Myth Alliances

I frowned.

"That's a compliment," Bu

"I know," I sighed. "It just doesn't sound like one."

Magik-proof the Scamaroni jail and courthouse might be; damage resistant they were less so. Tananda and I had pla

We hid underneath the drawbridge until the foot traffic in the street thi

But they never settled down anywhere. I wouldn't have, either, if I had had to listen to the banging and pounding that was coming from inside the station. Loud shrieks rang out, only lightly muffled by the twelve-foot thick stone walls.

"The Pervects aren't taking incarceration calmly, are they?" Bu

Wham! The wall just overhead shook, as if a dragon had slammed into it. Male voices joined in the cacophony.

"Shut up or we'll chain you up!" a guard yelled.

"You and what army?" shrilled a female voice.

"Police brutality!" bellowed another.

"Let us out, or we'll let ourselves out!"

"Never! The Volute Jail has never had a successful escape!" a male a

The footsteps overhead became more agitated by the moment.

"We're never going to get rid of them," Tananda murmured.

"Sure we will," I assured. "They're afraid of a jailbreak. We'll give them one."

From my long, slow promenade that afternoon I knew every inch of that drawbridge. It was no trouble at all to create the illusion of two heavily armed female Pervects dropping to the stone path from above the door, then ru

The effect on the sentries was electric.

"They're getting away!" one yelled. "Raise the alarm! Two of the Perverts got out!" Sprinting footsteps pattered away into the distance, along with the faint yellow light of the glowing torches they'd grabbed off the wall sconces.

"What? What?" came from inside. But the two guards were-already in pursuit of my illusion. I listened carefully. The sentries' alarm had spread. Within moments, a troop of guards and police officers raced out and down into the street, following their fellow guards' lights. Tananda gri

As soon as we crossed the threshold I felt the chill sensation of the dampening spell. It didn't render me physically cold, but it stripped away from me all co

The false escape had thrown the building into chaos. Half-dressed guards with veins showing in their protuberant brown eyes and their hair still mussed from sleep yanked on uniform tunics as they ran up and down the halls. No one seemed to know what he or she was doing. Following Tananda's lead, we flitted from shadow to shadow, ducking out of the sight of the hurrying guards. We made our way back to the cells.

Where I heard banging and yelling I knew I would not find our Kobold. I tiptoed to the first quiet door I could find and leaned close to the crack at the bottom.

"Zol?" I whispered.

"Who is that?" a voice bellowed from across the hall. The banging ceased for a moment. "Who's out there?"

I should have realized how keen Pervects' hearing was. "Zol, are you in there?" I repeated.

No answer. I heard a hiss, and looked up. Tananda was clinging to the keystone arch above the cell door. Bu

"Prisoner check!" a

"You let me out of here at once!" It was the eldest female. "You boys are going to be sorry you mistreated an old lady! When I tell your mothers what you've been up to…!" She left the threat unfinished, but it had its desired effect. The guards trembled and moved back. The sergeant, sweating, pulled the key out.

"That one's secure," he told them. They moved nervously along to the next cell.

By this time the other Pervects had heard the footsteps in the hallway. They were all clamoring to get out, threatening the guards with dire physical harm. I paid attention to the cells that the guards didn't visit. Either those were empty, or they contained non-Pervect prisoners.

Boom! Crash! Screech! The noise was the ideal cover as we went from one quiet cell to another. Once the guards had gone we were able to split up. In a few moments we met in a doorway.

"I don't hear him," Tananda whispered. "I don't think he's here."

"Where would they be keeping him?" Bu

We were interrupted by a bright Prring! like a doorbell being rung. Sudden silence descended. We all looked at one another. Wide-eyed with alarm, Bu

I didn't have time to chide Bu

Luckily the confusion prevented anyone from paying close attention to us. Scammies ran up and back with torches, stopping one another at sword's point, and diving in and out of doorways. Whenever a section of hallway emptied, we traversed it, hiding in pools of shadow. The entrance, whose threshold I never thought I would have to cross again in my life, loomed up ahead of us. Beyond it, the sky was lightening. Morning had broken. An apron of light was just begi

As we were scurrying along the last few yards, a huge shadow loomed up in front of us. I froze. There was nowhere to hide. We'd been discovered. Any moment now, the guard would shout out the alarm, and this time we would all be locked in a cell next to the Pervects.

"Scootie!" Tananda squealed, throwing herself into the guard's arms.

"Tananda," the guard replied, torn between pleasure and embarrassment.

"Where have you been?" she asked, gesturing behind her back for us to keep moving. "I've been looking for you."

"Uh, I can't now," Scootie said, nervously. "We had an escape. Uh… I'm not supposed to say anything about that."

"Oh, I wouldn't tell," Tananda promised him, cuddling close. "You're so brave, chasing prisoners. I bet they were armed and dangerous!"

"Uh, not exactly…" We tiptoed behind the Scammie, whose entire attention was being commanded by Tananda.

"Scootari!"

"Uh, I gotta go," Scootie pleaded, extricating himself with some difficulty.

"Oh, must you?" Tananda cooed. By this time we were outside, plastered against the wall just beyond the door. I threw an illusion on myself and Bu

"Let's go," she chirped, straightening her belt and tidying her hair. "He couldn't stay." I gave Tananda a Scammie face to wear, too, and added the flower-smell illusion that had initially kept us from discovery. The three of us found a quiet corner table in a local cafe to get some breakfast. I sat with my back to the wall, keeping an eye on the interplay in the room. The whole town was frantic about the purported escape of prisoners from the jail.