By the time Bernt finished his tea, Ed returned with Kustov and a few Underkeeper Guards in tow. Ed had intercepted the messenger returning from the army on his way back. After hearing Fiora’s report ouation on the surface, he filled them in.

  “They started attag on the front line before Arice even made his move. Nothing too unusual so far down here, they’re just testing our defenses, but the general put his assault on hold for the time being. The timing is suspicious, and the fact that they’re pushing on the surface is too. The strikes suggest that they’re making a move. Losing the alchemical reserve is more of a long-term problem, and ohat’s going to cause real morale issues the lohis goes.”

  Firoaned and rubbed at her face. “I hate this. We don’t know a damhing and we’re expected to just sit here and wait for the eo spill in? What kind of strategy is that? And where is the militia? Shouldn’t the t have mobilized some more bodies for us by now?”

  Ed grunted. “He did, just not for us. We’re the only part of the city that ’t be bombarded, and we have the army between us and the enemy. They’ll be w to clear rubble, run salvage and dig for survivors up on the surface.”

  That and the Uy was meant to be an early warning system, buffer zone, and slum. It was far too o be sidered the tter, but Bernt supposed the t hadn’t actually seen it for himself. He wouldn’t want to expend too many resources proteg it. Its – and therefore the Underkeepers’ – purpose was to slow the enemy down long enough for the military and the guilds to respond, not to get tax-paying citizens killed.

  Bernt rose and o the others. “I’m going to try to catch a bit of sleep.” They were stuck waiting for the moment. If the duergar started blowing things up in the Uy in a few hours, at least he wouldn’t be tired.

  ***

  Iria stalked furiously into the castle’s sedary meeting room. Some traitorous asshole had decided to show up and throw a bomb at her building. The culprit blew herself up in the process as well, which was unfortunate, even if it was han she deserved.

  It hadn’t been an indiary, like the alchemical device that Radast had shown her. No, it was some kind of ented ward-breaker. A cussion bomb, essentially a powerful force spell locked into a rune of holding that was carved onto a simple rock. The rock was loaded into an ented metal shell desigo bypass specifids of wards and rune circles, which would alser the device. The thing had actually made it past one yer of the Guild’s wards. That alone suggested far more familiarity with their defehan Iria was fortable with. The worst of the explosion was stopped by the building’s carefully warded walls, but it had still blown out their windows.

  And now, instead of fixing this mess, sg enemy movements, and fog oy’s magical defenses, she’d been summoo a meeting. Iria loved intrigue and politics as a general rule, but there were times where she could uand Ed’s sful attitude all too well.

  “Nice of you to join us.” Theresa, the head of the local Alchemists’ Guild, said with a self-important smirk. The room was filled with the city’s most important people – guild representatives, military, clergy, and a few ives of the t. A few tittered.

  Iria scowled. Gods above, these idiots were still pying at court politics while fire rained down on the wards. At this rate, she was going to have an aneurism before the night was done. But she trolled her expression and bowed to the t.

  “t Narald, please excuse my te arrival. I stopped to che the wards.” That wasn’t true, of course – it was just an unsubtle remihat was where she should be right now.

  Narald o her and waved her toward the empty seat behind him and to his left – the one reserved for her as the court mage.

  “Not to worry, archmage. This will only take a moment.” he turo his left, where a uniformed soldier stood at attention. “Young man, if you please.”

  The soldier saluted. “My lord! The general wishes to report that the enemy has moved to pressure our forces directly from below, trated on our ter as though they io break through. It is the general’s belief, though, that they may have also pulled some troops back from the front lines below to bolster their presen the surface. He therefore wishes to inform the t that an atta the city may be immi.”

  Iria rolled her eyes. They were attag now. What was the point of this?

  “We see that.” Ambrose, the head of the local Adventurers’ Guild called out. Bless his heart. “Why don’t we go fight them? I’m not built for all this hiding behind walls.”

  Narald waved the rge man to silend gazed around the room until the murmurs of the assembly began to die down. The man had a presence of sorts, even if his talent fovernance was only middling. He knew how to trol a room.

  “Our scouts, as well as the scryers posted here at the pace, have seen no evideo suggest that the troops the general is referring to ever appeared here on the surface.”

  Iria frowned and began quickly casting her own sg spells, eled through her gsses to give her a view of the earthen ramparts outside the city. The man was right, at least at a ghere were siege engines and a few small groups of mages cooperatively slinging powerful spells at the city, but there were no more people there than the day before. No massed ground troops, nothing to suggest that they were serious about getting into the city. Except either they or some of the demon-worshipping cultists that Radast had discovered had made it inside and were making a mess of the city already.

  “Well,” Ambrose grumbled, looking around, his eyes finally settling on Iria. “They didn’t disappear, right? Where did they go?”

  “Yes, yes.” Iria sighed, drawing on the influence of her sed augmentation to cast a divination spell. She needed a glimpse into the future, if she could get one. “I’m already on it.”

  "I want the City Guard to run checks at all the inner gates to intercept any other infiltrators. Other than that, Righmond, you're to hold the walls, and watch for external threats. Report any signs of ining assaults directly to Archmage Iria." Narald ordered, gring at the corpulent man to quell any signs of protest. "The guilds will support the Guard in the defense of the city in the event of an attack. My court mage will coordinate our forces and facilitate unication throughout the city. Branchmaster Ambrose will take charge in the field."

  Iria sighed. Of course.

  ***

  Bernt tossed and turned on the hard ground, trying to find a fortable position. There were several others in the room, but they all seemed to be fast asleep. He’d even tried ah shaping trip to get the ground to to his body more fortably. It was still pretty unfortable. The growing frustration of failing to fall asleep didn’t help.

  Giving up o, he made his way out into the corridor to hunt for ay chamber. Several others were occupied with sleeping figures, more than there had been iire pound when he’d first arrived. All three shifts of guards must have been brought in now, with just one shift out on patrol while the others slept. Ed had kept recruiting after their move down into the Uy, and st that he’d heard, they now had over a hundred members, though many of those were inexperienced recruits. It was an enormous ge from the tiny order of disgraced mages that many people still thought of them as.

  After cheg four rooms, Bernt finally found ohat robably meant to bee a small office for someone iure – that or a toilet, but there was no drain or anything that looked like it would ect to the septic system.

  Fog, Bernt raised his left hand and cast ah shaping trip. The spell came much more easily now than it had a few weeks before. As Kustov had promised, he’d gotten much better at usih magic tely, even if his spells were weaker due to his unusual sed iure. Carefully, he raised a portion of the stone floor up and ftte into a seat. He didn’t bother with making a real chair – he’d ma twiow, but it took hours to get it right each time. The stone block was reasonably smooth and about knee-high. It would do fine.

  Sitting down on it. Bernt trated on his right arm. If they were going to be fighting soon, he needed to be able to cast his banefire properly and at full strength. It maed when he cast it through the new iure, but it was white rather than gray. He seriously doubted that it would affect demons in the same way as the inal, if it worked at all.

  He’d mao cast his torch spell correctly a few times now – if he uood it right, then the exact same process should work for bypassing most of the sorcerous iure’s effects for all of his spells. It still activated the specific els that he used, but those were left mostly as noise in the spellform. That was an inefficy, but having the iure alsthened his spells in general – so it should ba. Iure, he would have to learn to route his mana precisely to take advantage of the bits of the iure he wao include, but that was something for the future. Right now, he couldn’t even reliably cast with this rudimentary kind of trol. He o practice.

  ***

  Bernt watched a bolt of white fire erupt from his hand and celed the spell before it could impact the opposite wall. Another failure. It wasn’t all bad, though. He’d mahree successful castings, ahought he was starting to get a better sense for his maed els. Like any other part of his body, it didn’t feel like a specific shape, it was just there. This wasn’t about visualizing the spellform, or not just that. It was an anic thing, in a way. He o be able to feel and “flex” all the various “limbs” of the iure, for ck of a better analogy. When he wao grab something, he didn’t think about precisely where each finger was located on his body, or what exact shape his arm should take. He just did it. It was airely different approaana manipution – ohat didn’t really sider the mana involved at all.

  It was a frustrating realization, because he khat he wouldn’t be able to master his new abilities quickly. Oher hand, though, it was a relief. He was, in a sense, like a baby learning to move its arms and legs, so that it could ter learn to walk, run, and jump. While it took time, it was something he could learn through sheer practice, given time and effort.

  Bernt was about to try it again when he sensed Jori approag from down the hall. He thought she’d spent most of the evening in the breakroom, though he hadn’t really been paying attention. A moment ter, she scampered through the doorless entrance of the room.

  “Radast is here,” she said without preamble. “The other warlocks, too.”

  That was odd. With the Solicitor’s Office damaged, it made sehat the warlocks would look for somewhere else to hang their hats for a while, but why e down here? They were a semi-private anization, ohat mostly made their gold w with uilds, nobles and promi individuals. They would have much more fortable options on the surface. At least Josie would be relieved.

  “What are they doing here?”

  To his surprise, Jori had an answer. “Josie says they are here to assist the defehe Great Mage sent him a message, and the Great One Radast sent his pacted shade to watch the enemy. They’re ing!”

  Even as she said it, a bell started t with urgency.