The Exiled Duke's Lottery system

Caelrith — The Anchor Chamber

"Count everyone," Vale said.

"All eight present." Aldis Ferren was already going down the line with his eyes. "Durn. Skarrow. Sarath. Mok-Sûl. Coil. Thorne. You and me. Everyone whole and safe."

"Good" Vale answered.

Just then Ghara Mok-Sûl moved to a low wooden chest resting against the stone wall, put her bare hand flat on the lid, and lifted it. Dry sand ran back through her fingers—a layer thick enough to hold the clear impression of her palm.

"This place has been abandoned," Ghara said, her rough voice barely above a whisper. "Are you certain we hit the target, Archmage?"

"Yes," Elenwe Sarath replied. "The anchor coordinates are exact and nothing went wrong during teleportation."

"There is dust and sand on this lid to the depth of my thumb."

"There is." Elenwe crouched, holding her palm an inch above the floor slab. "But I assure you this is the Caelrith anchor. The matrix beneath my hand is dead—it discharged when our conduit broke through, and there is no power left in the stone.But it is the correct location."

Ghara wiped her hand on her trousers. "Then it seems somebody stopped using this hall a long while ago."

"Maybe you are right or maybe somebody sealed it," Elenwe said, standing up and pointing toward the wall. "There is an iron lamp bracket on that stone, but the lamp was removed. This room was closed on purpose."

"Everyone quiet now,Renna," Vale whispered. "Check if there is anyone around us if yes how many?"

The beastman knight pressed her ear flat against the door.

"A crowd," Renna said quietly. "People buying goods. Somebody shouting a price over a bell. Carts." She laid a hand against the heavy latch. "Twenty paces at most. I can hear wooden wheels on cobble."

"Then let’s move out" Aldis said. "The busier the avenue, the better."

"Armour into the rings,now" Vale ordered. "Nobody steps out of this threshold wearing Alliance plate,shining all over."

It took under a minute. Buckles snapped, steel vanished into spatial bands, and Ghara was the last, taking her time to smooth her tunic.

"Blades stay hidden under coats," Vale said, scanning the group. "Everything else stays stored. Nobody acts strange out there. If someone speaks to you, give a short answer and keep walking and remember dont asks for directions today, dont buy goods, and last but not the least don’t stop for anyone in uniform."

"If we get separated?" Pib asked.

"Four streets, turn east, then find any water source a fountain if you can" Vale said. "Whoever reaches the it first waits. Renna,open it."

Renna took down the iron latches holding the door.

It opened a hand’s width. Gray daylight spilled into the dust, bringing the sounds of the city with it—iron rims on stone, shouting vendors, and the rhythmic beat of metal being hammered somewhere nearby.

Then the door frame lit up.

A thin line of pale yellow light ran up the left latch of door, crossed the whole boundary , and shot down to the right side in half a second.

Above them and to the left, soon a mechanism chimed. A hard, flat, metallic note sounded over the rooftops, repeating at regular intervals. Eleven seconds later, a second chime answered from deeper within the city.

"F***,Out now," Elenwe said, her voice sharp. "All of you. Now, before the third chime strikes."

"What was that?" Vale asked.

"A perimeter watch working over this frame from the outside," Elenwe said, already pushing toward the gap. "It just signaled a central station that this chamber was opened. Move fast."

Renna threw the door wide and cleared the threshold first.

They stepped into a covered brick alley running along the back of a sprawling stone building. The alley opened directly onto a packed thoroughfare.

The street was overflowing. Hand-barrows lined both sides under canvas awnings. Pedestrians moved shoulder to shoulder in both directions, and a heavy wooden cart sat wedged in the center of the lane while the driver swore at a mule. Nobody in the crowd looked up at the flat chime repeating over the rooftops. Two fishmongers standing over a salt crate were casually arguing about the sound.

"Match their pace," Vale commanded softly. "Split up. Aldis with Durn. Ghara with Thorne. Pib with the archmage. Renna with me. Four streets, then east."

They merged seamlessly into the flow.

Eight figures in plain sight wearing commoner’s clothes.

Pib Skarrow nearly ruined the concealment when she nearly bumped into a soldier while walking.

"Skarrow," Elenwe warned without turning her head.

"There is a mooring mast," Pib muttered under her breath, staring at the sky.

"Look at the ground and walk," Elenwe repeated smoothly.

Pib snapped her gaze back to the road and walked, her jaw clenched tight for the next two blocks.

The local guards reached the covered alley ninety seconds later.

Eleven men in matching dark tunics. Four took up defensive positions in the alley. The remaining seven drew short iron batons and stepped through the open door into the high, square chamber.

The shaft of gray light from the ceiling vent illuminated the dust-choked air and the layer of sand across the stone floor.

The sand had been thoroughly disturbed.

The squad officer stood in the doorway for a long time, silent thoroughout, staring at eight distinct sets of boot prints that originated in a clean circle in the center of the room, crossed the floor, and vanished over the stone threshold.

"Sir?" one of the guards asked, looking at the empty room.

"Fetch the seal-warden," the officer said, his voice cold and dry. "Then fetch somebody who can count. I want to know exactly find who,what and how many came thorough this and also tighten the security."

Half an hour later near the fountain

Soon all of them came to the fountain one by one.

Renna and Vale first,followed by Aldis and Durn three minutes later then Pib and the archmage after that. Ghara and Thorne last.

"Good everybody here," Vale said. "Anybody followed?"

"I dont think so. The chiming stopped while we were crossing the third street." Renna had come the long way round to be certain of it. "Nobody has come out of that alley since."

"Skarrow walked into a guard when we were coming," Elenwe said.

Everybody looked at Pib.

"I did not walk into him. He came round the corner running and I was in the way." She shrugged. "He said sorry and kept going. He did not even look at me again."

"He did not because he was running to alarm," Renna said. "He would not have looked twice at any of us either."

"I know. I am telling you what happened, not what it means."

"Then here is what it means." Vale turned round. "By now they probably know how many of us are here from that room and by tonight somebody in this city will be looking us or anybody moving in group of eight or maybe new faces."

Aldis said, "So we do not move in eight,Twos and threes, and not the same pairs two days running."

Vale looked round at them. "Expect more patrols on the street by morning and also expect the gates tightened by now. If there is a road out of this city that we want, we need to know where to go before they finish deciding who to stop at it."

Nobody said anything for a moment. The fountain ran behind them. The street went past in both directions and all pedestrians seemed busy with themself.

"So what do we do now?" Pib asked.

"There is an inn," Aldis said. "Two streets back, on the corner we came round. Three floors, stable yard, and a board outside with prices chalked on it, which means they take anybody who can pay and should not ask too many questions."

"Are you sure."

"While I was reading the board and I watched two parties go in, and neither of them seemed it was from here either." He shrugged. "Take rooms — not one room, and not all on the same floor. Sleep somewhere with a roof on it. Then come sit downstairs and listen,gather information."

Vashek Durn said, "And we pay with what?"

"Mana crystal. They should accept it. I watched a woman buy fish with chips off a stone." Aldis held one up between finger and thumb. "What I do not know is what this is worth here. So I do the paying, lets start small, and watch what changes hands round me before we give ourself away."

"And if you get it wrong?"

"Then I am a foreigner who overpaid and got scammed,and hope we get away with it. "

Vale looked back the way they had come. The rooftops had been quiet for some time.

"Then that is it for tonight," he said. "Rooms, spread out. Mouths shut and we let this city tell us where we are and where we need to go."

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