Chương 44: They've Got an Archmage

"I don't think this is going to work," Raylin said.

"It will work," Maelle insisted, continuing to fiddle with her tail in the lock.

"You've been at it for hours."

"Well, I've never done this before."

"Then how do you know it's going to work?" Raylin asked.

"Because I read about it in books." Though if she was being honest, she would admit that the books never said how the heroes had done it, only that they'd done it. This seemed to be a glaring omission in children's literature and also in the curriculum her tutors had planned for her. It had seemed like such a brilliant idea at the time. If she could transform her tail into the right shape, she could pick the lock.

The problem was that she didn't know what the right shape was—and even if she did, she was beginning to doubt if she had enough control over her tail to do it.

"I think lockpicks are meant to be two separate pieces," Raylin said.

"One that goes back and forth and one that spins."

"Spins? Are you kidding me?" She couldn't imagine how difficult it would be to get her tail to move in two different directions at once.

"It might not even be right for these locks," Raylin said.

"There are different designs, you know."

"Oh, great." After fiddling for a few more moments, she said, "How do you know so much about locks anyway?"

"Well, you know, I was the daughter of a traveling merchant."

"I don't get it."

"Well, maybe I didn't want to follow in my father's footsteps," Raylin said. She looked over at the other girl.

"You wanted to become a thief?"

"An adventurer," Raylin replied indignantly.

"They have to know how to get in and out of difficult places."

"That sure would be handy right about now," she agreed.

"If you can get me some lockpicks, I can give it a go," Raylin said.

"My tail doesn't extend that far."

"That's a shame." At that moment something approached Maelle's cage. What she saw seemed impossible.

"Boots? How did you get in here?" He ignored the question and squeezed in between the bars to join her inside.

"No, little buddy. Go and get Havlo. Lead him back here." But the cat instead made his way to the bedding piled up in the corner and curled up to sleep inside the cage. Maelle got back to working at the lock, as now she had one more person counting on her. A couple of hours passed before her tail got too sore and she had to stop. She took advantage of the break to check on Boots. When she went to pet him, she noticed something sticking out of his fur. They looked like pins. Carefully she removed them.

They weren't like any pins she'd ever seen, and the tips were a bit bent.

"What have you got there?" Raylin asked. She held them up for the other girl to see.

"Those could do," Raylin said excitedly.

"Quick, pass them over." She tossed the damaged pins over to the other cage, and Raylin caught them in her palms.

"Ouch! These are sharp."

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, it's only a shallow prick. It isn't like these would be poisoned or anything, right?" Raylin held the pins up and examined them against the light of the ceiling orb.

"The shape isn't perfect, but I think I can make it work." At the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching along the hallway, Maelle pulled back and reshaped her tail back into its normal arrowhead. Whoever it was, they were in a mad rush. Maelle caught a flash of alchemist's robes as someone ran past the doorway. He didn't go too much farther before stopping to hold a conversation, and she could just make out the words.

"What do you mean Wolfbear's dead?" a man demanded.

"All that's left are the bones," a younger man replied.

"Did one of the experiments escape?" Two sets of footsteps returned down the hallway. When the two figures passed by the doorway, Maelle saw that the alchemist now had a taller man with him, one wearing a steel cuirass.

"That taller guy's the head guard," Raylin said.

"Watch out—he's got quite the temper." In the past couple of hours, the other captives had shared what they knew about these dungeons. There weren't any other people being held here —not according to the guards, anyway, who were apparently quite talkative when they came to change their water. A few of the other captives hadn't been blindfolded like Maelle was when they were brought down here, so they'd seen more of the dungeon.

Unfortunately that didn't turn up anything useful, as they hadn't exactly been given the grand tour, though one mentioned that he'd caught a glimpse of a store room filled with carpentry tools. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Whatever the alchemist had shown the head guard, he wasn't happy, as his shouts and cursing were so loud that they'd traveled back up to the holding room.

It seemed they'd begun making their way back, as Maelle was soon able to make out their words.

"How did this happen?" the guard shouted.

"Why didn't anyone report a breach?"

"I-I don't know!" the alchemist stammered.

"No one's said anything to me either!"

"It's got to be the one that's gone missing. It must still be lurking around somewhere."

"Wh-wh-what? B-but you said this place was safe!"

"Go upstairs and tell manor security to search the grounds," the guard commanded.

"Then get the archmage down here!" The alchemist ran past the holding room, presumably toward the exit, and a short while later the guard appeared in the doorway.

"If any of you has seen any funny business," he declared, "report it now." No one spoke up. The guard entered the room and then went to each occupied cage, rattling the doors and staring each prisoner down one by one.

"You'll get a nice, hot meal," the guard continued as he made his way around.

"I'll make sure it has some meat and egg and as much pumpkin as you can eat." A few eyes flickered to Maelle. She couldn't tell if the man noticed, but he did step in front of her cage next and glare at her.

"Could it really be a mere coincidence that this only happened after you were brought here?" he said.

"For someone who can draw blood from an archmage, it seems you let yourself get captured a little too easily." Then his eyes traveled down to the floor, where she'd forgotten to hide the pieces of cut rope.

"Weren't your hands supposed to be tied?" She knew she was in for it when his eyes turned steely. Footsteps came running down the passageway and Maelle sensed a powerful aura approaching. By the time the two people stopped outside the doorway, the mana presence was already thick and heavy. The alchemist had returned with another person in tow. Maelle recognized her as the woman who'd tried to grab her yesterday after the bumping incident outside the Dabaux estate.

For some reason her aura felt more powerful now than it was back then. Was it an effect of the confined space? Or had the woman been suppressing her mana back then and chosen to let it all out now?

"I brought the archmage," the young alchemist said.

"Archmage Poshit," the head guard said.

"Please give me a moment to transfer this prisoner. She's tried to escape, and I have to make sure that doesn't happen. After that I'll show you the problem we found in the specimen holding room."

"Make it quick," Archmage Poshit replied.

"It stinks down here." With the archmage watching on, the guard opened the cage and pulled Maelle out roughly. All her struggles were helpless against his iron grip. But even if she'd managed to get a hand free and point at him, there was an archmage standing guard who could fry her in an instant. The guard brought her over to a corner where iron manacles were mounted on the wall, and locked her wrists into place. She felt the flow of mana into her hands dampen.

It would be impossible for her to cast any spells from here.

"These have even stronger wards on them," he said to her.

"Let's see you try your tricks now." Something by her feet caught his attention. She followed his gaze and saw Boots glaring menacingly up at the guard.

"How'd that cat get in here?" he said.

"Who cares?" Archmage Poshit said.

"Let's see this problem that you so urgently had to pull me away from the dinner table for." The head guard left with Archmage Poshit and the alchemist following behind while Maelle continued to hang there on her tippy-toes and regretting her carelessness. After some time, she could hear Archmage Poshit talking as the kidnappers returned down the hallway.

"—sort of carelessness is absolutely unacceptable. If a cat can get in, a chimera can get out."

"None of my men would miss something of that size," the head guard said.

"Your specimen count is off by one, isn't it? And now Wolfbear is dead. Clearly your men can miss something of that size. I bet the missing chimera is still lurking around somewhere down here, and you dimwits just haven't searched properly."

"I'll pull all the security teams down here to conduct a thorough search."

"Top priority is the security of the Dabaux family," Archmage Poshit said.

"Only once the manor grounds have been confirmed safe may you bring the security teams down here. I'll keep the family inside until you give the all-clear, but don't take too long. The senior Mister Dabaux likes his evening walks through the garden."

"Yes, ma'am," the head guard replied.

"And make sure to have someone posted at both exits at all times. Had you been doing that, there wouldn't be any question about where the chimera is now."

"Yes, ma'am," the head guard replied. After Archmage Poshit left, the guard mumbled just loud enough that Maelle could make out the words, "Yeah, I'll just post guards everywhere. As if the richest man in Ardark isn't also the stingiest." He and the alchemist had stopped outside the holding room.

"Should we send the lab security team up to help with the search?" the alchemist asked.

"No." The guard dismissed the idea swiftly.

"But the archmage said that securing the manor grounds is the top priority."

"She also said that the chimera must be down here," the guard replied.

"So which is it? Must it be down here, or could it be up there?"

"I don't—""She always does that." The guard sounded exasperated.

"Everything is a contradiction, and there's never a clear decision. Is she like that with you guys too?"

"I don't—""She wants us to finish searching the manor grounds in time for Mister Dabaux's walk, but she also wants us to pull two people and have them standing around doing nothing at the exits."

"What should we do?" the alchemist asked.

"I have a feeling that whatever killed Wolfbear is still down here," the guard said.

"Really?" The alchemist suddenly sounded very nervous.

"If the archmage is right about one thing, it's that Mister Dabaux's safety is our top priority. Put one person at both exits, but pull them from the search team upstairs. I want all of lab security down here searching for the missing specimen."

"Maybe me and one of the other researchers can do door duty," the alchemist said hopefully.

"No, you guys know the labs better than the other security team. I want all the research staff in on the search. We're going to find this thing together."

"Oh. Good," the alchemist said meekly.

"It's just eaten Wolfbear, so it's going to be full. This is the safest time to try and find it." After the alchemist and the head guard left in opposite directions, Maelle heard a click come from one of the other cages. She turned in time to see a door swing open and Raylin step out. The girl hurried over to Maelle. The manacles were a bit too high, so she pulled one of the wooden crates over from the wall.

Maelle was worried that the sound of it scraping against the stone floor would be loud enough for the guards to hear, but nobody came running. Standing on the crate, Raylin begin working on the cuffs, and within moments Maelle was free.

"Thanks," she said.

"That was more uncomfortable than it looks." Raylin then went around to the cages one by one to release the other prisoners. The moment they were free, each one ran up to the crate where the kidnappers had dumped their belongings. Unfortunately for those who'd been there more than a day, the guards had already taken everything valuable for themselves. This meant there weren't any weapons for them to take and use.

But a lot of what had been left behind had sentimental value, and she saw people stowing letters and bronze lockets away in their inventory. Maelle was relieved to get her books back. They were precious to her—one was a gift from Virdis, and the other one was on loan from Havlo. She couldn't afford to lose either of them.

"What's the plan?" Raylin asked after she'd freed the last prisoner and recovered her own possessions.

"We'll see what sort of fighting force we've got and then we bust our way out of here," Maelle replied.

"Really?" Raylin said excitedly.

"No! Are you crazy? They've got an archmage. We're going to take it slow and sneaky." Though she wasn't sure if even that was going to work.