From the top of the escarpment, about 10 miles away stood Carnellian, a cross between a high medieval European castle and a 20th Century NFL stadium. Smoke was clearly visible from the town below the castle, and with the aid of binoculars, so were the mass of troops arrayed beyond the castle. Something told me that approaching the castle from the base of the escarpment was going to be the best way, but Vialle would never make it down the cliff. Having conferred with her, I told Mikato to stay here and look after her. He agreed. He wasn't particularly enamoured with the indignity of me carrying him down the cliff.
The rest of us descended. The techie human, Allagahn, nearly fell three times; for an Amberite he doesn't seem that agile. He also has this obnoxous predelection with his rank as a General. When's he going to wake up to reality?
The Gnome, Alfred, faired better. I haven't really been able to work him out yet, I think there maybe a lot of hidden anger.
We reached the cliff colapse, a mile from the castle, without meeting any patrols about three hours later. From there it was clear they have the town and any access from this side well and truely covered. Any relief for the castle would have to come from the North, where the bulk of their troops are.
The cliff itself looked reasonably scalable, but the better option was the rock slide which would get us half way up the cliff whilst keeping us hidden from view.
After the problems with the descent down the cliff to get here neither, Allagahn nor Alfred wanted to chance the cliff, which ws just as well as they'd have slowed us down. Charity and I set off hoping they weren't too trigger happy.
There's a significant difference between fighting demons and deliberately stepping into a known killing corridor.
The cannon muzzle that greeted us as we rounded the final corner of the gully looked significantly larger than it was. Thankfully, as I didn't look particularly demon like and they were half asleep they didn't fire it and I was able to convince them of who we were. Having the trump deck helped.
We were taken to the main keep where Fiona joined us a short time later. I don't think Charity noticed but Fiona was looking a little tired. She was her usual brusque self and got straight to showing us the secret entrance to the castle - which was still under construction the last time I was here.
Now I expect you're all thinking, concealed doors or narrow confined tunnels, not a half mile snaking tunnel big enough to drive an articulated truck through that ends in a dead end. To a shadow walking Amberite this is more than sufficient to provide access; as long as you've actually been there and seen it for yourself.
Having studied the tunnel Charity and I made our way upstairs, where we sorted out clean clothes, a shower, and some coffee. Refreshed, we made our way with a escort back out through the cleft to where we'd left Allagahn and Alfred, nearly three hours earlier.
I don't think they were actaully that pleased to see us. Alfred had gone to sleep and Allagahn was keeping watch. They were certainly none too pleased when I said we had to go back to the trucks.
As the light was already fading when we reached them, it would be dark by the time we reached the point at the bottom of the escarpment to which we had descended.
The climb in the dark wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Charity chose to use her shapeshifting abilities to adapt her body to climbing and carry Allagahn up the cliff. My armour has lights which sufficed for me and the Alfred has some adaptation that allows him to see in the dark. Perhaps there are benefits to Shapeshifting after all.
The return to the trucks and the journey into the castle truck depot was then a matter of simple Shadow Walking, and we arrived in the early hours of the following morning - Carnelian time. Charity and the others retired, but I needed to catch up in full on the sitation and any intelligence Fiona had on happenings in other Shadows.
It's amazing how time flies, even doing simple things, and I'd not yet completed my review by the time that the others appeared for breakfast at a little after 8am. At least I manged to finish as they finished breakfast and grabbed a mug of coffee and a bacon and egg bagel to take with me to the Pattern Room.
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