Escape Artist

Mario's Pov

I stood there before the King, who was asking me to take his sword and execute the fairy that was kneeling in front of us. But I could not do it, this warrior helped us defend our people. Even though our soldiers did not believe me, I fought side by side with her. Instead of killing her, we should be thanking her. I spoke up against the King's wishes, "I will not kill her, she protected us. What I should be doing is asking you why you deceived us." Everyone was in shock at my words. I could even see the anger in the King's eyes as he gripped the sword in his hand. This might as well get me slaughtered but I wanted answers. I wouldn't lay a finger on that sword or even raise my own against an ally. We could have been friends with the fairies this whole time, at least with the good fairies.

The King just huffed, turning his head to the people that were in the room, "You think this fairy would protect us? Do you not remember when the fairies attacked us, just now? They are a threat to the human race, and you want to suggest parlay?" He boasted as he began walking throughout the corridor, speaking to everyone in the room, "That is like saying that we should let our guard down, letting them come into our homes and sit down with our children. Fairies want to kill us and dismantle us, and you're saying that fairies are good, wise, and will even sit down to have an ale?" He laughed and all the humans surrounding the King began to laugh too. Harold's words were influential, he was very good at manipulating people. What I saw today, however, contradicted what he was spewing out. This made me angry and I wanted to smite him where he stood. He took away everyone's right to think for themselves, he took away all their freedoms. That is why he was going to suffer for his actions.

Angerly, I raised my fist against the King's words, protesting against his ploy, "You may think that all fairies are bad, but I know what I saw. This fairy stood beside me in battle, vanquishing every evil fairy in sight. She fought her kind, she protected me. If fairies are supposed to hate humans, would they do such a thing?" Everyone fell silent and looked at each other, conversing about what I said. The King grumbled in frustration realizing he lost the room. Even so, he snickered and returned his gaze over to me.

The King looked at me with evil intent in his eyes, "Alright, if you feel that way. Take her to the dungeons to be questioned!" Harold commanded the squadron of knights as they stiffened at his command, saluting him and then dragging the magical creature towards the dungeons. She yanked as hard as she could to try and release herself, yet even though she tried her hardest, they wouldn't release their grip. When she was out of viewpoint the King gave an evil smirk, The King then announced, "She will be executed tomorrow morning." My heart tripped inside my chest, my emotions suddenly were everywhere. Execution? I couldn't breathe, why was she going to get killed anyways? I know that there is something wrong with this, this wasn't right! I clenched my fist and looked at the King with anger. She shouldn't be receiving this sort of punishment, she was innocent and I knew that. 

I tried arguing my case, "But sir..." Harold then cut me off, he knew I was going to say something to make everyone turn against him. He knew that if I had my voice, he wouldn't get his way. That is why he shut me up, so other people wouldn't start believing me. So, he would remain in power.

As he spoke anger was prominent in his voice, "I will discuss your behavior with you later." I didn't care much for what happened to me. I could get punished in any way that the King sees fit but I wasn't going to give up on repairing things. A new era between humans and fairies was about to begin and it was up to me to end it off on the right note. Even though I feared for my life, I was brave enough to put myself on the front lines, for our people, and the future of Ashmar. 

I had to release the fairy from entrapment, I had to stop this madness. The fairy's execution would not allow me to fully understand why the King lied. Also, I wanted to know more about her, and what fairies do for a living. Maybe that would change what humans think about fairies. However, freeing her from imprisonment was going to be difficult. I had no idea how I was going to be successful in this endeavor. 

As I pondered upon this, I came up with the most brilliant plan ever. I am the King's advisor, many people already know this. What if I said I was the one sent to question her? This would be very believable, many advisors are sent to question prisoners. The only problem is, I'm not very good at lying. This was an urgent situation, I had to lie, I had to save someone's life.

Summoning my courage, I sauntered off to the dungeons. Reaching the corridor, and seeing the entryway for the dungeon, the hallway seemed to extend itself. I felt a lot of pressure on my shoulders which made the journey long and treacherous. Grabbing the doorknob, I opened the doorway and looked at the steps that take you down to the dark and musky prison. Slowly, I walked down the steps in fear of what might happen next. I didn't know if the guards would figure out my fib and would end up throwing me into a jail cell myself. But most of all, I always hated going down here, it is a gloomy place where most of the prisoners go mad because of the solitude and pitch-black environment. Finally, I was at the end of the steps and thankfully there was a gas lamp to my right. Taking the lamp I shuffled down the prison hallways which were a big labyrinth, the jail cells were in towers, separate from one another. The staircases in this prison swirled around the towers and took you to each cell. I had no idea how I was going to find the magical creature but in my confusion, the guards that were instructed to take the damsel in distress away came toward me.

Deciding to question them and present my fake plan, I spoke to them, "I was sent here by King Harold to question the magical being. So if you would be so helpful as to show me where her cell is, that would be great." The soldiers looked at each other and then back to me. I was worried that they may have noticed my lie and would arrest me but they did not budge. They seemed to fall for my ploy and went with what I was saying.

The guards smiled and chose to direct me towards the cell, "Follow us we will take you there." Turning around, the guards showed me the way through the prison maze. I stayed silent as I followed them, I did not want to reveal my true purpose for being here. If I did accidentally say something to ruin my chances, I have no idea what they would do to me then. All I wanted was to free the damsel and fix everything, to provide the fairy with a sense of security. She sacrificed herself for our Kingdom and I wanted to repay her and find out why. 

Wandering through this giant maze, we turned left, and right and walked up and down many staircases until finally, we reached the tower that the magical being was held in. The guards turned to me, at the bottom of the step, "Her cell will be located on the thirteenth floor of this tower. We will follow you no further." Tilting my head upwards, I swallowed in fear. The thirteenth floor was a long way up and rumored to be the most dangerous floor of them all, it is the unlucky number thirteen. Taking a deep breath, I started my journey of walking up the stairs. 

As I did this, I tried to think of the questions I would ask her. I wanted to know so much about her. Her name, where she came from, why she arrived, why she helped us. There is so much on my mind that I want to talk to her about. But as I traveled up the stairs, I felt myself weakening. The air in my lungs that was once there began to dissipate. I have no idea how long I have been walking upstairs but my feet were starting to hurt from this descent, especially since I was wearing boots. This was not the most comfortable climb but I had the feeling that I was getting close to my destination. I was running out of breath and of energy to continue like this but I was determined to finish climbing these stairs. It was such hard work that I felt like I was going to pass out, this was torture for me. I was going to hate stairs more than anything after this.

Finally, I reached the thirteenth floor and was met with the being's jail cell. She was tugging on her chains trying to free herself from the shackles that she was in. Stepping forward, I was going to tell her that I was here to help but I must have made a noise because she whirled her head around towards me, fear in her eyes. I've never seen someone so scared of me before until now. I put my hands up, signaling that I was not here to hurt her and the girl calmed down immediately, putting some slack in her chains.

I leaned in forward a bit to ask her one question that had been on my mind ever since I saw her, "What is your name?" She looked at me and smiled with joy, that smile of hers made me feel happy and I smiled to myself. That smile made me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. I didn't know that someone could do this to me. The girl looked back and forth, making sure that no one was around and after much deliberation, she looked me in the eyes and sighed. Again, those eyes of hers shocked me, they were so beautiful. I tried my best to pay attention to her words.

She responded to my question with a soft and gentle voice, "My name is Ashley Magic." Then her dark form which was surrounding her changed into a more light and elegant form. Again, I was astonished, I had no idea that fairies could look like this. She didn't look vile at all, she looked like a very nice person. Then she spoke again, "You must understand that I am not here to hurt anyone. The army that you faced out there was one that my Kingdom had to face a year ago." What she said confused me a little bit, but I finally understood why she battled her kind. There was both evil and good in the world of magic and the attack that we faced was one of evil. However, I am not here to question her, I am here for a jailbreak.

I looked at her and told her my true purpose here, "I am not here to question you and I know that you are on the good side. The reason why I am here is to get you out of here before dawn breaks." Ashley looked at me in surprise as I reached for the lock to bust her cell open. However, she then looked to the side of me in horror and her eyes changed into a dark gray and they emitted a glowing light. Turning around, I saw that there was a protective shield around me, and the King was throwing down his sword... The King tried to kill me.