Phony Potions

Chapter 27

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

I wasn't sure how to get into the manor at the top of the hill. I began walking toward it, hoping that I would bump into Winsor somewhere along the way despite his lead. As I passed a pair of Blythe guards on break buying snacks, I fantasized about beating them up and taking their armor. I flexed my skinny arms. Yeah, that definitely wasn't going to work. And anyway, it presented the same problem impersonating a BROS did.

I had made it back to the nice restaurant where I'd had dinner with Winsor without coming up with a plan. Time was running short. After buying a quick meal and stuffing it down my mouth, I hurried outside and surveyed the manor up the hill. Large vulnerable glass windows were everywhere. Any assault by others would be defended from the weather tower, I realized. With its view of the whole city and the sorcerer ability to manipulate the world, it would be easy to strike an enemy army with lightning.

Which meant, hopefully, that the windows would not be guarded.

I hurried along the streets, strolling casually even though my thoughts were devious. I'd spent enough time in full-on liar mode that it didn't cause any shift in my behavior to know I was planning a break in, even if I hated the idea of stealing. Tricking was different. Preying on other's gullibility. But to steal was wrong... so good thing this was a rescue!

I considered the dungeon for a moment, but remembered the secure layout it had. With guards at each entrance and such a small array of cells, there would be no way to get in undetected. I had to hope they were holding her somewhere in the manor.

I reached the fence along the outskirts. There weren't any guards. I walked around the perimeter, trying to appear inconspicuous and aloof. Behind the house, on the descending hill, there was ivy growing up the bricks. Hoping it wouldn't cause me to break out in itching. I snagged a handful into my fists and lifted myself up.

I fell onto my back. Some pebbles ground into me through my shirt, but more than pain, it was shock. I shook the now pulped leaves from my hand and scowled up at the wall. If Mallow had been here, I could have asked her for a lift...

My eyes skimmed the surroundings. I saw one flowering tree whose stray branches overhung the fence. Quite a security breach, but the fence was probably more for privacy than security. After all, who would be dumb enough to invade a sorcerer's home?

"That's me," I mumbled.

It had been a good twenty years since I'd last climbed a tree proper. I latched one hand onto the lowest branch and pulled. It had been easy in my boyhood. I assumed getting to the top of this tree would prove to be the easiest thing I'd done today.

I slipped and scraped my stomach on the bark. My hands crushed bugs, their innards slicked my palms. I closed my eyes as a bird fluttered around angrily before retreating. In the momentary quiet afterwards, I smelled the flowering of leaves...

I was back. I was back on that walkway up to the sorcerer's home, baby Mallow in my arms. They came back, distorted by memory and the blazing sunshine, their perfumed scents making my head spin. I opened my eyes. Was it the same kind of tree? The color was the same, the smell the same...

It was stress, probably. Or maybe all sorcerer's liked these sorts of trees. They were pretty enough. I banished the thoughts from my mind and finished scurrying up until I was in the base of the branches. Taking care not to twist my ankle, I moved over to where that large overhanging branch jutted out.

Balancing precariously, I thanked myself for my habit of climbing up on crates and stalls in cities. If I hadn't done that so often, I had no doubt I'd go spilling to the ground at any moment, losing balance and falling over. About halfway out on the branch, where the flowers thinned, a thought hit me.