In the m, we were in the middle of making breakfast when all of my new friends suddenly became as quiet as church mice. I looked around to figure out what had happened and saw the ander gripping the bars in front of the cell. His expression was strange. His face was red with anger, a vein throbbing in his right temple, but his jaw hung open.

  Puzzled anger? Bewildered fury? Whatever.

  “Good m, ander,” I said, waving.

  His jaed shut with an audible click, and his face reddened even more. His fists, gripping the bars, turned white from the strain. For a sed, I worried he might have a heart attack.

  He shouted, “I hate wizards!” then turned and stomped away.

  I looked around to figure out what his problem was.

  Hmm, yeah... I see what threw him off.

  Our cell arkling , with pleasant smells of air freshener, soap, and delicious food. I had brought out some of my spare furniture. In the ter of the cell stood a rge dining table with chairs around it. We set the table with ptes, gsses, and cutlery. In the ter were baskets of freshly sliced bread and a sele of pastries, with bottles of juice lined along the table.

  On the left side of the cell stood twe stainless-steel tables. Solom, Ravin, and Mensh were busy choppiables for a sad oable. Oher table, I pced two stovetops with gas ders. I used oo make pancakes on tw pans, and Galihe other to fry ba.

  Shamis, Oron, and Ludig were sitting on two couches, drinking tea on the right side of the cell. Fion was drying his hair with a towel after washing up with a basin of water. All my new friends were wearing army surplus fatigues and boots, not their s, except Fion who had a big fluffy towel tied around his waist.

  I shrugged. It was the ander’s problem, not mine. I had pao flip.

  I felt Rue and the oving further and further away from me. Judging by the dire, they were heading straight to Crystalspire. They were also moving fast. I was sure they stopped during the night for a break, but I slept through it. At this rate, they would reach Crystalspire in a week or even less. I o intercept them before they reached Crystalspire.

  With all the ander’s bluster about “I answer only to the king and yadda, yadda, yadda,” the evidence proved otherwise. I had an idea of how to get out of here, but I needed help. So, during breakfast, I asked Shamis in a casual tone. “What is the amount of your debt for which you were imprisoned?”

  “Three gold and twenty-seven silver,” he answered, looking down at his pte.

  “That’s all?! That’s nothing! They put people in jail for such a pittance?” I excimed, my voice rising in disbelief.

  They looked at me strangely—yes, the look—and Shamis said, “They paid me one silver for every tree I felled and trimmed. Three gold is a lot of money.” His voice was steady but tinged with a quiet frustration.

  I rubbed my nefortably, feeling the weight of my assumptions. Yeah... Most of my ts iy were nobles, and iowns, they were mostly business owners. It skewed my perception of costs. To the ordinary folks, it robably a rge sum.

  After asking everyo the table, the total sum of debts came to thirty-one gold and fifty-four silver.

  “I have a proposition for you,” I told them all, leaning forward slightly. “But iurn, I need you to do me a favor.”

  “What?” Fion asked, his tone cautious.

  “I will give you the moo pay your debt. Iurn, I want you to insist on not paying it through the bars, but to be taken out of the cell. When they open the cell, make a big ruckus to get all the attention on you. That’s all.”

  “I think I know what you want to achieve,” Mensh said, narrowing his eyes. “But you won’t be able to escape from here. Se metal doors are in the way even if they open the cell. They won’t opehat quickly.”

  “Escape? Me?” I raised my eyebrows with an i face. “What gave you that idea? I want to make sure they get you out of the cell.”

  They exged a look, clearly unsure, and Galin opened his mouth to say something, but Solom raised his hand, stopping him. They all turo Solom, fusion written on their faces.

  Solom asked me, “Are you sure you’re n to escape from here?” His eyes narrowed as if searg for a lie.

  “Of course not!” I excimed. “I want to prove my innoce.”

  He nodded, sing the group around the table with a pointed look before asking, “So I swear to a Truth Mage with a clear sce?”

  “Absolutely,” I said, meeting his gaze firmly. “I have no iion of esg from here.”

  Their expressions showed they uood. The smiles returned around the table, and we finished eating.

  After the meal, I stored all my stuff bad gave each of them the exact amount of their debt. They thanked me again and again, swearing loyalty forever. My response was to pat them on the bad tell them they were good people who didn’t deserve to be in prison.

  When a guard passed our cell, Ravin called, “We want to pay our debt.”

  The guard stopped and frowned. “Who’s ‘we’?” he asked, sing the cell.

  Raviured with a sweeping motion at the entire cell. “All of us.”

  “All of you?” The guard asked, clearly skeptical.

  “Yes, what’s not clear? We want to pay our debt,” Ravin replied, his tone growing impatient.

  The guard reached his hand through the bars, eyes narrowing. “Give me the money, and I’ll pass it on to the ander.”

  Oron interrupted sharply, “No way! We’ll pay the ander as free people. We’re not letting our money disappear on the way to him.” His voice was loud, brimming with defiance.

  The guard’s face twisted angrily as he snapped, “You think I’m going to steal your money?! I’ve been a guard for fifteen years with a record. How dare you?”

  Ravin raised a calming hand, speaking in a soothing tone. “We don’t think you’ll steal the money. But we want to pay the ander ahe dot that shows we’ve paid and are free. You ’t uand that, but if you find yourself in a cell like us one day, you’ll uand.”

  The guard, still scowling, didn’t look pleased but left without another word.

  After half an hour, the ander returned, fnked by ten guards. My new friends stood in front of the bars, grinning broadly. I sat quietly oone bench along the opposite wall, as far from the door as possible, holding a book in my hand with an i expression.

  The ander shot me a suspicious gre, his eyes narrowing as if he could see through my calm exterior, but said nothing. He turo the others and barked, “I heard you guys are making a mess.”

  He immediately gnced back at me. I smiled and waved at him, pretending to be oblivious.

  They all started talking at once, voices rising in a chaotic chorus: “I want to pay my debt!” “I’ve got the money. Let me out!” “Take my money!” and more, all eg off the cell walls.

  The ander shot another quiy way. I kept my head down, pretending to read, but followed him carefully through a mirror I held at an angle.

  Turning to the guards, the ander ordered, “Stand in a semi-circle around me, shoulder to shoulder. No one’s getting past you. Is that clear?”

  The guards nodded, f a tight barrier, and the ander opehe cell door, immediately gng back at me again. I kept up my act, fully “immersed in the book.”

  Meanwhile, my friends began shouting and shoving each other, the tension rising. “Take my money!” “No! I’m first! My wife’s waiting for me!” “I’ve beehe lo; I’m first!” The guards grinned, amused by the se, while the aried calming them down, frustration creeping into his voice.

  “One by one, everyone will get out of here,” he said, trying tain trol.

  This was my moment. I turned invisible and shot out the door like a bullet, floatihe ceiling in the hallway.

  The ander shoved my friends bato the cell, shouting angrily at the guards, “Don’t move! He ’t get past you!” before smming the door shut.

  He gred at everyone inside. “You’re all accused of aiding an escape!” he bellowed, his voice shaking with rage.

  Solom, calm as ever, replied, “John swore to us that he had no pns to escape.”

  The ander’s face twisted in even more anger. “He swore to you?” His voice climbed an octave. “He swore to you?” And another octave higher. “He swore to you?! Let’s see what the Truth Mage says!”

  He turned back to the guards, his voice thundering. “None of you move!”

  Then he shouted toward the end of the hall, where muards stood by a rge door. “One of you, go get the Truth Mage and Life Mage here immediately!”

  He turned bay friends, his face livid. “And when I catch this criminal, if I find out any of you knowingly helped him, you’ll regret it!”

  He was shouting so loudly now that dust and small bits of stone were falling from the ceiling. His face had turned an arming shade of purple, and he was heaving like a bull at a rodeo. I was genuinely worried he might have a heart attack at this rate.

  Meanwhile, a guard opehe door to the stairs, and I floated up the stairs casually behind him. He was very nid aodating. Following the ander’s orders, he knocked oher three doors along the olitely asking them to open. He was a charming, helpful guy.

  Befoing after Rue and the core, I flew to the forest, found a quiet spot, and filled paintballs with a sleeping potion. I used up all the potions Al had given me. Between the leftover potion from Vegas—in paintballs and two big jars—and what he gave me, I now had over 10,000 sleep paintballs. It took me a few hours, but it was worth it. I didn’t want to kill the guards with Rue and the core. They hadn’t attacked me, after all—they just stole from me. And as someone who had “liberated” some property from several people, I didn’t think that warranted a death sentence.

  After the potion was ready, I flew as fast as possible after Rue and the core. I flew with my profile open and watched my mana drain quickly, though luckily, it regeed just as fast. It took five hours to catch up with them; by then, it was early evening. At first, I thought about just shooting the carriage drivers, but I was worried the carriage with Rue’s cage might overturn, injuring him, so I held off.

  I flew over them at a leisurely pace—my leisurely, not theirs. They were in three carriages, each pulled by four horses, and the drivers stantly urged them to run as fast as possible. I could see the horses were exhausted, foaming at the mouth.

  Bastards.

  The first carriage en, with two people sitting on the front bend twelve more in the back. The sed carriage held Rue’s cage, with two people on the front bench, and the third had two people in front as well. I assumed the mages were inside. I couldn’t see them because the carriage was closed, but since my core was inside, I retty sure of my assumption.

  “How are you, buddy?” I asked Rue telepathically.

  “Cage b!” His telepathic voice sounded disgruntled. “Rue did everything John say. Rue peed and pooped on guard shoes. Rue bark all night. Every time guards go sleep, Rue bark and bark. Guards and mages are very tired. Rue not let them sleep. Rue ask for food all the time. Guards bad people. They only gave Rue little food. They not give Rue snakes!” I sentence, he souterly ed.

  “My poor buddy! Don’t worry. As soon as they stop, I’ll release you. When I tell you, put on the muzzle against Al’s potion.”

  Two hours after night fell, they finally stopped at a clearing on the side of the road. Three guards brought Rue a bowl of water and a bowl of food. While one opehe cage door, two aimed crossbows at him.

  Sons of bitches.

  When I saw the amount of food, I uood why Rue pihey’d given him an amount that might be enough folderiever, not a dog the size of a juvenile horse. I he oh the key for ter.

  After they stopped, they lit a fire and started preparing food. The mages exited their wagon, and one hugged my core with both hands. The same ohat jumped on the book in the skyrest. I ted them and saw that everyone resent.

  “Put the muzzle on,” I told Rue.

  In the dark, with his bck fur, they didn’t notice that he now had a brown muzzle on.

  Seeing he was ready, I wasted no time and shot them with the potion balls.

  Once everyone was down, I retrieved my core, instrug it to itself in a neack, which I strapped onto my back. I found the guard with the key and freed Rue. He jumped on me excitedly, paws nding on my shoulders and knog me over. Luckily, there was grass, or I might have been injured by love. I still had to cast Healing Touch to heal the bruises from the fall.

  He enthusiastically licked my face, and after he calmed dowold me, “Rue need seak and smoked crab.”

  “Sure, buddy. ing right up.” I said, ughing.

  While Rue ate, I went to take care of the rest of the tasks. It was very siderate of the bad guys to release the horses from the carriages so I could store them directly. I removed the remaining equipment from the horses ahem to graze. Walking twenty meters into the trees, I opehe house, returo the clearing, picked up two men, and slid them into the detention room through the chute the core had made.

  No one in my private detention room poked their head through the opening this time. Apparently, they’d learheir lesson. I returo the clearing, took two more, ahem down the chute. I had to repeat this a twelve times, but eventually, only the horses were in the clearing. And my detention room was overflowing. I had to find a solution to what to do with those idiots.

  Rue finished lig the bowls, I closed the house, and we walked further into the trees. After half an hour of walking, I opehe house again, and we spent an enjoyable night at home. He told me again how heroic he was in annoying everybody and made me ugh.

  Before falling asleep, I had a fantastic idea for prisoe and revenge, and fell asleep with a huge grin.