‘Our forces currently control the western, north-western and south-eastern sections of the castle,’ Nimbus said. Sections of the castle lit up in blue as he spoke. ‘Drakh’s forces are confined to the north-east, while the jinn have been driven back to the central keep and to the north.’
Driven back? Luna asked.
They withdrew, I said. But ‘driven back’ is how he’s reporting it to the Council.
‘Through analysis of the data collected during the battle last night, and through divinations performed by the Council, we have been able to decipher the enemy’s plans,’ Nimbus said. ‘The marid intends to perform a large-scale ritual which will bring the shadow realm as a whole closer to the dimension from which jinn are summoned. Our attack has forced the marid to accelerate these plans, and it set them in motion last night.’
Nimbus gestured towards the image of the castle. When nothing happened, he frowned at Sonder.
Sonder started. ‘Sorry.’ Four small white diamonds appeared within the corners of the keep, glittering against the dark building.
‘Mage Sonder,’ Nimbus said.
‘Yes,’ Sonder said. ‘Right.’ He stepped forward, fumbling a little. ‘So, as you remember from the briefing, the wards over the shadow realm are all anchored at the— in the keep. This includes both the realm-wide gate wards that prevent external access, and the smaller but more powerful wards over the keep itself that protect it from intra-realm gating or scrying, as well as from physical and magical attack. The ritual uses that existing ward structure for leverage, allowing An— the marid to affect the shadow realm as a whole.’
‘Which means,’ Nimbus said, ‘that the ward system is the key. Bring it down, and at one stroke we both stop the marid’s plan and open up access to and from the shadow realm.’
Nimbus paused for effect. The Keepers from the Order of the Shield looked back at him.
‘Director,’ Tobias said with a nod. ‘We were given to understand that the reason we couldn’t gate out of here was due to the isolation ward.’
‘It’s both,’ Sonder said. ‘The teams at the War Rooms say they can open up a gate through the isolation ward, or through the gate wards. It’s having to break through both at once that’s too much for them.’
There were a couple of whispers from the crowd, but no further comments. They didn’t look enthusiastic. What are they upset about? Luna asked.
They’re wondering if he’s about to order them to do a frontal assault on that keep.
When no one spoke, Nimbus cleared his throat. ‘There is an additional problem.’ He pointed to the north-east corner of the castle, marked by a splotch of red. ‘Scouting reports indicate that Drakh’s forces have fortified themselves within this area. Our divinations indicate that he does not intend to launch an attack in the short to medium term, but as long as he holds this territory, he represents a threat we cannot ignore. Though his force is inferior to ours, should we attack the keep, we would be vulnerable to him attacking our flank or rear.’
‘While this absolutely is a problem to address,’ Landis said, ‘I think everyone is exceedingly interested in learning what our plan is for dealing with that keep.’
‘I was coming to that,’ Nimbus said. ‘In the absence of external fire support, we will be deploying an accumulator.’
That got people’s attention. ‘We brought one of those?’ a Keeper asked.
‘I had Compass pack one,’ Landis said cheerfully.
Nimbus shot Landis a look. ‘The Council has emphasised that this does not represent a change in established doctrine. However, given the circumstances . . .’
What’s an accumulator? Luna asked.
Magical siege weapon, I said. It’s like a giant battery that can draw in ambient magical energy. The range is enormous – miles. Then once you’re ready, you get a mage to channel that energy in a directed attack. I’m not surprised Landis had to smuggle one in, the Council hates them.
Why?
They’re banned under international treaties. Also, they’re not actually very useful because of the warmup time.
‘What about the warmup time?’ a Keeper asked.
‘Well, we’ve taken measurements,’ Sonder said, ‘and actually, it turns out that conditions here are ideal for an accumulator. Between the isolation ward, the jinn ritual and the confined nature of the shadow realm, the ambient magical index is gigantic.’
‘So how long are we talking?’
‘Ah, based on our projections, to achieve minimum power level to break the keep’s wards . . . twelve minutes.’
The Keeper frowned but didn’t speak.
Is that slow? Luna asked.
No, it’s actually really fast for an accumulator, I said. The problem is that the charge-up process is really obvious. Once that thing starts building up power, literally every mage in this shadow realm is going to know where it is and what it’s doing. And twelve minutes is more than enough time for Anne’s jinn to fly or gate over there and destroy everyone and everything in the area in about eight different ways. This is why no one uses accumulators. They’re useless in a police action because they’re overkill, and they’re useless in a military action because in the time it takes to charge up your shot the people you’re aiming at can either attack you first or just gate somewhere else.
Landis seemed to think it was worth bringing one.
Yeah, trust him to find the one time a giant explosive siege weapon would actually be useful.
‘Seventeen to eighteen minutes if we’re being safe,’ Sonder was saying.
‘That enough to blow up the keep?’ Tobias asked.
‘Not the whole keep,’ Sonder said. ‘But we don’t need to. Those four points on the projection are the anchor points for the ritual. Destroying any one of them will cause the entire effect to collapse, which will cause a chain reaction that will destroy the wards on the shadow realm as a whole.’
‘Excellent!’ Landis said. ‘Now I think we should address the marid in the room, as it were. What are we going to do when our mutual acquaintance notices what we’re doing and takes exception?’
‘This brings us to our plan of attack,’ Nimbus said. ‘Both Drakh’s forces and the jinn have the potential to threaten the accumulator as soon as it begins to gather a measurable level of power. It is therefore necessary to engage both enemy forces before the accumulator can be activated.’ He gestured and a blue arrow appeared in the castle’s north-east. ‘Captain Rain?’
Rain stepped forward. Tall and dark-skinned, he had a calm, measured way of speaking. He’d been my and Caldera’s boss back when I’d been working in the Keepers. ‘Our force will be acting as a sieging unit in this operation.’ He gestured and the blue arrow moved towards the red blotch of Richard’s forces, then moved to encircle it. ‘We’ll establish a perimeter around Drakh’s forces and set up wards and an interdiction field. No one gets in, no one gets out.’ He glanced around at the Keepers and at me. ‘I know several of you have recent combat experience against Drakh’s cabal. Once we’re done here, I’d appreciate anything you can tell me.’
‘Sieging the keep itself, however, is not an option,’ Nimbus said. ‘The perimeter is too large and its wards would defeat any kind of interdiction field. This is where you men come in. Captain Landis, you will take your force and attack the building upon the stack off the island’s northern face.’