"Wake up, Dio! Or do you want me to leave you behind?"

When Fang said he'd come up with something to bust us out, I didn't expect him to do it first thing in the morning. No, he had an orange glow behind him but the sun wasn't even up yet. My eyes opened wide when I realized what it was, recognizing my Nightmare colt.

"You have to be kidding me," I claimed while he shook up the bard too. Hakim seemed more comfortable with the dungeon cell than I was, and the wolfman struggled to wake him. "How the hell did you bring them in here? The whole city must be after you."

"This is the best part." He noted with a grin while kicking the human's back. It was so effective he jumped up and backed into a corner even before noticing the beasts. "Entering the city with them was way easier than sneaking in alone. You remember the hallucinations?"

"I wish I could forget them." I nodded, and the realization hit me. I couldn't come up with a better solution. "You used them as a cover? The guards can't see while they experience their fears... That's genius. Until you meet someone who can resist it, or the effect disappears."

"Well, this is why I'm in a hurry. Hey, Hakim, you good?" Fang asked the bard who still rubbed his eyes in disbelief. I knew he wasn't a morning person, but sleeping this deep on the rough stone floor amazed me. I only drifted into an uneasy sleep before the beastman arrived.

"I can make us invisible on our way out. "He offered, pausing for a long yawn without urgency. I couldn't tell if he was an idiot sometimes, or had balls of steel, filling me with envy. "If the Elder is around, she will catch us faster by the spell than if we walked out into broad daylight."

"It's still early. I don't know her sleep schedule, but we have a fighting chance until the guards alert her." I claimed, dashing toward my mount. Fang brought only two, but they should have been fine with me and the bard if they didn't struggle carrying the ogre.

"That's the spirit, let's get you out of here." Fang nodded, and we rode our Nightmares on the narrow corridor and up the stairs into freedom. I didn't know how he got in until I noticed the guards lying by the entrance shaking and disarmed. "Don't worry, they'll be fine."

"As if I would worry about my captors. Screw this city." I scoffed, kicking the colt into a gallop. The sun creeping over the horizon coated the city gate in a golden glow. The streets were empty and our way out seemed almost too easy. But of course, it didn't last forever.

With a loud clang, the gate closed, and guards rushed out onto the main road. They surrounded us, led by Stern from horseback with a confident, if not bored expression. His soldiers didn't wear gold-plated armor and weren't affected by the Nightmares.

"Like clockwork, the Lady Saint predicted your break-out." He noted as a greeting. "Unbelievable, you ride through the main gate on abyssal monsters, and think you can get away with it? These armor are magic resistant, and the Elder gifted us amulets to protect our minds."

"Her protecting your mind?" I asked, laughing. She manipulated the Demon Lord for so long, her specialty was to dominate minds, not protect them. "You know about her lizardmen slaves, do you think preserving her servant's free will is her style? Come on, Stern."

"You don't have to introduce her to me, I know about her practices too. But she doesn't need to use her tricks on me when our interests align." He shrugged, ordering his men to close the distance. I couldn't convince him when we came to spy on his people.

"Such a shame, after fighting alongside you, I hoped we could be friends." I tried anyway, but it was a long shot. He hollered but didn't answer so I made another attempt. "I don't want to fight against the humans, as you can see, I even let them join our ranks if they so wish."

"Let me think about it. I will be the next king of this country, but you'd let me join the Lesser races..." He didn't finish, and the rising sun blinded us. When my eyes adjusted to it, the Major remained silent and looked strange somehow. I couldn't put my finger on it though.

"You realize we saved your skin in that ambush, right?" The bard asked, opening his arms like a dramatic actor behind me. I didn't know what he planned, but he wasn't shy to ask ridiculous things like me. "It would be fair if you'd let us go today, and then we're even. What you say?"

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

The soldiers laughed, well-equipped to take us down from afar with halberds and pikes. The Church Woman disarmed us, but my armor remained. The Nightmares could cause some nasty surprises too. But I wanted to flee through the gate and avoid a fight if I could help it.

"True, you could have let my men die, but you didn't." I heard from the enemy commander, but something was off. "If you didn't help us there, I wouldn't suspect you either. It was a close call. Well, the Church Woman already knows everything she wants. Guards, let them go."

I couldn't believe my ears, nor did the soldiers. This had to be a trap or a mistake, there was no way he'd let us go this easy. What he said was right, but it sounded unnatural. I figured out the reason before his soldiers did, and the fools went ahead and opened the gates for us.

"Thank you, Major Stern, you made the right decision. We won't forget it," Hakim spoke, always so theatrical. But what the others couldn't see was how he poked my side and drew magic signs into the air. He had balls of steel, there was no question about it now, and I became excited.

The soldiers wouldn't refuse the order, but they looked quite confused. I didn't want to wait until they realized what happened, but the gate needed time to open. I was ready to jump my Nightmare into a gallop once we could squeeze through ourselves, but it came too late.

With a hair's breadth, I avoided the strike from nowhere, and it's not an overstatement. The blade appeared inches from us and Hakim fell off, letting the illusion disappear. The Major who let us go vanished from his previous spot and reappeared next to us.

His amulet could protect his mind and armor resisting all magic, but we didn't have sorcerers. We didn't need them for this trick. Sure, the Nightmare's hallucination was ineffective against him. But the light-bending illusions the Bard excelled at worked all the same.

"You cheeky bastard and your illusions." The real Major complained, but his expression wasn't upset, more like amused. "First you turn the goblin into a child, and now fool my troops with a false order. I promise you a painless death if you tell the truth about saving me in that battle."

Hakim turned him invisible when the sun rose, and replaced him with an image. He lent his words and a fake voice to order his troops. It was simple yet genius, but there was a fatal flaw. Nothing stopped Stern from attacking us and we couldn't see him, so he almost succeeded.

It was still a great effort, and the gate was open. With the illusion gone, he swung his sword, and the soldiers could only look in confusion at what happened. But the bard fell on the floor, and I couldn't drag him up with the commander slashing at me. The chaos didn't last forever either.

"Go." The Bard nodded, and it was his turn to become invisible. I urged the Nightmare while Fang rode back to delay the Major. The soldiers didn't stand still either, dashing to stop us while the guards tried to close the gate. But we managed to slip through.

The steel bars clanged on the stone, and now they had to open them again to chase us. We didn't wait for that, even if Hakim remained. I didn't want to develop a habit of forsaking my comrades. But he could sneak out while the Church Woman wasn't involved.

Still, this complicated our escape. Stern posted archers along the road. They didn't wear magic-resistant armor but were far enough. The Nightmares didn't affect them. These equines were fast though, even when we rode in a zigzag. They couldn't hit us this way.

We avoided most arrows, and the pursuers couldn't catch up after the gate opened. They didn't have to. Whatever the Elder predicted, they prepared well and blockaded the road ahead. We weren't tied to it, aiming for the woods next, but more archers appeared.

"Run them down!" Fang yelled, and a moment later the soldiers fled. The fear rendered them useless once the Nightmares got close. We disappeared into the forest, or that's what I'd say if our mounts weren't visible from miles away. The chase continued for a while.

On the other side of the treeline, an entire mounted company waited for us. These guys spared no effort to round us up. Once we bypassed the roadblock, it seemed better to return to the road while arrows kept raining down on us. Thank the gods, these archers couldn't aim at all.

This detour allowed Stern to catch up, and if he rushed after us, I hoped he didn't find the Bard within Sanctuary. The horseman tried a double envelopment, the vice closing when the unexpected happened. The odds were so low, that I suspected an illusion at first.

What else, Hakim already fooled us once, and a group of creatures appeared at the most convenient time? They looked familiar though, and the Appenon deserter shouldn't know their faces. I saw Omerta, the unreliable witch who abandoned and saved me many times.

I noticed the Last Princess of Cranta and her blue-haired paladin. She fought us like a whirlwind at the Cyreneian pass, now other orcs and beastmen following them. And some humans too, including the most beautiful woman I have seen, twice in a row.

The Goddess of Luck and her body-double brought stuffed toys. They seemed as surprised as we were about the sudden encounter. It couldn't be an illusion, but it didn't make sense either. If they were real and appeared right here when the Nordhaben Army chased us...

Well, they called Alexandra the Goddess of Luck for a reason. She didn't ask questions, or hesitate. She raised an impassable barrier behind us, forcing the mounted knights to stop. A moment later the entire group assumed a battle formation and prepared to fight.

"I can't believe it. This isn't Hakim's trick, is it?" Stern asked once he reached the barrier. I didn't know if he met the Goddess before, but she didn't feel like staying to answer him. She cast her next spell, and with another flash, everything disappeared. Or rather, we did.

The next thing I knew, we landed on the main square of Nateaser...