Alcingeria Chapter Forty Seven: Captured

Tabatha, Walden and Antoinette were captured by the mafia. They are being held prisoner. They stumble upon some things that make escape seem almost impossible. Can they beat the odds?

Chapter Forty Seven Captured:

Friday July 2^nd 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 fedoras 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 is assumed to be the mafia’s base. When they were taken here, they were brought before a witch. She put a spell on them that weakened their magic to a point where it was virtually useless. The witch explained that she was loyal to the mafia, and that the spell only allowed them to use magic when she wanted them to. She explained 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. All the other magic users had the same spell put on them as well. From what can be seen from the cell, they have seen that they are in a stone hallway lined with cells, each cell had witches, warlocks and fairies in them. The metal bars on the cells were too close together, so fairies couldn’t fit through. Torches hung on the walls. There was a lock on the outside of every cell. The cells were small, too. They could only fit a maximum of five people by the looks of it. In the corner of their cell, Antoinette sat in a corner, hugging her knees.

            “What are we going to do?” She fretted.

            “Geez, I don’t know. I mean, 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?” Walden snapped.

            “We already know the mafia has witches and possibly warlocks loyal to them. Maybe they had spells put on them so they could see fairies?” Antoinette asked, panicking.

            “Everyone calm down, we can find a way out of this. 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 said.

            “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.

            “Don’t sweat it, Antoinette. Like I said, Queen Yuka will probably send out a search party.” Tabatha said.

            “Yeah. I’m sure your knight in shining armor will come and rescue you.” Walden joked.

They both knew who Walden was talking about. Antoinette was clueless.

            “Knight in shining armor? Who’s he talking about, Tabatha?” Antoinette asked.

            “It’s nobody.” She said, brushing her off.

            “I’m talkin’ about her crush, Don.” Walden chuckled.

Tabatha shot him a glare. He shrank back into the far corner of the cell.

            “Fine, I have feelings for someone. That’s not a crime.” Tabatha said while crossing her arms over her chest.

Walden just chuckled, Antoinette showed support.

            “Good for you, Tabatha. Does he know?” She asked.

Tabatha nodded, scratching her head and ruffling her deep burgundy hair.

            “I think he does. I’ve been dropping hints and I danced with him at the ball.” Tabatha explained.

            “That’s really sweet, I’m happy for you.” Antoinette said sincerely, pushing her black hair back behind her neck.

            “Fireball!” Walden suddenly called from his corner of the cell.

A few tiny sparks flew from his hands. They extinguished as soon as they hit the cool metal of the cell’s bars. Tabatha sighed.

            “Walden, you’ve tried that a million times already! It’s not going to work!” She said in frustration.

            “That witch used a powerful, complex spell. My illusion magic doesn’t work on the guards, and I’m a pure illusion magic witch!” Antoinette exclaimed.

            “You’re a witch, can’t you counter-witch the witch that put the spell on you?” Walden asked.

Antoinette chuckled, shaking her head and grinning slightly.

            “It doesn’t work like that, Walden.” Antoinette said.

            “You use magic, you should know that.” Tabatha said.

            “Hey, I was joking. Geez.” Walden said while flying over to Tabatha.

            “I wonder how the others are doing.” Tabatha said.

Just then, a very loud clang! Filed the air. The sound repeated five or six more times then stopped.

            “Meal time! Proceed to the mess hall in an orderly fashion!” A man’s voice yelled.

Just then, several guards came down the hallway and unlocked all the cells, one by one. When the guard came to their cell, they saw that he had a short sword on his hip in a scabbard. Tabatha, Antoinette and Walden eyed him strangely.

            “You guys are the new arrivals, huh?” He asked.

They all nodded but said nothing.

            “Right. Follow me.” He said.

The guard lead them out into the hall and turned right. The guard was in front of them. Just as Tabatha was thinking of grabbing Antoinette and Walden and making a break for it, a guard appeared behind her. He carried a spear. They had stone walls beneath, above and on both sides of them with guards to their front and backs. They were trapped, with nothing to do but follow the guard in front of them. They looked around and saw other prisoners in much the same positions. Everyone was being lead to the mess hall. Soon enough, the narrow corridor that held the cells gave way to a large room. Torches hung from the walls to provide light. Tables dotted the floor. There was a small, circular stage in the center of the room and near the back of the room was a large counter that ran the length of the room. Several people stood being the counter and there was already a line forming. That must be where everyone got food. The guard shoved them into line and walked off. They noticed that guards wearing white fedoras were now standing around the perimeter of the room, probably to prevent an uprising or a riot during meal times.

Finally after waiting for a few minutes, Tabatha, Walden and Antoinette were next in line. They grabbed wooden plates from a nearby pile and they picked up some utensils. They walked over to one of the men serving food and held their plates up. The man scooped some vegetables and meat onto their plates. They moved down the line and received a cup of water each. They also were given muffins. The three walked over to an empty table and sat down. The sound of chatter filled the air.

            “They captured us, but they aren’t treating us like total prisoners.” Antoinette observed.

            “Yeah. You know, if you exclude the bit regarding the cells and whatnot.” Walden said joked.

            “What’s going on? Why are we here?” Antoinette wondered aloud.

            “I don’t know, but I’m pretty hungry.” Walden said as he bit into his muffin.

A strange expression came across his face as he swallowed.

            “What’s wrong?” Tabatha asked.

            “The muffin, it tastes funny.” Walden said, scrunching his nose.

Tabatha frowned skeptically and bit into her own muffin. Antoinette watched in curiosity.

            “It does taste funny.” She said.

            “It has that unnatural, sweet taste. Yet it’s also somehow bitter. It’s actually pretty good once you get past it.” Walden said in understanding.

Antoinette bit into her own muffin. No sooner did she do that, she spit it out.

            “Antoinette! That’s gross!” Tabatha said scolding.

            “Don’t eat any more!” Antoinette said, smacking away her friends’ muffins.

            “Antoinette! What did you do that for?” Tabatha asked, irritated.

            “Yeah! What gives?” Walden asked.

Antoinette’s expression was one of nervousness.

            “The food, it’s cursed!” She blurted.

Thankfully no one else heard her. That would have started a riot for sure.

            “What do you mean?” Tabatha asked, anxiety crept into her voice.

            “The food, that strange taste is the taste of magical residue. I know the taste, my friends used to use the same spell on my food when I was a kid.” Antoinette said.

            “What’re ya getting’ at here?” Walden asked.

            “The food has a spell put on it to weaken the power of magic. The witch we were taken to, her spell only held off our magic for a short time so we couldn’t escape when we got here. Now they are feeding us food imbued with the same spell.” Antoinette explained.

Tabatha looked down to her food in horror.

            “You mean… They’re feeding us food that’ll weaken our magic?” Tabatha asked.

            “Yes.” Antoinette said grimly.

            “It’s not like they’re gonna feed us normal food as long as we’re here. That means…” Walden trailed off.

            “That means that our magic will be constantly weakened as long as we eat.” Antoinette answered.

Walden looked around frantically, he started hyperventilating.

            “That… That’s horrible! What’re we gonna do!?” He asked in a panic, raking his hands through his green hair.

Tabatha looked at him, she was calm.

            “Walden, calm down. We’ll figure this out. We have no choice but to eat the food, so we’ll just play along like we don’t know anything.” She said.

Walden started to calm down. He nodded slowly.

            “Okay, okay. We’ll figure this out.” He said, repeating Tabatha’s words.

In the center of the room, they could see a man walk onto stage. They recognized the man. He raised his hand, signalling for silence. Everyone in the room went silent.

            “Thank you all for your cooperation.” The man said.

There was silence. The man continued.

            “I introduced myself to the queen of Vulrock before you all were brought here, but for those of you who don’t know me my name is Artemis Blaine.” He said.

There was a slight unrest upon hearing his name. Walden looked nervously around the room and saw men glaring at him angrily, some of the women were, too.

            “Now, you all may be wondering who, specifically speaking, I am. To answer that, I am a highly ranking member of the mafia. I was ordered to capture you. I can’t tell you why just yet, but believe me when I tell you that by being here today, voluntarily or not, you are about to be a part of something great.” Artemis said, pushing some of his light brown hair out of his face.

There was now a murmur of voices and whispers. Most people looked skeptical, some looked angry. Some just looked downright confused.

            “I know that you all are wondering where you are. You are underground. Where, I can’t tell you. You are in an underground complex. There are people working around the clock to expand the complex, and it grows larger every day. We have guards posted on every exit, so don’t even think about trying to escape.” Artemis boasted.

            “They have the place secluded underground and guarded, they must really not want us to leave.” Walden whispered.

            “Well, that’s everything for now. You all will be notified when your skills are needed. Until then, enjoy your meal.” Artemis said as he walked off stage.

No guards accompanied him, but the ones around the room watched him and those around him closely. When he was halfway between the stage and the guards, a man ran at him. He was dressed in a robe, so he was most likely a warlock. He stopped running when we was about ten feet away from Artemis.

            “You took me away from my friends!” The warlock yelled.

The guards started to run towards him, but Artemis held up his and. They stopped, but seemed reluctant. Artemis smirked.

            “Indeed I did.” He said.

The warlock ran at him with a scream of rage. Artemis didn’t even flinch. He stood calm, spun around and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick to the warlock’s head. The warlock crumpled to the ground. Artemis motioned for the guards to pick him up. Two guards came and each took an arm.

            “Make sure he learns.” Artemis instructed, his pale green eyes gleaming in the torchlight.

He turned to the people in the room.

            “Let that be a lesson to all of you.” He said with a tip of his white fedora.

Artemis walked to the guards and they ushered him through a door on the far left side of the room. He disappeared through the door. Tabatha eyed her muffin, which was now on the ground thanks to Walden.

            “I was going to eat that too…” She said.

            “Well, the food’s got a curse put on it to lower our magical power, so I wouldn’t advise it.” Walden said.

            “It’s either eat or starve.” Antoinette said forlornly.

            “We have no choice.” Tabatha said grimly as she ate some of her meat.

Walden dug into his vegetables. A glum look fell upon his face.

            “The vegies have that weird taste, too.” He said after he swallowed.

            “So does the meat.” Tabatha said.

            “That’s to be expected. I mean, they have us locked up underground, guarded and they have us cursed so we can barely even use our magic. If we’re being held here and we haven’t been burned at the stake yet, then they have plans for us.” Antoinette said, cleverly reading the situation.

            “Yes, didn’t the witch that put the curse on us in the first place say that the mafia had uses for our magic?” Tabatha asked.

Walden and Antoinette thought for a moment.

            “Yeah, yeah she did.” Walden said, remembering the witch and her words.

            “What does the mafia need our magic for?” Antoinette wondered.

            “I don’t know, but based on the fact that they infiltrated Queen Yuka’s castle and killed anyone in their way just to get us, it can’t be for anything good.” Tabatha said with dread.

            “Why can’t anyone just leave witches alone? I’ve seen too many fellow witches burned at the stake! Why do the humans torment us?” Antoinette asked as she started to cry.

Antoinette put her head down on the table. Tabatha put a hand on her friend’s shoulder.

            “Hey, it’s okay. We’ve all seen our friends burned at the stake. I’ve seen both witches and warlocks killed that way. It’s a horrible fate to meet, but there are people who care about us, there are people who are pure of heart and will risk their lives to save us from our pyres.” Tabatha said soothingly.

Antoinette lifted her head up.

            “Like who?” She asked.

Tabatha smiled slightly, remembering how she was rescued from her own pyre only a week before.

            “Only a week ago, I was being burned at the stake. I was out walking at night in the village of Riverguard and was ambushed by a group of witch hunters. They chased me to the outskirts of the city. I saw a cross in the ground there and tried to run a different direction, but I was hit in the head from behind and stunned. Next thing I knew I was being dragged to the cross and tied to it. When the fire was light, the flames raced towards me. I heard commotion over the roaring flames, but thought nothing of it. I felt certain that I’d die there, so I looked up to the moon, thinking it would be my last glimpse at it. I passed out, believing it was the end. When I came to, I saw a few people standing over me. It was explained to me how a man named Don rescued me.” Tabatha said.

            “Is Don the one you like?” Antoinette asked.

Tabatha smiled and nodded.

            “Yes. We started out rough. I teased him with my magic and made fun of him. We sort of went back and forth. One day when I flung a carrot at him with my manipulation magic, he got really mad and stormed off. I then realized how mean I had been to him. I made amends and smoothed things out. Over time I grew to like him.” Tabatha said, still smiling and occasionally fiddling with her dark burgundy hair.

            “That’s very sweet, Tabatha. What kind of magic can this ‘Don’ use?” Antoinette asked.

Tabatha laughed, shaking her head.

            “He can’t use magic. He’s human.” She answered.

Antoinette’s dark green eyes went wide.

            “You mean, you have feelings for a human?” She asked, almost laughing.

            “What’s wrong with that?” Tabatha snapped.

Antoinette giggled.

            “Nothing, nothing at all.” She said.

            “Well, when ya think about it, it’s sorta… Odd.” Walden added.

            “A witch falling in love with a human. Now that’s a new one.” Antoinette giggled.

            “Hey, I wouldn’t say I love him, I… It’s complicated.” Tabatha said.

            “I get it.” Antoinette told her in support.

The sound of metal banging against metal filled the air.

            “Alright, everyone stand up! Don’t leave the room without a guard! We’re going to escort you to your duties!” A guard yelled from across the room.

Tabatha, Walden and Antoinette stood up.

            “It looks like we’re finally gonna see what they want with us.” Walden said.

A guard came over to their table and motioned for them to follow him. They walked after him and found that everyone was being lead through a door to the rear of the room. The magic users were finally going to see why the mafia wanted them so bad…

Author's Note

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