He groaned and fell into step behind her. Elenyr crept up the stairs into the fortress, and Shadow listened for any sign of presence. Serak and Draeken, as well as two of their generals, had been present five days ago. Shadow doubted they were here now, but Elenyr’s caution was prudent.
The chamber at the top of the stairs contained an assortment of weapons, swords, staffblades, and shields. The small armory sat adjacent to the main hall where the fragments had ejected Draeken. The armory had another door at the back which led to a wide, double staircase.
“I’ll search above,” Elenyr said. “You explore the rest of the basement.”
Shadow agreed and retreated back the way they had come. Pausing at the cask of magma ale, he conjured a dagger from darkness and thrust it into the wood. Withdrawing it, he morphed the dagger into a mug. He filled the mug and then sealed the breach. No need to waste the ale.
Sipping the expensive ale, he savored the burning flavor as he began to search the series of rooms beneath the fortress, all connected to a central hallway. He casually strolled between them, peeking into the rarely used chambers.
He didn’t expect to find anything, and was not disappointed. Serak was cautious, but only a zealot would protect his stores of food when they were already locked inside a secret fortress and protected by an army of golems.
He sipped his mug until he found a stash of tableware. Pouring the liquid into an actual mug, he continued to enjoy the exorbitantly expensive drink as he explored. When he found nothing, he made his way up the stairs.
Dim light glowed from a handful of orbs, and he was grateful he had swapped his shadow mug for a real one. The first floor above the great hall was empty, just a spacious receiving room and a collection of maps on a large table.
He ascended to the one above, and then into one of the towers. He guessed the place was empty. Serak had built the refuge in order to trap Draeken, so why would he remain once he had Draeken as his master?
He climbed the last tower, where he found Elenyr peering into the window of a small chamber. The crackle of energy indicated the room was bound by lightning. Elenyr whirled at his entrance, her sword coming free.
He retreated, avoiding losing his mug and protesting loudly. She glared at him and hissed for quiet, at which he advanced and joined her to peer into the small chamber. Elenyr pointed at the mug.
“Really?”
He took a sip. “Really.”
She snorted and motioned to the room. “This chamber is the only room outside of the great hall that’s protected by lightning. I suspect what we desire lies within. Think you can open the door?”
He morphed his finger into a key. “The challenge is doing it without spilling my ale.”
One handed, he pushed shadows into the key hole while Elenyr covered the nearest orb on the wall. With the increased solidity of the magic, he managed to rotate the door and ease it open, without spilling his mug. He grinned in triumph.
“Will you please get focused?” Elenyr asked, exasperated.
Shadow smirked and slipped into the chamber, which proved to be rather small. Containing a cabinet on one side and a desk on the other, the room contained much of interest. Shadow stepped to the cabinet while Elenyr examined the table.
“There’s a memory orb here,” he said. “And four containers.”
“For what?”
“If I knew, I would not have called them containers.”
She opened the tome on the desk and scanned the contents. “This is a private office,” she murmured. “Here he’s writing about his plans for Draeken.” She flipped to the end of the archive. “The final entry is after Draeken’s separation. It says he’s taking the final two vials.”
She rotated and looked to Shadow, who pointed to the four strange reservoirs in the cabinet. Each resembled the claws of a beast. Carved out of obsidian, the claws were pointed upward, as if they were intended to hold an object.
“One for each general?” Shadow asked.
“But what was in them?” she asked.
She bent and examined the book, searching the text. Shadow joined her, almost spilling his ale when he bent to read the final words. Elenyr cursed when she read them, and Shadow took her place, reading aloud.
“The vials of the Dark must not be broken, for they are the only way each general’s will can be leashed to my master . . .”
“That’s how he’s doing it,” Elenyr whispered. “He’s using the Dark to control the generals.”
Shadow sipped his drink, delighted with the turn of events. “This is the best war we’ve ever had.”
“I hope you’re enjoying it,” she said. “Because if we’re not careful, it’s going to be our last.”
He raised his mug as if to toast the event. “Then here’s to the final war.”
Chapter 6: An Old Friend
Shadow settled into the seat and put his feet on the desk as he listened to Elenyr. She opened the cabinet and took one of the claw shaped holders, murmuring to herself, a habit she’d had since Shadow’s youth.
“No magic can rob a man of his will,” she said, “but the Dark is not magic, and it alters the flesh of those it touches, turning them into extensions of itself. Serak must have trapped some of the Dark from his first attempt to open the Dark Gate.”
He drank his mug of magma ale, wondering if he had time to return to the basement for a refill. The mug was running low and it had been ages since he’d managed to get his hands on such expensive stock. The dwarves tended to keep such priceless liquid under heavy lock and key.
“But why is this here?” Elenyr asked aloud.
She collected the memory orb from inside the top of the cabinet. It too, sat on a matching clawed pedestal, and she examined it with a frown. Shadow began rifling through the drawers of the desk, wondering what else he might find from a man of such expensive tastes.
“The memory is locked,” she said. “We’ll need to find a mind mage to unlock it.”
