Chapter 74

Other than being a bit slippery, the wastewater pipes were apparently unguarded, unmonitored having been only accessed for maintenance, unoccupied. They were also large enough to permit the entire squad to walk upright and in pairs.

“Guess they’ve never had issues with terrorists,” Callum chuckled.

“Until now,” Róisín replied with a grin.

“We’re in luck, John,” Abi piped up. “The access pipe leads up near one of those hidden passages Brnnt informed us about.”

“Let’s hope it’s unguarded and still not compromised,” I replied with a nod as we approached a slime covered ladder leading up to an access port.

“He seemed to think it was, plus was pretty sure the only Archimandrites who knew of it were in Athena’s service. Certainly he confirmed Chusok did not know of it, though suspected he knew of a few of his own.”

“Trusting society,” I chuckled.

We were able to open the access port by a very low powered telekinetic spell and going on Abi’s say-so emerged into some sort of work-cum-storage room which was currently unoccupied.

“The entrance is about 80 metres up the corridor to your left. We’ll need to be careful though, at times it can be busy out there,” Abi stated.

“Right, Ilzik, take your team and monitor the approaches. Abi will co-ordinate via you,” I nodded.

“You got it, John.”

“Entry is by pressing the third, seventh and ninth ornamental beads on the panel with a sword wielding Beog,” Abi added, also giving them a mental image.

“We’ll be ready,” Ilzik replied as, after a quick check, he led his team out into the corridor under cloak.

“Get ready,” I warned the squad as we waited for Abi’s all clear signal.

It was a tense ten minutes until Abi finally gave the signal and we hurried down the corridor as a panel in the wall opened to allow us access to a network of tunnels within the walls of the temple. We were swiftly joined by the Drow who uncloaked and sealed the door behind them.

“Right,” I began. “We need to follow this route,” I pointed out on a mental plan. “We then split up to your individual stations. We observe only, we do not engage any enemies. All we are here to do is gather information. If you run into trouble, Null up and run like hell. Abi will be watching over you and will spot this. Remember the routes back.”

“Yes, John,” they all replied as we set off to spy on what remained of the Orc organisation on Draenoric.

Róisín and I branched off when we got to what essentially was a central nexus to this section of hidden tunnels through the walls of the temple. We were ostensibly making our way to what was rumoured to be the lair of the reanimation and hoped to gain information on any agenda that it had. Athena had assured us that it had no real chance of detecting us as it was not a Thaumaturge as such, simply a shell that could call on the power of Sarkal, but only on an as needed basis. Essentially, so long as it didn’t spot us, we were OK.

We were of course assuming that Chusok was actually living ... if that’s the correct term, in his former quarters as we had no inside knowledge or informants in the Temple, or indeed anywhere on Draenoric, not any more. Hence we were pleased to reach the quarters via a mental map from Karkol who had extensive knowledge of the hidden tunnels and find the creature there, simply sitting as if waiting for something to happen.

‘Could be a long wait if this is all he does, ‘ Róisín sent with a mental chuckle.

‘True, he’s certainly not living here if the dust is anything to go by, ‘ I agreed.

We did passively scan the creature, though other than ascertaining that it was indeed dead and operated as a sort of puppet along with a need to replenish its energising force occasionally, there was little else to go on.

Finally though the creature moved, placing its arms on the desk in front of it and hissed out a series of phrases that we didn’t understand, but were able to memorise for translation later. Seconds later a dark shape formed above the desk and focussed on the creature.

“SPEAK!”

“All is prepared; soon the devices will be switched on; soon your children will be able to cross over without interference from the enemies on Vultoq, master.”

“THEY DO NOT SUSPECT?”

“No, Master. They are fools, as all thinking creations are.”

“YOU HAVE DONE WELL.”

“I serve, I obey.”

“I WILL REWARD YOU SOON.”

“Thank you, master.”

With that, the apparition vanished and the creature simply went back to sitting perfectly still.

‘Weird, why doesn’t this Sarkal simply give the Vultoqi the means to cross over?‘ I mentally murmured.

‘Probably one of those weird rules they have to follow, ‘ Róisín replied after a moment’s thought. ‘Athena has never offered to transport us. When she does travel, it’s either alone, or she goes with us via a portal.‘

‘Hmmm, true, plus she informed Xi not so long ago that she’s an energy being. It might just be that she’d burn us to a crisp if she took us with her ... or we’d discover something we’re not meant to, ‘ I mentally chuckled.

‘Yep, according to Athena we’re being observed by the Higher Powers, even though we can’t detect them.‘

‘Hello, he’s on the move.‘

‘Unfortunately we can’t really track him too well as the passages don’t follow the corridors.‘

‘True. Still, we have what we came for, so let’s head back, ‘ I finally stated.

Abi was waiting for us as the squad slowly made it back in dribs and drabs as they finished gathering information. All having observed members of the new Council and gathering odd pieces of data which confirmed the portal blockers would be up and running in about a week. Other than the creature posing as Chusok, however, none were aware that the blockers were also a homing beacon to the underpowered Vultoqi portal ring.

“So we will be unable to get to Draenoric when these blockers come online?” Crnnch asked Roxanne at a meeting of his staff that she had invited herself to.

“Until our Seers and sabotage teams in place have found a way to get around this, yes,” she nodded.

“Do you know how long?”

“No, not yet, but I have every faith in them. After all, if the Vultoqi can portal in, we can find a way too.”

“Is there anything we can do in the mean time?”

“Yes, I believe so. It is our intention to go on the offensive when they do attack Draenoric and hopefully drive them back to the line of the original fortress, if not further and get our weapons within range of their inner shield.”

“This could be costly in the way of casualties, it’s not as if we can replenish our forces easily anymore,” Slaarg interjected.

“We know this. However you cannot stay on the defensive permanently, not if they can finally move between worlds.”

“It seems odd, with them being powerful psiontists that they do not use the other method you have,” Crnnch mused.

“We’re still looking into that, but teleportation, the other method we use appears to affect their energy absorbing capabilities, leaving them extremely vulnerable for a length of time ... or at least that’s what our investigators believe.”

“Interesting, though of limited value to us,” Crnnch nodded.

“Aye, their shield won’t allow us to teleport them either,” Roxanne chuckled.

“Very well. We’ll prepare our forces and hope we can at least surprise the Vultoqi and cause them casualties,” Crnnch stated.

“Your new weapons as well as the personal shields will help there, plus the anti-cloaking wave will enable your forces to engage them on a much more level playing field.”

“Agreed, though the Vultoqi still remain consummate warriors.”

“That only counts when you go hand to hand with them, we hope to prevent that for as long as possible.”

“Agreed. We will be ready, Mage Rahksahn.”

“All is prepared?” the senior patripure asked.

“All is prepared; soon we will begin the cleansing of the home world of the old enemy,” an adelshaut replied.

“Ensure our defences here remain strong. We do not wish our enemies here to interfere with the cleansing.”

“By your command.”

“All we need do now is wait, for we shall prevail!”

“WE SHALL PREVAIL!”

Flutar, the TechnoYr’ch, gazed in pride at the constructed portal blocker that he had built to prevent the enemies of the Yr’ch from raiding Draenoric and causing havoc on the planet. He cared little for the rumours of mass incarcerations or possibly executions of his fellow Yr’ch for choosing the wrong side. The glory of the race came first and foremost in his mind and he simply could not conceive of ever worshipping a female deity. The time had arrived though when the blocker was to be switched on and he was going over the last few checks before giving the signal to the operator to turn on the power and watch as the various displays told him if it were working or not. Finally he nodded in satisfaction as all the various bars showed the device was working perfectly. It was at this point things went horribly wrong as, to his total shock, a portal formed; only it wasn’t from the Ar-Thennans, what poured through the portal was a veritable flood of Klarven, along with a massive swarm of troichin. He was just about to sound the alarm when something gripped his neck and he could no longer control his actions as he attacked the operator, who was likewise attacking him.

Draenoric was slow to react. It had never occurred to anyone that the Vultoqi could attack them; their leadership had assured them that the Vultoqi portal was only powerful enough for planetary use, hence the portals remained open as, finally, the adelshaut emerged and began to slaughter any and all Yr’ch they could find.

There was some resistance which grew swiftly and the newer weapons the Yr’ch had were a lot more effective against the various Vultoqi creatures, but, it was clear that the Yr’ch individually were outclassed by the adelshaut and were only delaying the inevitable.

Chusok ignored the pounding on his door as an emergency Council meeting was called. Gazing through the window of his room he could see buildings burning and fleeing Yr’ch, mercilessly hunted down by the Vultoqi creatures. The Klarven dominated ones attacking their own, until usually cut down by an adelshaut. He could also make out the faint glow of newly formed troichin eggs in the distance and smiled grimly at the destruction wrought upon the enemies of Sarkal. Finally, he stood and opened the door, surprising the servitor there trying, presumably, to wake him. That surprise lasted a few seconds as with a quick twist of his arms, Chusok broke the servitor’s neck with ease.