Chapter Twelve

"Sir!"
"Report"
"We may have found something."
"May have found something, or did find something?"
"I don't know."
"Where is it?"
"Three floors up, due north four halls, then right."
"And the rest of your platoon?"
"Still there, Would you like me to lead the way?"
"No, go back to help your squad. I'll bring reinforcements."

The soldier shuffled his feet a little.
"It's not that kind of something, we just need you to take a look at something. We don't know what to do about it."
"Fine, go tell your commander I'm on my way."

Hamaf put away his papers. His crossbow wouldn't be needed if it was just a bit of problem solving. And his sword was being sharpened, but he'd be fine with just his knife. He locked up the office behind him. It wasn't so much locking it as it was securing the improvised deadbolt that they'd installed on most of the doors in the area. It wasn't much, but it would slow any intruders or passers-by.

The men were all hard at, well standing there mostly. Truth of the matter was that other than the occasional wounded and dying local things were pretty boring. Standing guard, escorting researchers, and patrols were about all they did since he base had been established. Sure there were the risky exploratory trips, but even those had slacked off lately. Sharrai still led a few deep exploratory trips, but she and her platoon had become experts at dealing with the locals. Single shot kills, armor analysis, an exacting knowledge of the enemy's combat abilities; they could clear a room in under five minutes without casualties. Unless you counted the increasingly frequent losses of magical theorists and adventerous noble's children. The ability to use magic seemed to be a death sentence down here, only Peter, the guardsman, and Pauline 'Polly' Krenksfeld, Jor's bubbly young companion, seemed to have lasted more than a few days. It was suspicous, and everyone knew it. He'd spoken to Sharrai about improving her security, and though she outwardly obeyed the results had not been forthcoming. It was begining to get on his nerves.

"Mr. Captain"
"Just Captain will do just fine."
"Just Captain, would you mind if I joined you?"
Last thing he wanted was to show the bouncing lass around the dark halls, but his orders had speciffically stated 'deny the researchers nothing you would not also deny a superior officer'. It had elaborated, but the essence of the thing was 'strictly buisness'. As such, he had little choice but to allow the lordlings and clipboard bearing old men to follow him around and ask him stupid questions about how he felt about all this.
"Sure Polly, but I'm just checking up on some of the men. They had some questions they needed me to answer."

Polly took it as a yes and followed him at a cheerful trot. His long stride, born of hurried exercise and battle readiness, carried him much faster than her meandering walk and she was forced to jog periodicly in order to remain close enough to continue peppering him with questions about his family, Jor, what the army was like, Jor, and of course how he felt about all this. By the time they reached the ladder he found himself wishing she'd manage to mis-cast a cone of silence, or whatever the proper magical term for it was.

They reached the designated floor, three up from his office. There weas no guard posted, but he hadn't expected one. Stairwells like this were perfect for the enemy's owerful ranged weapons, so guards would be posted in narrower areas where a melee weapon would have the advantage. It was unlit, although he could see some light up ahead probably where the squad was waiting. He got two steps before he felt a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Captain, I think you should wait here."
"What?"
"It's a trap."
"Nonsense, no one would.." Cold steel at his throat cut him off midsentence.
"Oh but we would."