Tune of the Piper

by Bookpony579

Chapter 5

The trio watched as Caballeron and his goons slowly made their way through the temple, carefully looking around each and every corner.

"They must have gotten wind about me being here." Daring muttered.

"What do we do?" Flash asked.

Daring folded up the paper again and stuffed it into Flash's pocket. "You go and wait outside for us. He knows who Twilight and I are, but he's never seen you before."

"But what about-"

"We'll be fine. Just walk past them casually, don't act suspicious or look them in the eye ok?" Before Flash could answer, Daring pushed him out into the open. "Now go!"

After taking a moment to catch his footing, he took a deep breath and proceeded to make his way down the hall. When he went by Caballeron and his goons, he made sure to keep looking straight ahead. They barely so much as glanced at him as he went though the doors and down the steps before sighing with relief.

Okay ladies, I'm out, now it's your turn.

---

As Flash made his way outside, Daring and Twilight tried to come up with a plan on getting out of there.

"Okay, maybe if we can grab some priestess clothes-"

"Hang on." Twilight interrupted Daring's planning by grabbing her hand.

"Huh?"

"Ssh." Twilight then began mumbling some words before both of them felt like they were being wrapped in a blanket.

"What are you doing?"

"It's a type of invisibility spell I just learned this week. Just hold your breath and don't let go of my hand until we're out of here ok?"

Daring nodded before holding her nose with her free hand as the two got up and began walking through the hall. Nobody even glanced their way as they carefully weaved around people and avoided stepping on anything. As they went by Caballeron they became even more careful until they were a good distance away.

Daring felt like her lungs were going to explode as they snuck in right behind someone as they were leaving. Quickly making their way down the steps, the women managed to hide behind some bushes before gasping for air.

"Next time....cough...could you try...cough...a spell that lets you breath?" Daring wheezed.

"Sorry..." Twilight said, taking a breath. "It was the only spell I could think of that could get us out of there without attracting attention."

"There you are!"

Daring and Twilight looked up to see a worried Flash looking over the bushes.

"Come on." Daring grabbed the two teens wrists and hurried them to the next street before letting go. "Okay, I think we're good. But we're going to have to keep a lookout from now on. Where's the next clue?"

Flash took out the paper and unfolded it. "Here. But where the heck are we going to find one fountain in this city?"

Twilight looked around before noticing an older looking man sitting at a table at a nearby cafe. "Why don't we just try asking him?"

Daring stayed behind as a lookout while Flash and Twilight walked up to the friendly looking man. He had a slim built, light green skin with grey hair and mustache to match.

"Hello there." Twilight greeted. "My friend and I are supposed to meet someone at this fountain, but we don't know where it is." She handed them the sketch and they looked it over.

The man smiled. "Ja....I know where this is. Pass by it nearly every day."

"That's great!" Flash said. "Can you tell us where it is?"

"Oh course...after you beat me in a game of Mühle."

"What!?" Twilight exclaimed. "Why?!"

The man shrugged. "I'm old. I'm bored. And I've got no one else to play with. Besides, have you ever heard the phrase 'if you want something, you have to earn it?'"

Twilight sighed. "Alright then."

The man smiled. "Gut! Who's up?"

Flash pulled Twilight aside. "What exactly is 'Mühle'?"

"Mühle, or more commonly known as 'Nine men's morris' is an ancient strategy game dating back thousands of years. Think of it like checkers or chess. Each player has nine places which they try to place in 'mills'- three lined horizontally or vertically- which allows them to remove an opponent's piece from the game. You win by winding your opponent down to two pieces, so he can't form mills anymore."

"Alright.."

"Don't worry. I used to play it with my Grandfather. I can get through this."

Twilight took a seat and the game began with the man placing his white pieces with Twilight countering with her black pieces.

"So....I take it you and your friend here are new to this fine town?" The man asked, placing a piece.

Twilight placed her counter piece. "Yeah. We're doing a report for school."

"Hmm.....and how did you come by that lovely drawing i I may ask?"

"My...mom gave it to me. She's a big fan of puzzles and she wants to see if I could figure it out."

The man laughed. "Is that so? Why knew someone like her who was quite the puzzle solver herself. She was a stubborn dame. Refused to give up on even the toughest of puzzles. She would have liked your mother."

The man continued to talk, and Flash and Twilight found him to be a surprisingly pleasant man and good conversationalist. The game continued, and soon the man was left with only two white pieces.

"Why would you look at that!" The man exclaimed happily. "You beat me fair and square, so I'll give you you're information. You can find the fountain in Melodie Park, just a few blocks away from here." He gave them directions, and the two teens kindly thanked him before returning to Daring.

"What took so long?" She asked impatiently. "I though you were just getting directions!"

"We did." Twilight said. "We just had to play a game of Mühle to get them first. It's not too far from here, let's go."

They walked, looking for the marks the man said to look for.

"That was pretty clever of you." Flash said to Twilight.

"What do you mean?"

"On that last move. Shuffling your piece back and forth until he went on the attack before creating your mill."

Twilight blinked, surprised. "You were following that?"

"It took a few moves, but I think I get the gist of the game now."

"Wow! I should teach you more when we get home."

"I'd like that."

They continued on their walk, with Daring managing to get Flash alone while Twilight walked on ahead.

"So...nice job back there. Figuring out what the riddle meant. That was actually pretty smart of you." Daring admitted.

"Thanks. I've been spending more time around Twilight lately, so I guess she's rubbing off on me."

"So what is up between you and Twilight?"

This caused Flash to stutter and turn beat red.

"W-what!? We're....friends! Good friends!"

Daring eyed him. "Hmm. You like her don't you?"

"Well...yeah. I mean who wouldn't like-"

"No. I mean 'Iike so much i can barely say two words to them without imagining our wedding day.'"

"Huh!?"

"Oh please. No offense kid, but you're as transparent as glass. I saw the way you were looking at her during the game. And before that too. No guy I've ever met would be so stupidly willing to walk into danger unless it was for some girl he liked."

"I didn't just-"

Daring put a finger to his lips, cutting him off again.

"Don't worry kid, your secret's safe with me. Though to be honest, the real mystery should be how she hasn't figured it out yet."

"Figured what out yet?" Twilight asked, having paused to wait for them.

Flash blushed again. "Nothing!"

Author's Note:

Nine men's morris is an actual game and the rules are fairly accurate. I had to look it up for this.

Comments

[stjee04]

Enjoying this so far! I’ll need to go back and read your earlier stories sometime soon.

Also cool to see Nine Men’s Morris brought up, haven’t played in years but I recall it being fun :-)

[Bookpony579]

9107972
Thank you! I'm glad you like it!

I've never heard of the game before, I found it while looking up board games played in Germany.

[Comickook]

Excellent job on this latest chapter. I absolutely LOVED the invisibility spell to get past Caballeron and his goons without unnecessary violence , as well as the detail concerning German(e) board games and Daring picking up RIGHT AWAY on Flash's INSULTINGLY obvious crush on Twilight .

And, yeah, I am most assuredly going to be looking forward to more of this.

[Machine]

Great chapter

[Bookpony579]

9108612
Thank you!