To Torin surprise and concern no one stopped him and Finley as they wove their way along terraces and garden paths. Confused or curious glances perhaps, but no one stood in their way. They even managed to find and cross that bridge he'd spotted, passing by what appeared to be a hunting party on their way. That was a good sign. It meant they were likely on the right track.
Still, the lack of obstruction worried him.
They carried on along the path for what felt like hours. The sun fell low in the sky, dropping behind the cliffs. The roar of the waterfall faded to a familiar hushing not for any change in volume, but for the way it never ended and never changed. It was just as close, just as far, as it had been before. They were going in circles.
Finley was getting tired, but Torin urged him to carry on. They could rest once they were out of here.
Straying off the path, he walked decidedly in one direction, but still they found themselves back on the same path on which they'd begun.
It struck him then. That's why the mage didn't stop them. That's why no one bothered to get in their way. It wasn't guarded by force or barriers, but by an enchantment that wound all paths into an unsolvable maze.
"Shit," he hissed. Glancing both ways down the path to be sure no one saw then, Torin ducked into the woods; this time not trying to escape, but looking for somewhere free from foot traffic.
Once they were a ways from the path, but not so far as to stumble onto it again, Torin stopped and took out the orb that began it all.
Finley, exhausted, slumped down against a tree. It was getting dark.
There was only one thing for it. If channeling magic into the accursed thing was what got them here, then maybe some brute force magic could get them back home.
Finley groaned. "We've been-- it's been. Hours."
"I'm going to try something and I don't want to get yanked off somewhere without you. So get up." He held out his hand.
Finely grumbled somewhere incomprehensible and pulled himself wearily to his feet to take his brother's hand.
All the pent up frustration from the past few hours bubbled to the surface as Torin harnessed his emotions and focused, solely, on the orb and on the intent to not let a drop of it touch Finley.
It did leak, a little, into his brother, who glared at him and tried to pull his hand away. Torin tightened his grip. "Just hold still--"
A void where nothing existed except the two of them and an endless empty expanse.
And the world crashed back into them.
The grass, the trickling fountain. The garden.
Torin let off a string of curses and tried again.
Into the void. Back to the garden.
Finley finally managed to pull away, just before Torin vanished. In a moment he was back. And again.
"This-- Fucking-- Why won't it just-- Accursed godsforsaken-- "
Finley sat on the grass, watching his brother flicker in and out of existence, catching bits and snatches of his litany of curses. Always flung back to the same spot in the garden at which they'd first arrived.
"Torin I--" he tried, but his brother vanished again. "I don't think its--" And again. "It's not- not working--"
