Returning to Rindu, they told him that they couldn’t figure out how to scale the cliffs. He got to his feet and told them to wait for him as he started walking slowly toward where they had just been. He brushed his hand lightly against the stone of the cliff as he walked.
The cliffs themselves were unnaturally straight, almost like they had been cut to be a sheer wall. There was none of the scree or rockfall that would normally be present littering the base of the cliff, but instead the bare vertical stone met the ground at nearly a right angle. It was obvious that the area had been meticulously cleaned and was maintained so as not to have any type of platform on which to start climbing.
Soon, the Zouy was almost out of sight, walking slowly and trailing his hand along the cliff’s surface. Occasionally, he would stop for a moment, but never for long. Sam and Nalia looked at each other questioningly. Sam shrugged, and sat down with his back to the cliff wall, looking outward across the barren landscape. It was only a few hours until dawn at this point, and the urgency of the situation was tugging at him. He was worried that they had come all this way, only to be foiled by something as mundane as a stone cliff.
When Rindu returned, he bade them to follow him and he walked purposefully toward where he had just been. After about a half a mile, he stopped abruptly, turned and faced them. “Here is where we will enter,” he told them.
Sam and Nalia both looked at the cliff face. It looked exactly the same as all the other rock surfaces of the cliff. Sam spoke first, “Enter? How are we going to enter?”
Rindu’s mouth twitched into the shadow of a smile. “This fortress belonged to the Arzbedim before the Gray Man destroyed them and took it for himself. The Arzbedim were a group of rogue Zouyim who put their own greed for money and power above the honorable tradition of the Zouyim order.” He looked at them significantly, “They did not, however, completely change themselves. They were still trained as Zouyim and though they developed different abilities, much of what they did was based on what they learned in the Zouyim Temple.”
“Father,” Nalia interjected. “I know you enjoy making your students guess to determine the lesson for themselves, but we have not the time for this. Please explain simply what you have found and how it can help us. It will be daylight soon.”
“Of course. My apologies, Iba. What I have found is this.” He closed his eyes briefly and put his hand on the stone surface of the cliff. Sam thought he heard sound coming from the monk’s closed lips, but wasn’t sure. In his rohw-sensitive sight, he saw a brief glow and then the cliff’s wall suddenly shimmered like the surface of a clear lake disturbed by a slight breeze. The shimmering increased and then a portion of the wall was simply not there. In its place was a doorway roughly as wide as an average man and just high enough for him to enter without scraping his head.
Stepping back, Rindu waved toward the doorway. “The stone was only partially in this world, vibrating at just the right frequency that a little nudge pushed it somewhere else. It has an affinity to this world, however, so when I stop forcing the area to vibrate as I am doing, it will snap back into existence, sealing the passageway again. It is a very old Zouyim method used for capping cisterns and the like. It is the first time I have ever heard of it being used for a passageway, though. It was very difficult to detect. There are probably several such passageways, used in the past for secret missions for which the Arzbed did not want others to know he or she was leaving or returning to the fortress.”
“Well then,” Sam said. “What are we waiting for? Let’s see where it leads.” Causing the tip of his staff to glow, he stepped into the passageway, closely followed by the other two humans and Skitter. Once they were all past the doorway, Rindu allowed the door to materialize again, causing the darkness to sweep in on them, seeming to resist the the light Sam had provided.
Rindu squeezed by the others to get in the lead. Using his rohw sensitivity, he didn’t need Sam’s light. Just ahead of them were stairs that were carved into the rock itself, so steep that they were almost like a ladder.
“Do you think this passageway goes under the walls and into the fortress itself?” Sam asked.
“I would not think so. Relying on only one doorway would be foolish. Knowing how paranoid the Arzbedim were, I think it probably ends somewhere outside the walls. Unfortunately, getting through the walls will probably be its own challenge.”
Silently, the four made their way up the steep stairs. At no time did the stairs go straight up. Instead, they angled to the left, like a subtly turning spiral staircase would, occupying just a small section of the cliff itself. The air was dank and musty and Sam was feeling claustrophobic, even though the passageway was wide enough for him to travel up the stairs without his shoulders hitting the walls. They went up the stairs for a very long time, it seemed to Sam.
By the time they came to the top of the passageway, Sam had no idea which direction they were facing. The stairs ended suddenly at a stone ceiling, the top step of the stairs mere inches below the cold stone. Rindu stood silently for a moment, focusing on something out of sight, past the stone ceiling. Finally, with a nod, he directed Sam to extinguish his light. Once in the deep blackness that can only be experienced in the bowels of the earth, he repeated the procedure he had performed below, including the sounds that Sam still could not understand, and the ceiling shimmered out of existence.
The light pouring into the stairway was brighter than Sam would have thought. At first, he was afraid that they had been found out, but he quickly realized it was just in contrast with the utter dark of the stairway so that it appeared to be brighter. The stars and half moon showed the stone walls not twenty feet away, dark and imposing in the pale light.
One more obstacle completed, Sam thought to himself.
Yes, but still more to go before we are finished, Skitter answered, startling Sam. He had forgotten that the hapaki was there and that he probably heard everything Sam thought. Yes, everything, Skitter sent, conveying laughter along with it.
Finding the way the Arzbedim used to traverse the walls was easy. There was a massive stone door close to where the stairway opening was. After several attempts at probing the door, Rindu looked disgusted. “It is only a door. There is no vibrational energy trigger or mechanism. It is several feet thick and it is barred with massive wooden beams with metal rods running through the center of them. There is no way to break in. Rather, there is no way to break in silently. We must find another way.”
The stone wall in front of them was impressive. According to Rindu, it was at least a dozen feet thick, solid stone, and built with the stones stacked directly on top of each other. Each massive stone weighed several tons and the seams between them were so perfectly fitted that a piece of paper could not have been slid between them. There would be no climbing this wall by using the space between stones. In addition to being very thick, the wall was high, at least fifty feet, too far to throw a rope with a grappling hook, even if they had a grappling hook.
Sam looked out across the barren buffer zone. Was the sky lightening? Was it almost dawn already? He knew they had to get inside the walls and into the fortress itself before it was light outside or they would be vulnerable to being spotted by the guards patrolling the top of the wall. Even now, Sam could see a pair of guards with torches making their way from his right toward his left along the top of the massive stone structure. He sniffed. Even he knew that the torches were probably ruining the guards’ night vision. The soldiers were complacent.
The party quietly discussed what they could do for several minutes before Rindu came up with the only reasonable plan. Though Sam didn’t think it was very reasonable, or probable, he agreed because there simply was no other way they could think of, short of going to the main gate and trying to get in that way. If they did that, they would alert all the forces within the fortress that they were there and they would not survive to get inside.
Rindu took up the handful of bronze throwing spikes they had brought and tied a rop
e around his waist. He looked quickly at each of the others, nodded, and set to work. Sam was anxious to see if Rindu could really pull off what he planned. Knowing it was the only way, Sam said a little prayer for luck under his breath and prepared to feed the rope out to the Zouy as he ascended.
Rindu stood motionless, eyes closed, gathering his energy. Then, he moved through some of the movements of the kori rohw, moving his arms in circular patterns, gathering energy from his surroundings. Sam watched as the monk gathered more and more energy, causing his hands to glow. He was glad there were no Arzbedim left in the fortress and at the same time hoped the Gray Man was not looking at the wall at the moment or Rindu would have been seen from a distance.
When he had gathered enough energy, Rindu poked two of his fingers into the stone of the wall with such speed that Sam didn’t even see the movement until it was done. The Zouy had punched his fingers into solid stone up to the second knuckle. Reaching up with his left hand, he repeated the motion and punched two more fingers into the stone. He started to climb.
Sam shook his head in disbelief. He had seen the Zouy break stone and do other amazing things, but this defied reason. Dangling by two fingers, Rindu punched holes in solid stone with two fingers on the other hand, then lifted himself up to repeat the process. Every ten feet or so, he would stop his smooth motions to remove a throwing spike from his belt pouch, concentrate, and drive it into the rock so he could stand on it for a short rest.
As he stood on his spike, Rindu would shake his arms and hands out, look toward the top of the wall to make sure there were not any guards, and then continue on. He did this tirelessly and smoothly. It was as great a feat of physical achievement as Sam had ever seen. He wondered if there were limits to the mage’s power. It seemed that there were not.
Sooner than could be expected, the Zouy was at the top of the wall. He looked along the walkway, first one way and then the other, then pulled himself up and landed softly on the top, appearing not to have lost any strength in his arms at all. Sam heard two soft scraping sounds, possibly the sound of spikes being driven into the stone to set an anchor and then the rope jerked three times.
It was the signal they had agreed upon. Nalia nodded to Sam, who had strapped Skitter into his backpack. Sam immediately started climbing the rope. Absently, he thought of how even a few short months ago, he would not have been able to climb a rope this long, but now he smoothly and efficiently made his way up to the top without fatigue slowing him too much. When he got to the top of the wall and went over the crenelated section, Rindu motioned toward one side of the wall. Sam gave three short tugs on the rope, and headed off to the other side of the walkway on top of the wall.
By the time Nalia crested the top, both had returned, not seeing any guards. They had timed the patrol and didn’t expect them for two more minutes, but had checked just to be sure. Before leaving, Rindu scurried down the rope to retrieve the handful of spikes he had driven into the wall, extracting them with the same energy-infused strength he had used to drive them in. He was soon at the top of the wall again and extracted the anchor spikes as Sam coiled the rope and put it into his backpack in the space Skitter had just vacated. Now it was on to the interior of the fortress.
Chapter 52
They found a stairwell that led to the ground level. The four shadows slipped silently down to a courtyard separating the wall from the actual fortress building. Hiding in a patch of darkness, Rindu motioned them close. “We have but one thing left to do. We must find the Gray Man and Dr. Walt. I would prefer we find Dr. Walt first and free him before confronting the Gray Man, if possible.
“We have two problems with this, however. We do not know where they are and the fortress contains many of the enemy forces. I believe I can home in on the leader because of the powerful vibrational energy that he emits, but we must be stealthy to avoid the soldiers.”
Sam nodded and swallowed. Twice. The gravity of the situation was settling in on him, making it difficult to speak. “We can go toward the Gray Man and hope that we find some clue as to where Dr. Walt is along the way. We may have to fight the Gray Man and his forces before looking for the doctor. I assume that the Gray Man can sense you and your power as easily as you sense him?”
“Yes, I believe that to be so.”
“Then we have no choice. Lead us to our enemy before he can sense you and prepare.”
Rindu turned to go, then stopped. Looking at Sam, he said, “Sam, I am proud of your progress and the man that you are. You are honorable and it has been my pleasure and my privilege to have trained you. I know you do not think so, but it is you who must face the Gray Man. My power is not sufficient and Nalia’s power is not sufficient. You have the potential to defeat him where we do not. Allow us to protect you from the others and go straight for him. Do you understand?”
Gulping again, Sam nodded. “Yes. But please, Master Rindu, don’t talk like this is the end. We’ll make it through. We’ll win. Somehow.”
The Zouy only nodded back, clasping Sam’s shoulder. The corners of his mouth twitched up briefly, but never quite formed a smile. Then he turned and headed toward a door at the edge of the courtyard.
Nalia came up to him and hugged him. Taking off her mask, she looked into his eyes, put both hands on the back of his head, and pulled him into a long kiss. “Do not die tonight, Sam. I would spend more time with you and death would make that difficult.” Kissing him again, she replaced her mask, released him, and headed off after her father.
“I, uh, you too,” he sputtered after she was too far to hear him. Please, Nalia, you stay alive, too. I can’t even think of living without you. For a wonder, Skitter didn’t say a thing. Sam felt affection, worry, and a determination to see the night through seeping into his mind from the hapaki. It was enough. There was no need for words. The two followed Nalia and Rindu.
For a change, the door from the courtyard into the hallways of the fortress main building was unlocked. The four slipped into the passageway into which the door led. This was apparently a side door and so emptied directly into a hallway going to the right and left. Rindu led the way, heading down the right side of the passage.
The hallway went on for some distance, doors and side passages every few feet. Their luck was in, it seemed, in that they found a main passageway. Sam kept fearing that one of the doors would open or that someone would suddenly appear in one of the side passages, but they saw no one and heard nothing of others. For all it seemed, the entire fortress could be abandoned.
Rindu stopped and swiveled his head left and right at the juncture of another passageway that cut directly across the hall they were in. Finally deciding on a direction, they took the hall to the right and went for a short distance before they heard men talking. Stopping and listening for a moment, Sam could pick out at least four distinct voices, but there were many other sounds that indicated that there could be more than four people in the room ahead.
Backtracking, Rindu brought them back to the hallway they were originally following and went down the other passage, continuing in their original path. After passing several more doors, Rindu brought the party up short again because of voices ahead of them. He motioned for them to come close and spoke. “I do not believe there is any way around it. In order to get to where we are going, we must get through one of these two areas. They both seem to have a half dozen soldiers, at the least, but I am unsure if there are others beyond that could hear if we attempt to engage them. Sam? What would you have us do?”
“There isn’t another way to get to where we need to go?”
“The two passages through which I sense the Gray Man have men in them. I believe we are at a point where we will no longer be able to use stealth. We can try to find Dr. Walt instead, but if we want to go to the Gray Man, the path lies through one of these groups of soldiers.”
Sam looked at his feet. He wasn’t sure what to do. He knew that they would eventually have to fight their way through but he had hoped it wouldn’t be unt
il much later. He also didn’t like that the number of men was unsure. If only they could get more information on what they would face.
I can slip around the corner and let you know how many there are, Skitter sent to him. In fact, I can let you see directly what I’m seeing.
That’s a great idea, he sent back, but dangerous. I don’t want you to put yourself at risk.
Humor radiated from the hapaki. They will not see me. I am too small for them to notice and I know well how to hide and move stealthily. It’s what we do, my people and I. Without waiting for an answer, the hapaki moved slowly to the corner of their passageway and the wider area ahead and slunk out of view.
Sam informed the other two humans what the hapaki was doing. Within seconds, he saw in his mind what his friend was seeing. Four men sat at a table playing some sort of game involving small rectangular tiles, almost like dominoes. Two men sat against the wall, one cleaning a weapon and the other picking his nails with a small dagger. Two more stood on the other side of the room, near a door, chatting quietly. Once Sam let Skitter know he had seen everything, the hapaki slunk back out of the room and back to the others.
After discussing it briefly, they had a plan of attack. They readied their weapons and waited for Rindu’s signal. When it came, they burst into the room, surprising the eight soldiers. Before the soldiers could move, the two by the door across the chamber dropped to the ground, both clutching the throwing spikes embedded in their throats. They didn’t make a sound as they burbled their last breaths and died.
The two bodies had not even hit the floor when Nalia dove across the room, rolling into a perfect somersault and landing on the table, scattering the game tiles and cutting down all four men with savage slashes to their throats with her shrapezi as she spun around, whipping the swords out to attack. The blows were so fast and powerful that two of the men’s heads flapped backward, almost completely severed, hanging on by the smallest bits of skin.
Harmonic Magic Series Boxed Set Page 35
