Chapter Twenty-Four, The Belly of the Beast

The sun was low in the sky, though still hours from setting. The little port town of Auden had proved most welcoming to Alicea's cause, and the camp was bustling with new recruits. A few would stay to defend the town, but most would be joining Alicea as she marched inland to the Monastary.

Or they would if Ishylde ever got back with transportation.
"Where is she? We got here this morning and no one's seen her since."
Barret came up with a few of the fresh soldiers. She'd sent him to scour the town for any sign of her three hours earlier.
"No sign of her your majesty. Maybe she took the money and ran."
"Ishylde? If she did I'll have her prosecuted, that was a lot of money."
"Some of the villagers said they'd directed her towards Enelat's garage just outside of town. We were planing to go investigate it but..."
"Dinner. Go, I'll take care of this."
"Thank you ma'am."

Alicea was worried. Not about Ishylde, she'd be getting a severe talking too at best; It was a full moon and she didn't want to be out late. Last thing she needed was to scare away half of her recruits as they chased for a giant hellhound that didn't exsist.
The garage looked innocent enough, rusty but functional looking trucks inside of a stone half-wall topped by a double spiral of barbed wire. A little stone building stood next to the gate, and she could see a simmilarly designed house at the other end of the yard. Nothing complicated, relatively normal for Nieldic design.
It took her a second glance to get past the girl working the desk. No Ga-Vok that she knew of had ears that flopped like that, and her legs were to Nieldic; something was fishy about this place.

"My name is Alicea. I'm looking for a girl named Ishylde, I'm told she may have come here."
The girl lowered her magazine, some kind of pop culture trash judging by the cover. She stared at Alicea for a few minutes before responding.
"Haven't seen her. What's she look like?"
Her voice was Nielda, not even a trace of accent. She even lacked the half snarl that Ga-Vok couldn't help but sputter out as they spoke in Nielda. That meant that most likely her organs, and if the magazine was any indication, mind, were Nieldic also. There was nothing natural about her, despite the perfectly ordinary behavior she displayed.
"Would you mind if I stepped inside and confirmed that for myself?"
The girl flicked on an intercom switch and leaned over to a microphone at the edge of the desk. Alicea couldn't help but notice that she had a rather lush tail.
"Dad, someone named Alicea here to see you. She's looking for an 'Ishylde'. Should I let her in?"
The radio crakled on the other end and through the static she could hear a gristled voice reply, "Tell her to come back tommorrow."
"He says to..huh?"

Alicea didn't wait to hear that she wasn't wanted. A girl like that wasn't anyone's daughter. Alicea knew all to well the sorts of things a devoted magician could acomplish, and had dispatched of some of their atrocities firsthand.
She made it into the house, the inside was as ordinary as the out. Clean furniture, functional appliances, magazines left on end tables; nothing that wouldn't be found in any other Nieldic home. But here she could confirm her suspicions. Magic was present here. And of the worst sort, the shadows were heavy, the light was mundane, and the air was stiff. It was the sign not of the shadow, but to think it a benign lingering would be folly.

A quick search of the house revealed nothing. But she found a secret passage under the stairs. A ladder into a second basement, easily thirty meters lower than the main basement. And its construction was such that it would be soundproof. Alicea deliberated over whether or not to go down. At this point in the day there was a good chance everything down there would be gnawed bones in the morning. Asshe descended into the cellar, the sun followed.

She entered the dark room. Muffled whimpering could be heard from the entrance. It was coming from a recess a litle to the left of directly across the room, more bothersome though were the low growls coming from recesses, likely cages, all around the room at about twometer intervals. There'd be at least eight whatever they were; but there were ten recesses, one had Ishylde and the last contained the man responsible.

She heard a radio click on.
"Tania, I believe I told you to tell her to come back."
"Sorry Dad, she just went in anyways. I'm not stopping someone that well armed."
"You could have at least said something. Get yourself dinner, I'm afraid I'll be busy for quite some time."
The radio clicked off and she heard a gate drop.
"Kill the intruder!"

The other eight cages creaked open. A light clacking of claw on the concrete floors told her that the opponents would be agile, and dangerous. If the smell was any indication, they'd be a more feral, mindless version of the girl outside. She listened and waited for their onslaught.

The first one pounced, she struck it across the misshappen skull and felt the steely Kraj cloven under her blow. It would be a Nieldic foe then. Seven more circled cautiously, like an abominable pack of wolves. A low growl rising in their throats. Two more dove at her legs; she spun and brought her heal against the soft temple of the first, then dropped elbow first into the neck of the second. As she rolled to recover she brought her axes through the chest of a leaping third, from the thickness she determined that at least one of them was female.
Half were now dead, but she'd backed herself into a cage. With four left, and the moon creeping over the horizon, She opted in favor of the easy path. An outstreached arm, a spoken word, and an open mind left the air rent with her lightning.

"A mage then. I should have known the guard would catch up eventually. Using the archer as bait to draw me out, a clever trick certainly. Shame you didn't think to bring the rest of your squad."
Alicea ignored his presuppositions about her origins. She didn't have time to waste getting details.
"Release her, and I'll make this quick."
The lights turned on. An older man with a hilt-shard knife was facing her from the last cell. He'd gone bald and his beard was gray, but he was still more muscular than any of the warriors in her camp. Indeed, of all the warriors she'd met only General Tasand and the iron golem Nond had seemed more powerful.
"I accept; we shall indeed be quick about this."