Xavier was covered in burns, his back was wounded by the ice pieces. How long could my father stay alive with such wounds? We needed to find a healer on our way out. But we had no money to pay!

I didn't like threatening people, but in such situation I had no other choice.

"Why am I even thinking about this? My parents are older and stronger than me. Shouldn't they figure something out themselves?" I thought. But immediately another mental flow interfered, "Xavier and Faye aren't that much older than me. Also, I'm sure, that my combat experience is much more diverse than theirs."

Having two points of view at a situation felt fresh, but the contradictions between my selves distracted and irritated me.

Xavier, Faye and I were going up the wooden spiral staircase leading out from the dungeon, when we heard steps from above. Were those the Guards?

The three of us flinched. Then we rushed down the stairs, walking as softly as we could at such speed. The wood creaked, but the guards were noisier than us, so they didn't notice.

But the steps only became louder. I was blaming myself for forgetting about the wards which allowed to light the bracelets on people hands or other special devices to call a servant into your room or to... raise an alarm.

We reached the dungeon and hid in a corner under the staircase. Xavier's big body barely fit in. A few seconds after armored people showed up in the gaps between the sagging creaking stairs. I counted them as they went. Two... Four... Six... There were nine of them in total. I could only see their legs, so I didn't identify the mages.

I didn't lose myself in a dangerous situation so some part of me felt proud. Maybe the reason for this was that Zane was never in serious trouble before.

The number of guards bothered me. Not because there were too many of them, conversely, there were too few.

"Only nine? I'm sure that Harper's mansion has many more, so most of the guards must be patrolling the upper floors," Xavier voiced my thoughts.

"It's suspiciously quiet in the dungeon. Lord Harper is supposed to have fun right now," one of the guards said in a low voice.

"What did go wrong? What happened that even our Lord couldn't handle the situation on his own?" another one added.

The spiral staircase was made of wood, so we couldn't use it until the guards would go far enough. But I was sure: the moment they see the torture chamber the action would begin, so we couldn't wait.

Suddenly I heard Harper's loud voice, "Are you there, idiots? Call a healer! Find the blue-haired bastards sneaking around the mansion!" He must have heard the guards approaching and decided to hurry them up.

Why would he need a healer though? I knew that he was good enough at any type of magic, so he didn't need to use other's services. Unless...

He already tried to heal his wife and son, but that didn't help. Which means that they were already dead. Magic could not resurrect a corpse.

I hoped that at least Harper's son was alive. Maybe it's fool to want him to survive, as he could want to take revenge on me and my family, but feelings don't care about what is intelligently and what is not. I didn't want this little boy to die. Both of my selves agreed on that.

Also, I wonder how could the guards "call a healer". Since most of the magicians are nobles, they are not that easy to access.

Xavier, Faye and I cautiously left our hideout. We breathlessly went upstairs looking at the guards. The wood creaked softly, but one of the them turned his head.

"Look, aren't they blue-haired bastards the Lord just described?" he said.

"I saw them! They were delivered today, they are the Lord's entertainment," the other guard added.

Harper got out of the room with an improvised stone crutch under his arm, his leg still torn off. "So you are still here, insignificant rats! This means that you won't get away," he grinned.

"You two, grab my wife and son and take them upstairs. The others, go after those demons!" he shouted. 

Three of us rushed upstairs, not looking at the trained guards wearing light armor behind us. How could we stop the pursuers?

The spiral staircase was wooden planks embedded into the wall. They didn't look reliable, sagging and creaking under our feet. What if...

I had almost no mana left, but I only needed to make the decks just a little less durable. Finally, we reached the top of the seemingly endless staircase. We ran out to the first floor and I stopped. The three guards were standing there. Their faces fell.

Xavier ran into them not waiting for them to understand what was happening. He threw his massive body in the guards and knocked them into the wall behind them.

I turned back at the staircase, I could hear the those men approaching us. I concentrated on the nearest plank and turned turned half of its base into sawdust. Then I did the same with another one. And another one.

The face of the fastest guard showed up. He stepped on one of the brittle stair and it broke down. The man fell screaming.

Another guard jumped over the gap and landed on the other fragile plank. It cracked loudly and the man fell on his colleague.

The planks below didn't hold such a weight and broke, the two guards fell even further down on the lower stairs. Those cracked too.

The men destroyed the spiral staircase. Now it would be pretty hard for Harper to leave the dungeon jumping over such gaps on one leg.

The other pursuers stopped, they didn't wish to meet the same fate as the first two.

Feeling that I did everything I could, I passed out, headache drilling into my brain.