Chapter 19

Chapter 19

"Cross the mountains on a dragon" were words taken from an old fairy tale or a novel about dragon knights. In the books Rosa had read, the dragon usually soared near the clouds, and the heroes admired the beauty of the snow-capped peaks below. The books rarely mentioned the cold, the gusty winds, and the thin air that was unbreathable at such heights. Of course, it was out of the question to pass the ridge directly. The path of the rescue team was along the same trails used by the smugglers' caravans. Toad followed them, often not even by air. Whenever possible, the dragoness would drop to the ground and walk, giving her wings a rest. The passengers would dismount and walk beside her.

The group consisted of Rosa, Jeanne, Marius and Captain Lytel. They took the bare minimum of equipment: clothes, weapons, a few blankets, camping supplies, and a set of amulets and potions for Rosa. Nothing more, even food. A flask of water for each of them, a sack of breadcrumbs, a bag of tea, a kettle - the rest was obtained on the breaks. Rosa received from the captain a marvellous elven crossbow - light, but powerful. The girl put it to use at her first overnight stay, shooting a snow partridge. Lytel herself was busy gathering some herbs and lichens, which were then sent to the soup together with the bird. The resulting broth tasted spicy, and Rosa's nose itched, but she ate it and didn't complain. After all, during her time at the Academy, she had tasted chowder made by alchemy students. During the whole meal the sorceress felt the curious gaze of the fair-haired elf. When she finished and blotted her lips with a handkerchief, the lady captain suddenly clapped her hands:

- It's amazing.

- W... what? - Rosa didn't understand.

- Look. - The captain jabbed her finger at Marius. - Sir Knight sneezed as he ate. Lady Jeanne grumbled and asked if she would have prophetic visions after such soup. And you just ate.

- Shouldn't I have? - The girl asked warily. She liked the elf, but Rosa still didn't understand what was going on in her head. Behind the aloof and cold facade was a very eccentric person.

- Not with that combination of spices, no, - Lytel wrinkled her chin. - Surprising.

The woman could not give any explanations - she just shrugged her shoulders and promised "not to do that from now on".

After supper Jeanne went on guard duty, Lytel stayed near the dying fire, and Rosa and Marius sheltered from the wind under the side of Toad, and talked about everything for a long time, sitting shoulder to shoulder, wrapped in blankets. The young sorceress was surprised to realise that she missed those days when they had wandered together. Then it had been their adventure - theirs and Toad's. Now it was as if the world had become bigger - armies were moving around, conspiracies were being hatched, the fate of cities and countries was being decided. And the two young people were lost in the vastness of the world. Rosa could not remember when she had seen Marius for more than five minutes - he was always in a hurry for a report or a flight, and there was always someone waiting for her, a mentor or a marshal. Now she was trying to make up for lost time, bitterly aware that such moments of peace and solitude might not be theirs again. Of course, she showed the knight Signor Jacques, not forgetting to explain how difficult it had been to create him.

- Energising a dead body was the easiest part, really. – Rosa held the mouse in the palm of her hand, occasionally poking it with her finger. The touch caused the mouse to move its legs, lying on its side. It looked like it was walking on air. - Then the delicate work begins. The construct has no consciousness and can't do anything on its own. You have to weave a web of control spells around it. Like a puppet with strings, only the strings pull themselves according to the principle of "if..., then...". If the construct sees a shovel, it takes it. If the construct has a shovel in his hands, he stabs it into the ground. If the shovel goes into the ground, then... You understand? And you need a lot of spells like that, whole chains of them.

- Are you talking about a construct made from a human corpse? - Marius frowned. He touched the mouse too, but it didn't react to the young man's touch. - If it has hands...

- Er... no, of course. - Rosa hesitated. Donna Vittoria had given her the shovel example, and the girl had not thought of it in that way. - From a monkey. Like Luca. Luca really is a masterpiece, by the way. I've managed to discern all the threads that control him - there are over a thousand of them, can you imagine? Signor Jacques doesn't even have a dozen.

The young man smoothed the sparse fur on Jacques's side with his fingernail. He shook his head and smiled faintly:

- I'm trying to remember now - have we discarded the last formalities a long time ago or did it only happen today?

- Oh... Oh! - Rosa clasped her mouth with the palm of her hand. – I… I mean, milord....

- No, I really don't remember. - The knight laughed softly into his fist. - I may have even started first. Knights' castles are not bastions of ceremony. Formalities are for parents, guests, commanders... And you and I are... friends?

- Yes. I think so. - Rosa had the self-control not to blush, but she looked away and awkwardly stuffed the mouse into her purse.

- I used to have enough of Toad's company, - Marius admitted, still smiling. - It was nice to talk to brothers and sisters and cousins like Minerva. But I didn't feel the need for it. And the last few weeks I've been exhausted, wanting to discuss every piece of news with you first. To hear what you had to say. You have an opinion on everything. And Toad's attached to you.

- I missed you, too, - she said. She adjusted the blanket and grinned slyly, feeling the embarrassment recede. - I don't know who I miss more. You and Toad are inseparable to me, and I'm in love with Toad, in case you haven't noticed. We could... Er... Do you hear that?

For some time now it had seemed to Rosa that their conversation was accompanied by a gentle melody, as if it were woven into the conversation - every note of it lay perfectly on the words, emphasising the intonation, following the mood. Now the girl realised that she was not imagining the music. She leaned forward and looked for the source of the sound. Of course, who would have doubted it... Lady Captain Lytel was no longer sitting by the fire, but standing at full height, with her violin and bow in her hands. She was looking somewhere far away, into the darkness of the night, but the elf's ears were perked up, showing that she was listening intensely.

- Captain! - Rosa called out, not really raising her voice. - What are you doing?

- Me? - The woman turned round, putting down her violin, and the melody faded away at the same moment. - I'm helping. Consider it an apology for dinner.

- And what exactly are you helping? - Don Marius asked, his face darkening.

- Not what, but who. - The captain swung her bow. - You, my friends. You know, people tell their children that they are found in nettles, and elves tell them that they are born from the warm conversations of their father and mother... The latter is closer to the truth, isn't it?

The young knight coughed, choking on something. Rosa mentally counted to five, reminding herself that elves are not humans. And some things are much easier to deal with. She smiled almost sincerely and said:

- Thank you, but we can handle it, lady. We don't need any help.

The elf's ears drooped, dropping to her shoulders. She waved her hands guiltily and silently went to her bed, made of blankets and dry grass. The young men looked at each other. They did not want to continue the conversation...

They spent one more night in the mountains, and it was an anxious one because of the rising wind. On the morning of the third day, Toad climbed another pass, and from it the group had a view of the plain.

- Almost there, - Marius said, rising from his saddle. - The gorge to our right is the same one where the fortress with the portal to the other world was. The bright streak in the distance is the border river. From the gorge to the river is the lands of the kingdom. Beyond the river are Erdo's continental possessions. And to the west, along the mountains, was the Republic of Iolia.

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- Don Armando's group, after destroying the portal, should have travelled to the river, according to Donna Vittoria, - Jeanne nodded. She and Lytel spent the whole journey in the hastily made leather seats behind the saddle. Rosa had to look over her shoulder to see her friend. - The Erdos diplomats, on the other hand, were taken west to Iolia. The outsiders' base must be there, and not too far away. I've got to get to work before my legs fall off.

The place indicated by Donna Vittoria's agents was found without difficulty - from the height of the dragon's flight it was convenient to check the map with the terrain. Don Marius dropped the women off a little further away and lifted Toad into the air again. Lytel led the group onwards.

- Yeah. Here, - the elf said as they climbed out of the bushes and onto the narrow, dusty road. - This is a good spot. The bushes are thick, coming right up to the side of the road. You can hide a platoon of shooters. Stay where you are, I'll take a look around.

- Are you sure there's anything to be found here? - Rosa asked incredulously, looking round too. - It's been a few days.

- It hasn't rained, so it's no big deal, - the captain assured her. - Wait.

Lytel spent the next half an hour exploring the neighbourhood, moving in a widening spiral. Rose gnawed on some dried bread, leaning against a tree, while Jeanne kneaded her tired muscles with fencing exercises. Finally, the elfess returned, shaking dry leaves out of her blonde hair. Reported:

- There's a trace. Here were professionals. Tried not to leave anything behind - took away the corpses, covered the blood pools, covered the horseshoe prints. But it takes a lot of men to take out a whole squad. You can't hide something like that safely. They were hardly afraid of anything, though, just used to caution. Let's go. First, they moved back along the road.

Rosa thought she could read animal tracks, but she was not as good as Lytel. The lady captain showed her companions the powder-burned leaves, the bent branches of bushes, the bald patches of ground where blood-splattered grass had been torn out, the bullet mark on a tree trunk, and many other tiny signs of the recent fight. King Auguste's men were moving out of the way like hares, but the elf was right - a couple of dozen men with prisoners and a load of dead bodies simply could not move through the thicket unnoticed. Eventually the women found themselves in a circular clearing.

- The horses were waiting for them here, - Lytel said confidently. - And here they thought they were safe.

The trail became wide and straight as the kidnappers stopped hiding. From the clearing Rosa could track them down. After an hour of following the horse's hoofprints, the women signalled to Marius to descend. It seemed unlikely that they would encounter casual travellers away from the tracks, and Toad was more visible in the sky than on the ground. Now Lytel walked ahead, pointing the way, and the others followed her on the dragon's back. When the elfess grew tired, she was replaced by the sorceress. By sunset, they crossed the border of Iolia without being caught by the border guards.

- We'd better not be late, - said Rosa, spreading a blanket for the night. There was no fire, and they had nothing to cook, so they ate a dinner of breadcrumbs. - The Erdos have been held captive for a week. They might be killed or transported away.

- Republicans are tough people, - Jeanne reassured her. - They know how to keep quiet. And even if they split up, they will squeeze the information out of themselves one drop at a time. Believe me. There was one of the lady's killers. I got to him, but I never got him to talk - he died silently, this bastard.

The Guardian's words did not make the girl feel any better - all night she tossed and turned under Toad's warm side, and in the morning she met with red, watery eyes. The trail diverged towards the mountains. The terrain was becoming more and more deserted - trade between the republics and the kingdom was mainly by river, and the land was not suitable for crops, so the party did not come across even abandoned fields or hunting lodges. The sun had just passed the zenith when Lytel, who had gone ahead, came back at a run and said that their goal was "straight ahead". She had picked up the expression from Utlt.

The alien base was not to be confused with anything else. It was nestled between two steep hills in the foothills. Grey stone platforms crowned the tops of the hills, and a wire fence blocked the entrance to the hollow. Some squat buildings were visible in the hollow. Rosa counted ten or twelve figures in armour around the fence and around the buildings.

- It's a bit modest, - Jeanne said disappointedly. The scouts were inspecting the base from the top of a nearby hill, leaving the dragoness behind. - Where are the wonders of the other world?

- Inside the hills, - Lytel answered her. The elven girl was lying on her stomach between the guardswoman and the sorceress, pulling the hood of her short cloak over her head. Jeanne and Rosa wore simple berets, but the girl hoped their black hair was not as noticeable from afar as the Lady Captain's wheat mane. - I can see the entrances on the inner slopes.

- So we need to get under the hills. - The Guardian scratched the tip of her nose. - An interesting challenge. They say the elves know how to live under the hills.

- We'll find a loophole, - Lytel said confidently. - The base was stormed. That should help us. The defences must not have been completely rebuilt. Although Auguste's mages could have installed their own signalling system.

The fact that the aliens had fought to the last was obvious to the naked eye - the ground around the base was stained with craters from explosions, the wire fence was gaping holes, and in the ravine near the entrance Rosa saw the hulk of a metal wagon with a hatch on the roof that had collapsed on its side. Here and there, ghostly lights of all the colours of the spectrum flickered faintly.

- A lot of residual magic, - the girl informed her companions. - But it's an echo of the battle. I can't see anything on the base itself.

- We rest until dark. - Captain Lytel rolled onto her back. - We'll scout in the night.

Lunch was again provided by Rosa, who had shot a rabbit in a nearby grove. She had also gathered some herbs for the broth, so as not to risk it. When she saw the young sorceress tucking into the soup, the elf hid her own collection of "seasonings" in her bag with a nonchalant look. They all went to bed together, leaving Toad in charge of the sentry.

The moon had risen in the afternoon. As dusk fell, the whitish sickle among the clouds flared a dull silver, giving people and objects shadows that were shaky and transparent. The three women left the camp with their elven crossbows at the ready. Lytel, who could see in the dark better than an owl, was the first to go, followed by Rosa, looking for signs of magic, and Jeanne was the last to follow. The guardswoman refused to remove her black cuirass, but somehow managed to move in it as quietly as the sorceress dressed in a hunting suit.

The outer hillsides were not guarded at all. The new owners of the base seemed to rely more on its secluded location, and sentries were posted at only a few key points. Once they were sure there were no patrols, the agents set to work. The search bore fruit almost immediately - Lytel spotted a tall gate cut into the hill, from which a deep track ran northwards. The gateway was unfortunately sealed by a metal plate, but there was a more modestly sized door nearby. No keyhole, alas - it was probably locked from the inside.

- Keep looking, - the elfess said. - There must be something.

And the "something" was up the slope. Pushing aside the shrapnel-strewn bushes, Rosa found an overturned metal hood behind them, and a hole in the ground next to it. It was suspiciously regular in shape. Looking inside, she saw a shaft with walls lined with silvery metal running at an angle downward.

- It looks like a vent, - Captain Lytel grinned as the sorceress led her to the find. - I've seen it in our mountain settlements. But what good is it to us?

- I can fit through it, - Rosa said in an excited whisper. The young sorceress had already checked - her shoulders fit through the hole freely.

- But we can't, - Jeanne observed. - Not even the lady captain, much less me.

- I'll open the door by the gate. - The girl rubbed her palms together, fascinated by the idea. - I'll find my way to it and open it. It's probably just a deadbolt.

- No way. - The Guardswoman grabbed Rosa's shoulder roughly and turned her around to face her. - I'm not letting you go anywhere alone.

- We can keep looking, of course. - The necromancer's apprentice held her friend's gaze, though, God knows, it wasn't easy. - And if we don't find it, we can try again tomorrow. We have plenty of time.

- Are you sure there's a way out of the vent? - Jeanne gritted her teeth. - That you won't meet a corner where you'll get stuck? That...

- Hush. - The young sorceress touched her friend's shoulder too - gently, soothingly. - Don't worry so much. I'm not going in there blind.

Releasing herself from the Guardswoman's grip, Rosa squatted down, ran her finger along the edge of the hole in the ground. She said:

- The metal inside is not steel, not iron. It doesn't interfere with my magic. I'll try one trick... But we'll have to go back to camp.

Don Marius was waiting for them, pacing restlessly around the slumbering Toad. The young sorceress didn't let him say a word - she rushed to her bed and pulled out a travelling bag from under the blankets. Digging inside, she pulled out a leather bundle under the moonlight, from which was sticking out... a red squirrel's head. At the sight of people, the squirrel made a sharp sound and twitched inside the bundle.

- Creator Almighty! What is it? - The knight asked in confusion.

- I caught it in a snare when I was hunting rabbits, - she explained, covering the squirrel's head with a thin cloth. - I wanted to... hmm... well, for experiments. Now she'll help us out. Marius, get all the rope we have. Jeanne, grab one blanket.

When they returned, of course, the hole in the ventilation shaft was still there. Rosa spread a blanket beside her and placed the package with the squirrel on the ground. She stroked the animal's ears with her index finger and mumbled a verbal formula. An invisible thread stretched between the squirrel and the sorceress.

- I'm just learning to be a necromancer, - she whispered, smiling involuntarily. - I've already learnt to be a nature mage. My mentor can't do that.

She loosened the binding on the bundle and pushed the squirrel into the shaft. She quickly covered the opening with a blanket and tapped it with her palm, scaring the animal. After waiting for half a minute, she said to Jeanne:

- Keep an eye on me. If anything happens, don't wake me up, grab me by the scruff of the neck and drag me.

Then she exhaled the activation formula... and fell backwards with a glazed look in her eyes. A moment later, she saw the world through the eyes of a frightened squirrel.