Chapter 8

The following new character appears in the remainder of the story:

Mankato (Blue Earth) Two Wolves

Called Robert, Lakota, Crendenor the Dragon, 6'-0'' tall, 185 pounds, 26 years old, black hair with streaks of auburn, gray eyes, quite handsome

On transferring into the end of the corridor with the steel plate, I discovered that I was no longer alone.

"There she is, kill her before she recovers," someone shouted, and this was instantly followed by a chorus of shots and their bullets impacting on my wards. Fortunately, I had pulled up my strongest wards before beginning the transfer spell.

Since they had fired first, I felt no compunction about returning fire and raised my arms, spread my fingers, and thought fire. Instantly, eight beams of Magic fire erupted from my fingers and incinerated the men facing me in the corridor. It was obvious that James Knox had not been killed, and he or someone had sent them after me.

Having taken care of business here for now, I recast my wards in an expanded size using a spell that was air tight, since I didn't know what the air in the corridor below me was like. Looking around then, I marked my location before casting the transfer spell again and disappeared from this corridor to reappear instantly in the one below, leaving the metal plate undisturbed.

The corridor that I reappeared in was marginally smaller then the one above and darker, but not dark, just less well lit. It also ran at ninety degrees to the previous one.

Something moved just after I appeared, and I hit it with a quick freeze spell. It turned out to be a rat like those that we had seen in the corridor above. This got me to wondering how many small rat sized tunnels there might be that connected the various levels of these corridors, tunnels, and the sub-basements. We would probably never know, or know how many rats populated this area.

Since it appeared to be a common ordinary rat and was obviously breathing the air down here without any problems, I changed my airtight wards for my strongest regular wards and tested the air. It was cool, dank, and musty, but otherwise appeared to be all right to breath. I canceled the freeze spell on the rat, and it scooted away from me and disappeared into a small hole in the end wall of the corridor.

On advancing up the corridor a short distance, the first thing that I came to was a cell. It was presently empty, and from the scents and signs, it had been so for a considerable period of time.

Seventy feet or so further down the the corridor, I came to a large chamber. It's entrance was only some eight feet wide, but the room beyond was much larger, appearing to be about fifty feet wide by about thirty feet deep with a twelve foot ceiling. There were numerous work stations in it. Some held the glassware and machines associated with a chemistry or biological lab, while others held the less clean things associated with the use of Black Magic. There were a number of cabinets along the walls that held various types of supplies.

Additionally there were a number of large glass or plastic jars and cases, some filled with liquids, that held the apparent results of various experiments. The entire area stank of the use of Black Magic. Lastly there was a Wizard dressed in a traditional robe and not a business suit as was now fashionable, who I recognized as Taylor Peale. He was only a bit taller than I was and rather thin with brown hair. He must have sensed my Talent as he turned from his work with a smile, which turned into a shocked expression on seeing who was there.

"YOU!" he screamed in shock and rage. "You destroyed my pets, my finest creations," he continued and started to cast a Black Magic spell to throw at me.

I had cast a powerful spell against Black Magic as soon as I had seen into the chamber and instantly hurled it at him. On hitting his incomplete Black Magic spell, it destroyed the spell as well as the Wizard casting it who burst into flames and was reduced to nothing but ashes in less than a minute, while the intensity of the fire caused the area surrounding him to also catch fire. In that time, I had begun destroying the remainder of the lab with the use of Magic fire. I had started with the specimens in their enclosures and worked my way around the room. When I withdrew, there was little of use remaining behind the ward which kept the heat and smoke in the chamber.

Back in the corridor, I took a short break and had some water from the canteen and a snack before continuing.

On continuing down the corridor, I next came to a medium-sized chamber that was dedicated to the use of Black Magic. The only light there came from numerous black candles burning around the room which was carpeted with a number of rugs scattered about the floor. There were Black Magic symbols painted on the walls, containers of materials used in the ceremonies, and there was a black stone altar in the middle of the room. There were channels carved in its top surface leading to a collection point at one end. This was obviously a place where major Black Magic was practiced.

While the Eternal Flame had continued to allow the use of minor Black Magic spells in this Reality, the use of major Black Magic was outlawed in all of the Realities that we O'Connells knew of. I therefore activated my Magic beams and cut the altar into numerous pieces before changing to Magic fire and incinerating everything remaining in the chamber. The fire burned for many minutes behind the ward that kept the heat and gasses in the room, thus insuring that everything was completely destroyed.

I had backed away from the intense heat generated by the Magic fire but stayed until the fire died out. The walls of both chambers would radiate the absorbed heat from the fires for some time.

On leaving the two chambers, I continued down the corridor for some distance before coming to another cell, or what I assumed was a cell. This one had a solid steel door with no window or feeding slot in it. It did have four very heavy duty hinges on one side and four large locks on the other side of the door. Additionally two large thick steel bars crossed the door and were held by brackets set into the wall on either side of the doorway. It certainly appeared that whatever was inside the cell wasn't meant to get out. Additionally, there was a Magic-canceling spell worked into the concrete walls of the room.

I was now faced with a dilemma. Should I attempt to determine what was inside this most formidable cell, if it was a cell, or should I just pass it by? Surely there must be something extraordinary inside to call for the massive amount of work put into keeping it there. Could it be a denizen from the deepest, darkest pit of hell, or some terrible Magical beast from antiquity? Whatever it was, it wasn't meant to get out. Should I interfere or just pass by as I had the others, I wondered?

On further consideration, if the Council had gone to all of this trouble to keep whatever was in there contained, perhaps it would be best to at least learn what it was. It could be something to use against them. On the other hand, it could be something so terrible that it was best left behind this security. I would never know unless I confronted it, I decided.

Once the decision to investigate was made, the next was to determine the best way to enter the area. I could disable the Magic-canceling spell, but that would allow whatever was in there to use its Magic, which could be a bad decision. I could open the door, as locks had never been a problem for the O'Connells. That of course could allow whatever was in there the possibility of escaping through the open door. Neither of these simple solutions were good ones. Something more complicated was called for but what?

After further consideration, I decided that a large Defensive Shell with the wards on the inside could be the answer. That would prevent whatever was inside from escaping, and I could then adopt either of the simpler solutions.

Sitting on the floor, I cast the spell for a spherical Defensive Shell and expanded it to a hundred feet in diameter, which should be more than sufficient to contain the resident of the cell. On rising to my feet, I cast another spell to disable the Magic canceling spell in the walls and threw it at the wall here in the corridor. There was a loud 'POP' as the spell in the walls collapsed, and I drew in a deep breath before transferring into the cell to see what was in there.

I reappeared two feet from the interior wall, just as I had planned. It appeared that the walls along this corridor were of a consistent, if substantial, thickness. The Cell itself was small being some eight feet wide by ten feet long. There was one light panel in the ten foot height ceiling, and it cast a weak under-powered light on the area. The walls were bare, and the only furnishings were a waste bucket and a cot with the resident of the cell lying on it.

The prisoner was definitely a male and a large one at about 6'-0'' tall. It was difficult to determine his weight or age at present, and I used a spell to increase the level of illumination from the panel on the ceiling. The increased light level didn't help much with his age or weight estimate, but did reveal the auburn streaks in his long black hair. It also revealed that his skin was a darker shade than mine was.

Since he hadn't moved, even with the increased level of illumination, I would need to determine if he had been drugged like Celeste, or if something else had been done to him. I reached out with my right hand to touch him as I neared the cot, and a small dragon appeared and landed on my hand. It appeared to be a perfect miniature of a blue dragon. It walked around on my hand for nearly a minute. I could feel it probing my Talent with its small bit of Magic. It disappeared when it seemed satisfied with my intentions, but it had left me with several thoughts.

The first was that we weren't safe staying here because the Wizards were on their way here. The second was that we should move after creating a diversion to keep the Wizards busy. Since both of these seemed like good ideas, I considered how to implement them.