"The Great Waste in the south of the Empire is a sad testament to the damage done by the Sorcerer-Kings in their futile attempts to continue abusing their power in the face of Her Eternal Majesty's efforts at unification. Eldrith Varance was joined once again by Talia Miral, his mind-slave armies marching alongside her undead monstrosities. Of course they were no match for the Empire and the Undying Queen, but the battles raged for over two weeks. Mages struck at witches and witches struck back. Throughout it all the Sorcerer-Kings unleashed terrible magics. Yet their defeat was inevitable."

Two Thousand Years of Empire by Jahangir Amini

=====

Abiel ignored the priceless treasures around him as another set of doors opened. They didn't matter, if his team reached the deepest of the vaults then they'd find what they wanted. What they needed. They would be out from under Thucer's thumb. Never have to see the hooded figure of their new employer again. That mattered almost as much as getting away from Thucer. Spirits only knew what was wrong with the man or what demented agenda he had. If Abiel had his choice he would leave Vass Karan, never to return.

When he'd found out more about the way the Marcni Vaults were guarded, he'd almost called the whole operation off. Stealing a Schema from Count Velia's study had been one thing, this was something else.

Then he'd had the visit from his employer. He'd almost pissed himself when he'd first heard the man's, Great Spirits he hoped it was a man, sibilant hiss behind him when he'd been making a discreet visit back to his real home.

Protests about the difficulty and needing more time had gotten him nowhere. Instead the hooded man had ignored his protests and set him a near impossible deadline as he reeled off more detailed instructions.

Abiel cursed his luck. Being indebted to Thucer had been bad enough, but now he was stuck between Duke Marcni, the twisted form of his new employer and Thucer with no obvious way out. If he'd thought he could get away with it, he'd have fled the city a month ago.

Now though, now he knew that the key to his salvation was just a little further on. He shared a glance and a small smile with Aliana. They'd be free soon. She understood.

"Abiel! Aliana! What the fuck are you doing?!" Ruben hissed, despite there being no one else around to hear them. He'd been complaining ever since the Third Vault.

"It's alright Ruben. Everything we need is down here. It'll be worth it, don't be scared."

"Please, both of you. Stop! We need to go back and get out of here."

"You're a good friend Ruben. Just trust us." Abiel tried to make his voice as reassuring as possible. Ruben would understand soon. They were nearly there, he knew it.

Another set of doors loomed in front of them. These weren't like the others. There was no decoration to them. Just plain iron barring their way. Stopping them from achieving their freedom.

Unlike the others, these doors didn't open when Abiel approached. Perhaps it wasn't so surprising. House Marcni wouldn't want to give up its most precious treasures so easily.

"Look! They're not opening. Let's go back. Come on Abiel!" Ruben was practically whining, but Abiel didn't have time for that.

"Aliana." She stepped forward without hesitating. She knew what she needed to do.

Abiel's meagre Talent and training weren't enough to see the magic that Aliana wove into the wards on the doors, but in a matter of seconds he felt a flare of something and they swung open with a low creak.

Abiel was already striding on, Aliana at his side. Things looked different now, not like the other Vaults. Excitement surged in him. This must be the last one, where the real treasure was.

Their torches cast flickering light down the passage as they made their way forward. No extensive vault with smooth, decorated walls here. Instead a narrow, cramped passage lined and paved with rough stone blocks.

"Abiel, I really don't like this. Please! Let's go back."

"Come on Ruben, we're nearly there." Aliana was already surging ahead. Abiel could feel it too and hurried to catch up with her.

Ahead of them the passage widened, quickly expanding into a larger chamber. It was in there. He knew it! He and Aliana broke into a run, Ruben's worried shout going unheard behind them.

They charged out, emerging in one corner of the chamber and skidded to a halt, looking around with wide eyes. Like the passage, it was lined with stone blocks. It was hard to see too much with the guttering light of their torches, but he couldn't see anything that would help them. It had to be there though, he knew it! He slowly walked into the centre of the chamber, looking around himself as he did.

There was a stone table to one side of them. It was covered in runes, not that he could read them, but he was fairly sure it was too heavy for them to move. The knives laid out on it looked expensive, but he dismissed them with no more than a glance. They weren't what he was looking for either. The walls were more of the rough stone blocks. In places there were protrusions from them, but they weren't it either. Where was it?!

After a final look around Abiel realised the truth. Their prize wasn't here yet. They were in the right place, but at the wrong time. They just needed to wait. He shared a glance with Aliana and they both settled down on the cold stone floor in the middle of the chamber.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Ruben was practically screaming. "We need to get out of here! This is wrong… it's… Fuck!" It did smell a bit odd, but there was no need for Ruben to overreact like that. They were deep underground. Of course it smelled.

Abiel let out a squawk of surprise as Ruben grabbed him under his armpits from behind and started dragging him backwards.

"What are you doing?!" If Ruben ruined this he'd be so angry with him! After everything he'd done for the man!

"Trying to save your idiotic arse." Abiel half heartedly tried to escape Ruben's grip.

"No, no. Come on Ruben. You just need to wait and then you'll see." Why didn't he understand?!

A flare of arcane light briefly lit the room, in a circle around them. Behind him Ruben grunted and hit the floor with a thump. Fear spiked in Abiel. Was Ruben hurt? What had happened?

He turned, pushing himself up onto his knees to face Ruben.

"Are you alright? What happened?" He couldn't stand it if his friend got hurt so close to them all achieving their freedom.

Ruben coughed painfully. "I I think so. There's a ring of magic around us. I walked into it."

"A ring of magic?"

"Yes! Can't you see it?! How can you not see it? Come on Abiel! Aliana! Break the enchantment! You've got to. This place… It's not just a trap, there's…"

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Ruben, calm down. Relax. It'll be fine. Now, are you hurt?"

A warm, hearty chuckle rang out across the chamber. Abiel was immediately on guard as he looked up from his prone friend.

"Who's there?"

A woman stepped out from another entrance to the chamber, one he hadn't noticed before.

"Tallsoi." She spoke a single word and the room was bathed in warm light from the walls, properly revealing their surroundings for the first time. Was she going to bring them their prize or was she trying to steal it from them?

"Who are you goodwoman and what are you doing here?" Abiel kept his voice polite. She had a friendly face and a motherly smile, framed by long hair that was just starting to turn grey. She was wearing non-descript, brown robes that suggested no great wealth, but she was clearly a witch so he would need to be on his guard.

"Me? I was just checking what had stumbled into our net. I must say, I'm quite delighted. Two of you with the Talent and a nice strong buck too. It seems today is a good day."

Ice speared through Abiel's veins. She was going to take away their reward! He couldn't let that happen, not when they were so close.

"No! You can't have it!" He leapt to his feet. He had to stop her!

"Oh." She smiled sweetly. "My apologies, don't worry, I'm here to give you your reward. Your efforts haven't been in vain. I'll just need your friend there, the one without the Talent."

Relief made Abiel's legs weak and he quickly sat back down, Ruben's frantic protests already fading from his mind. It would be his soon.

=====

The Fourth Vault was much smaller than the last three. A low ceiling gave it a slightly oppressive feel and that wasn't helped by the strange paintings on the walls. All of them showed battles against horrific creatures. Weiryin maybe? Ester didn't have time to worry about them anyway, nor about the Schemas and chests dotted around. She took a step forward, Lord Rasce at her back and then hesitated.

"My lord, please could you pull something over and place it between the doors." He blinked stupidly at her, little eyes staring out of his red face.

"Why would I do that, my lady." Ester stopped herself from sighing out loud.

"You said you could not open these doors yourself. What happens if they close behind us?" The way he paled and started dragging over a chest was satisfying. She could have just done it with magic, but she wasn't feeling particularly charitable towards him or House Marcni at that moment. It gave him the opportunity to show off how strong he was anyway. He'd probably like that.

It didn't take long for him to haul a chest into place, although he looked even redder by the time he had.

"Thank you, my lord." Ester immediately headed forward. She could feel the wards probing at her, trying to break her defences and draw her further in. It made her want to sneeze.

They stopped at the next set of doors and for a moment Ester was stumped. They weren't opening and Lord Rasce couldn't do anything. She didn't want to try to force them open, that risked making things worse and upsetting the Duke. So they were stuck. Was that the end of the path for them?

No. She shook her head. The wards were still probing at her. The thieves weren't there. There must be a way through and she suspected it was the trap. The wards wanted to force her on and through the door, but she wanted to go that way anyway. If she just slightly weakened her mental defences and allowed some of it through…

The urge to advance, to pursue and bring down the thieves bubbled up harder inside her. Ester took an almost involuntary step forward before she got herself back under control. She'd need to be very careful. If whoever had made these wards was particularly cunning, they might change the command or add a new one without any warning to help it worm its way through her defences.

Ester allowed herself to start walking forward and, just as she'd expected, the doors swung open in front of her, revealing the entrance to the next vault, looming like a gaping maw.

This really might not be a good idea, but she had no choice. With a deep breath, she pressed on.

It didn't take all that long to make their way down, through the series of vaults. Ester felt like she was balancing on a knife-edge, allowing just enough of the wards' influence in to get the doors to open, and open they did. All that held the two of them up was finding something to prop the doors open each time.

However, as they got deeper something else was worming away at the back of Ester's head. There was magic in the air. Of course there was. The wards here were complex and strong. But there was more to it. A feeling on the edge of the magic that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

As they got deeper the sensation was growing stronger. Just a slight discomfort, a nagging impression in the back of her mind that something was wrong. She just couldn't work out what. It was likely something the thieves had done though. This time she'd make sure that they paid for their crimes!

Eventually the two of them came to a pair of doors that were different from the rest. Just plain iron without any form of decoration. Ester came to a surprised halt when these doors didn't just open for her like the rest. That was odd. The vault they were in didn't seem to have much in it actually. Was it meant to be the end of the trap? The place where thieves would sit and wait for rescue or starvation?

She shook her head. That made no sense. The Golden Shadows weren't here and if it was the end of the road, then why have more doors? Clearly she needed to push on. Although, if the doors weren't just opening for her anymore… She quickly reinforced her mental defences and, with more than a little relief, felt the wards' unnatural urge fade completely from her mind. There was no need to take any risks with that if she didn't have to!

Ester reached out to feel the wards over the door. Magic flowed over it, keeping it shut from intruders. But it was weak, surprisingly so. Certainly not on the level of the other wards she'd seen in the vaults and nowhere near the sophistication of the compulsion to go deeper. Did that mean it was another trap? The odd feel to the ambient magic was still there too, just hovering on the edge of familiarity.

In the end it didn't matter. The Golden Shadows had gone through that door, so would she.

Ester took a few more seconds to study the wards on the door. There was an obvious flaw in them, a careful application of disjunction would easily disrupt them, opening the doors for anyone. Except… It was too obvious. She mentally traced her way down the streams of magic. If she was right, the wards would snap back into place after the doors opened and then… Yes, they were linked to something on the other side. She couldn't see what, but she suspected she was starting to get some insight into whoever had designed these. An overconfident witch might disrupt the wards, walk straight through and then find they couldn't open the doors from the other side. It was impressive how much thought House Marcni had put into protecting their treasures.

However, Ester had no intention of being trapped on the other side, even if she was trying to help the Marcnis. There were limits. They'd just prop the doors open like before. With a glance at Lord Rasce, Ester took a step closer to the doors.

"Do'aelt." With a flare of magic the wards seemed to vanish, although she knew better, and the doors swung open.

Before the doors were even fully open Ester felt a wave of magic wash over them, as if it had been held back by the doors. It felt wrong, twisted and perverted. Something really wasn't right.

She took a step forward, ignoring Lord Rasce. The corridor on the other side of the doors was well lit, witchlights glowing on the stone walls. It was wrong though. Just wrong!

Ester stopped, narrowing her eyes. Why did the magic in the air feel familiar? She knew she'd felt something like it before. Her heart started to beat faster. There was an unpleasant smell in the air too. Just a hint of sweetness, but she couldn't quite work out what. Where had she felt it before?!

She took another step forward, reached out with her mind to feel the leftover magic in the walls and floor. It was clearer there, someone had… She stopped dead, realisation crashing into her.

The Wasteways. The undead. It was only traces of that magic, but it was the same. Great Spirits! A trail she'd followed right down through the vaults. There was a necromancer down here. The Golden Shadows were working with a necromancer and she was stuck down here alone with them! What were they doing here? What evil were they planning for House Marcni and the city? She needed to stop them!

"My lady? Are you well?" Lord Rasce's voice broke through her frantic thoughts.

"N n no." Ester barely had time to hate herself for stammering. "The Golden Shadows have a necromancer with them." He blanched and took an involuntary step back.

"Great Spirits… A a a necromancer? Are you sure?" There was absolutely none of the earlier arrogance in his voice now. Just pure fear.

"It's the same as in the Wasteways. I hadn't been sure, but now that we're closer I am. Whatever they're doing, they need to be stopped."

"By the Throne…" Lord Rasce gave himself a shake. "We must go for help immediately. Warn the Duke and rally the House's forces. Rally the city's forces!"

"No. I mean yes. You need to do that. I'm going to try to stop the necromancer."

"My lady!" He gasped. "You cannot it is too dangerous. You are too young." Normally Ester would have been annoyed, but he was right. It was too dangerous, but she needed to do it anyway.

"More dangerous than whatever a necromancer's seeking to do with the treasures in the Marcni vaults? Someone needs to stop them or at least delay them long enough for help to come. You can run for the surface. I'll deal with the thieves."

Lord Rasce stared at her for a second and then bowed low.

"Lady Mazar, House Marcni is in your debt." Without another word, he turned and started hurrying away.

Ester hesitated for a couple more seconds and then started walking forward, spells flashing through her head. There'd be no time for discussion or mercy. When she saw the thieves and the necromancer she'd hit them without warning. They'd outnumber her and quite possibly have more magic at their disposal too. There'd be no time for a fair fight. Anyone who worked with a necromancer had signed their own death warrant anyway.

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