Pulling Favours

This for sure were a lot of questions at once, but one of them left him completely speechless. Did this tiny guy just offer to set him free?! For a brief moment Tancred didn’t know how to react, which was highly unusual for him. But despite this enormous surprise he kept his calm and tried to remind himself this might be easier said than done. “Well… Nice to meet you Mousvin.” He said with a welcoming smile and leaned back in his chair. “I’m Tancred and yes, you guessed correctly I am a prisoner.”

Now he really had to contain himself, as he didn’t want to seem over excited about the possibility of being released and thereby maybe ruining it all. “If you really are able to get me out of this place I’ll be forever in your debt but…” now he turned and pointed towards a table almost in the center of the room outside his cell. “The key to my cell is in the top drawer of that desk. Do you think you can get that?”

Mousvin looked out across the room at the desk. It was piled with books like all the other tables in the room. As he examined it he noticed the third and bottom drawer to the desk was slightly open. Open enough for Mousvin to squeeze inside. “You just wait here Tancred.” He said with a mischevious grin. “I’ll get you those keys.”

Tancred gently lifted Mousvin to the floor, where he shot out of the cell taking cover beneath a stool a couple feet away from Tancred’s cell. He shot a quick glance to the other cells to see if they had noticed him or overheard he and Tancred talking. It seemed they hadn’t.

Mousvin ran out from his hiding place dashing for a table near the desk he was headed for but skidded to a halt on his heels when he saw it. Just underneath the table he was headed for was a large brown mouse with beady red eyes and it was watching Mousvin. At this moment Mousvin realized he didn’t have his spear. He must have left it in Tancred’s bed when he’d been hiding. Mousvin swallowed hard and shot a glance back over his shoulder towards Tancred’s cell. It would be no use to call for help. He had to make a run for it.

He ran as fast as he could his tiny heart pounding in his ears. The mouse had chased after him as expected and was hot on his trail. With a mighty leap (for a Brownie) Mousvin jumped onto the leg of the desk and began to scramble upwards towards the slightly open bottom drawer. The mouse was still just behind him and Mousvin could hear its squeaks and the sound of its claws scratching the wood behind him.

He made it to the drawers opening just in time and dropped inside. It was dark and smelled of dried herbs. He could hear the scratching of the mouse on the wood of the desk and knew he needed to hurry. He began to move to the back of the drawer climbing over ink pots and quills, pushing aside bags of herbs and vials of grainy materials. Finally he reached the back of the drawer and began to climb up.

Mousvin heard a thump behind him. He looked back towards the drawers opening and saw a shadowy lump moving. Then a beady red eye appeared. The mouse had gotten into the drawer as well.

Mousvin had a head start though and scrambled up and out the back of the drawer squeezing into the space between the back of the desk and the back of the drawers.
Climbing the nails and a few slivers of wood that hung out he managed to reach the top drawer. He could hear the mouse scurrying around the bottom drawer still.

As Mousvin dropped into the top drawer he looked around, The drawer was empty except for a few sheets of parchment and a bronze ring holding three bronze keys. Now Mousvin had to figure out how to get them back to Tancred.

(OOC: This post was co-written by myself and Silvercloud)