“This gets weirder all the time,” Viggo said. “On the other hand, I love octopus, especially with a touch of paprika. I’m going to have a feast,” he added, and made a comic gesture.
Lasgol rolled his eyes.
“They’re capturing new slaves and bringing them to the fortress,” Astrid concluded.
“Presumably to transform them,” added Eicewald.
“Where are they taking them?” Lasgol wondered.
The prisoners were led to an enormous, barred door, guarded by two men on the left of their position. They opened it to let the prisoners go down a flight of stairs behind the gate.
“What kind of guards are those?” Viggo asked in surprise.
“They’re covered with spines of some kind,” Lasgol said.
“I think … they’re sea urchins …” said Astrid.
Viggo shook his head. “This keeps getting better …”
“Do you think Olagar’ll be down there?” Astrid wondered. “Or is it just a prison where they take these poor wretches?”
“That’s a good question,” said Eicewald. “To carry out his transformations he’ll need a quiet, well-lit place where there are no obstacles in the way of his power … yes, it might well be down there …”
“Or also in that other tower on the far side of the fortress,” Viggo complained, “and I don’t think we could get across there with so many transformed sea-creatures on the loose.”
“I have an idea,” Lasgol said. “Camu can help.”
“The little fiend?”
“Yeah, give me a moment.”
Camu, can you feel where Olagar is? He’s a powerful Sorcerer, and you might be able to pick up his magic.
I try, Camu offered willingly. He stiffened and stretched his head and tail. There came a flash of the kind only those with the Gift could see. Lasgol guessed that the skill Camu was using was like his own Animal Presence skill, but instead of picking up living creatures, Camu was able to pick up beings or objects with Magic.
Any luck? Lasgol asked after a while. He was worried, because it was taking more time than expected.
Yes. Below.
Below? You mean below where we are?
Yes, below, deep.
Are you sure? Not in some other part of the fortress?
Sure. Below. I pick up magic, powerful.
Is he using magic now?
Yes. A lot.
Lasgol turned to the others. “Camu says Olagar is below us now, and he’s using magic.”
“Then he must be doing something to those prisoners we saw being taken below,” Astrid said.
“Let’s get rid of him,” said Viggo.
“Wait,” Astrid objected. “Those urchin-men are powerfully armored, and I don’t think the acid would work on them.”
“Apart from the fact that they’d see us coming,” Lasgol pointed out.
“I’ll deal with that,” Eicewald said.
Viggo was less sure about this. “Without them raising the alarm?” he objected. “Don’t let’s have any loud conjuring, that’s going to attract half the army.”
“Without them raising the alarm,” Eicewald reassured him.
“Fine,” Viggo said with a shrug. Lasgol and Astrid nodded in agreement.
The mage began to cast a spell, intoning words of power and making circular movements with his staff. His companions watched him, intrigued. They had no idea what he was going to conjure up.
“Move away from the door and open it,” he told them, still making movements with his staff.
Astrid opened the door carefully, as if some draft that had blown it open. The urchin-men did not see her, but when they looked toward the door two colossal snowballs came out and rolled toward them. Utterly taken aback and unable to understand what was happening, they tried to move to one side, but the snowballs followed them and crashed into them. When they did so, the urchin-men were trapped and frozen inside the snow.
Eicewald lowered his staff, which he had been using to direct the snowballs.
“Now the way through’s clear. And you see, they didn’t raise the alarm.”
Viggo was smiling. “I liked that trick, you’ve got to teach it to me. And besides, it’ll keep the urchins fresh for dinner.”
“Let’s move quickly,” Astrid said urgently. “We’ve got to get them out of the way before anybody sees them.” She was already running toward them, with Viggo following her. Using the combination of a picklock and her own natural talent, she opened the barred gate, and they dragged the urchin-men inside it.
Lasgol, Eicewald, Camu and Ona arrived a moment later and shut the gate behind them. In front of them were the stairs which led down to what seemed to be an underground floor.
“Now what?” Astrid asked.
“Now we go down and take care of the Sorcerer,” said Viggo.
“It’s not going to be easy,” Eicewald warned them.
Viggo took out his three pairs of knives and cleaned them lovingly. “Easy as pie,” he said with his usual coolness and confidence. In his eyes was a lethal gleam.
Chapter 31
They went down the stairs with great caution, trying not to make a sound. On their way they passed a couple of halls where they saw weapons and stores of food, which was not unexpected. At the end of a torch-lit tunnel they came to another flight of stairs, which took them down to another level. Here, not unexpectedly, they found an area with cells. What was less expected was the fact that the cells were all empty.
Two octopus-guards blocked their way, and Lasgol released the Summer Slumber arrow he had prepared. He was not sure how much effect it would have on these beings, since
