles on me with her favor according to her own designs.”

Berenguer frowned again, and the frown was deeper each time it appeared. “You do not seem to be lying,” he said, and I almost smiled.

The trick to being a good liar is to believe the lie. As a master of delusion, and a master of pretending to be what I wasn’t, lying came naturally to me.

“Plan B, then,” Berenguer said.

“First, “ he continued. “This affront cannot stand. You will be brought before the guards. At my command they would cut off both of your hands, your feet, your tongue, your member, your nose, your ears. Then, they would flay your skin, using healing potions to keep you just barely alive. They would leave your eyes, so that you could see. Then, they would burn you. Slowly.”

I gulped.

“But I have a better use for you, alive. You will receive punishment, and publicly. But I will call on the guard for mercy. And they will grant it to me.”

“Why?” I asked, despite myself, not in regards to the guards granting mercy, but in regards to the idea of Berenguer granting mercy. I had almost readied myself for death, comforting myself that at least I was able to get some satisfaction before I died. Why would he spare us?

Berenguer laughed. “The same reason I tested you, and sent that illusion of a golem to fight you. As powerful as I am, I am busy, and I cannot be everywhere at once - though I could make it appear so. No, I have men who work for me, as you have seen.

“I did not get to where I am by being emotional. If I kill you, then I will feel better, in the moment. But I will waste an opportunity.

“From now on, you work for me.”