30 Ymiden 719
Balthazar scanned the room as he made his way to the bar. There were maybe twenty people there altogether and almost every one of them was armed in some way but that was just typical of Yaralon. It didn't mean Balthazar should be suspicious of them all. Then again given that two mage hunters had been sent from here to find an presumably capture Merigold, perhaps no one warranted trust. When Balthazar sat at the bar he ordered a drink for the man sitting on the stool beside him as was the custom.
"For Llaren." Balthazar said to dismiss any conversation by signifying he was simply respecting the custom and not inviting the individual to partake in an extended conversation of any form. The patron smiled at him and looked to the barkeep.
"Get him a purple whiskey for Raskalarn. I'd hate to break custom." The patron said and the bartender began to prepare the drink. Balthazar watched the bartender preparing the drink skeptically for a few moments. The tribute was supposed to go to Llaren which most citizens would know but even more odd than that, you only had to buy another person the first drink when you came in. The bartender set the purple whiskey down in front of Balthazar and he took the cup in hand. He wasn't sure how he was going to start his search but he knew that he needed to stay sober to do it.
The patron took a swig of the drink Balthazar had bought him and then watched Balthazar expectantly. It wouldn't have been so bad if not for the fact the bartender was watching him and waiting as well. So Balthazar took a slow sip of the burning liquid and set it back on the counter. "Thank you." He said as an odd aftertaste filled his mouth. It was a lot more bitter than he remembered the drink being.
"You're welcome, Balthazar." At the sound of his name, a chill spread up through Balthazar's spine. He hadn't introduced himself to anyone yet. Balthazar stood from his stool and the world around him began to spin. He turned to find almost everyone in the tavern looking at him, watching him. Balthazar took a step towards the door and his footing fell out from under him. He hit a table and the world went black.
******* ******* *******
Balthazar awoke in a small but crowded room with his hands bound by rope. "He's waking up!" A voice whispered urgently as Balthazar felt hands slowly lifting him into an upright position, propped against the wall of the room that had been converted into their prison. Balthazar blinked his eyes open and then blinked a little more to clear the blurry sheen over his vision.
"What's going on?" He grumbled as he tried to pull his hands free of the bindings. As he twisted his hands to try and break free, the knot seemed to tighten so he stopped. Balthazar looked at the four faces around him. There was a balding human male, an Ithecal man, and two human women- one with light hair and one with dark hair. They all had iron shackles on, not ropes. Balthazar theorized that they had either run out of iron shackles or they were saving them for Merigold... or maybe they had just dropped Balthazar off and were going back to get them?
"You're in The Crooked Want. The mage hunters got you. They intend to sell us off as slaves somewhere now that you all don't have your magic." The balding man said. There were more features to distinguish him than the fact that he was balding. For example, he was missing two fingers on his left hand as well, the pinky and the ring finger. "I'm Jeeb, this is Vale," Jeeb gestured to the Ithecal, "And those two are Terra and Tara. Tara has the light hair, Terra has the dark hair."
"Nice to meet you all. Unfortunate it had to be here. Jeeb, Merigold is safe." Balthazar thought it might comfort the man a little to know his last charge was not in some other room awaiting the same fate. In honesty Balthazar was just using idle chat to buy himself enough time to try and figure a way out of this mess. He was a horrible rescuer if he couldn't get out of a few ropes. Balthazar began twisting his wrists again to try and slip free of the rope, this time he tried to use his strength to pull free of the ropes but all that happened was the ropes tore into his wrists.
"Well that is great for her but I have bigger problems now." Jeeb said dismissively. The Ithecal and the girls began their own small conversation in whispers while Balthazar spoke to Jeeb.
"Did you ever get to her mentor? Do one of you know her?" Balthazar turned his second question to the group as he tried one last time to pull free and only ripped into his wrists further. The pain was nothing compared to the idea of a life enslaved and without magic.
"They didn't know her and I got nabbed before I made it to the arena." Jeeb answered for the group. Balthazar shook his head to clear the heavy fog infecting his thoughts. The fog brought on by the concoction they'd used to knock him out. With every second the fog thinned a little more but Balthazar was still moving slowly. He rose to his feet, abandoning the hope of freeing his hand.
"Any idea what's past the door?" Balthazar asked, gesturing to the entrance to the room. It was the only way in, and the only way out.
”We aren’t sure. They only open it to bring in food and quiet us down when we make too much noise.” Jeeb replied. Balthazar thought it was interesting that a loud noise would be enough to summon a guard. Maybe they were more valuable to the hunters than he thought?
"How many guards are there?" Balthazar asked. He was trying to figure out his odds because he only saw one way out of the room they were all stuck in both literally and figuratively. He had tested himself- without magic- against quite a few people at a time but this wouldn’t be a test. If he was wrong this time he would die.
”There is no way to know but I wouldn’t try what you are thinking.” Jeeb advised. Balthazar raised an eyebrow and Jeeb continued ”There used to be five of us, then Apoc tried to escape and they got him. They hunted you mages before they tried to enslave you, so any reason to kill you is good enough for them.”
"Don’t worry about me. I’ll be able to handle myself. I’m more concerned with how I’m going to get all of you out without taking on the whole building." Balthazar admit as he looked at the ropes binding his hands. It would be hard enough to fight with his hands tied together... escorting the others out would be nearly impossible to do on his own without magic.
Balthazar missed his magic but every day he was forced to live without it he realized more and more how much of a crutch his magic had been. Every time he got into trouble he relied on it to get out and now that he didn’t have it, he really, really needed it. Then again perhaps that was an unfair way to view it? He had earned his magic. He had learned to use it through study that most could only dream of.
In that moment he steeled himself for the events to come. Balthazar knew exactly what he needed to do to get them out and he even felt like he might be able to do it without his magic.
"Alright, everyone listen, I have a plan."
