“Now, what's gotten into the two of you?” With curious amusement, Merry studied Alicia and Cyg.
In response, wordlessly, the two exchanged a glance. It was a simple agreement—leave it to the professional liar.
“Now that I'm well enough to go outside again, I was looking forward to talking to Alicia about what to do next,” Cyg replied off the top of his head. For a moment, he wondered if he was overthinking it, that the witch was reading his mood instead of something as obtuse as the truthiness of his words. Still, daring to risk it now would be astonishingly unwise. “It looks like she had the same idea.”
Hearing this, Merry raised an eyebrow. “I was planning on kicking you out the door regardless, but you appear to be one step ahead of me,” she joked. “Enthusiasm's always good. Well then, my dear apprentice, I'll be leaving him to you later.”
Alicia nodded, and daring not to say another word, she sat down at the table while Cyg followed.
* * *
“We did it!” he said, giving a celebratory kick that launched a bunch of pebbles into the creek. Together, they just had gone over everything after Cyg entered the loop.
“...Did you not hear what I just said!?” Alicia sat up straight before adding, “Are you not worried over what I just told you?”
He crossed his arms, and after a particularly thoughtful pause, he answered, “No?” The elf stared down at him without continuing, waiting for him to elaborate. “Okay, look: I'm okay, you're okay, and Merry doesn't remember a thing. We're fine, aren't we? I mean, what was that even supposed to mean? As far as I can see, there’s nothing we can do about it right now.”
She unsteadily exhaled. “Something has to be wrong with it, otherwise I wouldn't have heard that. And don't even suggest it was something I hallucinated, because I am absolutely certain I heard it!”
“Wouldn't dream of it,” he said, dismissing the worry with a frown, “I'm just saying it's pointless to worry about it when we have bigger problems.”
“Ah yes, the issue of finding a way to refill it now that you can't sneak a bomb in front of me anymore.”
“...You're not mad about that, are you?”
“No, I'm...” Alicia began, struggling to find the correct words, “Frustrated at the increasingly difficult situation we find ourselves in. We only have fourteen marks left, meaning seven retries total. Do you really think we can find a way out that quickly?”
“If we find a consistent way to kill Bassy, we could have infinite time.”
A flash of anger went through Alicia before cold rationality sunk in. “That's a difficult ask.”
“We have to if we want to escape—I'm pretty sure Merry's using it as an oversized hunting dog to track us down.” Cyg crouched, picking up a pebble to toss and play with as he pondered over it. “As far as I can see, we have two problems: first is firepower, and second is survivability. We can solve the first with a trap—and I'm sure we can work out something with seven tries—but the second...”
The apprentice leaned forwards, placing an elbow on her leg and her cheek on her knuckles. “I believe I can make some armor with lanterns. I've never done anything of that sort before, but since we have a week, that certainly sounds doable,” she tells him, “But I'm sure Bassy can easily crush anything you wear without trouble.”
“Yeah,” he replied with a nod, “So I was thinking—we don't need to worry about getting bitten if it can never catch us, right? What if we strap a plate to the bottom of our shoes with runes on it that can push us forward like how Merry flies around? If it works out, you'll also be able to use it in whatever escape plan we inevitably cobble together, since there's no way you're running out of here.”
“That... sounds like an absurd waste of mana! Something like a stovetop or a faucet is practical and efficient, but using raw force like wind?!” she said. Just imagine how hard one would need to blow air out to move an entire person. “We...” Alicia then began, her own mind racing as ideas came together, “...Would need to store mana. We need something like mythril that can hold it for a while, since your blood on its own would dissipate by the time you’ve regained what was spent. And even then, it would only be good for a few pushes. Personally... I think I'm able to propel myself maybe three, four times before I'm entirely spent. Lying-on-the-ground-incapacitated kind of spent.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Rubbing the back of his neck, Cyg said, “I've seen mythril maybe once or twice before in my life, and I'm pretty sure I haven't seen any in the house.”
“That lines up,” Alicia replies, “We're in her domain. She can power anything inside of it at any time, so there’s no need for any mana containers.”
“What if,” the thief started to say, not sure if it was a good idea to vocalize the damn idea, “...I used your blood for now? We can figure out something else for the escape.”
A second passed. Then three. Then ten.
Then, she laughed. “That's the strangest thing anyone has ever said to me! Alright, we'll settle on that plan—but not blood. The rest of my body can hold mana well enough, so it's better to give you something like a bundle of hair. Though, how will you be planning on transporting Bassy's blood without my aide? I suppose I have to keep some in reserve for emergencies.”
He let out a silent breath of relief. “Great. You can leave the trap part to me,” he said, pointing to his chest with a thumb, “My last one worked great. And besides, I used to hunt rabbits for extra food for the rascals at home.” Just a little, Cyg's heart pained remembering what was waiting for him back in Murkwell. The person who won't come back with him, too.
“Yes, yes—a basilisk is just a very large rabbit,” Alicia replied, grinning as she stood, “Let's not waste all day talking here; don't we have a map to fill out? If we're lucky, we'll find out where Bassy spends her time before Sunday.”
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Alicia left southwards while Cyg took off his boots and rolled up his breeches. It was time to finally start checking out what was on the other side of the river, he thought, and how curious it was
Strangers can work together fine when they share the same goal, but what if something changes? That would be asking for the impossible, he believed.
* * *
Alicia made it to the small cave Cyg mentioned earlier.
The sun was setting, and she could hardly get a good look at it. Turning around, she used her magic to unhook the nearest lantern and float it down to hold, and the steady firelight revealed the exact dimensions of the rocky structure: about one and a half times her height, gently sloping downwards and to the left for about four—maybe five—paces before it terminating in a rounded wall, as if a giant bore into the ground with a finger.
This was about the only cave on the map they'd found so far, one that was large enough to fit a full-grown basilisk inside. There were some small burrows and even shallower formations, but they could not possibly provide proper shelter from the rain.
She gave the walls, the ceiling, and the ground a careful look over not once but twice, and when she was done, the only conclusion came out in the form of a sigh.
The apprentice had hoped for mythril—she had heard much of the town's history—but as logic stands, if there were any rare minerals left then nobody would've left back then.
Her eyes fell down onto the lantern as she was lost in thought, and when they refocused, Alicia remembered how Merry got around that. A domain, one that took the witch heavens know how long to build and make permanent. Standing there, silent, Alicia stared off as she reconsidered what was possible and what wasn't.
After all, she wasn't alone anymore.
* * *
The thief searched, and he discovered nothing.
Cyg walked for three whole hours and found... the same things as before. It wasn't too surprising; it wasn't as if a little creek could stop something as mighty as biodiversity. Wind can carry pollen past the paltry distance, and animals can just skip on a few stones and wade across. He took breaks here and there to rest, but he was sure he covered plenty of distance.
That said, he also wasn't expecting it to be this useless. Cyg found an edible plant and a different species of tree, but what good were those? Oh, if only some miraculous happenstance would occur! Something that could save the day with a simple trick, that can defeat the basilisk and the witch in one fell swoop.
Alas, it wasn't meant to be. Instead, the thief was bored out of his mind, the advanced swapping tricks—now full blown juggling on the ground without the use of his hands—while not mastered were still repetitive. He really wished he had that puzzle box, but he had forgotten it. Then, an idea appeared in his mind: if he knew where it was, why couldn't he simply swap it with a nearby stone?
Surely, that was no different than with the blind swap with Bassy's treat.
So, he tried it. Again, and again, and again. Nothing happened of course, because it was very much swinging in the dark. Swinging in the dark half-a-forest-away may be a more apt description, with his mana being worn away the further he sent it. He wandered, blindly, barely focusing on where he was going, up until he stopped and noticed something was off.
The trees were glowing. Well, not the trees, but parts of the trees, and parts of the ground, radiating in the setting sun with a strange blue glow. Cyg's heart raced at the thought of accidentally running into a predator that could wield magic. This could go extremely poorly, he thought, but there was nothing else to be seen.
But to hear? There was a giggle. An echoing mimicry of a voice, something that didn't reach his ears but his soul—a vibration that delivered the concept more than the actual thing.
And as soon as he took notice, the laughter stopped. He stood there for possibly minutes, only finally moving when he concluded there was nothing more to learn if he continued to be afraid. Very slowly, he made his way to a nearby patch of luminescent blue, crouching to see what exactly it was.
There was no magic powder or anything visible like that except the glow itself, and he found it to be charged with mana when he probed it with his own. Then, a gust of wind swept over and stole away the strange sight, leaving him in the growing dark with only the flickering light of distant lanterns to guide him.
Armed with only children's stories and wild fables, Cyg wondered,
“...The faerie?”