Ander sat on a ledge near the top of the cavern. He was obscured pretty well by the hanging stalactites, making sure that nobody from the forward base below was able to see him. The cavern was large, and had a flat even floor over most of the area, which made it ideal for building. Ander didn’t get, at least not at first, why they would build their base in the middle of the cavern. It wasn’t until he saw a bunch of spiders come out of one of the tunnels leading to the ruins that he understood. Under normal conditions, blocking off the tunnels, or putting them under heavy guard would be ideal. But they had turned these monster incursions from a boring guard duty to a training opportunity for the newest soldiers. Ander recognized a couple of the boys fighting the spiders as members of his own clutch. With only one or two of the weakest spiders, even the new recruits could kill them if they ganged up.

But that really didn’t interest him, and he kept his gaze on the forward base. It comprised a number of buildings. There was a barracks, a mess, a storage facility, and an office if Ander had his guess. There was also another building, but he had seen so few people go in and out it was hard to identify it. He had been watching for hours, not wanting to make a scene like what happened with the maps. It seemed that while the soldiers slept in shifts, activity never seemed to die down completely. Any time a monster attacked there was always a group to fight it, and adventuring parties seemed to come and go at all hours.

Which meant that there was no convenient night time for Ander to exploit. Men were swarming the area no matter what time it was. That said, it was always dark in the caverns, and they were using a number of ways to light up the camp. The most common was a type of blue fungus that was powerfully bioluminescent, but torches and light emitting magical artifacts were also used. Ander had to assume that due to the lack of smoke in the chamber that there were some sort of air shafts being used to provide fresh air.

But even with the numerous forms of lighting employed, it was still quite dark, and there were shadows everywhere. Which meant that there were places to hide, even with the forward base being so busy. But more than that, there was laughable security. Sure there were always people to fight the monsters, but there was not a single guard except for in front of the storehouse. Ander knew that they were pretty far behind Crimson Star’s front lines, but still.

The storehouse was very close to the edge of camp, but the door faced forward. Ander would have to find a way through the back. He would be very surprised if there wasn’t one already. The only building that Ander would have to pass was the odd one he couldn’t identify. A man exited the mess hall and departed from the normal routes everyone took. It was immediately obvious that he was making his way to the odd building, carrying two trays of food. He went in, dropped them off, and left. Which meant that there were two men stationed inside, doing something that they couldn’t leave to get a meal. That was interesting, but unless it was a guard post, it meant little to Ander. Since they had just gotten food, Ander figured it would be quite a while before they got another visitor.

Satisfied that he had gleaned all that he could, Ander slipped down from his ledge and started to make his way toward the camp. Bits of rock and debris, stalagmites, and other irregularities gave him cover as he approached the camp. His first goal was the odd building. It had no windows, and so would be the perfect cover for most of his approach. He started and stopped as men came into his line of sight and then left, and was pleased to see a couple men sneak into the storehouse through a loose board in the back, and then leave. Ander chuckled quietly to himself. He had known that there was a way in. Ander made his way to the back of the odd building, and was peering around when he heard a conversation from inside the building.

“You do know you can get yourself out of here at any time, correct?” The voice was strong and confident, despite its obvious youth. “You only have to tell us about the guy. It isn’t like he is your friend, the way he left you hanging out to dry.”

“If I thought that telling you would do anything I would have told you long ago. But the truth is, we barely spoke.What I can tell you, and have told you multiple times, is that the man is fairly smart. He was able to follow along when I described my reading, and very few are able to do that. Other than that, he wasn’t interested in making friends, and our conversations were always rather one sided.” Ander nearly stood up in shock. That was Karsish in there! The last Ander had seen the man, he had been barricaded behind a fortress of books in the library. But now he was here. Why? The conversation lulled while Ander’s thoughts raced. Were they talking about him? Ander supposed it made sense. And this building was a jail. Which meant that they had likely captured and imprisoned Karsish because of Ander. Karsish was smart, smarter than anyone Ander had ever met, but he wasn’t notable enough to warrant this kind of treatment on his own.

Ander tried to tell himself that he didn’t owe Karsish anything. But he immediately realized he was lying to himself. Karshish had been both kind and generous, even if he came across a bit pushy at times. And his troubles were obviously due to Ander’s actions. Ander sighed, knowing that his simple trip just became much harder.

Karsish was fine. By his tone of voice he was not being tortured or anything of the sort. Which meant that he could be left safely while Ander went to find the solvent. At the right time, Ander made a dash to the back of the warehouse, and lifted aside the loose board. Upon slipping in, Ander found what he had expected to see. Rows of shelves holding various things, including food, camping supplies, and other odds and ends. Ander stored a few items, some bundles of food as well as a full set of camping supplies. He tried to keep it to things that wouldn’t be noticed, at least not at first. But in all the things he had looted from the Aetherworks Foundry, there was not a single camping item in the entire place.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

When Ander finally made it to the other side, he found several large barrels with ominous warnings painted on the sides. One of them was tapped, and without the warnings, it looked like a beer keg. Ander found a half full box of flasks like the one he had taken from the adventuring group, and concluded that this was the solvent he was looking for. He also found a smaller barrel of the treatment they used to make their armor less sticky to the webs. He stored them both, taking from locations where the theft would not be immediately visible. He then froze as another man slipped in through the back of the warehouse. The man snuck in Ander’s direction, and Ander gripped the hilt of his sword, ready to draw. But eventually, the man grabbed a pair of bottles off one of the shelves and retreated back outside.

Ander let out a small sigh of relief until the front door was thrown open, and the guard outside watched the board be replaced.

“I knew it!” The guard yelled in outrage. “I knew you thieves were getting in here!” He then proceeded to run around the back. Without time to consider, Ander threw on the red cloak, and walked out the front door. Several men noticed him and snickered, giving him a subtle thumbs up and beckoning him over.

“That was a close call.” One of them said, “Did you get anything good?” Ander considered for a moment, before pulling a clay booze bottle out from beneath his cloak. The men oohed for a moment before the first man spoke again. “I have some fireweed that I can trade for some good stuff like that.”

“How much?” Ander asked. He wasn’t really interested in this fireweed, but he had to play the part if he was to get out of here.

“I can give you a full pouch for booze this good. I’ll even throw in a pipe.” The man was staring greedily at the clay bottle, and Ander figured that this was a good enough trade for his purposes.

“Sure, that sounds great. I needed a new pipe anyway.” Ander said, and they quickly traded items before going their separate ways. Ander wandered around the forward base for a few minutes, marveling at how few people took a second look at him. He hadn’t realized how good it felt to be able to blend in, and not be the target of everyone’s hatred. But soon enough he made his way to the jail. He opened the door quickly, slipping inside and closing the door in one clean motion. The light spilled out for just a moment, before being contained inside once again. Inside was an area with a couple desks, as well as a whole wall of barred cells.

What Ander had originally thought of as a horrible prison was really no more than a drunk tank. And there, in the cell farthest from the door, sat Karsish. A guard sat not too far away from him, and it was clear they were having a more or less amicable chat. Which was really quite underwhelming. With their encounters recently, Ander had built up the Crimson Stars to be this nefarious organization out to control everyone’s lives. Maybe it was that. But it was obvious that at least inside the organization things were peaceful, and the people were respectful.

That didn’t stop Ander from using his power to choke out the guard the instant the man opened his mouth. Of course, he didn’t kill the man. He did just enough to render the man unconscious, at which point he turned to the gaping Karsish, and grinned.

“Ready to get out of here?” Ander asked.

“Umm, uhh, Ander? What are you doing here? This is the middle of Crimson Stars territory!” Karsish stopped to get his breath. He was about to roll into another set of questions but Ander stopped him before he could go on.

“I can tell you anything you want to know, but for now we have to leave.”

“Leave?” Karsish asked. “Leave where?”

“I have a small hideout in the ruins where we can go.” Ander smiled. “It is pretty nice if I do say so myself.”

“Hideout? Ruins? This is like the third day we have been here. How have you done this?”

“Not really important at this very moment. We have maybe a minute before the guard wakes up.” Ander dragged the guard to Karsish’s cell, and unlocked the cell with the guard’s key. He then proceeded to replace the manacles that had been holding Karsish onto the guard, and then gagged him for good measure. “There we go. That should buy us an hour or two.” Ander smiled at the horrified Karsish.

“How are we going to get out.?” Karsish asked, fear obvious in his voice.

“I am going to get out by using a tunnel that connects high on the cavern’s wall. You will ride along, hopefully.”

“And what do you mean by ride along?” Karsish asked suspiciously.

“This.” And Ander reached out, and stored Karsish. He was surprised it had worked. He had suspected that the system would have given Karsish a choice as to whether or not to be stored, but that did not seem to be the case. There were so many ways he could abuse this! He then summoned Karsish to stand in front of him, who seemed shell shocked.

“So, how did you like it?” Ander asked with a grin on his face.

“That ship… That ship was of early creation origin!” Ander saw the excitement grow in Karsish’s face. “Can you send me back there? I have to go back there! This is a research opportunity of a lifetime!”

“Woah, sure thing I guess.” and like that, Ander stored Karsish again. After that he fled back into the darkness of the tunnels making his way back toward his hideout.