The Underground

The damp and cold were working together to chill Simon to his bones. The encroaching darkness was held at bay by only the flickering light of Gideon's torch. Several empty candle sconces passed them by, blackened and worn, their flames extinguished long ago. They had only been in the underground for a handful of minutes, and yet he was already eager to leave.

The entrance to the tunnels had been suspiciously inconspicuous, a single unmarked door among the many in the cloister. Other than small clumps of moss growing in the stone around it, there was little to indicate it was any different from another. The staircase itself was a good deal more remarkable, spiralling downwards dozens of meters, probably around a hundred by Simon's estimates. Its steps were worn and wasted away, eroded by long forgotten use. Simon had been cautious not to slip, certain he would find himself sliding to the very bottom if he had.

The actual tunnels echoed the door in their mundanity. Simple cobblestone paths, arched to a high ceiling, a wooden door rotted to chaff spaced out evenly down its corridors. There was a paved gulch running down its center, likely built to support a now ruined waterway, perhaps a sewer.

Gideon led the way through the passaged, holding his torch well above him, a spark fighting desperately to light the way. His other hand held a rolled up piece of parchment that he kept his gaze hawkishly focused on at all times. From what little Simon could see the parchment was a map, apparently what the aptly named 'mapping' team had been working on.

"So why did Sonia decide we needed to know the layout of this place?" Simon's words vibrated in the enclosed space, relaying off the walls before echoing into the darkness.

"Hmm, just be patient and you'll find out soon enough. It's a bit excessive I think, but if it does work, it will work very well." Gideon's eyes didn't leave the map, carefully tracing the two's necessary path.

The tunnels were a complex maze, diverging and reconvening seemingly at random, paths interlaced among each other, and spattered with dead ends. Simon was already certain he would struggle to find his way out now if he were left alone.

"Was making this place so complex another part of Florient's trick?"

"Not really. Other than as a storage, this floor was designed as a last bastion if the city were to fall. It was meant to be hard to navigate for the attackers, giving the defenders plenty of ways to ambush them. Imagine it, walking through the darkness of the corridors, a blade hidden just out of your lights reach, ready to sink itself into your throat. It's a ghoulish bit of fun."

Simon frowned, straining his eyes to see beyond the limits of the light. Several times he thought he saw something move there, but was ultimately forced to dismiss it as tricks of the flickering light.

"Don't get antsy now, we're almost there. There's nothing to harm you down here anyway, not where we are."

Simon felt it was best he didn't ask Gideon to explain what he meant.

It was almost ten minutes later that the pair finally stopped, standing staring into a large square room. The room was practically empty, occupied by collapsed chairs and tables. The only objects of note stood alone in the center, two brown barrels unmarred by the dust that otherwise consumed the room.

"That's what we're here for." Gideon pointed to the barrels. "Or more like it's the first part of it. Go ahead and take a look inside, they won't bite."

Simon walked toward the barrels hesitantly, trusting but uncertain of Gideon's words. Gideon didn't approach with him, instead standing by the entrance of the door. He held the torch out in front of him, slightly improving the quality of light Simon was receiving. Despite the low light, Simon could clearly see his characteristic playfulness writ on his face.

Simon sheepishly began to reach his hand out to the lid of the containers, completely uncertain of what to expect inside.

"Ahh!" Gideon shouted, the sound pierced the silence like thunder. Simon jumped, almost falling as he turned to face him again.

Gideon was clutching his stomach and laughing uncontrollably.

"What the hell Gideon! I thought something had happened! Why would you do that!" Simon shouted, exasperated.

"I'm sorry, hahahaha, I just had to do it you know." Gideon burst into another fit of laughter. "It was just so funny, seeing you creeping toward them like a scared little puppy. Oh no, what could they possibly be? I told you they don't bite, didn't I? Hehehaha. And the way you jumped!"

Simon was dumbfounded, the tension completely drained from the situation. Not giving Gideon the pleasure of further argument, he pushed open the lid of the closest barrel. The smell was the first thing he noticed, earthy and sulfuric, stinging his eyes. The second was the grainy black pile that made up the contents. He'd never seen it up close, but he'd seen enough stories to know what this was.

"Is this- is this gunpowder?"
"Precisely correct my friend! Surprised you've heard of it though. Saves me some explanation. That's our secret ticket to victory."

Simon wasn't sure what to say, he hadn't expected to find gunpowder here. Nothing he'd seen so far in this world had begun to suggest they had this sort of technology.

"Where did this come from? How'd you get something like this?"

Gideon grinned. "That there is sourced directly from the coffers of Ghorosh, that's the God of Engineering and Smithing since you probably didn't know. Florient happened to steal some from him during one of his wars, brought it right back here for safe keeping. Shame he never got to use it, isn't it?"

Gideon lowered the torch to his face. "We set it aflame and-" he blew on the torch, sending it licking toward Simon, "-boom. Down goes the enemy, no enhanced strength or speed is going to be able to save them then."

Simon hesitated, it all sounded too good to be true. "Well if that's the case, why are we doing everything else? Wouldn't this win the battle by itself? Why do you even need me?"

Gideon didn't reply directly. "Do you know where we are right now?"

"I was lost by the time we got down those stairs. I don't have even the faintest clue."
"We're beneath the front gates. About fifty or so meters beyond them even. Do you know how many entrances the city has?" Gideon began to twirl his finger, watching it attentively.
"Just one. The one that leads to the main street." Simon nodded.
"Just one. So tell me, do you know where an invading force, say a few thousand persons strong would have to enter from?"
"...the front gate. They'd have to enter through the front."
"That's absolutely right. They'd have to pass oh, about a hundred meters directly above us."

Simon crossed his arms, thinking it through. "But that's it isn't it? You just ignite the gunpowder and they're all gone. You still haven't answered my question."

"We're flattered Simon, but how much of this stuff do you think we have? At best we'd blast out the floor beneath them, but with how sturdy they can be that'd be an inconvenience."

Gideon's finger stopped, his gaze snapping back to Simon. "I'll make it simple. We'll have three rooms full of the stuff, side by side and ready to pop. And so we'll be needing you to teleport them up to the field."

"Excuse me? You want me to do what?"
"I thought I put it simply, didn't I? Teleport it up. All at once."

Simon took his own turn to laugh. "Hahaha, ok Gideon you got me with this one. It's very funny, thanks for that. So why are we really here?"

"I'm not joking this time Simon." Gideon's voice bit cold and sharp. "As a Knight, you are the only one with enough magical capability to do this, if you can't our chances are greatly diminished."

"What? What are you talking about? Are you crazy? I can barely teleport myself five meters, and now you want me to move however many tonnes of gunpowder a hundred instead? Have you thought this through at all?! I can't do that!"

"Sonia thought you could. That was why she made this plan."

Simon's doubts were silenced with one sentence. Sonia had trusted this to him, there wasn't a choice for him, he couldn't fail. "But how? I'm nowhere near ready yet. I can't even imagine doing something like this."

"Sonia made provisions to make it easier for you. It's why we're in this room and not another. It should be much easier for you to imagine sending the gunpowder directly up instead of a location. Secondly, the location will allow you time to prepare. We will have a force ready to hold the gate, keeping them trapped there as long as you will require to cast the spell. All that matters is getting you ready."

"Sonia intended to teach you herself, but she got too confident in the battle and now we're here without her help. I'll get you ready, I swear it."