The night watch was blissfully uneventful, and the time soon came for us to begin our final day of travel. Adrenaline was already pumping through me in anticipation of what lay ahead, and I felt a tingle of electric energy throughout my body as our wagon departed. My Detection covered a wide swath in all directions, but ran out farther ahead down our path to where the dirt road eventually connected with the main road to Atsal and the gate. As planned, I took my horse out on a scouting mission when the wagon was an hour from the road, leaving Lia behind out of an abundance of caution. Abandoning the path, I spurred the courser out across the snow-covered fields in a direct line towards the gate.
The barren fields gave me a full view of the Mountain Gate as I approached, and I was awestruck by its sheer size and construction as I saw it in the daylight for the first time. What had looked like a continuation of the mountain range the night before was actually a massive stone wall that stood hundreds of feet high, spanning a gap between two mountain bases. From a distance, I could tell that its face was dotted with crenelated platforms that overlooked the main passage from all angles, although the scope and scale of the built-in defenses were still too far out to accurately gauge.
Satisfied with my positioning, I dismounted my horse and settled into a meditative stance in the snow. After a few deep breaths, I sent my mana out in a straight line back towards the wagon; Lia was relieved to feel my energy and confirm that I was safe, and it gave me peace of mind knowing that their trip was as yet uninterrupted. With my check-in out of the way, I sent another beam of energy in the direction of the wall and watched the path race away in my mind like a bolt of lightning. Although my target was still miles away, my mana was focused in a narrow channel, which required significantly less mental effort to maintain and extend than the full radius of Detection I generally used.
After a long pause, the energy finally reached something of interest, and the scene at the Mountain Gate slowly came into focus. My initial aim had been slightly off, and my mana had landed on a wagon waiting in line for its turn to exit the country. As the energy expanded, I found that there was a sprawling line of traffic leading back towards Atsal, all stalled in place as a patrol of five guards searched a trader’s wagon at the head of the line excruciatingly slowly. When they had finished tearing open every closed container in the back of the wagon, the trader was waved ahead to a secondary checkpoint constructed of raw lumber that blocked the road with a heavy draw gate, where he was accosted yet again by a separate group of guards.
Beyond the checkpoint, the road ran across a few hundred yards of open field before it reached the Mountain Gate proper. A massive portcullis was suspended above the ground just high enough for caravans to pass through, its massive iron spikes resembling teeth in the gaping maw of a monstrous beast. As my mana spread farther along the wall, I found that it was full of winding passageways that led to the various defensive platforms or guard rooms inside. I could tell by the weathering of the stone that it was an ancient structure, similar in construction to the seamless stone buildings of Atsal.
In stark contrast to the wall, the defenses that had been erected in front of it were a scattered, slipshod mess. Spiked wooden barricades randomly dotted the field around the wall, partially protecting waist-deep trenches hastily dug into the ground. An enormous scaffold had been erected against the face of the wall, constructed from the same fresh lumber as the gatehouse. It towered at least three stories above the ground at its peak and had multiple levels with barricades that could be used for cover by archers. On the north side of the road, rows of tents stretched off out of view, numbering in the hundreds.
Every new structure and encampment I found with my scan further proved true the intel I had gained from Joss’s interrogation. The soldiers were clearly heavily fortified and waiting for our arrival, but the main object of interest sat at the top of the scaffolding where the two structures connected above the main gate: a ballista, mounted on rolling tracks and manned by a group of four guards. All of this, just for us. I can’t help but feel a bit flattered. I took in the final details of the encampment, then set to work on my preparations.
The hastily constructed defenses played perfectly into my plans. It was easy to identify the weakest fittings and joints within the scaffolding that, if broken, would bring the entire structure to the ground. By suffusing a small cross-section of each support with energy and shattering it to splinters, the scaffold would collapse under its own weight, and I would hardly notice the expenditure of mana. As I scanned, I doubled and tripled my suffusions on any particularly hearty supports in an overabundance of caution.
Even though I was miles away, I could feel the gentle ebb and flow of my energy as if it were within my own body. The sensation reminded me of my first experiments with projecting mana in the dungeons of Yoria, and I smiled as I considered how far I had come in such a short period of time. Whereas it had once been a hit-or-miss process that took minutes of intense mental focus, I was now able to suffuse multiple objects from miles away without a second
