Steorra got up.
-"Thank you, I'll do so promptly."
She began walking down the path Valos pointed to. She used her staff to illuminate the way ahead of her.
--- --- ---
The Iron Wing closed up to a large mountain range. Felix lead them through the underground tunnel they've used so many times... and then entered the cave. It was enormous. A large open area greeted them as they walked in. It was dimly lit by a few torches near the ceiling, and millions upon millions of candles on walls. These candles, each enchanted by Iban, never burned out.
The frontal area housed a large amount of round tables with four chairs around each of them. Iban's diciples sat in those chairs and did various tasks like reading a random book on world domination, a magic tome, or planned future attacks and such. Some had sheets of paper in front of them upon which they had a large number of equasions. The diciples wore long red robes with shoulder pads that had the Nightshade symbol on it. Some were also holding a book, and other, higher-ranking ones, had a staff.
In this area, the Iron Wing split up. Leto followed a passage directly to the east of the centre; Ogen went north-east. Celer crawled through a narrow passage to the west, and Leaven went straight north.
Leto entered a room full of weapons, ammunition for the said weapons, and a few levers. You could see crossbows, small cannons, axes, swords, maces, morning stars, flails, spears, javelins, knives, one or two flamethrowers, some shotguns and even a submachinegun. The levers controlled defensive measures for the whole cave. Some operated portcullises, other controlled trap doors, a few did fun stuff like rocks that came tumbling down the tunnels or launched arrows in a narrow passage. Leto was here to make sure everything was operational, and then he and the Iron Wing were to meet Leaven for some unnamed assignment.
Celer entered a place that resembled the main area, but a lot smaller and with different-looking people. These guys wore black robes and had iron shoulder pads, instead of just leather. In the middle of the whole thing there was a very big round table. Celer needed to go over some of the plans for future assaults on the Greys. He was in charge of forces promptly getting in and out. Leto was to command the forces themselves. He was there to make sure everyone did what they were supposed to - slaughter everything that moved. In short, this was a strategy refining/planning area.
Ogen followed a long tunnel leading outside, to a storage yard. All medical supplies, food and fresh water were kept here. The outside environment was cold, and cold was mandatory for the longevity of most of the items that were kept there. Sometimes, however, the water froze, and a skilled mage was needed to thaw it out. Simply putting it, imagine thawing a lake - yeah, that's how big their water reservoir was. Ogen's job was to maintain, distribute and manage all items that were kept here. He was also in charge of getting new supplies.
Leaven had to walk for a LONG while just to reach a small magically-powered elevator, and then wait for about six minutes 'till it descended. The entire way down was teeming with all sorts of traps - hidden pits, rocks in the ceiling that fell onto your head if you didn't know how to avoid the trap, and many other nasty surprises. Finally he reached an incredibly large door with eight guards around it. They all wore dark-red robes but had chainmails, and were armed with the most brutal weapons in the armory where Leto was. Some torches on the walls lit their grim faces. They had a reason to be pissed - their shifts sometimes lasted more than six days.
Felix quietly said to one of the guards:
-"Guildia ne pobedit."
The guard just stood there for a while, then pulled a leaver behind him. The doors opened.
The next area that he entered was, mildly putting it, big. It was at least eight times the size of the first area, and was even darker. Only one torch hung from the ceiling, a big one, but still, just one. It barely lit the path in the middle of the whole thing. The path itself was a thin walkway, to both sides of which was an endless chasm... They say it lead to Hell.
Felix walked over the path. After two minutes of solid walking, he finally reached a small "island", upon which was a throne. A man in blood-red robes resided upon it. He had a long white beard that could be seen from under his hood. His face was barely seen due to the lack of lighting, but the lower part of it showed. He had pale, shriveled skin, with a small scar on the right cheek. He took a deep shaky breath, and spoke:
-"Zdravstvuy, Felix. Dokladivay."
(Hello, Felix. Report.)
-"Gospodin moy, mi nashly tovo kovo ty nam naznachil iskyat."
(My Master, we found the one whom you told us to seek.)
-"Neuzhely? I chto?)
(Oh? And what?)
-"My ego doprosili ob Abodahone. On nechego ne otvetil, no mne kazhetsya on chtoto skrivayet. Ya emu dal... kamen."
(We asked him of Abodahon. He did not say anything, but it seems to me that he is hiding something. I gave him... the stone."
-"Kamen? Zachem? Ya yego tebe doval tolko dlya extrennih sutuacziy."
(The stone? What for? I gave it for you for only the most extreme situations.)
-"Gospodin my, u menya nebilo drugovo vybora. Eto bil... yedinstevvy put."
(My Master, I had no other choice. It was... the only way.)
-"Ladno. Ya na tebya raschitivayu, Felix. Ne prervi moih ozhidaniy."
(Very well. I am counting upon thee, Felix. Do not fail me.)
-"Spasibo, gospodin moy. Ya vas ne predam."
(Thank you, my Master. I will not betray you.)
//if anyone wondered, I decided to stick with my native tongue this time - Russian. After all, an evil cult's leader (heck, even the entire cult!) should have a mysterious language that no one else can understand!\\
Leaven left the temple, and retreated back to the main lobby. There, the rest of the Iron Wing were waiting for him. Ogen first saw Leaven.
-"What did the Master say?"
-"He didn't say anything. I just told him what he did and how we acted, and that's about it. Anyway, we have something special for us today, something that the Master planned and got our friends over there to build." He pointed in the general direction of the diciples.
-"Haha, I'm just cracking with exitement..."
-"Don't be so concieted, Leto. You don't know what it is yet, and you're already being an ass."
-"Oh fine... Let's just go then."
Felix walked into the armory, and came up to the wall. He started dragging his hands all over it, as if trying to find something. Finally, he found it.
Eight circles of brilliant green light appeared from the floor, surrounded the group, and then flashed brightly. After that they gently went back into the floor... but the Iron Wing was gone.
--- --- ---
Ein glanced at the Ogres and the squid.
-"Hmm, looks good. Especially that squiddly thing... Where'd you get that? Hell, I don't even know what it's called."
He looked at the pile of materials for his "machine".
-"Can you tell these things instructions? If so, then could you please tell those two ogres over there to ram down a few trees for me? I'm gonna need a hell of a lot more than what we have here..."
Ein then noticed the fourth creature forming, and what Marshal said about it.
-"Heh, must be a real beauty then, eh?"
//Whew! That was a huge post!\\
