Chapter 11

The following new character appears in this chapter and the remainder of the story:

Crendenor

Robert's Blue Dragon, its size varies from a miniature Dragon that can walk around on your palm to a huge monster of a Dragon with a wing span of some 120 feet.

I awoke late on the morning of the second day here with a raw throat, but was a very satisfied woman even if I was starved. All of the love and sex had used up a lot of energy which we needed to replace. My throat was easily repaired with my Mage Talent; before getting out of bed I checked my wards with my White Magic. I found them to still be at full effect, as well as the privacy spell and the noise suppression spell that I had cast yesterday when we arrived here. We had certainly needed both of them over the last day.

The second day here was much better. The 'need' seemed to be reduced from our activities over the last twenty-four hours or so, and we managed to think about something besides our needs and sex -- for a time anyway. Following a good breakfast to rebuild our strength, we started a strategy session.

"We need to find out what the Wizard's Council is up to," I told Robert.

"I can check and see if the spell that I left in the vault was triggered," he volunteered.

"I don't need you to get burned," I told him and reached out for his hand.

"I won't need to go there," he told me, as he took my hand in both of his. The sensation was absolutely marvelous.

"And I'm fireproof in any event," he added before getting a faraway look on his face.

"Yes!" he said on recovering, "The spell was triggered one time. I renewed it and added two more cycles to its life before it's canceled," he informed me.

"So they never managed to check on the Defensive Shell and may believe that we are still in there, which may mean that they aren't actually looking for us," I told him.

"What else do we need to do?" I asked following that.

"There were those tunnels leading out of both sides of the basement. We should see where they go in case we need to leave here in a hurry and undetected," he suggested.

"All right, where do we want to start – east side or west side?" I inquired.

"Let's start with the west side. We're going to need light to see where we're going, and to see any problems. Those tunnels looked very old and are most likely not lighted," he said.

"There is that spell for fire to light the way in the dark that I used on the other side of the passage, but it requires constant attention and it isn't all that bright despite being intended for use outside at night," I told him. "There are a couple of powerful flashlights at my house. I'll bring two of them here," I added. I called the lights to me, and they appeared on the table between us.

After checking that we were adequately dressed for the current weather conditions, I sent my Magic senses out to see if anyone was presently in the basement of the building but found no one.

We appeared in the west half of the basement a few seconds later and went directly to the steps leading down to the tunnel under the west wall of the building. Robert had been correct, this passage was not lighted. It was very old and from its construction appeared to be original to the building. It was also somewhat narrow and while high enough for me to easily pass through, it required Robert to hunch down to avoid bumping his head on the low ceiling.

Being in the lead, I had my flashlight on to check for obstructions or other problems.

"They used some sort of plasticizer to seal and reinforce the walls, floor, and ceiling of this passage," Robert commented as we moved along it. After about forty feet or so we came to the steps leading to the basement of the west wing of the Hall. It was difficult to judge the size of the building as the basement was divided by a number of walls, but after exploring it some, it appeared to be about forty feet long by twenty-five feet wide. There were stairs leading to the first floor and a couple of small rooms with hallways connecting them. There was one hallway at the west end of the building that went nowhere, but that Robert suggested could have been used for storage.

What there was, and it was very conspicuous, was another passage or tunnel at the west end of this basement. It was currently covered by a sheet of building board with a large sign on it:

DANGER
This area has not been repaired
Do not enter

"Wonder where this goes?" Robert asked.

"The only building between here and 6th Street is known as Congress Hall," I told him.

"It would appear that those in Congress could pass from there into Independence Hall without being observed," he commented. "Should we check it out?"

"Do we really need to?"

"Only if we want a full understanding of all of the areas of access to the Hall," he replied.

"Maybe later. Let's return to the basement of the Hall and see where the tunnel on the east side goes," I suggested before transferring us back to the basement of the Hall. Back in the west side of the basement, I again checked with my Magic senses for anyone down there but again found no one.

On the east side of the basement, we again descended the stairs to the tunnel leading to the basement of the east wing of the Hall. Coming into it from the tunnel, it was much easier to estimate its size since it wasn't divided into rooms as the west wing had been, but it appeared to be the same size as the other wing. However, this was much busier area. There were stairs leading to the first floor near where we emerged from the tunnel. On the wall to our right there were double doors that we discovered prevented entry from the outside stairs.

Further along the right hand wall there was another entrance with a large single door and stairs leading down to another tunnel. This tunnel too was blocked by a sheet of building board posted with a sign similar to the one on the tunnel leading from the west wing.

"And this goes where?" Robert asked with a raised eyebrow.

"There are two buildings on the east side of the Hall. One is the old City Hall and the other held a museum for quite some time," I told him. "It could go to either."

"So some sneaky politician could have gone from Congress Hall to City Hall without being seen," he said with a smirk. "They never change!" he added.

All of this had been along the south wall of the east wing basement. There were more surprises when we checked the north wall of that basement. We found another passage covered by a large sheet of building board, again with the same warning.

"One to the old City Hall and one to the museum building?" Robert speculated.

"Quite possibly," I admitted, but my attention was distracted by another set of stairs which started some ten feet from the north wall of the basement and led down to another passage part of which was through the basement floor. The problem was that there was no building immediately north of Independence Hall – there was only Chestnut Street in that direction, and there was no building board blocking the entrance to this area. Robert must have felt my distraction.

"What have we here," he asked turning from the other blocked entrance.

"Don't know, should we check?"

"Definitely."

On descending the stairs, we found ourselves in a short open passage that was blocked at the wall by a ward. Being in the lead, I touched the ward to see what kind it was, but I had never felt anything like it previously and frowned.

"Something wrong?" came from behind me.

"Yes, this is unlike any ward I have ever encountered before," I answered.

"Should we attempt to break it then? Would doing so alert whoever set it? Do we really need to know what is behind it?" Robert asked in quick succession.

"It's likely that breaking it will alert whoever set this ward in place. We could probably break it, but I'm not sure if it's worth the effort. What could be on the other side?" I asked.

"This is the north wall of the east wing's basement. Do you know if there were any buildings attached to it previously?" he asked.

"None of the pictures or historical drawings that I have seen showed anything in front of the buildings," I told him.

"Could it be the foundation of a building that was here before the Hall and its extensions were built?" he asked next.

"That's a possibility, but why would they leave it in place and create an entrance to it? On top of that, why wouldn't the restoration people put a piece of building board over it like they have with the other passages that weren't restored?" I wondered.

"A good question," he answered, before asking, "Can I check the ward?"

"Sure," I told him, and we exchanged places by squeezing past each other in the narrow passage. Having him this close increased the need for him, but I gritted my teeth until we were past each other and the need decreased.

Robert moved up to the ward and placed a hand upon it just as I had. Suddenly there was a very bright flash of light, and I was shoved further back in the passage – all the way to the steps actually. When I looked up again, more than a bit upset, I received the surprise of my life.

Standing there facing the ward wasn't Robert but a Dragon. A Blue Dragon some eight feet tall which had a triangular shaped head on its long flexible neck and it was looking at me over its back and folded wings. It had four feet, each with four clawed toes, and a long tail that was currently alongside its body due to the limited space available.

The mouth was lined with a multitude of large sharp teeth, and there were long spikes running down its back and along its tail. There were four long horns projecting back from its head, and its skin was composed of overlapping scales. Its two red eyes were regarding me over its back.

"Sorry about that," it hissed at me. "I'll only be a minute or so," it added, as it raised a clawed foot and touched the ward again, which immediately collapsed. This was followed by another flash of light and Robert was standing there again in front of me.

"What was that?" I asked still somewhat shocked.

"That was Crendenor, my Dragon self. The name came to me when I changed," he explained.

"You looked exactly like the miniature Dragon that I've seen previously, but you were a lot bigger."

"It appears that was one of my smaller manifestations. I can appear much larger in size," he informed me, before adding, "Shall we check out what was behind the ward?"