At a closer look inside the prison, she noticed the many details of how the prisoner lived inside the tower's halls. A feathered pillow, wool mattress and a table with pen and paper. A broken metal chain attached to a windowless stone wall and a set of change. A prisoner had a more comfortable bed than her own.
[He lived more lavishly than you. Even his pillow is fluffier.]
'I know, should we take it?'
[Well, make sure to exchange it with your flat pillow.]
Even if he had a rare power, any non-title mage was doomed on this island at some point, left to die. Whatever he had, made him more special than the previous special cases in the past. Her hand pressed down on the sprungy pillow. The comfort gave her goosebumps and with one swift move, she snatched the pillow and stuffed it into her witch's hat. Fortunately the pillow was small enough and the headdress was big.
Ishtar then returned to the upper floors, as her job wasn't to catch anyone, but to find and discover their nature.
[Don't you want to see the escaped prisoner?]
Ishtar slightly shook her head. 'He is a prisoner, he can't give me what I want. Knowledge about magic.'
[But he has magic and something dangerous enough to be inside the tower.]
'And I'm this close' Ishtar pinched her fingers together. 'In learning magic from Mentor Zil. Once I can use time magic, we have all the time in the world.'
[You should've mastered combat magic, then you could hunt him down like Timothy.]
'It's dangerous work and, honestly, you let me live your life. I don't want to waste this second chance. And tracking was well-paid.'
And something only astromancers were capable of, due to the Dux Star spell and not everyone wanted to become one, as it owned only one useful spell. Any other school of magic had better spells than the set of an astromancer.
Burning Stars? The pyromancer or illusionist had better means to blind or confuse enemies.
Particle coating? Any enchanter could cast spell enhance on more than their own weapons or armor.
And, let's not mention the uncontrollable pressure spell. It didn't have a name, but no astromancer discovered its use as the magic would run rampant very soon and squash anyone, if they happen to be unlucky. But mentor Zil was a master of astromancy and had been able to accomplish things that were outside Ishtar's understanding of magic. And he was her sole reason to work in the tower, instead of seeking out a court specialist within the capital. She could've changed her school to illusions easily and seek out a spymaster, but as she heard of how many of her class took their exams in it, she swapped. Some of her peers were simply out of her league.
She blindly wandered into the magistrate's office, witnessing an unfolding chaos of books scattered on the ground and a runaway. He turned to Ishtar, his grown out wild bangs covered his face, the tattered cloth covered in blood and his leg had the other half of the chain. If it was him, the escapee, then she had to try to keep him there.
[Wow, look at the hottie. Are you sure this is the prisoner? Wasn't he supposed to be in the middle floors?]
'Shut it, I have to concentrate.'
[Okay, boss.] Nerium whispered.
He lifted his arm towards her and the door shut close behind her. Ishtar's heart quickened as she attempted to stay calm. Losing composure also meant losing. Fight or flight reaction was indoctrinated as the poison of any mage, as they needed to remain calm to cast spells otherwise they weren't any better than any prisoner on the nameless island.
Her fingers fumbled the crescent earpiece and she chose to cast a quick binding spell. She pointed at him and invisible chains erupted from his surroundings. She targeted his limbs. Instead of backing off, he came charging. His elbow in front and if Ishtar hadn't tolled to the sides, then her head could've been crushed. But he didn't back down, he kept rushing and he tried to reach her. She had no time to touch her crystal as she had to make sure to keep her skirt outside his arm's length. Then as she hopped over the table, the only furniture that halted the chase, she stroked the Teathar, casting bind again.
Everything slowed down. He lunged. The chains had entangled his limbs but they broke as he stretched them out. The man pushed Ishtar to the ground. Her hands held above her head and the prisoner sat on her hips.
His chapped lips opened as he stared down on Ishtar with his light blue eyes. "And I thought you were a special mage, but all you guys do is rely on magic." His voice was husky and a bit hoarse. "You kept up with me –" He got his face closer to Ishtar's. " – Well, don't take it personal. But I don't think the other me would want to see any witnesses leave this place." He whispered and one end of his lips thinned into a half-smile. This man's face was built with a chiseled face, almost as if he was an angel doomed to die with the mortals. But his cocky, maybe even demon-like, smile ruined it.
[Wow. He is unique.]
'Shush, I'm trying to get us out here.'
"Is it immunity?'' Or are you perhaps enchanted? Whatever it is, you also rely on magic." She snapped back. "And aren't you here because you relied on magic for something and got caught?"
The man leaned back, with her hands on his lap now, saying. "I don't do magic. It's sad, but I think it hates me." His icy eyes had a saddened glow.
The door swung open, from what Ishtar could hear, and the same person shut it close, pushing over two shelves to barricade themselves inside the office. Unfortunately they would be met with a rather strong escapee. The footsteps came closer and as the person revealed themselves, Ishtar's eyes widened. Dirty blond and wild, but shorter hair, tall, icy blue eyes and scars on both arms. His clothes resembled that of a thief or hunter in a mix of cloth and leather. Gray, brown cloth with a scarf used to wrap up their faces.
[Clones? No, no, are those twins?]
Ishtar kept looking at her attacker and then at the barricader. "Mirage clone?" Ishtar asked. Then she tried to sense the spell, but there was none.
'Nothing.' Ishtar was shocked.
They were real. "No…" She mumbled, biting her lips as she tried to understand what happened. "Twins?" Those were the last type of mages anyone should encounter. One would be gifted with the magic of two, while the other was the omenbringer, creator of curses and disasters.
The attacker pulled her wrist to his belly, then he laughed, almost tearing up. "This girl – What is your name?" He wiped his tears off, then placed her hands on his thighs again.
She gave up fighting, just from being held like that, she knew the difference of strength and that once she'd cast a spell, he would end her.
"Don't bother. We kill her." The barricader unsheathed a shortsword and pointed it at her throat. "Did she use magic on you?"
The other one nodded. "But look –" He raised her arms and waved them around. "She isn't fighting back."
[Now he is imitating you, puppet master.]
'Very funny, I wonder why I even became one. I distinctly remember a crying girl –'
[Shut up! Okay, I let you puppet my body. But why do you let him master your body?]
'He is stronger and if you want to feel, I can let you ride your body.'
[No, but thanks for the offers. I'm feeling good, watching you do all the work.]
There was no need to fight back. She sighed. They probably wanted to escape the tower, but only mages with teleportation spells or portals could descend to the island. All she needed was to be persuasive enough to trade their escapes for her life.
"Don't care." The blade now poked into her flesh.
She huffed, knowing that she wasn't anything close to calm. "What do you guys want?" Her voice cracked slightly. "You want to get off this tower alive? I can offer you that?"
The swordsman dug his blade deeper into her flesh which caused her to wince and pull away. The other man put his hand on her throat, and Ishtar was relieved and surprised for him to cover the cut. "We keep her, I say."
"Why should we? She is a titled mage."
Her hands were free now. Yet if magic didn't work on the first man, then it probably wouldn't work on the other one. So, bartering was her way out of a death sentence. Convincing anyone was not a difficulty, but a nuance she'd rather avoid.
"She offers us off the tower." The man stood up and faced the swordsman. "I have a feeling that she could help us."
The swordsman's expression darkened, even twisted to something murderous.
Ishtar stood back up, placing her hand on the wound and casting the most basic healing spell. It would leave a scar behind, beauty didn't hold any importance and she needed to conserve her aether. "I already offered to get you off the tower." On a second thought she reminisced the scene of the binding spell shattering. Did they have some sort of immunity to magic? Would they even be able to go through a portal? She needed to know what they knew about mages.
[Knowledge is everything for me.] Nerium mocked Ishtar. [Our prisoner has something you don't have.] She giggled.
The long haired man clapped his hands and presented Ishtar to the swordsman. "We should take her offer."
The swordsman put his sword back. He crossed his arms, like he hated to consider the offer of freedom anyone would want. "How?"
"I need to get to the portal entrance in the middle floors. It's the stairs down, there is a huge Teathar crystal that has enough power for me to cast a portal for you." She probably had enough to cast one right there, but she would get an ear full from Simone if she let them escape. 'No', help them escape. That was the sure way of never being mentored by Master Zil. If there were any wardens or Simone in the middle floors, then those two would get caught again. And peace would return.
Both of them looked at each other, then the long-haired man hugged Ishtar with an angelic smile.
[Wow, you get to experience the touch of a handsome man. You should appreciate that moment.]
'I wish. If it wasn't a rather dangerous situation, I would've enjoyed it.'
Simone was right. He wore innocence as a face. His sturdy arms embraced her waist, his face buried into her shoulder and neck. And his lips stroked her neck's skin. She hadn't noticed the prickling goosebumps and her face heated up. Ishtar was frozen.
He then said, "What is your name?" It was just a whisper, but it was clear and loud in her ears.
"Ishtar."
"A beautiful name. If I were you, I wouldn't lie."
Her heart skipped. A chill ran down her spine. 'Is he a mind reader?'
He got off her shoulder to face her with a somber expression. "You have enough aether."