Hideaway

Libarius and Gracia walk through the dark underground of Polaris, only the single ball of light illuminating their path, floating above the two of them near the ceiling. The underground is empty, their footsteps and Libarius’ cane echoing around on the stone.

The underground is made up of a series of repeated rooms, all the same size with the same stone bricks slightly aglow. There’s no form of signage, no way to know where any given path leads, and no way to differentiate between the rooms. For the sake of their ability to search, Libarius and Gracia do not turn, instead walking forward as far as they can in hopes of finding something. They walk for about an hour in near silence, only broken when they ask if they’ve found any signs of somebody. At last they come to a different room as they reach what must be the wall of the city, which forces them to turn rather than continue forward. Gracia sighs.

“What should we do now, Libarius?”

“I wonder. I’d rather not wager my time on something as frivolous as luck, but which direction do you feel is right?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe we should try to search the smallest possible area first then circle back to where we started?”

“Then we have gone the wrong way.”

“Why would you go the long way to start?”

“I have no desire to gamble my time away, but I have even less desire to lose.”

Libarius walks to the empty wall across the room and stares at it for a moment. He then raises his cane and smashes it into the wall. The stones shatter and the wall crumbles where Libarius struck it. There’s an opening behind the wall, and despite the loud sound of the wall being broken, there’s nothing in response. Libarius slides his thumb over his finger, then points into the opening, sending the ball of light inside of the wall. As it passes over the threshold, it becomes immediately clear that this is a different place from the rest of the underground. Rather than the gray, slightly glowing stone bricks of the Polaris underground, the floor of this uncovered place is made of dirt condensed to the point it’s no less firm than stone. Libarius sends the light in deeper, but he finds nothing out of place and feels no incredible amount of magic either.

“How did you know this would be where something is?”

“We are beneath the aqueduct. Or rather, were we to continue forward, we would soon enough reach the hill that Lama had come to.”

“So you think that Marisk would have set his base up in the direction he arrived from?”

“Indeed. Were I a coward, I would imagine it better to establish a hiding place for myself before I even enter the domain of my enemy. If I could do so to enter the city, all the better. Hiding away and slinking around in dirt is the Black Marsh’s specialty, after all.”

“It wasn’t a gamble then. It seems like you had a pretty solid theory.”

“No, it was all founded in my own speculations. That’s hardly empirical.”

“I don’t feel much magic inside, though. Do you really think this is the right place?”

“Why else would a place like this exist?”

“It could be natural. Well, I doubt that. I can’t imagine that it would have been ignored if it was natural. And this dirt clearly isn’t natural. If he uses the same kind of magic as Lama, then I certainly wouldn’t be surprised that he could do this. But it feels a little too convenient, and too empty. But if there’s no magic, then I guess it can’t be a trap.”

“I wonder. Perhaps there are traps somewhere, both hidden and made without a spell. He’s a coward, after all. We’ve already seen how meticulous he is.”

“But is it really possible to hide magic this much?”

“It must be a very particular technique he uses, if he uses one at all. But Black Marsh is a man who has lived by hiding himself away for several centuries. If anybody ought to have a technique such as this, it is him. Perhaps I ought to reevaluate him somewhat.”

“In that case, is it really smart to be treating him like some weakling? If he can hide any trace of a spell, don’t you think he would be able to hide his real strength?” Libarius looks at Gracia.

“Perhaps he can hide a spell from so far a distance, but he would not be able to hide from so close to me. And beyond that, I cannot imagine he would have been able to keep his wits about him. If he were able to hide his true strength so thoroughly, it would be strange if he could not see through my own guise. I doubt he would be able to maintain such a calm demeanor if he knew my full strength.”

“Were you hiding your magic power? It felt the same as always to me? Like any other mage would feel normally.”

“First, do you truly believe that I could only have that degree of innate power?”

“Ah, that’s true.”

“Second, do you truly believe that I wouldn’t also suppress my magic power at all times?”

“‘Also?’ Can you… Have you been able to see through it this whole time?”

“Of course?” Gracia seems embarrassed.

“Why did you never say anything?”

“Why would I? Suppression is rarely for the sake of yourself. Nobody would be able to act as they should were I to let my power go free. Even the non-mages would be frightened by it. Society would fall apart. Is it not the same for you?”

“I was taught to do it so people wouldn’t be able to tell the full extent of my abilities. It would mess with their own image if they didn’t know properly.”

“Is there a point in those sorts of tricks? Though I suppose both Black Marsh and myself were playing a similar game when we spoke. But that was between two people who could not fight, so I suppose I still do not see the merit of that trick.”

“I’ve never had to fight someone, so I don’t know either. But what should we do about this place? Should we go back to the city and regroup, now that we know where it is?”

“No. We ought to seize this opportunity here and now. There is no way to know for certain that Black Marsh won’t deign to move, so we ought to do what we can now.”