Mana Soul: Chapter 50 - The Prison - Markus

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With the location of the prison marked down on the map, Markus began putting together his plan.

A team of five golems would carry the beacon to the prison, make their way inside, find a good staging point and secure the area before signalling Markus to open the portal. Each of the golems would be given three Mana Storage Crystals in a special pack so they could move at full speed and recharge themselves as they made their way to the prison. The golems would also be provided with disguises so they would otherwise pass for humans at casual inspection.

If possible, Markus wanted to avoid giving Hilda’s traitorous uncle, or his allies, proof that Markus was responsible for the prison break. With that in mind, Markus had similar disguises assigned for the fifty combat golems selected to join the rescue mission as Sigrun’s escort. Instead of civilians, the combat golems were dressed in the fashion of unaffiliated mercenaries. Mismatched gambesons and other armour that belonged to the Fighting Geese before they had been provided standard replacements by Markus, were now being used by the golems for their disguises.

Low ranking mercenaries had been paid a bonus to each add their individual touches to a golem’s disguise, ensuring that each of the golems looked different to one another despite their near-uniform height.

The exception was Hector. When ordered to disguise itself, Hector managed to put together a remarkably convincing disguise as a northern Lord. Already built like a mountain, adding a fur cloak and coloured sash to denote a house affiliation would fool most, and armour would be more than sufficient to hide Hector’s true identity.

Markus based his disguise off of Hector’s and met with a decent degree of success. Glad that he was only going to serve in a reserve capacity, Markus set the disguise aside and spent his time testing and experimenting with the portal generator and beacons.

Markus made sure to include Sigrun in the tests as much as possible to increase her familiarity and reduce her ignorance of what the portals were capable of. After all, the portals would almost certainly be the link that would connect Sigrun’s fief to the wider world.

After touring the fortified wall of the great valley and shadowing a team of mercenaries as they made their daily push into monster territory, Sigrun had become much more enthusiastic about the prospect of establishing her own fief.

“Are you sure this is acceptable?” Sigrun asked for what Markus felt had to be the hundredth time.

They were both looking at a map of the deadlands, specifically a long strip of western coastline somewhat sheltered by an intermittent mountain range. Walling off the mountains wouldn’t be as easy as the great valley, but it was a large enough stretch of land that it would be worth the effort and would be much easier than most alternatives.

“This coastline is more than four times the size of my former Jarldom...” Sigrun added.

“Then think of it as half for you, and a half for Hilda and Phillipe,” Markus countered, “The better you do in managing and developing the fief, the better it will be when Hilda inherits it from you.”

Sigrun slowly nodded.

“Once the great valley is sealed away, hopefully, your people will have had enough opportunity to learn the skills necessary to repair the old city to serve as a forward base. There are no records of dungeons appearing underwater, so it should be safe once the vanguard clears out any monsters.” The maps provided by the Irongate family had all of the old cities clearly marked and Markus was intending to make the most of them when reclaiming the rest of the deadlands.

They discussed a few more specifics while Markus prepared for the next test.

“Why do you insist on sky portals?” Sigrun asked curiously, “The portal being on the ground would make trade faster and more efficient.”

Markus nodded, “It would,” he agreed honestly, “And once our colonies are firmly established, I may reach out and found trading enclaves in the other nations. But for now, we are too vulnerable to allow potential insurgencies that might occur when ground-based portals are active.”

“You are worried that rivals or opportunists would strike through the portals?” Sigrun had begun slowly nodding her head to show she understood the cause for his concerns. “No one else can fly, so you would only lose a ship or two at most before mustering a counter-attack. Yes, I see the wisdom in your decision.”

“Heh, thanks,” Markus chuckled while finalising the change in the enchantments.

“Ahem, ah, my daughter was telling me about those Prosthetic Armours,” Sigrun commented with poorly concealed desire, “I think I remember her telling me that anyone could use one...Is that true?”

“It is,” Markus confirmed with an amused smirk hidden by the control plate. “It takes a great deal of training to get used to it and fight effectively though,” he warned, “I’ll set you up with a training kit after the prison break.”

“Thank you, Majesty,” Sigrun bowed respectfully.

“When you demonstrate a high level of proficiency, you can place an order for a custom Prosthetic Armour from the workshop. But that will probably take you a month or so if Hilda’s progress is any indication,” Markus explained patiently.

Before Sigrun had a chance to form a reply, Markus activated the Portal Generator and looked hopefully towards the sky. To his immense joy, the portal began taking shape twenty feet above the ground. Unfortunately, the portal’s rotation had shifted ninety degrees since the last test, matching the horizontal plane of the bronze control plate.

“Not exactly what I was hoping for...” Markus sighed.

Sigrun’s eyes were fixed on the portal and held an unmistakable look of awe. Markus had already shown her a dozen or more portal activations including the demonstration with unaltered rabbits. All the same, it was obvious that his newly recruited Jarl, or Earl in the southern pronunciation, was still not used to the sight of the portals appearing on demand.

After disabling the portal, Markus and Sigrun headed back to the inner bailey with Hector a half step behind as his ever-present shadow.

Hilda and the trio of mercenaries were paired off and engaged in their daily training in their respective P`As. Sigrun peeled off to watch the sparring, joining her personal guard who had already been doing the same while waiting for her return.

Markus continued to the workshop while thinking of potential solutions to the latest problem. Assuming the portal was attempting to match the facing of the control plate, Markus wondered if reintroducing the control rods might correct the issue. Just as likely it would introduce a new problem, but Markus was quite familiar with setbacks resulting from his experiments.

Choosing to follow his intuition, Markus solicited the services of one of the workshop golems to attach a pair of mounts to opposite sides of the casting plate. Inserting the original pair of bronze rods into each mount, Markus bound them in place with rough leather for the time being. Connecting the enchantments in the way he wanted took the better part of two hours.

Now far too awkward for him to carry, Markus had Hector carry the altered control plate for him. There was still enough time for one more test before evening, so Markus returned to the foot of the mountain with Hector and set up the final experiment for the day.

Activating the Portal Generator, Markus patiently waited as the mana followed the directions of the enchantments and began to fabricate the portal. He had restricted the flow of mana so it would take longer for the portal to form, just in case it might reveal a problem prematurely.

One such problem revealed itself as the portal began to take shape a full third closer to the ground than the previous attempt. Markus was about to cancel the experiment but stopped when he noticed the return of the original and very much preferred vertical alignment of the portal. The loss in portal elevation had several potential solutions already discovered through earlier experimentation.

The simplest solution would be throwing more mana at the enchantment, but there were limits to what that would accomplish. Altering the physical composition of the Portal Control Plate and its recently attached control rods was another potential solution and held the most appeal right at the moment.

Deactivating the portal, Markus had Hector bend the control rods from their roughly forty-five-degree angle to approximately thirty degrees.

Reactivating the portal again saw the portal return to close to its original height and maintain a vertical orientation. However, the portal had thinned somewhat in exchange.

“I can work with this...” Markus muttered to himself and began making calculations for a full-scale implementation.

There was no need for the solid plate on the generator side anymore, so it could be replaced with a giant ring instead. Including Mana Storage Crystals in the ring would be necessary to make sure the portal could be generated independently and on-demand. Roughly approximating twice the required size for one of Tina’s airships to pass through the portal, the ring would need to be incredibly large.

Now that Markus had solved his original plan to facilitate trade with the portals, he couldn’t help but think an elevated alternative might be more efficient. Assuming he could mount the portal generator on a rotating base at the top of the tower, Markus would be able to generate outward-facing portals anywhere in a three-hundred and sixty-degree rotation. Such a set-up would be far more accomodating of bustling trade. Dividing the topmost platform into eight sections and assigning each section for a potential portal would make navigating the portals simple enough for the airships and airboats.

The tower would take months of dedicated effort to construct, so Markus was content to leave its construction on standby until the Irongate family began the reconstruction of their ancestral city in the great valley. Making the first trade port in the merchants' territory just seemed like a practical idea.

On that subject, Markus was reminded that he hadn’t informed Peabody and the Irongate Patriarch of his portal artifices. Considering their role in his mercantile affairs it was a potentially costly oversight. Markus had been making all of his assumptions in something of a vacuum and assuming he knew best.

“Hector, I want you to pass along information on my portal experiments to Peabody and forward instructions that Peabody is to discuss the viability of my intended sky portals with the Irongate Patriarch. And make sure Peabody knows I want this discussion to take place sooner rather than later,” Markus ordered, somewhat angry at himself for the oversight.

“As you command, Creator,” Hector replied obediently.

Markus would have sent the message himself, but Hector would be able to compile all the relevant information and send it to Peabody far faster than he could.

Deactivating the portal, Markus had Hector carry the equipment while they headed back home.

The mercenary officers were all in good cheer as they began making their way into the inner bailey. Progress into the great valley was going well, thanks in part to the recent addition of A`Ws being added to the vanguard. The mobile fortresses had saved more than a few squads from being overwhelmed, providing overwhelming fire support or a means of a hasty retreat, depending on the situation.

Markus was glad that the artifices were making a difference and spent a few minutes trying to think of others that might prove just as useful. By the time he reached the workshop, Markus had only managed to think of a derivative concept. A dedicated troop transport waggon. Larger than the A`W, the dedicated transport would have benches running along both sides and have rails mounted on the inside of the roof so one or two additional rows of soldiers could line up inside of the waggon.

Depending on the overall shift in dimensions, the transport would be able to accommodate up to fifty soldiers, depending on how much equipment they were carrying. After drafting a rough design, Markus handed it over to the workshop golems to produce a cleaner set of blueprints that the wainwrights could follow.

Most of the workshop golems were preoccupied with Aela’s custom P`A. As expected, the tail required significant amounts of work to provide the desired degree of articulation. Adding to that workload was the spring-loaded blades Aela wanted running the length of the tail and the hooked claws she wanted on the fingers and toes. That wasn’t all either. Aela had insisted that her P`A would have jaws and serrated teeth like hers. The final result was something of a savage parody of Aela herself. Then again, Aela was probably one of the few people who would be able to make full use of the additional armaments.

Preparing to go to dinner, Markus stopped as his tablet chimed to signal an incoming message. Glancing at the message immediately changed his mood.

The golems had found the old fortress that was serving as a prison for Sigrun’s supporters, and they were now waiting in position to begin enacting the planned prison break.

The golems report showed that the usurper’s men, mostly mercenaries by general appearances, were using the prisoners as labour to repair the damaged fortress. With their infinite stamina and enhanced strength, the golems would have no problem scaling the outer walls and infiltrating inside.

“Send the word to the others,” Markus commanded while heading to the dining room for a faster dinner than he had originally intended.

The fifty combat golems were already waiting for deployment, just as they had been for the past three days. Hector took a couple of minutes to fully change into the northern lord disguise again, giving Markus enough time to wolf down some fresh crusty bread and stew.

Aela had still been practising with the doll when Markus returned to their room and let her know what was going on. Aela only took a few minutes to get changed and don her armour while Markus did the same.

Markus, Aela and Hector wouldn’t pass through the portal unless absolutely necessary. However, if Sigrun was right Markus would be needed to break out her most loyal supporters from the basement.

Sigrun was a different matter. With the golems in disguise, Sigrun and her men would be the only recognisable human faces involved in the whole rescue operation. The golems would presumably be more than capable of handling the usurper's men, so Sigrun’s presence was predominantly intended to serve as reassurance for those they were liberating. After all, Markus had considerable doubts that few beyond the most hardened soldiers would willingly step into what looked like the entrance to a dungeon without promises and an explanation from someone they trusted.

Tents had been erected in Arngier for the prisoners, separate from both the chimaeras and the southern kingdom’s indentured labourers. It wasn’t out of any malicious intent, just pragmatism. Those they were rescuing would almost certainly gravitate towards keeping to themselves anyway, so Markus hadn’t seen much of a point in attempting to force everyone to intermingle so soon.

After sending the golems permission to begin their infiltration at their discretion, Markus prepared the portal generator and control rods.

A single message arrived in reply.

[M-322: “Affirmative, Creator, Beginning infiltration.]

Several minutes passed in relative silence before Markus received the next message.

[M-322: “Suitable location secured. Portal Beacon is deployed. Awaiting further commands, Creator.]

[Markus: “Portal activation imminent. I want you to secure the portal and immediate area against all enemy forces until issued the command to withdraw.”]

[M-322: “Affirmative, Creator. We obey”.]

Turning the key that was hanging around his neck, Markus took a step back as a ten-foot-wide portal yawned into existence.

“WITH ME!” Sigrun roared and charged through the portal, her followers only a half step behind her.

“Go!” Markus commanded and pointed to the portal.

“WE OBEY, CREATOR!” Fifty golem voices declared in near-deafening unison before jogging in near-perfect step through the portal.

Walking inside the command headquarters, Markus brought the screens to life with a wave of his hand. “Ragna, I want you to keep a running count of enemy forces, and reserve a display of Sigrun’s lenses for Hilda.”

The slim female-bodied golem bowed respectfully, “As you command, Creator.” Ranga then did as she was asked and dedicated the largest display to show the mission from Sigrun’s point of view.

“Thank you,” Hilda murmured somewhat distractedly as she hurried closer to the screen.

Phillipe trailed behind just long enough to give Markus a nod of thanks.

So far as Markus could tell by watching Sigrun’s screen, their worry was very much unfounded. Sigrun was like a force of nature, smashing her way through all opposition in a maelstrom of bloody violence. Then again, the golems weren’t much different.

Switching a nearby screen to one of the infiltration team, Markus got a much better view of the battleground which along with other reports from the golems was rapidly updating the map in the middle of the room.

The small castle town occupying the outer bailey was almost exclusively dedicated to long wooden structures. The number of structures and level of poor construction suggested that these were the buildings holding most of the prisoners. Golems were already scaling and sweeping the outer walls while others beelined straight for the gate to the inner bailey and castle itself.

According to the map, Sigrun and her men were engaging a small garrison near the gate, very likely attempting to draw enemy attention to themselves by feigning an active effort at opening the gate for the escape attempt.

Catching a glint of colour from the infiltrator’s screen, Markus was about to call out a warning but was beaten to it as a stream of messages passed through the headquarters communication crystals.

“Enemy Mana User sighted! Bearing south-south-east. Likely target Field Command squad. Reinforcements engaging.” The barely emotive female voice originated from Sigrun’s screen and she stopped almost immediately before suddenly looking back towards the castle.

“Ten Mana Users confirmed. Engaging.” A male voice droned as Sigrun’s screen locked in on a formation of intense mana signatures closing in on her from the direction of the castle.

Markus synced his lenses and communicator to the golem that had just responded. Momentarily disoriented, Markus quickly realised that the whistling sound he could hear was coming from the golem’s sword. The sword was whistling because the golem was deliberately accelerating its descent as it plummeted towards the formation of enemy noblemen.

The golem slammed into the ground with such force that the enemy formation was immediately thrown into disarray as some of their number fell into one another in an attempt to keep their footing. A mangled mess that had once been a man’s head now lay beneath the golems sword.

Before anyone could react, the Golem scythed its blade through the visor of another nobleman's helmet, ruining his eyes and sending him tumbling backwards with a primal scream of agony.

“Why you!” One of the Warriors still left standing raised his shield defensively and took a single step forwards before a second golem arrived in much the same fashion as the first, driving its spear down through a gap in the warrior's neck and shoulder armour and bursting out from between his legs. The warrior attempted to scream but could only vomit blood as the golem tossed him aside.

The female golem’s head suddenly jackknifed towards one of the fallen nobles. “Priest identified!” The sheer volume of unconcealed loathing and hatred in the golem’s voice momentarily took Markus off guard.

“ENGAGING!” Roared another male golem as it came crashing down on who Markus assumed must have been the Priest. Armoured only in a gambeson and helmet, the Priest’s body bowed as the golem landed on his stomach, forcing an eruption of gore from the Priest’s mouth and almost certainly his bowels. “Priest executed!”

The female golem leapt at her next target and wrapped its hands around their throat.

The first male golem singled out a Mage and charged through arcing bolts of lighting before snapping the Mage’s neck with a bone-crushing backhand.

The second male golem took a sword blow to the collarbone and then viciously snapped the Warrior's arm.

“Healing! HEAL ME!” The Warrior cried in a panic, turning to a man in plate and mail on the edge of the melee.

“PRIEST!” The second male golem roared in fury, bashing aside the warrior with the broken arm and charging straight at the Priest.

A Golden wall of light appeared in front of the golem and briefly arrested its momentum. However, the first golem and female golem quickly joined the charge, causing the barrier to shatter.

“IMPOSSIBLE!” The Priest cried and another barrier shimmered into existence just in time to stop the trio's charge.

Unfortunately for the Priest, a fourth golem, another female body type, had entered the fray and was now right behind him. Slamming both of its fists together against the Priest’s helmet, the golem then took a firm grip and began applying pressure, causing the barrier to waver in response.

The remaining noblemen desperately began hacking and slashing at the petite female golem, but it showed no signs of letting up its assault.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!-” The Priest screamed as the flow of mana inside his helmet intensified. All of a sudden, the screaming stopped as a wet crunching noise took its place.

“Priest eliminated.” Releasing the crumpled helmet and allowing the Priest’s twitching body to fall to the ground, the female golem turned to her horrified assailants and drove one of them to the ground.

With the barrier gone, the golems rushed into the melee and took the Warriors apart with brutal efficiency, going so far as to rip a steel skinned warrior’s arms off. They had intended to apply pressure to drain the Warriors mana and make him vulnerable, but it happened so suddenly that the Warrior’s arms came right off anyway.

Turning off the connection, Markus was surprised to find that Sigrun had been watching a good portion of the fight from a short distance away.

Phillipe looked horrified and even Hilda seemed a little perturbed by what she had witnessed.

While they had been victorious, Markus could tell that the four golems had depleted a great deal of mana. The Communication Relay confirmed as much when three of the four golems swapped objectives involving less mana consumption.

Still, taking down ten mana users was incredibly impressive, even if the golems had launched the attack with the element of surprise.

With the outer bailey cleared, the golems began freeing the prisoners and directing them towards the portal.

Sigrun stepped up to bring order before chaos could take hold and invite more panic.

Meanwhile, the golems that had split from the main forces were inside of the inner bailey and were purging the traitors. With no signs of any mana users, the golems met with only minimal resistance.

Judging by the commotion outside, the first wave of rescued prisoners had crossed through the portal.

“I should go help put them at ease,” Hilda volunteered, casting a wary glance at Hector and Ragna as she left the headquarters.

For a moment, Phillipe looked like he was going to follow her, but he shook his head slightly and approached Markus instead. “By the abyss Markus! I knew your golems were meant to be strong, but that was something else entirely!” Phillipe seemed equal parts disturbed and impressed at the same time, “Outnumbered and they still took those Lords out like they were nothing! AND YOU HAVE HUNDREDS OF THEM!”

Markus slowly nodded, he actually had over a thousand golems if he included those serving under Peabody and the small number contracted to the Guild. “They did have the advantage of a surprise attack though. A straight fight would likely require at least a couple more golems. The golems expended a lot of mana to pull off that victory.”

“Markus...You can’t let any of the nobility know about this...” Phillipe’s voice was grave and his stern expression made it clear that he was deathly serious, “Your position is too tenuous, your holdings far too few...If they were to learn of what happened here...there...whatever! If they learn that your golems were responsible, they will throw everything they have at you until nothing remains but blackened stone and ash!” He was breathing heavily now and sweating, “If you had only a handful of golems, they would try to dominate you or bring you into one fraction or another...But you have hundreds of these golems, each of them capable of butchering a Warrior like a trussed up hog! They would not let that go! Do you understand?!” While Phillipe seemed like he was panicking, Markus could tell that he was worried about all of them and not just spiralling out of his own sense of selfishness.

“I understand,” Markus had similar thoughts himself and it was one of the primary reasons he had insisted on the golems being disguised. The disguises would provide some degree of protection for a time, confusing any potential survivors as to their true identity and allegiance. “On the subject of becoming more established, I have had some ideas about that,” Markus commented thoughtfully.

Phillipe looked relieved, “Actively recruiting settlers from the big cities?” He guessed optimistically.

“No, well, yes that too,” Markus waved his hand dismissively, “I was thinking about being somewhat more direct. You know about Peabody’s indenturement initiative, yes?”

Phillipe slowly nodded, “I do, but Endem is something of a special case. I don’t think there would be many situations where the local Lords and officials would sell their citizens...”

“I know,” Markus agreed, “Peabody and I have spoken at length about it,” he admitted honestly, “What I am suggesting is we just take them instead.”

Phillipe was visibly stunned, an incredulous expression locked on his face as he struggled to comprehend what Markus had just suggested. “You want to steal prisoners?” Phillipe eventually asked with a great deal of uncertainty.

Markus nodded, “Break them out of prison and bring them here, offer them a new chance at a better life. We can use the recruiting offices to inform family members of their relocation if they have any that aren't also in debtors' prison,” he conceded. “There have to be tens of thousands of prisoners in the southern kingdom alone, and the legitimate recruiter offices can serve as an explanation for where all the people are coming from.”

Phillipe took a seat and rested his face in his hands. He said nothing for a long time. “Markus...Before you begin using golems to break into prisons...There ‘might’ be a way to secure the people you are after, and more...” Phillipe sounded more than a little drained as he released a long sigh, “You could try petitioning the king for colonists...I know I said there wouldn’t really be anyone else who would just sell you more people. However, it’s possible that the king might use the request as an excuse to dump all of those prisoners, and any other malcontents, onto you. In so doing, he would be relieving the realm of a burden on the treasury and provide an opportunity to slip some spies into your colony.”

Markus frowned at the last part, but understood Phillipe’s general reasoning, “The golems could weed out most spies pretty easily,” he reasoned, “And I am sure a sizeable donation to the crown treasury to cover the ‘expense’ wouldn’t hurt either.”

Phillipe nodded, “A few hundred thousand crowns would certainly do it. The kingdom's treasury has been thin since the last war. The trade markets haven’t fully recovered yet, so taxes have been lean, or so I heard from my father.”

“I’ll inform Peabody and see what he thinks,” Markus agreed, “We certainly have the coin for it, but I am a little concerned that flaunting my wealth right now might be just as dangerous as the whole golem situation.”

“Hrm, I see what you mean,” Phillipe agreed.

“What if I had Peabody consolidate debts of those in debtors' prison and then release them?” Markus asked curiously, “Granted, I would probably still need to bribe them in order to have them agree to come here to the deadlands, but it would otherwise circumvent the local lords and whatnot, right?”

Phillipe looked somewhat surprised, “Hrm, I hadn’t considered that...” He was quiet for a time and then nodded, “Debtors are imprisoned at the behest of those they owe, so if you owned the debt, freeing them or keeping them incarcerated would be your prerogative. As long as Mr Peabody and his aides are not too obvious about who is buying up the debts, then it is certainly a viable option.”

“Hector, inform Peabody. See what he thinks about the potential of each method,” Markus ordered and took a seat.

“As you command, Creator,” Hector replied obediently.

Markus spent the next quarter of an hour discussing the potential means of incentivising immigration to his territory with Phillipe. Ultimately, most of their incentives boiled down to outright bribery, whether it was providing the individual with the coins upfront or promising a home upon arrival, it was largely the same thing in the end.

Aela spent this time watching the screens instead, occasionally cross-referencing what she could see against the map in the middle of the room.

“Your presence is requested, Creator,” Hector rumbled and pointed to Sigrun’s screen.

Sigrun was standing just outside of a large pair of heavily enchanted barred doors and was struggling in an attempt to bend the bars or otherwise drain the mana from the enchantments. On both counts, she appeared to be making no headway.

“Are we going through now?” Aela asked with a hint of nervousness as she donned her helmet.

Markus nodded, “Seems so. It looks like there is at least one set of enchantments I’ll have to nullify in there. We can talk more about this another time Phillipe after Peabody has made an assessment.”

Phillipe nodded, “Good luck.”

Markus gave Phillipe a thumbs up and then donned his helmet before leaving the headquarters and making his way over to the portal.

Passing through the portal felt a little strange as his feet adjusted to the shift in sensations from the packed dirt of the inner bailey grounds to the rough wooden boards of what looked like a guardhouse of some kind.

The golem infiltrators were still on watch and were carefully scanning the surrounding area.

Stepping outside, Markus found a large team of golems collecting weapons and armour from the dead soldiers as well as anything else that might be valuable or useful. “Have the bodies dissolved for mana,” Markus ordered, “But make sure Arlee doesn’t see.” There was a refuse pit in Arngier that was used to dispose of everything from sewage to waste scraps. Only the golems could access it, for safety reasons in addition to keeping the slimes a secret.

“As you command, Creator,” Hector rumbled in acknowledgement, immediately triggering a shift in the other golems' behaviour as they moved to obey Markus’s command.

Ignoring the grizzly sight of dead bodies being bound together into sleds, Markus continued along the main path up towards the inner bailey gates. “Have them make false tracks into the woods as well,” Markus added, wanting to confuse their enemy as much as possible. If they were lucky, the usurper, Dolf, might just think they had taken prisoners of their own and wasted even more resources trying to find their missing allies.

The castle gates were open and they headed inside. Sigurd’s loud protestations from deeper within served as a guide for Markus as he led Aela and Hector through the great hall and along a corridor that double backed on itself.

Sigrun and her loyal followers were standing in front of the large barred door Markus had seen on Sigrun’s screen in the headquarters. Beyond it was a large set of stairs descending into gloomy torchlight.

“Ah, Markus!” Sigrun looked very happy to see him, “My most trusted general, Bjorn Etridsohn, is still unaccounted for and we believe they have him locked in the dungeon below. The door is enchanted and won’t give out no matter how-”

Markus stopped listening and turned his attention to the gate. He had already gotten a reasonable view of the enchantments earlier and was surprised by how basic they were. Barring one exception. The bars had a mana draining enchantment on them.

Unlike Markus’s draining enchantment that targeted monster mana, the enchantment on the bars targeted human mana instead. It was more than a little disturbing to find an enchantment of this design in the hands of their enemies, even if it was only in the relegated status of historical relics. What surprised Markus even more than its existence was that he felt familiar with it. The runed markings were slightly different, but the intent...he had experienced it before.

As buried memories attempted to rise to the surface, Markus pushed back, driving them back down into the dark reaches of his subconscious. Now was not the time for reminiscing painful events of his past.

Focusing his attention on the locking mechanism and enchantment, it only took Markus a moment to compromise it and render the door largely useless. “It’s open,” Markus croaked, stepping warily away from the door in a similar fashion as he would retreat from a venomous snake.

Sigrun tested the door and pulled it open with minimal effort before turning back to Markus, “You have my thanks, Lord, but I suspect that more such enchantments persist below and we will require further assistance.”

Markus nodded and motioned for Sigrun and her men to lead the way.

After they had left, Aela placed a hand on Markus’s shoulder and stopped him in his tracks, “Are you okay?” She asked quietly, “You're trembling...”

“I...” Markus considered lying and then thought better of it, “This place is stirring memories I would rather forget,” he admitted, “I don’t think I will be able to sleep tonight...But I think I will be alright if we aren’t down here too long.”

Aela slowly nodded to show she understood, “First sign of problems, and I am dragging you out of here,” she promised adamantly.

“Alright,” Markus agreed with only the slightest degree of reluctance. He was in no mood for another seizure when there was so little to be gained for the pain.

Aela led their way down the steps and into the near darkness.

Markus could hear Sigrun and hear men angrily shouting further below. Once he reached the bottom steps, Markus found what had Sigrun and her men so excited. They had found the jailor.

“-is the key?!” One of Sigrun’s men demanded angrily.

The bald jailor was terrified and shook his head, “I-I don’t have it!” He cried with tears running down his face, “N-NO! W-Wait! PLEAAAAAEEEE!!!” The jailor screamed as one of the men holding him down broke one of his fingers.

Markus shuddered and looked away.

Sigrun was down the far end of the hall.

Besides a pair of large barrels and crates, a pile of straw and a blanket, there was only an overturned wooden plate with what had likely been the jailor's dinner spattered across the floor.

The prison cells on each side of the hall shared a set of cast iron bars and each had an iron-barred door. Stone brick walls separated each cell and required Markus to walk past the Jailor to see into the cell that was dominating Sigrun’s attention.

Markus flinched as another one of the jailor’s fingers were broken and drew out another scream of pain and anguish.

Looking into the cell, Markus wasn’t sure what he was looking at. In the flickering light, he could make out a crude mess of bandages and the unmistakable scent of antiseptic. However, as his eyes adjusted Markus had to fight back a surging mass of bile as he realised that the misshapen bandages contained a human being.

Another scream echoed through the dungeon.

Markus tried to concentrate on the door’s enchantments but they refused to stay still, eluding his attempts to disable them. A third scream caused his concentration to slip entirely and Markus struggled to suppress his mounting sense of panic. “W-Will y-you fucking s-stop that?!” He snarled before turning around to confront Sigrun’s goons.

Markus froze. They were gone, everyone was gone.

Still channelling his mana, the dungeon was cast in deep patches of darkness contrasted by azure mana burning in the iron bars and cell doors.

“Aela?” Markus asked quietly while looking around his surroundings and trying to cease his channelling, “Hector?”

In the smallest fraction it took Markus to look from one direction to another, the dungeon changed.

Trying to back into a corner, Markus felt his back press against cell bars and nearly sprang out of his skin in fright. Spinning about so quickly that he nearly tripped and lost his footing, Markus found that he was not entirely alone.

A man was hanging from the ceiling of a large cell, his wrists and ankles manacled and chained in such a way that the prisoner was barely afforded the slightest movement. The man was powerfully built, with a large frame and hard muscles, although the only modesty afforded to him was the shadows cast by his own body. Long greasy hair was plastered over his face, combining with the shadows to make his features indistinguishable.

The cell contained what must have been close to a hundred mirrors upon its walls and ceiling, angled in such a way that no matter where he looked, the prisoner would not be able to avoid his reflection. That is of course except for the prisoner’s current focus, the ground.

“Feeling more cooperative this evening?” A cruel voice sneered from the darkness, causing a fresh wave of fear to rush through Markus’s mind.

The prisoner strained against his restraints didn’t seem to accomplish anything besides tiring himself out. “Mrgh! Gruh!” The prisoner’s voice was heavily muffled and sounded like he had a gag in his mouth, although it was obvious he was not being cooperative.

“Hahaha, now now, let’s endeavour to maintain a certain civility and decorum,” the cruel voice chuckled, “His highness will not be long now, and you know how he likes to keep things civil...”

The prisoner shuddered.

Markus felt someone take hold of his shoulders and yank him backwards.

“MARKUS!” Aela’s panicked cry was near deafening, causing the dungeon to collapse before his very eyes.

Flinching as the ceiling collapsed on him, Markus was surprised when he opened his eyes and found an open sky instead of a stone brick ceiling. “What?...” Markus croaked, nearly triggering a coughing fit as he aggravated his dry scratchy throat.

“You had another bad reaction...” Aela explained, her tone a mixture of worry and profound relief. “We need to take you back home.”

Markus tried to sit up but found his body was incredibly weak.

Without being asked, Hector lifted Markus to his feet and supported him by wrapping one arm around Markus’s back and under his armpit.

“What about the prisoner?” Markus asked, “How are they going to get him out? The bars have a human mana draining enchantment.”

“Hector suggested the portal as an alternative after you, ah, passed out,” Aela explained, supporting Markus from the other side and directing him back towards the portal that would take them home. “The beacon has already been moved through the bars, we just need to return home so it can be reopened again.”

Markus nodded and allowed himself to relax, between the support from Hector and Aela he barely needed to move his own feet.

After being half dragged and half carried through the portal, Markus didn’t resist as Hilda gingerly retrieved the key from around his neck.

“Is Markus alright?” Hilda asked uncertainly, “Phillipe said he saw some strange things on the viewing screens...”

Aela was quiet, perhaps uncertain of what she should say.

“I just need rest,” Markus croaked, “I’ll be fine.”

Aela stiffened but didn’t contradict him, “I’ll send one of the golems for the key later,” she said quietly before motioning for Hector to continue towards the house.

Markus didn’t make it halfway up the stairs before everything turned dark.

Markus’s dreams were haunted by a prison of mirrors casting infinite and crudely misshapen vestiges of his reflection. It never truly transitioned into a proper nightmare, but the dreams proved mentally and emotionally draining enough that Markus was bedridden until midday.

Despite his protests to the contrary, Aela was not convinced of his recovery and kept him in bed for the rest of the day. Markus tried to make the most of it by reading Arlee some stories, but he kept nodding off without warning and Aela eventually sent Arlee to help prepare dinner with her mother.

Arlee had refused to leave until she could ask Markus a question, and presuming she was just going to ask for another toy or to play with other kids, he had convinced Aela to let her ask.

“Can I play with one of the big dolliethe?” Arlee didn’t hold back, batting her big eyes and quivering her lower lip pitiably while hugging Dolly tightly to her chest.

“Big dollies?” Aela asked uncertainty, “The golems? Like Hector?” She motioned to Hector who was standing by the door.

Markus struggled to contain his laughter. He knew Arlee wasn’t talking about the golems at all. “Arlee is talking about the Prosthetic Armours,” Markus explained with no small amount of amusement.

Aela’s eyes grew wide, “No...” She looked at Arlee in surprise.

No doubt realising her efforts were failing, Arlee willed tears to begin welling in her eyes, making them seem larger and Arlee all the more pitiable. “Pleathe?” Arlee sniffled, “I’vf been really good, honetht! I jutht want to play with the big dollieth...” Her lower lip quivered.

Markus sighed, “It’s not the worst idea...” He mused aloud, not failing to miss the sudden spark of hope in Arlee’s facade. Arlee learning to use a P`A, or at least being proficient enough to enter one unaided, could save her life. Between Arlee’s biological sire still out there, the fact that they were living on the border of the deadlands, and the enemies Markus was making, Arlee’s safety was a worthy concern.

The time Arlee had spent with her improved prosthetic would very likely result in a moderate to high level of proficiency, so there was very little chance of her hurting herself either...

Arlee could see he was wavering and made another push, kneeling next to the bed and using the shift in perspective to miraculously increase the size of her tear swamped eyes even further. “I’ll be really good,” Arlee promised, “I’ll do lesthonths every day! Tho pleathe?...”

“Awww....” Aela had officially caved, moving around the bed and kneeling beside Arlee to wipe at the tears that somehow hadn’t managed to leave her eyes. “Markus?” Aela gave him a sympathetic look while running one hand through Arlee’s hair and gently patting her back with the other.

Arlee’s expression gained an air of confidence that somewhat undermined her blatant manipulation for sympathy, but it disappeared before Aela had a chance to notice it.

Not the one that needed convincing, Markus shrugged, “Why not?”

Arlee immediately blinked away her tears and grinned, revealing her newly sprouting front teeth. However, before she had a chance to celebrate, Markus interjected with a condition that she honestly should have seen coming.

“You need to get your mother’s permission first,” he warned, trying not to tent his fingers like a villain and sneer comically as Arlee’s look of triumph immediately plummeted into one of stunned uncertainty, “If she says yes, I’ll ask the tinkers if they would be interested in their grandson learning to use the Prosthetic Armour as well. It will do you good to have someone near your age to play with.”

“Thomeone to play with?” Arlee asked curiously, “Thomeone thmall like me?”

The tinkers boy was a little older, but not so much that Markus figured it would make any real difference. So he nodded reassuringly and gave Arlee a warm smile, “Even if your mother doesn’t let you play with the big dollies, I’ll still make sure the boy comes around so you can share lessons and playtime, how about that?” Hopefully, a human playmate would help Arlee enjoy her lessons a bit more and pay attention.

Arlee’s grin grew wider, “Okay!” All vestiges of pitifulness completely cast aside, she wormed out of Aela’s grasp and sprinted out of the room and towards the stairs.

Aela was momentarily stunned, “Huh?...” She looked towards the open door and then back to Markus, “I thought she was upset?...”