Lotila Island was completely ignored for now. It was as ravaged and bare as Silyun and Corcosi Island itself, and there was precious little to see there, although we knew there were mines located on the island which had supplied Varicci with iron for his war machine.

  No, it was basically a straight shot to the southeast, down along the inlet running north up through the island that we’d come up getting to Karkun’s Keep, and then across the shallow waters that led over to the main island settled by the royalist survivors of Viamont.

  Because it was easier, we didn’t go overland, choosing instead to clear away the shore spawns and stick close to the water. These were generally lightly populated and so didn’t draw the Eaters in quite so much, with the result that we only ran into one group of Eaters we couldn’t avoid, and it was only about two hundred strong, smaller Eaters clearly working less densely Summoned areas.

  I whipped up a hardpoint to fight from, and they were all slaughtered in about ten minutes of continuous coordinated effort, everyone knowing what to do smoothly at this point.

  Sanamar proper stood at the end of a high bay, a place that could eventually be developed into a proper shipyard and port if they ever managed to figure out a way for boats to survive the local oceans. The Royal Castle was raised at the end of the long promontory and ridge-line that overlooked and shielded the shallow bay from the worst of stormy weather, the shallow waters there actually supplying most of the surviving fish for the people.

  It turned out the two titanic cattle didn’t like venturing out into the water, as there was nothing worthwhile for them to eat out there. As a result, the Viamontians had been able to build breakwalls down and out into the water, tall enough to keep away the Eaters who couldn’t swim for beans, covering enough area to allow them to fish. The boatdocks and paths up and down were too narrow for Eaters to navigate, and there was nothing to eat there, anyway.

  With the Spawns as light as they were, it wasn’t hard to come up the west side of the bay and up the rocky hills west of the city itself, and get our first look at it.

  -------

  Explosions of fire and thunder were echoing across the distance from the walls of the city. The sky was crimson from lingering fire magic staining the sky and clouds red, while thunderous moos echoed across the landscape with expressions of bovine fury.

  We watched from a very safe distance as two massive aurochs, over twenty feet tall at the shoulder, slammed against the thick stone walls of the city of Sanamar, spells going off and detonating against the thick stones, which were taking them with casual ease.

  The sound of the impacts of horns and magic against the stone reverberated across the scorched and bare landscape.

  Amusingly enough, we could see two different Eater hordes in the distance, but neither was attempting to get close to the two enraged aurochs.

  Everyone who had Masks of Clarity was watching the not-a-fight, safe up on the stone of the hillside where nothing would bother to come up unless they smelled us, and the wind was blowing out to sea to the southwest.

  “They are like ducks popping up, sniping it and seeing if they can land a spell,” Queen Elysa commented, her hawklike Mask turning her eyes golden as she watched the fighting narrowly. “They don’t seem to be doing any damage, however.”

  “That hide of theirs is probably stronger than solid oak, and at least a good six inches and ranging up to a foot thick in some places. Magic Defense too high for any normal Caster to get through at this point, they might as well be throwing spitballs,” Briggs judged, studying the scene with professional interest.

  “They must be smelling the gardens inside, not to mention the humans. After a diet of Eaters, it must smell terribly tempting,” Kris judged. “Regardless, we’re not getting any closer until they wander off.”

  “The Cow has looked north at the Eater horde there at least six times now. She must be getting hungry and realizes it’s just as useless now as before.”

  There were scars up and down the wall there from man-height up past thirty feet from horns and hooves, and scorch-marks and dimpled craters up and down the whole length and height of the thing, including shattered battlements and holes blown into the towers. Clearly the wall could take damage, but it was also able to take that damage and mostly get repaired. That hole in the tower looked fresh.

  “We don’t have to wait for them to leave. We can come right up under the Castle, you know,” I noted calmly. “Actually, this is a pretty good diversion, right?”

  Everyone looked at one another. It was late and we’d covered a lot of ground, but that was what Rings of Sustenance were for, taking care of energy needs. Revitalizations all around would deal with any travel fatigue issues, and the amount of fighting we’d had to do had been almost incidental compared to the slogs on the Isle of Ruin, despite the much greater distance.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Would Varicci be overseeing the fight?” the Mick asked, also studying the scene. “Eastmost tower?”

  Everyone glanced over that way, where figures with rather more colorful and ornate armor than the plain and battered colors of the knights and mages on the walls were visible.

  “Commanders, possibly. But Varicci is far too much a coward to dare Incantor-level magic if he doesn’t have to. Those are likely spotters for the officers, but note how they are trying to stay out of the reach of any Arcs the Aurochs might launch.” Princess Kristie was coolly certain of her assessment. “He might be behind the walls, but it’ll be located close to whatever they are using for an escape route.”

  “Escape route.” Master Oswald’s quiet words drew everyone’s attention. He was stroking his chin thoughtfully. “The Castle itself wasn’t built for defense, it was originally built for showing off. That has no doubt changed, but there’s no doubt Varicci left a back door open for himself. He had a couple of Dungeons attached to his Castle, including the Rossu Mortu Chapterhouse, the main research halls of his wizards, and his torture chambers.” He carefully didn’t look at Kristie, whose lip rose in a snarl at that news.

  “The research areas for the mages were incredibly large. Acres o’ space in that place. It would take a bit o’ research, but if they could duplicate the sunlight o’ the Empyreans, they could raise a fair amount o’ gardens in that place,’ the Mick recalled.

  “The Chapterhouse had several acres of space as well, and doubtless little use for it, unless perhaps they are using it as a barracks. All of them would take up a significant amount of the ridge under the Castle,” Oswald agreed.

  “You think he’d hide in the torture chambers,” Briggs guessed.

  Both the Mick and the Green Hunter nodded. “It is the most defensible location. Tighter hallways and the like. And the odds he doesn’t have a bolthole at the bottom are slim to none, aye?” Master Oswald asked easily.

  “Coming up from below and taking the Castle from within sounds like a particularly useful strategy,” Briggs reasoned, glancing at Kris.

  Her smile was all eight canines. “Sure, let’s let death come out of the hole in the ground of his own design.”

  ------

  The bay was long enough that there was no chance of being seen with even moderate illusions masking us from the besieged city. The Palace-turned-castle was a different story, but for some reason the explosions of fire and lightning and stuff from down the peninsula were more of a priority than looking out over an unchanging expanse of dark seas where nothing of interest was happening.

  As a result, getting underneath the view of the sentries wasn’t all that hard, and from there it was a matter of looking for concealed escape holes.

  There was no way to conceal such things from the tremblesense of Briggs or Kris, and I basically only had to verify that such things were in the area using Detect Secret Doors with a greatly extended range. The exits could be in the sides of the stone cliffs or coming up from the base at the ground, so I scanned as Kris zipped around the base of the cliffs the castle above had been built on, and I found something on the eastern side, away from the bay itself.

  Two of them, actually. It seemed having one secret escape route wasn’t enough. Probably another one for the population? A nice diversion for an Eater horde.

  If Varicci was serious, he’d have a long tunnel that opened up beyond the wall at Sanamar… or by the docks, with a hidden ship that might be able to dare the waters beyond the Shoreward.

  It would be the only truly feasible method of survival, so there was probably one there, too, but there were too many fishermen around the area, so we weren’t going to investigate it right then.

  Kris verified the doorway, I Shaped the sand and stone covering it out of the way, and Briggs hauled aside a door ten men might have a problem levering open without mechanical or magical help, Sound Bubbles containing the noise.

  The passage beyond was only one man wide, obviously not made for marching large parties through. Kris went right in without hesitation, staying true to being a Tip of the Spear, while I actually went second, and Briggs actually came in last, pulling the lid of the entry shut, while I Shaped another slab of rock atop it to prevent accidental discovery from above.

  We moved through the tunnel with perhaps undue speed, but Kris’ Trembling Domain meant she was basically seeing everything within thirty feet of her with extreme amounts of precision.

  That included any pit traps, spike traps, falling ceilings, sliding walls, acid bursts, collapsing stairs, and the occasional spell triggers trying to fill the corridor with death of various kinds.

  But when you can see the traps and their triggers alike, suddenly the deathtrap-filled corridor doubtless meant to kill any Eaters or anything else chasing a certain royal personage wasn’t all that big an impediment. Quaver was unusually silent and grimly expectant as Kris plunged his adamantine Blade in here and there through the stone like it was wet cheese.

  Levers were cloven, ropes cut, pistons severed, plungers blocked, gears snipped, chains snapped, and pivots jammed with unerring precision and expertise.

  Kris had told me that her mom and dad had once amused themselves by building an Assassin’s Run under the Imperial Palace, just as a training area for their agents and prospective agents. It wasn’t even that much of a secret, and people could actually apply to try to get through it. It was an incredibly dangerous place, and it scaled up from beginner rough stuff to elegant rooms full of deathtraps that were nigh-undetectable.

  Learning how to decipher countless types of traps made by any experts who wanted to show off their skills with speed and aplomb was all part of it, basically a training regimen for improving tremblesense and a Trembling Domain.

  The faces of those following us were a bit queasy after I silently /pointed out all the shit Varicci had put into defending his bolt hole, and this place wasn’t even that long. He really didn’t want anyone following him…

  ============================

  For those who would like to support me and my daily updates, my Patreon Link is at:

  The shameless author reminds that more Patreon = more chapterz... and the First Decade Storyline and others exclusive to them!