On the roof beams, Cypher and Alice cautiously felt their way forward.
Whenever armored soldiers passed below,
they would silently crouch down, letting the beam, only wide enough for one person, conceal them from the soldiers' blind spots.
Once the clanking footsteps of the patrolling soldiers had faded into the distance,
the two would stand again and continue onward on tiptoe.
Clank—clank—
The footsteps vanished from earshot.
Alice hummed a tune to herself as she followed Cypher.
Thud—
Cypher had suddenly stopped.
Caught off guard, the girl slammed headfirst into the boy's back to avoid making too much noise. It wasn't because she had been too slow to react!
What was going on?!
Startled back to her senses, the girl immediately placed a hand on Cypher's back.
She thought he had been hit by a spell!
The instant their bodies touched, she got her answer.
Cypher had not been cursed!
Then why had he stopped?
She hurriedly scanned their surroundings. There was no hidden danger, was there?
Only then did she relax and raise a hand to rub her forehead.
"Hey! Why did you suddenly stop?!"
Her tone carried both reproach and curiosity.
"Look over there."
Cypher turned his head and offered a faint smile to apologize for his carelessness, then pointed solemnly at a cell door nearby.
"Does that wizard look familiar to you?"
Alice followed Cypher's finger. It was a wizard with blond hair and pale skin.
He was currently lying unconscious behind the cell door.
He was gaunt and haggard, looking like a beggar.
"He does look familiar. I think I've seen him somewhere not long ago..."
At those words, Cypher's body stiffened almost imperceptibly.
Alice did not notice at all.
"At the previous camp,"
Cypher quietly reminded her.
"When we had just emerged from the portal