He watched clear skies and dark ground. Even as he watched, one of the trenches carved into the ground shook and shifted, which rarely happened when anyone was looking. As if by malign instinct it had zigzagged closer to the troops. "See that?"

The Elf squinted. "It's like a siege tunnel, pressing closer to the enemy without giving a line of sight." Then he raised his trumpet again and blew one long blast for "a possibly big problem". Then he said, "It's how you'd hide troops."

The advancing squad halted and dispatched an Aves scout. He couldn't easily get the same vantage as the balloons but was closer to the action. He'd hardly gotten airborne when the swarm emerged.

They came boiling up from the trench. Blobs, the booming toads, the spidery things, and several fliers, each one a threat to several experienced fighting men. Easily a dozen creatures rushed forward, closing in seconds to where the toads could begin belching their hurtful noise.

The Woven didn't flinch. Their officer shouted and they backpedaled in unison to get closer to the main body of troops. The first sonic wave hit them and rattled their bony bodies despite a counter-spell from the officers. Then the fliers were on them, dodging wild jabs from the halberds and slamming the artificial soldiers down by the head. A blast of flame struck the monsters but wasn't enough to stop the charge.

"What do we do?" asked Vonn. He was a technical adviser, not a real scout.

"I can't shoot into melee. Can't we get closer? Never mind; you explained this." The Elf fidgeted, looking flustered. "I have my orders to stay up here."

Below, the fight that was supposed to be a raid on mindless beasts instead looked like a real, if small scale, battle. The Woven slashed and bashed the attackers who'd rushed through their lines, breaking up the formation. Woven crashed, their bones and vines getting severed. A blob of the "Grimace" type, its body aflame, splashed down like a wave to engulf one soldier. Instead of eating him it then leaped on the Elf officer while he was fending off a spider. He got stabbed through the chest by a long leg and doused with acid.

Vonn swore. "Why isn't the main group saving them?"

The Elf scout was cursing more elegantly. "They should! The commander must be cutting our losses in case there are yet more. And you kids were fighting here before?"

"Just one or two at a time, with a big party. Damn! The whole squad is going to die if we don't get over there and help."

But neither of them tried. One bow and one gun weren't going to do much and they'd likely get killed. So instead, they sat up in the sky, watching as a slaughter unfolded. There was very little screaming since the Woven hardly spoke. The squad of monsters retreated the way it had come, back into the earth.

A runner came to the base of Vonn's balloon. He shouted, "Down!"

The monsters weren't showing interest in him, so Vonn began venting hot air. When they were low enough to hop out they did, and towed the balloon away with frequent nervous glances over their shoulders. They ended up back in the village outskirts, which didn't feel safe anymore.

The other air crews came down nearby and stared at the remaining troops. The constructs looked unmoved but the Elves murmured. Their commander summoned Vonn and the others to his side.

This was Vonn's first good look at Lord Taraleo. He wore glinting armor and a tie-dyed cape, and both his helmet and the spear and shield carried by his page shined with magic when Vonn thought to look for it. He seemed to be in the middle of a discussion with his officers. "As for the aerial experiment, that at least gave us some warning. For the next trip I want the mobile boat pulling the basket vessels along by rope."

Selen said, "Sir, I doubt the boat has enough force."

"At least try it out before our next move, and report the result. I'll want you to drop your alchemy bombs in any case. We strike again tomorrow at noon. Dismissed."

As they left him, Selen told Vonn, "I once saw this commander sit in on a Knowledge Society meeting. The Duke picked somebody savvy enough to be interested in our technology. I'm not sure he knows how to use it, though."

"I'm not exactly an air warfare expert myself. I don't want to be."

#

Back in the Rising World workshop, Vonn had the chance to sink into a chair and shudder without being judged by his social superiors. "We just watched as they got slaughtered!"

Selen said, "He didn't even flinch at losing them."

Polestar paced, his hooves clattering on the floor. "What we just saw was an intelligent mind defending itself. Please tell me that dungeons normally do that sometimes."

"Not that I know of." The others shook their heads.

"Then, where did that mind come from?"

Nobody had an answer. Polestar broke the silence with a stamp of one hoof. "People got murdered down there, and I donated half my type Neigh blood, because the old Baron was trying to do something. Some plan that was worth being called a traitor over. According to you, the Duke told you the guy was trying to make the dungeon more powerful and command its monsters. But I don't think that's quite true. What if the old Baron is still in there?"

Selen said, "Half the city turned out to see Baron Kolm's head on display. So it's not Kolm running the dungeon."

Vonn said, "He had a Necromancer with him, presumably the expert doing the sacrifices."

Polestar winced. "Yeah, we were on real good terms. So maybe his mind is still around? Used to think I had some idea of how souls work, but apparently it's complicated."

"Sounds like a lich," said Vonn. "Undead wizard who bound his soul to an object. In fiction."

The people in the room who didn't share Vonn's otherworld visions looked confused. Tazo said, "That's one theory, anyway. Does that tell you anything useful?"

"If that's what we're dealing with, the dungeon might be as intelligent as a person. That's not necessarily bad. But it's said that whatever the ritual is to become a lich, only a horrible person would do it. What else... If you can control or destroy the object it's bound to, the lich is at your mercy."