Part One Escape

"You see!" Xar whispered triumphantly to his companions. 'what did I tell you,? We've nearly escape already?!'

And Nar was right, they had really done a very good job to get this far.

The Gormincrag Detention Centre for the Re- education of Dark Magic and Wicked Wizards had been designed to imprison some of the most terrifying monsters in the entire Magical world. Bogeymen. Ogres of all sizes and swageries, Jack o' Kents, Bugbears, Kelpies, Grim Annises, you name it, and even, once upon a time, dare I say it, WITCHES, that were once extinct, and had recently re-emerged in that part of the wildwoods.

NO ONE, no Dark-sprite, no Rogrebreath however large and terrifying, no Wicked Wizard of spells the most fiendish, had EVER escaped from Gormincrag before. People had tried of course, and the legends of brave but failed escape attempts from Gormincrag were told from sprite to sprite across the years. But no one had ever successfully made it out of there alive. Even if, by some extraordinary chance, you made

it beyond the prison perimeter without the skulls screaming, the grim towers of Gormincrag were built on seven islands set in a sea called prettily 'the Sea of Skulls, and the treacherous waves would get you, or those vicious merfolk, the Bloody Barbeards, would swim out of their holes in the Drowned Forest on the seafloor and get you, and bring you back.

As the son of a King Enchanter, and a boy with a great deal of personal charisma, Xar had quite a few followers.

At the moment he was accompanied by five sprites (Tiffinstorm, Timeloss, Hinkypunk, Ariel, and Mustardthought) - and these were beautiful, fierce- looking creatures, resembling a cross between a very small human and an angry insect, and three hairy fairies, (Squeezjoos, Bumbleboozle, and The Baby), smaller, more bee-like animals, who were too young to have climbed into their cocoons and metamorphosed into proper adult sprites yet.

Sprites can light up like stars in the night- time, but these ones did not want to be detected at the moment, so they had subdued the light of their little bodies to the very dimmest of glows. These sprites all belong to Xar, and loyally, quietly, invisibly, they had smuggled themselves in to Gormincrag to try and help him escape. You right, Master" Squeezjoos, one of the hairy taries, whispered back. Squeezjoos was a tiny little x-legged creature, larger than a bumblebee but still so small he could fit into your hand, and he was buzzing excitedly around Xar's head. 'Yous ALWAYS right! That'ss why youss the Leader and you never leads uss into any trouble! Co! What's this fasscintressting cave?

This 'fasscintressting cave' was in fact a large skull with its mouth open. Squeezjoos buzzed in to investigate and the mouth snapped shut with an ominous clang, and the eyeholes squeezed tight closed as if they still had lids on them. "Helloooo?' buzzed Squeezjoos in anxious echoes from within. 'Helloooo? I think I iss stuck!' The sprites nearly fell out of the air they were laughing so much, but Xar intervened in quick alarm, hissing, 'Don't go over the boundary of the battlements anybody! There's a Magical forcefield around this castle, and it's fine getting IN, but get across it to get OUT!" you can't

At some considerable danger to himself, because the skull was just out of reach, and he had to tie the end of the rope to his ankle and dangle upside down to get his hands on it. Xar thenvery, very carefully and delicately released the mouth bone of the skull so that Squeezjoos could buzz out triumphantly squeaking, I is fine! Don't worry everyone! I is FINE!

And then Xar swung himself back onto a safer ledge again, and explained to his interested companions that those skulls were the screaming kind, and they were one of the final defences of Gormincrag.

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