Improvisation

Took only a moment for Lord Merlon to find the invisible lock, and a simple activation spell revealed it. Basic magic, controlled by law rather than complexity. To go beyond that he would need to draw secret geometric equations used as a password.

We found ourselves a comfortable place to wait, since we was the only one who could advance to the checking points forward to open the successive locks. If we tried to move before he had finished the alarms would sound in the palace above. I don’t suppose it would be literally a sound alarm, but the mechanism is irrelevant. Whatever it was, it was efficient.

Verenice’s half-brother came back a moment later, with a worried expression on his face.

“This is not good! We thought the tunnels and chambers bellow the dungeon would be empty. They should be, since they are supposedly abandoned.

However, there are clearly movement there. Least 300 battle-mages, four Artifex, dozen Artifex-assistants for each. Not less than one hundred Arcane Knights. They are setting traps, preparing for battle. Stocking supplies.”

“This mission is compromised. Someone betayed our plans!” sentenced my Cold-Iron mentor, Sheva.

“Looks that way. The silver line is that they don’t seem to be ready yet. We moved through the maze much faster than we ourselves imagined possible, thanks to Chronus. We may still have a chance. We must to move fast, however, and even more carefully than we intended to.”

Verenice looked at me, and then to Gaslow and Ventlana.

“You two, stay here. Gaslow and my apprentice are slower than the rest of us, you are the next, Ventlana. Besides, he cannot be exposed to direct spells of high intensity. I am going to use a Level 4 that I was hoping to not need here.

It should get us pass the troops, in and out, undetected. There is no point in go in with such numbers, the least people, better my spell will work. Besides, in that situation, if we don’t escape undetected, we have no hope. Fight our way out will be impossible.

Merlon accompany us through the external perimeter of the vigilance aura. I need you to stay behind, holding the passage open from inside. At any sign of trouble, leave. Do not hesitate!

The four of you can escape back to the surface without too much trouble.”

I think what she was doing was pretty self-evident. Traitors had to be the elves, Verenice was leaving them behind. Leaving her brother to keep one eye of them. She had to know the traitor could not be me, even if I wanted to betray them, I never had the chance. However, she needed an excuse, plausible enough, to separate the group. The justification about my allergy to magic was decent, Ventlana was a healer herself. She had deep understanding about my situation.

As far as anyone could understand it up to that moment.

Was a good plan, the elves were not happy about it, but they didn’t found ground to protest. Time being of essence, they didn’t had much chance to delay the solution of that conundrum. Unless they decided to start a fight, here, outside the protective defences of the Royal Castle. Against a Fae Lady who just casually declared the intention to make a “Level 4” as common incantation, no ritual involved.

Verenice though things well, she only made one mistake. She ignored Honney Bunny.

Who protested in indignation.

“Nonsense! You lead the way, and do your thing. I carry the human boy, he is my guardian anyway, don’t worry about him. That way your mongrel brother and the tainted low-bloods stay free to settle traps and any sort of distraction they can think about, inside the protective defences of this castle. If something goes wrong, they can still escape as you suggested, miss Fae.

No point in bring all that magic arsenal with you and let it sitting useless right beyond your reach!

Let’s go!”

Verenice looked at me, angry.

We didn’t had time to talk about my request in Chronos’s realm yet.

“No one knows your capacities. Is dangerous to enter such uncertain situation without that knowledge. We should stay behind and wait, this time!”

I was hopping that would redeem myself a little bit. In the eyes of Verenice and Sheva, my two mentors.

Honey Bunny smiled, and snaped her fingers. Destroying my hope.

A mage staff appeared in her hand. Mutton head with big horns on top. Kind reminded me Skeletor’s staff, but this hone had bigger horns.

“I am the gift of Chronos to you, mortal! What else your fae sugar mommy needs, right now?? Do you think I am not capable to keep up with you, Faery? This staff created the first bee hive when your race was young! And the horny bunnies, when the True Elves still walked our world in large numbers. Stay here, if pleases you, we shall go and bring that Elizabeth to you. My guardian and I”

“Look! Perhaps we can have a compromise here.” I tried, fighting against my own desperation.

“We don’t need to go inside the dungeon! We can prepare our escape here. If you are as powerful as you say, instead of set traps to buy us time, we can have a teleportation spell waiting to take us all out of the country as soon as they return.”

“So, you would like a teleportation circle to go from here to where, exactly?”

I looked Verenice in the eyes.

“Go. This may take a while.” She understood, and left with her brother, Sheva one step behind.

“I don’t know. Has to be somewhere distant. Another continent would be ideal. If that’s too difficult, then the south coast of this continent would suffice. As far away to the west as you could take us”

“How about the archipelago south-west from here. Beyond the Southern Continent and on the opposite side of the equator?”

“I don’t know. What kind of people live up there? Do you have any way to know it? I mean, current information. I don’t exactly need to know who used to live up there before the forgotten gods abandon the world”

She closed her eyes for a moment, murmuring a few sentences.

“Mostly gnomes, and at the south some daugnar. You get a number of wiverns, fake dragons who are nothing but glorified flying crocodiles. Ephemerals like yourself. Some mermaids too, and couple thousand harpies. No human settlement, except for temporary pirate refugees in the islands more to the north.”

“I’m sorry. What are “daugnar”, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Sort of centaur. Upper body of a orc-ish thing, could be human, dwarf, something like that, you know. Broadly speaking. Bellow the waist, the body of a walrus. Heavy, strong, resistant to blunt trauma. Like to beat each other with clubs for sport.

Last time I travelled around most the south ocean islands, and the coasts of the continents close to those oceans, belonged to them. Large civilization, biggest ships any ephemeral was able to build. Now looks like they are all but completely extinct. Instead of large empires just a few dozen tribal chiefs ruling over couple hundred villages each. Little more than that!

Well, that’s the fate of ephemeral species, one must admit.

Is this land to your liking?”

“How about their land?” I asked, pointing to the Tempest Elves.

“You want to go to the Eternal Tempest? Their hospitality to ephemeral races used to leave something to desire, last time I checked…”

“Still does” pointed Gaslow. The Arcane-Knight seemed to find the idea amusing.

“This is an exercise in futility! Just transport us to the Shadow of Elvenan, the Crown of Eternity, at the top of Selenite Mountain. That’s at the north of Southern continent, more than distant enough to free us for any persecution from the king of this human realm. And is a timeless point of reference, surrounding by the Everlasting Trees of Ghoul Forest! Should make easier for you to get the position right, you cannot say you don’t know the place, can you?” interrupted Ventlana, seemingly short in patience.

“No, I know the place, yes. Not my favourite place in the universe, but sure, I can take you all there. If pleases you”

“That will do”

I hesitated a moment. As a matter of fact, I was only trying to keep the rabbit lassie distracted for as long as possible.

“I suppose…”

She drew the complex circle in glowing lines with fluid gestures of one hand. The thing faded as soon as she ended speaking uncomprehensible words. I could still feel it pulsing, however. Something inside me pulsed back, twisted in hungry urgency.

“Done! Let’s go”

Honey Bunny grabbed me by the arm and a force pushed us forward. Passing through the protective aura, moving like a subterrain river through the open cracks left by Merlon when he opened the magical locks a moment before.

We were moving without walk, like sand carried by the wind we passed a crowd of battle-mages who looked like statues, frozen in their preparations for an ambush.

Verenice and Sheva were moving faster than we had moved in those tunnels, too fast for me to keep up with my Cold-Iron skills. They were also hidden by fae magic. Despite that, I saw the contour of their figures, and they seemed to be in slow motion. They had passed almost all the under-tunnels already, four of five parts of the way to the access corridor leading to the stairs, that gave us access to the stairs, that led us to the heavy metal door, that opened the access to another corridor, and a room from where we gained access to the upper levels, more stairs, and then finally the access to the dungeons still in use.

All that way, we passed more soldiers, and servants bringing down supplies. There was thousands of common soldiers coming down, as reinforcements apparently. Also some mages.

We passed through them, moved entered corridors, dropped corners and more corners, then, finally, stopped in front of a locked door.

Honney Bunny snapped her fingers, speaking a contracted spell. That unlocked the door, opening it.

“Go get yourself the girl, hero!” she says, pointing to the open door.

I entered, but except for a pile of dry grass in a corner and a wooden bucket the cell was empty. There was signs of recent occupation, in the bucket, but no damsel in distress in sight.

“Oh! But here is the place your sugar mommy and he pet girl are running to. No one home them? Should we wait?”

“If she is not here, Elizabeth may be under torture. Or perhaps they already killed her”

“Hum, yes. Or, since that is clearly a trap, they may have moved the lassie to somewhere harder to reach. Above ground, maybe. A tower, a cell in the gallous, or in the barracks. A cage for pigs in the kitchen. Broom closed. Anywhere, really”

“Can you find her?”

“Are you asking me to?”

“Yes!!”

“I thought you didn’t care all that much about this Ellizabeth”

“That is not the point. We came all this way to rescue Ellizabeth. Besides, I don’t believe the girl deserves to die just because her father and grandfather made a poor choice is a political dispute. Finally, I owe it to Sheva.”

“Someone is coming!” Honey Bunny said, suddenly. “Not your cougars yet. Step closer, I will hide us from their perception”

A moment later I heard steps approaching in the corridor.