Novel 2. Royal Justice

— A mountain stream, almost a river, runs through the fortress.

— It is a common practice in this area, — Gotech nodded. — It is more convenient to build a fortress around an underground key or well, but that is not always possible. The creek is used to fill water tanks in case of siege, and the lower part of the riverbed is used for sewage disposal.

— That's right. — Valria continued chewing on the meat. — There... so... upstream are the ruins of a stone tower — probably just guarding the stream from sabotage. But it's not garrisoned at the moment. The creek enters under the wall through a good-sized hole, a man could fit through. There used to be some bars, it looks like, but they've all rotted away. The new owners only put up one, albeit a solid one.

— Right above the grate is a powerful magical trap, based on a fire battle amulet, — the mage intercepted again. — And that's a good thing. I can use it to our advantage.

— If we pass through the creek bed, we will find the donjon on our left hand and a fortress yard in front of it. In the middle of the courtyard there's a big gate right in the ground. — The captain couldn't handle a particularly wiry piece and gracefully spit it out under her feet. — It's just like our now deceased prisoner, the goggle-eyed man, told us. The portal was originally located in the basement of the main tower, but the dungeon is shallow. When the outsiders started bringing large loads through the portal on a regular basis, they had to dig a short tunnel into the courtyard. This gate will take us straight to the portal. According to the dead man, the gate is opened and closed by a stranger mechanism. The mechanism is controlled by two buttons — one on a special lectern in the courtyard, the other on the wall inside the tunnel. They did it specially so that even the locals would not confuse anything. So, the route is as follows — through the stream bed into the yard, from the yard through the gate to the basement. We'll leave as we go. Most likely, we'll go up inside the donjon to the level of the galleries, and from there we'll descend by ropes.

— That's a good plan. Now let's get to the complications. — Gotech squinted. — I suppose they'll start outside, in front of the bars.

— Earlier, — said master Carlon with a wry grin. — We can't get near the walls during the day. The demons will smell us at night. I can disperse a dozen of them, but it'll be a fireworks display. Then the grid, I plan on blowing it out. I'll combine my siege amulets with the trap the owners set next to it.

— Can you? — Armando raised his eyebrows incredulously.

— It was placed by one of the local mages. — Carlon's grin turned predatory. — They're stronger than I am, but... they're scientists, not soldiers. You see, Don, to fire siege machines and bombards you need to know maths. A university professor can know maths many times better than an experienced gunner. That doesn't mean the professor will be good at firing a cannon. It's the same with magic. The magical defence of the fortress was made by people who only know military magic from books, I could tell that at a glance. Don't worry, even though the trap is powerful, I can easily redirect its energy.

— But it's going to make a noise either way, — Armando concluded.

— And what noise! — the mage confirmed.

— So, as much as I'd like to do this quietly, it's a distraction. — Valria sighed. — I have an idea, but we'll talk about it later. For now, let's keep working out the details. Dallan.

— Yeah.

— You've got horses on you. We need to get them past the fortress in advance and hide them on the escape route. No one can do it better than you.

— Got it.

— And... stay with them.

— I beg your pardon? — The sergeant's face remained generally impassive, but Armando noticed the flaring of her nostrils.

— This task will take you a whole day, you'll only miraculously be back in time for the attack, — the elf explained with her ears down guiltily. — And it might be necessary to bring the horses under the walls, someone should be with them.

— I... obey, Captain.

— And don't look at me like that! — Valria turned away, not letting the sergeant catch her gaze. — Lady Maria, it's time to show the others these things. Fetch them.

"These things" turned out to be four white briquettes of about the same size. Each had a box attached to it, decorated with a tiny dial.

— It looks... alien, — Gotech noted as Maria spread the briquettes on the ground.

— Trophies, — Valria nodded. — Taken from a couple of alien agents back in the Empire. It's their explosives, their most powerful. The boxes are detonators. No electricity, good old-fashioned mechanics. Imperial engineers figured them out easily. We stick them on the portal arch, than all we have to do is get out of here.

— Can we get far enough away? — Gotech clarified. Today it was a matter of siege, assault and demolition, so the veteran felt like a fish in water.

— Bomb blasts, yes. — Master Carlon scratched his beard. — Not the portal itself. So we'll have to change a few things about it first. The mages of the Imperial University, headed by the Archchancellor himself, have studied the information about the failed portal that Valria, Dallan and I found in an abandoned fort a couple of years ago, and have drawn up a set of instructions for me. I'll change some of the signs on the arch, and when the portal collapses, it will release magical energy inside itself, on the other side. If magic dissipates in a world of outsiders, the release won't hurt anyone. And anyway, it's not our problem. Working on the arch will take time, but I hope to be able to do it quickly enough.

— Okay, now for the important stuff. — The elfess frowned. — A distraction. It'll take Donna Minerva and Charcoal, Lady Jana and her sword, and one of those bombs....

The captain outlined her plan until it finally dawned. Charcoal had woken up, stretched, yawned, and now listened with interest to the conversations of the bipedal creatures at his side. When she had finished, Valria looked round at her free and unwilling companions and said in a quieter tone:

— It's an amazing bunch, isn't it? Such a motley crowd of unusual people couldn't have come together for no reason. Fate has brought us together to fulfil an important purpose, it can't be otherwise. And if that's the case, then we can do it. Please rest well, everyone. We leave at sunset. In the meantime, Dallan and I are going to break our first rule.

The elfess stepped towards the sergeant and took the latter's hand. Donna Minerva asked naively:

— I'm sorry, what's the rule?

The captain only smiled enigmatically. Dallan, on the other hand, replied politely:

— Valria and I made a deal to sleep in separate beds while on assignment, Donna. But this mission has gone on too long, and she's going mad, as you may have noticed. Please don't look in our tent unannounced, all right?

Chapter 19

In the thickening dusk, lights were lit on the walls of the fortress. The roasters on the tower platforms and the oil lanterns on the galleries looked as if someone had put greasy halos around them. Armando blinked a couple of times, but the halos didn't disappear. It must have been the "owl's eye" potion that master Carlon had given to his companions. After taking a couple of sips of the sticky liquid, which smelled of apothecary herbs, de Gorazzo soon found that he could see enough starlight to see the sentries walking along the walls far below.

— The effect will last for three hours, — said the magician, hiding the empty flask. — It's a military prescription, so you'll be more sensitive to light, but you won't go blind from looking at a burning torch. Your eyes will adjust quickly enough.

The master himself did not drink the potion — instead he used a spell with a similar effect on himself. Captain Valria, being an elf, did not need the "owl's eye" either.

— Isn't it a little early? — Armando asked the bearded man in a whisper. — We still have to wait...

— Three hours is more than enough, — the mage assured him quietly. — You'd better get used to night vision.

The men didn't know why they were lowering their voices — it was far enough away from the fortress, the squad was hiding among the rocks far up the slope. But the general atmosphere was overwhelming, making them involuntarily huddle on the ground and whisper.

— Here we go, — the elfess, who was watching the sky, hissed at them. The rest of the squad raised their heads.

It appeared spectacularly, an impenetrable black shadow against the star-studded sky. The winged lizard emerged from behind a rocky ridge in the north, swooping down into the gorge. Armando heard the shouts of fright, which were immediately overridden by the dragon's roar. The giant lizard swooped over one of the towers and struck it with its paws. A flaming brazier toppled over, and human bodies tumbled downwards. It turned round in the air and attacked the second tower. The sentries there had time to duck, but the black-winged monster clawed someone across the torso, lifted him high into the air, and sent him flying towards the ground. Shots rang out in the wake of the departing lizard, and flashes of gunpowder fire flashed on the galleries. Fortunately, they were the familiar claps of arquebuses, not the ringing blows of the strangers' multishot guns. The dragon cleared the northern wall of the enemy in two runs, simply swooping low over the gallery, scattering the soldiers with his paws, tail, and the wind from his mighty wings. Then, obeying the orders of his rider, Charcoal sank heavily on the section of the wall, almost entirely made of brick, began to destroy the "patch", breaking out solid fragments of masonry with his claws. It looked as if the lizard's main goal was to make a hole in the wall for someone who would soon attack on the ground.

— The one he threw off the second tower was a mage, — master Carlon reported. — The remaining demonologist directs his creatures to the dragon while it's on the ground. It's not so easy, the dragon is sitting right on the defence circuit...

Even with the "owl's eye", it was difficult to see the demons from a distance, as vague, swirling shadows of indistinct shapes seemed to slither across the ground toward the dragon. A bright little silhouette appeared on the lizard's scruff. Donna Minerva left the saddle, straightened to her full height, and began throwing objects alternately left and right. Shouts and gunshots were joined by a loud hiss, and something resembling white glowing confetti hung in the air around Charcoal. The shapeless shadows it touched recoiled back, melting immediately.

— A good tool, but disposable, — the imperial mage muttered, not taking his eyes off the unfolding battle. — Demonologists know that, too, of course.

The garrison reacted promptly to the attack. A crowd of soldiers rushed out of the guardhouses and donjon into the courtyard. Some of them rushed to the galleries, while the rest opened fire on the dragon from where they stood. The lizard retreated a little, hiding from the gunners behind the wall, and continued his work, now using more front paws.

— Three... four more mages in the courtyard. — Master Carlon frowned. — It had begun, the summoning circles glowing.

Armando did not see any glow, but he perfectly caught the moment when, at the foot of the fortress towers, it was as if someone had opened a jar of spiders. From invisible holes in the ground dark, ugly figures poured out. Moving jerkily, irregularly, unnaturally, they hurried to bypass the magic-protected walls of the fortress and reach the only target available to them — the dragon with the knight on its back.

— Squeeze themselves dry. Summoning as many demons as they can. By their reckoning, attackers have to either take off and leave the wall alone, or move to the other side, under the protection of the magical circuit, thereby exposing themselves to the soldiers. — Master tugged at his beard. — Now we can only count on...

The imperial mage hesitated. He, like the others, saw a beam of pure golden flame approaching the fortification from below. With a flap of its wings, the dragon backed away from the wall, soared into the sky, and the golden spark accelerated its movement. Peering up to his eyes, de Gorazzo finally recognised the slender figure walking swiftly down the bald stony slope, the blade of a sword in lowered hand burning with golden flame. The figure itself was glowing. Lady Yana had chosen the best moment to make her move.

The Order's mages certainly didn't realise who was in front of them, but took the most logical step — the otherworldly creatures that had missed the dragon split up. Some of the demons continued to swarm under the walls, while others rushed towards the ghost of the guardswoman in a wave. What happened next came as a surprise not only to the defenders of the castle, but also to Armando and his companions. Counting on the support of a ghostly ally, the group had no idea what that support would look like. It turned out to be more than impressive.

At some point, Lady Jana stopped. She grasped the hilt of the queens's sword in both palms and slowly raised the weapon above her head. She froze like a statue, staring fearlessly at the approaching lava of inky monsters. The glow became more intense. Suddenly, the blade flashed briefly, throwing a column of solar flame into the sky. And then Jana lowered her sword — unleashing golden fire on the fortress, on the pack of demons before her. Against his own will, de Gorazzo pressed himself into the ground, clenched his eyes shut, covering the back of his head with his hands. When he risked raising his head, he expected to see a smoking crater in place of the fortress. However, the ghost's blow had done no damage to the old stone walls or the men on them. The battle had come to a standstill. No more shots were fired from the fortress galleries. The dragon hovered silently in the sky without moving its wings. The army of black fractured shadows disappeared as if it never existed — every single demon melted in a golden flash. All that remained was a ghostly figure shimmering white on the slope of the gorge. The sword was no longer in her hands. Lady Yana tilted her head to look upwards. And crumbled into golden dust, which melted when it touched the ground.

— Time. Let's go! — Captain Valria interrupted the long pause. The elven woman's voice sounded strained. The squad left the shelters and hurried down. The fighting on the walls also resumed — the Angle was attacking again, drawing the attention of the guards.

The sentries at the southern end of the fortress had not abandoned their posts, but they had forgotten to look down. The group crossed the open space without being seen. A dozen paces from the semicircular opening in the wall, which was blocked by a thick grate, master Carlon raised his palm warningly. The magician walked on alone, holding out a hand with some kind of amulet and muttering to himself. Armando wished he could see what was available to the mage's eyes — the streams of magical energy that filled any enchanted object. The former royal bailiff couldn't even see exactly where the trap was. Though if the mage had made a mistake in disarming it, everyone would probably realise it. However, the bearded imp did not fail. He fiddled with the grate for a few minutes, then turned back to his companions. He whispered: