Linde frantically looked around for a way out, her senses were on high alert, and she was desperate enough to take the first sign of escape that she could find. For she knew what sort of reputation these ruffians had when finding vulnerable young women such as herself, and there was hardly anybody more vulnerable than she was at the moment.
Luck shined on Linde in a moment's time, literally. She noticed a tiny breach of light coming through an equally tiny gap in the wooden box she'd chosen to hide behind. Without wasting a second to think about what to do, the miniature mage immediately ran towards it to get inside the box.
Linde hunkered down into the empty box, its wide open space giving the shrunken girl ample room to crouch down and try as best as she could to conceal herself. She shut her eyes and covered her ears. Now effectively a human-shaped, but still quite tiny ball, the miniature female mage cowered in the corner of her cardboard shelter.
She shivered, fear of what would happen to her should she be discovered got to her, that and the cool breeze blowing in from where the store's door used to be managed to reach all the way down to her level, her makeshift clothing was not really covering her body all that well. All the tiny, frightened girl could do was stay as still as possible and hope that she'd be overlooked.
Just go away and leave me alone! Linde thought, repeating similar phrases over and over in her head, as if she could will her safety into being.
"What's this over here?" One of the ruffians spoke, his voice was muffled to Linde's tiny ears by the box's walls, but still sounded unbearably loud to her.
N-No, please! Just go away! Linde whimpered, cracking open her right eye just a glimpse to see what was going on.
From her point of view, Linde could not see much. The inside of the box was indeed empty, and there was little in the way of actual cover for her to hide behind. Just about the only good thing was that the box was closed, so she'd just hoped that making herself as small as possible would be enough for her to go unnoticed by the ruffians.
An awkward thought crossed her mind as she began to imagine if she'd let herself shrink for a few more seconds before stopping the spell, she'd easily go unseen at a smaller height. However, it was not only pointless to think about a past that she couldn't change, but being made even tinier than she already was would surely be much more dangerous for her in the long run.
Why did you have that page in your book in the first place, father? Linde wondered, but could not think of a real reason such a 'unique' spell would have for being inserted into the Aura tome. It was something she could worry about later, though her mind wouldn't stop firing on all pistons. Something she chalked up to being immensely afraid in the moment.
"W-Whoa..!" Linde cried out, wobbling back and forth as the box she'd hid in was moved. One of the bandits must have grabbed it. That action, while not even worth thinking about for said bandit, was rocking Linde's world around and sending the poor 3 inch high girl off her feet.
Linde felt a sense of vertigo as the box seemed to be lifted high up into the air. It only took a second for the intense ride to come to a halt, but in that time, the teeny tiny mage found herself pressed against the bottom of the box by the sheer pressure going upwards caused.
"Oof..." Linde panted, needing to catch her breath from the sudden force.
Once that was over, Linde's trials still persisted, as she barely had enough to time to collect herself before her hiding spot started moving again. To the side this time and the movement caused little Linde to slide, as the ruffian holding the box inadvertantly tilted it at an angle.
"Waagghh!" Linde shrieked as she lost all footing and sense of balance, and her downsized body was taken for a ride to the opposite side of the box. The minute mage tried to grab onto something, but the flat surface of the box gave her nothing to hold onto.
Suddenly, Linde was sent flying sky high as the box was unceremoniously slammed down onto something outside. The scarcely few inches tall girl gasped and nearly hurled up her breakfast as she slammed into one side of the box, then fell down with the tiniest thud.
"Ugghhh..." Linde groaned, laying motionless at the bottom of her wooden container. She now knew what boxed food felt like, and she seriously wished she didn't.
Thankfully, her wild ride was not as bad as it could've been, due to her makeshift ribbon outfit being thick enough to provide some much needed softness to each impact. Unfortunately, that small comfort did little to soothe the very real aches and bruises her shrunken body had endured.
Linde would not let up just yet, though. For in the next instant, her hiding place shook again. Not as roughly as before, not even close. It felt like it was just being vibrated a little, like someone was trying to shake it for whatever reason.
I suppose they wouldn't give up on this box after all that trouble... Linde thought as she slowly got to her feet, a task that easier said than done with all the shaking going on.
She managed, even through the pain and aches, to began to formulate another plan of escape. In her inadvertent journey alongside the box, she'd ended up directly on the opposite side of the box from where she'd started, meaning the small hole she'd entered in from was far away from her on the other side of the box.
Maybe those thugs have put my box somewhere I can better hide? There's only one way to know, I've got to get back outside before they open it!
Linde carefully tried to make her way back over to it, quickly matching her steps with the semi-rythmic vibrations to hobble on over. From what she could gather, the thieves were trying to pry it open from above, which should give her some time. However, it would take Linde a long time to travel as far as she needed to go at her new size.
She wasn't going to just give up and quit, not after all she'd gone through so far. She just hoped she could make it in time...
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