Alcingeria

Chapter Forty Five: Captured

Chapter Forty Five Captured:

Friday July 2nd 1690

Tabatha, Antoinette and Walden sat in a cell together. They didn't know where they were. Shortly after being kidnapped from Queen Yuka's castle the night before during Princess Estaire's ball, they were brought to a group of men wearing white caps at the front gates of the castle, who put burlap sacks over their heads. The sacks were removed when they arrived at this place, which they assumed to be the mafia's base. Or, at the very least, their prison.

When they arrived, they were brought before a witch, who put a spell on them that weakened their magic to a point where it was virtually useless. It was explained to them by a lofty human accomplice that she was loyal to the mafia, and that the spell only allowed them to use magic when she wanted them to.

They were also told that the mafia would have uses for their magic. For this reason, every magic user was allowed to keep their wands, staffs and other magical items that weren't immediate weapons. All the other captives had the same spell put on them as well. From what could be seen from the cell, they saw that they were in a stone hallway lined with cells, each cell was full, often times more so than their own.

The metal bars were close together as well, so fairies couldn't fit through the gaps. Torches hung on the walls, casting dreary shadows, causing those of their captors to become elongated and wraithlike. The cells were small, and could only fit a maximum of five people by the looks of it. Of course, several were filled past that capacity. In the corner of their cell, Antoinette sat in a corner, hugging her knees.

"Let us out of here, you flea-ridden dogs!" Tabatha shouted, pounding on the bars. "I'll take you all on! Let us out!"

"Tabatha, ya shouldn't do that," Walden urged. "They might take you up on it."

After some more pounding on the bars, a guard came over and smacked them with some sort of baton, startling Tabatha and causing her to jump back.

"Knock it off!" He shouted. "Or we can arrange to have you put somewhere a lot worse than this!"

He walked off, leaving silence in the air. The only sounds were the occasional moan or whisper. Feet shuffled about on the floor, and guards' chatter could be heard from further along in the hall.

"What are we going to do?" Antoinette fretted. "We... Are we going to die? Are we going to die?"

"Snap out of it, Antionette!" Tabatha pleaded. "Did one of your spells backfire or something? You're going to lose it!"

Antoinette's gaze snapped up to her, and her eyes regained their look of sanity for the time being. Tabatha's joke aside, Antoinette was claustrophobic, and she hadn't been taking things well.

"Geez," Walden sighed. "What can we do? We have almost no magic power thanks to that witch! And I can't believe that mafia man saw through my invisibility spell back at the ball! How'd he do that?"

"We already know the mafia has witches loyal to them. Maybe they had spells put on them so they could see fairies?" Antoinette asked, fear still evident in her voice. "I don't know, magic is just too broad to pinpoint something like that."

"Everyone, let's just calm down." Tabatha urged, taking a breath herself. "We can find a way out of this, it will just take time. Besides, I'm sure the others are looking for us. Queen Yuka may even send a search party out. After all, the mafia stole people from her, too."

"Tabatha, I'm sorry I couldn't teach you any spells back at the castle, I could only teach you to resist illusion magic." Antoinette sighed.