Chapter 12: Infiltration of Mages Tor
Rogon sat upon a stump off to the edge of the road, the sound of music floating merrily in the air from his panpipes. If he had to wait till he was called upon, might as well make the best use of the time, right? Indira was lying on the bank next to him, listening to the music while playing with Peanut, who had taken to gliding between herself and Rogon repeatedly. Na'ish stood in the road, sword stuck into the ground and his hands resting upon it. He was on alert, looking towards the camp and keeping an eye out for any sign of disturbance.
When he straightened slightly after almost an hour of very little movement, it caught the eye of Rogon. Stopping his playing, he followed Na'ish's line of sight to see two figures rapidly approaching down the road. Standing up and moving alongside Na'ish, he shielded his eyes from the glare of the sun in order to get a better look.
He could now make out the figures of Garrick and Avery, jogging down the road to approach them. When Garrick was close enough, he wasted no time with greetings. "We have a problem" he said, while leaning on his knees to catch his breath. Na'ish simply looked at him while sheathing his sword "Which is?"
Avery placed a hand on her hip and blew a strand of hair from her face, "Varus" she huffed. Rogon exchanged a slightly confused look with Na'ish. "Well...yeah, tha's what you went in there for in the first place, innit?" he asked. Before Garrick could explain, Indira joined the group, "Wait, where's Alistair?" The concerned looks she got in return did not help to put her at ease.
"Well, this is brilliant" muttered Alistair as he and Varus were led up the circular staircase of the tower. Once they had entered the building there was little to see. They had been in a room that had a few doors off of it, with no more visible people. The guards had then proceeded to shove them up the stairway to the side, while Johnson moved Benston through one of the doors and out of sight.
They were brought up several floors, each floor obvious due to them being interspersed with a short, small landing. Each floor had more rooms leading off from them, but still no sign of any more adults or children. When they reached the third floor, They were veered off the stairs and towards one of the doors. Here, one guard opened the door while the other shoved them into the room beyond.
The guards then stood at the door "You will wait here until we decide what to do with you" one said. They then slammed the door, the lock clunking as it was turned. Looking around the room, it was surprisingly well lit. The reason being obvious due to the large hole in the wall and part of the floor. As a result, they could clearly see the afternoon sky, as well as parts of another empty room below them.
Normally this would make escape from this makeshift prison easy. However, their arms were still bound, and an experimental tug at the bindings proved they were surprisingly well tied. This would make climbing perilous, especially at this height. Alistair huffed, and looked to Varus. He had chosen to simply sit near one of the walls, looking out of the hole almost vacantly. Alistair sighed and also settled down. Seems they were in for a bit of a wait. Hopefully the others would be able to figure something out in order to spring them.
"This is a stupid idea." Avery muttered while looking up at the large hole on the second floor of the tower. Thankfully, the lack of guards had allowed the group to enter the camp via the main gate, now that Garrick and Avery had unlocked it. However, they obviously did not want to repeat the mistake that Varus had made, and so they now found themselves looking up at the only other viable entrance into the tower.
"I don't think we have much choice." Na'ish muttered. The hole was around 10ft. from the floor, too high to simply jump up. Rogon gave a grunt, then approached and stood with his back against the wall. "Well, standin' 'ere staring at it won't get us up there." He then placed his hands together and crouched, getting in position to boost the rest.
Indira and Na'ish looked to Garrick, neither keen to be the first to enter the tower. Garrick was clearly having an internal debate, his jaw clenching slightly at the thought of accepting help from an Orc. After a few moments, his shoulders slumped in acceptance, and he nodded affirmative. He then took a few steps back, before sprinting towards Rogon and jumping onto his clasped hands. Rogon then heaved, and launched Garrick upwards towards the gap.
Garrick swiftly grabbed the ledge, using the momentum from Rogon's throw to swing himself into the hole. He landed with a slight thump, rolling onto his back in the process. He groaned slightly, the impact having jarred his back a little. "You ok?" Indira called up. "Yes, never better…" Garrick wheezed as he righted himself in order to look around.
Thankfully the staircase he found himself on was abandoned. He was only a short way from the first floor landing, but could not see the ground floor due to the curvature of the wall. His eye twitched slightly as Avery was boosted up, her natural agility allowing her to land far more gracefully than he had. He then returned to the hole in order to assist Indira with her ascent.
Once Rogon had finished boosting everyone into the hole, with Na'ish being by far the hardest with his heavy armour and equipment, he turned and stood away from the wall. Now he was alone at the bottom, he was struggling to think of a way that would allow him to climb up to join the others.
Just as he was thinking this, some movement to the left caught his attention. Turning to see if they had been discovered, he instead saw a ginger tail disappear around the corner of the tower. His brow creased in thought. "Clearly, I hadn't imagined that cat…" Rogon mused. "Think you can get up?" came a call from above. He looked back up to see Na'ish leaning from the hole.
Rogon shook his head. "Nah, too high fer me mate. You lot go rescue our friends, I'm gonna go check the perimeter." Na'ish nodded in acceptance and disappeared back into the tower. Rogon then rolled his shoulders and headed around the tower in the direction he last saw the ginger tail disappear. "Time to find out for sure what the deal is with that thing…"
"Not coming with us then, is he?" Garrick asked as Na'ish returned to the group. He simply shook his head in answer. "So, what are we going to do?" Avery asked, looking around the old stone staircase they were in. "First, we need to find Varus and Alistair. We can't go snooping around if they have them to use as bargaining chips against us" Garrick pointed out.
The others nodded. Indira then held her hand out and allowed Peanut to jump onto it. "I could get Peanut to have a look around for them?" she suggested. "Good idea, he would draw less attention than…" started Garrick, but paused when Na'ish held his hand up in a silence motion. Ceasing their talking, they strained to hear what he had noticed.
It became apparent what had spooked him, when indistinct voices started to drift up from the ground floor. Shadows on the outside wall, cast from the torch sconces showed two figures starting to climb up. Thankfully, they hadn't seen the group of trespassers yet, on account of the curvature of the stairs.
"Damn. Quick, up we go" whispered Garrick. They turned and started to ascend to the second level. As soon as they reached the landing however, Garrick stopped suddenly. The others nearly crashed into the back of him. "What are you doing?" whispered Avery harshly, before taking in the slightly paling face of Garrick. He nodded to the stairs leading up, showing two more shadows descending towards them.
"Crap, we've gotta get out of here…" she said, before swiftly dashing to the hole in the wall. She proceeded to drop out of the hole, landing with a roll to shed her momentum. She then started to make her way around to the front of the tower. The others watched her do this, before Na'ish turned to Garrick. "Yeah...I can't do that", and Indira shook her head. Garrick swiftly looked around the landing, eyes landing on the only door of this floor.
"No choice, get in here!" he said, before opening it up and ushering the other two within. He swiftly followed, closing the door quietly just as the two guards stepped down from the floor above and greeted Johnson and a newly awoken Benston coming from below.
Within the room, Garrick listened through the door as the group conversed. It was very difficult to make out what they were saying through the thick wood however. He received a tap to his shoulder from Indira, which he brushed off. "Hold on, trying to hear what they are saying…" He then received a much more insistent tap from his other side, forcing him to divert his attention to Na'ish. "What?" he said with a grunt.
Na'ish was simply looking into the room they had just entered. When Garrick turned his attention to it as well, he paused in shock. The room took up an entire floor, with beds scattered throughout and chests and shelves at the edges. They were far from alone however, as the room was full of children. And their entrance had gone far from unnoticed.
The children all stared at the newcomers in surprise, stopping their various activities, from playing to reading from books. There was a moment of silence as each group didn't quite know how to react. However, when one of the youngest and nearest girls to them took a large breath, presumably to scream, Garrick just sighed resignedly.
"So what was that back there?" Alistair asked Varus as they awaited the return of the guards in their makeshift cell. Varus regained some focus in his eyes, and turned towards him "What do you mean?" Alistair sat up slightly, giving his bindings another futile tug. "Ignoring the whole 'knocking on an enemy door' thing, I mean why didn't you struggle when the guards jumped us? Man built like you, you could have beaten them easily!"
Varus shrugged. "Sure. But that wouldn't get me answers. As far as I'm concerned, we are where we want to be." Alistair huffed in frustration "What? Bound up and unable to escape with our captors planning who knows what?" Varus did not answer, falling silent and staring out at the darkening sky once more. Alistair chose to lay down on the hard floor, an uncomfortable choice given his hands behind his back.
"What about you?" Varus asked, after several minutes of quiet. Alistair looked to him with a raised eyebrow, silently asking him to elaborate. "I mean, why did you try to help me? It's not like we know each other very well." Alistair gave a shrug "Couldn't let them just take you could I, not that I stopped them in the end. Besides, this whole situation hits a little close to home for my liking."
Varus stared at him. While he didn't ask with words, his body language suggested he wanted to know more. Alistair sighed, and struggled to sit back up. "I mean this situation with the kids. It seems awfully similar to what nearly happened to me seventeen years ago. Some bandits killed my mother, and I was rounded up and captured as a kid...I was lucky, and was able to escape before I was sold to slavery. Lived the rest of my life on the street." Alistair grew quiet, recovering from his trip down memory lane. Just why was he spilling these secrets out to what was essentially a stranger? Still, it felt good to talk about it for a change, rather than bottling it up.
Varus had turned his gaze away from Alistair, but it was clear he was still listening. "So, what are you going to do about it?" Alistair gained a dark glint in his eye, his expression growing determined. "I'm going to find the man who led those bandits. And I'm going to make him pay." Varus nodded "So, vengeance. Fine, I can help with that." Alistair looked at him with shock "Really? Just like that?" Varus nodded, before they went quiet for a bit again.
After a while, Alistair gave a self deprecating chuckle "Not that we can do much when we're in this situation. Varus just scoffed, "Oh, I can get out any time I want." Alistair slowly turned his attention to him, a deadpan look in his eyes. "What?" Varus just looked to the wall once more. "I can get out of these whenever. Just waiting for a suitable distraction…"
It was at this moment that a piercing scream rang out from a few floors below them. "...That will do" Varus said, before his bindings promptly dropped from his wrists and allowed him to bring his hands to his front. He rubbed his hands in order to get blood properly circulating in them once more.
Alistair gaped at him. "How did you?.." he began to ask, but the reason became obvious when Varus went to stand, and revealed that Gauss was behind him, the rope from his hands clenched in her jaw. She then spat it out and gave Alistair a few yips. Clearly, Gauss had materialised from Varus' back, allowing her to chew through the ropes tying his hands.
Varus then walked up to Alistair, who was still shocked at the appearance of Gauss. He walked behind him, and started to free his hands as well. "So...ready to find out what's going on?" he asked. Alistair gained a determined smile "Damn right I am."
Meanwhile, Rogon had rounded the corner of the tower into the abandoned campsite. A brief glance around revealed the ginger tail of the cat disappearing into the largest tent in the place. His curiosity getting the better of him, he approached the tent flap. Before entering, he strained his hearing to see if he could tell whether there was anyone within. Unable to hear anything, he lifted the flap and walked in.
Inside could only be described as opulent, at least by tent standards. The floor had wooden boarding down, rather than the standard tarp that a tent would have. This meant it was surprisingly dry, allowing the floor to be adorned with various rugs and colourful carpets. There were also several pieces of wooden furniture, including a writing desk, chair, a set of shelves and a wardrobe. In the centre of the room were a series of comfortable looking beanbags, all arranged in a vague circle around a central firepit with a frame above it, presumably for cooking judging by the various small pots and metal pans scattered around.
Rogon raised his brow at the sight. Hardly the usual setup for a bandit camp, after all. Looking around the tent revealed no sign of the cat he had been following, despite there being no other apparent exit. He was starting to doubt himself that he had even seen the thing once more, same as when he had seen it in the back of the caravan.
Shrugging, he walked over to the writing desk, intent on at least searching for any possible leads as to what was going on in this strange place while he was here. After a short sift through the various scraps of paper which revealed little more than unused parchment and some lists of supplies that the camp needed to acquire, he instead turned his attention to the various containers and pots that littered the floor near the fireplace.
Most contained various dried food goods, again confirming that this was a makeshift kitchen of sorts. One of the pots contained a series of dried leaves, and upon sniffing and tasting them Rogon gained a happy look. "It's tea…" He then looked around the tent, and to the entrance flap. Surely the rest of the group would be ok for a short while, right?
"Well, this is brilliant" Garrick huffed, unknowingly mirroring Alistair's thoughts from a short while ago. After the young girl had screamed her head off upon seeing them, it was unsurprising that Benston and his crew heard them from the other side of the door. They were quick to barge in and apprehend them, and were now leading the three of them back down towards the ground floor. They could have fought, obviously. Probably would have won, too, based on the sparse weapons the group carried. But none of them had the heart to do so when children could have become involved and hurt.
"Perhaps this wouldn't have happened, if you had not followed us here" Benston, the one currently leading Garrick, muttered. "Knew the rest of you would be nearby. No one can get that lost so easily after all." The group reached the entrance hall, and while a guard knocked on one of the doors, Garrick gave a quick look to his companions.
Na'ish was as stoic as ever, his gaze straight ahead, allowing himself to be led along and hardly acknowledging any of the guards. Indira was clearly more concerned, however. She had not been in such a position before, and her eyes were wide with worry and she was breathing heavily in panic.
"Enter", came an authoritative voice from within, and Garrick set his shoulders in preparation of talking with the man that was presumably the leader of this operation. Time to get some answers.
Within, the room was set up like a makeshift war room. There were boxes scattered throughout which lined the edges of the wall. In the middle was a large table, upon which maps were spread out with little flag indicators scattered around. It was at this table where a man stood with his back to them, poring over the map with his hands flat on the desk as he leaned.
Once all three were inside and the door locked once more, the man stood straight and turned towards them, leaning against the table behind him. He was middle aged, with thick black hair that was starting to develop grey and white streaks throughout. He had a thick beard also, split at the bottom into two bundles bound by twine. His face was rugged and tanned indicating a life out under the sun. Most noticeable was a large scar running through his right eye, the pupil itself milky and indicating that it was blind. He was also armed with a sword hanging from his waist, unlike most of his allies.
"These are the intruders, are they? It has been a long time since we have had so much company." The man spoke, his voice deep and his body language confident. "So, to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?" he asked, while crossing his arms with an expectant expression. Garrick narrowed his eyes, deciding to return with a question rather than an answer. "That depends. What is this place exactly?"
The man looked to Garrick speculatively, before huffing. "This place is called Mages Tor. An old abandoned tower rumoured to have once been owned by a powerful, but treasonous, wizard. Still, I get the feeling that wasn't what you were asking, yes?" When Garrick simply raised an eyebrow, he turned back towards the table he was looking at.
"We are an orphanage." When Na'ish scoffed from his place, he simply paused before continuing. "I agree, it does look more suspicious than a regular orphanage, better defended too. But there is a reason for this. Come, look." He gestured towards the map table, and Garrick was led up to it by Benston to allow him a clearer look.
The maps upon the table were, as he had seen, scattered with various flags highlighting locations. There were maps of many countries from Northern Galdia, including Lumeria, Savarrah and the Headlands. All locations that Garrick was familiar with. A quick look over the flags, and Garrick saw a pattern. He may not have served for a few years now, but many of the locations were burned in his memory. Each and every flag, it seemed, designated a war or skirmish location. Somewhere that fighting had occurred, and had damaged, or in some cases, destroyed the settlements involved.
Garrick closed his eyes as old memories assaulted him. He had seen several of these places. Been there...helped with their destruction in some cases. The black haired man nodded, "I see you understand. Each of these sites, death occurred. And when death occurs...people get left behind. Men, women...children. It is those that we help. Those that we go to, in order to ensure they do not perish like their parents did."
Indira had started to gain tears in her eyes at the idea of such suffering, and her guard was not holding up much better it seemed. Na'ish, while still stoic, was clearly affected by the thought of such a scene. Garrick's shoulders slumped, before he took a deep, calming breath. He looked up at the man, his eyes more calculating than before. "Very well, but that still does not answer all our questions. How do we know that you are telling the truth?"
The man pushed off from his perch, walking towards Garrick. "You don't, but we have nothing to hide. You are still alive, yes? As are your friends. Why would we do so if we had ulterior motives?" Garrick stood his ground as the man approached, not that he had much choice with Benston still standing behind him. "Who are you?" he asked, uncertainly.
The man smiled for the first time since they entered. "Just someone trying to make up for past mistakes. You may call me…" Before he could finish, the door to the room slammed open with a shout of "ROG!"
All occupants turned to the source to see Alistair standing in the doorway. He had both daggers drawn and was breathing heavily. His eyes were glazed with potent rage, focused entirely on the black-haired man. He did not even acknowledge the other people in the room, choosing instead to give a guttural scream.
"I've finally found you. Today you pay for what you did. Today you DIE!" he shouted, before charging headlong at the black-haired man.