Novel 2. Royal Justice

— But the foundation could have been weakened when they dug the tunnel. — The black-bearded mage's face changed. — I have to finish this soon.

The blows on the inner door became more resounding. It had been pounded with a hammer or an improvised battering ram before, but now it was being chopped with axes. But the master had time to make the last changes in the pattern on the black arch before the thick sash gave way to the onslaught.

— That's it, we've got about fifteen minutes before the explosion, — he said, climbing down from the pedestal. The portal rumbled. Like a warm cat. The transparent membrane inside the archway turned blue, glowing softly.

— Is that normal? — Valria asked glumly. She had changed the magazine in her crossbow and was watching the door with the others.

— Yes. In order to release the energy inside, the portal must first be activated and make contact with... the other side. Don't worry, nobody's coming out of there now. No, they shouldn't.

— Well then... — the captain straightened her back. — Let's just let these stubborn boys in.

The rumbling of the portal took the form of a low rumble that made Armando's teeth ache. The banging on the door stopped. Instead of axes on wood, the shoehorned heels of soldiers' boots clattered on the stone slabs of the floor. Valria and Carlon looked at each other puzzled. The captain gestured that the crates propping up the casement should be removed. When de Gorazzo and Green did so, they jerked the door open, ready for battle — and saw that the passage inside the donjon was empty. There were abandoned axes lying on the floor.

— We-e-ell... — the elfess said as she came up to them. — I think the soldiers have been here for years, and they know what to do when the portal makes that sound and the tower shakes. Let's follow their example.

Inside the main tower, the group met not a soul. But when another corridor led them to the fortress galleries, they could see from the height of the northern wall that a battle was still going on in front of the gate. The flaming liquid from the strangers' flyer spilled in long tongues across the eastern courtyard of the fortress, streams of flame forming a complex web. Between the flaming tongues, scattered groups of soldiers tried to approach the roaring and thrashing dragon, which was still unable to free itself from the hull of the air machine. A small figure in white appeared here and there, swooped down on the soldiers and retreated, leaving one or two corpses on the ground. Another figure, huge, black as pitch, simply stood in the middle of the widest aisle. A dozen guards were lined up opposite it, hesitant to attack.

— They're there, and they're fighting! — Armando swallowed. — Gotech and Minerva... we have to bail them out!

— Ten minutes, Don Armando, — the elven woman said coldly. — In ten minutes we should be far away from here. Carlon, fasten the ropes.

De Gorazzo turned to the pointy-eared girl and grabbed her by the waistcoat, yanking her to him. He grinned wickedly and looked into the elf's bottomless violet eyes. He asked:

— What was it you used to say, Captain? "Bright heads" don't abandon their own"? Did Gotech and Minerva sign a contract?

— Don Armando. — Valria didn't look away, and her face hardened enough to look more like a mask. — There are two... three of them, but Charcoal won't survive either way. How many of us are there?

— Now there will be four of them. — De Gorazzo let go of the captain's waistcoat. But now the elven woman grabbed his wrist:

— Come on, Don. Go and die. Leave others to finish the unfinished business. It's so easy to die in good faith, isn't it? They might get out of the gates on the sly, but you'll be dead by the time you get all the way across the fortress.

Armando collapsed. The words of the usually light-hearted and good-natured elf were no worse than lead bullets. The captain looked over her shoulder:

— Carlon, ropes?

— Ready.

— Can you put a delayed-start beacon in here?

— Erm... I can.

— Do it. Let it go off in a minute. Let our people downstairs know it's done. That's it. Team, let's get down behind the wall. Maria, can I help you?

Epilogue

They did not see the last explosion of that mad night, for the fortress was by then hidden from view by the cliffs. But the thunder was so loud that it must have been heard even in the valley on the other side of the gorge. The ground shook, and somewhere there was a cracking sound of falling rocks.

— Three bombs couldn't have gone off like that, — Master Carlon said indifferently, not even bothering to turn round. — There must have been explosives in those boxes in the cellar. The whole tower must have collapsed....

Halfway to the agreed place, Sergeant Dallan met them. The short warrior seemed as impassive as ever, but there was no need for her to ride out to meet the group. She glanced round at her companions and asked only:

— Who?

— Charcoal, — Valria replied dryly. — Gotech and Minerva, not for sure. Maybe Jana, too. Look at Maria, her arm need treatment.

The horses, sheltered in a dense grove, greeted them with quiet snorts and clattering hooves. Armando approached Gotech's war stallion, a gift from Queen Octavia. He patted the horse's neck and sat down on the ground beside him. The others were in no hurry to get ready for the journey. Without collusion, the group waited. A quarter of an hour, half an hour, three quarters of an hour. An hour. No one else came to the quiet mountain grove. At the beginning of the second hour of waiting, Captain Valria rose and shook her head. De Gorazzo met her eyes. Convulsively drawing air through his teeth, he called aloud for some reason:

— Lady Jana? Lady Jana, are you here? Lady Jana, show yourself, please!

There was no answer. The golden lights of the lynx's eyes did not light up in the darkness, nor did a slender silhouette in silver armour over a blue uniform weave itself out of the air. And then Don Armando de Gorazzo, the former royal bailiff, wept. He had cried before. Most recently over the Queen's body. But then it was a brief outburst, the tears dried in seconds. Now Armando was crying hard, covering his face with his hands and hunched over — as he had rarely allowed himself to do, even as a child. It must have been a long time — de Gorazzo could not remember. But at some point he felt a palm on his shoulder. Armando opened his eyes — in front of him stood Dallan. The sergeant suddenly put her arm around his shoulders and pulled him to her. The brim of her cuirass poked Armando in the chest.

— Hey!.... — Captain Valria exclaimed resentfully, but said nothing more. Dallan said quietly:

— We don't know what's happened with your friends, Armando.

— Yeah... sure... maybe they are....

— But we know for certain that Donna Vittoria is alive and well. We know where she is. You must be near her.

— Yes, — De Gorazzo sobbed one last time, his nose against the girl's warm neck. — You are right.

— You can't go to her now. We have to get to the Empire. And from there, you'll go back for her. Maybe with the entire imperial army. Even if not, with me.

— With you?

— Yes, Armando. I'll come back with you, I promise. And I'll help in any way I can. We will find Donna Vittoria together. And the others, if they're alive. Even if I have to take leave of Valria.

— You wish, — the elf snorted. — You've already taken a holiday once in your life. We'll go together.

Armando pulled away from the sergeant, looked at the pointy-eared girl with gratitude. He was still shaking, but the tears were no longer streaming, his throat no longer spasming.

— Breaking the portal eliminated new problems, but the old ones are still with us, — the captain continued, now addressing everyone. — A network of outsiders with nowhere to retreat to. A usurper in Daert. Two dozen atomic bombs. Nothing's over yet. Forget about resting. We leave to gather our strength and return. And when we do, we'll save everyone we can and avenge everyone we can't save. Saddle up. We have work to do.

"...but if it is his fate to see his friends and to reach his well-built house and his native land, late may he come and in evil case, after losing all his comrades, in a ship that is another's; and may he find woes in his house."

"The Odyssey," book nine.

The end.

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