Chapter 18

  The fortress looked rather unusual. It was... long. A low wall, reinforced by three round towers, stretched along the southern slope of the ravine about halfway up. The general plan of the fortress resembled an oval, with a gate at the eastern end and a squat donjon tower at the western end. Even from a distance it was obvious that the fortifications had seen better days. The stonework was crumbling in places, and the galleries and tower platforms lacked roofs and battlements. At the same time, it was easy to see that the fortress was inhabited. The holes in the walls were filled with bricks, and the setting sun, about to disappear behind the crests of the mountains, painted these patches a dark scarlet colour. From the gate, the road was unpaved but well-travelled.

  - I don't know anything about the fortress itself, but I think it predates the Coalition, - Armando said, carefully wiping the sweat from his forehead. He and Valria had been watching the fortification from a safe distance for a quarter of an hour now, cloaked in camouflage cloaks. She had made the cloaks herself, modelled them on the aliens' camouflage, an olive-green cloth with a net stitched over it, into which she had woven dark rags and twigs she had picked up on the spot. - The valley beyond the gorge was divided between the kingdom and the two republics. In case of war with the latter, it was easier to abandon the scrap of land on the plain and hold the enemy armies here. As the threat of war disappeared, so the fortress was abandoned. Good thing the gorge is inconvenient for travelling, there's no need to guard the traders. Goods are carried by water along the Senara.

  - Lucky bastards, - the captain told him. - It is convenient to weave intrigues from here, but the portal could have successfully opened elsewhere. There were several places where the Order had experimented.

  - Is the alien base anywhere near here?

  - Not exactly. From what the prisoner told me, it's just up the valley. But given that we don't know their transport capabilities, it's better to assume that the aliens are close. - The girl sniffed her nose. - Well, that's enough for now. We won't see much from here. Let's go back.

  The main forces of the group were stationed in a deep hollow, where even the dragon had enough room. For the sake of secrecy, Charcoal had been travelling on foot for the last day of the journey, and now he lay beside the tents, glancing askew at the nervous horses.

  - It was a pity we didn't have a miracle net to cover the lizard, - the elf lamented as she and Armando made their way down to the camp. - Maybe the garrison is patrolling the air... We can only hope that a black dragon is hard to see at night.

  It was just getting dusk in the gorge, but the sun had gone down much earlier in the hollow between the rocks. There was no fire, however, for the enemy was too close at hand. Even the magic lamp-stones glowed faintly only inside the tents, which were covered with branches. Near one of them, master Carlon was handing out cold rations to his comrades.

  - Hey, what about me?! - Valria's ears perked up, she sprinted down the slope and ran up to the mage. - Me?!

  The mage rolled his eyes and handed the captain a rusk covered with a piece of dried meat. Asked:

  - Did you find out anything?

  The elf sniffed her portion, pressing her ears tightly against her head. She answered without looking at the Master:

  - Get ready, we're going scouting after dinner. I'll take you and Green. You assess the magic, and I'll figure out a way in and out.

  The girl opened her mouth to take a bite, but she froze. The air seemed to thicken between her and the mage revealing a tall, slender figure. A second, and Lady Jana stood before the captain. The dead Guardswoman put her palm to her chest and gave a half bow. When she was sure she had attracted attention, she stepped aside and drew Queen Octavia's sword from its sheath. She swung it and froze, pointing it exactly where the Order's fortress was behind the rocks. She unclenched her fingers, letting the weapon fall. The heavy-looking blade touched the ground silently, the stalks of blades of grass passing through the grey steel like mist.

  - Hm... - the captain took a bite of the "dry sandwich" and chewed it thoroughly. Only then she asked: - And what does it mean?

  The ghost picked up the sword, repeated the pantomime. She dropped the sword a second time and showed Valria her empty palms. The guardswoman's face remained incredibly serious, her eyes burning with golden fire.

  - Ah! - said master Carlon, clapping his hands. - I understand, I think.

  - One hit. - Armando furrowed his brow. Perhaps it was the evenings spent reading together, but the bailiff understood Jana better than anyone else lately. - She said she could only throw one hit.

  - I figured it out myself, - Valria snorted. - One blow would be enough, even if there were many enemies, wouldn't it?

  The ghost nodded. She picked up her sword and, instead of fading away as usual, strode toward Armando's tent. She made a gesture as if he were pulling it back before she stepped through the canopy.

  - You seem to be making friends, Don, - the elfess said mockingly. - I should take her remark into account in my planning.

  The scouts, led by the captain, left after they had finished their meagre supper. Donna Minerva stood guard, and the others went to bed. De Gorazzo found no ghost in his tent, though there was a familiar chill inside. He crawled under his blanket and realised that he didn't want to sleep at all. The day had not been easy, but fatigue had transformed into a strange excitement. His thoughts were racing through his head, and his back itched like a cold. He couldn't sleep, but he couldn't concentrate on anything, couldn't think in silence either. Armando wanted more than anything to jump up and shout at the moon while swinging his sword. Or to find some alcohol in his bags and drink himself into oblivion. After an hour of tossing and turning from side to side, Don sat up, took out the stone lamp, and discovered that the guardswoman's ghost was here after all. Lady Jana was sitting in a familiar pose with her legs tucked under her. Apparently she had been waiting patiently for de Gorazzo to tire of rolling around on the crumpled blanket. Smiling at the don, the ghostly girl pointed to a puffy book at the head of his bed.

  - Oh, damn it... - Armando slapped his forehead. - I'm sorry, lady, I forgot. Let's read it, really.

  The book he had borrowed from Lady Maria was the diary of an imperial traveller who had visited the oases of the southern deserts more than a century ago. As he read it aloud to the ghost, the Don himself had not noticed how engrossed he had become, curious about the lives of Gotech's kin. The black-skinned giant himself could not tell much, for he had been born in Daert, and his parents had returned home many years ago with the money they had saved. Reading helped the former bailiff calm down a bit. When he finished the chapter, he wanted to lie down - but Lady Jana gestured for Armando to continue. This happened three times, until de Gorazzo realised that she wanted to know the end of the story today.

  - Why don't we do it at the next sleepover? - Armando suggested, just to be sure. The ghost shook her head to confirm his guess.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  - You won't be able to... or will I?

  Jana did not answer him - she only tried to look into the book herself. With a sigh, the don went back to reading. He had barely had time to turn the last page before heard quiet voices outside. The scouts had returned.

  - Well, that's it, - de Gorazzo said to the ghost and closed the book. - That was a good story, wasn't it?

  A smile reappeared on Lady Jana's lips, a warmer smile than usual. The ghost nodded before slowly vanishing into thin air.

  - I hope ours ends up being as good as this... - the don muttered under his breath, looking at the fabric of the tent through the spot where his companion had just been.

  As soon as she arrived at the camp, Captain Valria took the bull by the horns, personally waking each of her companions and gathering the group under the slumbering dragon's side. She leaned her back against the warm side of the lizard, folded her hands on her chest and said:

  - It's not going to be an easy case.

  - Really? - Gotech yawned in fake surprise. - Why didn't you say so before? Armando and I might have changed our minds about joining you.

  - We've been all around the fortress, - the pointy-eared girl ignored the teasing. - The walls are shabby, but all the holes have been patched. The density of posts is high. Constant roll calls. It's impossible to remove the sentries on a section of wall without the neighbours seeing. Judging by the frequency of guard changes, the garrison is at least two hundred men. As darkness falls, two mages climb the towers, activate the summoning circles drawn on the outside of the walls. They summon a pack of small demons, who roam under the fortifications until dawn.

  - The magical circuit of the walls is in good condition, - added the now out of breath master Carlon. The black-bearded imperial mage had a harder time crawling through the mountains than the young elf. - Demons don't even need to be controlled - they can smell people outside the fence and stomp around, though they can't reach them. The mages are replaced once. I'm guessing there's no more than six of them in the fortress. Considering someone else has to study the portal. The portal itself is definitely inside, under the donjon. It glows so bright you can see through the stone with your magic vision. It looks like it's been used recently, though, and it's recharging now.

  - I doubt it's common practice to have demonologists on the walls every night, - the elf said. - The garrison had probably been alerted to the threat of attack, and it was a security precaution. Nevertheless, I've found a weakness. Dallan, give me something to chew on.

  The sergeant pulled a strip of dry meat from her belt pouch and handed it to the commander. She sank her teeth into the meat, gnawed off a hard piece, chewed it. Enjoying the impatient looks of her companions, she continued:

  - A mountain stream, almost a river, runs through the fortress.

  - It is a common practice in this area, - Gotech nodded. - It is more convenient to build a fortress around an underground key or well, but that is not always possible. The creek is used to fill water tanks in case of siege, and the lower part of the riverbed is used for sewage disposal.

  - That's right. - Valria continued chewing on the meat. - There... so... upstream are the ruins of a stone tower - probably just guarding the stream from sabotage. But it's not garrisoned at the moment. The creek enters under the wall through a good-sized hole, a man could fit through. There used to be some bars, it looks like, but they've all rotted away. The new owners only put up one, albeit a solid one.

  - Right above the grate is a powerful magical trap, based on a fire battle amulet, - the mage intercepted again. - And that's a good thing. I can use it to our advantage.

  - If we pass through the creek bed, we will find the donjon on our left hand and a fortress yard in front of it. In the middle of the courtyard there's a big gate right in the ground. - The captain couldn't handle a particularly wiry piece and gracefully spit it out under her feet. - It's just like our now deceased prisoner, the goggle-eyed man, told us. The portal was originally located in the basement of the main tower, but the dungeon is shallow. When the outsiders started bringing large loads through the portal on a regular basis, they had to dig a short tunnel into the courtyard. This gate will take us straight to the portal. According to the dead man, the gate is opened and closed by a stranger mechanism. The mechanism is controlled by two buttons - one on a special lectern in the courtyard, the other on the wall inside the tunnel. They did it specially so that even the locals would not confuse anything. So, the route is as follows - through the stream bed into the yard, from the yard through the gate to the basement. We'll leave as we go. Most likely, we'll go up inside the donjon to the level of the galleries, and from there we'll descend by ropes.

  - That's a good plan. Now let's get to the complications. - Gotech squinted. - I suppose they'll start outside, in front of the bars.

  - Earlier, - said master Carlon with a wry grin. - We can't get near the walls during the day. The demons will smell us at night. I can disperse a dozen of them, but it'll be a fireworks display. Then the grid, I plan on blowing it out. I'll combine my siege amulets with the trap the owners set next to it.

  - Can you? - Armando raised his eyebrows incredulously.

  - It was placed by one of the local mages. – Carlon’s grin turned predatory. - They're stronger than I am, but... they're scientists, not soldiers. You see, Don, to fire siege machines and bombards you need to know maths. A university professor can know maths many times better than an experienced gunner. That doesn't mean the professor will be good at firing a cannon. It's the same with magic. The magical defence of the fortress was made by people who only know military magic from books, I could tell that at a glance. Don't worry, even though the trap is powerful, I can easily redirect its energy.

  - But it's going to make a noise either way, - Armando concluded.

  - And what noise! - the mage confirmed.

  - So, as much as I'd like to do this quietly, it's a distraction. - Valria sighed. - I have an idea, but we'll talk about it later. For now, let's keep working out the details. Dallan.

  - Yeah.

  - You've got horses on you. We need to get them past the fortress in advance and hide them on the escape route. No one can do it better than you.

  - Got it.

  - And... stay with them.

  - I beg your pardon? - The sergeant's face remained generally impassive, but Armando noticed the flaring of her nostrils.

  - This task will take you a whole day, you'll only miraculously be back in time for the attack, - the elf explained with her ears down guiltily. - And it might be necessary to bring the horses under the walls, someone should be with them.

  - I... obey, Captain.

  - And don't look at me like that! - Valria turned away, not letting the sergeant catch her gaze. - Lady Maria, it's time to show the others these things. Fetch them.

  "These things" turned out to be four white briquettes of about the same size. Each had a box attached to it, decorated with a tiny dial.

  - It looks... alien, - Gotech noted as Maria spread the briquettes on the ground.

  - Trophies, - Valria nodded. - Taken from a couple of alien agents back in the Empire. It's their explosives, their most powerful. The boxes are detonators. No electricity, good old-fashioned mechanics. Imperial engineers figured them out easily. We stick them on the portal arch, than all we have to do is get out of here.

  - Can we get far enough away? - Gotech clarified. Today it was a matter of siege, assault and demolition, so the veteran felt like a fish in water.

  - Bomb blasts, yes. - Master Carlon scratched his beard. - Not the portal itself. So we'll have to change a few things about it first. The mages of the Imperial University, headed by the Archchancellor himself, have studied the information about the failed portal that Valria, Dallan and I found in an abandoned fort a couple of years ago, and have drawn up a set of instructions for me. I'll change some of the signs on the arch, and when the portal collapses, it will release magical energy inside itself, on the other side. If magic dissipates in a world of outsiders, the release won't hurt anyone. And anyway, it's not our problem. Working on the arch will take time, but I hope to be able to do it quickly enough.

  - Okay, now for the important stuff. - The elfess frowned. - A distraction. It'll take Donna Minerva and Charcoal, Lady Jana and her sword, and one of those bombs....

  The captain outlined her plan until it finally dawned. Charcoal had woken up, stretched, yawned, and now listened with interest to the conversations of the bipedal creatures at his side. When she had finished, Valria looked round at her free and unwilling companions and said in a quieter tone:

  - It's an amazing bunch, isn't it? Such a motley crowd of unusual people couldn't have come together for no reason. Fate has brought us together to fulfil an important purpose, it can't be otherwise. And if that's the case, then we can do it. Please rest well, everyone. We leave at sunset. In the meantime, Dallan and I are going to break our first rule.

  The elfess stepped towards the sergeant and took the latter's hand. Donna Minerva asked naively:

  - I'm sorry, what's the rule?

  The captain only smiled enigmatically. Dallan, on the other hand, replied politely:

  - Valria and I made a deal to sleep in separate beds while on assignment, Donna. But this mission has gone on too long, and she's going mad, as you may have noticed. Please don't look in our tent unannounced, all right?