Chương 1253: 1283 - Roseguard Fortress

'What even is subtlety?' The errant thought, loaded with a nearly poisonous amount of sarcasm, flashed through Leon's head quick as lightning as he and the rest of his party sped across the sky. They'd been moving for hours, crossing the face of Belicenion with great speed. The Paladins, none of whom were post-Apotheosis, needed a boost from Leon to keep up, but by the time they reached what seemed to be their destination, none of the party had fallen behind.

"This is it," Leon said quietly as they alighted on a grassy hill overlooking a damp valley. Under normal conditions, he'd have been encouraged by the weather and locale: undeveloped wilderness, overcast, rainy, he'd have loved to simply soak in the atmosphere. But his eyes were locked on a square fortress on a hill that blocked one side of the valley. It wasn't that large, perhaps big enough to be the castle of a Count by Bull Kingdom standards, but it was there that Clear's pearl led.

"Can you be sure?" Valeria asked.

"Doubts creeping in, Val?" Cassandra provoked.

"Looking for clarity," Valeria testily replied.

"There's nothing else here," said Serana confidently, her face illuminated by a vicious grin.

"Let's go and knock …" She made her intentions clear with a pulse of her aura and licks of black fire curling around her fingers, but Leon held up his hand to stop her.

"No," he said sternly.

"Why not?" Serana shot back, surprise writ large across her face. She wasn't the only one who questioned him; curiosity pulsed through his connection with Maia, though she kept her question unspoken. Red, too, looked confused, the wyvern remaining close to Serana in both opinion and space.

"Drawing the Sun King's attention would be… not ideal," answered Leon bitterly.

"What are the chances that they'd release Clear if we went down there and asked politely?"

"None," Cassandra said while Alix and Daryun threw their heads back and laughed.

"My thoughts, too," replied Leon leadingly.

"So that leaves a less conventional approach."

"Is there no point in trying to ask?" asked Anzu.

"And give away our strategic aim?" Daryun responded.

"If there is more benefit to not revealing oneself, then we shouldn't."

"Agreed," Cassandra added.

"Better to snatch Clear back without allowing them to try anything or to identify us. How should we go about this, Leon?" Leon's golden eyes roamed over the fortress's defenses for a long moment, no detail missed, even in the rainy, gray afternoon. The walls were fairly tall by mortal standards, rising about thirty feet off the ground. Battlements and towers ensured defenders could cover all approaches while remaining protected from returning magic, with the only way past the walls being a strong gatehouse.

The walls surrounded only a single large bailey, but the keep had a courtyard in the center, small though it was. Still, the fortress was small enough to be searched in minutes given the power and numbers he had at his disposal. The physical defenses weren't that great in his opinion. They'd have been fairly sufficient against a battalion-sized element in the Bull Kingdom, but he was far too strong for walls and battlements, so he turned his attention to the more magical defenses.

The fortress was surrounded by what felt like a bubble of magic, ensuring that most mages couldn't fly or jump in, and those who were strong enough to get past that would at least trip an alarm. Aside from that, most of the fortress's wards seemed designed to reinforce the walls and keep the structure intact in the event of a bombardment. As with the structure itself, it was a decent conventional approach that was utterly insufficient to keep him out.

'Are they really holding Clear here of all places? An eleventh-tier mage in a castle that looks like a seventh-tier mage would be ashamed to dwell in?' In Leon's silence, Zhang neutrally intoned, "My Empire never would have housed such a powerful prisoner as the honorable Clear Day here. We should consider the possibility that this is a trap."

"Who would be trying to trap us?" Alix impetuously asked.

"Besides, this looks like an official fortress of the Sun King! That would mean—""That the Sun King himself is involved," Zhang finished, his eyes narrowed with seriousness.

"Is that such an unbelievable presumption?"

"The Sun King," Serana said, "is known for his honorable dealings. Laying a trap for my son doesn't track with his reputation." Red nodded furiously in agreement. Quietly, Valeria stated, "We've all met people who don't live up to their reputations." Serana gave the silver-haired woman a reassessing look, offering no further arguments.

"If it's a trap," Leon said, "then the best way to find out is to spring it. Maybe a distraction? Try to draw anyone out who might be waiting within?"

"Do we have the time for that?" Zhang seriously asked.

"Upon this plane, two Elemental Kings have gathered, along with how many fifteenth-tier mages? Anakes, Basileis, Despots… What are we to do if the fortress calls for help, and these great powers respond?"

"Only the Sun King's forces would respond," Serana stated.

"No need to worry about other Lords. Though… Sun Lords might be compelled to aid their King in defending Belicenion. Either way, my Clan and our brother Clans will defend our own!" Leon fought hard not to immediately question that, only reasoning aloud, "There are risks no matter what we do. I'm inclined to try to move in quietly. Ideally, the defenders here won't even know that they've been infiltrated until Clear has been extracted."

"That's doable," Anzu confidently said.

"We've done this sort of thing before, brother. Remember how we got Silver Spear?" Leon grinned, but the smile soon faded. That mission had gone well at first, but they'd still been discovered before achieving their objective. Of course, absconding with an ancient Thunderbird Clan destroyer was always doomed to be discovered, but they'd still been forced to fight through part of the fortress it had been stationed in—something Leon wasn't looking to reenact with so many powerful mages on the plane.

"No distraction," Leon decided.

"We'll give them no reason to call for reinforcements. If I stationed someone as valuable as Clear, I damn well would've ensured the guards would be calling in anything out of the ordinary, no matter how small. We'll go in quietly, snag Clear, and be gone before anyone knows any better. As much as that's possible, anyway." He couldn't sense anything, but he and his party hadn't slowed down to keep their travel hidden, so it was still possible they'd been tracked.

None of that was going to stop him from rescuing his missing friend, however.

"Mother," Leon said as he turned to Serana.

"Do you have a way to go invisible?" A deep frown marred Serana's features.

"No dragon needs to hide themselves."

"None!" Red emphatically agreed. Serana spared her a shallow smile, but it was clear to everyone that to Red, that small gesture meant the world. She practically swooned even as Serana turned back to Leon.

"Take this," Leon said impatiently. He concentrated on what he wanted: a simple bracelet made of iron, lacking any adornment or flashiness in form. Inscribed upon it was the relatively complex invisibility enchantment that Leon had devised for his people's armor, allowing them to track each other's location even when imperceptible to the physical and magical eye. Despite her frown somehow deepening, Serana still took the bracelet, slipping it onto her wrist.

With that done, Leon donned his armor, and his people followed his example. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

"We'll split into three teams," he said.

"Val, you'll have Daryun, Anna, and Anzu. Cassie, you'll have Alix and Zhang. Mother, Red, Naiad, you three will be with me. We'll search every nook and cranny this place has to offer. Kill only if you have no other options. Do your best to remain undetected. Everyone understand?" When he received acknowledgments, he continued, "Good. Let's get moving." He pulsed magic into his armor, letting the enchantments feed off of his power. Fading from view, he took to the sky, closely followed by the other ten.

They maintained a tight formation, rapidly approaching the fortress from the south, where the fortress had the fewest towers. The slopes of the hill it had been built atop were steep there, but Leon and his people weren't approaching by foot… As they approached, Leon got a better view inside the bailey, and he could see dozens of men forming up, all armed and armored as if they were expecting something to happen.

'More evidence for a trap…' Unseen, he led his people over the fortress until they were directly over the keep, hovering just above the edge of the magic protecting it. The keep was square and five stories tall. The courtyard in the center was entirely paved, leaving no space at all for any greenery. In design, it was entirely conventional, with thick walls interspersed with arched windows.

The keep's front door was small and raised to the second floor, accessible only by a fairly narrow and winding wooden staircase. The ground floor had another door, but Leon doubted the main keep was accessible from whatever rooms could be accessed from it. The bailey, meanwhile, was surrounded by buildings, but as far as Leon could tell, those were for the garrison. With no nearby town, the fortress had to rely entirely on itself for supplies, which meant a smithy, granary, stable, and more.

The largest of these buildings seemed to be the barracks. Nowhere did Leon see an easily identified prison. Carefully, Leon summoned his power, his experienced eyes easily parsing the magic that protected the fortress. Almost dismissively, he conjured an 'open' rune and focused on opening a hole for him and his people. The rune worked quickly, and like slipping through the gap between two strands of woven thread, Leon's team entered the bounds of the fortress.

"Val," Leon whispered just loudly enough for his team to hear him, "check the bailey."

"On it," she replied, and Leon sensed her and her detachment peel off to investigate that area. Just because he couldn't see a prison there didn't mean it wasn't there.

"Cassie," Leon continued, "the upper floors."

"Easy," his wife answered, the smile on her face evident in her tone.

"And you?"

"We'll enter from the bottom and meet in the middle," he responded.

"Let's get to it," Cassandra said, and she and her detachment made for the towers at the corners of the keep. One was taller than the others, but from what Leon could see through the small windows, it wasn't serving as a prison. Almost tearing his attention back to his team, Serana said with frustration, "We could go through the front door…"

"Yes!" Red added enthusiastically.

"No," he replied immediately.

"Impudent," his mother remarked, but she otherwise followed him as he drifted down into the courtyard. [No more defenses,] Maia noted. [And they expect to hold Clear here?] [Maybe there's something we missed?] Leon expressed with slowly growing worry. [Some reason he's here that we can't see yet?] As his feet touched down in the stone courtyard, he almost expected alarms to start blaring.

He'd kept his senses trained for any sign of further wards, but between himself and the courtyard doors, none had yet presented themselves. Leon almost made for the door leading to the front of the keep when he noticed one of the windows above opened a crack. Flying back up, he hovered next to it, hearing hushed voices from within that he could barely make out.

"… expects from us?!" The first voice was rough and gruff, his tone heated and annoyed.

"To do your duty." The second voice was smoother, expectant, more refined. She was ice cold and seemed to be dominant since the first voice immediately started justifying himself.

"We're doing what we can, but we can't just accept someone so powerful on a whim! We don't have the men or the magic! This is a castle, not a prison!"

"It has a dungeon," Second Voice plainly stated.

"For local criminals and bandits," First Voice retorted.

"But there haven't been criminals or bandits in this area in a long time! None that have needed to be imprisoned, at least!"

"Does that matter?" Second Voice asked, sounding like she was approaching the window. Leon froze as the other three in his smaller team waited below. Second Voice opened the window further, standing in full view of the courtyard and smirking up at the sky.

"Do you intend to back down?" She was tall and fair, though hardly gifted in magic, it seemed, if her fifth-tier aura was any indication. She wore dark robes with a golden insignia over the breast, but Leon didn't recognize it. His mother, however, quietly gasped in shock. Second Voice's eyes narrowed and flickered in Serana's direction. Leon held his breath and gathered power around his fingers.

Her eyes then passed over him, sliding off of him like rain down a mountainside, catching on nothing until she turned around and faced First Voice again. Only then did Leon relax. First Voice inquired hotly, "And what are we to do if he wakes? He's far and away beyond our ability to control."

"He won't wake," Second Voice said. Leon grimaced, his blood thundering in his ears for a moment. Swiftly collecting himself, he hoped that these two might inadvertently help him out a bit more.

"If you have any more complaints, file them with Her Highness's office. Though I warn you: wasting her time is viewed almost as unfavorably as incompetence," Second Voice stated as she walked away from the window, and the conversation died there. First Voice remained quiet as Second Voice left, only moving again to return to the window and slam it shut almost in Leon's face. He waited until First Voice had walked further inside before he drifted away from the window.

As he did, Serana took his arm and whispered, "Princess Deianira is involved…" Scowling, Leon filed that information away for later. Whatever else, it seemed Clear was here, and he didn't seem to be in good condition…

"We need to find the dungeon," he whispered back.

"Follow the guards," she replied. It seemed like solid logic to Leon, so he walked over to the nearest door into the keep. It was locked shut by magic, but it seemed otherwise unlatched—a breach of security that spoke to the fortress's complacency. Another 'open' rune saw the door cracked open and the wards within disrupted. Again, no alarms were tripped that he could see.

The halls of the keep that he and the other three with him infiltrated were narrow and bare, bereft of any decoration finer than a curtain dyed a single color. The floors and walls were bare stone, but there were a few signs that they had at some point been at least whitewashed. Leon subtly projected his magic senses once he was within the bounds of the keep's wards, and almost immediately contorted himself to the side.

"Watch out!" he hissed just as one of the fortress servants opened another nearby door and strode out into the hall. Serana, Red, and Maia pressed themselves against the wall, the narrow hall and low ceilings giving them few other options. The servant came walking in their direction, passing so closely by them that Leon could smell a hint of perfume in the first-tier woman's wake. She hesitated a step past him, and for a breathless moment, he wondered if he'd have to silence her.

She looked like she was barely twenty, and she most certainly had nothing to do with Clear's circumstances… She kept moving, however, relieving Leon to no end.

"This way," he whispered, heading in the opposite direction. He could sense a guarded door further in, one that scattered his magic senses when he tried to peer past it. That, if anywhere, seemed where he'd find Clear. However, he noticed something else along the way that gave him pause: the central point where the keep's enchantments were inscribed.

Runic inscriptions, of course, were to be found all over the keep as part of the warding scheme, but there were always places where most of the complex enchantment work had to be focused. In the case of this keep, that place was a small control room staffed by a pair of bored-looking guards. The door had been shut, which normally should have barred his ability to see inside, but it was in poor condition, compromising the wards running through it and allowing Leon to see within with his magic senses.

He saw a central pillar inscribed with thousands of runes, several control consoles around it, and along one of the walls about a hundred glass vials, half of which were filled with a thimble's worth of blood each. Along another wall were about a dozen more glass vials, though only one had any blood in it.

'Blood magic,' he identified.

'Keeps wards from affecting those with blood stored here.' He stalked over to the door and waited as the other three joined him. With a grimace, he settled on a course of action.

"We're taking this room," he whispered.

"Quietly, and without bloodshed if possible." Serana and Red grumbled, but Maia shifted past them, understanding his intentions immediately. She gripped the door handle and, after a querying pulse through their bond, pulled the door open. The two guards barely had time to look over before Leon was in and throwing an arm over the closest guard. Lightning passed silently through that contact, and before the guard could so much as gasp, he was rendered unconscious.

"Fuckin' shi—" the other got off before Serana shot over and wrapped her twelfth-tier fingers around his neck. For a tense moment, Leon wondered if his mother would end the man's life. She certainly had the strength to squeeze and pop his head right off his shoulders… … but she released him, allowing him to fall to the floor unconscious. Red and Maia entered the room after them, and Maia closed the door behind them.

"Are we tearing this place apart?" Serana asked, hope tinging her tone.

"No," Leon answered as, after lowering the first guard to the ground, he turned his attention to the locus of the keep's wards.

"Not yet, anyway…" His eyes scoured the pillar, the enchantments easily laid bare. He saw alarms and fortifications, lights and air barriers, even temperature controls and what looked like communications, all fairly old and used. The alarms were an easy thing to disable, but his hand faltered as he reached for the pillar. He realized there were newer enchantments closer to the floor, newly carved—monitoring enchantments, if he wasn't mistaken…

Moreover, he realized that the communications enchantment was pulsing every few seconds. It was subtle and easy to miss, but Leon was no ordinary enchanter.

'Comms and monitoring enchantments? Inscribed within the past day, if that?' he thought.

'This is a trap…'