Of Magic And Men

Peter didn’t like his idea, his skin crawled at the thought, it was the only way they could think of to get past the guards though. Peter had put the skin suit in his bag, only wanting to put it on when they were about to enter the castle. The trio was crouched behind a thicket of bushes, trying to avoid detection. “Are we sure I have to wear the weird skin suit, isn’t there any other ideas we could use instead.” “Peter, this was your idea, and currently the only idea we have. You put on the skin suit find my father, then get out of there. We need to get my father first before trying to take on my uncle.” Alaya answered shortly. “and why can’t we all go in together? Why does it have to be me alone?” Peter was starting to chicken out and overthink the situation. “Peter, if you truly do not want to do this we will not force you, however we need to get Merlin back. And you know the reason Alaya and I cannot go with you is because no one will believe that Skai took prisoners instead of just killing us.” Silicont responded. “You’re right i’m sorry, it’s just that the idea of putting that skin suit on disturbs me, and the idea of going in alone terrifies me. Last time I tried to do something on my own I ended up getting everyone killed and Merlin kidnapped.” Peter was aware that this made him sound weak but it was the truth, he didn’t want anyone else to get hurt because of his actions. “Peter, it wasn’t because you tried to do something on your own it was because you acted hastily without considering the consequences of your actions. This time will be different, we have a plan. It will be okay.” Alaya reassured peter. Peter felt a little better for having this discussion with Alaya and Silicont. However he still felt a bad feeling about the whole situation. He removed the skin from his bag and tried to figure out how to put it on, he hadn’t thought about this part of the plan. There was no buttons or ties to open it up for him to climb inside. The only hole was the mouth, how in the high heavens was he going to fit himself through a tiny mouth hole. Before he could raise the question to his friends, Alaya spoke. “Good luck.” taking off into the thicket behind them. Peter looked at the towering castle ahead of him, pieces of bricks tumbled to the ground. The castle looked as if it were going to fall apart at any time, was it really safe to go inside? All he had to do was put on this weird skin suit, walk up to the draw bridge, convince the guards to let him in, then somehow, magically find Merlin. All without raising suspicion, then manage to get Merlin out again. Peter looked back at the skin suit, I guess it’s now or never, he thought. He slowly started to push his foot into the mouth, to his surprise, it was actually quite stretchy and putting it on was incredibly easy, like sliding into a pair of trousers. This was sick peter thought, he was wearing another persons skin, he hoped it hadn’t been a live person before Skai started to wear it. That would be too much to handle. After pushing his arms through, he raised the face like a hood, the mouth slid into place around his, everything seemed to fit like a glove. This was deeply disturbing, Peter thought to himself, he was wearing Skais skin suit, gross. Quickly putting on Skais clothes peter finished the disguise with raising the hood. He had given his weapons to Alaya, so he would be going in only armed with the serpentinians weapons. Which appeared to be just the dagger he had used to threaten Silicont. Remembering Silicont had mentioned that Skai was an illusion magic user, he must rely heavily on his magic to avoid fights, or trick his victims to their deaths. Peter thought this sounded dirty and underhanded. With the skin suit and cloak in place he left the safety of the bushes and started to walk carefully towards the castles draw bridge. Peter was unsettled with just how comfortable this skin suit was, it felt very natural like wearing just the right sized pants. Approaching the guards he saw that they were two drow, long white hair and a grey skin tone. When he approached the bridge he said nothing in hopes that they would recognize skai and automatically open the bridge. However the guards hesitated and looked at each other as if communicating their suspicion to the other. Nonetheless they called up to lower the draw bridge. Peter didn’t like this, it didn’t seem right to him that they be suspicious but still let him through. But what choice did he have it was too late to back out now, if he just turned around and left now they would raise the alarm. He waited patiently for the draw bridge to lower, refusing to speak or make eye contact with these tall creatures. With a loud thump the draw bridge found its resting place and peter started to walk across. The moat below was deep, but was filled with corruption, he was certainly glad he was still using the filter spell. Peter kept walking trying to ignore the fact that at any moment he could fall off this rickety bridge and down to his death. As soon as he was three quarters of the way across they started to raise the bridge again, Peter hastened. Not wanting to lose his balance and ruin the plan. Making it to the other side Peter dared not release his sigh of relief, the was still too much at stake. Looking around there wasn’t much still standing inside this castle, why would they keep Merlin here, it looked structurally unsound. But at the end of the short hallway he saw a single brick cell with steel bars still intact. That has to be where they’ve put Merlin, walking faster he started to approach the cell. Peter saw a familiar arm reach out from the darkness of the cell, It was Merlin! “Peter, please get me out of here.” Peter ran to meet his hand, but when he reached out to grab Merlins hand all he got was air. “Peter, please save me, oh peter you’re so gullible, your hero is showing.” A voice called out from behind him. Frak! Peter swore to himself, he knew this was a bad idea but he did it anyway. Turning around he saw a duplicate of himself, Skai was standing there in a new skin suit exactly the same as the one he was wearing.