Chapter 13: Seeking Aid in the Dark of Night
As time was running out for Lando, he promptly fired off a series of questions to Kurt. "Do you have any information about that prison? Can your people help me get in? You mentioned having many people there who will be executed tomorrow. Are you abandoning them, or should we help each other?"
As Lando asked all his questions in a slight state of panic, Kurt replied with a complicated expression. "Boy, I am just an apprentice, and I am already the strongest among us here. As much as I would like to free my companions, I cannot help you break into that prison, nor do I have any information on it."
Lando, realizing he had asked the wrong man, demanded, "Then bring me to someone who can."
Kurt felt conflicted. He could hear the desperation in Lando's voice, which pushed aside any doubts he had about the young man being part of the duke's forces and him being here to sabotage the revolution. He was not allowed to contact the higher-ups on his own accord for security reasons, but he also wanted to free his companions, and if anyone could break into the prison, it would be a space mage.
After pondering for a while, Kurt said, "Alright. I will probably get punished for this, but I can at least ask my superior. Just don't do anything stupid, okay?"
He didn't truly believe the mage was powerful enough to break into the heavily guarded prison, but they had nothing to lose in this endeavor anyway. In the worst case, the young mage would end up getting killed, and in the best case, he might create some chaos in the prison, with luck allowing some of his comrades to escape.
Delighted that the leader had agreed to his demands so easily, Lando followed Kurt out of their hideout and into the darkness of the night. He knew there was no time to force them to reveal information about their higher-ups and thus was glad that he did not have to push it that far.
They left the outskirts of the city and made their way toward the center. They had to evade a few guardsmen on their way due to the curfew, until finally arriving at an alchemy workshop. Approaching the backdoor, Kurt said to Lando before knocking, "Let me do the talking at first, and you can ask your questions right after."
After a few moments, the door was opened and a beautiful woman with long brown hair tied in a ponytail, seemingly in her late 20s, stood in the doorway. As she looked at Kurt and then at Lando, her expression darkened. "You know that I could kill you here and now for breaking our rules, and yet you came here in the middle of the night with an unknown young man," she said, but opened the door a bit more to signal them to come in to not make a scene in the middle of the night.
Inside, Kurt, already breaking out in a sweat, explained himself hurriedly. "I would not have come here if it wasn't important, ma'am." The woman signaled him to continue while she looked over Lando before her eyes stopped at his eyes.
"An hour ago, this young mage came looking for us because one of his friends is imprisoned by the duke, and he was looking for help on this endeavor," Kurt continued, as demanded.
At the mention of the word "mage," she raised her left eyebrow and asked the young man before her, seemingly less angry than a few moments ago, "Then answer me some questions first, young mage. Who are you, and who do you want to help free from the prison?"
Lando, a bit irritated by the woman's long eye contact but not breaking it yet, answered, "My name is Lando, and I want to free my mother."
She seemed to think for a moment before gesturing for him to follow her, ending their small staring contest. They arrived in a lounge area soon after, and she offered them both a seat as she took her own in a large leather chair. "And what kind of help do you expect from us?" she asked Lando with a curious voice.
Lando didn't need long to think about it and asked, "Honestly, anything that you can provide."
The woman let out a hum as she crossed her legs before asking, "For that, I need a bit more information about your mother."
"Why do you need that kind of information?" Lando asked, not ready to give out information about his family so easily.
"Well, it's important to know the reason she is imprisoned and how powerful she is, as that would determine her place of imprisonment and how difficult it would be to get her out," the woman said frankly trying to get some information on the young man.
Lando chose his words carefully. "The only reason I could think of is rebellion. She was not part of your revolution, that I know for certain, but I think she was accused of treason anyway, as some circumstances could lead you to think that way."
The woman tapped her chin with her index finger, seemingly deep in thought about Lando's answer. Then she asked further, "And when was she imprisoned exactly?"
Lando quickly glanced at his new pocket watch, noting that it was already 1:30 am, and answered, "Yesterday."
"Interesting," the woman said, waiting a few moments before making her assumptions. "A very young mage is trying to rescue his mother but obviously doesn't want to reveal too much information about her, as you didn't answer my question about her magical prowess. That makes me think she is either someone important or a strong magician, or both. I don't know you, which means you and your mother are most probably not from Goldton, as I know most of the nobility and powerful magicians. A powerful woman, not from Goldton, imprisoned yesterday. Hmm, I think something happened in the city yesterday, am I right?"
Lando stared into the woman's beautiful eyes with a deadpan expression. He didn't want to give her any more information about his family, but he was quite surprised by her wit as she seemed to be spot on with her assumptions. As the cat was already out of the bag, he sighed and answered, "Yes. My mother was the high mage who was fighting in the industrial district yesterday. We were hiding in Marcus' house, a friend of my father's, to wait out the whole revolution. But some unexpected events occurred, and my mother was captured."
Kurt, sitting quietly on the nearby chair, was shocked to learn that the mother of the young mage beside him was responsible for the destruction in the industrial district just a few hours earlier. He hadn't lost anyone in the fight, but he was still upset about the destruction it caused, knowing many who had lost loved ones. He didn't have the power or the will to hold the mage accountable for his mother's actions, so he just sat there and listened to the conversation.
The woman, pleased with her accurate assumptions, smirked and said, "Alright. Marcus probably got discovered as a member of the rebellion, and your parents were involved in this whole spectacle because they were his guests. It was a big loss for us as well, as we lost two powerful mages that day. But to be honest, this doesn't make the situation any easier for you."
As Lando heard for the first time that Marcus and Celine were members of the revolution, he didn't quite know what to think. Were his parents aware from the beginning, or were they just victims of unfortunate circumstances? How did Marcus and his wife get discovered? Was there a betrayal? He decided that it didn't really matter at this point, as his priorities now lay elsewhere. He asked the woman before him, "If you also lost someone and my parents were friendly with some revolutionaries, can you finally help me now? We don't have much time to get her out of there. I've heard there are daily executions, and we're running out of time."
"Don't worry. I don't believe they will execute your mother in the morning. As a high mage with no real connection to the revolution, well not anymore, she's probably imprisoned at the deepest level of the dungeon with the highest security measures. Even if she's powerful, the chances of her being enslaved are zero if she resists the process. They're likely holding her there until she reaches the point where living as a slave is more comfortable than enduring constant torture," the brown-haired woman said.
Lando felt relief knowing that his mother wouldn't be executed within a few hours but was getting furious to hear that she was being tortured. He knew his mother well enough to know that she wouldn't give in and become a slave.
That meant he had a bit more time, but it also meant that his mother would continue to suffer until he saved her.
After letting the information sink in, the woman continued, "I'm sorry to say this, but we can't afford to risk our current plans, so we can't provide you with manpower for your mission, even if there are people of our own are imprisoned there as well."
In just a few days, ships sent by Vincent would arrive to subdue the duke. The revolutionaries' current plan was to lay low and wait for reinforcements. They were not willing to risk powerful members to support a prison break for a woman who had no affiliation with them. Even though she could potentially help as a high mage, they couldn't be certain that she would support their cause, and the risk was too great at this moment.
"But I could provide you with plans of the dungeon, guards on duty, etc. if you're interested in making your own plans," she offered. She secretly welcomed the idea of a bit of chaos, and if the young mage managed to free a high mage in the midst of the guards' headquarters and cause havoc along the way, she would welcome it even more, unlikely as it was. However, all she had to do was give the mage before her some information, so she was more than willing to support him.
Lando's excitement grew at the offer. The woman grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from the nearby table and began to draw the layout of the dungeon he needed to break into.
The dungeon consisted of six levels in total, with the ground floor mainly responsible for management, while the deeper levels housed the prisoners. The first level below ground was for commoners, and it was likely that his mother was held in the deepest level, five floors down, which had the highest level of security. There were several guards stationed throughout the prison, with the strongest being a solid stage mage. They didn't need many high level magicians as guards, as all the imprisoned magicians wore suppression collars that prevented them from using their mana. The high-level guards were mostly for external threats, but since the dungeon was located near the guard headquarters, there weren't too many stationed there, as the armies general a high mage and his squads of magicians were often present as reinforcements.
The most frustrating thing for Lando was that the cells with the highest security were warded against space magic. However, the good news was that the other floors were not, as there were very few space mages. The ones that did exist had either been recruited by the space-time council, hunted down by them, or were of a low enough level that they posed no threat to the guards and thus it was just too costly to ward the whole dungeon.
Lando knew he couldn't waste any more time. He carefully tucked the piece of paper into his pocket and expressed his gratitude to Kiara. He intended to leave and begin making plans on how to save his mother when Kiara stopped him with her words, "By the way, my name is Kiara. If you manage to survive your liberation mission, you should visit my store in the future. I have many useful items for young mages like yourself," she said, giving him a playful wink.
Lando simply nodded in acknowledgment and exited the store.
As Lando left the store, Kiara turned to Kurt a expression that meant business on her face and said, "Well done, Kurt. We need to make some plans of our own in case this young mage is able to accomplish his goal. It doesn't really matter if he succeeds, but the more chaos he causes, the better it will be for us. We can use that to our advantage and further our position."
***
Lando found himself standing in the alley, contemplating his next steps. "Alright," he thought to himself, "it's time to break into some prisons."
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