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Ike grimaced. "Oh."

"Yeah? Do you see what I was smelling, now?" Wisp asked.

A stone platform stretched before them. The platform was raised above a small, empty courtyard. Blood stagnated on the surface of the platform. The wind stirred the congealing blood. The deeper pools rippled gently. Bodies hung from spikes at the platform\'s edge.

Not far from the platform, a series of cages and a silent line of people in chains waited. A man walked toward the platform. Wearing all black and hefting a giant axe over one shoulder, he had the slow stride of a man returning to another day\'s hard work. He loomed, easily two feet taller than anyone in chains. Muscle bulged and rippled over his body. His biceps were the size of melons. His thighs bulged against his pants. Each step echoed in the silent square.

He\'s huge. Ike gaped. How on earth do you get that big? Tall, big, anything?

The enormous man climbed up onto the platform. Blood splashed around the soles of his boots. Lifting his hand, he gestured the first person in chains forward. The guards around the chained people gave them a push. They stumbled forward, then caught themselves. At the stairs to the platform, they looked around, as if searching for a way out. The guards closed in on them. The person moved again, reluctantly approaching the platform.

Ike drew close to Wisp. "We\'re on a time limit. See anyone kingly? Or queenly?"

"I dunno. You\'re a human, you tell me," Wisp whispered back.

Ike froze. His mind went back to the dungeon. Holy shit. Did we leave them down there because Wisp doesn\'t know what a queen or king looks like?

Wisp giggled. She nudged him. "Your face looks amazing right now. I\'m joking, just joking."

Ike rolled his eyes at her. He lifted a hand to his eyes, shading them against the sun. The king and queen would be powerful, at a guess. These cities aren\'t ruled by bloodlines, but by power… if they\'re anything like my home city, anyways. Which means they\'re probably in the cages, not just in chains. After all, I already sensed the iron bars with suppressive powers down in the dungeon. It\'s not much extrapolation to figure out that they could use that same technique on a cage. That already narrowed it down pretty significantly. There were only a few cages.

Ike scanned the cages one by one. All the mages within wore ragged clothes, their finery stripped away. Filth stained their hair and skin. Not a single one had the bearing of a monarch.

He tilted his head. Rather than looking for \'a monarch,\' he looked at their faces. He searched out Clarina\'s features. Her high cheekbones and shallow chin. Blond hair and blue eyes.

At last, he found someone who looked like her. A man with a shallow chin and piercing blue eyes. Beside him, a woman leaned against the bars of her cage. The two of them held hands through the bars.

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Well, it\'s a decent guess, Ike thought to himself. He leaned toward Wisp. "What about those two?"

"Sure. They look human to me."

Ike snorted. He glanced at Wisp. "She really should\'ve shown us her parents\' faces."

Wisp shrugged, her shoulders rubbing against Ike\'s. "Probably assumed we knew them. Anyone from her city or the surrounding area would have. She had no reason to assume we were wandering mages from the far side of the mountains."

"Yeah, true," Ike allowed. He pinched his chin. "So… how are we getting them out of there? They\'re way stronger than us. No way we can break in if they can\'t break out."

On the platform, the man with the axe gestured. The first person in chains trudged forward, head bowed. They stepped onto the platform and dropped to their knees. The axe-wielder hefted his axe.

"Don\'t have to, do we? They\'ll let those two out when it\'s their time." Wisp asked.

Ike eyed the executioner. "Right, but once they let them out of the cages, we have to contend with that guy."

She pinched her chin. Ike thought as well. Abruptly, he snapped. "I have an idea."

"Oh, yeah?"

"We\'re fucked if it fails, but if it works, we\'re gold. All we have to do is run."

"And you\'re great at running."

"Ain\'t that the truth." Ike nodded at Wisp. He leaned in. "Here\'s the plan…"

--

One after another, the chained figures ascended the stairs. The executioner hefted his axe and let it fall. One after another, heads hit the platform. Blood splashed. It gushed from their bodies and flooded the platform. When they stopped kicking, the executioner stomped. The blood trembled and swallowed up the bodies, transporting them somewhere unknown.

Well, it\'s pretty known to us.

Ike crouched behind the man\'s cage. He leaned in. "Sir, please remain calm. If you can hear me, blink."

The man jolted. He started to look over his shoulder, then stopped. Very deliberately, he blinked.

Do you want to react a little more obviously? Ike rolled his eyes, but kept talking. "I presume I speak to the king?"

"You presume correctly."

If anyone asked me if I was the king, and I was chained up and waiting for execution, I\'d say I was the king. But whatever. He does look like Clarina. Ike leaned in. "Here. Take this. Put it over yourself."

The king jolted. He took the thing Ike handed him and obeyed what he suggested. Ike leaned in close. He held his breath, watching the guards and executioner.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. One of the guards yawned. He looked around, lazily scanning the cages.

And then he jumped. He pointed. "The-the-the—the king!"

"What?" Another guard looked over. Her brows furrowed. Her eyes darted from cage to cage. "Holy shit! Where\'d the king and the queen go?"

The cages stood completely empty. Not a single sign of life remained within.

On the platform, the executioner looked over. He scowled. "Find them, fools!"

Four guards ran for the cages. The rest spread out, racing across the area. One of the ones who ran for the cages pulled out a ring of keys and fumbled them. With effort, they managed to slot a key into the king\'s cage. The door swung open. The guard stepped inside. He peered around closely.

"Come on, we need to check the queen, too! Here, give me the keys," a voice requested. The guard handed off his key ring as he stepped deeper into the king\'s cage. Keys jangled in the queen\'s cage\'s lock.

"Find anything?" the first guard asked. He turned around.

The guard standing behind him frowned. "What?"

"I gave you the keys. Why are you standing there?"

"No, you didn\'t."

The two of them frowned at each other. Slowly, they looked at the queen\'s cage.

A small black-and-white spider balanced on the keys. She giggled. The door swung open, and she swung with it. "Idiots."

"Hey!" The two guards ran for the door. Too slow. A blast of lightning raced in, kicked the guards to the side in a blazing mess of kicks, and ran back out. The door slammed shut, locking them in.

The other two guards whirled. Before they could take a step, spider threads bound them tight. Their legs snapped together. Off-balance, they toppled to the ground.

"Run for it!" Wisp cheered. She dashed forward, taking human form midway, and scooped up something invisible. She and Ike both sprinted for the wall.

The executioner narrowed his eyes. He drew back his axe. With all his weight, he leaned backward, then let loose. The axe hurtled through the air, spinning blade-over-butt as it came.

Ike glanced over his shoulder. His eyes widened. "Incoming!"