Featherdownmoved quietly to a position where he could see the group outsidethe inn and Chantalot came down the stairs and waved them to comequietly with him. Over a hundred people stood quietly and carefullymoved up the stairs. The three druids pointed the way toChantalot’s room and they were divided into groups of six andteleported to Templewood.
When they hadall left Chantalot came down and whispered to him and he asked thefour druids to go stealthily to the teleport marker to the west oftown and get in a position to help take out any enemy defendersthere when Featherdown arrived.
‘Where are all the other town’s people?’ askedChantalot.
‘There should be at least another hundred here.’
‘I think they’re being held hostage in the Gateway building.’replied Featherdown stooping down to pick up the fireball wand andpassing it to Chantalot.
‘That was a bit excessive wasn’t it?’ said Chantalot pointingto the decapitated body.
‘He was here to use that fireball wand on all these people ifthere was any resistance. He would have burnt over a hundredinnocent people to death.’ replied Featherdown.
‘I suppose so.’ sighed Chantalot.
‘We’re at war Chantalot and war is brutal and unforgiving. Themoment you forget that you die. Now let’s see if we can find theother townspeople. Knowing Battlemaster Firestorm I have a goodidea where they are likely to be. You use that ring of invisibilityI gave you and search around to see if you can find any of ourpeople hiding in any of the houses or shops around town and tellthem to head for the teleport marker in the jungle to the west ifthere is any problem there then make their way to the beach to thenorth as soon as possible. You go there as well when you finishchecking for stragglers. I’m taking the other three druids with meand we will try and see if we can close the gatewaypermanently.’
‘You’re not going to destroy the town are you?’ askedChantalot.
‘I’ll only do what’s necessary.’ replied Featherdown. ‘Nowplease be careful resurrection is expensive.’
Chantalotsmiled.
‘Okay, I’ll see you soon.’ And they parted.
Featherdownfirst went up to Chantalot’s room and removed the crystal that wasthe power source for the teleport ring then replaced the mat. Hethen asked the three druids to get ready for a fight then ready forteleport, and they teleported to the teleport marker in the jungleto the west of town. As expected Curbut had sent a platoon to digin there but they were still preparing their defences whenFeatherdown arrived and with the help of the four druids previouslysent they captured the area after a short but bloody fight.
The sevendruids were left to defend the teleport marker and protect anylocals that turned up. Since the area was all jungle the druidswere in their element and it would take a considerable force toremove them.
Featherdownteleported into his tower, went to the top and looked out toexamine the situation. The entrances to both his tower andGranwell’s tower were blockaded and there seemed to be someengineers examining the walls at the base. They were either goingto try to get in or perhaps even demolish his tower. It didn’tmatter Twin Towers was finished. He had already moved his valuablesto another world. He called to his gnome assistants but they weregone. They knew the drill.
He lookedaround and attempted counting the troops that had already comethrough the gateway. There were now hundreds. They were currentlymoving supplies through. This was a major operation. It must havebeen planned for some time. There were groups of troops located allover the headland and more marching into the township. There wouldbe wizards everywhere.
Curbut wastheir key player. He knew all the strengths and weaknesses of theplace or so he thought. They must have had a heart attack when theyheard he was disintegrated but they would have had a part of him toresurrect in case he was killed. The usual trick was to cut off afinger and preserve it somewhere safe. If you were killed and yourbody lost, a High Priest could resurrect you provided it wasn’tmore than about 2 weeks since you were killed.
Curbut didn’tknow the secret defences. Gnome specialists under Featherdown’sclose supervision had devised the defence system. Nobody in TwinTowers was involved in its construction and nobody knew its secretsexcept him. Every possibility that they could think of was coveredincluding the current one where a large number of townspeople werelikely to be held hostage in the gateway building.
Featherdown hadtangled with Battlemaster Firestorm before on another world.Firestorm got his name from his favourite pastime of burning downtowns. He would station his army all around and use the wizards toburn everything to ashes. Nobody survived. The only reason TwinTowers had survived was that he needed it to house his troops. Theywouldn’t appreciate having to camp in the jungle.
Firestorm alsoneeded the commercial teleporter here to get them to Templegate andTurtlehaven, the only two other settlements big enough to be calledtowns. Featherdown would need to ensure that it was disabled.Firestorm and his troops had to be isolated here then the druidshad a chance. This whole world was pretty hostile for thoseunprepared for it.
He looked downat the customs houses. One of them was guarded by at least threeplatoons of Panmagican troops surrounding the place. That’s wherethe guards would be held prisoner. There would be glyphs of wardingand glyphs of fireball in and around the building to block entryand incinerate anyone trying to release them. The buildings eachhad a secure basement that was teleport proof and used to storespecial goods. That was most likely where the guards would be.
He looked a bitcloser and could see a line of wizards sitting on the ground with afighter standing behind each of them with swords drawn.
‘Dam. He’s going to execute all of my young wizards if I doanything.’ he said to himself.
‘Hmm. It could be an illusion.’
Suddenly therewas a lot of noise coming from the township. He crossed the roomand looked out the window facing the town. They had discovered thepeople in the inn were gone and he could see a patrol headingtowards the western
