‘On the wall,’ said Sandreena.
Sentries could be seen walking the battlements, but between the basin and the wall was only empty ground. ‘It’s going to be difficult to get close,’ said Kaspar.
‘We should approach from the back,’ said Sandreena. ‘There’s a dry river bed that runs near to the wall.’ She pointed off to their left.
Kaspar motioned for Pug to join them and when he did, Kaspar said, ‘Are you going to be safe using magic?’
Pug said, ‘Magnus and I have been testing as gently as possible, and we don’t sense anything unexpected.’ He looked at the massive construction ahead of them and said, ‘Something in there is very powerful, but it’s dormant for the moment. There are a few wards to detect scrying, but they’re basic, nothing we can’t avoid.’ He looked at the five crouching figures around him and said, ‘I think we stick to the original plan.’
Kaspar nodded. ‘Wait until we have worked our way around to the back of this fortress and then do what you think is best. If we hear any sounds of alarm from your group, we will have Magnus take us back to the plateau.
‘If you hear any trouble on our part, do what you think best.’
Pug and Magnus and Amirantha provided a formidable magic force, and one that might make the difference between the others getting back alive or not. After a long argument, Kaspar had relented as Pug insisted that he should be the one to decide if he should come to Kaspar’s aid or not. Kaspar was secretly relieved.
Sandreena, like Kaspar, Laromendis, Magnus and Jim dashed up the dry river bed, while Pug rejoined Brandos, Amirantha and Gulamendis. They slowly counted for ten minutes, then Pug said, ‘Laromendis, be ready to make us look like a pile of rubble.’
The elf smiled slightly and said, ‘That should be no problem, assuming that no one is looking very hard at our pile of rubble and we don’t have to be rubble for too long.’
Brandos chuckled, then turned to listen. ‘Someone’s coming,’ he whispered. The group quickly moved near the edge of the basin, and looked upward.
A demon sentry walked above their position, and it glanced downward, blinking for a moment. It had a bovine head with massive red eyes, and a prodigious pair of horns that swept up and out. Grunting once, it blinked, then moved on.
When it was away, Pug turned and asked the elf, ‘Rubble?’
‘Rubble,’ answered Laromendis. ‘Next time, try to give me a little more warning.’
‘Those cattle heads tend to be fairly stupid,’ said Amirantha.
‘It also helps that they’re nearsighted,’ said Brandos. ‘That fact alone has saved my head more than once.’
Pug shook his head. ‘A nearsighted sentry?’
Brandos whispered. ‘It makes them nervous. They jump at any motion they detect. If we stay in the dark and don’t move, they’ll probably miss us even without the illusion our brother elf just cast.’
Pug said, ‘Let’s go that way,’ indicating the direction from which the sentry had walked. They crouched and moved up out of the basin, keeping low along the edge of the depression.
They reached the road that led to the switchbacks up the hill and found that the sentry post Sandreena had described was gone. Pug assumed they had removed everything from the perimeter once the gates and wall were finished, clearing the area around the walls free of any possible concealment.
They crept into the darkness on the opposite side of the road, finding another depression to crouch behind. Slowly they moved away from Kaspar’s group.
Sandreena held up a balled fist, indicating that they should stop. Kaspar gently put his hand on her shoulder to let her know he was behind her. She signalled there were sentries ahead, indicating two of them. He slowly rose to peer over the edge of the dried river bank and saw two demons walking a patrol before a small gate.
The small group had traversed half of the structure’s perimeter and had yet to see a safe approach. The fortification looked as if it were built to withstand a short, not a long siege. There was no structure beyond the walls, so any storage and quarters lay in small buildings nestling just inside the walls, or were nonexistent.
Kaspar indicated they should move away and when they were at a safe distance from the gate, he whispered, ‘I don’t know what this place is; it’s like nothing I’ve ever encountered. But it’s easily defensible with a hundred soldiers, and near impregnable with twice that number, but I’ll be damned if I can see much sense to it beyond that.’