Chapter 102

To get within sight of Niðavellir it had taken us ten days to warily cross the distance from where the Seers had felt it was safe to drop us off. Morgana had had to order Tu’tar to remain behind as there was no way we could explain a Mazdani in our party of ‘slaves’. If anything the fortress was even more intimidating when seen in plain sight. Everything about it was designed to aid and protect the defender from any number of attackers. Within and outside the structure the Sidhe had gone ... well, insane is really the only word that fits, with gravity as several staircases that we could see twisted in all sorts of directions toward floating towers that covered all angles of approach. Even as we watched, several parts of the interior moved to re-arrange the shape of the fortress as the towers docked for a few moments before moving on.

“Clever,” Arch murmured. “The towers can defend the fortress easily. So making a concentrated attack against any part of the structure would be difficult to say the least.”

“I suspect they can make repairs once the towers are in the shadow of the mountains,” I agreed.

“Looks like it,” Arch nodded.

“Can we get down to the slave camp?” Morgana asked as she shimmied up and took the binoculars I handed her.

“Yes, the place might be a formidable fortress still but it’s also been neglected somewhat. We can follow the tree line directly to the slave camp,” Arch replied.

“It will be patrolled,” Talshish noted from where he sat.

“Beats just walking down there in the open,” Arch chuckled.

“There is that,” Talshish replied with a grin.

“There’s movement in the woods,” Morgana interrupted.

Arch immediately swung his own binoculars to aide his already enhanced eyesight and carefully scanned the woods.

“Not human ... or Sidhe come to that,” he said. “Any thoughts Talshish?”

The Sidhe scrambled up to take a look, grabbing Arch’s proffered binoculars.

“Kodama I believe you call them,” he said finally. “They may help us if we offer them a gift.”

“Well, they’re clearly avoiding the patrols,” Morgana added.

“They would. We Sidhe have not exactly been kind to them in the past,” Talshish admitted.

“Will they speak to us if you are with us?” Morgana asked.

“Yes. I can offer them Verenestra’s blessings,” he replied.

“Worth a try. They may just avoid us anyway,” Morgana nodded.

It still took nearly two days to get into the woods. All the time we were updated by the Seers as to whether or not things had changed. Oberon himself had not been spotted, nor had any of his court since the first few sightings. Despite the lack of evidence Morgana was treating this as a good thing.

“They may be being more careful in case we do spot signs that they have him,” she opined optimistically, before coming to a halt as Adsila raised an arm.

“We wish you no harm,” Seer Adsila called out verbally and mentally.

‘Yet you have an enemy amongst you, ‘ came an eventual reply.

“I carry word from my Princess. The hunting of you shall cease should we prevail,” Talshish announced.

‘Your word means nothing, ‘ was the reply.

“We would swear the Calvagh,” Talshish stated calmly. “As we have with our allies the humans, Azurans, Veda, Maraú-Uxuí and the Mazdani.”

‘The unbreakable oath?’

“Yes, the Calvagh,” Talshish reiterated.

The air seemed to shimmer before a pale green humanoid stepped out from within a tree blinking at us with vertical eyelids.

‘Is he to be trusted?’ the creature asked.

“Yes,” Morgana stated.

‘What is it you wish?’

“Safe passage to the foot of the fortress nearest the slave camp,” Morgana replied.

‘Is that all?’ came the astonished reply.

“Yes,” Morgana replied.

‘And for this you will cease the hunts?’

“If we win,” Talshish stated.

‘It seems too good to be true.’

At this point Adsila’s eyes went blank and what I can only describe as the spirit of Arwen peeked out.

‘My word is my bond as the blood royal of house Skarlett. I tell you the hunts will cease should we cast Oonagh down, ‘ Arwen stated before Adsila came back looking somewhat perturbed.

However all around us the Kodama had come out and kneeled before Adsila/Arwen before beckoning us forward.

Walking beside Adsila I noticed she was muttering away to herself looking distinctly annoyed and put out.

“I take it Arwen surprised you?” I asked

“Damned right she did! She shouldn’t have even been able to access the gestalt, never mind look out via me!” Adsila stated.

“She is somewhat precocious,” I chuckled.

“John, the child ... and I’m only going on age here, is frightening in her ability to pick up and do things, things it takes Seers years to put into practice.”

“Arwen, I know you’re listening, but in future remember it’s polite to ask before you interact with someone that way. The Seers are busy ladies and don’t need to be frightened like that,” I said in a friendly voice.

‘I’m sorry Adsila. I just wanted to help, ‘ came the reply.

“That’s alright, Arwen. Just next time ask; also ask to join the gestalt. We’ll let you in now, you don’t have to sneak around,” Adsila replied carefully.

‘Oh wonderful! I’m going to have so much fun!’ came a delighted giggle by way of reply.

“Got your hands full there,” I chuckled.

“Tell me about it,” Adsila sighed as we followed the Kodama through the woods on trails the Sidhe patrols stood no chance of finding.

The slave camp was typical of the type, no guards, no fences, the slaves either obeyed (hard not to if you can’t fight a Sidhe off mentally) or they were hunted down, many times deliberately for sport. Nevertheless the slaves were reasonably clothed and well fed as finding new ones was becoming increasingly harder for the Sidhe; such was the use of the various Seer groups on the united Earths.

We all passively scanned the slaves, though we didn’t get much in the way of information. Adsila also scanned the overseers and there she hit pay-dirt. There was definitely some sort of ‘noble’ guest being held in the upper east wing, though they were not permitted entry there. That was all handled by another set of slaves, kept within the fortress for that specific purpose and those slaves were not to be touched or harmed.

Other than that, the work was handed out piecemeal and very few questions were asked so long as it was done. Certainly the overseers themselves were unsure as to who their individual slaves were; they simply had them marked mentally. One was completely unaware of even the gender of his slaves and thought them to be male, despite it being obvious they weren’t.

It was at this point that the Sidhe decided to test out the offensive weapon they were building in the fortress. Lines of energy lanced out from all but one of the towers intersecting at what had to be a focal point on the unused one which then directed the ‘beam’ to a distant peak, neatly slicing it off.

“Whoa! Death Star!” I muttered in disbelief.

“We may have to rethink our strategy,” Arch said after a distant rumble washed over us.

“Yes, no frontal or otherwise assaults on the remaining fortresses,” Morgana agreed.

“Infiltrate and overcome,” Mage Erin added.

“Yep, we’re going to have to come up with something,” Arch agreed.

I personally thought that we could borrow a Loegrian kinetic bolide launcher and Null the bolides and that would do the trick, though I couldn’t mention that as there were several in team Arch who didn’t know about Loegria. Turned out Morgana and Arch were thinking on similar lines when we got a chance to talk about it later; the Seers also had some ideas on the subject too.

Carefully replacing our outer clothing with the shapeless baggy home-spun cloth that the slaves wore, we cautiously formed a group behind Talshish. With Jerhz bringing up the rear we shambled into the fortress through what had to be a sally port, if on a massive scale.

From this point onwards we were relying on Adsila and her mental map of the fortress to guide us. Inside, other than a few of the curiously carved blocks the Sidhe used instead of glyphs and sigils there was no sense of where we actually were. It was, however, reasonably well lit, though from no discernible source, and beautifully decorated with various murals depicting the Sidhe in various tasks other than conquest and torture.

We kept well away from any other slave groups. They were basically cleaning and doing minor repair work as well as laundry, cooking and other sundry tasks I presumed. This however wasn’t really a problem as they were keeping well out of our way (and each other’s) too. We passed room after empty room, barracks, guard rooms, living quarters all reasonably well looked after by the myriad of slaves the Sidhe were keeping near the fortress.

“Wonder what would happen to them all should we decide to attack?” Róisín asked during a period when there were no others in sight.

“The plan would be to force them to attack the enemy whilst we occupied the fortress,” Talshish admitted.

“So who would feed and keep you?” Angéle asked.

“The inner slaves, they who may not be touched,” Talshish went on.

“Untouchable slaves?” she asked confused.

“A reward given occasionally to a slave who pleases, but trust me, they are still slaves,” Talshish explained.

“Ah, it simply means they are at the back of the queue when it comes to a cull,” Angéle nodded sagely.