Chương 58: Stealth

"How could he know we're here?" Alex whispered.

"You tell me," Giddeon snapped as he stormed towards him. He squared up to him, face-to-face.

"Check his pockets, Paige. Make sure he hasn't got any of those tracking stones hidden." He bark-whispered. Alex shrugged and put his arms out. Paige went over and rummaged through his coat and trouser pockets, one side at a time. She pulled a face of disgust as she pulled out some dirty handkerchiefs and tossed them on the floor. To top it off, she thoroughly patted down both arms, trouser legs and the front and back of his body.

"Nothing on him, except some disgusting dirty handkerchiefs and a bit of paper with a song he's working on." The corner of her mouth curled up into a smirk.

"It's called Alex the Mighty Adventurer."

"Alex is on our side. You should have believed him when he said Harrold would kill him if they caught up," Tim said.

"SEE! I don't know why you guys don't believe me anymore. I could shout right now and get their attention if I wanted to." Alex whispered.

"Not before I slit your throat," Giddeon growled. Alex gulped loudly and pursed his lips shut. The man was a coward and effectively a spy of sorts, but he clearly wasn't the brightest and was highly motivated by keeping himself out of harm and finding inspiration. He seemed to be pretty happy that this trip was satisfying his muse as he wouldn't stop blabbing on about it.

"Stop it," Aaron commanded, talking sternly but keeping his voice low, "we need a plan to get past those peacekeepers."

"I want to know how they knew we were here. It's probably safest to kill the bard now in case he decides to betray us," Giddeon snapped. Alex ducked and slithered off behind his friend Tim.

"No, that's a bad idea. You need me. Tim needs me. Tell him, Tim."

"I do need him," Tim agreed.

"And I trust him."

"They knew we were heading east, so they were probably in the area. And then Tim got captured, and they matched him to his poster and notified Harrold. Chances are that they think we fled. They won't suspect we ran into the mine," Aaron said.

"See, there's a good explanation for all of this that doesn't end in me having my throat slit," Alex said. Paige focused them back on the mission.

"We can't wait to see if they leave. It's only a matter of time until one of those creatures walks down the path and finds us."

"Can we sneak past and avoid a fight?" Tim asked.

"No, not a chance. This tunnel comes out a few feet up from the main path. We would need to set up a rope to climb down. We'd be dead before we reached the floor," Aaron explained.

"Then we just kill the bastards. Why do you want to mess around? We don't have the time for this," Giddeon said. He rubbed his thumb up and down his knife handle.

"Harrold is a powerful battlemage. There's a good chance his son could have powers too. I met him in the city once, and he didn't seem threatening, but you never know. There could also be more Elementalists with them," Aaron said. Giddeon paced impatiently. He clearly hated inaction and would prefer to smash his way through the problem.

"I'll distract them then, but it will take some time to cast a suitable spell," Giddeon huffed.

"How long?" Aaron asked.

"As long as it takes," Giddeon snapped back. The party sat down and rested against the wall. All except for Paige, who stood up with her sabre unsheathed. She kept turning from side to side, looking around both directions in the tunnel. Aaron watched as Giddeon prepared his spell. He couldn't help but feel a little helpless being unable to use his magic. He could have easily called some creatures over to cause a distraction, or maybe even kill the guards from a distance if he was lucky.

And he was so close to advancing to a Journeyman Necromancer. He was itching to see what the next rank of talents could do for his power. Giddeon crouched down, and a void-black orb emerged from his hands. A faint black smoke trickled off its sides and sank to the floor. He pulled his hands out as if stretching the orb with invisible strings attached to his fingers. The orb expanded in synchrony with his hand movement.

Now the size of a wheelbarrow, he started to make symbols with his fingers and curve them around the edge of the sphere. A few small protrusions emerged from the orb, which slowly morphed into four legs. He repeated it to form a head. It was entirely black, and there were no teeth, but it closely resembled a Mana Hound and would be indistinguishable in the dark or from a distance. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

The process repeated for a few minutes as the orb's shape slowly morphed and refined into the body of a Hound with its distinguishingly wide mouth. Giddeon repeated the process three more times, each one taking minutes to complete. It didn't appear to obviously drain his mana or tire him out, but the process of working the detail into the orbs looked painstakingly tedious.

"Aaron, go and place a rope ready to climb down. And be quiet about it," Giddeon ordered. He rustled through his backpack and picked out the rope that Giddeon had packed for them. He slung it over his shoulder and crept back towards the main tunnel where the guards were. They were still there. Four guards and Thomas sat around a campfire on wooden dining chairs which looked incredibly out of place down a mine. The main shaft was nothing like the tunnels. It was wide, and the wood was well maintained.

They must have regularly replaced rotten beams to stop it from losing its integrity and caving in. Thomas and three of the guards wore plate armour and had swords holstered in their belts. The fourth guard also wore plate, but wielded a tall birch staff. He must have been a mage. They were sitting at the campfire looking bored. The talkative ones must have been the guards Thomas ordered off to search for Aaron and Tim. Aaron only looked briefly to see how many people were down there.

There were definitely too many to guarantee they could win in a fair fight. The campfire was bright down below, but up where Aaron was hiding was poorly lit, making it nearly impossible to discover him, unless of course they had some sort of seeking or night vision magic. Aaron retreated back a bit and tied the rope around an old rusted minecart. The wheels had fallen off and were nowhere to be seen, so the cart lay flat on the floor.

Whilst heavily corroded, it was still made of solid iron, so it must have weighed as much as two men. It would do the trick for helping them descend a few feet safely. Instead of throwing the rope down, he left it coiled up next to the cart. They could easily chuck it over the edge when ready. Aaron returned to the party to find Giddeon had finished his spell. Four black smoky creatures jumped around like shadows. They moved unnaturally smoothly, but made no sound whatsoever.

They appeared weightless as they jumped, drifting slowly to the ground each time.

"What are they?" Aaron asked.

"Smoke spirits, morphed into the shape of my choosing," Giddeon said, puffing his chest up proudly, "They look the part. And with a bit of skill, we can lure the guards away for long enough to get past. Did you place the rope?"

"I did. It's attached and coiled slightly back from the edge. We can throw it over when we're ready," Aaron replied.

"Good, let's go. One at a time. Only move when you hear the person in front of you stop at the end," Giddeon said. They followed the instructions carefully. Giddeon went first, followed by Aaron once he had heard his footsteps stop. The others joined them soon after. Cuthbert glided with them, perching on Aaron's shoulder as he lay flat watching over the edge. The bird must have had a sense for the situation—he didn't make a sound. Everyone lay flat on the ground in silence.

The four smoke dogs floated over their heads and drifted down over the edge to the floor below. Their movements were eerie and unnatural. They were stiff and static as they glided through the air. Once they landed on the ground below, Giddeon must have focused on making them appear more lifelike. They charged around like a pack of dogs and ran over in the direction of the entrance to the tunnel.

They all stood just at the edge of the area illuminated by the campfire so that they were visible, but concealed enough in the shadows that it would be difficult to tell they were illusions. They faced towards the men around the campfire and crouched down threateningly as if ready to pounce. They didn't snarl, or whistle or make any noise for that matter. Sooner or later the guards would catch a glimpse of them and go to investigate. Sure enough, Thomas spotted them, "D… DOGS! Hounds!"

He shouted, pointing towards the smoky illusions in the distance. The smoky apparitions turned and ran down the mine. The lack of footsteps and panting made Aaron uncomfortable. The ruse seemed pretty transparent from his perspective, but he had the advantage of foresight. Thomas was a cowardly, spoiled person, and they were banking on him barking orders without thinking too much.

"Well, go on then, don't just sit there!" He yelled at his men. Aaron swore he saw some spit fly out of his mouth onto one of the guards' faces as he spoke. The men got up and marched over towards the dogs. Not one of them pulled a face or rolled their eyes at the orders. They were clearly professionals, or at least used to incompetent assholes bossing them around. Giddeon expertly kept the dogs just within a visible distance.

They darted them around, zigzagging across the wide mineshaft, ducking in and out from behind crates, old minecarts and equipment which littered the way. The sound of the guards was distant and muffled now. The light from their torch flickered in the distance. It was going perfectly to plan, except Thomas hadn't moved. Giddeon reached down to his belt and took out his green glowing knife. Tim had broken it back in the city, so he must have had it fixed in one of the towns.

Giddeon held it lightly by the blade, pointing the hilt back towards himself as if about to throw it. They were about twenty paces away from Thomas, which would have made the throw impossible for even a skilled warrior. However, Aaron had seen Paige launch a knife across a similar distance in the jail tent. It was terrifying to think what a skilled master could achieve. Aaron grabbed Giddeon's arm gently, silently asking him not to kill the man.

Not that Aaron particularly cared for the man's life, but he was the son of Harrold. The crazed noble would stop at nothing to enact revenge on the person who killed a member of his family. It wasn't worth the heat. Giddeon turned and scowled at Aaron, but neither of them spoke. Even a whisper at this distance might have been loud enough to alert him to their presence. Playing on Thomas' cowardice, Aaron picked up a grape-sized stone.

He waited for Thomas to look down at the fire before throwing the stone to the right, towards where the peacekeepers went to investigate the dogs. The height advantage really played in Aaron's favour here. Thomas was unlikely to look up to the ceiling when he was searching for dogs. The stone made a loud thud and bounced a couple of times as it struck the ground below. The sound cut through the silence of the cave and startled Thomas.

He jumped from his seat and took out his sword, pointing it towards the ground and jolting around towards the shadows.

"Must I do everything myself?" he muttered as he scuttled off towards his guards. He walked quickly with an exaggerated arm swing. Aaron grinned at Giddeon, ensuring to let him know he was gloating. He felt satisfied that he resolved the problem quietly. The relic was close by now. The cure for Tim's curse was finally within reach.