A few minutes later my captor had brought a birdcage to put me into. It radiated magical power. As soon as the door closed on me, a barrier sprung up, looking similar to the one the node stabilizer had produced. It only looked similar, though. I was completely unable to move through it or have any kind of magic escape. I was well and truly trapped. I tried shifting into my eldritch form, alien, darkness and destruction mana making up my body. Not even that let me do anything. The little clouds and snippets of energy breaking off were kept inside as well. I deflated, my body returned to normal. This was really depressing.

The ork had gathered his things and returned to pick me up as well.

“I should just let you sit here. But I can’t let you starve. That would make all this effort meaningless. Be a good girl and behave, will you?”

I glared at him. I wanted nothing more than to rip his throat out. All this hospitality was but a trick to make me let my guard down, huh? What an ass!

The carriage slowly drove along the dirt road, occasionally shifting and rocking a bit on the uneven ground. We had been on the road for a good few hours, the sun soon to be setting. When the traitor had brought me out with his other stuff the guards had stared at me far more than I would have liked. Detained in my cage I could not do anything about it so I had just closed my eyes and pretended to rest. Inwardly I was seething. This was absolutely disrespectful. They had no right to treat me like this! But they had the power. I could not do anything right now. I had to carefully look for an opening. Ignas had to feed me somehow, he could not do that with the barrier up. As soon as I could, I would get out.

The coachman and the thaumaturge had been conversing for a bit when we started on our journey, but by now they were brooding each on their own. The guards had scared off a boar family at some point, but other than that our travel was very boring. And very slow. I could get to the town in no more than an hour, maybe even half an hour. At least we were finally arriving. The orks all around pepped up their steps and even the ox seemed to be excited to get fed and started pulling a little faster. It still took almost until sundown before we reached the walls.

The fortification surrounding the city was a four metres tall construction of cleanly cut stones filled in with some kind of mortar. Going through the gatehouse made it clear it was almost three metres thick as well. I had expected to be stopped but the orks guarding the gate simply waved us through without a second look. Well, one of them glared at me like I had killed his brother, but there was no actual complication.

We moved into town past shops closing up and orks having their dinner, laughter and talk pattering onto the street through opened shutters. I was getting hungry. Soon, there might be an opening.

Our driver stopped at the central plaza in front of the largest building. It was only two stories tall like the others but nearly twice their width. Out stepped an ork dressed in purple robes. Clearly a thaumaturge, he had a wand on his belt, he was still different from my captor. There was no grey or gold on his robes, only pink, lavender, purple and some dark blue parts. The magic emanating from him was much weaker than what I had been exposed to these last few days. He was even less impressive than the one I killed up north, in the other village. His visibly rounded belly also pointed at a lavish lifestyle. He stepped down the stairs, arms spread out and a grin on his face.

“My old master deigns to visit, how wonderful! Come on in, the guest room is ready!”

My captor scowled at him.

“You are still as stupid as you have always been, Honga. Too much love for food and those insane constructs.”

I spotted two of said constructs in the shadows of the doorway. Golems, made from metal, held point with a small crossbow in hand. Their lifeless eyes scanned the area with prejudice. One of them spotted me and cocked his weapon.

“Hold those things in check, boy. If they harm my specimen, I will destroy every last one.”

“Yes, yes, of course. Stand back!” Honga ordered his minions. He shook a little bell taken from his belt once and the weapon was no longer pointed at me. “Though I am confident that cage of yours is protected properly. My little minions won’t be able to do anything to that… thing.” He sneered at me. What unpleasant company.

The traitor turned to the guards.

“You lot get some rest, we are departing early tomorrow. And you, merchant, your services are no longer required.”

“Certainly” the greasy coachman answered, “I will be on my way.”

Soon, the little equipment my captor had brought was in the house. I sat in my cage on top of a nightstand. A small box with some magical equipment, judging from the aura around it, sat in one corner of the room. A bag had been placed on the single desk. It held the Thaumonomicon and a few writing utensils. The orks had gone off somewhere, probably to have dinner, and left me alone in here. At least, without any other people. A golem stood in the hallway just outside the door. Fatty had placed it there ‘just in case’ and the idiot had not disagreed, even though he hated the things. Idiot was a good nickname for him. Or maybe I should stick with Traitor? Stupid? Buttface? I could sit here making up insults all night long, it would not help my situation. Taking action would not do anything either.

A short while later, Traitor returned and sat down at the desk. He started scribbling away, barely even giving me a glance. Until at some point, he started speaking.

“So, here is how we are doing this. You need food, that much is obvious. I can not feed you without giving you a chance to run. So you will need to hold out. When we are at the grove, there will be too many paranoid thaumaturges for you to get through. That is when you will get something. It is only a day trip by carriage, so you won’t starve. You will stay inconspicuous, you hear me? If any of the others learn that you’re sapient, they will think you killed that ork squad and want you dead. I can not have that. I can shut up the guards or Honga, if need be, but not the whole circle. So I’m going to cover up your cage. Should be no problem for you, right?”

With that last sentence, he looked at me. I glared at him with narrowed eyes. I would not let my chance go.

“Ah, whatever. Stupid bird” he muttered to himself as he returned to his research.

The night passed, Idiot taking a nap near the morning, and I was loaded up on the carriage once more. This time a blanket covered my cage so I could not even see anything for the duration of our journey. I spent most of my time poking and prodding at my mana, trying to get a better feel for what I might be able to do with it. At some point, we started to slow down. A few voices sounded out not too far and leaves rustled in the wind. Someone exchanged a few words with Traitor and my cage was picked up. A jumpy ride with a few glimpses at the forest ground later, I was put down again. Grass bent beneath the cage, pushed away from the barrier.

By this point I was so exhausted from hunger, I barely paid any attention to what was happening. Voices and steps blended together with a few sounds of magic, sparkling, crackling and small explosions. I was moved a few more times, only small distances, and the light slowly left. Sunset. Maybe I would get food soon?

My wishes were heard. The blanket lifted and Traitor’s face grinned at me.

“Had a nice journey?” he waved his hand, a bag in it, “I got some food for you. Just don’t try to escape, and you will get some, alright?”

He knelt down and opened the bag. Holding it at the bottom with one hand, he moved the other one to the cage. A ring lit up and I saw the barrier drop. This was it, time to escape! Shadows started to flow outwards, through the bars and beneath the blanket. The contents of the bag were dropped in the cage. Juicy dead rats, mice, molerats, insects and even a fish filled the bottom of my cage. My brain stopped for a moment. When I came back, my shadows were cut off, the barrier back in place.

“Good girl” Buttface grinned at me, “You can behave if you want to. This should last you a few days, enough until we are back home. Until then.”

With that, the blanket dropped back down and I was trapped again. Only this time I had food. The small things keeping one going. I was angry at myself. I botched a perfectly fine chance at escape. Only because I was so hungry a small pile of delicious meat distracted me. Okay. I really needed to eat. And so I did.

I made sure to only have enough to sate my hunger. ‘A few days’ was a very vague timeframe. I should be carefully saving my stocks.

And so the days passed. My seething anger turned cold and icy. I would get my revenge but first I needed to get in a position to do so. That meant getting out of this cage. Having food at least let me keep a clear mind. I was actually able to think things through. First, observation. I was in a cage, probably made from steel. It had a door, but I could not open it. I tried. It was tied to the barrier which went halfway through the bars. It held them in place and no poking or prodding changed their position. I tried with my beak, my talons using [Strong Grip] and even my shadows. They did not budge.

The long time was enough to use [Eldritch Shift] every few hours without increasing the amount of food I needed. That let me get a better look at the magical aspects forming my trap. Obviously, the aspect of trapping was a major part of it. Magic also played a part, as did air, flight and beast. An actual birdcage specialized in keeping magical birds. Instead of despairing, as some might do, I went at it analytically. What did this enchantment actually do? What could I do to get around it?

My analysis got the following results: It was a magical barrier, created from the magic essence. The trap essence defined what it would do, namely, prevent trespassing. The other three aspects defined what would be prevented. Air, flight and beast were the aspects every bird had. It would make sure none of those could pass through.

That was probably wrong. The barrier had stopped cloth and grass. Both things not holding much of any of those essences. More importantly, Idiot needed to lower it to feed me.

I wanted something to write… My thoughts were all over the place.

Okay, why were cloth and grass stopped? I checked on them while shifted. Both things were in abundance nearby and easy to analyse. Interestingly, I found cloth to hold beast essence and grass to hold air essence. No wonder they were stopped. But what about Idiot feeding me. My eyes went to the small pile of meat left in the cage with me. These were animals. Beasts, in the broadest sense. Of course, he could not get my food in. He could probably reach into the cage, but the bars were also in the way. There were many reasons, but I was now convinced I understood the methods of my containment.

Now to find a way out. Which I found in the most curious way. Someone was spending their night close to my cage. Most likely Idiot. And that someone was snoring. And that made me aware of something. I was breathing. I needed air. The barrier was too small to have provided me with almost three days of air I needed. It could not be blocking air. Not everywhere at least. And once I realized that, it was easy. I filled my belly one last time in captivity. No need to waste good food. Even though it was starting to stink even to my terrible sense of smell.

Then, I activated [Eldritch Shift]. Now that I knew what I was looking for, I spotted it immediately. There was a barrier around me, blocking off passage. But in a few places, in small holes between the bars, air was let through. A cage was meant to keep not to kill. There had to be a way for air to move in and out of my prison. An unseen path. With a thought, I stood outside the cage. I found myself in the corner of a small tent, a simple desk and stool standing on one side, a bedroll on the other. In the bedroll, an ork was sleeping. It was time to get my revenge, and it would not be merciful.