As it would turn out, our little group was not as inconspicuous as I’d hoped. Even though they had immediately changed into normal clothes upon acquiring some, we still made for too unusual a grouping. The wrong person noticed. What else is new?

Apparently, the guys at Harpy’s Nest were not willing to let our destructive escapades slide. While they weren’t sure about Fang, they did connect my fake soldier identity to the escape of the four Hounds they had captured. I only directly interacted with one person there, so it was definitely that paperwork-knight. I don’t think they’ve connected us to Zephyr yet, they probably still think that was a random monster; hopefully, I don’t want to pay for those walls.

Either way, we were walking along when we were suddenly surrounded by a group of soldiers with a lot of pointy weapons. Worse, they had magic-dispersing netting, which I could counter but it’s an absolute pain to do. You ever try to fill a bucket that’s got holes in it? Because that’s about how well that goes. Well, at least they were being smart about it. There are a lot of nasty spells that are good for getting others to back off, if they hadn’t ambushed me, they’d be toast.

And there lies my greatest gripe against busy places; they wreak havoc on my magic-sense. That’s why the Magis academy is so remote, because I’m hardly the first Magis ever that’s sensitive to crowds. That and young Magis tend to destroy things while learning how to properly wield magic; better to not cause large accidents in highly populated areas.

All that to say we were arrested.

It’s been a while since I was last arrested, it’s a bit nostalgic. I think it must have been after the second or third time I ignored a royal summons. Good times. Teleost doesn’t really have any jail cells though, so they settled on confining us to prisoner transport wagons. They’re reinforced with metal, which is a good choice, because wood burns you know? And that’s a pretty quick way to escape if you can survive it. And I definitely could.

Sadly, they confiscated most of our new stuff, including my space pocket bag. They even took my wisp, although they had only placed her in a birdcage meant for restraining small magical creatures; clearly, they underestimated how fierce my girl could be. But unlike the majority of previous people that had attempted to abduct or otherwise restrain me, they had actually put sealing wards on me to block my magic.

Right now, I’m as close to ordinary as I can be.

Too bad for them that ordinary people can do some fairly amazing things.

You see, taking away a Magis’ magic presents the same blind spot that people who rely too much on magical security measures have. They think that I’ve turned into an inept noodle, just because I can’t use the easiest method of escape anymore. And so, they don’t watch as carefully as they should. They let their guard down. Never let your guard down.

Teacher Rona once told me that someday my past experiences, even the worst ones, would become my strength. She wasn’t wrong.

I know how to do all sorts of things without magic. Opening cages? Child’s play. The door of an iron wagon is hardly the most secure thing I’ve ever been locked in. It’d be easier if they’d put one of the others in here with me, but I guess they decided a Magis is at least dangerous enough to warrant a separate wagon.

The wire embedded ropes bite into my skin and body where they had wrapped me too tightly to pin my arms to my sides and at each joint along my legs. Zero out of ten, I do not recommend. The interior was completely empty save for myself, so I had just been left to flop around on the floor but that suited me fine. I’d need the extra space to make what I was doing work. I suppose I’m fortunate that no one is nearby to witness the incredible indignity that is squirming around like an inchworm. It’s hard to take a person seriously after you’ve seen them do something like that, you know.

Anyway, no matter how tight the ropes are, the fact remains that they are ropes. Their round chunky nature made them heavy, but much more difficult to tie in a way that can’t be readily undone. Something about the bulkiness resists the flexibility necessary for a truly secure knot. Silk ropes would have been much better, but I doubt that they’d stock Harpy’s Nest of all places with silk-anything, much less silk to bind captives with.  

That’s why, after a lot of wiggling I was able to roll one of the upper ropes loose. Little by little, I freed the loops near my head until I could get them over it just once. From there I unraveled my torso like thread slipping off a spool from a center loop rather than a tail. Soon enough I had loosened them to the extent that I could pull my arms free and remove the rest of the ropes. And with hands, it’s substantially easier to untangle my knees and ankles; resulting in a very free Magis. In the end, I was left with several deep pressure imprints reddening my skin where I could see it, creating an angry stripe pattern.

I gathered up the ropes and set them aside in case I need them later.

The only true restraints now are the sealing cuffs, but I’d need my wisp to break them off if I didn’t want to spend two weeks on it. First, however, I need to get outside. It’s important to know that these wagons only have two openings: there’s a small cross-barred window on the side, and there’s the door. If I knew this was going to happen, I could have prepared some other means of escape, like something to cut or eat through the metal. Regrettably I must inform you that I do not live my life in constant anticipation of the next time someone will try to take me on an involuntary road trip.

I consider whether or not I think I can break the hinges, but the wagon door is designed to prevent easy access to them. Otherwise, I’d just pop the hinge pins out and call it a day, you’d be surprised how many locked doors forget about the hinges. Hmm…

Well, the way in is the way out, I guess.

All security systems have the same point of failure: people. That’s true, no matter how big or small the situation is. I take a moment to set things up after considering what I have on hand. I smile, and then-

I scream.

I cry out as if I’m in the world’s most excruciating pain. Someone will come. Out of mercy, compassion, or annoyance; someone will come. All I have to do is keep on screaming.

Now that I’m actively seeking attention, it doesn’t take the two guards that must be around very long to show up. They tell me to shut up, I scream louder. Until they finally say they’ll open the door to check on me or strangle me, it doesn’t matter why.

I brace myself, preparing to throw myself through the opening the second it’s wide enough. I clutch a loop of rope in one hand and the tail in the other. One of the men throws the door open, stunned for a moment that I’m not as tied up as I should be. But I don’t hesitate, I jump from the wagon, doing my best to lasso the two men as I duct between them. They turn, but their outstretched hands are a bit too late.

I pull the tail end of the rope, which I had woven between a couple of the window bars for leverage. I throw my entire body weight down with it, causing the loop I’d made to sinch smaller and yank the two men into the wagon. It didn’t work perfectly, slamming them together and tipping them over the step up into the back, but it was enough entanglement to distract them.

As I ran, I noticed yet another common mistake: laziness.

For you see, the beast of burden had not been unhooked from the wagon, despite the late hour. I circled back round the campfire and tent they had set out, then I ran up and slapped the one attached to my previous jail on the rear, startling it into running off into the night and dragging the iron wagon with it. As well as the guards that had not quite figured out whose limbs were whose yet. They’d probably only be dragged for a little bit before friction yanked them free, but by then they’d be in too much pain to catch me, even if they somehow managed to give chase.

Having bought myself a minute, I quickly check the camp for signs of my wisp or the other wagon, but they weren’t there. No extra wheel tracks.

Looks like I’ll have to walk.

At least Teleost is still nearby; I can hear the bustle of crowds in the distance. I tuck my hands up under my capelet and push into the tall grass, making my way towards the encampment. If I could at least get back to Zephyr, I’d have more options.

It was a long dark walk, without access to my usual light spell. But I’d finally stumbled my way back into the vicinity of Teleost by the time the sky was just beginning to take on a lighter blue hue. My feet hurt. Normally I could passively relieve the strain with magic, but obviously not right now.

I avoided entering any of the quadrants, instead skirting the outside and slowly making my way over to the lake itself. Hopefully that grumbly golem of mine hadn’t strayed too far.

I considered what the best way to find him might be and decided that standing in a wind current was my best bet for calling him over. It also didn’t require me to walk around in the reeds or wherever he might’ve gone to.

In spite of everything, it’s a peaceful moment.

Much sooner than I’d thought though.

There are barely any ripples on the water, so it’s a near perfect reflection of the sky. Starlight glitters across the glassy surface, extending far out to the western horizon. If you followed the lake west you would eventually reach the estuaries that fed into the sea between this continent and the next. Even so, there aren’t too many water ships on the lake; the lake belongs to the largest naiad population on this continent. Such was also the reason why there are so many full and half naiads strolling around the encampment. They didn’t like for their waters to be disturbed by too much boat traffic.

I hear the grass rustle before I see it.

It’s Zephyr slithering as quietly as a giant clay snake can. Still, he leaves a torn and flattened path wherever he goes. There’s a certain comfort in the familiarity of that fact. He stops before me, intentionally rising up a bit so I have to crane my neck upwards to look at him.

“Magis,” he greets, “did you finally decide to get rid of the others?” Of course he would find a dismissive way to ask about them.

I sigh. “We got caught.” I shake my wrists at him, showing off the sealing cuffs. “I need you to help me break them out of custody. Again.”

He huffs at me, dragging it out into a condescending laugh.

“Humans.” He scoffs. But then he seems to shift a smidge. “And what of that little wisp? Can that tiny cloud puff not assist you? Is it not her duty to take care of such whims?”

“Well, she could, except that she isn’t here. She’s wherever they are, at least I hope so.”

A gust of air rushes out of him, hissing into the early dawn. He grinds his earthen scales together in irritation.

“Fine. Let’s go before I change my mind.”