Into the Abyss

Lenamare shut the door to his study and motioned to Jehenna to take a seat. She sat down in her traditional chair across from Lenamare’s desk. Lenamare moved briskly around his desk and took his seat. “So, you wanted to speak?” He asked with a slight smile.

“Yes, this teleportation trap of yours, what’s the story.”

“Not much actually, simply that anyone trying to teleport within the vicinity of this castle, without the proper password, will end up in a specific location of my choosing, and not theirs.”

“Uh huh. And the bugs you mentioned?”

“Well... simply that the standard version of the spell puts them in a stasis field. Unfortunately, because they rematerialize in stasis, they’re kind of permanently stuck in it. I haven’t figured out how to get them out of it. That’s all.”

“They’re stuck in stasis? Meaning we can’t question them?”

“Or do anything to them. They’re in a complete Vergian Time Stasis, so we can’t affect them. Apparently, materialization into frozen time fixes their reality in a different time frame.”

“Why would this be? I mean, people have been doing Vergian Time Stasis’ for centuries, and they always get out.”

“I’m not sure, my guess is that it has to do with the entry into Skew Timespace. Remember, teleportation reorients the individual’s energies to perfectly align with new space-time coordinates. If the teleportation aligns them more perfectly with Skew Timespace than the normal stasis spell, then it could be a hell of a lot more difficult to realign them to normal space-time.

“Essentially, the normal spell method of entry allows a small communication channel between our reality and Skew Timespace. If this entry isn’t made, then the communication channel doesn’t exist...”

“And so we can’t communicate with them in anyway, especially by magic. The reversal spell can’t find them since no path exists between us and them.”

“Precisely. Now if one could undo their teleportation spell, from outside, one might just be able to pull them out of it, the same way they got there.”

“But no one knows how to do that, or even if it can be done.” Jehenna concluded. Lenamare nodded.

“However,” Jehenna said as she realized something, “if there is no communication channel, then light can’t pass between here and there. You couldn’t see if anyone was there or not.”

“True, but I know where I sent them, and when I go there I can detect the normal warping of space-time that you experience when examining someone trapped in a Vergian Time Stasis. It also happens to be fairly good size, so I am fairly sure that there are more than one would be infiltrators there.”

“So what do you intend to do about them?”

“I haven’t decided yet, there is not much I can do. For one thing, we don’t have a whole lot of time. These wards aren’t going to last indefinitely now that we’ve lost that student. Damn him for dying on me.” Lenamare stood up and began to pace around the room, his elegant slippers making a slight whisper as he glided through the deep carpeting.

“Well, what do you plan to do, take them down and start from scratch?”

“No, that would take way to long and Exador would be in and crush us. I’m thinking of leaving.”

“True, with that teleportation trap, we could safely teleport out of here.”

“Exactly, as I’d thought. Except for one problem.”

“Problem?”

“Yes, the students and retainers, peasants etc... I can’t take all of them with me in a teleport, and most of them can’t teleport themselves. We don’t have enough people to carry everyone else out.”

“Since when did you care about them, let them and the men at arms fend for themselves.” She was gazing at him with a slightly speculative demeanor.

“Normally, yes. But in order to exact my revenge on Exador, I’m going to have to have Council help, and they frown on School Masters who lose students they’re sworn to protect. So I think, if possible, we should get them out too. It would make for a much better bargaining position later on, if I still had them.”

“Good point. So how do we get everyone out without Exador knowing about it, and following us?”

“We’ll probably have to use the escape tunnels and split up and make our ways separately in small groups to Freehold.”

“Right. And while we’re doing this, with the physical shielding nullified so we can get out, Exador comes trashing through, and brings the castle and tunnel down on top of our heads.” Jehenna shook her head.

“Slight problem.”

“Isn’t it, though?” She said drily.

“Well, the two of us will just have to think of something,” said Lenamare as he finally came to rest, leaning on the right hand corner of his desk.

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