Before the Pull: A Sad Heart

[TetNak]

Cass has had plenty of time to look around. The road where the cage now sits is muddy, and will be hard to roll across. To push it back toward the town would be asking to get caught. If one person saw him, they almost certainly will turn him in immediately. Passed the road there is a field of tall grass; it could hide him if he was lucky.

[Scout89]

He decided to roll to the tall grass, but first he checks if he can lift the cage. The heavy cage would press the grass against the floor and leave a huge trail behind. On his feet, lifting the cage, would make a much smaller trail. He grabbed two bars and sticked both his legs out of the metal structure and tried its weight.

[TetNak]

Cass tries to cram his legs through the bars, but finds them just too narrow to do so. He has to roll it. And there he goes, pushing the cage through the mud. At first, it seems like he won't be able to, he is tired and hungry, taxing his energy badly. After a few moments, he finally gets the thing moving, slowly, but anything is something. Eventually, he gets the cage off the road and into the middle of the grass.

[Scout89]

<Keep rolling, Cass! Keep rolling!> he thinks. But he does not do it in a straight line. He zig-zags into the tall grass. He knows he'll be lost in a few movements, but he pays close attention to the sun's position in order to not roll back to the road. After a few twists and turns, Cass follows a straight line as fast as he can.

[TetNak]

Cass keeps moving out into the field, but the sun won't tell him much, particularly because the sky is full of clouds and the sun is hardly visible. After perhaps a half-hour, Cass is simply too exhausted to move the cage any longer. He has to stop and does so. Now, in the middle of tall grass, there is still the question of how to free himself.

[Scout89]

<If only I had my spellbook.>, he tought while trying to open the lock with a twig. He stopped to rest a little. <Maybe if I stand up transversally, using my shoulders and legs to force the door open. Or maybe bend one of the bars.> He took a few minutes to regain a portion of his strength, then he put his plan into action. With the door of the cage facing up, Cass placed both of his feet on a single bar. He carefully placed his right shoulder on one of the corners of the door and pushed as hard as he could.

[TetNak]

Cass pushes with all his might, but he hasn't eaten in two days, and is already exhausted from rolling the cage through the mud and tall grass. The thick chain does not budge.

[Scout89]

<Damn! Gotta keep rolling.> After taking a deep breath, Cass decides to keep rolling, but before doing so he decides to listen. He spends a few seconds without moving, not even breathing, just listening the surroundings.

[TetNak]

The only thing Cass can hear is the sound of falling rain. He feels it to, the wet, cold rain of Falkonia. This place is misery, that's no doubt about that. Being in a crow's cage exasperates that, of course. Cass keeps trying to roll, but only after a short bit, he's too tired to do anything. He cannot roll it anymore, nor can he break free from brute strength.

[Scout89]

So tired he can't think straight. Cass layed down to rest for a while. <There's got to be a way out of this cage!> he thought while he looked at every detail of the metal cage and around it. He knew he could not break the chain, but maybe he could work one or more of the door's hinges.