Andrew Rowe - Sufficiently Advanced Magic

“A lack of caution is why we’re in these cells, Vera.” Keras leaned on the wall next to her cell.

“Speak for yourself. My room wasn’t even remotely fair.”

So, she’d failed a challenge and ended up here? Could Tristan have done the same, and ended up in another prison?

It was a chance. Not a good chance, but a possibility. If he was alive, that meant that asking the goddess for the boon of returning him would be much more likely to succeed. People said the goddess could raise the dead, but I didn’t know of any confirmed cases. Just legends.

I clung to that hope as I managed — barely — to get the lasso around the kid’s waist.

“You’re going to hurt him.”

That was Vera speaking, which was interesting. She hadn’t sounded all that concerned about the kid before.

I turned back toward Vera. “You really want me to step in there? There’s a chance the wall will close behind me, or that it’ll trigger another trap.”

“At least…move him slowly, yeah?”

I nodded, inspecting the floor carefully before I dragged the boy’s body across it. The cell wasn’t large, so it didn’t take me long to get him outside. I gingerly picked him up and set him on a non-trapped part of the floor, then turned him over.

His chest still rose and fell. His lips, however, were cracked and torn.

I didn’t really know how feed an unconscious kid water. Maybe one of the others in the cells did, though.

I stood up, brandishing my red key.

Vera narrowed her eyes at me. “Now where’d you get a thing like that?”

“Room with a Valor board.” I turned to Keras. “You seemed to understand the wards… I take it you’re attuned?”

“In a manner of speaking. That’s not important. I do understand the wards, for the most part.”

Enigmatic, but sufficient. “All right. Can you determine if an incorrect key will trigger the wards?”

He knelt by his own keyhole, examining the crystal. “I don’t believe so.”

I quirked a brow. “You don’t believe?”

“I’m not an expert at this style of warding.”

Not good. “Okay. Do you think the explosion would kill people outside the cells if the wards are triggered?”

He shook his head. “No. They are a failsafe for destroying prisoners. The jailor would need to be able to do it and remain safe from right outside.”

I looked to Vera. “Do you know anything that would contradict what he’s saying?”

“No, he’s a little scary, but I think he knows what he’s talking about. So, um, if you’re going to free one of us…”

I looked back to Keras. “If I freed Vera, would you be able to break yourself out and survive the resulting explosion?”

He nodded once.

“Uh, before you do that,” Vera stepped away from her cell door, “I should probably remind you that he’s a wanted criminal.”

Keras put a hand to his forehead. “I’m just a foreigner, Vera. That doesn’t automatically make me a criminal.”

“I’m just sayin’, innocent people don’t usually run around in masks.”

A fair point.

And if he was a criminal, getting him to swear he wasn’t going to harm us wouldn’t really mean much.

I wasn’t confident that freeing everyone was the right choice, but I was even less confident I was going to make it out of here on my own while trying to care for an injured child.

“Keras, I’m Corin. You want to tell me what your side of the story is?”

I was humanizing myself, trying to diminish the chance he’d murder me the second he got out.

“Not now.”

That was not a good answer.

“But, if you get me out of here, I’ll tell you when we’re out of the tower.”

An implication that we’d be leaving together. I could work with that.

I made my way over to Vera’s cell, holding the red key. “You both okay with taking this risk?”

I could see a hint of fear in Vera’s expression, but she hid it well. “I think I’ll die of boredom if I don’t take this chance. So, yeah, go for it.”

The masked man just nodded.

I put the key in the lock.

Nothing happened. I tried to turn the key and it didn’t budge.

“Well, that was anticlimactic.” Vera sighed loudly.

I put the red key back in my back and withdrew the gold one. Vera blinked at me.

“Do you just have a bag full of keys or something?”

I shook my head. “Last one.”

I’d been hoping to hold onto the gold key, since it had been the one coded to the path I’d been taking so far. Still, I couldn’t in good conscience leave without trying it.

I tried the gold key.

It turned. The door to Vera’s cell vanished.

She blinked, hesitantly reaching a hand into the space outside.

A broad grin spread over her face as her hand exited the cell.

She stepped outside, grabbing me in a hug. “Ooh, yes! Freedom! Thanks, kid.”

I may have blushed.

I turned my head toward the masked man. I didn’t see him move. The space where he’d been blurred, and I heard the sound of metal ringing against stone.

A section of the wall of his chamber had been cut away, leaving nothing but a pile of cleanly-sliced rubble where it had once stood. Keras’ weapon was already sheathed again. I never saw it in his hand.

Holy goddess. What…?

There was no sign of triggering the wards Keras had mentioned. Had he been lying, or were the wards simply disabled because two of the doors were already open? I couldn’t be sure.

“We should leave.” Keras moved out of the cell with deliberate slowness.

He stepped over the trap that had killed my predecessor, moving to the child’s side and kneeling down. He looked at me. “Do you have water?”

I nodded, fumbling for my backpack, and withdrew a flask. I tossed it to him without a second thought. He caught it, of course.

Vera watched the whole exchange with narrowed eyes.

Keras uncapped the bottle, tilting the young boy’s head at an angle. Then, he opened the child’s mouth and poured water down his throat.

The boy coughed, but he swallowed some of the water. A good sign, I hoped. I was never very good at medicinal matters.

The masked man tossed the flask back toward me. I missed the catch, but Vera caught it.

“Mind if I take a swig?”

I shook my head.

She drank deeply from the flask, making a satisfied “ah!” sound, and then handed it back to me.

I replaced the flask in my bag, looking back to her. “There’s some water on the body, too. I didn’t take it.”

Vera knelt down next to the corpse, taking the bag that carried his food and water. “Thanks. This’ll be useful.”

She looked nervous. I felt the same way.

“Come.” Keras knelt down, picking up the unconscious child. He draped the kid over his shoulder and stood back up, leading the way out of the room. Vera and I carefully avoided the trapped spots on the floor, following him into the hallway.

He walked quickly, which let Vera and me deliberately fall a bit behind. I turned my head to her. “You know much about him?”

She lifted her hands and shrugged. “He was in there a lot longer than I was, from what I understand. I’ve only been here a few days, thank the goddess. Seen him do a few more magic tricks in his cell. Not sure what his attunement is. I’ve never seen anything like that sword trick, cutting stone.”

I thought on it. My best guess? He had multiple attunements. That was rare, but not unheard of. Maybe the Legionnaire attunement and something related to swords?

But that wouldn’t explain his speed.

Three attunements?

Practically unheard of, but I couldn’t think of a better explanation. I’d have to get more information first.

“He’s a delver, like you are?”