Chapter 7 Part 2

Avery maintained a steady hiking pace until he was well past the Doyr stronghold. After putting about half a league of distance between himself and the last hint of humanoid inhabitants, he stopped and stripped his pack free of camping gear. He had a private mission to perform and as a ranger he had no need of skillets, blankets or ropes.

Avery, armed only with sword, a long staff and his clothes, broke into a strange, secret type of run known only to druids and rangers. Like a deer, he sped through the woodlands as if he himself were a citizen of nature until, finally he came across a small stream winding through the trees.

Avery knelt and pulled a holly leaf from his belt pouch. Placing the leaf in the gently eddying current, he gazed deeply into the waters. The reflection grew clouded as the stream revealed to him the many places it touched. For half an hour the scenes flashed by before the one he was seeking appeared. There on the edge of the great Caliko River, was the walled city of Aspberg. That was were Nikki and Sam were being held.

The ranger's plan was simple. In order for Ultrecht to imprison the priestess, he would have to command the element of time. When he did, he would draw the attention of the Blackheart clan. That would provide the perfect diversion he needed to pass within Aspberg's walls and steal back his heart and Sam.

Avery waited. As the suns set, and the moons came out, he prepared to call upon the power of the druids. Avery undressed and rolled his belongings into a tight bundle and stuffed it into his emptied water skin.. Then with some vine, he tied the bundle to his back.
Taking a sprig of mistletoe, he stepped into the stream and began the magic. The druid's route spell, would instantly transport him to any downstream location that the waters he was standing in might touch.

Within moments, he felt the currents sweep him under the waters. Avery did not fight the natural urge to swim, for that would simply make the voyage longer. It was best to simply hold his breath and wait.

Dozens of seconds passed and Avery felt his lungs ache to exhale, but he kept his mind calm and fought the instinctive panic that was creeping up on him. The task was not difficult and soon his head was again above the waters.

Swimming to the edge of the vast river he found himself in, he stepped up on the shore and lay in the clean grass. Far off in the distance, there was the unmistakable glow of a city. The stars overhead indicated that he had traveled a fair distance to the south in the seemingly few seconds he had been submerged. That, he noted, was deceptive, because in reality he had traveled at least a day. The magic did not speed up his travel, but it simply suspended him in time and carried him to his destination. Marlena had called the spell a "boat ride", and with the exception that there was no boat involved and the passenger had no sense of the passage of time, it was just that.

Avery waited until he had dried in the chilly night, then he removed his clothing from the water tight container and redressed. When clothed again, he stood and climbed a gentle hill and faced the city on the side of the river ahead of him. It was Aspberg. "So this is the seat of all the trouble we’ve had," he said to himself. The ranger checked his clothing then started off towards the city.

When day came, Avery was already inside the city walls. It had taken little effort to steal past the guards, and having scrounged a beggar's cloak from a dead body that had lain in the gutter, the ranger bound his eyes with a flimsy rag and tapped his way along with a staff in a manner that indicated blindness. He could almost hear Armegon accuse him of being dishonest by faking blindness. He reasoned with himself that he had to cover his eyes for anonymity, and with his eyes covered, his vision was sufficiently degraded to justify the disguise.

As the night chill lifted from the city, Avery sat at the corner of a building next to a banged up and dirty pan that he had discovered in a garbage pile. Through the thin rag, he watched the street come to life as the vendors lined the streets with their carts and opened their booths for business. Aspberg, it appeared was a powerful capitalistic society.

The city watch made its way down the street and Avery noted that all of the merchants were passing bribes to be overlooked. Avery continued his beggar act when a solider approached.

"It’s time to pay your taxes, blind man," the soldier dressed in a long tabard and deep set helm gruffed as he toed Avery with a boot. "If you want to beg, then you had better let us in on your action.."

"Officer," Avery said, even though he knew that it was a common foot soldier, "take what you deem necessary from my dish."

The soldier kicked the empty plate and swore. "You beggars had better watch your step. I don't care how strong your union is, we guards expect to be properly paid off each morning. That’s the way things are."

Avery felt along the ground for his dish and accidentally bumped it down a back alley. The guard jumped forward and snatched the item up. With an underhanded twirl, he hurled the thing farther down the alley and behind a dung heap. "There you go old man," the guard laughed. "If you go and feel around for that dish now, you’re likely to get more than you bargained for."

Avery staggered after the dish, while the guard laughed. Just as he was stepping out of sight, Avery muttered an insult just loud enough for the single guard to hear. Just as he expected, within seconds, the guard came charging around the dung heap with death in his eyes, but Avery was waiting.

Avery reached out and gripped the soldier about the throat and quickly crushed the windpipe. As the gurgling body fell to the ground, Avery began removing his disguise. He then swapped garments with the soldier. Within moments, Avery walked back out on the street and joined the city watch as they made their way back to the palace.

Avery fell in to the rear and hummed a lethargic marching tune that he had heard once long ago. It had been in his younger days wandering with Armegon when he had sat near a castle and watched a bipedal lion and what appeared to have been a pair of golems, one of tin and one of straw do the same trick. He smiled within the helm at the memory. The reason he had been in the area was to investigate some unusual weather. A tornado, he recalled, caused by magic.

A quarter of an hour later and Avery marched boldly through the front door of the dark pyramid. No one challenged him and soon he and his comrades were walking down a passage that contained an abundance of turns. It was easy for him to fall out and quickly disappear down a side passage without being missed.

Avery made his way down a few more passages, taking every opportunity to go downwards as well. He reasoned that any prison would most likely be in a dungeon of sorts.

Once, he came around a corner too fast and almost ran into Tyson. He immediately came to attention and stood aside. Tyson glanced at him only cursory in passing and Avery gave silent thanks to the Creator that the helm he wore concealed his ears, hair and eyes, otherwise Tyson may have noticed him.

Avery wanted to extract some revenge immediately, but he knew that should he be unsuccessful, Tyson would have the edge on magic and was in a far better position numerically to do battle. That knowledge and the fact that the mage's decapitated body might raise an alarm stayed his hand.

When Tyson had passed, Avery let out a long exhale. That had been close. He would have to be much more careful.

Avery closed his eyes and leaned back against the cool stone. Nikki was there. He could feel her presence. He could feel her soul crying out in fear to him. The very thought of her in that place caused him to grit his teeth angrily. She was such a gentle and lovely woman. She did not deserve to be treated so. He would get her out. He would get them both out, he corrected himself remembering Sam. He would get them out if he had to send the whole city up in smoke.

"Okay," he said to himself, "now that we’re inside where do we look?"