Of Magic And Men
Chapter Sixteen

Alaya sat behind the tree in the thicket in front of the castle eating what little bread they had left. Silicont took this opportunity to feed on some grass nearby, neither of them saying a word, hopeful that peter would return soon with Merlin in tow. As day turned to night and night to day they became increasingly concerned that their plan had gone awry. Alaya was the first to speak. “Do you think peter is alright in there, he’s taking an awful long time, i’m starting to worry.” walking over to Silicont. Silicont raised his head to face Alaya. “you are quite fond of Peter, aren’t you Alaya.?” Silicont questioned. “what do you mean? You think I like the farm boy? Impossible, he’s so impulsive and he worries about the most meaningless things, how could I possibly like him?” Alaya responded. Silicont looked at Alaya, frowning at her dismissal “I am hundreds of years old Alaya you can not fool these eyes.” Alaya sighed realizing there was no way she could deceive him into thinking she didn’t like peter. “alright yes I like him, he’s tall and brave and he only worries because he cares.” Alaya responded. “ I thought you didn’t like that he was a “half-breed”?” Silicont jested. “I was just trying to make a point to my father, but you’re right, that was wrong of me to call him that. I just didn’t like the idea of him suddenly showing up half way through the fight and claiming victory without knowing the backstory.” “but Alaya you do know peter isn’t like that, he would never do anything intentionally to hurt you.” “I know that now but before he just seemed lie some overly confident farm boy who couldn’t even wield a sword.”Alaya lowered her head, she had treated him so poorly and he was in that castle trying to get her father back for her, she realized that if he made it out alive she would have to make amends for her behaviour. “but to answer your initial question I’m starting to think he may need rescuing.” Silicont made a good point, I had been almost a full day and there was no sign of peter or Merlin. “what should we do? That place is probably filled with more guards.” she said as she pointed towards the guards standing at the gate. Taking a moment to inspect the building, she saw it, a shimmer! Oh no! This was another trap laid by Skai, and she had let peter just walk in unassisted and unaware. She had to be careful or else she would fall into the same trap as peter, turning to Silicont she explained. “peter just walked into a trap, we have to go help him but how?” She felt like rushing in but she had to think logically about this, rushing would get them all killed. What did she have to work with, she had her sword but just running at the gate would again get them killed. She looked around and saw peters weapons beside her, another sword, that was no good. A dagger, worse than a sword. A bow, now that she could use, she needed to determine if the guards at the gate were illusions as well or if it was just regular drow soldiers. Alaya knew she would have to use the bow but how. Think, Alaya, think. Could she just shoot straight at them? If they were real soldiers they would see the arrow coming and probably dodge out of the way. She should be able to enchant the arrow to come from the side, taking them by surprise. “Okay, Silicont I have a plan, I’m going to enchant this bow to be able to shoot arrows that I will be able to control and hopefully find out if those guards are real or not.” Alaya laid out her plan and got to work. Placing her hand on the bow, she began focusing her power to manifest into the bow trying to remember the right verbal aspect. “Imperium” Luckily she remembered and called forth the magic. A soft blue light formed under her hand and was slowly absorbed into the bow. Hopefully this would work, she thought. Lifting the bow she knocked an arrow, she should be able to fire this in any direction and be able to control where it went, in theory. Pulling back the string she lined up a shot, aiming at the castle to the side of the guards she released the arrow. She quickly closed her eyes and visualized the arrow curving and going through the guards head. Opening her eyes again she saw the arrow phase through the first guard as well as the second. This whole thing was a charade. “The guards are fake!” Alaya exclaimed.”We should just be able to walk in through the front door, come on let’s get peter back.” “After you.” The pair ran out of the bushes, towards the draw bridge. Arriving at the guards, the drow looked at each other and called up to lower the bridge, just like they had for peter. This whole set up must be an illusion, the castle as well. She wanted to test her theory, before the bridge was fully lowered, she walked to the edge of the moat and carefully placed her foot down as if she could walk on air. Instead of just dangling her foot, she felt her foot hit solid ground where there should be none. Looking at Silicont, she took a deep breath in and stepped out. Instead of falling she found a stable footing. She let out the breath she had been holding. She continued to walk across the moat as the bridge lowered on top of her, she seemed to phase straight through it just as the arrow had done. She motioned for Silicont to follow, hesitantly he raised his hoof in the air and placed it down. It was solid, that was the final straw thought Alaya. They ran straight forward without anymore reservations. Drawing her sword as they entered the castle she would be prepared for anything. She would save Peter and tell him how she felt.

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