Chương 12: 11. Vault Raid

Tavian ran to the Air Gate. Damaged in the initial fighting at the palace, now it sat askance, only partially blocking the doorway. A group of about a dozen men dressed in the tunics of the royal guard squeezed through.

"It could be a trap," Tavian gasped as he ran up. Braun and his fighters held their weapons, watching these men carefully.

"Is that all?" Braun demanded as the last of them passed through. Another man slipped into the courtyard, and Braun relaxed, greeting the man with a salute.

"Squad Lieutenant Zael." The lieutenant returned the salute. His blocky head was shaved bald, and he didn't look like he'd been in combat. His uniform was too clean.

"He commands a Squad that was posted at the vault, I believe," Braun explained to Tavian.

"I think we can trust them." Tavian eyed the men warily.

"At least the king kept some of our men in the fortress," he grumbled.

"My lord," the lieutenant said, kneeling.

"The vault is lost. We were unable to reach the Vault Master, who was inside the vault at the time." The other men clutched their weapons, looking dazed in the daylight. With a wrench and a squeal, the Air Gate resisted being fully closed.

"Why did you abandon the vault?" Tavian asked, inspecting the men who'd just entered the courtyard. He could use a dozen more fighters, if he could trust them. The lieutenant seemed reluctant to answer.

"My lord, we were ambushed. We had to fall back."

"By who? Lord Anarvia's men?"

"I don't know," Squad Lieutenant Zael said, blinking in the sunlight.

"What happened here? Where is Erond?"

"You don't know?"

"Please, my lord, we have been on duty down in the vault. We were never relieved, though our shift ended hours ago. My messenger boy never returned, but we did not abandon our post."

"Erond is wounded and the king is dead," Tavian said.

"Lord Anarvia is attempting a coup."

"The king? Your father is dead?" The man seemed genuinely surprised.

"Yes," Tavian said.

"We are fighting to reclaim the fortress. Will you join us?"

"Yes, my lord," the lieutenant said.

"We have sworn fealty to the king of Tar Corinath. If your father has died, then you now lead us."

"Good," Tavian said.

"Arise. Lea—" But before he could ask the question, the Core Administrator appeared at his shoulder, standing just behind him.

"Yes, sending the oaths now." ⬣ New Subjects ⬣ ⬣ Kingdom Population: 51 ⬣"Erond is injured," Tavian explained to the lieutenant.

"You now report to Braun. We hold this courtyard but we—""Yes, my lord, forgive me, but there are men in the vault as we speak. They are filling sacks with gold and jewels, they are raiding our kingdom's treasury. We came not to complain, but seeking reinforcements to fulfill our duty."

"What happened?" Tavian asked.

"How did they get into the vault?" Squad Lieutenant Zael looked confused again. He spoke reluctantly, as though he did not believe what he was saying.

"My lord… I… I don't know. They attacked us from behind, coming out of the vault. If they had assaulted us down one of the stairwells, we would have held the gate. But there was nothing for us to defend; they were already in the vault." Tavian cursed. Braun reached the same conclusion.

"Jarden has betrayed us," he said.

"He's working with the Anarvians," Tavian agreed.

"Pity I didn't punch him too." The lieutenant did not confirm or deny the judgement—his face suggested that these kinds of decisions were above his pay grade.

"They're looting our treasury," Braun said, clapping a hand on Tavian's shoulder.

"We need to stop them!"

"Men are worth more than gold," Tavian countered.

"They will sift the gold and increase the Influence of their Core," Braun protested.

"We must stop them!"

"So," Tavian said, "you think Jarden hid them in the vault before your shift?"

"They were not there at the start of my shift," the lieutenant said.

"As a part of the changing of the guard, I inspected the vault alongside the vault master and his apprentices. I would have seen two dozen men. They got into the vault another way."

"Another way? How?"

"I can only offer speculation, my lord," Squad Lieutenant Zael said.

"There must be a tunnel, a hidden door. I can think of no other way."

"Tunnels! By Ishtoran," Tavian said. He pressed a knuckle to his temple. He'd known that there was a hidden escape tunnel under the keep, but a tunnel into the vault? That was a serious vulnerability. If they stood any chance of securing the fortress, they needed to secure the whole fortress. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. And if there were Anarvians down there, maybe this was a chance to catch them in a compromising position.

Not to mention protecting the kingdom's treasures.

"Good thing we didn't put the Core in the vault," Calli said, and Tavian grunted.

"Way to look on the bright side," he said.

"We need to go now," Braun insisted.

"Maybe we can still catch the lying rat that let the Anarvians in!" Tavian pulled up the hex map in his interface. By claiming a few more tiles beyond the Air Gate, they could hold the primary stairwell down to the vault. He checked the kingdom status. He scanned the courtyard. It was starting to look barren. Vanal and Calli had sifted nearly everything of value already. They needed anything else they could get their hands on.

"Tavian, come on," Braun said.

"Let me go!" Tavian pulled Braun in close.

"I don't know if we can trust these men," he hissed.

"This could be a trap. I'm not sending you into the vault blind."

"Tavian, we need more Essence. The vault is going to be the best place to find things for that," Braun insisted.

"We can't stay holed up in this courtyard forever."

"I know that," Tavian said.

"It's just a big risk, that's all."

"Let me go," Braun insisted.

"Don't you trust me?"

"I trust you," Tavian said, with a shake of his head.

"But you're staying here. I don't have Erond, so I need you to be my Marshal."

"But the treasures—""I'm going," Tavian said.

"I'll take Zael and his men, and I'll lead two fists of my own." Braun scowled, and Tavian crossed his arms.

"I'll find two more fists to join you," Braun acquiesced.

"Thank you," Tavian said.

"Calli, keep extracting Essence, we need all the Influence we can get."

"Rightly so," Calli said.

"We'll see what we can do. If you can recover anything from the vault we could sift that." Tavian turned to the Squad Lieutenant of the vault guards.

"Let's get back down in there," he said.

"This time with an Influence multiplier. Looks like your shift is lasting a bit longer. I'll act as Squad Captain."

"Considering the circumstances, my lord, I will not object." Squad Lieutenant Zael smiled. Braun assigned eleven more men to join Tavian's party. They forced the Air gate back open, and all twenty-four of them slipped into the darkness of the keep. A smell of blood and smoke filled the air, and an eerie silence gripped the hall. The Air Gate screeched behind them. Tavian advanced, claiming the tile ahead of them.

In theory, the Influence multiplier should mean that Tavian's force was the equal of more than a hundred men, as long as they kept the fight on their own territory. Lieutenant Zael led them down the hall, to the main stairwell leading down to the vault. The vault, buried beneath the keep, had two stairwells leading down to its only entrance; or at least what Tavian had believed was the only entrance.

The first staircase, positioned near the Core Courtyard, was designed to provide convenient access to the Air Gate into the courtyard, for transporting things down to the vault, or bringing them back up to the Core for sifting. The second staircase led to the throne room, providing direct access for all the ceremonial baubles used in official events. All the sconces in the hall had burned out; the chandler had not come through to relight them.

Tavian wondered what had happened to the kind old man who tended to the palace's candles and torches. Was he hiding in his workshop? Or had he betrayed them to Anarvia too? A tapestry had fallen from the wall; Tavian stepped over it carefully as he entered a junction. His head swiveled back and forth, searching for a trap, but the halls were quiet. They crossed the intersection, leaving the tile that Tavian had just claimed.

He claimed this new tile, containing the stairs down to the vault as well as the vault itself. This move would alert any Anarvians that they were coming, so they hurried down the steps. ⬣ Kingdom Status ⬣ Core Essence Tiles Claimed Influence 82 16 5. 13 Essence had increased slightly, so Vanal and Calli were still sifting. But each additional tile claimed reduced the average Core Essence per tile. They needed more matter to sift into Essence if Tavian wanted to keep claiming hextiles.

Even the tapestries and banners on these walls would provide a boost to the Core. If they found nothing in the vault, they'd bring these back with them. Tavian gestured for Squad Lieutenant Zael of the vault guard to lead the way down the steps. The man hesitated.

"My lord," he said.

"I should wrap around, go down the other staircase." He made a pincer with his hands. Tavian wasn't sure he trusted this man yet. If he let half the force split off, he opened himself up to a trap. He took a long look into Zael's blunt face. He didn't know if he could fully trust this man, but when playing from behind you had to take a few risks.

"Good plan," Tavian said.

"Go." Zael broke off with his men, and Tavian waited in the hall, counting off the timing in his head. When he felt that the lieutenant would have reached the top of the other stairwell, he started down the steps. If this was a trap, if the vault guard turned out to be traitors, Tavian would have to quickly eject them from the kingdom, and rely on Influence to break through. The staircase wound down, spiraling to the right.

This was a disadvantage to right-handed swordsmen attacking the vault: the curve of the staircase would inhibit their swing. Tavian sent his two spearmen to the head of the force. Tavian raised a fist, stopping his men. He strained his ears, listening. Voices echoed up from down below. They proceeded, quickly, but quietly, and another twist of the stairwell later, they emerged into the antechamber of the vault.

Like cockroaches when the larder door is opened, a dozen Anarvians scattered; some running up the steps toward the throne room, some running back into the vault. The men running up the steps ran straight into Squad Lieutenant Zael. They dropped sacks of stolen goods, but were cut down before they could produce weapons. Tavian was a little surprised that they'd even found anything to loot from the vault. After seeing the state of the throne, he'd been afraid that the treasury was empty.

His father must have preserved the more irreplaceable valuables.

"Secure the vault!" Tavian shouted, and the soldiers rushed into the vault, attempting to corner the enemy. One Anarvian tripped, and his sack fell to the ground. Out of it rolled a pair of gem encrusted goblets. Tavian leapt over him as the next man in line stabbed the fallen man in the back. Tavian had only ever been in the vault once. It hadn't been a dragon's hoard then, but now the shelves, alcoves, and plinths were barren.

He chased the retreating man around a corner and slipped on a crumpled pile of tapestries. He recovered his feet then rounded the next corner before abruptly skidding to a stop. The man had disappeared. Tavian stood in a ransacked room. Barrels and crates had been smashed, loose straw scattered over the floor. A dying candle guttered in a niche. There was no sign of the fleeing Anarvians. Two of Tavian's men rushed up behind him, looking as surprised as he felt.

"Secret tunnels," Tavian said.

"We'll need to search every stone and mortar joint in this room; I'm sure that there's a hidden passage somewhere." A shout echoed through the vault.

"Watch your backs," Tavian said, turning.

"They may appear at any moment." He wove through the looted rooms of the vault. Little of value remained. They reached the furthest chamber. Tavian's men were blocking the entrance, swords in hand, preventing a thin man from exiting. He had several sacks stuffed with valuables lying on the ground around him. This room had not yet been fully looted.

"Master Jarden," Tavian said, approaching the vault master. Jarden removed his spectacles and rubbed them on his robes. His hands were shaking so much he was unable to put them back on.

"My lord," Jarden said, bowing deeply.

"Thank Ishtoran."

"Bind him!" Tavian ordered, and his men advanced.

"Wait, stop!" Jarden protested.

"Please, my lord, this isn't what it looks like!"