Book 3 | Agent 34 and the Storm of Darkness

Chapter 21 | Braunick's Spies

Calvin and Ben followed Bradbur through the halls of the Zena, heads down. Suddenly, the soldier stopped abruptly in the middle of a hallway and pressed his hands against the wall. A hidden door opened, revealing a spiral staircase going downwards into an abyss.

"A hidden room," Calvin murmured.

"I'm assuming that they built this room in secret and use it for meetings and other things. I discovered this at night when I saw someone go inside," Bradbur said. He leaned into the doorframe and listened, brow thickening. "Listen," he whispered.

Calvin and Ben leaned inwards and heard voices down the stairwell. "They're down there. We have limited time. Gather your squadrant and head down now. Do not wait. They typically spend two-three hours in there. No telling how long they've been in there,"

Calvin told Bradbur to stay there and he and Ben headed to Thad's throne room. They reached it in around three minutes by running as fast as they could.

They burst inside, interrupting Thad's privacy. The dwarf sat on his throne, snoring silently.

"Thad!" Calvin cried. Guards came into the room, trying to stop Calvin from intruding. "Lord Thad! I found the rebel base and where they are! I request backup of spellcasters to take them down."

Thad groggily sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Back off, guards. He's clear. What'd you do again?"

"We found the rebel base! They are in there right now and are practicing Black Magic. I request the strongest spellweavers to aid my raid,"

The dwarf was taken aback by the part with Black Magic. "Very well. Guards, call in the spellweavers for Calvin and Ben. Calvin, take them down. Go get armor and a weapon," Thad ordered.

A few guards in the room ran away, others stayed to watch Thad. Calvin and Ben quickly went to the armory and armored up. Ben was wielding a silver blade, and Calvin had one as well. "You know how to swordfight?" Calvin asked Ben.

"Not really," Ben admitted. "I can try,"

"I'll protect you if something goes wrong," Calvin promised. "Now let's go,"

~ ~ ~

Bradbur was surprised to see Calvin and Benjamin return with ten armored spellweavers. They stood in formation, waiting for Calvin's orders. "Hello, Bradbur," Calvin greeted him. "Are they still inside?"

Bradbur nodded. "I've been hearing strange noises. Be prepared for a spell battle, or something worse."

Calvin nodded. "Are you helping in the mission?"

"I suppose. There's no telling what type of Black Magic they're practicing. I only suppose it is dangerous," Bradbur said, pulling his silver sword off his belt.

Calvin and Bradbur led the way down the spiral stairs as quiet as they could, Ben and the spellweavers following silently. It was very short, and when they reached the bottom they were greeted by a dark room. Calvin could see a light up ahead in an illuminated doorway, and approached it slowly with caution.

He stopped halfway and watched.

The people inside were all human, and Calvin could tell by their body shapes and height. All of them were covered in dark cloaks. A single cauldron was in the center of the room and all of the cloaked humans gathered around it.

Calvin held a hand up towards his spellweavers and ordered them to stop. They stood there for a few minutes, just watching the spies conduct Black Magic.

A cloaked spy approached the cauldron and dropped something Calvin couldn't see into it. The cauldron sizzled as that spy stepped back and another dropped something else in. Green bubbles flew out of the black pot, popping the higher they got.

The cloaked spies began to murmur and reform their circle. They all grabbed hands and their bodies outlined black.

"That's it," Calvin said. "Someone, shoot a spell at them and disrupt their circle before they can finish whatever they are doing,"

A spellweaver stepped in front of Calvin and quickly tilted his staff towards the group of cloaked spies. He whispered a spell under his breath and his wand illuminated blue at the end. He thrusted the wooden stick forwards and a surge of blue energy launched out of it. It collided with a spy in the room. The spy was thrown against the wall from the blast, rocks tumbling off from the roof and the walls. The black outline disappeared from the spies as they all looked at the man who was thrown against the wall.

"Go! Go! Go!" Calvin commanded. 

All of the spellweavers ran into the room, shouting spells as they went and ambushing the cloaked spies.

After all of his spellweavers were battling in the room, Calvin went in and aided in swordfighting. Instantly, in the middle of the room, he spotted Ben being lifted into the air with a black outline around him. His eyes were filled with terror and also slowly rolling to the back of his head. His mouth dropped open, and his body went stiff.