The warlord then looked down in thought. Hiri-Rula stood, waiting for the warlord to decide to share, if she wanted to. After a few moments of contemplation, the warlord stood, gesturing towards the doorway. “Everyone except Colonels Pucho-Yiro and Hiri-Rula, leave us.”
Everyone in the room stood and bowed, filing out. Once the doors were closed, Colonel Hiri-Rula and Colonel Pucho-Yiro waited for the warlord to speak.
This was the first time Hiri-Rula had a chance to see the commander of Outpost Three up close. She observed the man that stood as her near equal under the warlord. He had a friendly diamond-shaped face with a cleft chin. I think I like him. Colonel Pucho-Yiro was the same height as she, except he was at least 5 stones heavier, with bulky shoulders and bulging arms. His muscles rolled as he moved. He sported a long, brown moustache that hung down both sides of his mouth, well past his clean-shaven chin. He had shoulder-length, light brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, held together by a pair of brass hair rings. He reminds me of my first sword master.
Warlord Eshra-Zunia looked at her. “Show me this hidden panel.”
She expects to find such a panel here, too? Nodding, she stepped behind the throne and started inspecting the paneled wall behind it. Could it be, no one knows them all? She pushed and prodded at the same location the hidden doorway had been in her outpost. The wall was unyielding. Shifting to mage sight, she cast an incantation to detect minute air flows. With the incantation, she could see a small air flow from around the panel she had been testing.
“Warlord, this is the doorway, but I cannot discover the secret to open it.”
The warlord laid a hand on her shoulder, moving her out of the way, and stepped up to inspect the panel. After several minutes of feeling around, pushing and prodding at the doorway, she stepped back. “Maybe something more direct.” Drawing her odassi, the warlord held them to the doorway, saying, “I am commander here, you will open to me!”
Hiri-Rula held in the giggle at the childlike attempt to command the wall. Next, however, she gasped when the wall split and the panel slid up, revealing a stairway down. She stared, open-mouthed, at it. The warlord looked at her and chuckled. “Silly, yes? I saw a description of this kind of door in a history book about one of the old cities. Always thought it was a myth, till now.”
The warlord led the way down the stairs, as she followed, and Colonel Pucho-Yiro came last. As they proceeded down the stairs, the steps began to glow, but continued to brighten until the dusty, circular stairway was illuminated. Descending roughly fifty feet, they came to another doorway.
Hiri-Rula noted other, overlapping footprints on the dusty steps. We are not the first to find this passage.
The doorway before them slid down into the floor when they got near. The room it revealed was amazing. It was larger than the one in Hiri-Rula’s outpost, but it was laid out the same. The main difference was that this one was not blasted.
The center of the room was dominated by a series of five three-foot-wide, glowing crystal discs which stood vertically, facing inward like mirrors, in a pentagram around a hollow, golden filigree sphere. The sphere was a little over three feet in diameter and made of an intricate weave of gold which moved like a living vine. There were dozens of diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds mounted into the golden vines of the ball. Every bit of the gold ball and its jewels glowed in a rainbow of light. In the center of the ball was something about two feet in diameter that burned bright gold, and like the sun, was painful to look at.
On the wall were four of those glass panels. The panels were lit with an internal light, and lines danced up and down on them in square box areas, which had some form of written words under each outlined box. Against the wall to their immediate right, beneath two of the glass panels, was a slanted table with glowing buttons and knobs which had some etched scales inscribed into them. Above the slanted table were five copper necklaces like the one Hiri-Rula had worn for years.
However, what attracted Hiri-Rula’s attention the most was on the panel with dials and sliders. A few sheets of parchment had been cut out to lay over the dials. The parchments were being held in place with little beads of a glue or resin on all four corners. The parchment overlays had penciled lines and markers showing what she was sure were different settings. Each of the parchment overlays had notes in different locations that were too small to read from the doorway.
Everything except the golden sphere in the center of the room had a layer of dust which looked almost totally undisturbed for many years. Footprints were in the dust. Some of the tracks touring the room were made once, a long time ago, and had accumulated a layer of dust of their own. However, other footprint tracks showed a lot of back and forth between the glowing panels on the walls and the panel with the controls.
Someone else discovered this a few years back. All of the footprints are from the same boots.
Colonel Pucho-Yiro looked around the room with a frown. “What is this?”
The warlord had bent down to examine the other foot prints. She looked up at him. “I would guess this is the source of magic for Outpost One’s mages and warriors.” The warlord’s brows were drawn together, and when she glanced at the footprints, her cheeks tightened.
The warlord isn’t happy about the other footprints. Then it occurred to Hiri-Rula, It was Warlord Maru-Ashua; he is the only one with the authority to get in here. She is upset because he didn’t tell her about this, even though he clearly spent a lot of time down here.
Hiri-Rula glanced at Colonel Pucho-Yiro. He was busy looking around in wonder.
Either he didn’t pay attention, or he is ignoring the warlord’s emotional display.
The warlord stood and looked at her. “Colonel?”
Looking around, Hiri-Rula could feel the power.
This is unbelievable! We have hundreds of outposts. Does every outpost have one of these magic sources?
Hiri-Rula looked back at the warlord. “I can feel the magic, Warlord. I believe you are correct.”
The warlord looked at her, then turned and walked around the room, inspecting everything, but being careful to not touch anything. Hiri-Rula stepped over to the glass panels.
These have to be instrumental. If I can decipher their meaning, I can probably figure everything else out.
The language was one she had never seen before, so she concentrated on the moving lines. There were numbers beside each box.
These are graphs. At least, the numbers are the same. These must show levels of power in some unit of measure.
One box was not changing at all, and the numbers at the bottom reminded her of dates. Looking over the graph, she noted that eight units before, on the bottom of the graph, the numbers jumped up on the side by six hundred.
That is the number of warriors we sent here, and eight days ago would be when their odassi would have lost magic as Outpost Two’s power source was attacked.
The warlord was standing over the controls, examining the parchment overlays. “I take it, you are not trained in any of this, Colonel Hiri-Rula?” She pointed at the overlays. “These are dates and numbers, no explanations.”
“No, Warlord. Did you do anything unusual with the six hundred warriors we sent to you eight days ago?”
The warlord stepped over to her. “Yes, I did. Why to do ask?”
She pointed to the graph. “I believe this indicates the number of warriors using this magic. It went up on one axis by six hundred, eight units on the bottom axis ago. I am guessing that is days.”
The warlord examined the graph. “Yes; at morning practice, their odassi failed to provide power. I could sense their blades were starving, so I accepted them into my outpost and that solved the problem.”
If this is a measure of how many are using the power, the other graphs around it would have to indicate resource usage.
Hiri-Rula tried to ignore the sour taste in her mouth as she noticed a red line on the graph next to the usage count. The red line was dark and level across t
he upper region of the graph. Below the red line, a yellow line was moving up and down in a fairly regular pattern that coincided with the training schedule. Although the yellow line was well below the red line, she knew the yellow line should never be allowed to cross the red. Her chest felt heavy as she wondered what might happen.
The warlord stepped over to the slanted table. Reaching out, she plucked one of the copper necklaces off the wall. She cleaned the dust off of it with her hands and edge of her cloak. After inspecting it, she nodded. “Normally, our new mages come from Hisuru Amajoo with one of these already. I know the ritual for accepting a new mage. Until we restore your outpost, I offer you my outpost’s power to use as you desire.”
Hiri-Rula bowed and knelt before the warlord, who held each end of the necklace in each hand. “I am Warlord Eshra-Zunia, commander of this outpost. I accept your service as you accept my command. You are proven Nhia-Samri. I now name you Nhia-Samri Magus. Aquam alveo nam hie quoque.”
She bent and wrapped the necklace around Colonel Hiri-Rula’s neck. There was a slight flash of light from behind her head. Then the warlord dropped the necklace and it fell onto her collar, sealed as a single chain.
She reached within and found the power. She pulled, and the necklace glowed on her chest.
The power is back. I have access to the unlimited power of the Nhia-Samri again.
The warlord stepped over to examine the display panel. Hiri-Rula stood and joined her in examining the panel.
No, not unlimited. That graph with the upper red line must show how much power is available.
The warlord turned away and started for the stairway back to the throne room. “Interesting. Come. We will explore this more later. We have many items to discuss now.”
Glancing at what the warlord had been looking at, she saw it was the counter graph, and the last bar on the right had gone up by one, from just a minute before.
- - -
Electra paid attention to every move and word Vesta made. It seemed she learned something new every few seconds with Vesta. At least I’m getting use to the idea of being here while my body remains in my room. I think I might be starting a new trend with my daily afternoon ‘nap.’
Vesta pointed at the center of the valley where the buildings were located. “This has the same basic layout as the other base, only it has a few more buildings. That mage went into this building here. We have lost her tracer; the core buildings on this base are shielded from my senses.”
Electra bent down and inspected it. She could see people moving on the image.
I still cannot get used to Vesta’s vast powers. She said this image is showing the exact happenings in that valley from high above.
Vesta had a data pad in her hand, which she handed to Electra. Looking at the data pad, she saw that it read: 2,353 warriors, 513 servants, 423 unidentified persons. There were also counts for the number of food carts being moved around the area, cattle counts, and numerous other accurate details about life in that valley.
“So are you going to attack this outpost, too?”
“I’m not sure. I cannot figure out why they are all there. Nothing of any interest is there, or near there. They are not making preparations to move. In fact, they have been selling off most of the pack animals. Also, this is interesting, here.”
Vesta indicated a section of the valley where hundreds of warriors had been lounging around, but were then rushing into a formation of military ranks. Three individuals stood in front. The ranks then rushed between two of the individuals in front, spreading out like a fan once they passed between the two people. Many of the warriors rushing through fell to the ground, seemingly at random, to be pushed aside by the others behind. This continued while the warriors that fell piled up to the point that the remaining ranks could not move between the two individuals. All of the warriors then stood and went back to their ranks. This time, only half of the ranks made it through before being stopped by the pile of their fallen comrades. They had already seen the same exercise repeated in different areas of the valley three times.
Vesta shook her head. “They are drilling for an operation. But it doesn’t make any sense. It is as if they expect to have to move through a narrow opening, into some kind of dangerous situation where they expect a lot of casualties. They are trying to find a strategy to get past their own casualties.”
Electra nodded. “Also, they expect to have to do it quickly and without much warning. Have you noticed that everyone is in full battle gear?”
Vesta turned and stared at her. She then looked back as the image zoomed in and out more rapidly than Electra could follow.
“No, I hadn’t noticed that. They are all prepared to fight immediately.”
Something tugged at Electra’s mind. “Vesta, I remember reading a legend about mages being able to move, from one place to another, through something called a mage gate.”
Vesta shook her head. “Elraci spent a lot of time trying to figure those out. Yes, we used something like that to bridge between two worlds once, but the power needed to hold it stable, even for a short time, was immense. Trying to do shorter distances didn’t matter. Without carefully balanced power at both ends, the gates were unstable. Without the balanced power systems, there was, at best, an eighty percent chance of anything making it through unharmed. However, the real chances were more like fifty percent. No one in their right mind would even consider it.”
Electra nodded. “Shar-Lumen and the Nhia-Samri have pulled some amazing feats in the war, involving being places they shouldn’t have been able to get to. What if they figured it out?”
Vesta considered it. “It would take enormous power.”
Electra nodded. “Like the power plant you destroyed in that other base?”
Vesta shook her head. “No, that one would have only provided about half of the needed power at best.”
Electra pointed at the main building. “This is a bigger base. How much power does it have?”
Vesta shrugged. “We don’t know yet. It is shielded from detection. I need to get something in there to take a reading.”
“Okay, so if we use your eighty percent success rate, that would still mean over one thousand, eight hundred warriors would make it through.”
Vesta looked at her with tearful eyes. “They would do that, wouldn’t they? Even if they were told of the chances, they would still do it for honor.”
Electra nodded.
Vesta’s shoulders slumped. “I didn’t want to kill those sixty-one warriors at the other base. Are you sure there is no way to get them to surrender? Murder is wrong, and I already have too much blood on my conscience.”
Electra looked back at the image of all those living, breathing people.
I am going to be responsible for their deaths, too, before this is done.
“I am just as responsible as you, Vesta. Believe me. We have no other way to stop them right now. They will not surrender, they will not negotiate. If they have been hired to do something, they will either succeed or die, even if succeeding means dying. That is the core of the Nhia-Samri.”
Vesta lifted her hand, and there was another data pad in it. It is so odd, how she can do that. Things appear as she needs them.
Vesta indicated the data pad in front of Electra. “This thing is interesting. It is made of carbon steel with a glazing of silica and precious metals fused to the surface. But I can’t detect anything in it that would let it glow or be of any use to anyone. There are some tantalizing circuits in that glazing, but they do nothing and go nowhere.”
Electra picked up the data pad and looked at the multiple images of the necklace that had been clipped off the mage at the end of the fight. It had been her idea to steal it when she saw how it glowed during the fight. At that point, she was doubly glad she had suggested it. The thing was obviously an important clue. Vesta had said it took far more power to cut it off than it should have. In fact, her magical crabs almost didn’t have enough strength to do it.
&
nbsp; “It must have something to do with using magic.”
Vesta had spent the last three days studying the necklace, getting more frustrated every day.
“That is obvious. This thing doesn’t make any sense. I have some understanding of magical items. If this thing is for controlling magical energies, it would be the equivalent of a wooden club made from carbon monofilaments.”
Electra shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t understand what you mean.”
Vesta sighed and sat down in a chair that hadn’t been there a moment ago. “It means that for all the advanced knowledge and skill it took to make it, it is a brutish construction.”
“So you mean its design is so thoughtless as to be beyond idiocy?”
“Exactly. It took a great deal of thought to make it such a wasteful tool. This thing is so bad, it had to be intentional. A young child could have made it better. This is what is annoying me. That power plant represented the height of Elraci’s blended technologies. This necklace is even more advanced than things I know Elraci engineers made. Yet, it has so many useless circuits, I can’t figure out what all it does. This might be on purpose, to prevent it from being duplicated, but only a person like me would be able to analyze it. I doubt anyone could duplicate it, other than the original designers. But all that could be achieved without being so wasteful. It is as if it is meant to be as inefficient as possible.”
Inefficient intentionally? What would be the point of wasting magical energies when they could be used by the mage? Electra thought about it for a while, as did Vesta.
Electra leaned up on the table. “Sorry Vesta. I really don’t know what to say. What do you want to do about it?”
Vesta looked at her. “I’d like to get it to Ticca and Lebuin, and see what they do with it. Maybe it’s a clue they will need — except I have no idea how to get it to them without tipping them to the fact I am here, or at least, that someone is watching them and trying to help.”
Thread Strands (Golden Threads Trilogy) Page 30