by Bob Blink
Their current leader made the attempt to cross first, and Jolan watched as he passed through the protection barrier unharmed. One by one, they followed after him, with Jolan going third and Luzoke fourth. The last of Kavel’s spy-mages brought up the rear.
They were inside. For the rest of their journey through the groves they would have to remain extra alert. There were random roving patrols, and it would be necessary to slip unobserved past them as they made their way in. They had two hours to reach their target. Then, the other teams that would be targeting all of the identified warehouses for the rafts would attack. On the way out, such care wouldn’t be necessary and they would simply take out any of the enemy they encountered.
They made it to the edge of town with only one close encounter. They’d simply remained still and under a concealment spell while the guards passed. Wizards were part of these patrols as well. Jolan was certain they were fairly low level wizards. Even Ale’ald couldn’t have enough wizards to assign the higher level individuals to such duty.
From this point they were wholly dependent on the information they had stripped from the captured pilot during her stressful interrogation. No maps of Belar had been located, and none of the spies had penetrated this far. The path they would be following had been created based on the descriptions of the place from the interrogation.
Single file, they moved deeper into the town. Fortunately it wasn’t that big a place, and the pilot hadn’t mislead them. They came to a large field that had been cleared and on which Jolan could see three parallel strips extending into the distance. Runways. He didn’t know what had been used to get the flat smooth surface, but they looked almost like something he’d see back on Earth. Off to the right side were several large buildings that Jolan was willing to bet were the hangers. While there were smaller buildings a bit closer, only two of the structures looked large enough to hold the gliders.
The moons were up now, and gave a bit more light than they liked, forcing them to stick to the deepest of the shadows. They made their way around the perimeter until they came to the first of the buildings, and then started slipping past the smaller structures toward the suspected hangers. They had passed three structures, when voices could be heard in the structure to their left. They froze, erecting shields and concealment.
They held their position for five minutes, finally seeing a glow bulb go out on the second level of the structure. While they waited, Jolan had been scanning the other nearby structures for possible enemy, and realized they were holding a position adjacent to the building the captured flyer had described as the pilots’ barracks. It was currently dark suggesting that the men were asleep inside. Jolan’s eyes were about to move on, when he caught a small hint of movement on an upper level. He turned his head slightly for a better view and realized a man was standing at a railing and looking in their direction. Jolan watched to be certain, but the man’s position remained unchanged. He was clearly looking almost directly at the place they were holding their concealment. He must have seen something earlier. Jolan tapped Luzoke and one of the spy-mages and used finger language to indicate the situation. Luzoke tried to tap their leader and pass the warning, but the man had decided it was safe to move and dropped his concealment before he could be warned. Jolan watched as their observer straightened suddenly at the movement of the man on the ground. They’d been seen!
Decision time. The man would clearly sound a warning in a matter of seconds. Jolan could sense he’d already raised a shield, so the man was a wizard as expected. Jolan or Luzoke could certainly take him down with a spell, but there would be nothing subtle about doing so, and would most likely be detected. Someone would have to notice the sudden sharp draw of power associated with such an action. They had the spring-loaded darts, but the range was simply too great to reach, especially with any accuracy. He could see that Luzoke had reached the same decision. They’d have to risk it. Doing nothing would be certain to result in their being exposed.
Jolan had decided to let Luzoke take the wizard. His beam spells could punch through almost any shields. He was expecting to see the bright beam erupt from Luzoke’s position when suddenly an almost inaudible whoosh could be heard followed by a meaty “thunk”. The wizard slumped as something seemed to pin him against the wall, then he fell slowly forward, pitching off the balcony and falling to the soft ground below. Jolan could see a straight thin object sticking out of the wall where the man had been standing.
An arrow! It took a certain special kind of arrow to take out a wizard who’d already raised his shield. Jolan knew one person who had such arrows, and watched as a familiar figure materialized at the side of the building behind them and silently flowed in their direction. Asari gave Jolan a guilty grin, then continued past to check on the downed man. Jolan followed, and after they confirmed the man was dead, he helped Asari pull the man into the bushes where he’d be out of sight long enough for them to complete their mission.
Jolan wanted to unload on Asari for following them. His presence could have risked the mission. At the same time, it was hard to find fault with someone who had most likely saved the mission instead. They’d have to have a talk at a later time. He’d be real curious how Asari had gotten past the barrier.
Jolan and Asari slipped quietly back with the others and the group continued on to their target destination. The first of the structures was large, some kind of barn. It was made of old and dried wood, and Jolan suspected it would burn well. While it worked well to conceal the planes, it had not been designed to be a secure structure, and they had no problem making their way inside. Four of the gliders sat inside. Five of the remaining gliders, assuming their count was correct, were missing. That was the same number that had been used in the attacks to the north when Ale’ald had taken Belth. Unless they were in the other building, some of the aircraft would escape their intended actions this night.
While the three spy-mages made a check for guards, Jolan, Asari and Luzoke had a look at the other contents of the barn. Along the sides of the barn were all the supplies needed to keep the gliders flying. There were several hundred of the launching rockets, JATO bottles in Jolan’s mind, although these were squat and had wheels. It was immediately clear how the gliders were mounted on top of the mini-rockets for their run down the runway. The wheels on the “rocket modules” would make moving some of them around inside much easier, since they were heavier than he’d expected.
It was also clear why such care had been used on the runway. Without rubber tires available, the harder wheels being used needed the very smooth surface for maximum performance. There were also spare tires for the gliders, lots of lubricants and, along the north wall, huge lead-acid battery modules stacked next to a charging station. They had been lucky, Jolan realized, that flights had been suspended for a time. If the aircraft had been flying regularly, someone would have probably been here charging the cells. As it was, the place was quiet, except for a couple of guards that wouldn’t be waking up. The three spy mages had returned and indicated their status.
In a room off to the back they found the deadly payload. At least a hundred of the deadly gas canisters were stored in a separate room. Normally the gas and the rocket modules would have been stored in separate, carefully controlled bunkers, but Ale’ald was making do with what facilities they could find in the interest of expediency. Each canister appeared to have come from the factory fully charged, so they weren’t attempting to fill the canisters locally. Each was packed in a straw filled wooden box for protection. They could simply roll a number of the large booster assist rockets into the room, knock off the nozzles and maybe split a few cases, and the whole lot would go up in flames when they torched the structure. Some would probably explode and release some of the gas, so it wouldn’t go well for anyone too close when that happened.
While Jolan took a quick look around for anything that might tell him more, the others quickly set about inflicting mortal damage on the four aircraft. They had planned how to do this based on
the glider they had downed and studied. Then they surrounded each of the aircraft with the launch modules to ensure a combustible mix. Once everything was arranged so a single mage could use Firespell to set the whole building ablaze, they prepared to move on. One spy-mage remained behind, while the rest of them made their way to the second building.
Luck was with them. Inside sat the five remaining gliders. Quickly they set about duplicating their efforts and soon two more guards were dead and the second set of gliders were no longer capable of being flown. They would soon be incinerated into ash. A quick search of the building showed nothing of interest remained. There might be items in some of the other buildings, but they didn’t have time to take the risk. The gliders were the target, and before long the whole city would be awake when the attacks started along the waterfront. They left behind another of the spy mages to trigger the fire at Jolan’s signal or if anyone discovered their presence before that.
There was one more distasteful task remaining. The aircraft were weapons, but so were the pilots. Without pilots, Ale’ald wouldn’t be able to use new gliders even if they were delivered. If nothing else, eliminating these pilots would slow any future activities. Moving quickly, the four remaining men returned to the barracks building. It was a simple matter to gain entrance. These men had felt secure. They found the men sleeping in a large room on the second floor.
A mage can kill a non-mage easily in many ways. These were wizards, but they were asleep and had gone to sleep without shields. That made them as vulnerable as any non-mage. They weren’t innocents, Jolan reasoned. They had to know what poison they were dropping onto Seret, and flew mission after mission, many which killed thousands of noncombatants. Steeling himself against killing defenseless men, Jolan drew the small amount of power required and ended the lives of fourteen sleeping men. He knew it had to be done, but it still made him more than a bit queasy.
Jolan nodded to Luzoke, who quickly radioed the two spy-mages back at the two barns. They would set the fires, and make their way back here so the group could escape as a team. By the time they were downstairs, they could see the huge flames flickering over the top of an adjacent building. The two men came hurrying along moments later.
The fires hadn’t gone unnoticed. Getting out of the area was going to be much more difficult than getting in had been. They could see the movement of hundreds of men as teams rushed toward the burning buildings. Jolan knew that the guards would be on alert, and most likely additional patrols would already be moving into place. The direction they had come was a beehive of activity. They’d simply have to find an alternate route out. The possibility had been considered, but they hadn’t expected the enemy to react nearly so quickly.
“This way,” Asari whispered, pulling Jolan in a direction that seemed destined to take them away from the river.
“River’s that way,” Jolan whispered back, surprised that Asari, who seemed instinctively to know his bearings, could have gotten turned around.
Asari pulled him again. “Portal,” he said into Jolan’s ear.
Jolan looked at him for confirmation.
Asari nodded.
Jolan motioned the others and they headed in the indicated direction. Their current path resulted in motion that crossed the direction of the advancing men rather than directly opposed them. That made their movement a bit less suspect, but it was not enough to completely eliminate encounters. They had crossed to the far side of town when they encountered a relatively senior wizard. Their raised shields had not generated suspicion as they passed though the areas closer to where events were happening simply because almost every wizard had his shields raised as well. Jolan and his team had gone to the classic shield rather than the shield-pair so as not to advertise that such a thing existed. In this case they were moving away from the fires and excitement, and not only did Jolan and Luzoke, who were posing as wizards have shields, but the others who were dressed as senior military did as well. They’d been lucky before, but this time the obvious disconnect was observed.
The wizard called out to Jolan and demanded he identify himself. Jolan knew he wouldn’t be able to pass close scrutiny and, seeing they were in a relatively secluded area, lashed out with his strongest Firewrap spell. The wizard had been prepared against attack, but hadn’t been expecting anything quite so intense, and was unable to withstand the onslaught. His shield failed almost immediately, and the man inside was consumed by the intense fire that Jolan had unleashed.
Unfortunately the fire and the use of power had attracted other attention. An intense energy blast struck Luzoke’s shield. Had it been anyone else the result would have been instantly fatal, but Luzoke was no slouch when it came to shields. Still, the beam rivaled anything Jolan had seen to date, and had caused Luzoke’s shield to glow slightly pink. Jolan’s eyes followed the attacking beam back to the source instinctively. Luzoke was already firing back, the strength of his energy beam so intense the air literally crackled as it blasted toward the enemy. His beam had little effect, and seemed to splash off and be absorbed easily by the stout shield around the three wizards standing together.
A triad, Jolan realized, having seen the same thing during the encounter at sea. This was the second time he’d seen wizards linked like this. He hoped this wasn’t a skill that was readily learned and was becoming a cornerstone of the Ale’ald wizards. Something special was going to be required here if they were to get past these three men. He sensed his full power added to Luzoke’s wasn’t going to break the shield of the triad. The spy-mages with Jolan and Luzoke scattered, seeking some kind of cover. They knew their own shields would not stand up to such an assault.
Taking a chance on something he had only briefly experimented with, Jolan formed a ring of no-magic around the triad, using the spell he’d learned from Oscar’s crystal. It didn’t seem to help. Jolan could sense the impossibly strong shields were still in place. It might never do him any good, but he’d just learned that an existing condition didn’t seem to be affected by the no-magic zone. Jolan was expecting another blast from the three when once again Asari came into the fray with one of the arrows. The wizard on the left suddenly crumpled as the arrow flew through the shield and passed through the man’s chest. As he died, so did the triad’s shield. The remaining two wizards tried to recover and quickly raise their own individual shields. They were confused when nothing happened. Not wanting to give them a chance to think about what might be the cause or allow them the opportunity to simply move out of the dead zone circle he’d created, Jolan blasted the one on the left out of existence. Luzoke followed suit with an intense energy-beam, and dispatched the other even before Asari could release the second shaft.
It was time to get out of here. They had to detour around several more advancing groups, but at the north edge of the town, buried back in an alley behind a tavern, was one of the stone portals just as Asari had claimed.
“How could you know?” Jolan asked as they approached the structure.
“Guard back at the gates told me,” Asari said with a grin.
Chapter 141
Shyar was confused by the sudden shifts in Jolan’s location. More than once in the past couple of weeks she suddenly realized she was sensing him at a significantly different bearing from where she’d come to expect him. Given the distances involved, the shift she was sensing represented a significant linear movement. It was if he’d moved many weeks of travel in a matter of moments. Always, after some amount of time, she’d realize he was back at the familiar location.
At first she’d thought her new sense was failing her, but later decided there was something else at work here. Once when she’d tried to contact Tishe, she’d been pushed away with a sense the girl was too busy at the time. On that occasion she’d realized both Jolan and the girl were shifted from their normal bearing. Whatever had been going on, they’d both been involved. She’d tried to raise the matter with Tishe and, while she got the distinct impression the girl knew exactly what she was asking, she
refused to address the matter. The matter really annoyed Shyar. If the two of them ever ended up face to face, she’d have a few words to say on the matter.
For now, she had plenty of other matters to occupy her attention. She’d managed to beat the cage. She could now escape from it at will, and had spent a glorious three hours late the other night wandering free while the household was asleep. It might be possible to actually attempt an escape, but for the moment she knew far too little of the world outside, what direction she should head and what to expect. Patience, she reminded herself. Once she revealed her escape, it was very unlikely that she’d get another chance. Besides, there was far too much to learn here at the moment.
Given Cheurt’s attitude the past couple of days, she didn’t think now was the time to take too many chances. He was in a foul mood, and would react very poorly if she were discovered. If she could do little things to make things worse for him, maybe he would get careless or make bad decisions. Clearly, things were going badly for Ale’ald at the moment. The war seemed to seesaw. Not too long ago there had been celebration after they’d made further inroads into Seret. Now, it seemed that someone had managed to destroy the entire airforce Ale’ald had created.
Shyar had been shocked to learn Ale’ald had somehow managed to create flying vehicles. Jolan had told her about Earth and airplanes, but they seemed an impossible creation here given the state of technology. Clearly Cheurt’s efforts on Earth had paid off. The gliders had made most of Ale’ald’s initial gains in the war possible, and now they were no more. Shyar didn’t know many of the details. There had been too much noise and confusion when the messages had come in and she hadn’t been able to overhear the telegraph, but they had apparently been destroyed where they were stored, along with the supporting equipment. Most of Ale’ald’s pilots had been killed as well. It was a major setback.
