Chapter 103

The entrance was guarded by wards and well-guarded by Sidhe as well. No one was going in or out without being identified and occasionally searched, particularly the ones going in. Nor was there any sign of any slaves either and Talshish believed they would be dressed differently to the ordinary ones to define their status. Also problematical, according to Adsila, was that the entrance wasn’t always accessible due to the fortress re-arranging itself every so often.

“Would they detect a phase shift?” Róisín asked.

“No, but the walls will not permit it,” Adsila replied.

“What about a weave?” I enquired.

“It may be possible, but we’d have to time it precisely,” Adsila nodded thoughtfully.

“Best bet will be during the guard change as various squads go through and they won’t be expecting it either, plus they’ll have to drop the wards whilst doing so,” Arch added as we carefully watched whilst appearing to be cleaning the floor of the corridor leading to the entrance.

“The entrance itself is only open for eighty seconds every twelve minutes and the guards’ timings are precise. There’s only time for one unit in and out,” Adsila noted.

“We can do it though,” Morgana stated. “Assuming there’s nothing on the other side to catch us out.”

“Won’t know till we try,” Erin chuckled.

We had to wait a further two hours before a large party of Sidhe approached. Human troops would have marched in line, though that sort of discipline appeared not to have come about with the Sidhe, which probably explained why they often lost when coming up against disciplined troops. With Morgana and Adsila handling the weave, we attached ourselves to the party and individually filed through the entrance. Once through we sort of stayed close to, but not a part of, the Sidhe party before an empty room was found where we could watch to see just what we were up against.

“No slaves, at least not yet,” Angéle said as she kept watch.

“Well, unless we intend to disguise ourselves as Sidhe, we aren’t going anywhere until we see them,” Arch replied.

“There’s still the weave,” I said.

“It’s difficult to hold this side; there are a number of anti-magic defences, similar in a way to Kurukshetra which interfere with the basic outline,” Adsila replied getting a nod from Morgana as well.

“Well, at the moment there’s no rush,” Morgana added.

An hour passed before Angéle alerted us to company. A party of humans were near and, whilst clearly slaves, they were dressed in far better clothing than the homespun we wore. They were also dressed individually too, though all wore a similar collar which radiated their status and owner as well as linking back to what might be a central control.

“Got it,” murmured Adsila.

“Can we duplicate it?” Arch asked.

“I can’t, not in any reasonable time frame,” Adsila admitted. “But John might from his Null medallions.”

“Let’s see,” I said as Adsila mentally transferred the knowledge over and I could see what was needed.

“Can you do it, John?” Morgana asked after I’d stared blankly into space for a minute.

“Yes, my Mage. It will take a while though and necessitate separating the cores to cancel some of the glyphs,” I replied as I opened my bag to tip out several Null amulets.

It actually took over seven hours before I had enough amulets done for each of us to simulate those worn by the untouchables. By then though the group doing work had gone and there was no one in sight for us to walk out in the corridor following Talshish, with Jerhz having to wear a hat to hide his ears as we saw no signs of any Azurans in the inner fortress.

Our clothing duplicated that which the untouchables wore, though we mixed the colouring somewhat just in case someone asked awkward questions. Adsila as ever was our guide as we made our way through corridor after corridor towards the upper east wing, avoiding where possible guards and untouchables. Avoiding the guards though was becoming harder and harder. The closer we got to the wing, the thicker the coverage of guards got. Fortunately Sidhe arrogance worked for us and the guards only observed Talshish, not us, as if they thought the main threat would come from him. The entrance to the wing though was crowded. Luck was with us in a sense as it appeared that a lot of work needed doing inside and the Sidhe had summoned several slave masters to begin them.

“I don’t recognise you,” was said to me by a young-looking slave who was waiting to enter with her group.

“Not exactly memorable yourself,” I replied as if offended.

“I meant, where are you from?” she half apologised.

“Lower central utilities,” I replied hoping I wasn’t giving the game away.

“Lotho’s group?” she asked.

“No, the other lot,” I prevaricated.

“Oh, didn’t think you were allowed up here,” she shrugged.

“Like we have a choice?” I chuckled.

“True,” she replied with a sigh. “Still, if you’ve a mind for some fun later, look me up; just ask for Janna in mid-housekeeping.”

“You go near her, I’ll cut it off,” Róisín mock growled in my ear after Janna had wandered over to her group.

“Yes, my love,” I chuckled.

I had to admire Talshish. Rather than have the guards question where his party were going, he simply herded us within another larger group with several overseers and just walked us through with them as the bored looking guards never even made a head count. We then simply slowed down from mingling with them until Talshish under instructions from Adsila took us into a clearly unused room where we could wait out events and plan our next move.

“Well, we’re in and it doesn’t smell of trap ... yet,” Morgana opined.

“Definitely someone here of high status too, judging by all the activity going on,” Arch added. “None of them seem to know who though, which suggests another layer of security.”

“I agree,” Talshish stated. “None of the Daoine Sidhe guarding seemed to care who we were, nor were they checking numbers.”

“Well, we’ll just have to go look around,” Adsila added. “I got us here, but that’s as far as it goes other than making sure we don’t look in the same place twice.”

We all pretty much nodded at that. Talshish then led us around from area to area looking for some sign of who was being kept here. Though as yet, other than untouchable parties with their handlers, we saw no sign on the first three levels. It was only when we were approaching a stairwell that would lead up to the fourth level that Adsila and Talshish suddenly diverted us down an adjacent corridor.

“Serious wards,” she breathed. “Subtle too, they would have permitted entry, but sealed it off and summoned the guards, all of them.”

“Can we get around them?” Morgana asked.

“Possibly, there are the exit chutes of privies situated in the walls. I do not believe them to be warded,” Adsila said with a shudder.

“Great,” Arch sighed. “Let’s go, see if we can find an unused one at least.”

It took a little while of wandering, but eventually we found a shaft next to a wall in a room where we could shut the door. Mage Erin then, using a bare miniscule of power, removed the masonry from around several large fitted stones before Arch, Jerhz and I removed them carefully. The shaft itself was polished smooth stone with no outcroppings for hand holds. This however was not an issue as Morgana went into her pocket universes and produced a set of suction cups as well as a long rope of the type used by mountaineers. These she handed to me and indicated that I should be the one to climb.

“I can’t wait for the tale of why you have these in a pocket dimension, my Mage,” I chuckled as I held up the suction cups.

“It’s one of Jude’s hobbies, climbing up the sides of buildings,” she said with a fond smile. “He invited me along one day for a climb up that one in Dubai.”

“The things you learn,” I chuckled.

“It was fun,” she said with a grin. “Particularly the base jump from the top.”

“You seem to be a match made in heaven,” I chuckled. “Probably literally in your case.”

“He’s good for me,” she nodded. “Squeeze to attach, flick the lever to release, keep your feet in the harness and don’t fall. Pull us up when you find somewhere safe to do so.”

“Yes, my Mage,” I replied and climbed into the shaft.

It took a little while but I soon found a technique and rhythm that worked. The hardest part was hanging there listening under the privy seats as there was some form of activity in the room that I couldn’t see or sense, just hear. Finally though I dared to peek out from the seat and saw the room was empty, though with signs of it just having been cleaned and was able to use my enhanced strength to gently force the seat away from the shaft. Then it was just a matter of lowering the rope and pulling everyone up.

“Any idea who was in here, John?” Arch asked.

“No Arch. Not Sidhe, possibly human, but mentally shielded too,” I replied.

“Possibly a way of keeping them silent about who or what is up here,” Arch mused.

I shrugged. There wasn’t anything I could add to the discussion, so I just concentrated on hauling the team up and shoving the seat back into place.

“Good news is, we didn’t set off any alarms, bad news is I can’t detect Oberon; though there are large parts of this floor cut off to my senses,” Adsila stated.

“Lot of mentally shielded staff too,” Morgana mused. “Hard to tell if they are all known to one another either.”

“Just try and avoid all contact with anyone until we locate our target or find he isn’t here,” Arch acknowledged.

“My thoughts exactly,” Morgana nodded then led the way.

Unlike the lower floors, there was no standard pattern to the floor layout. It was designed to be a labyrinth with several hidden doors and rooms linking to other parts of the building. Several times we had to backtrack dodging into various rooms as Sidhe and what I can only describe as human automata went about various patrols and duties. It was obvious we were getting nowhere fast. We were fortunate in one sense that no one was trying to hide from us and we normally had plenty of time to find an empty room. Still, we knew the longer it went on, the more chance of discovery there was.