CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN: THE SLIGHTLY GREAT ESCAPE (PART 1) 

 

Mouse stood with the most dramatic pose he could muster, fist on his hips and his barrel chest puffed out. Unfortunately, his dramatic name reveal and pose, was soured by his loose tunic blowing in the slight breeze coming through the cracks on the walls, revealing his bare ass, to the unsuspecting lady soldier behind him. The large Northmen just stared at this particularly odd Dwarf for a few seconds before he cleared his throat to gather Mouse’s attention.  

 

“Well Lord Luck, my name is Bjorn. This here Witch-Killer,” Bjorn pointed to his wife, who still had the Witch’s corrupted blood dripping off her hands, “is me wife, her name be Andrea, the little ones be Arne, Tove and Gorm. I am the resident Armsmith for the garrison here... Well, I suppose, it would be more correct to say, that I WAS, the resident Armsmith.” Bjorn, introduced his family to Mouse as the kids lined up behind their father in descending order.  

 

The oldest child, Arne was just a smaller version of his father, and had a look of maturity that was beyond his fifteen years of life. The middle child, Tove, had an unnaturally calm look for someone of her ten years being in a place and situation like they were. She appeared to have overtones of both parents, being on the taller side for a girl her age, with mousey brown hair in a bob like her mom. The youngest was still growing and had the puffy cheeks, and the curious eyed glint of a mischievous child of six. He also appeared to be the sole person in the whole jail, that looked in awe at Mouse, especially once he struck his previous pose. Mouse instantly noticed the look on the child Gorm’s face, and secretly thought to himself ‘What a good judge of character. Smart child!’. Mouse gave the child a silent thumbs up, which confused the watching Bjorn, as he stared at his younger child and the odd look he was giving Mouse.  

 

“Oh, that’s right! Bjorn. Before that ugly hag interrupted us, you looked like you were going to tell me something about the [Mana Field]?” Mouse exclaimed, his voice capturing Bjorn’s attention again. 

 

“Ah, yes. As I was the Garrison Armsmith for the Mengrel House. I built majority of the encasings for her mana batteries. That includes the mana nexus, it is the control centre for the stored mana, it then gets sent throughout the house to power the various mana powered defences and appliances.” Bjorn explained, he wore a proud grin on his face when he mentioned how he helped to build the nexus. 

 

“Wait... you said, “various mana powered defences”? Like there is more than the [Mana Field]?” Mouse worryingly questioned; his face spoke of his fear in hearing the answer.  

 

“Of course, there is! The Mengrel house is widely known for being a Mage family, with talents in all mana-based fields. They installed various contraptions that ran on mana, all across the manor and its lands. It was beautiful to behold. Unfortunately, ever since the current Baroness Mengrel lost her mother due to her father’s violence, she has become twisted beyond repair and let her lands become rundown. That includes her ancestral home and all the mana-powered defences. If it wasn't for the sudden invasion of the Imperium, over half of them would still be in operable. Oh, how I miss that bright eyed young girl. She used to care so deeply for the people and us her, she would even take time out of her day to ask a simple apprentice how his family was doing. But she passed on a long time ago, what’s left is nothing more than a corrupted husk.” Bjorn lamented, his eyes were bright and clear when he started the explanation but became dim and sour by the end.  

 

“I’m sorry Bjorn, I have to interrupt. I don’t want to sound mean but I really need to know about the magic defences and how to switch them off. I am running out of time.” Mouse interjected when he saw the Northmen was about to continue lamenting about the past. 

 

“Ah yes, sorry. So, there is no way to “switch them off” as you say, as you would be needing the key and Baroness Mengrel always hold’s it on her person. And, no offence here Lord Lucky, but she could slap you into paste if you tried to battle her on your own. The other alternative is to destroy the primary mana battery that connects to the [Mana Field], that in itself is a danger as it is located under the ground near the wall. You would once again become paste before you could start digging due to all the Demons outside. The other alternative, is to enter the mana nexus and destroy that, that is the best option as it would knock out all the mana batteries.” Bjorn answered.  

 

“Okay, so let’s do that then. Where is it?”  

 

Before Bjorn could explain, a male in one of the jail cells interrupted, “Enough with the story telling Bjorn and let the rest of us out already, you muscle brained meathead!”  

 

Bjorn showed an embarrassed smile, as his eyes scanned all the people still locked up and glaring at him, he quickly handed the keys back to his wife to open the jail cells. “Quick now dear, don’t keep them waiting.” Bjorn prodded his wife, who gave him an eye roll and walked to the closest cell.  

 

“Now where was I! Oh yes, the mana nexus is the best place, however that is also the most dangerous. At least I think it should be. Before we were locked up in here, me and a few other smiths were tasked with repairing some of the casing for the mana batteries, as they had rusted and worn out due to the volatile mana. I was also instructed to check on the nexus. The place they keep it is at the other side of the manor from us, below ground and heavily guarded. You would need to go the ground floor, cross the entrance hall, dining room, kitchen, storeroom and then go down towards the cellar. You might think that’s the end and the journey complete... but no! Now there is a heavily armoured mana infused door blocking your last step, sturdy and with more protection spells then the vaults of the [Golden Company] merchants in the free cities and I, nore anyone I know for that matter, have a clue how to open it without the right mana signature. Don’t forget either, just to even be able to tinker with the door, you must get there without being spotted, as once you are, may Apollo grant you a quick death before being thrown down a Demon’s throat.” Bjorn continued, his hands swinging and face exuberant, like a person who truly loved to tell stories, unfortunately the info made Mouse feel like he had a boulder on his shoulders and it was getting heavier with each word.  

 

Mouse’s face turned pale after hearing what he had to accomplish by himself. ‘What do I do... I’m not good with plans. I wish big brother Gabriel was here. Oh, wait Gabriel! I’m so stupid! I will just message him.’ Mouse cheered in his head and went to open the Private message menu, his slowly creeping smile dropped back down after receiving the following message.  

 

[Warning! You cannot access your Private Message system, as there is a [Silencer] blocking all communication.] 

 

“What’s a [Silencer]?” Mouse squeaked out to Bjorn, as his wife came back to joint him once all cells were unlocked.  

 

“Ah that, that’s a mana powered machine. It is infused with the [Mute] spell and prevents people from using any communication devices or spells to talk within its area of effect. I think if it is powered up high enough, then it can even make you unable to speak. Giving people like Mages a huge headache. However, I have never seen one like that. It would need to be powered by a massive amount of mana and be infused by at least a master [Infuser].” Bjorn’s wife patiently explained. 

 

Mouse gave Bjorn’s wife a quizzical look as she appeared quite knowledge about the topic too. ‘Is she a smith too?’ Mouse wondered, while he scrutinized her stringy arms. Adreana appeared to have noticed Mouse’s look and replied simply, “I’m an [Infuser].” 

 

“Ha! See, aren’t we a perfect match!” Bjorn gloated, as he threw his massive muscular arms around his wife and pulled her in for a hug.  

 

Mouse felt like the way Bjorn hugged his wife, was like someone holding onto a piece of driftwood when they are lost at sea. ‘Ah, I have forgotten about how much terror and fear they both would have been repressing once locked up for their children’s sake. Mouse quickly saw through the look, as he had seen his grandma put on an untroubled façade many a time around him. His heart hurt for a moment, when he thought of his grandma being all alone, raising and taking care of a young child, when she should have been the one being taken care of. Mouse felt it odd that NPC’s in a game could feel so real, even to the point of evoking deep emotions within him, he had truly forgotten they weren’t real people most of the time.

 

“Yes... Well anyway. That’s what a [Silencer] is.” Bjorn weakly replied and released his wife, once he realized his they had been clutching each other for a bit too long.

 

Mouse returned to his thoughts after he nodded. ‘I have to figure out a way to destroy the Nexus. Who knows what other defences they will have in place; I can’t just break the mana battery for the [Mana Field]. Think....Think.... I could try to lure the demons and Witches out individually and kill them one by one, but that would take too long, and I can’t take some of the stronger ones myself either. What if I got the prisoners together to attack the demons and slip away in the commotion!... nah I can’t do that, they will get slaughtered, probably won’t give me much time either as they’re all so skinny, the demons will swallow them whole.. Ah screw this! I am just going to do what I always do, put on a smile, and hope for the best.’ 

 

Mouse finally decided that he didn’t need a plan because he couldn’t think up a good one. He would just role with the punches and hope he was lucky. Once Mouse decided to go with his ‘No plan, plan’. The slight depressing aura that surrounded him and his scrunched up face had turned into a ray of sunshine, as a dopey, easy going smile sprang up. Bjorn was slightly put off by the sudden change in expressions, he had originally thought that Mouse was a second from bursting into tears and then all of a sudden he appeared as if he had won a Dragon as Mount.  

 

“Okay Bjorn, thanks for the help. If you would be so kind, can you please draw me a map to the Nexus and its possible weak points?” Mouse asked cheerfully, as he handed over a piece of paper and quill from his inventory.  

 

A sudden hand on his shoulder made Mouse spin around and raise a fist at the would-be shoulder grabber. The female soldier who had made the shiv, currently stepped back from Mouse’s thunderous face. She then took another even larger step back, once she saw Mouse, who had realized the person that grabbed him was someone familiar, and his scary face quickly morphed back to his happy face. The two contrasting images being flipped so quick, caused the female soldier to feel a shiver go up her spine.

 

“I...I am part of one of the I-I-Infiltration units, that went with a squad of players called the “Jersey Boys”. They abandoned my squad when we were ambushed by the Demons and besides myself and Garald here, we are the only once left. I want to help you with destroying the defences. My name is Irisa.” Irisa explained in a hurry and finished with a stiff salute.  

 

“No problem! The more the merrier. Hold on one sec. I will get my equipment and see if they have any spare weapons for you.” Mouse replied merrily and skipped off towards the large chest by the door.  

 

Mouse went to the chest, he immediately tried to pull the lid open but realized it was locked and slapped his head in foolishness.  

 

“Hey Adreana. Can you pass me the hag’s keys? Thanks!” Mouse yelled out, making all the newly freed prisoners jump and ‘Shhh’ him, while looking at the door.  

 

“Oh sorry...” Mouse basically just mouthed an apology, going from one extreme to the other.  

 

Adreana shortly threw over the keys, which Mouse went to catch but ended up playing a weird game of slapping the keys in the air and slapping them again every time they came back down. After three spikes of the keys, it fell to Mouse’s knee height and he went to catch them with his foot, which lead to him punting the keys. Miraculously, and to the stunned amazement of the crowd watching, Mouse managed to kick the big hoop of keys towards the chest, as an individual key appeared to grow a mind of its own and flew like an arrow to land directly into the key hole of the chest. The crowd all stared at Mouse, then the keys and back again for a few seconds. The oldest of Bjorn’s kids interrupted the silence, “No way is that the correct key. Right?” Everyone looked at the boy, Arne, and then back to Mouse.  

 

As the tension rose, Mouse looked at the crowd and wondered what all the fuss was about. ‘They should have seen when I threw that toothpick at Tiffany from the third floor balcony. Haha, she didn’t realize it was there until she was in the shower the next day.’ Mouse laughed to himself, as he casually turned the key which ended in a satisfying ‘click’ sound of the lock being unlocked.  

 

“Wow. Lord Luck, he really is Lord Luck!” Gorm shouted out and started clapping his tiny hands in appreciation of Mouse’s display, Adreana gave the young lad a soft knock on the head to stop him from clapping.  

 

After a comically low bow at the child, Mouse turned to the now open chest and retrieved his equipment. The chest also held three Steel swords of the Imperium gladius style, a set of broken and bloodied steel armour and what looked like a one handed hammer, that’s head was slightly misshapen. Mouse grabbed the weapons and brought them back over to the waiting soldiers and Bjorn. Mouse passed over one of the swords to Irisa along with the battered armour, he also handed over a pair of leather gloves and helmet that he had in his inventory.  

 

“Sorry I don’t keep many weapons or armour on me that I don’t use myself.” Mouse explained, as he felt bad at how poorly equipped the soldier was, Mouse also handed over one of his health potions as well.  

 

“Bjorn, I leave these weapons too you. I recommend you blockade yourselves down here for the time being. I will leave these [Minor Health Potions] for the direst of cases. I’m sorry I don’t have any food.” Mouse said to Bjorn, who was putting the finish touches on the crudely drawn map to the Mana Nexus. 

 

Mouse looked at the map and saw that it looked fairly straight forward. Bjorn was also nice enough to make marks on doors not to enter and places there should be a lot of guards at. As Mouse and Irisa were looking over the map and discussing it with Bjorn, a prisoner near the door ran over.  

 

“I hear someone coming down the steps.” The man in tattered robes exclaimed in a hushed yell. 

 

The small talk that filled the jail had turned to pindrop silence once everyone heard what the lookout had said. Mouse grabbed the map out of Bjorn’s hands and pulled out a dagger, from the sheathe at his side before running to the door and putting his back to the wall at the side of it. Mouse threw his hands in the air back and forth; directing the prisoners to enter their cells and pretend they were still locked up. The prisoners quickly caught on and entered the cells, some of the prisoners even got into the role and started groaning and pretend crying once in their cells again. Mouse nodded to himself at the prisoner's quick efficiency, a sharp rap on the door caused Mouse to stiffen for a moment. The door didn’t open though, as Mouse had expected. He waited with knife ready for someone to come through the door but instead received another bang.  

 

Mouse looked to the prisoners around him and shrugged his shoulders, while trying to mouth, ‘Why won’t they come in?’. He finally looked towards Adreana, Bjorn’s wife, and saw her mouth back, ‘It’s locked, idiot.’ Mouse smacked his forehead and looked around for the keys, he found they were still in the chest lock and pulled them out. Another bang sounded out from the door, it sounded as if a lot more force was applied to that one, Mouse pulled a face at the door. ‘How impatient.’ He thought as he made his way back to the door, another bang sounded out that made Mouse frown and his ears ring for a moment.  

 

“I’m coming, don’t get your nickers in a twist, Christ's sake!” Mouse rebuked the person behind the door, as he felt they were very impatient, and it had been barely a minute of waiting.  

 

The surrounded prisoners sucked in a breath, when they heard Mouse suddenly rebuke the obvious enemy behind the door. Bjorn’s daughter couldn’t help but whisper, “Didn’t he want to catch the person at the door by surprise?” Before Bjorn or his wife could reply, as they were equally confused, a small voice to the side answered for them. “Don’t be silly. That is too easy. Lord Luck is not that boring.” The whole family looked to the owner of the voice and saw the youngest of their family, staring at Mouse with shiny eyes, Bjorn frowned at the sight, as he felt this Dwarf was not someone he wanted his boy to emulate. 

 

However, before Bjorn could get to educating his child, the whine of the iron door being swing open caught his attention. Mouse had opened the door wide and was currently holding it, with his hand beckoning the Witch who was at the door. The Witch froze at the sight of Mouse in the door, with his friendly and disarming face, putting her into a state of utter confusion.  

 

“Well hurry up then. You were banging on the door so much, I thought you were dying to come in. Now you’re just standing there. Move already, you will let the cold air in.” Mouse chastised the Witch, he got fed up and just reached through the doorway to grab her wrist and pull her into the jail.  

 

 

Once inside, the Witch was still in a state of confusion and stumbled to a stop a few feet into the jail. The disarming face and brusque welcome from Mouse jumbled the thoughts of the Witch, who was clearly here to torture Mouse for information, going by the fact of the rolled-up satchel in her arms, that gleamed with a multitude of sharp torture items poking out the end. The Torture Witch, looked around at the other prisoners that were still in their cells and saw they had equally odd facial expressions, majority of surprised confusion.  

 

“He can’t be so lucky, to get the one air headed Witch in the whole coven, right?” An older lady asked one of the fellow prisoners in a voice that was just above a whisper.  

 

The Witch snapped her face to the woman who had just spoken and a look of hurt surprise covered her twisted up face.  

 

“Who told you that I was an Airhead!? Was it those bitches Glanda and Myrel?” The Torture Witch screeched, as she marched up to the jail cell and pointed at the woman who called her an air head, the older lady jumped back in fright at the sudden proximity of the Witch. 

 

The rest of the prisoners all gasped, and muttered things like “Lucky”, “Crazy” and “Stupid”. The Witch turned to the other cells and shook her finger at the prisoners who had begun whispering.  

 

“How dare you!? I will flay all the skin off your backs! Just because I get distracted easily doesn’t mean I’m stupid. In fact, Mother Superior said, I get confused easily because my brain is so big and works so hard. So there!” The Witch retorted, as she stood in the middle of cells and began to tell all the prisoners how smart she was.  

 

“…And then I told Myrel that I am the most special because, no one gave birth to me, I was adopted. Ha! They were as speechless as all of you.” The Witch finished a story with her bony chest pushed out in triumph at the stunned looks of the prisoners.  

 

“And another time...What...” The Witch was about to spin another story, when Mouse came up behind her and stabbed his dagger deep into her spine.  

 

The Witch fell back, as blood frothed out of her mouth and the confusion that marred her ugly face never left, even when she breathed her last. The surrounding prisoners all slowly walked out of their cells and looked at the Witch, until one of the children muttered, “What a stupid Airhead”, the dying Witch’s half closed eyes suddenly sprung open, as if the words “airhead” gave her a shot of adrenaline. The gathered crowd of prisoners all leapt back in fright, but before the Witch could do anything more, a one handed hammer came smashing down on her face. Cracking her skull and putting out of her stupid misery.  

 

Mouse checked the time remaining on his quest and realised he had wasted too much time already. He reached out and grabbed the female soldier Irisa by the hand and pulled her with him as he ran towards the door.  

 

“We much hurry Irisa! Make sure you guys lock the door once we leave. Be careful and see you all soon!” Mouse shouted out, as he dragged the half stumbling, half running Irisa behind him and through the door.  

 

The crowd watched Mouse leave, while Bjorn opened up a hand and caught the keys Mouse had chucked behind him, without barely having to move. ‘He didn’t even look when he threw these. Is he really that lucky or is actually skill?” Bjorn mumbled to himself, as he saw the figures of Mouse and Irisa turning to run up the steps. Bjorn looked to his side and saw that his youngest was still watching where Mouse had run off to and if not for his mother's hand on his shoulder, looked to be trying to chase after the odd Dwarf, known as Lord Luck to him.  

 

“Alright everyone. Lock the door! Search the Witches and stack their bodies in front of the door for more protection. Let’s just pray to the Goddess Fortuna that the Lord Luck will be able to make it!” Adreana took charge, as she noticed her husband was giving their youngest a glare, the prisoners quickly began to complete her orders. As Adreana even prayed in her heart to Goddess Fortuna for the sake of Mouse.