Guild Wars_ Ghosts of Ascalon - Matt Forbeck [25]
“It’s not that exciting,” said Dougal. “More like terrifying.”
Riona grunted at him.
“Surprised to find me here still?” Dougal asked Riona.
She shook her head. “Thackeray’s people have had an eye on your place all night.”
“And you don’t think I could slip past them if I wanted to?”
She shrugged as if it didn’t make a difference. “You didn’t.”
Dougal arched an eyebrow at her. “And you could have told Thackeray and his people that we had recovered something from the crypts after all.”
“Captain Logan Thackeray only tolerates me at best,” Riona said. “Telling him you had this gem would only have forced him to toss you in prison again. I need you in Ascalon City.”
Dougal slung his pack over his shoulder. “Then let’s move.”
Dougal turned southward, to the main gates, but Riona instead moved north toward the Ascalonian district. Killeen was left in the middle, unsure which way to go.
Dougal pointed. “Main gate to the city is this way.”
“We aren’t using the main gate,” said Riona. “Time is of the essence. We’re going to use an asura gate.”
Dougal walked back to Riona now, Killeen following and trying not to look like she was listening. “You didn’t say anything about using an asura gate,” he said, trying to keep the worry out of his voice.
“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of them,” said Riona, smiling slightly.
“Of course not,” said Dougal. “It’s magic. I don’t particularly trust magic. Worse yet, it’s asuran magic. They operate at such a level that even human spellcasters are still lagging in their wake.”
“You are afraid,” said Riona, with a tight smile. “You’ve faced a city full of ghosts and gods know what else, and you’re afraid of a magical gate.”
“An asuran magical gate,” said Dougal. “There’s a difference. Half the time they are taking it apart and putting it back together. And have you ever had one of them explain how it works?”
“It is a simple immobile-location dimensional transporter,” said Killeen, “that shortcuts normal reality by bringing together two fixed points with suitable equipment tuned to the same metavibrational aetheric frequency.” Dougal stared at her, and she added, “We have them in the Grove. The asura were one of the first peoples we met when we appeared.”
“You have my sympathy,” said Riona, and led the way into the Ascalonian district.
Divinity’s Reach was waking up. The people who worked for an honest living were shuffling off to their jobs, but laughing children still raced through the streets, darting from doorway to doorway in their carefree games. The Seraph patrolled the streets, alone and in pairs, always on the hunt for innocents to protect and lawbreakers to bring to justice. Merchants’ voices started to sound, hawking everything from apples to armor. Elders stood ready to train students in various specialties. Criers called out announcements from the queen and news from both inside the city and beyond its limits.
They passed through another set of walls, built within the city itself to separate it from the asura gate. Dougal noticed the walls were patrolled by white-armored members of the Seraph, armed with the newer, smooth-bored muskets. The Golem’s Eye in his pocket felt suddenly heavy. They passed within the picket line without being challenged, and Dougal assumed that Riona’s Vigil authority extended to these watchmen as well. And that Captain Logan Thackeray was delighted to get them out of his queen’s city.
The gate itself was up on a low earth platform against the city’s outer wall, a great stone loop filled with bronze pulsing energy. Even looking at the shifting surface of the gate’s opening made Dougal a little queasy. The area around the gate was filled with wagons and bearers, golem carriers, and a small group of soldiers in dark armor: Ebon Vanguard. Dougal remembered that the Ascalonian district had a hospital for the more badly wounded soldiers from the fortress