Chapter 22

  Frenzied Fortress

  Vy gazed at the sky as it darkened. Her gaze was fixed above, waiting for the appearance of any moon. She tuned out the world around her as she fixated above. There were still vast swathes of sky and stars above, the storm clouds had not yet rolled in. As she watched, the moons appeared. For a moment all three graced the world with their presence. The smallest moon was full tonight, an excellent sign. Islandar, it was called, and it glowed brilliant blue and green hues. Full as it was, it's corona was brighter than the others.

  The middle moon was always full, as it gave off a red gleam from it's craterous surface. The crater that bored all the way through the middle moon, Rhellis, was not visible tonight. With the presence of it's brethren, Rhellis gave off a weak glow. However, as clouds passed in front of Islandar, the sky was ablaze in the crimson glow of Rhellis. If only for a moment.

  The great moon was as mysterious as ever. It glowed full as it always had, it's misty surface a mixture of brilliant golds and glorious silvers. The Moon of Mystery, it's name perhaps more apt than it needed be. Vy could not for the life of her remember it's true name, it was just called Mystery. Unlike Rhellis and Islandar, which both spun over the course of weeks to show all sides, the Great Moon never spun. It’s surface remained locked facing Iagorothi whenever it was around. The theories of what was on it's dark side abounded as far and wide as any, but none had succeeded in crossing the planar paths to that moon.

  Vy’s cyan eyes took in the light of the two moons that remained above her. She chanted under her breath, and over the next few minutes her right eye took on the appearance of Rhellis, and her left appeared as Islandar, though darkened by the moon’s absence. She did not feel she would need the Great Moon this evening. Then again, she wouldn’t need the others.

  An insistent knocking snapped Vy’s attention to the door, and from the sound of it the peon on the other side had been knocking for minutes. “Ma’am... Ma’am...” They said in relentless insistence.

  The door opened as Vy waved her hand at it, making the bandit peon fall into her chambers. He recovered himself and stood up. “Ma’am! There are fires in the courtyard, and the prisoners are rampaging down the halls. Should I alert King?”

  The bandit stood at attention, gazing at the ceiling. He knew not to insult one of the elites by staring, even though Vy stood wearing only a pink cloth around her nethers. She waved one hand, and her Caller’s mantle flew from the mannequin and around her shoulders, the hood covering her orange hair and the netting falling before her eyes. Vy brushed a stray hair out from her eyes and looked at the Peon. Hmm, there was a small tear in the netting of her hood.

  “No.” Vy said after a long silence. “Do not disturb King while he is playing, and lure the prisoners to the main courtyard. I will deal with them. High alert, dismissed.”

  “Yes Ma’am!” The bandit ran off as Vy shifted stance, allowing the natural mana of the air to lift her a half foot off the ground. She floated out of the door of her chamber and through the west hallway. Many peons were running about now that high alert was called, but none of the other elites were at the fortress. Seems there would be something to do with her eyes this evening after all.

  Wolf grabbed one last item and placed it into the pack he wore on his back, some kind of package sealed in a wooden case and held shut with decorated rectangular papers. He adjusted the metal braces on his wrists, draped the scarf over his back, and took two small hand axes into his grips. “I’m ready.” He said, as Michael finished the sandwich he had been eating.

  “Wonder why the bandits didn’t steal all that metal armor.” Michael said, standing up and brushing crumbs off his collar. Wolf had bracers, a half-plate chest piece, plates on his belt, and armored boots over his combat attire.

  “It’s all enchanted.” Wolf said. “I can make it look like cheap common gear if I have to. Trouble is, it’s only as durable as the cheap stuff when in that guise.” Wolf said, adjusting the sleeveless shirt. “Let’s go on a rampage, I’m all fired up.”

  Michael nodded and kicked open the door to the hallway, stepping out alongside Wolf. “Sounds good to me.”

  The stone hallways leading out of the dungeon looked sturdy. The walls had decorative columns extruded every dozen feet, and torch sconces made to look like the face and mouth of some beast along the walls at eye level. The walls had a texture to them, but seemed to be carved out of a single stone, not something the bandits had the patience for, this was probably one of those old ruins from the whatever times that Sebastian mentioned. The floor had a flagstone design, but it was worn out from the years, and continual foot traffic. Michael and Wolf jogged along, uncaring how much noise they were making.

  A patrol of three bandits appeared down the hall rather soon, and Michael grinned. Time for a little payback. Michael drew his sword.

  “Me first!” Wolf dashed past Michael and went into a quick spin, slashing into the bandits with his axes. He moved the axes without chopping, as if wielding swords, and slammed the bandits with the wooden shafts of his weapons because of this.

  “What was that?” Michael asked, “That’s not how you use an axe.”

  “Oh, it’s just A.F.W.T.” Wolf said.

  “A. F. W. T?” Michael said, “That short for something?”

  “Alternative Focus...” A shout from ahead distracted Wolf. “You know what, I’ll explain later.” Michael strode past Wolf as eight more bandits, each armed with spears, approached down the corridor. “Dude, don’t fight spears in a hallway.” Wolf said.

  “Don’t worry.” Michael said. “I can handle this.” He stabbed the wall to his right, causing dark lines to shoot along it. They crossed by the bandits, who paid no heed. The thin waves of black energy shot out of the wall and slammed the bandits into the stone wall off to the side. One crashed into a door and sprawled through the room beyond.

  Wolf looked at Michael, his sword, and then the crumpled heap of bandits. “You handle the hallways.” He said. Michael smirked, and they continued.

  Another couple groups of bandits got thrown around by Dark Blade as Wolf and Michael rampaged forth. There were an awful lot of these buggers, but they all had leather armor and helmets, armed with weapons. “I think they know we are coming.” Wolf said.

  “Looks that way.” Michael said. They reached a crossroad in the halls. They had gone up a few floors and avoided all the rooms, but the corridor split to the left, right, and ahead. “Which way do we go?”

  “Hold on a minute.” Wolf said. He turned around and walked around the corner, and dragged back a bandit who had a bloodied arm from hitting the wall. “Which way to the Bandit King?”

  The bandit shut his mouth tight, until the glares of Michael and Wolf sent him to shivers. “That way...” The bandit said, pointing to the right.

  “Thanks.” Michael said, and started down the right corridor. Wolf went with, and soon they vanished around a corner as they continued to climb through the fortress.

  The bandit pulled out a jar of cream and rubbed it onto his broken arm. The salve sunk into his skin and closed the wounds, cleared the bruises, and he could feel the bone knitting back together. He felt icy chill overtake the pain, and let out a sigh of relief. It was worth all that weird stuff the elite made them go through after all. The bandit shivered, remembering the gaze of the two empty eyed monsters. King was enough to deal with them though, he could rest easy. He closed his eyes.

  “Hey, you!” A grip on his collar made the bandit choke as he was shaken a few times. He opened his eyes to see furious emerald eyes glaring at him. The woman picked him partway up off the ground. “Where is the dungeon?” She asked.

  The bandit shook and sputtered, and pointed down the hall towards the dungeons. The woman dropped him, and he ran away down the opposite corridor. Yan watched the bandit scamper off, and she went the way he had indicated.

  This hallway she had been directed to would lead to the dungeon. The map she memorized said as much, but the bandit’s confirmation was an added bonus. Yan rushed down the corridor in total silence.

  Slinking down a flight of stairs, Yan passed several rooms that piqued her curiosity, but she held back. She couldn’t risk missing Michael, or letting him suffer in the dungeon any longer. She padded along the empty corridors, glancing at the spellwrought construction along the way. This whole place was really constructed with a spell? That seemed incredible to her. Yet, she could see signs of customization along the walls, even here. Each section of wall between two extruded columns bore two decorative torch sconces just above head level. Those sconces were placed there on purpose, they were too rough and too different from the smooth design of the walls.

  The bottom floor of the fortress was one large hallway that encircled the dungeon. There was an outer dungeon and storage area, and an inner dungeon kept past a guard post where a jailer would reside. Yan reached the door to this jailer room, and paused.

  The door was busted, it had been broken and dangled askew on one remaining hinge. Yan slipped inside, and saw a tubby jailer collapsed against a cabinet, and the place was a mess. Articles of clothing and armor lay scattered on the ground next to a large open chest, but the door to the inner dungeon looked undamaged. Yan entered the inner dungeons and looked around.

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  Light from a sun stick illuminated the small room. There were eight cells here, and Yan checked each one. They were all empty!

  One of the cells had a huge crack in the lock, and hung open. The shackles inside that cell were open, and there were bloodstains on the ground. Yan’s heart raced in her chest. What happened?

  Images Yan didn’t want to conjure raced through her mind, but she banished them. She needed to focus, facts first. She looked at the damaged cell door, and saw a very small imprint in the metal. A jagged cut left behind by a crystalline edge.

  The door, the trashed room, the wounded bandit up above. Yan let out a laugh, shaking her head. “I didn’t need to worry at all.” She found herself saying. “He broke out on his own! Heh heh.” Yan let herself laugh for a little, as she left the inner cells and scoped out the outer dungeon area. There were no other prisoners.

  When Yan returned to the jailer’s post, she had finished giggling. She checked through the box of stuff, and grabbed out three long daggers that had been stored inside. “These will do for now.” She said, departing to head back up out of the fortress.

  Michael had escaped before Yan found him. He didn’t know the plan, so she needed to hurry before he did something stupid. She started to run again, the need to catch up to Michael replacing the weight of worry. She felt lighter than air as she dashed forth.

  A few levels up, Yan let her curiosity get the better of her. She stopped and checked the torch sconces. There was something about these, she just knew it. She tried to pull one, twist it, lift it, turn it. The thing didn’t budge. “I guess I was wrong...” Yan said, tearing herself away from examining the sconce. She continued up the hallway, her eyes darting around for signs of Michael. There were marks on the walls at some points, Dark Blade remnants? Mien had mentioned that the attack left signs. These must be them.

  Yan returned to the level where she had seen the bandit before. She had almost reached the area where the corridor split, when a glint caught her eye. She looked at the wall. Another torch sconce. It looked a little different than the others. Yan approached it, and tried out the same tricks she had used before. Nothing had any effect. “Oh come on.” Yan said, flexing a bit of energy into her hands in frustration.

  The sconce reacted, if only for a hint of a moment. Yan smirked, and felt around until she found a metal brace that felt just a bit different. She focused herself this time, and pushed energy into the sconce. There was a grating noise, and the smooth wall next to the sconce moved, opening a path. A hidden tunnel. Yan peered inside, and smiled. She knew something was off about these things. Who had dozens of torch sconces in every corridor, then used magelight to light the place? Yan slipped into the secret passageway, and found a ladder leading up what looked like the last three floors. With a smile on her face, she climbed.

  Pierre watched the three main courtyards from where he sat. Hyato was fighting in one, taking on groups of bandits and forcing them to flee, while more and more came back as reinforcements. A similar battle took place in the farthest courtyard where Mien and Kris were. The fires in the main courtyard were being extinguished, but there continued to be more and more bandits assembling near a huge raised stone plaza in front of the largest building with a roof. There were stairs leading up to that plaza from the rest of the large courtyard, but none of the bandits were using them. Pierre saw a stack of crates tumble over, causing some of the nearby outlaws to scatter into motion. No doubt caused by one of those Ninjas. Yet, there was too much order in this scene, something else was going on.

  “I don’t understand.” Pierre complained. “What are they doing?”

  Sebastian chuckled. “You noticed.” He said, “Seems our enemy has a few plans of their own. The distractions we are using aren’t working at all.” He said. “I think it’s time we changed strategy.”

  “What do we change it to?” Pierre asked.

  “Plan 4.” Sebastian said. “Any objections?”

  Pierre mulled it over for a moment. He went over the plans that Sebastian had proposed while waiting for the Ninjas to climb up and drop the rope ladder. “No, I think we should try it.”

  “Okay.” Sebastian pulled out a small firestarter, hit it with a vibe of air mana, and ignited it. A small green flame sparked to life, flickering in his hand. “These are pretty nifty. You come prepared.”

  “I have all kinds of useful things.” Pierre said, patting his blue leather satchel.

  It only took a minute for the tall sister Ninja to arrive. “What plan do you want to change to, boys?” She asked.

  “Plan 4, if you would please.” Sebastian said. “And thank you, Miss Nayo.”

  “Can do.” Nayo said, withdrawing a few small spheres from a pouch. “This place still safe?”

  “For the time being.” Sebastian said, lounging back while he kept his eyes on the courtyard.

  Nayo vanished. Pierre tried to follow her movement, but he lost track of her the second after she moved. “How do they do that?” He wondered aloud.

  “They’d sooner kill us than tell us.” Sebastian said, relaxed against the battlement he leaned into. “The Kairaetsu are a secretive bunch.”

  “Kairaetsu?”

  Sebastian spun a finger at the courtyards until Pierre returned his gaze to his duty, watching for bandits that might have spotted their overlook spot. “Most people call them Ninjas, but that’s not what they call themselves. Their history goes back tens of thousands of years.”

  “What? How is that possible? The Erasure of History was only four centuries ago, when the Ancient War ended.” Pierre said.

  “And in that time, we’ve uncovered a great deal of history. The books and murals weren’t destroyed, just the direct teaching of the Ancients.” Sebastian said. “Besides, many people have found links to ancient cultures.”

  “I thought the ancient people were forbidden from passing down knowledge during the Erasure.” Pierre said.

  “Do you really think the whole world obeyed that rule just because some God decreed it?” Sebastian asked. “Besides. Not everyone was aboard those ships. The Kuldo were in the dungeons at that time, and there were the folk that lived in Iblands too.”

  “Feros isn’t just some God, he is one of the High Gods.” Pierre said. “Why would people defy him?” He crossed his arms. In the courtyards where Hyato, Mien, and Kris were in battle, smoke erupted forth. When it cleared, those three had vanished, leaving only confused bandits.

  “You follow Feros?” Sebastian asked.

  “No, I follow Yximayl.” Pierre said. “What about you?”

  “I’m not a follower.” Sebastian said. “Don’t have anything against them. But some people do, and some people back then did, for sure.” Sebastian said. “You really think the people who lived through the Ancient War were eager to serve the Gods?”

  “I dunno, I just never thought about it.” Pierre said. “Why wouldn’t they? It’s not like they directly intervene, except in those rare cases.”

  “Don’t tell me you are against people who defy the Gods.” Sebastian said.

  “Well why not be? They gave us the twelve languages, and they established Gil, and they did so much for us.” Pierre said.

  “All that happened before the Erasure,” Sebastian said, “So of course there is history that spans back that far. But how about I give you one good reason why I think people shouldn’t follow blindly.”

  “What’s that?” Pierre said, frowning.

  “Morrofyr.”

  Pierre blinked, and then nodded. “Yeah. Sorry. Forget I said anything.”

  Hyato arrived alongside Nayo from the east courtyard he had been extracted from. Only a minute later Mien and Kris arrived with Aeroth. “Plan 4 then, why?” Mien asked.

  “The bandits are ignoring all the chaos and assembling.” Sebastian said. “Our distraction will only serve to tire us.”

  “There’s another thing.” Hyato said. “They have a healer.”

  “What?!” Sebastian shot to his feet. “How?!”

  “Several bandits returned to the fight that I had already downed. Some of them I had cut open, and they returned without so much as a scar. They are changing armor, but they are also healing.” Hyato said.

  “How did you recognize them as the same?” Kris asked, “They all have those doofy helmets disguising them.”

  “The way they moved.” Hyato said. “I’d fought them before. There aren’t hundreds of them, they are healing.”

  “We need to find out how they are doing that.” Sebastian said. “Or this is going to be a losing battle.”

  “Are there not many healers in the world?” Nayo asked. “You must forgive me, I have not been taught about the wider world.”

  “Very few can heal, and do so that fast.” Mien said. “If it's not a Healer, they have something they are using.”

  “Guess that’s my job.” Aeroth said, “I’ll find out. That cool with you?” He asked Sebastian.

  “Yes, find out.” He said. “In the meantime, we need to make contact with Yan somehow.”

  “That must be me.” Nayo said, grinning. The two Kairaetsu vanished. Mien’s eyes tracked along for a minute until he lost sight of one of them. No one else even bothered trying.

  Pierre looked up to the moon above. The storm clouds in the distance were getting closer. “Maybe another hour of moonlight.” Pierre said. “Let’s make it count.”

  Wolf thrust his axes forth and impaled two bandits with the haft at the end, then kicked the third out of the way. The rest of the bandits at the end of the hallway ran, all heading up the staircase on the left. Michael examined the glowing flagstones on the wall that gave off a dim light. “Hey, so this place is lit up by those enchanted stones.” Michael said, pointing them out to Wolf.

  “Yeah?” Wolf said, “What about it?”

  “How come there are so many of these torch holder things?” Michael said, waving his right hand at the sconce on the wall.

  Wolf tilted his head and looked along the hallway. “Maybe they wanted to have a bunch of fire on hand.” He said. “Or they got tired of the torch smoke and made the lights on the ceiling.”

  “Oh, that makes sense.” Michael said, striding past another room that bandits had burst out of. He made his way towards the staircase, joined by Wolf. “You know, I think they are leading us to a trap.”

  “Oh, cause they keep pretending to be hurt and running away, then coming back to make it look like there are tons of them?” Wolf said.

  “Yeah.” Michael said. “And their wounds are healing too.”

  “That just makes it more fun.” Wolf said, “I haven’t even broken a sweat yet.”

  They started to climb the stairs, and Michael took note of the lack of ceiling. “Hey, the sky.” He said. The two larger moons Rhellis and Mystery illuminated the night sky, but Michael smelled a distant dampness. A storm was on the way.

  “Guess our fun rampage is about over.” Wolf said. “Time to bust out.”

  “No, I’m going to fight the Bandit King.” Michael said. “He is possessed by the foe I am after. Then, I’ll find my friends after I bust out.”

  “I’ve got your back.” Wolf said. “That guy was actually tough. He defeated me once before.”

  “I’m not scared.” Michael said.

  The pair of escaped prisoners stepped to the top of the stairs. A dazzling light burst from the floors around them, along with rows of bandits, several dozen groups. They all stood apart from one another, leaving space to move, and they were all armed with spears, axes, swords, bows, and shields of various combinations. Behind them in the wide courtyard there were flames the size of buildings. “Welcome!” echoed a female voice. Past the assembled bandits, at the top of a staircase that led near a huge imposing stone building, a woman in a brown robe floated above the ground. Even from this distance, her eyes were clear, one glowing red like Rhellis behind a veil of netting. “To your demise.”

  The stone steps behind Michael and Wolf rose, flattening into a floor and sealing the two escapees in the middle of the courtyard surrounded by the armed and angry bandits. “Okay...” Michael said. “I might be a little scared.”