“And what if she doesn’t agree?” asked the prince.
“Always have a backup plan.” replied the wizard.
“So, we’re just going to run away?” piped in the knight, having been on a few more adventures with the wizard than the prince had.
Again, the wizard glared at them. He did that a lot. But instead of responding to their little jest he suddenly leapt up and said “It’s time to go.” and jumped on his horse. The others scrambled to their feet but by the time they mounted, Machvell was already beginning to ride down the hill and they had to trot their horses to catch up to him.
Once again they rode past the Fare home but no one was outside; no doubt the old couple were napping. The wizard planned right of course for just before the next farmhouse they saw May walking along the road towards them on her way home carrying a basket of fresh baked bread. Once they approached her, Machvell dismounted and bowed to her “Good afternoon Maydon if I remember your name correctly?” “Yes” she said blushing; she was quite taken back finding herself speaking to men such as these and flattered they should remember her. “But you can call me May - everyone does. I’m just on my way home with fresh bread.” indicating the basket hanging on her arm, feeling tongue tied and not knowing what else to say.
“We are just on our way back to the Inn as our foray has ended and we look for respite from our day of labour.” said the wizard. She had a bemused look and he smiled, thinking her simple. “We have seen what we needed to see today and now we head back to rest.” “Oh.” she replied. The wizard then engaged her with small talk mistaking naivety for simple minded; he was truly arrogant in that respect, always assuming he was more intelligent than anyone else. May being both nervous and excited about this sudden encounter happily chatted away.
During their conversation she told them how she went to the village every other day taking the extras produced at their farm and trading them for other things of need. The wizard pretended to find this discussion most fascinating and continued to engage her a bit longer in conversation.
“It is truly admirable how you care for your poor aging parents!” he exclaimed at one point. “I would imagine it quite difficult for one as young as you though; living that far out from the village and being so busy with their care must not leave much time for social outings.”
“I don’t mind. My parents have always taken good care of me. I do have my friends and I spend as much with them as I can. In fact, the next trip to the village I will be staying the night with my best friend Natty. You might have met her as she is the innkeeper's daughter.” She told them excitedly.
In the meantime the other two did not say anything as advised by the wizard. Maydon, though paying close attention to Machvell as he spoke for she was taught that was the respectful thing to do, could not help but send occasional glances to the other two. The wizard prudently did not keep her talking long; he found out what he needed to know and knew it would be inappropriate to engage her overly much. Her parents no doubt knew exactly when their daughter should be home and if she was delayed, would be questioned closely.
They parted ways and continued on their way back to the inn in silence.
The wizard, as I have mentioned before, was not an overly intelligent man but he had a quick and devious mind and was able to present this as true intelligence to the less wise. He also used plain, everyday common sense tailored of course to his mind set. For instance when entering a new establishment, whether a humble country cottage or an elaborate castle, he always knew where the back door was for quick exits. This was how his seemingly fortuitous escapes from precarious situations were in fact already pre-planned. He also always had a backup plan. He could see that the young maiden was awestruck with the prince and knight and though he did perceive her to be simple that did not imply stupid. He would play on her fascination and fancy and if that didn’t work, her sense of duty in being able to help make her parents remaining years comfortable and wealthy while also saving the entire village from its inevitable demise. The final piece however was how to convince her to leave without telling anyone and not to be missed for couple of days. This last part was crucial as Machvell needed to ensure they had adequate time to complete the sortie and get far enough away before they were discovered. May herself provided the solution when she told them of her plan to spend the night with her best friend, the inn keeper’s daughter, the day after tomorrow. This could provide them with an adequate cover story if they could convince her to lie to her best friend which would be a true test of May’s own character.
After arriving back at the inn the three companions had their dinner and continued to chat up the locals. This time however, Machvell was the least talkative of the group for he was deep in thought on the final strategy. He had what he considered a solid, well thought out plan. He knew were the dragon was and had the potion that should render him unconscious long enough for them to grab some treasure and get far enough away before the beast woke up again. He also had the means now to get the potion to the dragon; he merely had to convince her to come along. Even his plan of escape appeared fool proof. He believed that when the dragon did wake up and realized he had been tricked, would assume it was the villagers and attack them instead of hunting those three. And since the dragon would have eaten the maiden, there would be no other witnesses.
When they finally excused themselves from the evening gathering of the locals they met in the wizard’s room which, not surprising was the largest of the three.
“So what is the plan, now?” the knight asked once they were alone.
“I do believe tomorrow we need to go further in our exploration of this land and plan on being gone most of the day.” he replied.
The prince gave him a quizzical look (a look, he commonly possessed.) “When are we going to go after to the dragon so we can get out of this retched place?” he whined. “And why do we have to keep going out? We know where the dragon is, we found our bait, why can’t we just get this over with?” The wizard was surprisingly not angered this time by Timor’s whining. The plan was complete and ready to be acted upon. This put him in an unusually good mood. “We must see to our escape route next. You do want to successfully get away with this, don’t you?” he asked smiling deviously at the prince.
The next day the three companions were truly gone the entire day and arrived back to the inn just before dark. They were tired and hunger but also very pleased. They found a quick way through the dragon territory and worked out their escape route while also rehearsing the final part of their plan. It was now time to begin. The first thing they did was inform the innkeeper that they would be leaving at first light as they found out all the information they needed at this time. Machvell assured the innkeeper that the trip was successful and he would be advising the King that a highway through here was not only feasible, but a wise decision to make. The quicker they returned the quicker workers could be sent to begin building. The innkeeper was very pleased with this news and made arrangements for them to be on their way as speedily as possible in the morning. As long as everything else went as smoothly, Machvell calculated that they should arrive at the dragons den early to mid-afternoon and calculating that the dragon would not be long to take the bait, they would have sufficient time to gather as much treasure as they could load up on their horses and be well on their way before nightfall. Then, assuming the dragon hadn’t already attacked the village, by the time the locals figured out what happened they would have made good on their escape.
The next morning saw them successfully on their way just at the break of dawn which was early enough that no one was yet about allowing them time to set the stage for the next act.
They knew the most difficult part now would be enticing May to come along with them. Knowing that she planned on spending the night with her best friend got her out from under the attentive eyes of her parents but how to convince her to leave secretly with them?
It was decided that they need
ed to take the biggest risk yet. In order for a deception to be believed, it must be made believable. Being deceptive takes talent which the three rouges had ample opportunity to perfect during their lustrous careers and they determined the best way to carry out this next part was to act it out. So, with Machvell’s impeccable timing they managed to arrange to be on the road at just the spot to be hidden from anyone rounding the corner. And anyone that happened to be coming their way and happened to hear those discussing things of a private matter could easily stop and eavesdrop unbeknownst to the speakers.
That is how May, on her way to town with a basket full of eggs and an overnight satchel intending to spend the night with her best friend, accidently stumbled upon the three visitors deep in discussion about the unfortunate business of not being able to complete the kings highway through Woodedge on account of the dragon. This is what she heard:
Machvell – “I’m afraid there is nothing to be done, our trip has been in vain. There is no way the King’s Highway will be able to go through Woodedge with a dragon about.”
Timor – “What tragedy that the village must be deprived of the fortune that the King’s Highway would