Matthew Nesheim
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Chapter 44: Escape Plan
🕑 Added 2023-07-17 17:00:04 +0000 UTCLefty slammed the door behind them and the sound of the wind and the battle died to a low roar. Calista heard the mage flip and slide the locks into place as she looked around. They were in a storage room. Shelves with boxes, pouches, metal ingots, skulls, herbs, and random ingredients lined the walls.
“Let's hope we didn’t just leave all our gear,” Lefty said.
“There!” She pointed to a nearby shelf.
It was all there. Her pack, her weapons, potions, lock picks, trap kit, even her little statue of the Voorlock. Everything but the Emberblade. With surprising speed, she threw it all on as she scanned the room for the sword. I’m not going to risk my life for it, but if it’s here … She was in luck. She found it, scabbard and all, lying on a table in the middle of the room. She looped the scabbard through her belt and ripped the blade free. At least I can die fighting now.
Behind her, Lefty had already thrown on all of his gear and was standing at the door they had entered, his eyes closed. After he finished his incantation, the door glowed blue as dark, black runes appeared in the air and then faded.
“I thought you were almost out of magic?” She asked.
“I was until I found that mana potion sitting against the wall. I’m not at full, but I can be useful again.” He turned and walked past her. “Do you have any idea where we are? If they find us again, I doubt they’ll let us hang around to figure out another escape.”
The door rattled behind them.
“I would say you have a deft grasp on the situation,” she agreed. “So let's just keep moving and we’ll figure it out on the fly.”
So they took off, jogging around tables and past shelves until they turned left at a rack of weapons. Here, the room opened into a hall with a long table and candles arranged around runes carved into the floor. An explosion shook the walls behind them as they reached the door.
“I think someone failed their magecraft check,” he said absently.
Through the door, they ran out into a well-lit corridor, but as they neared the next turn, a knight appeared and shouted a challenge. Calista, sword ready, stepped forward as the knight ripped his blade free and readied his shield. This isn’t going to be good. Delvers were a rogue-based class and so not designed to go toe to toe against armored knights. As she watched the knight stride forward, she watched for any opening that might allow her blade to slip through to do damage, but she could see this knight had his shield and sword in perfect position to take full advantage of his plate armor.
She feinted once and leapt back, hoping to get the knight out of position, but he simply strode forward, his shield up and his sword ready to strike. This man is far too competent. Where did all the trolls go? Why couldn’t I just face one of them?
Then a bolt of lightning ripped through the air and struck the knight in the helmet. As the current rippled through his armor, the knight stiffened, spasmed, and fell to the floor.
The sound of clattering armor came from behind them as Calista turned to see two knights hurrying through the room behind them. “Don’t worry, I got this,” she said as she took a pebble from her belt pouch and tossed it at the doorway. In a blink of magic, a wall of stone covered the opening.
The mage let out a sigh of relief. “You’ve got to show me where you get those.”
“If we make it out of here alive, I’ll see that you get them at a discount,” she replied.
Lefty shook his head, “Now where …”
His words were cut off as the hallway shook and then shifted. It was like the corridor had been sectioned off and was now being manipulated like a puzzle box. But for a tiny section where they stood, everything moved and turned until they were trapped in a tiny little room with no doors, windows, levers, handles, or buttons, only a single torch that blazed next to Calista.
Lefty’s face was covered in panic. “Okay, now what do we do?”
She bit her lip as she studied the walls. “We’re pretty stuck, aren’t we.”
“Yeah, just a little,” the mage quipped.
Calista took a knee as she unslung her pack. “I guess I only have one option. I acquired this a long time ago from a master thief. I have only the one. So if this doesn’t work, I don’t know what we’re going to do.” She had always prided herself on not having to use it. When she found it in her inventory, it was at the bottom of the very last slot in her pack. When she selected it, a small coil of impossibly thin firmament appeared in her hand.
“What’s that?” Lefty asked.
“Just a second and you’ll see,” she replied.
Setting the ink black line on the floor, she pressed her thumbs to it and pulled it apart. After adjusting its edges, she had a black hole wide enough for a person.
“You have a portable hole?” the mage said in amazement.
“Yeah, just the one though,” she said. “I don’t know what’s down there, but it’s our only way out.”
“I can cast something if you want,” Lefty said.
She pulled a feather out from her belt. “Save your spell and just hold on to me.”
The mage then took her hand and together they leapt down into the dark.
