“Are you all right?!” Jason demanded.
“Yes,” I said, shakily. “My spell ran out before I cleared the edge of the melee, but I didn’t get hurt.”
“Good,” said Dusk. “Once Auraus gets here, then we need to figure out the next stage of our plan.”
“Next stage?” Heather asked.
“Yes,” he replied. “Because of the battle, we have all of Chirasniv to watch out for as we head to Central Court, and this time the inhabitants of the city-state are not going to be as complacent or trusting as they were before.”
Chapter 34
Auraus arrived without incident, and we hurriedly reapplied makeup that had become smudged and rechecked our clothes. It was a pity we hadn’t been able to get some Chirasnivian armor while dashing through the battlefield, but that couldn’t be helped.
“It’s eerie,” said Heather, looking over the Wind-rider’s shoulder as she helped with touching up Auraus’ face makeup to the rocky training fields beyond.
I looked, too. Where last time Under-elves and dranth alike had been drilling, the training grounds dimly lit by the luminescent lichen encouraged to grow on the tall stone pillars was now empty. Or at least, as empty as far as we could tell owing to the annoying Under-elven trick of disappearing from sight at too far a distance.
“We can’t have lucked out like that,” said Jason doubtfully. “They have to be out there somewhere.”
“Not necessarily,” said Dusk. “The warriors and their leaders will be waiting with their units until called up by the Chirasnivian Primus, and will likely be doing it where their barracks are. If we are going to succeed in traversing this cavern, we need to somehow get Chirasnivian clothing.”
“There is plenty of it that way,” said Ragar, pointing over his shoulder back at the melee. He left for the battle before we could say anything.
Heather was a little squeamish when the mountain-cat-elf brought back a couple of bodies, but it was safer for him to do that than to stay and strip them in the middle of battle. Ragar ended up making a couple of more trips, and eventually we had makeshift Chirasnivian armor. My chainmail was thin enough despite its strength to be put on under a larger sized Under-elven piece, so I did that because I did not want to be parted from my goddess-given armor despite the extra weight. We respectfully laid the bodies out behind the gate, and Auraus and I were going to give the Rite of the Dead to them but Dusk stopped us, saying it would have to wait.
“Why?” I asked, puzzled.
“Because we don’t want to give the Conductivus any more ammunition to send against us, do we?”
I blinked. I hadn’t thought of it like that, so she and I reluctantly left the Rite unsaid. I felt weird about leaving the souls where they were, but Auraus made me feel a bit better about it by explaining that the Rite simply hurried up the natural process of soul release, and that the souls weren’t aware of where they were until they exited their shells on their own, so it wasn’t like we were torturing them or anything.
“So what’s the plan?” Jason asked when we had finished our disguises.
“Suggestions?” I asked everyone.
“There are only two things that can be done, Lise,” said Dusk. “We can either go boldly across the training grounds towards the tunnels that lead through the military ring, or we can skulk around the cavern walls to the tunnels that lead to the military ring.”
“Shouldn’t we wait until the fight comes this way first?” asked Auraus.
“That would provide plenty of distraction,” Heather said, adding her two cents.
“We have no idea if the Kelsavaxians will be able to break through or not,” Dusk said. “Fighting in a narrow space like a tunnel will always favor the defenders. The Kelsavaxians need to push through into the training grounds to have a chance of winning, but that will be hard since every Under-elf has some knowledge of arms. The Kelsavaxians must be really upset to push this, this far.”
“But how can the forces that we’ve seen win over an entire city-state?” asked Jason.
Dusk blinked, then looked thoughtful. “The only way I can see that happening is…”
“Is what?” I asked.
“Is if they bring all of Kelsavax with them.”
My jaw dropped “Can they–will they do that?”
“Who knows?” he shrugged. “But it is the only explanation I can think of that makes sense.”
“It would be one hell of a distraction,” Heather said.
Out of the blue a deep rolling horn sounded on the training grounds.
“Oh, that can’t be good,” Heather moaned.
And it wasn’t. The sound of many boots marching in unison and headed our way came to us from somewhere across the training ground.
“Quick! Inside the guard house and hide!” said Jason.
“But don’t run. March!” Dusk added hurriedly.
We all quick-marched inside the guard house and ducked down so we could not be seen out the openings in the walls or the door. Or at least, that was what we had intended to do. We were surprised to see a quad of warriors and the Conductivus for Chirasniv in here. Her honor guard was just as surprised to see us. The Conductivus didn’t notice our arrival because she was lying down on a travel cot, her eyes completely black and staring sightlessly upwards at the stone ceiling of the room. Her skin was even paler than usual and a thin sheen of sweat covered her skin. Ragar was the first to recover from our mutual surprise-fest.
“Haiii!” He roared, stunning everyone with the strength of his roar in the enclosed room, and leapt forward with claws extended.
The Under-elf who was his target reacted too late. He was still drawing his sword when Ragar crashed into him, knocking him to the ground. That galvanized everybody into motion.
“Protect the Conductivus!” shouted the Sub-leader in charge.
The two subordinates still standing rushed with weapons drawn to stand protectively in front of where the Conductivus lay while the Sub-leader threw himself at us. Dusk stepped up and intercepted the Sub-leader while in the background Auraus said some arcane sounding words accompanied by the usual tingle of magic being cast. On her last syllable the Under-elves slowed noticeably, and each yawned hugely before dropping to the ground asleep.
“Quick,” Auraus said, sweat dotting her forehead. “The magic won’t last long!”
Ragar punched the one he was on in the face before getting off him. Using their own sword belts and strips of cloth cut off their uniforms, we tied the warriors up as best we could. When Ragar was done with his and stood up, I saw that some of his fur on his side was stained with red.
“Ragar!” I said concerned. That explained the black eye he’d given his opponent.
“Here, let me help you, Ragar,” Auraus said, casting a healing spell on him.
A brief tingle later, the red on his tan and black fur stopped spreading. I saw with concern that the Wind-rider had lines of strain at the corners of her eyes now coupled with the sweat on her forehead, and I guessed she was at the spell limit she’d mentioned earlier. That was kind of a blow for me to realize. I’d been hoping her magic could help smooth our way into Chirasniv some more.
Auraus looked over at the white-clad figure lying so still on the cot and frowned. “It does not seem that the Conductivus was affected by my spell,” she said. “We should do something about that.”
“But what?” I said. “It seems kind of cruel to tie her up because she doesn’t look very strong. She couldn’t fight us physically if she woke, anyway.”
“Yeah, but she’d still be able to allow herself to be tapped by souls and have them do stuff to us,” Heather said. “Which is probably what she’s doing right now for the battle outside.”
Ragar stood up swiftly, took two strides over to the Conductivus, and smashed his fist into her temple. Her sightless black eyes closed instantly.
“Ragar!” I said, horrified.
Auraus stepped over swiftly to check her over. “She but sleeps,” said
the Wind-rider, “though she will likely have a serious headache when she wakes.”
“Heather made a good point. And I agreed with it,” the mountain-cat-elf said defensively.
“Lise is leader here, Ragar,” Auraus reminded him. “Ask first next time!”
Before they could start arguing, the sounds of battle went up several notches. We jumped for the windows to see what was going on.
It seemed that Ragar’s impulsive action had been the right one. The fight that had been outside the Chirasnivian gates was now boiling in through it.
Chapter 35
“She must have been helping to hold back the Kelsavaxians from entering the city!” Ragar said smugly, sounding pleased that his actions seemed to have been vindicated.
I couldn’t disagree with him about that because the timing was too good. The deep horn somewhere on the training grounds sounded again, this time more urgently.
Dusk perked up his ears. “That has to be an all-alert sound. If we do not get moving now, we may be trapped in here by the tides of battle!”
“What about her?” Jason asked, referring to the unconscious Conductivus. “We should take her with us, Lise,” he said, turning to me.
“Wouldn’t she slow us down?” I asked.
“Not if Ragar carries her,” Jason replied.
“If we do that, Lise, we will become a target for every Chirasnivian,” Dusk argued.
“When she wakes up, she’ll send her ghosts after us,” Heather said nervously.
“She can do that whether she’s with us or not. At least if she isn’t with us, they can’t affect us directly the way they can when the Conductivus is nearby,” Auraus said.
“Good point,” I said. “She stays here.” I looked at the Wind-rider. “Auraus, is there any magic that you can cast that will keep her asleep for a long time?”
Auraus shook her head. “I am afraid not.”
“Lise, we could always ….” Ragar began, but a sharp look from me cut him off from finishing what I suspected was a terminal solution to the problem.
“No, Ragar,” I said with annoyance. “No killing people not offering us a threat. We’ve had this same conversation at least twice before on this point.”
“She will be dangerous when she wakes,” he warned.
“I don’t care,” I said stubbornly.
“Lise, if we are going, we need to go now,” Dusk said urgently, looking out the window.
His eyes bugged out and he dashed out the door.
“Dusk!” I yelped, as we all rushed to the door.
We saw him do a football tackle on an Under-elf, bring the warrior down just past the gatehouse door.
“Help me!” he exclaimed as he struggled to keep the Under-elf from getting away.
Ragar pushed past me, and between the two of them they pulled the hapless Under-elf into the gate house. The mountain-cat-elf managed to bash the warrior on the back of the head, and the Under-elf went limp.
“You wanna explain yourself?” I asked Dusk evenly.
“Lise, he must be a courier!” Dusk replied, indicating the red arm bands that I now saw the warrior wore in addition to the red waist cloth. “He must be being sent to alert the civilians that they need to bear arms!”
“How do you know that?” Heather asked.
“The same device is used on the Surface, so I admit that I am extrapolating here,” Dusk replied, “but it makes too much sense to not believe it.”
“What does that have to do with you capturing him?” I wanted to know.
“One, whatever part of Chirasniv he was being sent to mobilize will be left unmobilized until someone else notices a section isn’t coming; and two, taking his place will be a great disguise.”
“But there’s only one pair of armbands,” Heather objected.
“This is war now,” said Dusk. “It is to be hoped that the civilians will be thinking that things will be handled differently than in peace time.” The Miscere Surface-elf turned to me. “Lise. You should pick one of us to wear the armbands, and the rest of us can fall in behind that person and act like an escort squad. It might be the fastest way to get to the Art section of Central Court.”
That sold me. “You do it, Dusk,” I said without hesitation. “You are the only Elf of any kind among us …”
Ragar cleared his throat, and I slanted an apologetic look briefly at him.
“… that still looks like an Elf. With your makeup you look just like an Under-elf.”
“Especially because of the eyes,” added Auraus. “Don’t forget that he inherited Quiris’ amber-colored eyes.”
“Good point,” I said. “All right Dusk, you’re definitely it. Heather and I can guide you from behind which way you need to lead us to Central Court.”
Dusk grabbed the arm bands off the courier as the sounds of battle started getting closer.
“Let us go!” he said urgently, motioning to Ragar to wrap himself deeply in the cloak and hood of his get-up again.
Quickly we formed into pairs behind the amber-eyed Surface-elf’s lead: Heather and I, then Jason and Auraus, and Ragar behind them once more as rear guard. We quick marched out of there and kept to the sides of the huge cavern. Chirasnivians battled Kelsavaxians across the smooth, rocky flooring, fading in and out of sight depending on how far away from us the fights were. It took only a few minutes before we were completely behind the Chirasnivian lines.
“Let us run for it. Couriers should be moving quickly to get their assignments done, so our pace should not cause too much alarm,” Dusk said, breaking into a run.
We ran around the perimeter of the cavern to the cavern that led to the jousting field and eventually to the cells, if Chirasniv was built like Kelsavax.
“Was there an entrance through the Military Ring through there?” I asked in general.
“I don’t know,” said Heather. “The only one I am sure of is the one by Allocations.”
“All right. Let’s not chance getting lost,” I said. “Head to Allocations.”
We quick-timed it, avoiding straggling civilians by directing them towards the battle. I felt bad that we were heaping more combatants on the battle pyre, but they would have gotten there eventually anyway and it helped to draw suspicions away from us. We reached the tunnel that went all the way through the Military Ring and had to press against the tunnel wall. We inched our way forward against a steady stream of Under-elves headed towards the training grounds and the main battle. Eventually we won past them and made it into the countryside, as I called it—the place where the food was grown or tended and where the Kobolds, Troglodytes, and others like them lived. The first thing I noticed was that the mushroom and other fungi fields were all empty and the pens where the workers were housed were all full, with guards standing a grumpy watch over their charges. The warriors eyed us and called out to us to stop as we quick marched by on the well-defined rocky lanes, but Dusk pointed to his arm bands. We took a chance in ignoring them by pretending we were too busy. We were lucky. They didn’t leave their posts to chase after us. I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that it was going to work all the way through to the Civilian Ring.
As we neared the hallway leading into the next Ring, a familiar stone door with a wide, cleared area in front of it and illuminated by torches caught my eye. Like a slap in the face I remembered that this was the cavern where the Exchange was. And that that door led to it.
“The Exchange!” I hissed, and everybody stopped short.
“No, Lise,” Dusk said immediately, turning around to look me square in the eyes. “We cannot stop now. We will attract too much attention if we tried to rescue unwilling beings. Remember their attitudes before?”
“But we can’t just leave them to the devices of the warriors, either,” Jason argued.
“They will be safe enough in there,” Auraus stated. “In my opinion, either the Chirasnivians win, and it is life as usual for them, or the Kelsavaxians will win, and they will be kicked out to go to the S
urface.”
I ground my teeth, not liking the idea of life as usual for those who had voluntarily remained behind out of fear, but realistically we had come back to Chirasniv a second time only for Arghen.
“Fine,” I said. “Let’s get going, Dusk.”
The Civilian Ring had more stragglers headed towards the battle, although these were far more reluctant that those we’d passed in the Military Ring. Their amber eyes flickered to the armbands that Dusk wore, and then slid off of him and us. The flimsy plan was working!
“Too easy,” Jason muttered uneasily behind me. Ragar shushed him.
We made it through to the ring that I still privately called Parks and Recreation, the series of caverns surrounding the Leadership Ring with the playgrounds and relaxation places of the Under-elves. This time, however, dead silence covered the multi-colored moss beds, mushroom trees, and private boulder nooks like a shroud.
“Everybody who is going must already be at the battle,” Heather ventured softly as we descended the path down into the manicured park-like area.
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