It took half an hour before they saw a flicker of light in the distance. Alexander doused his light and they walked on in total darkness, using the wall for guidance as they approached the opening into the central mineshaft room, which was really a series of equipment and supply rooms surrounding the main-shaft elevator. Several working tunnels ran away from this level in different directions. Ten overseers were guarding the tunnel that Alexander was interested in.
“Overseers” Alexander whispered. “They’re armored and carry weighted clubs that they can throw very well. They like to fight in groups, overwhelming an opponent with superior numbers and they’re absolutely the enemy.”
“Understood,” Jataan said, drawing a dagger.
“We’ll hit them hard and fast-hopefully prevent them from raising an alarm,” Alexander said. “There’ll be more down the tunnel and still more up the mineshaft.”
They crept out of the tunnel, using supply crates and ore bins for concealment until they got as close as they were going to get-about twenty feet to the side of the tunnel entrance, behind a row of rail carts. Alexander put Luminessence into his Wizard’s Den and drew the Thinblade. Jataan and Anja both nodded their readiness.
Alexander stretched his mind out into the coming moments and sprang from cover-racing silently without a battle cry or shout of warning, reaching the first completely surprised overseer within seconds, cleaving him in half with a stroke, following through into the next man, taking most of his head simply by allowing the Thinblade to follow its arc.
Jataan threw his knife into an overseer’s heart from about six feet, then grabbed the knife, pulling it free before the man fell, moving on to the next closest enemy with his customary efficiency, leaving a path of dead men, veins ruinously opened to the world with terrifying speed and precision.
Anja swept into the battle with her broadsword, swinging it in great swaths through one flank of the overseers, leaving them hacked and dying on the ground.
The entire battle took only seconds. The overseers didn’t have a chance. Surprise coupled with overwhelming force made for a decisive combination.
The tunnel that Alexander had helped dig not so long ago was lit every fifty feet by oil lamps, just enough light to keep people from wandering into the walls, but certainly not enough to see by. He kept up the pace, moving as quickly as he dared through the shadows, not wanting to shed any light of his own for fear of being detected by those guarding the other end of the tunnel. During his clairvoyant reconnaissance, he’d counted ten more overseers.
When they got close, a bell tolled, raising the alarm. The overseers sprang into action, breaking into two groups of five, one group pointing at Alexander with their clubs, the other group pointing at Jataan. They didn’t advance, instead holding position before the entrance to the underdark while an eleventh man took up a position on the stone slab at the center of the three overlapping magical circles and started casting a spell.
Alexander was easily a hundred feet away, not close enough to reach him in time and not far enough away to avoid his spell. He broke into a run, charging toward the overseers, but he slowed to a walk when the wizard called forth a shield wall that blocked the tunnel twenty feet in front of his men.
With a triumphant smile, the overseer went to the alarm bell and muttered the words of a spell. Then he struck the bell firmly with his club. Aided by magic, its peal reverberated throughout the entire city.
“More overseers will be coming … soon,” Alexander said, trying to penetrate the shield wall with the Thinblade. When he pushed the magic sword through the red, glowing barrier, the scar it left closed almost instantly.
He cut into the wall beside the shield, removing large chunks with a few swipes.
“We have company,” Jack said.
“Anja, watch my back. Jataan, hold this ground,” Alexander said as he pulled a chunk of dirt out of the hole he was cutting to circumvent the shield.
“Understood,” Jataan said.
“The overseers can see what you’re doing,” Anja said. “They’re moving troops close to the wall.”
“I count ten men approaching,” Jataan said. “Not overseers, though … maybe Grant’s people.”
Alexander came out of the hole and sent his sight down the tunnel. Grant wasn’t among the approaching men, and none of them had magic. He breathed a sigh of relief, estimating how long it would take to break through beyond the shield and frowning at the work he’d done already before turning toward the approaching people.
“Hello,” Alexander said, his voice echoing down the tunnel.
“Who are you? Why are you trespassing?” their leader asked, approaching cautiously, eyeing the overseers beyond the shield. He turned to a much younger man behind him and said, “Run, tell Lord Grant.” The young man nodded and raced off into the dimly lit tunnel.
“My name is Alexander and I have no interest in your mines.”
“No, just the real valuables beyond the overseer’s shield.”
“Who do you represent?” Alexander asked.
“Lord Titus Grant.”
“Grant is a fugitive. He’s been stripped of his title, his charter, and his accounts. In fact, I’d be surprised if he could even pay you.”
“Oh, don’t you worry about that. Lord Grant pays us on time and he pays us well. Now, these are his mines and you don’t have his leave to be down here, so surrender your weapons and come with us. Wouldn’t want things to get messy. Two men, a woman, and a girl … against the ten of us. Odds aren’t exactly in your favor.”
“You heard the bell, right?” Alexander asked.
The lead man nodded.
“So did the Babachenko. More overseers are on their way right now. If you’re quick about it, you might escape the tunnel before they close it off.”
The man looked back quickly, then inspected the shield wall again, counting the number of overseers lined up beyond. “This isn’t over,” he said. “Lord Grant will decide how to deal with you.” He and his people withdrew quickly.
“Huh,” Alexander said, turning back to the hole he was digging. When he got in deeper, Anja helped him clear chunks of dirt and rock from the rough passage he was cutting. The overseers behind the shield seemed to be getting nervous, moving the entire unit to face the spot in the wall where Alexander was most likely going to come through.
Muffled echoes of fighting reverberated down the length of the tunnel-Grant’s men probably hadn’t gotten out in time to avoid the overseers. Alexander kept digging, cutting away a pyramid-shaped chunk of stone and opening a small hole into the section of tunnel beyond the shield.
An overseer jabbed his club through the hole. Alexander cut it in half with a flick of the Thinblade.
He turned to Jataan and Anja and said, “Be ready.” He drove the Thinblade into the wall and cut a doorframe in the stone, ensuring that each cut was slightly angled so the stone slab would fall outward. He saved the top cut for last.
“Line up behind me,” he said.
He cut the top section of the stone, then put his foot in the middle of it and pushed, stepping out onto it as it fell. While the overseers scrambled to get out of the way, Alexander launched off of the stone slab into their midst before it hit the ground and shattered into hundreds of pieces.
Jataan and Anja were through moments later, each moving left and right to attack the overseers on their flanks.
Flicking the Thinblade out backhanded, Alexander snapped the tip of the blade through the nearest overseer’s throat, then stepped back in the other direction and brought the blade across in a broad sweep, killing two more.
From several feet away, an overseer threw a club at him, scoring a direct hit on the back of his left shoulder. While his armor blunted the damage, the hit was still numbingly painful and knocked him to one knee, staining his trousers with the blood of the men he’d just killed. Another overseer started to bring his club down on Alexander’s head, but was blown off his feet by Lita’s force-push spell.