“So, the archives are closed, outstanding,” said Cid, rubbing his forehead as he sat at the dining table. “But you were able to get some sketches of those maps?”

“Mostly, yes,” said Silvius. “We didn’t have a lot of time to work with, so they’re not my best work if I’ll be honest.”

“It’s better than nothing,” said Cid, holding out his hand to look at the sketch. Studying the lines carefully. Cid lifted an eyebrow up before looking back at Silvius. “And this is your worse sketches?”

“Maybe not worst, per se, but I know I could better.”

“Hey Doc,” said Cid as he gestured the doctor over, “Take a look at this.”

Leonidas came over, looked at the sketch and back at Silvius. “How much time did you have to do this?”

“About an hour, more or less.”

“Damn,” said Leonidas, “If you ever want a career change you can make a killing at map making.”

“Actually, I was a mapmaker before I got into this line of work,” said Silvius chuckling nervously.

“That makes a lot of sense, then,” said Cid. “Well, I think we have enough to get started. Grab your gear and be ready to move out in the morning.”

“I’ll grab a couple of things for the trip and prep my armor,” said Leonidas moving up to his chambers.

“Wait, when did he have armor?” asked Hypatia.

“Oh, he has a whole thing upstairs,” Jeanne said. “Different armors, weapons, do-dads, what-nots, the works.”

“You must’ve been like a child enjoying a wild assortment of treats.”

“I was when I got this,” she said, gleefully when presenting her new war-hammer.

“Is that why there’s a strong aroma in here all of a sudden?” Cid asked, covering his nose.

Jeanne had a puzzled look as she pondered the question. Then a terrified look came over before she bolted up the stairs, slammed the door and a series of panicked yelps came from the floor above.

“Did no one else smell that?” Cid asked.

“I was told not it wasn’t polite to bring it up,” said Silvius.

Hypatia shrugged. “I have smelled much worse.”

“Thought it was one of Doc’s patients,” said Benkin.

“I didn’t want to seem catty by accident,” said Sianna, letting out a stifled cough.

“There was a smell?” Kveldulf asked, causing everyone to turn to him. “Oh, because you’re all lords of the whiff!”

***

Kveldulf leaned against the pillar, watching Silvius and Hypatia examine the stone etchings, tapestries and other artworks hanging from the walls. Maeryn was leaning on a column next to him on the other side. Her gaze was moving constantly, never staying on one spot for more than a few seconds. She also gripped her bow tightly and had one arrow already notched on the string.

He walked over to where Maeryn was standing. She spotted him, letting out a soft hmm before going back to looking around the room again.

“Everything all right?” he asked her.

She nodded. “I’m fine. Just not a fan of this place.”

“You look like you’re expecting a monster to come out of nowhere.”

“I mean we did kill a large snake lady. And you saw a flesh monster. Who knows what else is here,” she said, tapping her foot rapidly.

She said nothing, her eyes still moving around constantly.

“Sianna?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you to go to the other room for a moment?”

“What if something comes out?”

“We’re still be within earshot, and, honestly, there isn’t much we can’t see from the doorway.”

Both moved to the threshold of the antechamber. Maeryn kept her eyes on Silvius and Hypatia as she spoke to Kveldulf.

“Feeling better?”

“Not really, if I’m being honest.”

“Is it because of where we’re at?”

“Somewhat. Being in here just reminds me of when we fought for the first time and …”

“Oh, oh …” Kveldulf said in a long drawn-out response. “I didn’t think you were still torn up about that.”

“Kel, you almost died because I wasn’t doing my part.”

“We were in the middle of a skirmish, and then we fought an ogre,” Kveldulf said “I …” He stopped, seeing her looking away and frowning as she pressed her lips together tightly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be dismissive.”

“I know. It’s just I was trained to be good at spotting threats and dealing with them quickly. I was trained to be a hunter, to sneak and not be seen or heard. Not to be caught off guard and have someone take two arrows meant for me. You almost died because I couldn’t do my job. And now I’m worried that the next time I can’t do what I’m supposed to do, we may not be so lucky.”

“I can’t say I don’t feel the same any time we go out and face the unknown. And I know I’d be feeling horrible if the situation had been reversed. But I will say this, you’ve more than been able to pull your weight since we first met.”

Maeryn turned away from the room, letting out a small groan.

“And when you hit Belthory in her eyes before she could think twice, that was amazing!”

“I was surprised that worked.”

“With the way that fight went down, I’m glad she didn’t have her eyesight.”

“Yeah, that was not a fun one.”

“And then with what you did on The Bellamy Blade, that literally got us out of a bad spot.”

“That was a pretty good shot.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask where you learned how to use a bow like that?”

“My father was a member of the Brecon Guard during the campaigns back home in Glyndwr.”

“Really? I can imagine the training was intense.”

“It was, but he wasn’t cruel about it. He explained that an archer needed to be able to hit what she could see. And you need to be aware of your surroundings at a moment’s notice.”

“For what it’s worth you make it look effortlessly easy.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“You should’ve seen me when I was first learning how to use a bow. There were a few shots even I was unable to explain how I did it.”

“Oh, I can imagine there were a few wild ricochets during that time.”

“Let’s say they made sure heirlooms were safely put away when practice began.”

“I hope that wasn’t something they continued after you improved.”

“They’d joke about it, but I knew it was in good humor.”

“Did you join your father with the Brecons?” Kveldulf asked.

“I was considering it, but I wanted to explore the world and what it had to offer.”

“How long were you doing that before you ran across Ben, Sil and Hypatia?”

“About three months, when I met Ben. We were sailing on the same ship and he was a helped me get used to sailing on a ship for a long length of time.”

“And our two academics?”

“They were advertising for a bodyguard and a hunter for their expedition. And we were looking for some steady pay. Not exactly how I expected this to turn out. But it has been an interesting journey to say the least.”

“It’s definitely been something. Not a bad tale to tell when this is all over.”

“You think this is something we’ll make it out of?”

“I’d like to think so,” said Kveldulf, sifting in his armor, “Even if we have a fool’s hope to make it out of this.”

“It’s starting to feel that this is well past any of us are prepared for.”

“Maeryn, this was supposed to be a simple bandit bounty. Show up, stab some outlaws, maybe nab some quick loot, and move onto the next job. This was maybe, and this is a very loose maybe, something we’d be doing a few years down the road.”

“You were expecting this down the road?”

“I’d like to think I have an active imagination.”

“Probably a good way to pass the time when sailing,” said Maeryn.

“It was that or start conversing with the seagulls.”

“Oh, that was always something.”

“Especially Bob, he was an odd one.”

“You gave them names, too?”

“Yeah, though they never came when you called them.”

“They were insufferable, weren’t they?”

“Gods yes.”

They turned to Silvius as he called out to them. “Um, I think we found something.”

The moved into the room and towards Silvius and Hypatia who were standing near an unlit brazier nearby the blood pool. “What did you find, Silvius?” Kveldulf asked.

Silvius lifted his torch to the wall, illuminating a stone relief of a star map. It displayed a rectangular indentation, with figures where the Black Masque of Calanband, plain, smooth, without markings. In their right hands held torches lifted high, streams of fire moving down and to the pool with a map of the city and the surrounding realm inside.

“I am intrigued and highly confused,” said Kveldulf.

“As was I,” said Silvius. “But I think I figured out what it means.”

“I am not above asking for help.”

“So, there was an old technique used in the old eras to hide maps and the like from unwanted eyes. Sort of a hidden in plain sight thing,” said Silvius.

“And this was something used here?” Maeryn asked.

“I believe so,” said Silvius. “The figures there were holding torches around the map, which was a key part of the process.”

He took his torch and lit a near by braziers, moving around the pool until they were all lit in the room. Maeryn looked into the pool, her eyes filled with shock as she said, “Something’s happening!”

As everyone turned to the pool, light from the braziers moved down, waterlike in its motion. Flowing down to the deepness of the pool, the city of Koulberg and the lands in its realm was seen through the redness of the blood-water.

“I’m sort whether to be impressed or exceptionally unnerved,” said Kveldulf, turning to Silvius and Hypatia. “No offense.”

“None taken,” Silvius said, looking down at the map in wonder and abhorrence.

“How many people died to make this?” Maeryn asked.

“Too many,” said Hypatia. “Stories go this wasn’t the only map Callandan had at during his reign. And he decreed the water would not grow cold or stall under his darkened gaze.”

“That would definitely explain the missing people and animals,” said Maeryn.

“And only the gods knows, what would happen to the bodies afterwards,” said Kveldulf.

“Look!” said Hypatia, pointing to the blood map. “There’s more showing!”

Within the center of the city was a great light, outshining all others within the metropolis. Then down the winding road towards The Unyielding Fortress before spreading across and touching five points along the outermost edges of the map.

“I think we may need to consult the good doctor,” said Hypatia.

“Agreed,” said Silvius. “I’ll go do that now.”

Silvius moved out of the room, coming back with Leonidas and the rest from the upper floor. As the doctor looked at the blood pool and the glowing map underneath. He knelt down, examining the lines with great care. “All right, this explains a few things,” Leonidas said as he rose to his feet.

“What do the lines mean,” Cid asked.

“More or less, this fortress is what’s called a place of union. It’s where two or more ley lines converge.”

“And what does that mean?” Kveldulf asked.

“It could mean a multitude of things. But depending how much energy is running through the lines, its impossible to tell what exactly can be done.”

“What’s the worse that could be done with them?”

Leonidas growled as his head tilted to his left. “It could range from opening up a whole to a whole new plane of reality, summon an army or just a single demon, and daemonic resurrection is not off the table.”

“Oh gods,” said Jeanne, “That’s just wonderful.”

“So, these people could summon a hell on earth?” asked Benkin.

“That is a viable possibility.”

“Well, I think a hole in the ground is becoming rather desirable,” said Benkin.

“We to tell someone back at Koulberg,” said Hypatia.

“The Council won’t listen,” said Leonidas, “We’re already in their sights and they’re looking for a reason to throw us into the city dungeons.”

“Maybe we should go to the camps and see if we can get some evidence to push the Council into action,” said Silvius.

“Do we have time to check out each camp if time is of the essence?” asked Kveldulf.

Cid scratched the back of his head, troubled with thought. “We don’t have the evidence and the Council won’t believe us, and if we get the evidence, there may not be a city left to save.”

“Even if we go now, the only thing different than last time is we found ley lines,” said Leonidas. “If you don’t know what all information that entails, such as The Council, then it would be no different than speaking to them in a different language.”

“Then we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place,” said Cid.

From the floor above the noise of steel grinding together began to be heard. Everyone turned their gaze up. “The hell is that,” asked Kveldulf.

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it,” said Benkin.

Leonidas’s eyes moved around as he tried to pinpoint the familiar sound before …

“Oh shit!” he cursed, running up to the stairs.

The others followed as they returned to the library. The ley stone glowed brightly, pulsating with increasing rapidity. As it reached a blindingly intense radiance a low growl shook the walls around them. Sparks crackled and shot from the heart of the ley stone. Leonidas shouted, “Get down!” as a beam of magic fired within the stone and through the walls and the fortress.

As the noise and shaking settled, everyone slowly rose to their feet. “The hell was that?” Silvius asked breathlessly.

“Someone did something on one of the lines,” said Leonidas.

“That’s not tell us a whole –” said Kveldulf before the doctor interrupted.

“I don’t fucking know, all right!” he screamed, “I don’t know the incantation said, the tools used, what items or people were given to power the spell, I don’t even know where the fuck the damn thing took place at, let alone gods knows what else. There is a lot more to magic then slapping some fucking words together, making some haphazard hand gestures and hoping something happens. And other then a shit ton of energy was used for it, I do not know.”

There was a stillness in the room as everyone got to their feet. Leonidas, removing his helm, ran his fingers through his head.

“I’m sorry, just a little on edge,” he said to Kveldulf.

“No, it’s all right,” Kveldulf replied calmly, patting the doctor’s shoulder, “I know you’re doing what you can. We’re all under a lot of pressure.”

“Can we tell where it was going?” Hypatia asked.

“Hold on, I might have something,” Leonidas said, reaching into his satchel.

He pulled out a compass and opened the cover. Inside were two needles, one resting on the needle, the one above floating just over that in two separate parts.

“What does that do, Doc?” Benkin asked.

“You can use it to find out where some came from, or in this case where it is going. I still can’t tell you it’s origin point, but it will narrow down to a small selection.”

“Do you need a map?” Hypatia asked.

“That would do wonder, Hypatia, please.”

She pulled out a map of the region from her bag and laid it next to Leonidas. The doctor placed the compass and darted his eyes back and forth between the map and compass.

“So, it came from north-northwest,” Leonidas said to the others. He looked at the compass once more to see half of the ley needle pointing straight into the heart of Koulberg itself. “We need to get to the city, now.”