Wizard's Blood [Part Two] (56 page)

The real problem in her mind was not being able to talk with one’s most trusted friends. This morning she’d had to ask her two school chums, Karin and Hura, as well as Denelere, her personal coordinator inherited from her father without whom she’d be totally lost, to leave the room once again when Chancellor Vaen and Jolan had shown up. The resentment at such treatment of noblewomen was obvious, and she’d had to try and deflect their questions once again when they’d gotten back together at lunch.

It was too easy to make a slip. The other day she’d almost blundered while the four of them relaxed and planned the upcoming festival, and revealed the secret of the portals. That time the situation had been triggered by an innocent mention of a shortage of something that could easily be obtained in Seret, and had almost led her to suggest they could quickly pop over to Carta via the portal and remedy the shortage. They had known she was about to say something, and everyone had been embarrassed when she had to cut herself off without explanation. She longed for the days when she could speak far more freely.

She felt bad for the women, especially Denelere. An attractive and still single woman, it was obvious she was taken with Jolan. Sayusta had noticed more than once how closely she watched the man when he was around, the attraction she felt obvious in her actions. More than once she had asked Sayusta about him, and she’d told her what was safe to tell. She’d also warned the woman that Jolan was out of reach, at least until he determined the fate of Shyar, a fellow mage with whom he’d formed a very strong bond. Of course, Denelere hadn’t taken her advice, and continued to yearn for what the Queen was certain was an impossible relationship.

The arrival of Vaen and Wylan interrupted her thoughts, and matters of state suddenly required her full attention once again.

She was now quite comfortable with the layout of the castle, and multiple evenings out on her own had given her a lot of confidence. She’d even been able to test out the glamour she’d been working on. The previous evening she’d heard a guard approaching while she’d been on the lower level, and slipped into character as the stern lady wizard. The guard had stiffened upon seeing her, then became formal and hurried away to take care of something elsewhere. He’d shown no surprise or interest in the fact the wizard had been roaming the castle at such an odd hour of the night. It was an interesting encounter, and supported her suspicion the woman was feared and typically avoided. Shyar knew that would be useful to her.

It was fortunate she’d had the time to explore that she had, even though it had been risky. Events were moving more swiftly than she’d expected, and the setbacks that Ale’ald appeared to be taking had made Cheurt unpredictable and more dangerous. It had started with the loss of the irreplaceable gliders. That loss had begun a series of events that had cost Ale’ald its momentum and suggested that the war might be turning against them. Without the cover of the aircraft, Ale’ald’s enemies were now more aggressive and taking the initiative.

The situation might have been recoverable had Ale’ald been able to field a couple of gliders, but the messages she’d overheard left no doubt that only one glider had been built to replace those destroyed. Something had happened that meant the remaining few Cheurt had hoped for were no longer an option. A single aircraft wasn’t enough to recover the situation, especially since Ale’ald still hadn’t learned how the two pilots had been brought down while on missions. He had voiced the possibility of building gliders without the battery driven engines. They would be far less capable, being true gliders with a very limited range, but they might still inspire fear in the enemy. Several pilots remained, and he could train more, but both the pilots and the aircraft were very costly. Both also took a long time to get ready.

The most recent setbacks had been a coordinated series of attacks across the whole of conquered Kimlelm that had left Ale’ald reeling. Many senior people had been lost, but the psychological effect of the attacks was the major impact. Shyar had overheard several discussions where Cheurt and other senior wizards here tried to puzzle out how the attacks could have been so closely timed and coordinated. Great concern had been raised over how Angon and Seret had been able to train such large numbers of people with what had to be weapons based on Earth technology. Jolan’s name had been raised on more than one occasion. The range at which Ale’ald’s people were being targeted was almost beyond comprehension, and made the task of protecting them very difficult.

Cheurt had been particularly incensed by some of the reports he’d apparently received from spies in Angon and Seret that reported on Jolan and his activities. Despite hoping some clue might be dropped about who was providing information from Angon, Shyar as yet had been unable to gather anything useful. Cheurt was convinced that at least one of his sources was lying to him. Based on the reports he’d received, Jolan would have had to have been in both Cobalo at the College and in Seret at a meeting in the capital on the same day, something that was clearly physically impossible. Because of this, Cheurt had voiced the opinion to one of the members of the committee who’d taken to meeting here daily that the information they were receiving was to be questioned and an attempt made to discover which of their plants was falsifying reports. Shyar was starting to wonder. The feelings she had been receiving regarding Jolan’s location would be consistent with the events as reported. Had he found some lost magic that allowed him to travel such distances quickly?

At the moment the truth didn’t matter. Jolan’s continued interference in Ale’ald’s plans had finally crossed a threshold in Cheurt’s mind. Uncertain where Jolan really was, Cheurt had sent out a telegram the other day to his senior wizard in Kimlelm and ordered it to be forwarded to both the Queen in Seret and to Chancellor Vaen at the College in Cobalo. The message was for Jolan, and addressed the fact that Cheurt had Shyar captive here in Ale’ald. The usual threats had been made against her unless Jolan were to meet with Cheurt and settle their differences. They both knew that wouldn’t happen, but Cheurt hoped to spur Jolan into action that would result in his being captured or killed.

The message told her that she had once again become a factor in Cheurt’s consciousness. That meant she was at greater risk now than any time recently. Whether Jolan took any action or not, she had to consider that Cheurt might do something that could change her situation for the worse. Now that she was free to come and go, she couldn’t afford to let that happen. Even though she wasn’t yet ready, it became necessary to consider escape and flight. To prepare, she needed to take additional risks and determine what lay immediately outside the castle, and which direction she should go if the need for flight became imminent.

She moved through the dead spot in the cage, using her magic to separate the two bars necessary for her to slip out, and temporarily fixing them back into place. Assuming the look of the stern wizard, she made her way down the hall to the telegraph room. The operator slept two doors down the hall where he could easily hear the telegraph if a message came in or be on call if Cheurt decided something needed to be sent in the wee hours of the night. For now, Shyar didn’t want anything to wake the sleeping soldier, and she used a slight touch of power to cause a break in the wire that made up the circuit necessary to trigger the magnet making it no longer functional. She would fix the break upon her return, and if a message was received in the morning questioning why no one had responded to an attempt the previous night, the blame would most likely be directed towards the line in Kimlelm. The resistance that had been growing had taken to cutting and hauling away large sections of the lines on an ever increasing basis. The people had learned about the lines and what they were used for.

Confident that no messages would wake the operator or cause people to gather, she was assured that no one was likely to discover her missing for the couple of hours she hoped to be out. Silently she turned and headed down the hallway toward the entrance to the castle. Her previous outings had convinced her that the tunnels were not the best approach. Use of the tunnels seemed to be more formally regulated. Besides, now that her primary goal was escape, she needed to see what outside looked like. There was a small guard station by the entrance, but watching the other night revealed the guards were seldom moved to question a familiar face, especially one of the wizards who were known to frequent the castle. There was really no choice. She had to gain intelligence, and that meant getting outside. She had timed her planned outing to straddle the shift change, so one set of guards would see her leave, and a different set would be there when she returned. If it went bad, she’d take out as many guards as possible and flee taking her chances.

Making her way past the guard at the front entrance was the easy part. To start with, it was late at night and they weren’t at their peak. Besides, nothing was expected at this hour, and she appeared to be a familiar figure. The guard nodded briefly as she approached, and then averted his eyes. Obviously the woman she was pretending to be had the same effect on the guards as she’d had on Shyar. Nervous, holding her breath but maintaining a confident stride, she passed by the barriers and made her way out into the open air. She wanted to scream with joy. This was the first time she’d been out in the open in months. The night was clear and warm, and she could see the stars. Dragons, but freedom felt good.

Continuing to move straight ahead, she passed across an elevated stone walkway over to a large courtyard and then through a second gate with yet another guard. This guard was totally unconcerned with her presence. His job was to keep those without a good reason from even entering the grounds. He was not concerned about those leaving, and besides, Shyar could tell he recognized her, or who she was supposed to be.

A wide roadway wound off to the left, traveling down the hill onto the flat below. As she feared, the land was open and without many structures for as far as she could see. The road continued a short distance to the right, passing yet another gated entrance to the castle a hundred yards further down the road, then coming to an end in a wide circle a bit beyond that. The town, if that’s what it could be called, was spread out ahead of her. A shallow slope led down to a series of buildings that bordered a narrow, but deep river. Several boats were tied up at piers adjacent to the structures. Across the water she could see many more structures of varying sizes, and suspected that was where the real town lay. Unfortunately, the only way to get there appeared to be by ferry, and she wasn’t ready to take that step just yet.

For now she continued walking toward the first of the nearby buildings. These were factories she knew from the layouts she’d found in the castle. Realizing the factories were located on the river, she’d figured that the products were most likely shipped down the river rather than carried by cart, which might offer a means of escape. Given her undetectable shields and concealment spell, she just might be able to stow away long enough to get clear of the area. She wouldn’t know until she had a better look, which was one of the purposes of her explorations tonight.

Not knowing if the wizard she was impersonating would be expected to make visits into the factory, she waited concealed until the lone guard’s attention was elsewhere, and quietly slipped inside. These people had gotten sloppy. The only thing they feared was their superiors. The idea of an enemy in their midst had so long been rejected as impossible that they didn’t even think about the possibility any longer.

The factory was dark and quiet. She made her way into the production area and discovered they were manufacturing rifles here. It was still an active facility, as parts lay stacked and ready for assembly. Apparently the need wasn’t felt to run round the clock operations, which supported her thought that much of the manufacturing was now being done in Kimlelm. In the far room, however, were massive pallets of finished rifles ready for shipment. One crate was still open, and she reached in to inspect the rifle. It was better than the early rifles she’d seen from Kimlelm, but they still had a lot to learn.

She was about to put it back, when an idea struck. She let her hands and mind run along the steel of the barrel. It was grainy, and not that strong. She looked for the weakest point in the design, and then applied a bit of power at that location. The structure shifted slightly, and she could sense the point where the metal would fail under pressure. It might take a shot or two, but the rifle would explode on the user before a handful of shots had been fired. Smiling to herself, she let her magic flow over the whole container, duplicating the effort on all the rifles in the crate.

There were far too many crates in the warehouse for her to damage all of the rifles, but as she walked along, she randomly weakened the steel of the barrels in many of the crates. It was enough that the repeated failures might cause them to reject the entire lot. Not even Ale’ald could risk their own men in such numbers.

The rifles were being put into larger containers for loading onto the ship. It might just be possible to slip inside one of the containers if she had food and water to sustain her. There were risks, but every option open to her would have risks. She would have to think on what she’d seen.

Moving more quickly, she slipped back outside and made her way to the second factory further down the river. It was a bit larger, but no better guarded, and soon she was inside. Here they made ammunition. Hundreds of thousands of rounds were piled in wooden boxes. These were stored on open pallets that would be loaded onto the ships. The ammunition was simply too heavy to be loaded another way. After looking around, she decided there wasn’t anything here that would help her, and she started to leave.