Ingrid grunted as she was tossed unceremoniously back into the cell. Despite Alviss’s size, they were fairly strong. As the door slammed shut behind her, she couldn’t hear their steps, but could feel them moving away. The way they silently walked reminded her a bit of how Alice moved at times.

“Princess! They didn’t hurt you, did they?” Alice gasped, rushing over to her side. “I swear to the gods if they did anything to you I’m gonna tear out their–”

“I’m okay, Alice,” she sighed fondly. She was anxious and terrified, but seeing her friend be protective of her did manage to put her the slightest bit at ease. She shifted herself up to a sitting position, looking into Alice’s eyes. Concern was plastered all over the dark elf’s face, but she didn’t say anything. Pursing her lips, Alice leaned forward and gently touched her forehead to Ingrid’s.

It was a little surprising, but it didn’t take long for Ingrid to close her eyes and just appreciate the contact. Something soft felt good at the moment. It provided another bit of solace in their bleak situation. They stayed like that for a bit, but eventually Alice broke the silence.

“What did that bastard want with you anyway?” She muttered, opening her eyes. She didn’t meet Ingrid’s, instead opting to stare at the ground.

Ingrid clicked her tongue. Where did she even begin? It should have been a very simple answer, considering how clear cut what he wanted was. Even so, she had trouble trying to put it into words. She hated how long she stayed silent trying to find the right sentence, but Alice didn’t seem to mind at all. She didn’t rush her or seem even the slightest bit irritated at Ingrid’s floundering.

“He said he could let me see Mattias again,” She said weakly. It was only then she realized that she was crying. She hadn’t even acknowledged the tears. The only thing that clued her in was how choked her voice sounded.

Alice tensed. She looked up at Ingrid, that look of worry returning to her face. “I take it he didn’t mean it in a ‘Let’s look for him together’ sorta way huh?”

Ingrid shook her head. She wiped away a few of the tears, but they were quickly replaced. “Berith, whatever he’s doing, he’s a smaller part of a group. Apparently, he’s not particularly high ranking either,” She explained, taking a shaky breath. “He could still be in other places, and I don’t think he’s here, but whatever group this is has him. I… I’m scared of what that means for him.”

There was a beat of silence.

“What was the catch?” Alice asked simply.

Ingrid winced as she thought about Berith’s demands. All she had to do was supercharge the land and increase the production of the flowers needed for Twilight. Bolstering the land was one of the first practical pieces of magic Druidkeepers were taught. It was how they made sure that the country continued producing enough food regardless of weather or natural hazards. It was one of the few things that she was confident in her ability to do. It must have been some sort of cruel karma that she was being asked to use it for something like this.

There was no guarantee on what would be done with these increased amounts of Twilight either. The poison was a weapon of war. Even if Ingrid and her family were safe from it, how many people would she be condemning to a painful death by going along with what Berith wanted?

“He…” She trailed off. She took a deep breath, then tried to start again. “They make Twilight here. Apparently, it’s very difficult to make. The flowers used in it only grow here, and not very often. He wants me to… Make sure that he can produce even more.”

A look of legitimate concern found its way onto Alice’s face, and not just for Ingrid. She bit her lip as a host of thoughts moved behind her eyes. She looked back at Ingrid. “Think it goes without saying that that happening would be a very, very bad thing for literally anyone to deal with,” She muttered.

“It does. I didn’t give an answer, he said he wanted to give me time to think it over. I didn’t exactly have enough time to ask further questions before he had Alviss cart me away,” She said apologetically. At the same time, she didn’t really know what she would have asked if he had let her stay. Not to mention him flat out saying he didn’t actually care about answering questions.

“Well, at the very least I believe that’s a sort of motive. We get a grasp on what he wants out of us now.”

Ingrid clicked her tongue. “He said he wanted it to be me specifically.”

Alice looked up, confused. “Huh?”

“He said he looked into my past, and our actions along this journey. He called me some sort of magical prodigy,” She murmured.

Her friend frowned. Ingrid wished she knew what was going on in Alice’s head.

“Well, that doesn’t exactly come as a surprise quite honestly. You’ve pulled some major bullshit on this little endeavor. Between the tree and the stone wall at the warehouse, it’s a wonder no one tried to pull us aside sooner.”

Ingrid winced. Alice was right, but it still stung a little bit. Why? She couldn’t really tell. She looked up at Alice, unsure of what she was hoping for.

Alice met her gaze. “So what now?”

She froze, “I um, I thought you would have an idea,” She said meekly.

A small smile formed on Alice’s face. “I have one, but this is also your stupid ‘bring Mattias home’ quest. You coming up with ideas and plans wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.”

Ingrid bit her lip. “Why are you bringing this up now?”

“Because you’re stressed. If you’re thinking for yourself and making your own decisions, having that sort of control might do you some good.”

There was an uncomfortable silence that pervaded in the room as Ingrid tried to think of their options. It was hard to picture any actually being there. Both her and Alice couldn’t use their hands because of the damn manacles. Even if they could, Alice would be furious at her if she tried to use magic. If she kept overclocking herself to create enormous spells that made her pass out, it was only a matter of time until she didn’t wake back up from one of them.

Kallen and Malori were still on the outside, but who knew how they were doing. A part of her desperately wanted to check, but every time she was about to open her mind to send the message, Berith’s words echoed in the back of her head. Communication with them had to wait until she actually had an idea to work off of. She didn’t know if Berith actually had a way of telling that they were contacting each other, but given everything he had shown, it wasn’t a chance she wanted to take.

The only other unknown factor was Natalia. She could imagine that the illian would want to get out, but she also didn’t appear to like Ingrid very much. Or at all. Even if she could get the cuffs off of everyone, there was no guarantee that she’d be willing to help. Even then she was clearly malnourished and exhausted. Then again, if the carnage from earlier was anything to go by, she was still a force to be reckoned with. Maybe she and Kallen would get along.

Firepower might actually be a good addition to whatever plan she could make to get out. If she was out of commission for most things other than small scale spells, someone needed to be able to deal with groups from their end.

She frowned. She was getting ahead of herself. It still all boiled down to the fact that with these cuffs, no one was doing any sort of magic. The most Ingrid could do was chat with plants and animals, but she couldn’t actually call upon plants without the use of her hands, and there were no animals to request favors from. Maybe if Kallen were here she’d be able to simply break the cuffs with brute strength. Kallen was not here. She looked back up at Alice in defeat.

“I… There are thoughts, but I can’t get past the first step,” She said sadly, holding up her cuffs. “Everything that could be done needs our hands free. I don’t suppose you have any more tricks up your sleeve that might be able to lend us a hand with this?”

For the first time in almost a week, Alice’s grin returned to her face. It made Ingrid’s heart skip a beat.

“And if I did?”

Ingrid furrowed her brow. She looked out of the cell to the dark elf standing guard. Her and Alice were making sure to talk quietly, so it didn’t seem like the guard was paying them any mind so much as he was playing some form of card game alone. Ingrid leaned in close, lowering her voice even more.

“Kallen and Malori are still outside. If we could get out of these, maybe get Natalia to help us, we might be able to go with the same plan as before,” She said, her voice wavering with anxiety. “They’d be much more on guard, so the fight would probably be a lot more difficult. I don’t think we’ll be able to pull it off without Natalia’s help.”

Alice nodded. “Well, lucky for us I decided to have a little chat with her,” she said playfully, “She’s willing to lend a hand. She’s not a fan of you because she has shit taste, but we’re preferable to staying locked up in here any longer.”

Ingrid felt her heart skip a beat again. Strangely enough, it felt like it was for a different reason. She glanced over at Natalia, who was still sitting cross legged, eyes closed. It seemed like a pain to almost never have them open. She looked back at Alice.

“So what’s your idea?” She asked with bated breath.

“Eh well, we’ve been in here for a hot minute, and I wanted to give the ol fingers a nice stretch,” She demonstrated her point by spreading her wrists. There was a small click as the cylinder that made the cuffs separated slightly, and she pulled her hands out and wiggled her fingers. Ingrid’s eyes went wide. Alice chuckled. “What, you think I’ve never been taken hostage or put in prison before? This isn’t my first time around a difficult situation.”

Tears began to well up in Ingrid’s eyes as she felt a massive weight removed from her shoulders. She quickly wiped them away, but already she felt Alice’s confidence almost flowing into her. Without hesitation, she opened her mind to Malori again.

Malori, are you there? She asked. Anxiety crept into her heart as she waited for an answer. All of this would be pointless if those two had gotten captured or hurt.

Um, y-yes! What is it? Malori’s voice came through quickly. The esper was clearly relieved to hear from Ingrid.

Get Kallen ready. The plan is still on.

Ingrid slumped back against the wall as Alice put her cuffs back on. She furrowed her brow.

“What? If a guard comes by I can’t exactly say ‘oh hey look at me! I broke out! Isn’t that cool and quirky!’ without them just putting the cuffs back on,” She explained as if reading Ingrid’s mind.

Ingrid nodded, realizing that her friend was probably right. There was another minute of mental silence before she heard Malori’s voice in her head again.

Kallen is a little hurt, and I spent a l-lot of energy healing her. How s-soon are you planning on putting everything into m-motion?

She looked at Alice. “How long do you think you can hide that?” She whispered, throwing a glance in the direction of the guard. He still was absorbed in his card game. Maybe Berith’s complaints about not receiving good enough forces had some validity to them.

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“Long as you need me to. Believe it or not I’m good at the whole sleight of hand thing,” She said confidently. “How’s Shortie and the other one doin?”

“They’re doing alright. Apparently Kallen got hurt, and Malori is exhausted. It might be best to wait until they can find a place to rest before going through with this,” She suggested.

Alice frowned. “As nice as that would be, Berith’s troops are definitely gonna be sweeping the area on a near constant basis. Good luck settling down long enough to get anything other than maybe a quick power nap,” She rested her chin on her knees. “With the way Shortie sleeps, I don’t think they’ll have a chance.”

The answer made sense, but it certainly wasn’t one that Ingrid particularly liked. She was sure Malori wouldn’t be a fan of it either. There was no doubt in her mind that Kallen would be able to force herself through and turn out okay, but Malori was another story entirely. She was frail, slow, and not a whole lot of help in a fight, and that was when she was wide awake. In all likelihood, she’d just be an easy target for anyone who Kallen couldn’t manage to keep occupied.

“You’re stressed,” Alice said plainly.

She looked up. “How could I not be?”

“Well, don’t really have an answer for that one,” Alice grunted as she shifted her position to lay on her side. “But you seem to be thinkin real hard about something. What’s up?”

Ingrid looked at her friend for a moment, wondering if telling Alice would be the best idea. Breathing a sigh, she relented. Keeping information away wouldn’t do either of them any good.

“Our options are taking our chances waiting for Kallen and Malori to rest, or executing everything as soon as we can,” She started, tapping her feet absentmindedly. “If we do it soon, we still have at least some sort of surprise, but it might not work because Malori is tired and Kallen is hurt. If we wait, then they’ll both be rested, but there’s the chance that they might be found and captured.”

Alice nodded along, listening carefully. “Well, what are the outcomes of that?” she asked, “I got faith in you. Use me as your rubber ducky.”

Ingrid furrowed her brow. “Rubber… What?”

“Right, old saying. One mage had a little rubber ducky, and when trying to work out spells or rituals, he’d talk out loud and explain it to the duck. Said talking out loud helped him notice where mistakes were compared to doing it all out in his head.”

“Alright, um, good to know,” She nodded awkwardly. Clearing her throat, she continued. “Well, there’s no doubt in my mind that Kallen can fight through the pain if her injuries are minor. She did it in the warehouse, and I don’t see how this would be very different. Malori is the one I’m worried about there.”

“Alright, which one is more necessary, you think?”

“Hmmm…” Ingrid stared at the ground. Malori would make sure that everyone would be healthy, but that was for after everything was said and done. When she thought about it like that, they needed Kallen to even get them to a point where Malori might have been needed. “Probably… Kallen, now that I think about it.”

Alice huffed. She was smiling, but her teeth were clenched. “Well, as much as I hate to admit it, you’re probably right. Now’s the time where good old fashioned brute strength is kinda helpful. Besides, it’ll do Malori some good to learn to tough it out every once in a while.”

“I guess you’re right,” Ingrid murmured, “For this mage, did his rubber ducky also talk back at him?”

“Duh, that’s the most important part,” She grinned, “What self-respecting mage doesn’t have an enchanted talking rubber ducky with them at all times? Come on, Princess. Get with the times.”

Ingrid sighed, rolling her eyes. That smile was infectious though. Before she knew it, she had a wide grin on her face as well. “Alright, I’ll let them know.”

Closing her eyes again, she tried to reach out to her friend. Hey, are you still there, Malori?

There was a pause.

Y-yes! I’m here. No one has found us y-yet.

That’s good. We’re going to do things as soon as you and Kallen can make it into position, She felt bad doing this to Malori, but Alice was right. It would do the girl some good to learn how to tough it out.

O-Oh… I see. Um, I’ll get Kallen up! I’ll make sure that we go r-right away. Should I let you know when we’re in the a-agreed place?

Yeah, that works. I’ll make sure to stall until then. Good luck.

There was no response after that. Ingrid sighed and slid down the wall even more. Already the anxiety was building in her stomach, like dozens of little butterflies had mistaken it for a sanctuary. She looked up at Alice, who was staring up at the ceiling while balancing one of the buckets they were supposed to be using as toilets on her feet.

“I talked to them. They’re getting into position now. Should we be doing anything to prepare?” She asked.

Alice wheezed as the bucket fell off of her feet and landed directly on her stomach. She got off of her back and started clutching her stomach in pain. “Mm, yeah, nice, great,” She groaned. Ingrid swore she detected a hint of laughter in the statement. “Oh thank the gods that was empty. Anyway, there’s not really a ton we can do. Wait for the signal, then I’ll take care of getting us out. All you have to do is be ready for a fight.”

Taking a shaky breath, Ingrid nodded. She wished the thought of potentially having to kill more people was something that weighed more heavily on her. The only thing she was worried about having to see was the blood. These were people. They had lives and potentially even families. She was going to be cutting that short forever. Shouldn’t that mean something?

She hoped Kallen and Malori would at least be quick about getting into position. The less time she had to be alone with her thoughts and berate herself for her own failures the better.

There was something satisfying in the deep ‘thunk’ that the knife made as it lodged itself in the wooden head of the dummy. Berith absentmindedly picked up another throwing knife and tossed it across the room, the blade landing close to the previous one. He frowned slightly. No matter how much he practiced, he could never beat out Alviss when it came to accuracy. He couldn’t tell if he should be annoyed that they were outdoing him, or glad that his right hand was so good at that.

Eventually deciding that thinking about it took too much brain power, he chose neither. Tossing another knife, he looked down at the letter that had magically appeared on his desk. He rolled his eyes. “You think it would kill him to actually send a message in person? Or a messenger?”

“That would be highly inefficient compared to how he currently handles it,” Alviss deadpanned, “It would be both slower and far more dangerous.”

Once again, Alviss was right. Still, it would have been nice to get some actual contact with another person every once in a while. The soldiers here revered him far too much for any sort of communication outside of receiving orders. As much as he liked Alviss as an assistant, they weren’t exactly the best at holding a conversation. He was living an extrovert’s nightmare.

Throwing one more knife into the face of the dummy, he decided to stop beating around the bush and open the letter. He already knew what it was going to say, it had been a long time coming. He was so damn close now though. Couldn’t this have waited a few more days? At least he’d have an answer from the druid girl to determine whether or not he even had a chance.

Berith,

I understand your desire for success. You wish to prove your worth, and it’s admirable that you’ve put this much work into your fruitless endeavor. Unfortunately, you must understand that the sunk cost fallacy is not a worthy explanation. Our leader sank centuries into the original version of this plan, and while he achieved great results, he was forced to abandon it in the end and explore other avenues. We spent a hundred years attempting to appease Ethys’s new desire, and frankly, that is far more time than we should have.

You wish to make up for your failure in Amalthea, I understand. This is simply not the way to do it. The production of Twilight has become far too costly to maintain for the rate it is produced, and those costs have come out of your defenses and troops. The poison’s potency is not worth the resources. I can have you reassigned to a position in Baile Boglach within the month.

Best,

Moloch

Berith’s heart sank as he read the words over and over again. Nodding, he took a breath and stood up. Alviss’s eyes followed him as he walked over to the stone wall, then punched it as hard as he could, sending a spider web of cracks along it.

“I’m fine. I’m fine! I’m fine, this is fine,” He said in a cheerful tone. The grin returned to his face as he turned back to Alviss. The other elf was giving him a completely blank look as if he didn’t just punch the wall like a petulant child. He returned to his desk and slumped back into his seat. “How much longer do you think we should wait? I know the odds of her saying yes are probably low unless I actually threaten her brother, but we both know there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that Ishtar will let me lay a finger on him.”

Alviss watched him as he leaned back in his chair. After Berith was quiet for a moment, they spoke up. “I believe there has likely been a sufficient amount of time. I also believe that you are taking desperate measures.”

Berith winced as Alviss spoke their mind, but didn’t move to stop them.

“You’re too focused on spite for your sister to realize that you should probably move on. The illian could be used for numerous other things. She is an asset. As are the druid and her companions.”

“Okay I’m gonna pretend that doesn’t sting a little bit, but I did quite literally ask for it,” He sighed. He looked over at the door, which remained undisturbed by any messengers. “I might go out looking for the esper and human myself. I need to do something productive so I don’t just sound like a spiteful moron when writing back to Moloch. What are the reports so far on the human? I know she slaughtered the first patrol that found her, but is there any update on her posi–”

He was cut off by the deafening sound of wood splintering and smashing. Both he and Alviss stared at the door for a moment as the sounds of soldiers rallying and screaming replaced the previous sounds of wood.

Alviss turned back to Berith. “Yes.”

Um, I-Ingrid? Kallen and I are ready…

Ingrid’s head snapped up as she heard the anxious voice of Malori in her head. She looked over at Alice, who was trying her hand(foot) again at balancing the bucket. It was painfully obvious that she was trying to seem like she wasn’t bored. Ingrid tapped her cuffs on her boot a couple of times, drawing Alice’s attention. The other woman looked at her quizzically, but seemed to realize her intent and carefully lowered the bucked to place it quietly on the pile of hay.

Alright. We’re ready. Wait three minutes, then have Kallen charge. Does that sound okay?

Y-Yes. I’ll start counting down now, There was a moment of silence between the two. Ingrid didn’t move or say anything, and she didn’t hear anything from Malori. After a bit like that, Malori spoke again, B-Best of luck. We’ll be seeing you soon.

Ingrid took a deep breath, then looked at Alice. As they made eye contact, Ingrid mouthed the word ‘now.’

A grin spread across Alice’s face as she stood up. Pulling apart her hands, the cuffs came undone. With a flick of her wrist, a small throwing knife was already in her hand, but only stayed for a moment before it was thrown at the guard. He didn’t even make so much as a grunt as the knife entered his head, the only sound being his body slumping against the table.

Ingrid looked up at Alice in shock. “How did you sneak a weapon in? Didn’t they search us?”

The woman winked. “Don’t worry about it, Princess. Let’s get the hell outta here.”

Alice pulled out a small piece of metal and inserted it into the lock on Ingrid’s cuffs. After a few seconds of fiddling around, Ingrid was greeted with the absolutely wonderful sensation of being able to move her fingers again. She let out an enormous sigh of relief as she wiggled her fingers, the motion alone causing her knuckles to crack. Alice had already moved to their cell door, where she was working on the lock there. Once again, there was a satisfying ‘click’ as the door lazily opened.

“You two seem to be in a hurry.”

Ingrid stopped, looking over at the still unmoving form of Natalia. Her eyes remained closed, which made Ingrid feel almost like she wasn’t being spoken to directly. Thankfully, Alice was the first one to speak.

“We’re bustin out. Look, this probably isn’t gonna go well, and we could use an extra set of hands. You mentioned wanting to leave, yeah?” She said, leaning on the front of Natalia’s cell.

The illian opened her eyes, the cell getting visibly brighter as she did so. Ingrid gulped, feeling like she was being sized up by an almost otherworldly being. It was hard to tell if her gaze was shifting, but it was easy to imagine that it was. Eventually, she gave an exhasperated sigh.

“I don’t exactly have much of a choice here do I?”

“‘Course you do. You can stay in this cell or you can leave.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Just get me out of here.”

Alice grinned. “That’s what I like to hear! Princess, look for our stuff will you?”

Ingrid nodded, then rushed to the room where the guard had been, trying not to look at the blood seeping onto his playing cards. Against the back wall was a locked trunk. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to turn to the corpse of the guard. She kept her focus on his belt, crouching down to grab his keys without looking up. Once she had them off, she quickly tried them on the trunk, praying that at least some of their things would be in it. The first few didn’t fit, but after fumbling around with the fourth key, the lock finally turned.

Her heart sank as she looked inside. The dimensional bag, Alice’s knife, they were nowhere to be seen. The only things in the trunk were a couple of rations that were likely for the guards, three more sets of cuffs, and a set of chains similar to the ones binding Natalia’s wings to the wall. She looked around, trying to see if there was anywhere else their gear could have been, but came up empty. On the wall was a rack with a couple of spears and shortswords, but nothing else. She gulped and removed a spear from the wall, hefting it and testing its weight. It was nothing compared to enchanted druidic wood, but it was something she could swing around and at least be somewhat familiar with the way that it worked.

She pulled a shortsword off of the rack and turned back to give it to Alice. As she did, her friend had just finished releasing the illian’s cuffs and the chains around her wings. As soon as the last set of chains dropped, she placed a hand on the ground and rose to her feet. Natalia had seemed otherworldly before, but seeing her standing added more fuel to that fire. The woman was almost as tall as Kallen. She bent and stretched her wings, clearly testing them after not having been used for so long. Imposing didn’t even begin to describe it.

“Wow, you’re taller than I thought,” Alice muttered, looking up at her.

Natalia looked down at her, folding in her wings and cracking her neck. “Well, it’s been far too long since I’ve gotten to properly stretch. So, what’s the plan now?”

Before either Ingrid or Alice could respond, the deafening sound of splintering and crashing wood became all they could hear. Ingrid had to bring up her hands to cover her ears, more out of reflex than anything. As the sound died down, replaced with the shouts and screams of the soldiers around them, Alice let out an impressed whistle.

“Even I have to admit, the woman can make an entrance,” she muttered in annoyance.

Natalia raised an eyebrow. “Was that your friend?”

“Not my friend, but yes. As for the plan? Get to the shiny new hole in the wall and make sure you don’t get killed along the way. Got it? Good. Thanks for the sword, Princess,” she said casually, stepping over to Ingrid and grabbing the shortsword.

Ingrid gave her a worried look, but her friend was already pulling up her scarf to cover her mouth. She looked back at Natalia, who wore a determined look on her face.

She took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s get going.”