Magnus, feeling very foolish, swore quite a bit to himself before he noticed he wasn't alone in the room. Sitting on the floor in the corner was an elderly woman. She had wrapped her arms around herself and was sitting hunched over, her head bowed.

"I apologise for my manners," Magnus said. The woman did not look up. Magnus sighed, and went to sit in the opposite corner. If the townsfolk knew how to nullify magic in a room, he was worried they would do the same when they took him out of it. If they really were going to take him away to trial, and not just let him rot in this barren cell.

He might have squandered his last chance to escape. Maybe he should have fought his way out after all.

After a while, Magnus's brooding was interrupted by the elderly woman starting to mutter to herself. It made a faint buzzing echo in Magnus's head as whatever she was saying bounced off the walls.

"There's no use praying in here," Magnus said. "Prayer isn't quite the same as magic, but it uses similar frequencies, and they'll all be dampened in here."

The woman sighed, but at least stopped the annoying prayer.

"Do they think you are a god or a priest?" she asked.

"Why does it matter?"

"If they think you are a priest, they will keep you alive and attempt to convince you to repent. If they think you are a god they will give you the briefest of trials, then hang you."

"They believe I am a god," Magnus admitted.

"Then there's no point in getting to know you, is there? You will be gone soon anyway, so don't bother talking to me."

"If you're a priest, why are you still here?" Why don't you repent?" Magnus asked.

"It would be a betrayal."

"Yes, but they wouldn't mind, whoever it is," Magnus said with the blithe certainty of a god who had witches instead of priests.

"I would mind."

"I would imagine you would also quite mind being stuck in here for the rest of your life."

"Not that much more, no."

Magnus rolled his eyes, and settled more comfortably on the stone floor. "I'm actually on my way to the Glade of the Gods. Who is this lucky god who holds your loyalty so? I could mention you, there's a small chance you'll get a rescue."

"...The Nameless One," the priest muttered. Magnus started so badly he hit his head.

"Ow! Wait, you've decided to be a priest of the Trickster? You know they're dead, right?"

"That depends on your definition of dead."

"She's also cursed. You're probably only in this mess because the curse of misfortune got to you."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"That has sadly occured to me, yes."

"So repent!"

"Why would I do that?"

"Lunatic," Magnus said, shaking his head. "I'm locked up with a lunatic."

The priest was silent. Magnus shook his head, then grinned, then began to laugh.

"Actually," he said, "that gives me an idea."

"I hope you are not planning to escape," the priest said. "That goes very poorly for anyone who tries. I don't want to see your death in front of me, thank you."

"Look, I'm not pleased to admit it, but you're right, I can't escape by myself. I'm going to do something else, which is sometimes much harder to do."

"What is that?"

"Ask for help."

*

When Brian and the others had not come back by sunrise, the Trickster concluded that she would have to see if she could rescue Magnus by herself.

"I'll lead you to the guardhouse," Sally said. The Trickster helped her down the hidden handholds, and Sally led the Trickster through the winding streets back to the main square. The main square still looked bright, with its painted wooden buildings and clean cobbled streets. The streets Sally had led the Trickster through had been much different, the houses rotting and piles of refuse growing weeds in hidden corners of the alleyways.

"That's the one," Sally pointed out one of the only three stone buildings in the square. It was massive, and the Trickster looked up at it, hands on hips. She would never be able to find Magnus in there; maybe trying to convince them that he wasn't a god was the right thing to do.

"Starting to get into tours, are you Sally?" one of the guards called out. Sally waved a hand dismissively at him, and the guard came over.

"Look, it's not my fault your sister won't repent," he said.

"Get lost, tool of the oppressor," Sally snapped. "Come on, Cassie--Cassie?"

The Trickster was staring at the building, as if she could see something inside of it.

"All right then," she said, and turned to the guard. "Hand me your weapon."

The guard unstrapped his sword, and to Sally's astonishment gave the sheathed blade to the Trickster. The Trickster whacked the guard over the head with it, and as he fell she headed to the entrance to the building.

"Cassie?"

"You can stay here," the Trickster said. "I should be back soon."

The three guards at the entrance didn't put up a fight. The Trickster stepped over their fallen bodies, and walked into guardhouse.

*

The guards were briefly surprised when Magnus pushed the priest outside of the prison cell when they opened the door to take him to trial, but she was soon put back into the cell. Given Magnus's strange behaviour, they closed the door to the cell to confer with one another before attempting to take him to trial again.

"What did that accomplish?" the priest asked him.

"Just wait," Magnus said.

"For what?"

"Just--there we go."

"What are you talking about?"

"Shh," Magnus said. The priest was silent, then realised that she could hear faint shouting from beyond the door. She listened intently. There was a yell, a thud, a scream, more thuds, then silence.

"Oh, right," Magnus said. "We're invisible here." He went over to the door, and banged hard on it a few times. There was a pause, then a hideous golem made of burnt vines and molten stone ripped the door of its hinges. At that, the golem fall to pieces, revealing a young woman with green eyes standing behind it. She was holding a sword in one hand and a chair leg in the other.

"Ah," she said to the priest. "You must be Sally's sister."

"Hello, Cassie."

"I guess you can be rescued too," the Trickster said to Magnus.

"Thank you," Magnus said. "Shall we move on?"

"Yes," the Trickster said, holding a hand out to steady the priest as she clambered over the remnants of the golem. Magnus followed them out of the cell, and they travelled down the corridor to freedom.