Incompetent kidnappers? How did you survive this long?!

Now, see, I really didn’t want to criticise too much. Like, I get it, these guys are just doing their jobs, and they were the professionals there. But I have to be honest, it was the shoddiest kidnapping of my entire life. Seriously, they didn’t even bother tying my hands up or anything. Just popped a bag over my head, chucked me in a cage, locked the door and off we went. They didn’t even bother putting the tarp over the top! Lazy work, honestly. Even I could do better.

Well, I suppose they felt they didn’t need to given the circumstances. I had chosen somewhere nice and deserted right on the outskirts, so we didn’t even pass anyone before we were totally out of the city. I knew this, of course, because I took the bag off my head within seconds of the cage being locked. What was even the point of the bag if I could just take it off like that! Rank amateurs, I tell ya. Also made me wonder just how inept the city guard must be to have not caught these guys. Idiots all the way down.

Ah, whatever. Professionals or no, they had kidnapped me, which meant my plan was in motion. Even better, they didn’t even put anyone watching over me. I was the only one sat in the cage, and the rest of them were either pulling the wagon that it was attached to or sat inside of it. Like, what if I had been an Earth mage? I could have broken this shoddy cage in seconds, overturned their cart and killed the lot of them. Idiots!

Okay I’m ranting again, but the point is that everything was going good for me. Misty and Immanuel would be following, just far enough away that they could see the big wagon but the guys in the wagon wouldn’t notice them. That was all they had to do until we got into the mountains.

So, in the meantime, all I had to do was be a good little kidnappee and put up with the bumpy ride.

Man, they really could have at least put a cushion in here or something. Cheapskates.

It wasn’t long before we got to the mountains, and the bumpy ride got way worse. Way to give your guest a headache, assholes. Terrible hosts. I didn’t feel bad at all about planning to incinerate them later.

It would be a lot harder for Misty and Immanuel to follow us through the mountainous region, so we had planned for ways to make it easier. I would periodically set a couple blades of grass on fire to show that I had been there. If we made any big diversions that would make following particularly hard, I’d shoot a firework into the air to show which way we had gone. I was hoping to reserve that for a maximum of two or three uses at most, though. It would obviously alert the kidnappers that someone was nearby, and unlike dropping a few sparks to set some grass on fire, I would also require me to burn my hand slightly. Not severely, but bad enough that it’s best avoided.

For a while, I just lazily dropped a spark every now and then and hoped the kidnappers wouldn’t notice. It was always small enough that it wouldn’t cause a big fire, just char a little bit of grass, so I was pretty confident it’d slip past their attention.

I also tried to listen in on their conversation where I could, which let me glean a few bits of information. Most of their talk was pointless squabble, but some definitely made it worth listening to.

“This one can probably go in with that lot we nabbed yesterday. They’re not going off to the buyer until later today.”

So they were still there, but not for long.

“I can’t believe how much money that sicko is paying us for this. One job pays more than I earned in the army for a whole year.”

Their buyer is either a rich merchant or a lord to have that sort of money.

“We’ll probably be packing up shop and joining back up with the rest later this week.”

There’s more than one group of them. And they’re mobile.

That was about all the useful information I heard before the cart suddenly lurched to the left. I damn near smacked my head on the bars of the cage. What sort of idiots can’t even turn a damn wagon safely?

Wait… Misty and Immanuel might struggle to follow… that was a pretty sharp turn and there’s not a lot of grass for me to burn here…

It was the exact scenario I’d hoped to avoid, but it was totally out of my control. I either had to do something really dangerous, or risk Misty and Immanuel losing my trail altogether.

Dammit all… it’s not really a choice is it?

I breathed in deeply and gathered mana to my fingertip. I put enough energy into it that I could be confident it would take a good few seconds to explode, so my captors might not realise it was me that fired it. Then, ignoring the burning sensation at the tip of my finger, I released my magic.

Some seven or eight seconds later, an explosion sounded out behind us, and a bright red firework lit up the sky.

“The hell? There shouldn’t be anyone else around here,” said one of the men in the wagon.

“Were we followed?” asked another.

“If someone was following us, why would they announce themselves like that?”

“Well who else could it be? That kid we snatched?”

“Did she look like she was carrying a damned firework rocket? It’s probably just some local kids messing around somewhere they won’t get caught.”

“This far out? I dunno, man, I’ve got a bad feeling. We should get back to the boss quickly.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Yo, runners, pick up the pace, will ya?”

The cart picked up speed, the discussion seemed to end there, and I let out a sigh of relief.

That could have been bad.

***

We were on the road for a good long while, but eventually we slowed to a stop, my cage was opened, and I was dragged out by the scruff of my neck. They didn’t even comment on me taking the bag off my head. Seriously, how did anyone hire these guys?

Anyway, they dragged me round to the front of the wagon, and I got to see the “hideout” they had been operating out of. When I saw it, I finally understood how they had avoided being found for so long. It was effectively a giant tent, propped up by large wooden supports. Much larger than a house, but probably easy to move. When the authorities came sniffing, they probably just packed up shop and moved it elsewhere. A couple of good Earth mages could move those wooden beams miles away without stopping.

I’d been fairly critical of their lacklustre kidnapping, but credit where credit is due, they did have the right idea for avoiding capture.

There were four guys in front of me, and I was being pushed along by one guy behind me. My hands still weren’t bound or anything, but they probably figured no one would be stupid enough to fight back in this scenario even with magic. I almost wanted to inferno the lot of them to prove them wrong, but without my staff there was pretty good odds that I’d just blow my arm off.

When we were finally inside the tent, I tried to subtly take in the surroundings without raising suspicion. There were four main wooden supports that met in the dead centre at the top of the tent. Since each one arced all the way over, that meant eight places at ground level that I could target to bring the place down. If it came to it. Doing that would put me on a tight clock to get myself and the other girls out. Still, it was better than setting fire to the tent itself. I couldn’t tell exactly what material it was made of, so if it turned out to be less flammable than I expected, I’d have wasted my chance. And if it was more flammable than I expected? Well, smoke inhalation isn't the nicest way to go.

Speaking of the girls, by the way, they were being ushered into another cart that had been parked inside the tent. It seemed like the captors were preparing to move them out and sell them off. Not too far from them was a bunch of casks of ale. These sick fucks must have been boozing up on money from selling off kids. Made me sick.

I also tried to count how many enemies there were. I couldn’t see all of them because of the guys in my way, but I was pretty sure there was about fourteen or fifteen. Even with inferno magic, that was probably too much for me to take on my own.

“Got one more for ya, boss,” said one of the men at the front. I recognised his gruff voice as belonging to one of the guys who were talking about my firework spell earlier. The one who dismissed the possibility that I was the one who fired it, I think.

“Hmm…” the apparent boss signalled the men in front of me to move, then came up to me to ‘inspect’ me or whatever. He carried a sword on his hip, which meant he was likely not a mage. Most people specialised in only one style of combat. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t dangerous.

He got down to my level and put his hand on my chin, turning my face left and right to get a good look at me. Ugh. He was disgusting. I wanted to throw up. Or set him on fire. “She definitely seems like the buyer’s type. Good call picking this one up. Was there any trouble on the way?”

“Not really. This one came quietly. Didn’t even panic,” replied the guy who had presented me.

“Hmm? Really…” The boss eyed me suspiciously. I broke out in a bit of a sweat. Was he onto us? “And you’re sure nothing else of note happened?”

“Not really boss. I mean, there was one point a while ago where there was some big light show in the sky, but nothing came of it, so it was probably just kids messing around.”

“I see.” The boss man let go of my face and stood back up straight, turning to walk away. Then he stopped, turned, and slammed the guy with a backhand so fast that he crumbled to the ground unconscious. Man, this guy must have been strong. “You imbeciles! You pick up a girl who doesn’t so much as react to being kidnapped, then think nothing of it when she signals your position! She’s a decoy, you utter incompetents!” My stomach dropped as I realised he had seen right through us. Maybe this guy being the only person here with a brain in his head is the reason they had survived this long. “You, restrain her! You three, lock that cart and prepare to get moving! We probably have little time!”

The guy behind me grabbed my left arm and pulled it up so I was dangling from the floor. My shoulder ached immediately, but that wasn’t my concern.

They’re gonna move those girls out now… if I don’t act quickly, we won’t stop them in time.

No… the plan was for Misty and Immanuel to get here first so I could retrieve my staff… if I start firing off spells, I’m gonna get myself killed.

That’s right… just taking down these crooks will be enough to spread my legend… I don’t have to stick my neck out for some girls I’ve never even met. I’m not an idiot. They still think I’m just a decoy, so if I wait until my allies get here I’ll be fine.

Sometimes being decisive means deciding not to act, right?

“Haaah… I’m an idiot…”

I aimed my free hand at the men moving towards the cart, and launched a fireball.