No one had any issues with his idea, and they set off on the several-minute walk up an increasingly steep slope, until it plateaued after several hundred feet, opening up into the large settlement that Wei had visited.
“It’s over there, the portable cabin near the cave entrance.” Wei pointed to a blue-and-white building.
“Just one woman?”
“Unless there are dozens in here who all have the same markings as the witch, yes. I made a thorough check, and there are no signs that anyone has been here in the last few hours.”
The group used the edge of the settlement for cover, moving between temporary buildings until they’d reached the cabin in question. Fiona walked over and tried the handle but found it locked.
Diana sniffed the air. “One person inside. We could kick it in, but I have no idea just what might be written on the other side.”
“Time for me to work, I assume,” Nabu said. He crouched down in front of the lock and placed his hands around it. He removed a small pouch from his pocket and opened it up, revealing several lockpicks. “It’s a new hobby.”
“It’s something unexpected,” Diana added.
“The windows on this building are blacked out,” Fiona said. “It’s like the prison down below.”
A few seconds later Nabu stood and pushed the door open. “Now, that is unexpected.”
He stepped into the building, followed quickly by everyone else. Mordred couldn’t help but laugh when he saw Mara Range inside. She was chained to the floor by one ankle. The thick metal chain was just long enough for her to get around the small building, which to Mordred’s mind was basically just a slightly bigger caravan.
“You’re the one who made the tablets that got us stuck in the dwarven realm,” Diana said, picking up part of the chain and immediately reacting as if it had stung her, dropping it to the floor. “Shit, there’s silver in the chain.”
“You’re Chloe’s mum,” Fiona said. “The witch. How’s siding with Hera and her people working out for you?”
“How does it look?” Mara snapped.
Nabu picked up one of several metal bracelets that sat on a nearby workbench, turning it over in his hands. “These are miniature realm gates, like the stone tablets. How did you do this?”
Mara looked away.
“Seriously?” Diana asked. “Now you’re going to be a dick about it?”
“I can’t imagine you like being chained up,” Wei said. “I can’t imagine this was how you thought it would work.”
“Of course not,” she snapped.
Wei crouched beside Mara and placed a hand on her arm. The witch visibly relaxed, and a few seconds later she looked close to falling asleep.
“Why don’t you tell us all about it?” Wei suggested.
“Nice trick,” Mordred said.
“It’s not something I can do often,” Wei said. “Or for long, so save the gratitude and ask questions.”
“How do you make these?” Nabu asked.
“You can make them out of anything,” Mara said sleepily. “But they only last one time each. It has to be made of stone for it to be permanent.”
“Why are you chained up?” Diana asked.
“I demanded things from that bitch Abaddon. She said I was lucky to be alive. So they chained me in here. Looks like I need to learn to be nicer to people.”
“Can’t fault their logic there,” Mordred said.
Nabu picked up the dozen bracelets there and dropped them into a nearby bag.
“Where are my husband and Elaine?” Fiona asked, her voice cracking a little.
“Elaine is inside the mountain. Alan, too. They found him about an hour ago. He was not looking his best when they dragged him past. As a water summoner with no water to summon from, he must feel quite impotent.”
Fiona threw a punch at Mara’s head, but Diana grabbed her wrist before it connected. “Not helping,” she said, and Fiona turned and left the cabin.
“Where do those bracelets take you?” Nabu asked.
Mara mumbled something.
“Shit,” Wei said, and removed her hand from Mara’s leg. “I needed to stop. She’s slipping too far into sleep. If I keep this up, you’ll get nothing but one comatose witch.”
“Still think Hera is the good guy?” Diana asked as Mara blinked, clearly angry. “You murdered your ex-husband and almost got your daughter killed. All because you wanted to crawl up Hera’s ass. Now your daughter, Chloe, hates you. Do you remember that? Do you even care?”
“My daughter is a disappointment,” Mara said, her voice beginning to sound more like her usual self. “She sided with you over her own family. I might have ended up in a less-than-ideal situation here, but once Demeter and Hera find out what those animals did to me, they’ll release me.”
“Can we take her with us?” Fiona called from the front door.
Nabu picked up the chain. “No. It would take too long to cut through the chain, and that much power would draw attention.”
“We could cut her leg off,” Mordred suggested.
“We’re not cutting limbs off,” Diana said.
“Just a thought. One quick cut, the leg is gone and she’s a little easier to carry.”
“Mordred, no dismemberment.”
Mara’s color was an unhealthy shade of green.
“Not the whole leg, just the bottom half,” Mordred continued before smiling at Mara and drawing a pistol, aiming it at her head.
“You won’t kill me,” Mara snarled. “My daughter would hate you if you killed me. And she’s more important to you than I am.”
“That is true,” Mordred said.
“But she’ll get over it,” Diana pointed out.
Mara moved aside her shirt, revealing the glyphs at the top of her shoulder. “You seen these before?”
“They’re the same ones used on the magical bomb people,” Mordred said.
“I leave this cabin, I go boom. My heart rate stops, I go boom. Either way, I take out myself, you, and anyone else in a few dozen feet. You want to make that much noise?”
“You’re not a sorcerer,” Nabu said. “How can they use that glyph on you?”
“I access the magic by using my own life force. They modified the glyph to work on me. It won’t be as spectacular as when the sorcerers do it, but it’ll be enough.”
“Mordred, we need to go,” Fiona called out. “We have trouble.”
Diana punched Mara in the face, knocking her out, as everyone else piled out of the cabin and walked straight into a fight with several blood elves.