Chapter 15

The following day the Coalition Mages were invited to watch the interrogation of a prisoner outside a Null field. The prisoner himself refused to even speak and the Coalition were allowed to check his mental shields to confirm just how tough they were.

"Have any been breached yet?" asked Mage Elymas.

"No," said Mage Vera. "As you can tell from various cues in his mental state and behaviour it is only a matter of time however."

"So I can read from his surface mental agitation," said Mage Elymas. "I take it that caution is being used to prevent the prisoner from having his mind wiped by the process. I realise how this may sound but we in the Coalition have learned to be very careful after some unfortunate incidents in the past."

Vera frowned, knowing well what Elymas had alluded to, yet knowing the Council's hands were not so clean when it came to this sort of enquiry either. There was no such thing as a Geneva Convention amongst Mages, there rarely is in any sort of civil war.

"Care is being taken," she replied finally. "I realise how this may sound but we have a lot of experience in dealing with mental shields ourselves."

"Indeed," said Elymas.

I and others from the Department were carefully watching the Coalition members and it was apparent that at least a couple were not so interested in the interrogation but rather in what was going on around the room taking note of the entrance, where the guards were and presumably scanning passively to see where the ward boundaries were. Some of it I knew was just the Coalition gathering intel, but any attack by them on Kurukshetra would be welcomed by the Council. I can think of more pleasant or easier ways to commit suicide after all. Still, I figured if we had some sort of traitor in our midst (as opposed to our enemy the Coalition) then they'd have to make a move before the men we'd captured cracked and told us more, hopefully a lot more than we knew now.

It was fairly clear that the man being interrogated was close to cracking, his mental shield was 'flickering' and odd details were becoming apparent although nothing critical as yet, just jumbled names and phrases none of which made much sense in the context they were coming out. I suspected he was simply using random words as part of his defences, though it would not prolong the interrogation by too much.

At this point there was a thunderous crash and a blinding light as some sort of device went off leaving those Mages observing the interrogation blinded and confused. In the confusion someone launched a small killing bolt of energy at the prisoner, but failed as I deflected it away and placed myself in front of the prisoner after dropping an activated Null amulet over his head. There was utter confusion in the room but I soon spotted that Johannes Trithemius and another Coalition Mage were missing. Sending out a quick mental alert to Morgana, Arch and our waiting Mages I then sought to help the people in the room by getting them sat down as healers arrived from nearby to repair and restore eyesight and hearing.

"Well, that was a surprise ... Not!" said Mage Vera as I picked her up.

"Yes, Mage," I replied. "I didn't know what they'd try but we did suspect it wouldn't be magical in nature. Fortunately I was expecting some form of distraction in order to attack the prisoner, clever though to use a chemical reaction."

"Nasty, although it could have been worse, however the wards we have would have prevented any sort of physical particles being sprayed around, plus they'd have stopped a major magical attack too," she said.

At this point we were joined by Mage Elymas who clearly didn't look any too pleased with the situation.

"What is going on?" he stormed. "Is this some convoluted plot of the Council's to kidnap Coalition members whilst holding outwardly to a truce?"

"We have kidnapped no one, Mage Elymas," I said into the angry silence and glares from the rest of the Mages in the room. "We will be searching for your missing members; hopefully we will find them soon. In the meantime I suggest you wait calmly until we have a better idea of what is going on."

We all felt it as the anti-teleport screen over the prison entrance went down.

"Seems we have an answer," I said as we detected a massive incursion of presumably hostile intent teleporting into the various parts of the prison not covered by alternate shielding. I also felt our secondary screen flick into place preventing outward teleportation as our plan swung into action. "I suggest you Mages prepare to defend yourselves if necessary, our mutual enemy appears to have come calling."

I and other Mages from the Department moved off to where we knew the invasion had to be headed, the heavily Nulled and shielded high security wing. We left behind Mage Vera and her staff to guide the Coalition members to a warded place of safety. My team, which consisted solely of journeymen and women as well as a medic Mage formed up and headed for the main entrance. As we were approaching a turn in one of the corridors my enhanced instincts caused me to call a halt and I glanced round the corridor and ducked back as a massive blast of hellfire which would have surely taken a lot of us down nearly took my head off.

"That was too close!" gasped journeyman Roger as I ducked and rolled out into the corridor and loosed a series of air displacement spells though in this case it wasn't air I was using it was compressed nitrogen and I held up a small force bubble over the area to contain the gas yet allow the air it displaced out.

"Now!" I ordered to the Mages with me who dodged around and down the corridor as the enemy collapsed their lungs unable to draw in any oxygen. By the time we reached them some had almost died but we were all carrying a lot of anti-casting restraints and our healer set about restoring them whilst we chained them to a series of pipes and left a guard to make sure they weren't rescued, as well as contacting Mage Vera's snatch squad to come collect them.

"How did you know that would be a trap, John?" asked Roger.

"Just a feeling, plus on the maps I have it seemed an ideal spot as it's one of the few choke spot areas outside the secure areas known to both sides," I replied. "Next choke point should be up ahead at the security doors, but I expect we'll meet Arch there."

I already knew Arch was there, but with normal telepathic channels down, there was no way I could explain to Roger how I knew, nor how my enhanced senses were aiding my 'intuition' to a far greater degree than I had previously known. We reached Arch and several other teams all led by Mages who had access to higher Mage powers and settled into various positions covering the approaches, some of us who had firearms drew them too, others were handed out with caution to the Mages about pointing them only at someone you intended to kill.

"How's it going, Mage Arch?" I asked Arch quietly.

"Could have been worse, John." he replied. "Lot more of them than we expected, but they've now realised they can only get in, not get out and have stopped porting in as they're getting too crowded. Those in first are trying to reach the various wards controlling teleportation, including that group who ambushed you. They got past us before we'd assembled here, but to do that they're going to have to get past Morgana and her squad which contains a good few of our heavy duty Mages."

"So we have them contained?" I asked.

"For now, though we don't know what their plans are, nor where those 'helpful' Coalition Mages went, which is a problem as they're inside our perimeter," Arch replied.

"Want me to go look for the traitors?" I asked.

"Might as well whilst this force is regrouping and deciding what to do next now they know they're trapped," he said. "Don't lose touch though and be damned careful."

I took my squad back down the route we'd travelled and picked up our medic and the guard who had been making their way back to us.

"We need to check the rooms on this level," I cautioned. "Carefully though, Johannes at least is a High Mage and I don't want anyone here tackling him. Simply try to keep him contained and under visual observation till we can bring one of our own heavy hitters. Stay in pairs and stay in touch. Mage Imelda (our medic), you're with me, the rest of you, usual partners and be damned careful."

For all Imelda was a fully qualified Mage, she was no combat Mage; mostly her duties in Enforcement were patching up various injuries picked up in the Section far quicker than the Mages could do themselves. It's an art form; I can't do it, well, not yet, and she was the one who decided if an injury was worth transportation to Loegria our main medical facility, though neither she, nor any injured Mage would know where it was. Currently the portal to Loegria in the old medical wing was shut down and Rowenna's people were under instructions not to use it until contacted, we really didn't want anyone who didn't need to know, knowing where Loegria is or what it was.

"Keep watch please," I said to Imelda as I slowly extended my senses, particularly the high level ones over the area we were in. At first I could sense nothing, then 'nothing' moved slightly and I realised that I was detecting a cloak of some kind. I recalled the rest of my team to me and we set off to where the cloak was operating. We gathered outside a door which was the entrance to a storage bay, though marked as unused on the map. Using my mental map though I realised what they might be up to. Directly below this room was a Section leading to a shielded area and although they couldn't know what was being shielded, it was a fair bet they hoped it was the teleportation or Null wards for the block. I opened the door swiftly and dodged to the side as a massive electrical bolt came through the opening and fused the wall opposite the door. I cast a burst of hellfire and sent it through the door as two of the team followed through after it casting various reflection and deflection measures whilst a third member flung a handful of micro Null dust towards where we thought the bolt had come from, pretty much a classic use of our training. As there was no sign of success, I activated my Null medallion and I charged into the room and hurled myself towards an unknown Mage. I knew this Mage had come with the Coalition delegation and had been about to cast something at the team members who had come through the door. He redirected it towards me when he saw me coming at him. The hellfire bolt caught me full on the chest but was absorbed and redirected by the Null medallion and seconds later I laid out the Mage with a pistol butt to his head.