Chương 12: No Fighting in the Fort

Next morning Lady Amberlin was already eating in the inn's dining room when Havlo came down. She enthusiastically invited him to join her at her table, which had the half-eaten pound cake as the centerpiece. When he pulled out the seat, he saw that the cat had been napping there. It gave him a grumpy look before slinking down to curl up by their master's feet. When he sat down and looked over at Lady Amberlin, seeing her so cheery, he almost didn't want to bring up the incident from last night.

But it had to be done.

"La... Amberlin," he began, "I have something to ask you."

"Is it a question from that book I got you?" She sounded worried.

"No, it isn't that." Her mood lifted right up.

"Then go ahead, ask away!"

"Did you go outside last night?" She paused midbite of the boiled spinach she'd been eating. The silence stretched between them. Then she said, "What makes you think I left my room last night?" He realized he was in a tenuous position. He couldn't admit that he'd snuck out too. But he'd prepared for this and replied, "I heard some noises."

"You're worried I went back on what we discussed at dinner? I assure you I didn't go out looking for Amy." He mulled this over for a moment.

"Then you went out for a different—""Don't worry about it, don't worry about it!" She laughed it off.

"Nothing's going to happen to your dear master. Did you see all those slimes I bagged on the way to Lorelark?" She said this with absolute confidence, but that was only because she was overestimating herself. Even the First Apostle took some time to reach his full strength. But there was little he could say to convince her without revealing his cover. Instead his best bet was to resolve the kidnapping problem as soon as possible.

That could even be possible today, since the watch already had some of their agents in custody. After breakfast he immediately went to see Captain Hughston. The guard captain greeted him cheerfully.

"Havlo the mage from Restford! I hear you've been busy last night. You third-circle mages sure are efficient."

"Did you get anything from the prisoners?" he asked.

"Straight to business, huh? I suppose that's the price of efficiency. In fact I was about to head over there now. Would you care to join me?" Hughston led him down to the dungeons beneath the watchhouse. The three criminals had been thrown into two separate cells. The two men were being held together while one of them turned out to be a woman, and she was being held separately. He could sense some mana in the woman. She must be a mage.

All three had been changed into prison clothes that looked about as comfortable as a potato sack.

"I hear that one gave us a bit of trouble last night," Hughston said, pointing at the mage.

"But don't worry, the cells are warded."

"What did you do with their belongings?" Havlo asked.

"They're down in the evidence room. Not much to see, really, besides a bit of fire damage." One of the men pointed across the bars at the woman.

"That was my favorite cloak!" Havlo looked at the mage.

"You're the one who set him on fire?"

"I didn't mean to," she said, sticking a tongue out at her fellow inmate.

"There was a cat on him."

"You set him on fire because of a cat?"

"Yeah. I saved his life." Hughston explained, "Apparently it was a pretty big cat."

"More like a mountain lion, really," the man who'd lost his favorite cloak to a fire said.

"I've got my men out searching for it," Hughston said.

"Can't have a dangerous mountain lion loose in the city." Havlo didn't have time to get sidetracked by that when the city watch was capable of taking care of it on their own. He looked at the three kidnappers and said, "Who are you working for?" The third kidnapper, who hadn't spoken yet, snickered.

"Yeah, we're sure just going to come right out and tell you."

"I'll tell you everything," the mage said.

"Hey!" the third kidnapper glared at his accomplice through the bars.

"I just want some clean clothes," the mage said.

"And some fried eggs—they haven't given us breakfast. And a nice, hot soup. A manicure. Some new boots from that cobbler on Fourth Street. Oh, and there's this nice cake shop down a dark alleyway..."

"You know what'll happen if you spill, don't you?" the third kidnapper threatened.

"Not if they all get busted first," the mage said.

"You guys might not know anything about magic, but I do. And the way this guy—" She pointed her thumb at Havlo.

"—took us down last night, and the way Captain Who-Who is treating him all respectful-like, I'd say he can singlehandedly sink the entire operation." The other two prisoners looked at Havlo. The man who'd lost his cloak said, "That was you last night?" He ignored them and addressed the mage.

"What can you tell us?" The mage shook her head.

"Deal first. Then I'll talk." He looked over at Hughston, who nodded and started hashing out a deal with the mage. One of the other accomplices, the cloakless one (well, more cloakless than the others), shouted, "Hey! That's not fair! We'll tell you everything too! And we'll do it for half what she's asking!"

"Quiet, fool!" the mage sneered.

"What you know won't bust the network, and whoever's left will come down on you for betraying them." The man fell quiet and shrank back into his cell. His cell mate just watched silently. Once Hughston had come to an agreement with the mage, he summoned one of the guards and sent him out with a shopping list.

"You didn't measure my feet," the mage said.

"We'll just give you some money and you can buy the shoes yourself," Hughston said.

"Now why don't you start by telling us where you're holding all the victims?"

"You know that rundown fort south of the city?" Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

"You take them all the way down there?" Hughston seemed surprised.

"But then you'd have to bring them back north to send them anywhere else."

"It's inconvenient," the mage agreed.

"But it's precisely why you wouldn't think to look down there."

"And what about the people running your organization?" The mage wagged her finger.

"Uh-uh. Nothing else until I've had my cake." Havlo looked over at the other prisoners, who'd been passively watching the deal-making. The one who'd said the least until now looked at him and sneered.

"Good luck breaking down the fort. Even if you're as good as she thinks you are, that place is booby-trapped to the moon." Havlo took Hughston back upstairs and said, "Do you think she's telling the truth?"

"It's plausible. But we have no way to be sure until we send someone there to check."

"No need, I'll do it myself," he said.

"Just give me directions and show me on a map."

"Let me know what you find," Hughston said.

"I'll start assembling an assault team for when you get back." There wasn't going to be any need for that because he was going to take care of the problem today. It turned out the fort was two days' walk from Lorelark—three because of rough terrain. The path went through some woodlands, though Hughston didn't know if the path was still there, since nobody used it anymore. Not that it mattered to Havlo. He was going to fly.

Under the cover of [Invisibility], Havlo hovered above the fort and inspected it from a safe distance. There weren't any signs of movement from the outside, but it had definitely seen some recent activity. The path leading up to it was well worn, so whoever was using it had been there awhile. He landed in the courtyard, which wasn't being used at all, dropped his [Invisibility] spell and activated [Muffle] before approaching a door leading into the fort.

He felt the faint presence of mana somewhere inside, but it was well clear of this entrance. Remembering the warning about traps, he cast [Inspect] on the door to check if it was safe and then [Manipulate Lock] to open it. Under normal circumstances, he would use [Levitation] to avoid any tripwires and pressure plates, but that was a Tier 7 spell and he was pretending to be a third-circle mage.

Since he intended to take the criminals into custody, and also risked being seen by their victims, he had to maintain his cover. The danger from the traps wasn't that they could harm him—he very much doubted that anything around here could—but that it might alert the occupants. So he proceeded cautiously, relying on his eyes, [Enhanced Perception], and vast experience infiltrating hostile strongholds to spot any traps.

But when he got close to a door at the end of the passageway, he was taken by surprise when a catkin leaped out at him. Luckily his battle experience hadn't been dulled too much by time, and he reacted swiftly, avoiding getting swiped by her claws. She leaped at him, and he continued to back away, staying just out of her range. Realizing she wasn't getting anywhere, she abruptly stopped and let out a long yowl. There was the sound of running footsteps and then a dogkin burst through the doorway behind her.

"What's wrong, Rhianna?" the man said before spotting Havlo.

"I thought my whiskers felt a little strange," the woman said.

"Looks like they finally sent someone after us, Rufus. Be careful, he's fast." The man was the source of the mana presence Havlo had felt earlier. His fur was short and blond like a labrador retriever's. As for the woman, she had black fur and sharp yellow eyes. Catkin were among the stealthiest of the beastkin, their movement being almost silent. Without warning, the man cast an [Air Strike] his way. He negated it with a dead-on-target [Air Strike] of his own while retreating down the passageway.

He didn't want to fight inside the fort for fear that any damage might end up hurting the kidnapping victims. The woman also jumped into action, racing up to cut off his escape while he was distracted by the man's spells. She swiped at him from behind, but her claws couldn't get through his simple [Shield] spell.

"What the hell was that!" she cried, leaping back.

"It was [Shield]," he replied, reaching the door at last.

"Nonsense. My claws are strong enough to cut through [Shield]."

"Not one that's been elevated to Tier 4." He countered another [Air Strike] and fled out into the courtyard, where he waited to face off against the beastkin pair. They appeared shortly, the man advancing on him directly while the woman moved to flank.

"Tier 4... You're a second-circle?" the man said.

"Too bad for you, so am I."

"I never said I was Tier 4," he replied before unleashing two [Earth Binds] in quick succession. Both beastkins' feet sank down into the ground, immobilizing them.

"Tier 5!" the man cried.

"You're a third-circle mage?"

"You may as well surrender," he replied.

"Never!" The man sent a [Fireball] his way. While his feet were restrained, his hands were free to cast spells. Havlo blocked it easily with a [Force Wall], the invisible barrier shielding him from the blast and keeping even a wisp of heat from reaching him.

"Tier 6! You're a full third-circle!"

"Ready to surrender?" he asked. The man deflated.

"We didn't think we'd drawn that much attention. Not so much that they'd go to the expense of sending a third-circle mage against us."

"I'm actually working for free." The man looked surprised.

"But why? Why do you only now care about these animals?"

"Animals?" Havlo sensed that something wasn't quite right here.

"Explain yourselves." Half an hour later the three of them were standing inside one of the fort's main chambers and looking at a row of cages. Most of them were empty, but the ones that weren't had a couple of cats and dogs, and even a pair of ferrets.

"You've really only been taking animals," Havlo said. He knew this for a fact because they'd just given him a tour of the entire fort, and there were no signs of any human cages.

"Strays," the man replied.

"Ones without a collar that we find wandering the streets at night and look like they've been sleeping rough."

"We think every animal deserves a loving home," the woman said.

"There are communities of beastkin living in these forests and hills. We get visitors every week looking to adopt." The man nodded.

"Technically it's against city regulations, but we thought they wouldn't care. Though human priorities can be incomprehensible sometimes, so when you showed up..."

"The city didn't send me here for the animals," he explained.

"I'm hunting down an organization that's been kidnapping people."

"But what's that got to do with us?" The man looked confused.

"I caught some of their agents. They pointed me to this fort."

"Those evil scum..."

"I think I know why," the woman said. They both looked at her, and she continued, "I had a run-in with them a couple of days ago. They were trying to abduct this young lady. I think she works at the adventurers guild. Anyway, I helped her get away, and then they went after me, so I fled." She turned to her friend.

"I'm sorry, Rufus. I didn't realize they managed to follow me all the way back here."

"No," Havlo said, "they must have known about this place already."

"It isn't your fault, Rhianna," Rufus agreed. Then he added glumly, "But now we know it's no longer safe here."

"If I hadn't intervened in that girl—" Rhianna began.

"You did the right thing," Rufus said firmly. Havlo looked at the two of them.

"What are you going to do now?"

"We'll find homes for the animals we have and then move on," Rufus said.

"We've done about all we can in Lorelark anyway, and there are animals in other cities needing our help." Havlo was glad that these two now knew they were targets for the kidnappers, but coming all this way meant that he'd lost a big part of the day. Seeing the look on his face, Rufus said, "I'm sorry. People like that really need to be stopped." Rhianna piped up, "Actually, I might know something that can help." They both looked at her.

She continued, "Rufus wouldn't know this because I'm the one who smuggles the strays out of the city. There's a path through the sewers that I use. But I don't think I'm the only one."

"You think the kidnappers are taking people out of the city through the sewers?" Havlo asked.

"I don't know. But someone else has definitely been going through there regularly." Rhianna looked at him apologetically.

"It could just be run-of-the-mill smugglers or foreign spies. I've never actually stuck around long enough to find out." She described the exact location of the sewer outlet to him. He thanked her for the information and, as there was nothing else for him at the fort, he wished the duo well and left.

Back in Lorelark Havlo went to see Captain Hughston. The guard captain seemed anxious.

"Thank the Goddess you're back!" Hughston said.

"The prisoners escaped!"

"Of course they have," Havlo sighed.

"We think they have a third-circle mage. He assaulted the dungeon and broke the prisoners out. It all happened so fast, and then they were gone. Disappeared without a trace."

"[Invisibility]?" For a moment Hughston looked horrified at the possibility but he quickly recovered.

"No, I don't think so. My guards were in pursuit, and the suspects only disappeared once they lost sight." [Invisibility] was still a possibility with another mage concealing their ability like he was, but Hughston was right. The much likelier explanation was that these kidnappers were skilled at subterfuge and blending in.

"You think they were third-circle?" he asked.

"He used that same [Earth Bind] spell as you," Hughston replied. Tier 5. Definitely a third-circle.

"I've ordered all the gates locked down," Hughston continued.

"People are allowed in, but nobody's allowed to leave. We're going to find these criminals." It was a good start.

"I don't think you should bother going to the abandoned fort," Hughston said.

"I have a feeling it's going to be a false lead." Havlo nodded.

"Find some officers you trust and have them keep a watch on the sewer outlet outside the city. Make sure they stay out of sight and don't engage, but do their best to find out where the kidnappers are headed." It was a tenuous lead, but it was the only one he had.

"You think they're going to escape through the sewers?" Hughston asked.

"Find Evelyn from the adventurers guild. She'll help you if you let her know that it's to find her friend Amy."

"I know Evelyn," Hughston said.

"But why do we need her in on this?"

"Have her monitor anyone leaving the sewers. She'll be able to point out if a group has a third-circle mage with them."

"You make it sound like there's a lot of traffic going through our sewers," Hughston complained.

"This is just so you don't waste time chasing after run-of-the-mill smugglers or foreign spies."

"In the meantime, what will you be doing?"

"I'll be joining the vigil over the sewers," he said.

"But only after going to dinner first." He didn't know how long this mission was going to take, and he didn't want Lady Amberlin worrying about him.