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xp_logsMeanwhile, Meggan and Paige work to escape their imprisonment. Shapeshifting proves very useful.
With a final look back at Paige, Meggan moved to the bars. She waved her hands in an effort to gain attention. “Excuse me, guards? Guards! I shouldn’t be in with...with these regular people,” she called. And she really didn’t like to make a snooty tone like that, but it was the only way to sound convincing. She banged her hand against the bars, to make certain that they would pay attention to her.
“I’m a changeling,” she called out in a kinder tone. “There’s been a very terrible mix-up, but I can understand the confusion! Truly! I was going out for camouflage and a drink at the worst time. Just look over here, it’s really very obvious what I am!” She gestured at her face. And oh, her fingernails were slightly sharper now, too, but she could notice every little detail of her changed body later!
She heaved the most put upon of sighs, hands on her hips. “See? Look at me. If you could please get me out of here, and set me free to be my changeling self outside of a cell, that’d be great! I would be eternally in your debt.”
"What now?" rumbled a troll as it stumped towards the clamor. The guards weren't accustomed to commotion in their cells. It was true that newcomers often complained, but it was relatively short-lived; a few turns of hard labor quickly sapped the spirit. These things tended to resolve themselves after the first few days. Consequently, they were not recruited for their problem-solving skills. The craggy creature came to a halt in front of the cell and gave Meggan a blank stare.
“Hello there,” Meggan beamed at the tall guard, even as she sought to hide any nervousness that a delay might potentially mean. “It’s really very nice to meet you, and I wish it was under better conditions. But, well--I’m not a human being, I am a changeling, and I need to leave the premises. You grabbed the wrong person,” she reiterated carefully, when the guard didn’t seem to be making any further movements.
Another 'what?' formed on the troll's lips before a short, stout elf with a pike and disconcertingly prominent teeth came bustling up with one hand clamped against its blood-red cap.
"What's this you say, a mistake?" it barked. It locked its bulbous eyes with Meggan's gold-pupiled black, then took in the pointed ears and gleaming golden hair. Its wrinkled face folded in confusion. Angry confusion.
"What are you doing in there?" the redcap demanded, as if Meggan's presence in the cell was a personal affront.
“Well, it wasn’t my choice, was it?” Meggan retorted in a softer tone, even as she leaned against the bars. “I don’t think I’d walk into a cell on my own and then draw attention to it, so there’s no need to blame me for it. I was caught when I happened to be near others being captured.”
She shrugged. “I was unconscious before I could shout what I really was, and I woke up in here!” she added. Her dark eyes widened in what she hoped conveyed a suitably plaintive enough look. “It’s a big mix-up, as you can see, sir. Someone scooped up the wrong one, and didn’t think to look at what they had!”
The redcap glared at her for another moment, then swung its pikestaff against the back of the troll's knees hard enough to clang. This failed to have any effect whatsoever.
"Dolt! You want us more of a laughing stock than we are? Those hunters" it snarled as it began to fumble the keyright from its belt, "too dim to know they'd ensnared one of their own, but the Lady's favorites will never be blamed, will they? It'll be us who'll be held to account, though we be the ones to correct the error." The redcap shoved a brass key into the lock and flung open the cell door. "Get out, then. You understand it was no fault of ours, yes?"
“Oh, yes, I totally understand,” Meggan assured him, even as she pointedly glanced back into the cell and gave a quick nod. She looked back at him and continued. “I can’t hold it against you. Never you. You’re amazing at your post,” she gushed with delight.
“You’re certainly not to blame for fixing any and all errors as soon as they were brought to your attention, sir.” Perhaps she was laying it on a bit too thick there at the end, but she wanted to be a good distraction.
"I appreciate your cooperation," the redcap said in a tone that might have been squeezed through a lemon. As it stepped aside to let her pass its eyes fell on a peculiar heap near the bars. Cautiously, it extended its pike and hooked it to the edge of the heap.
"Here, what's this?" it muttered as it raised the pike. Something thin and pale hung from its tip.
In a shadowy back corner of the cell, Paige had been sitting, waiting for her moment. She was too small to overtake the guards as she was, and as she thought over her options for what form to take, Jono’s voice came through. Apparently, she had listened to more of his stories than she thought, because she could hear him talking about the superstitions around iron and its “magical properties.” Iron was a good sturdy metal, so it was a good practical option as well.
Giving in to Jono’s advice, Paige ripped her skin off, transforming to iron, and hid herself away as best she could until the door opened. When the red cap entered the cell to poke at her scraps, she took her opening. Paige rushed the small red cap, attempting to kick him out of the way, aiming for the opposite corner of the cell. Squaring up with the troll, Paige tried to wave Meggan out of the cell.
Meggan immediately vacated the cell as directed, even as she watched in blatant awe. It was one thing to plan this sort of thing, and another to see it playing out in motion! She was impressed that iron was seemingly actually working in their favor, just like all the stories had proclaimed.
She looked back into the corner of the cell, then, not wanting to just walk away entirely, and leave the man that had given them helpful warnings about everything he could. "Please come with us," she urged from across the threshold.
Before the thrall could respond there was a roar. The troll's reaction time might not have been the keenest, but the sight of its fellow guard in a shrieking heap at the base of the opposite wall proved to be very motivating. Meggan barely avoided being trampled as it charged into the cell and made a grab for Paige with hands the size of pizza pans.
Paige ducked and tried to maneuver herself between the troll and her exit. It was probably smarter to run from the hulking creature, but after the third time getting kidnapped this year, she has some frustration to work out. With a swing that would make Sam (and Doug who had taught her) proud, Paige struck against the troll’s giant arm.
The force of the troll's bellow shook bits of ancient mortar from the ceiling. The troll fell to its knees, crumpled around the blow as if she'd shattered bones. The redcap, still curled in an agonized ball, began to shriek hysterically.
"Iron! Iron! The witchbreed is iron!"
Huh. This worked better than Paige thought it would. Now she just had to hold this form until they could find a way out of this place. While the troll writhed on the ground, she joined Meggan outside the cell. “You coming?” she said to the thrall still in the cell.
The grey-faced man looked from the groaning troll, to Paige, then back again. He had probably assumed that he'd seen everything after so many years in Otherworld. He was clearly realizing this had been incorrect.
"We can't," he said at last. "We've been here too long. Eaten their food, given our names. We're bound. Even if we were able to leave most of us have been here so long we'd age to bones the minute we set foot back on earth."
Meggan shook her head sadly, though she was still determined. She wanted to help him! “You’re certain of it?” There had to be something that they could do for him—for all of them, even the ones that weren't quite themselves at all anymore back there. "If being bound causes that, and you can't go back home...isn't there anywhere else you could all go?"
The man looked back at his silent companions, then shook his head. "We're humans in Otherworld. Even if the others had the strength there's no place to hide. But . . ." Stiffly, the thrall bent to retrieve the redcap's fallen pikestaff. For the first time since they'd met him something like a smile crossed his face. ". . . we can delay these two for a while."
Meggan definitely wasn’t going to be one to deny him that. “Thank you.” He didn’t have to tell them not to give their names. He didn’t have to explain anything to them, but he had managed to do so, and for that she was very, very grateful that there was something of him left that could be so kind.
“…that is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” Paige couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “You can’t leave because you ate food and introduced yourself? If that’s true, I’d never have been able to leave Kentucky.”
She held her hand out. “Come with us, we can leave them-“ she jerked her thumb at the unconscious red cap and groaning troll “-locked in here. Give them a taste of their own medicine.”
Even countless years of hard labor couldn't dull the edge from the look the thrall shot her. "You don't believe in Otherworld's rules," he said slowly, "but you stand here as cold iron."
“Yes, because of a genetic mutation that allows me to create a new skin for myself. We may not fully understand the X gene and all of its abilities yet, but it’s not magic, it’s science.” Paige cast a wary glance over at their captors. “Come on, we can argue once we’ve locked them up.”
The man gestured to his dead-eyed fellows to move. They rose with painstaking slowness, some of them having to physically pull others into responsiveness. It was obvious that even vacating their cell pushed the limits of some. The thrall turned his attention back to the troll still whimpering on the floor. "People have fought them before, but only iron can do that," he said simply. "The rules are different here. They work whether you believe them or not."
“The fae are real, so elements of the stories are, too,” Meggan softly assured Paige. She glanced back into the cell; it was oddly painful to watch the others just trying to force the others into action. They were so limp in every way. “Magic is just as real as science, so maybe the cogs turn a little bit differently here in places with sapping of stuff and binding, but there are still rules.” She shook her head.
While she really wanted to make absolutely certain there weren’t loopholes that could save them, she knew they couldn’t stay here talking. The noises of an Iron Paige vs troll beatdown might draw the attention of other guards, if there were any around. “And there are lots of rules for so many magical things and places that can be finicky and mean and strange, but they’re….still rules. Like science has its own.”
Meggan found herself grinning, knowing it was silly to keep going. “In summary, my sister’s a witch, I’ve seen things, and some stuff’s happened overall for everyone! And I really, really think we should go and start finding the others now, while nobody guesses we’re out.”
Paige did her best not to roll her eyes as Meggan spoke. Just because you didn’t fully understand something didn’t make it magic. She held out her arm, trying to help some of the people near her to their feet.
“Yeah, alright, let’s go,” she said, giving the troll one last kick for good measure.
With a final look back at Paige, Meggan moved to the bars. She waved her hands in an effort to gain attention. “Excuse me, guards? Guards! I shouldn’t be in with...with these regular people,” she called. And she really didn’t like to make a snooty tone like that, but it was the only way to sound convincing. She banged her hand against the bars, to make certain that they would pay attention to her.
“I’m a changeling,” she called out in a kinder tone. “There’s been a very terrible mix-up, but I can understand the confusion! Truly! I was going out for camouflage and a drink at the worst time. Just look over here, it’s really very obvious what I am!” She gestured at her face. And oh, her fingernails were slightly sharper now, too, but she could notice every little detail of her changed body later!
She heaved the most put upon of sighs, hands on her hips. “See? Look at me. If you could please get me out of here, and set me free to be my changeling self outside of a cell, that’d be great! I would be eternally in your debt.”
"What now?" rumbled a troll as it stumped towards the clamor. The guards weren't accustomed to commotion in their cells. It was true that newcomers often complained, but it was relatively short-lived; a few turns of hard labor quickly sapped the spirit. These things tended to resolve themselves after the first few days. Consequently, they were not recruited for their problem-solving skills. The craggy creature came to a halt in front of the cell and gave Meggan a blank stare.
“Hello there,” Meggan beamed at the tall guard, even as she sought to hide any nervousness that a delay might potentially mean. “It’s really very nice to meet you, and I wish it was under better conditions. But, well--I’m not a human being, I am a changeling, and I need to leave the premises. You grabbed the wrong person,” she reiterated carefully, when the guard didn’t seem to be making any further movements.
Another 'what?' formed on the troll's lips before a short, stout elf with a pike and disconcertingly prominent teeth came bustling up with one hand clamped against its blood-red cap.
"What's this you say, a mistake?" it barked. It locked its bulbous eyes with Meggan's gold-pupiled black, then took in the pointed ears and gleaming golden hair. Its wrinkled face folded in confusion. Angry confusion.
"What are you doing in there?" the redcap demanded, as if Meggan's presence in the cell was a personal affront.
“Well, it wasn’t my choice, was it?” Meggan retorted in a softer tone, even as she leaned against the bars. “I don’t think I’d walk into a cell on my own and then draw attention to it, so there’s no need to blame me for it. I was caught when I happened to be near others being captured.”
She shrugged. “I was unconscious before I could shout what I really was, and I woke up in here!” she added. Her dark eyes widened in what she hoped conveyed a suitably plaintive enough look. “It’s a big mix-up, as you can see, sir. Someone scooped up the wrong one, and didn’t think to look at what they had!”
The redcap glared at her for another moment, then swung its pikestaff against the back of the troll's knees hard enough to clang. This failed to have any effect whatsoever.
"Dolt! You want us more of a laughing stock than we are? Those hunters" it snarled as it began to fumble the keyright from its belt, "too dim to know they'd ensnared one of their own, but the Lady's favorites will never be blamed, will they? It'll be us who'll be held to account, though we be the ones to correct the error." The redcap shoved a brass key into the lock and flung open the cell door. "Get out, then. You understand it was no fault of ours, yes?"
“Oh, yes, I totally understand,” Meggan assured him, even as she pointedly glanced back into the cell and gave a quick nod. She looked back at him and continued. “I can’t hold it against you. Never you. You’re amazing at your post,” she gushed with delight.
“You’re certainly not to blame for fixing any and all errors as soon as they were brought to your attention, sir.” Perhaps she was laying it on a bit too thick there at the end, but she wanted to be a good distraction.
"I appreciate your cooperation," the redcap said in a tone that might have been squeezed through a lemon. As it stepped aside to let her pass its eyes fell on a peculiar heap near the bars. Cautiously, it extended its pike and hooked it to the edge of the heap.
"Here, what's this?" it muttered as it raised the pike. Something thin and pale hung from its tip.
In a shadowy back corner of the cell, Paige had been sitting, waiting for her moment. She was too small to overtake the guards as she was, and as she thought over her options for what form to take, Jono’s voice came through. Apparently, she had listened to more of his stories than she thought, because she could hear him talking about the superstitions around iron and its “magical properties.” Iron was a good sturdy metal, so it was a good practical option as well.
Giving in to Jono’s advice, Paige ripped her skin off, transforming to iron, and hid herself away as best she could until the door opened. When the red cap entered the cell to poke at her scraps, she took her opening. Paige rushed the small red cap, attempting to kick him out of the way, aiming for the opposite corner of the cell. Squaring up with the troll, Paige tried to wave Meggan out of the cell.
Meggan immediately vacated the cell as directed, even as she watched in blatant awe. It was one thing to plan this sort of thing, and another to see it playing out in motion! She was impressed that iron was seemingly actually working in their favor, just like all the stories had proclaimed.
She looked back into the corner of the cell, then, not wanting to just walk away entirely, and leave the man that had given them helpful warnings about everything he could. "Please come with us," she urged from across the threshold.
Before the thrall could respond there was a roar. The troll's reaction time might not have been the keenest, but the sight of its fellow guard in a shrieking heap at the base of the opposite wall proved to be very motivating. Meggan barely avoided being trampled as it charged into the cell and made a grab for Paige with hands the size of pizza pans.
Paige ducked and tried to maneuver herself between the troll and her exit. It was probably smarter to run from the hulking creature, but after the third time getting kidnapped this year, she has some frustration to work out. With a swing that would make Sam (and Doug who had taught her) proud, Paige struck against the troll’s giant arm.
The force of the troll's bellow shook bits of ancient mortar from the ceiling. The troll fell to its knees, crumpled around the blow as if she'd shattered bones. The redcap, still curled in an agonized ball, began to shriek hysterically.
"Iron! Iron! The witchbreed is iron!"
Huh. This worked better than Paige thought it would. Now she just had to hold this form until they could find a way out of this place. While the troll writhed on the ground, she joined Meggan outside the cell. “You coming?” she said to the thrall still in the cell.
The grey-faced man looked from the groaning troll, to Paige, then back again. He had probably assumed that he'd seen everything after so many years in Otherworld. He was clearly realizing this had been incorrect.
"We can't," he said at last. "We've been here too long. Eaten their food, given our names. We're bound. Even if we were able to leave most of us have been here so long we'd age to bones the minute we set foot back on earth."
Meggan shook her head sadly, though she was still determined. She wanted to help him! “You’re certain of it?” There had to be something that they could do for him—for all of them, even the ones that weren't quite themselves at all anymore back there. "If being bound causes that, and you can't go back home...isn't there anywhere else you could all go?"
The man looked back at his silent companions, then shook his head. "We're humans in Otherworld. Even if the others had the strength there's no place to hide. But . . ." Stiffly, the thrall bent to retrieve the redcap's fallen pikestaff. For the first time since they'd met him something like a smile crossed his face. ". . . we can delay these two for a while."
Meggan definitely wasn’t going to be one to deny him that. “Thank you.” He didn’t have to tell them not to give their names. He didn’t have to explain anything to them, but he had managed to do so, and for that she was very, very grateful that there was something of him left that could be so kind.
“…that is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” Paige couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “You can’t leave because you ate food and introduced yourself? If that’s true, I’d never have been able to leave Kentucky.”
She held her hand out. “Come with us, we can leave them-“ she jerked her thumb at the unconscious red cap and groaning troll “-locked in here. Give them a taste of their own medicine.”
Even countless years of hard labor couldn't dull the edge from the look the thrall shot her. "You don't believe in Otherworld's rules," he said slowly, "but you stand here as cold iron."
“Yes, because of a genetic mutation that allows me to create a new skin for myself. We may not fully understand the X gene and all of its abilities yet, but it’s not magic, it’s science.” Paige cast a wary glance over at their captors. “Come on, we can argue once we’ve locked them up.”
The man gestured to his dead-eyed fellows to move. They rose with painstaking slowness, some of them having to physically pull others into responsiveness. It was obvious that even vacating their cell pushed the limits of some. The thrall turned his attention back to the troll still whimpering on the floor. "People have fought them before, but only iron can do that," he said simply. "The rules are different here. They work whether you believe them or not."
“The fae are real, so elements of the stories are, too,” Meggan softly assured Paige. She glanced back into the cell; it was oddly painful to watch the others just trying to force the others into action. They were so limp in every way. “Magic is just as real as science, so maybe the cogs turn a little bit differently here in places with sapping of stuff and binding, but there are still rules.” She shook her head.
While she really wanted to make absolutely certain there weren’t loopholes that could save them, she knew they couldn’t stay here talking. The noises of an Iron Paige vs troll beatdown might draw the attention of other guards, if there were any around. “And there are lots of rules for so many magical things and places that can be finicky and mean and strange, but they’re….still rules. Like science has its own.”
Meggan found herself grinning, knowing it was silly to keep going. “In summary, my sister’s a witch, I’ve seen things, and some stuff’s happened overall for everyone! And I really, really think we should go and start finding the others now, while nobody guesses we’re out.”
Paige did her best not to roll her eyes as Meggan spoke. Just because you didn’t fully understand something didn’t make it magic. She held out her arm, trying to help some of the people near her to their feet.
“Yeah, alright, let’s go,” she said, giving the troll one last kick for good measure.
