Ramon started looking around the terrarium and as he observed the creatures beyond the glass walls, he came to the same conclusion as Damon. The evil sorcerer had indeed spoken the truth about the mental state of his captives. None gave any sign of having been human once. The ape kept grooming himself and a swallow in a cage kept relieving itself wherever it was. A big lizard gulped and gobbled beetles in mechanical motions. This did not bode well for them. And how could they warn their friends of the horrid fate they might face? Even though Prince Damon had warned Ramon, the new toad jumped as best he could to check the lid. The problem in being toads was that their agility was greatly below that of simple frogs.
"What can we do?" said sadly Ramon. "That damn lid is too hard to budge or open."
Damon thought deeply.
"Force will be useless here. We'll have to use ruse."
"But how?" asked Ramon.
Prince Damon thought about the stories he'd read back home. True he had never been an avid reader but some books dealt with young heroes with tons of gumption. When they were prisoners, if escaping directly was not possible, the best was to have someone strong do it for them. In fact, the most prevalent option was to have the very guardian open the prison. And the sorcerer would take them, or at least one og them to collect their warts. So once they were out, then an escape was possible. But what to do once in the hands of the horrid man? He'd still be strong and tall with few weak points like... Damon croaked in excitement. Yes! That was it! He had the solution! It might just actually work!
"I know!" he exclaimed. "We will wait for the sorcerer to grab us - even one of us - and then we'll escape! We can struggle free suddenly or even better, thrust our tongue in his eye or something. We just to be prepared!"
"Really? Are you sure?" said with skepticism his friend.
"Well, if you have another idea, I'm all ears."
"But it might take time! What if we become like those others?' countered Ramon.
"We have to hope we'll stay sane. If we continue talking, it should help. And if we pretend we're dumb animals, the warlock will assume we're harmless and lower his guard," said sensibly the former prince.
Ramon nodded. What Damon made sense. And a little later, the sorcerer entered his house again. This time he took out a cage, not a jar. A small wooden cage holding a russet-colored squirrel.
"I found your young friend attempting his pitiful magic. He was an easy catch. And I wished to diversify my spells."
Aiden. He'd been caught too. This just left Jurgen and Brendan. The sorcerer hung the cage containing Aiden and he told him to behave if he wanted walnuts. He then left, rubbing his hands at the thought of playing with the two remaining members of the crew.