It has taken me a while but another chapter is finally done! Review... Review... Review... Review...
I now present Nexus: Part 6
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
They walked for nearly an hour down the tunnel until they reached a large door.
The leader turned and said something in dwarvish to his men. All but two of the dwarves disappeared through hidden doors.
The leader then addressed them using crisp English, he said, "Follow me."
The dwarf led them up to the door and it swung open, revealing the inside of the mountain. Asural could barely see the opposite side. What he could see, though, were many dwarves hurrying about their various tasks and a large white structure rising from the middle of the crater.
As they walked Jae said to Asural, "That is the dwarf city Tronjheim, and our destination. Inside, is the leader of the Varden; he may not look the part, but he is wise and powerful. I would suggest not angering him, he is a little irritable at times."
Asural shot Jae a confused look, not quite understanding her meaning.
Jae saw his expression and said sadly, "He has lost a lot at the hands of the Empire."
The group walked the rest of the way in silence until they reached the center of the crater. As they got closer, Asural realized that it was made completely of marble and was much grander than any structure he had ever seen.
At the gateway to enter the city, the lead dwarf exchanged some words with a few of the guards standing there and then turned and beckoned them inside.
They were led through a few turns and down some stairs until they stood in front of a large door with guards stationed in front.
The dwarf turned to Jae and said, "They are waiting for you inside." With that he and the other two dwarves went back the way they came.
Jae stepped forward and the guards, upon seeing her, knocked on the door and opened it.
Jae told Asural to wait until he is called in and entered. Two men were talking as the door opened.
The one on the right looked about 30 years old while the one on the left looked to be in his early 20s. Both stood at the same height and looked worn from hardship. They were in the middle of a heated discussion when Jae entered.
The man on the right was talking, "-get your chance soon enough. You can't go running off now that we finally have everything in order here. What if you die? What will we do then?"
The younger of the two noticed Jae's approach and raised his hand to the older.
"Ah, I see you've returned. We were beginning to worry-" and the door shut, cutting off Asural from the conversation.
Asural stood outside for about forty minutes when the guards opened the door suddenly and allowed him to enter.
As he walked in, Asural saw that the circular room was bare except for a large table at the side opposite the door with chairs surrounding it. The three were already seated at the table. The two men kept their eyes on Asural as he walked in; while Jae sat in her seat poking her arm, making changes to and reorganizing her spells.
When he reached the table, the two men stood and introduced themselves as Brom and Weldon. Weldon greeted him while the Brom stared intensely at Asural for a few long seconds, as if trying to see something, then he glanced at Jae, and the two sat back in their chairs.
As Asural took his seat, Jae spoke without looking up, "I told you I trained him, which should have made it clear that it wouldn't work, Brom."
"It never hurts to check," replied Brom with a hint of annoyance.
Weldon addressed Asural, "We've heard about you from Jae, and I have a good idea what kind of person you are; however, I would like to hear your reasons for joining the Varden."
Asural thought for a moment before answering Weldon, "I joined because I am considered a deserter, possibly a murderer and a traitor, and I have no hope if the Empire catches me. There is nothing that will change this fact unless the Empire itself is destroyed." He continued, "I joined the army because I had nowhere else to go and when I heard of the insanity and the horrors the king and his Forsworn caused, I started wondering what I had gotten myself into. For the sake of all those under the king's rule, I will see this through as far as I am able."
Weldon spoke after Asural had finished, "It's good that you know the size of what we must accomplish."
"It's easy to say such words, so we will see just how dedicated you are. We're short on people and there aren't many things pertaining to the Empire at the moment, but there is one mission that should be a good starter for you. One of our agents has been captured and is being held near a town at the southwestern edge of the Hadarac. You need to secure him and bring him back here to give us his report," Brom said. "Jae, you will accompany him, only to observe and intervene if necessary."
"Who is it that we're saving?" Asked Jae, looking up.
"Aros."
Jae nodded, "I'd expect one of the Forsworn to be coming to collect him."
"That's the problem we have here. The earliest we can get a team together for this would be 5 days. One of them will be there in three days. It's close enough that you two can make it there at night on the second day and get him out before one of them arrive. If you run into one of them, you know what to do. Go and move swiftly, time is of the essence."
Jae and Asural stood, bowed and quickly walked outside.
Once outside they stopped for a moment. "Ready?" Jae asked.
"Yea," responded Asural.
They started at a run and quickly picked up more speed and disappeared into the trees.
A few hours later, during their first break, Asural asked, "So who is Aros? I know I'm saving him, but who is he?"
"He is one of Brom's friends from before the Varden and one of our more special agents. Other than that, I don't know much; having only met him once."
"Do you know what he does for the Varden?"
"He gathers information on various members of the Empire and relays it to us so we know everything about our opponents."
"Who exactly?"
"Important individuals that we need to keep tabs on. Enough talking, it's time to move."
They arrived on the second night and stood on a hill overlooking the town.
The town was at the foot of a mountain and was a mess of houses scattered around the base.
The prison was not far outside the town and seemed well defended. It was a tower with a wall around it and had a few barracks. There were also several patrols out around the walls.
"It probably has a small army inside and several magicians." Jae said.
"This is where prisoners are kept until the king decides what to do with them. It's not the most defended prison but it is going to be a pain finding the prisoner we want and getting him out."
"I'll locate him and guide you there; you have to do the rest. This is your mission after all. I'll be in the north guard tower if you need me."
With that they dashed silently to the base of the wall avoiding the patrols. They stopped briefly at the bottom and jumped to the top of the wall.
Quickly taking the guard out, Asural paused to let Jae find Aros.
"He's near the top of the tower. There are a few guards and a magician stationed right outside his cell too," she said.
"Let me know if anything else shows up," replied Asural.
"Good luck."
Asural jumped off the wall, landing softly, and made his way swiftly to tower door without setting off any alarms.
The door was locked but it didn't pose a problem, he placed his hand on the door, the lock moved, and it swung open. Once inside he shifted back into his army uniform and walked up stairway after stairway until he reached the top.
In order to blend in, he kept his walk to a max of a brisk pace, to seem like he was on important business, but slow enough as to not draw attention to himself.
When he reached the level Aros was on he stopped outside the door, pressed his ear against it, and there was only silence on the other side.
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