Two pinpricks of light appeared in the darkened hall of the prison. From afar they looked like delicate snowflakes, but up close, Ethyn could see two tiny people were the source of the light.
"Fairies!" Ethyn gasped and took a step forward to examine them more closely.
"What were you expecting? Dwarves?" the crazy man scoffed. "It's no wonder they think most humans are dumb as logs.
"Will you help us?" Silver asked the floating beings. He seemed only mildly surprised by their presence.
The Guardian had seen the history of the world in Hanna's eyes, so he knew of the fairies' existence.
But he had no idea that they still existed. He wondered if Hanna knew. Surely she did.
The two fairies tinkled like bells. Silver could hear their conversation, but it was in a language he did not understand. He did, however, gather the discussion was about Ethyn and himself.
"Back up!" the man next door called again. "Don't say I didn't warn you!"
"Wha--" Ethyn was pushed farther back against the wall as a blast of cold filled the air.
The shot of ice came from the tiny lights in powerful proportions. How could so much come from something so little?
Silver knew better than to ask. When the fairies were done, he hurried back to the bars and touched them. As expected, they were bitterly cold and brittle.
Even the slight touch was enough to give the skin on the Guardian's hand frostbite. He wrapped one hand in his tunic and tried again.
Under his immense strength, it began to give. "You have anything for me to wrap around my other hand?"
"We could try this," Ethyn took off his breast plate and started chipping at the bar. Unfortunately the magical cold was so concentrated that the metal armor got more of the damage than the bar.
"Save that. You will need it to protect yourself when we fight our way out of here." Silver rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.
"You mean if we have to fight our way out of here," the younger man corrected him.
"I love your optimism," the Guardian replied. "Now give me your undershirt or some other cloth to protect my hand from the cold.
Ethyn started to take off his belt, which was missing its sword, when a small cloth fluttered to the ground.
Silver scooped it up, "This will do!"
"No! Not that." Ethyn watched in horror as the token of Rose's love was wrapped around her brother's palm and pressed up against the dirty bars. Immediately a line of black appeared on its pristine surface.
"Don't be so prissy. I will get you a new one if you are so worried." Silver spared him a tolerant glance as he rocked back and forth, pushing and pulling on the bar with both hands now.
"It isn't that. Wait, I think you may actually be making progress!" Despite his horror at knowing the handkerchief was ruined, Ethyn was delighted to see the bar bend slightly under the Guardian's force.
"Of course I am making progress! All things will shatter if made cold enough. And no one can make things colder than a winter fairy." The Guardian heard the two tiny creatures laugh, their airy voices sounded like far away children.
For all he knew, they were fairy children. Who else would refuse to portal two heroes out of a dungeon because of a petty comment? Of course Silver didn't know too much about fairies. Perhaps they were a petty species.
'At least they were willing to blast the bars. A truly petty creature would have refused entirely.'
It took a long time and a considerable amount of strength for Silver to make real progress.
Finally, the bar gave a small cracking sound like shattered glass. Little metal shavings flew through the air as the entire length of the bar between the two of the cross beams came into the small cell.
Now at the height of the men's shoulders, a gaping hole about the length of Silver's forearm and about the width of half of his waist was available for the two men to use.
"Uh, that's a problem..." Ethyn wished he had realized the error sooner.
"I know. We took too long..." the Guardian became very anxious.
"No, I mean--" The knight felt Silver force the bar into his hand.
"The guard is coming. Hold that in place and I'll make sure he doesn't notice." The Guardian blocked Ethyn with his body.
The younger man gulped as he shoved the bar back in place. With the shards that had broken off of the top and bottom, it was no longer a perfect fit. Ethyn gripped the bar at the bottom joint to cover the problem. He only hoped that the low light of the prison would hide the other end's lack of connection.
And speaking of light, the fairies, who had been watching with amusement, went and hid. Their little glowing bodies removed even more light from the dim area. Would it be enough?
Down the passageway, four soldiers came. Three had people slung over their shoulders.
"Put 'em there," one ordered as he opened a cell. "We can add more down 'ere later…"
Closing the door to the cell, the three men bid goodbye to the fourth. The last had not a person, but a bag slung across his shoulder. His surly expression clearly told that he had gotten the short end of the stick. "I have some bread and water for the rest of ya' dogs," he muttered as he peeked between the bars.
There were grumbles of men and women as the food and waterskins were chunked unceremoniously into the cells.
As the soldier neared, Silver saw the lunatic's arms shoot out and try to take hold of the soldier. "An extra loaf for my friends, please!" he begged.
The soilder looked at Silver then back at the man. "I have something special for those two..."
"No, they aren't my friends!" The crazy man rolled his eyes. "I need some for my fairies..."
"Ohhh. No." the soldier pulled out of the lunatic's grasp and squared his shoulders at the Guardian and knight. They saw the tray in his free hand.
"Compliments of the House." The soldier slipped the tray through a thin slot in the side of the cell. Ethyn had not even noticed the opening and had to jerk his body out of the way.
Unfortunately that meant two things. He could not bend down to catch the tray, and, more importantly, the bar which he held followed him with his sudden motion.
Silver dove to keep the tray from crashing to the ground and then spun it dramatically away from Ethyn. The knight quickly pushed the bar back into its place and pretended to lean against it like nothing ever happened.
Silver cleared his throat to cover the soft clang as the bar went back into place.
"What?" The guard asked, confused by the bizarre display.
"Nothing. Just wondering if the food is poisoned. I think I might prefer the bread that my neighbor got." Silver shrugged as he examined the tray. The food seemed a little too good to be true.
Surprisingly, the man pulled a loaf from his sack and tossed it inside. "Suit yourself. No skin off me' nose, is it?" He eyed the men and shook his head. "Crazy da both o' ya."
Walking away, he threw things into a few more cells before disappearing from sight.
"That was close..." Silver whispered. "That man is from the soldiers of Lakyle, I would bet my money on it."
"Uh, Silver. We have another problem." Ethyn held out the bar. "The hole you made...it's too high and narrow. We are going to have to start over."
Silver's eyes flashed. It was frustratingly true. Either the faries had no clue of human capabilities, or they had been playing a cruel joke. Silver hoped it was the former.
"Hey, neighbor. I don't suppose your fairies would come blast another couple of bars for us, would they? Just two measly ones near the base of the cell. Pretty please?" The Guardian cringed at his own begging, but they were running out of time.
"Why should they?" The lunatic asked defiantly.
Silver held out his hand through the bars for the next cell to see. "Well, I have a lovely loaf of bread with their name on it!"
Blasts of ice came only a moment later.