Shards of Old

-Excuse me? - I asked again, confused, flanked by armored people and poked from behind by the tip of a spear - Can you at least explain…

-Silence! - barked the guy who arrested me at first. - If you want to explain, do it later when you meet the Head Mage.

-And when will that be?

He did not answer.

Behind me I could hear someone thrashing around and complaining loudly.

-I told you! This is some kind of mistake!

Apparently, my companion, despite his story, was still wanted. I guess this is what I get for dealing with shady people.

They led us to the center of the village, where most of their force was now gathering. There were about ten people there already, all in full plate and with their faces hidden. I could hear some scraps of conversations between people there, which did not sound very comforting.

*

-Two at once? I thought we were here just for the impostor?

-Right? I guess scum travels in groups.

*

-Who is the other guy? I heard about the one armed one but the other?

-I think that is that stupid pyromaniac who we were supposed to find ages ago.

-What is he doing here?

-Beats me.

*

-Well that was quick. Not gonna lie, when I heard we were following some anonymous tip I thought we were just gonna waste time, and we hit a jackpot.

-Yeah. What’s funny is that our anonymous helper is supposedly from Blue Mages.

-He sold out one of his own?

-Looks like it.

*

It took them about ten minutes to gather all of their people. During that time I tried talking to one of them, to at least try and understand why I am suddenly wanted, but they only silenced me, repeating the same thing that I already heard. Attempts at talking to my companion also were in vain, we both were flanked by armored guards and I didn’t feel like trying to talk through a literal wall of metal that was definitely not friendly.

We were led to some empty building. It kind of looked like a barn, or a large storage shed. Inside, our hands got tied together behind our backs, and in my case they just tied it to my belt. One of the people started drawing something on the ground in runes, and meanwhile they started going through our belongings. Surprisingly, they took very little interest in my bag and notes, just skimmed them and put them back where they found them. Same with my companion’s bag. What caught their attention though was brought after us - the heap of scrap metal we were dragging with us.

-What is this? - asked one of them, pulling out some melted pieces of armor. Judging from the voice, it was the same one that found us at first.

-I can finally speak now? - I replied, annoyed. - Some scrap metal I found. What of it?

-Scrap metal? Very funny. It clearly doesn’t belong to any of you. Who did you steal that from?

-Oh please, who would steal some broken set of armor? Anyway, what’s going on here? Can you at least explain why I am basically getting kidnapped?

-I am the one asking questions here. I asked what were you gonna do with all this gold? This is worth at least… I honestly can’t even tell.

-Gold?! - both me and my companion yelped in surprise.

I could only imagine the guy rolling his eyes, I only saw a slight movement of his helmet.

-Yes, gold. Stop pretending. I asked where did you get that from.

-In a treasure trove, guarded by a monster - I replied mockingly.

No wonder we were tasked to bring that stuff back. How much do you even pay to get something like that made? Or better question - why? Isn’t gold a pretty shitty material to make armor from? Or anything besides jewelry for that matter? No wonder it got absolutely destroyed during that fight

-I am done with this. Let’s see how you are gonna talk after you spend some time in a cell. Gag them.

Before I was able to protest my mouth was already full and was unable to say a word. Even though Eicam was pretty quiet, he also got the same treatment and we both were forced to watch our captors in silence, waiting impatiently.

Before that I was contemplating on how and if I should try to run somehow, but I decided to try and talk to them instead. That is, after they would ungag me. In hindsight, it wasn’t the best choice, but also not the worst. While it wouldn’t be hard to run from regular people in full armor that were apparently here without any mounts, if they were indeed those so-called “Red Mages”, it had to mean that they also were able to use fire magic. I was not dumb enough to fight that. Plus there were a lot more of them.

My thoughts were interrupted by the guy who was up till now drawing runes on the ground.

-Ready when you are - he said to the guy inspecting our golden scrap.

I wasn’t really paying attention to him before, but he looked a bit different from others. While yes, he was also armored and was wearing a red scarf, his armor was not full plate. Judging by the jingling that sounded from him every time he moved, it had to be chainmail, but covered in dark leather. Instead of the helm, he had a dark hood, and his scarf was covering his face to the point where you could barely see his eyes.

-Good. Prisoners, get ready. We will begin transport - he said to us and then turned back to the other guy. - Let’s go.

He nodded and started a spell.

I looked at the runes he wrote on the floor. I’ve already seen a similar pattern before not so long ago, at the old hag’s place, although his version looked a bit more… rough? I guess he was using some wooden boards in some random barn as a base, so I couldn’t blame him for that.

He pulled out a small book from somewhere and started quickly going through it. After a second he finally found what he looked for and, to my surprise, tore the page out. As he finished the spell, the scrap of paper lit up in flames, turning to ash and at the same moment the familiar glow of the portal appeared. And of course it opened on the floor, like a hatch. Again, it was not the way I was used to portals working, but I started to think that’s just how they do it here.

First one going through were the ones “guarding” me and Eicam. I was curious how the hell are they gonna go through with that armor, and especially, how is that gonna look on the other side. Judging from my personal experience it would be hilarious. As to confirm my suspicions, they definitely did not look optimistic, and carefully walked towards the opening. I expected them to jump, but instead they, one by one, sat at the edge of the portal and then slowly slid in, like some kids scared of water, entering the pool for the first time. It was a bizarre sight, that I am sure looked even better from the other side.

-Move - I heard from behind. - Your turn.

I approached the portal and started pondering on how the hell should one actually enter that thing properly, but my thoughts were cut short by a poke of a spear in the back, so I just jumped in, hoping I would at least not break my bones during the fall.

Moments of distorted gravity later, I managed to somehow land without digging my teeth into the floor, although barely. It is not easy to keep your balance up while using portals and being tied up to boot. I gathered myself from the ground and took a look at the place I landed in.

It looked like some sort of library, not jail. Lot of bookcases, a lot of papers, and also a lot of guards. But the most interesting thing about the room was what it was made of-some kind of raw rock. It was crimson red. The walls and the floor were carved, almost like we were in some kind of a cave that has been repurposed and deepened to resemble a room.

The people that arrived before me were now talking with the group that was stationed here. I heard something about finishing the mission, but before I could try and listen in, the rest of the group started landing behind me. I turned around just in time to see Eicam land face first onto the ground. I realized that the portal that we emerged from was anchored to one of the bookcases, labeled simply “anchors”. I couldn’t tell which one exactly, thanks to the glow.

Not soon after, the whole group was standing in the room, the last one entering being the man in dark armor. Unlike the other people who either fell onto the ground or carefully went through, step by step, he jumped out and landed firmly on the ground, jingling his armor, looking like he’s done this thousand times already. He stepped towards the bookcase and ripped something off behind the portal. The opening disappeared and I now could see that he ripped a page out of a book that was standing open on one of the shelves. The page itself turned to ash in his hand and disappeared, without leaving even ashes behind.

-Thanks for the help - said the one who captured us

-No problem - replied the man who teleported us here. - I think you can handle this from here yourself.

-Right. The three of us will take them to their cells, rest of you, you are dismissed. Mission over.

Some of them nodded, few saluted even, but everyone that came with us started leaving the room, besides the small group that was gonna escort us. The last one to leave was the man in the dark armor. He looked back towards us, like he wanted to say something, but decided otherwise and left anyway.

-Prisoners, move out. And don’t try anything stupid. Not like you would be able to anyways.

We left the room, led by him, and followed by two armored people, one of which was carrying our bags. I am not sure if they were still the ones that came with us all this way or those who were stationed here, all of them were in that stupid heavy plate that made it hard to distinguish them.

Coming out of the room, we turned left. Corridor we were traveling through looked pretty similar to the “portal library”, although it looked a little bit rougher. Walls, ceiling and the floor looked like carved inside a solid rock, maybe a bit darker than before. I also noticed that there was no visible light source anywhere in the vicinity, yet it was bright enough for me to see clearly. It took us a good few minutes to reach the end of the corridor and the plain looking, spiral staircase leading down. We walked past a bunch of doors, each similar to another, made of some kind of metal. Don’t know why, but even though they were simple, they kept grabbing my attention, like somehow they did not fit here. What also struck me as odd was the distinct lack of windows of any kind. Maybe we were actually in some sort of cave system after all? An odd thought came to my mind. Since in this world elves apparently existed, why not dwarves? I took a better look at my captors. They definitely didn’t look any different from me or Eicam, at least from what I could tell, not like there were many features that were visible through the heavy armor. The gear itself was not giving away any hints either. It looked solid, probably iron, without any distinct features, it was purely functional.

Like to confirm my thoughts about caves, the staircase we started descending was pretty long. We went past a couple of levels, all of them similar to each other, until we reached what I thought was a ground floor. Again, we walked through the long corridor, but this time it looked a bit darker and even rougher, like it was older than the other parts we’ve seen. It led us to yet another stairway, this one was straight and looked like it was made of solid slabs of that red stone. After about fifty steps, we finally reached the massive door that just screamed “dungeon” to me. Large, twice the height of a regular person, made of a very thick piece of metal, with the red crystals embedded in it. It sort of looked like someone shot a shrapnel of rocks towards it and no one bothered to pull them out.

Inside, there was a short, thin corridor not even two meters wide, with maybe four doors on each side, spaced about a few meters from each other. The doors were similar to those we entered through, with the rock-shrapnel, although they were not as thick as that one, as I could clearly see up close when I got shoved into the room, or rather cell, on the end of the corridor.

Before I could even react, the doors closed and the last thing I saw outside was Eicam being stuffed to the cell on the opposite side.

Still gagged, and bound I sat down in the corner, cursing myself for my complacency. The space I got shoved into was pretty tiny, I was barely able to stretch my legs while sitting without touching the other wall. I started shifting around in my bindings, trying to at least loosen them a bit, without luck. I heard the door close on the other side of the corridor and some footsteps coming closer. The door opened once again and I was greeted by another man in full plate. Or was it one of the people I’ve already seen? Who knows at this point. Without a word he cut my bindings and removed my gag.

-So no one will even try to explain to me what is going on?

The door closed behind him and I was left alone. Seconds later I heard him unbind Eicam as well, heard him complain a bit and as soon as the door to his cell closed his voice got completely muted by the door. Not too long after I heard another door close and then there was only silence.

-Eicam? You there?

No answer. Either he did not care or the two doors were soundproof enough for him not to hear me. Probably both.

I sighed and stretched out. I was now standing in what basically looked like solitary confinement. No windows, no bars, there was not even a single piece of furniture to sit on. But even though there was nothing here and it was completely isolated from the sunlight, it still was not dark. It did intrigue me before, as we were being dragged through all those corridors, but I suspected that there were just some lamps hidden somewhere. Now, when I was left here, I realized that it was not the case. The dim light was coming from the walls themselves. The red rock was emitting a very dim glow that gave off enough light to see. I did not notice it before, since it was all around me and it just blended in nicely, but inside the cell I could clearly see it thanks to the door, the only point that was darker.

My first instinct, despite being locked in, was to inspect and check what material is that. It sort of reminded me of the glowing crystals I kept seeing being used everywhere, although they had a different color. Even if that was indeed it, it had to be the biggest piece of crystal I’ve ever seen, to the point that it was almost unthinkable that it existed. The next item, and the only one else, that caught my interest was the door, or rather the crystal shrapnel itself. The doors were just made of some mundane metal, most likely steel, although they had some traces of magic embedded in. It most likely came from the crystals. They were surprisingly easy to identify - they were the same as the gem in the necklace I got from the hag. I almost forgot that I had that, still hanging on my neck. That made me realize: I was not searched. Well, besides my bag, which they were not very interested in, they left me as is. It was either completely stupid or they were that sure of their security in this place. In any case, it did not bode well for me. If they were actually just ignorant, I would never get a chance to speak with someone that could clear up this situation. The escape would be the only option, but thanks to this place being who knows where, and who knows how big, the direct jailbreak would prove almost impossible, if I was even able to get out of this cell. That brings us to the other option - they were absolutely sure about the security of this place. They left me without a search, and even unbound me. Surely they realized that I would try to use magic to try and get out, right? There had to be some sort of mechanism that either warned them about that or flat out blocked magic.

-Well, no time like the present to check that out! - I said out loud, not like anyone was to see or hear me.

-Usc fi geksu.

Yep, the spell worked alright, the fire orb manifested without any issue, floating near me.

For a second, I waited, expecting some sort of reaction. Maybe an alarm, or I don’t know, someone stopping me, but none of that happened. I decided to test my luck some more, and got closer to the door, to try and at least warm the door a little bit, maybe that would provoke a reaction.

Still nothing. I turned up the heat, to the point that the metal on the door started to change color, and even distort a tad. Yet still nothing.

I dismissed the orb and sat down in the corner. My magic was completely fine. Moreover, they didn’t even bother monitoring their prisoners, it looked like. As a last resort, I would be able to get out with enough persistence, even using only fire magic. Melting the hinges wouldn’t be that difficult, although for now I decided against it. I did not want to antagonize anyone just yet. I started forming the plan of action.

First, I wanted to at least attempt to talk to whoever was in charge here. Not like they left me to die here, someone will sooner or later have to come here with food and water. If they are the same person that unbound me, it could prove hard to even make them speak, judging from the short encounter I had before, but I would work something out. In the worst case I could always try and take them hostage, I was pretty sure their armor was conductive and I had more than fire to make use of if it came to that.

If for whatever reason that would prove impossible, I still had some other ideas, ranging from optimistic at best to insane at worst, but for now I decided to wait and see if someone actually shows up.

I had to wait quite a bit for the first guest. A few hours after getting locked up, I heard a set of footsteps coming towards me, accompanied by noises of heavy doors.

The door to my cell swung open and I was greeted by yet another man in full plate. I think it was the same guy who cut my bounds not that long ago, but who knows for sure. He tossed a small sack towards me and almost immediately started closing the door.

-Wait!

He hesitated for a second.

-Can I speak to someone that is in charge here? I am sure I can explain this misunderstanding.

He shrugged and continued closing the door.

-I was never told why am I even here! You can’t just jail a man without giving an explanation!

The door slammed behind him, leaving me without any answer.

I sighed and checked the bag he tossed me.

-Lovely…

Inside was a small loaf of bread, a bit stale judging from the looks, and a waterskin, similar to those we had during the journey, but this one was not enchanted. I almost took a sip, but stopped myself and first checked the contents with my magic sense, just to be sure. It was indeed just water, and funnily enough, I did feel something different, but not only from the bag, also from somewhere else. It was very faint, but there, to the point I was not sure that I indeed felt something and it was not just my imagination. I started doing circles around the small room, trying to feel the direction from which it was coming from, activating my magic sense over and over again, but, to no one's surprise, the traces just led me to the door.

Focusing on the bag again I tried identifying what I exactly felt.

It was not the waterskin, it was the bag itself. The effect was also pretty distinct, even without the runes I was able to recognize the familiar spell - the same one a certain hag had on her silverware - Truth Infusion.

Considering everything, it was good news. If they were trying to drug me with that, it meant that they wanted to talk, and soon. As far as I knew, the effect of this spell was not very long, and considering that it was embedded in some fragile piece of linen, it could be even less potent. Last time I encountered it it was inscribed in a solid material, and even then it did not work for very long.

I left the provisions in the bag and considered my choices. I was not keen on getting drugged again, but it could very well work in my favor. Whatever I did, I had to do it soon. If my thought process was correct, someone would surely appear to check on me. Whenever I had something to hide or not, I’d prefer to have my own free will to decide what to say, although that might make it hard to trust my words. But that also gave me an idea.

I got closer to the door and started listening. Nothing. Whoever came and left this, was already gone.

-Elwu, wesnoho.

There was no visible effect to my spell, but I felt it slowly working. It was a delicate process, so I took it slow. Maybe a minute later, when I was satisfied with the effect, I ended the spell and used another one.

-Elwu, nemwesnoho,

This one had less risk, but still, I kept the power low, just to be doubly sure.

All this took maybe ten minutes. With preparations now done, I just had to wait for my jailor to come and visit me again.

This time it took him about half an hour. The door swung open and I made sure he saw me with waterskin in hand, slowly sipping the contents. Without saying a word, he grabbed the bag with the bread and left. Judging from the sound of the footsteps, he was in a hurry.

I smirked. Everything was going smoothly. If I was correct, he now went to inform his superior that I am now under influence and ready to be interrogated. The fact that he left so quickly also confirmed that the effect was weak and time limited, as I thought.

It did not even take five minutes before he came back. This time he was armed with a long spear.

-Stand up - he barked at me. - Out.

-Where are we going? - I asked, leaving the cell and waiting for my escort.

He did not answer but just poked me with the end of the spear.

-Ow. Okay, okay.

He led me to the end of the corridor, where the main entrance to the dungeon was. The door was still closed. I looked at him, questioningly.

But he did not open the main door. Instead, he put his hand on one of the doors on the left of the entrance and opened it.

-In - he gestured towards the open cell.

I walked in and the door almost immediately slammed close behind me.

I was in an interrogation room.

It was maybe four times bigger than the last one, and not barren. Still, the walls and floor were made out of the same materials, as apparently everything in this place. In the middle of the room there was a large table, with two chairs on both opposite sides, all made of that weird, reddish stone, or ore. All of that was fused to the floor.

I sat in the chair facing the door. The only thing there was left to do, was to wait.

This time I did not hear anyone approach. Now, when I think of it, I also did not hear the guy who closed the door leave, everything was silent. Maybe a minute later the door opened again and this time, to my surprise I was visited by someone new.