Narrowly Escaping Death
Fruity's plan was simple. Since it would take three days to travel from the Ancestral Burial Site to Chaos City and another two days to cross the border, he aimed to put a half-a-day head start between himself and the Dark Flame Chaos Dragons. He set the illusion to break four days after he left the burial site.
This meant that if his companions hurried, as they did, allowing them to reach the city in two and a half days, Fruity would have crossed the border long before the news of the missing horn reached the border patrol.
However, the illusion he set at the mine lost its power three days after he left, causing the situation to escalate faster than he had anticipated. But this, too, was within his calculations.
He had already dealt with any suspicion that might arise had the blacksmith realized his son was missing, so the only thing left was to make sure his tracks were clean before leaving.