Chapter 696: Lower Level

Revan returned to the room less than a minute later with the communication crystal still active in his hand. "The Vareth guard is already inside the depot," he informed them, closing the door behind him. "They found the access to the lower level, but it’s sealed from the inside. They also heard animals below them."

Kael looked at Oren. "How does it open?" he asked, remaining in front of the table. "And don’t waste my time with another half-truth."

"There’s a loading platform at the back of the depot and a service staircase behind the western wall," Oren replied, now without any resistance. "The staircase has two doors. The first opens with a normal key. The second uses a pressure mechanism and runes. If they try to break it from the outside, the system locks the lower cages."

Sylphie frowned. "Locks them how?"

Oren looked away. "The doors close and the containment system increases the draining."

Kael’s expression changed just enough for Revan to notice. "Then tell Vareth not to force the second door," he said, already picking up the coat he had left over the chair. "Have them isolate the depot, find the key to the first one and touch nothing else until we get there."

Revan raised the crystal. "You’re going?"

"Now I am," Kael replied, looking at Sylphie. "There are animals trapped in a system that can kill them if someone makes a mistake entering. This is no longer just a local search."

Sylphie was already standing. "I’m going with you."

Umbra emerged from the shadow beside the wall. "And I’m not missing the part where someone built a basement full of stolen animals."

Kael looked at her. "Try not to look happy."

"I’m not happy," Umbra replied, following them toward the door. "I’m interested."

The journey to Vareth took less time than the road should have allowed. Kael did not turn the entire trip into a sequence of Celestial Steps, but he used the technique across safe stretches to reduce the distance while Sylphie followed with magic and Umbra simply disappeared between shadows. They arrived shortly after noon, where a captain named Rhea Solven was waiting for them in front of the surrounded depot.

"We have eight guards inside and twelve more on the perimeter," Rhea informed them while leading them through the main entrance. "No one has left since we began surveillance. We found three employees on the ground floor. Two claim they knew nothing about the lower level. The third refused to speak."

"The man named Soren?" Kael asked.

"He’s not among them," Rhea replied. "But we found his office."

The depot looked far too normal for what it concealed. Wooden crates, transport tools, straps, two wagons and an area intended for merchandise inspection occupied the main hall. At the back, the guards had moved a heavy cabinet away from the wall, revealing a narrow metal door.

Rhea pointed. "First door. We found the key in the office. The second is eight meters below."

Kael did not descend immediately. "Any plans of the system?" he asked, observing the ring of almost-faded runes around the entrance.

"No."

"Do any of the employees know how to operate it?"

"One of them claims he’s never gone down. The other two say the same thing."

Umbra passed through the door’s shadow before anyone could stop her. A few seconds later, her voice came from the floor. "The second door is closed. There are two people on the other side."

Kael lowered his gaze. "Armed?"

"One has a sword. The other is messing with a panel."

Oren had not mentioned anyone operating the system at that moment. Kael turned to Rhea. "If someone’s at the panel, we have less time than I’d like."

"Do you want my men to go down?" she asked.

"Two with us. The others stay here," Kael replied. "If there’s another escape route, you hold it."

Rhea chose two guards and opened the first door. The staircase was narrow, made of old stone reinforced with newer beams. As they descended, the smell of animals, metal and alchemical products grew stronger.

The second door was exactly where Oren had described it. It was wider, made of steel plates fixed to a stone frame. In the center was a circular panel with four small levers and a set of symbols Kael recognized as part of the same system used in the traps.

Sylphie touched the wall beside it without touching the runes. "There’s mana flowing from here downward," she said, closing her eyes for a few seconds. "A lot. And it’s being pulled from several different sources."

"How many?" Kael asked.

She took a deep breath. "More than ten. Maybe fifteen. Some very weak."

Kael looked at the door. "Umbra."

The shadow appeared beside him. "The two are arguing. The man with the sword wants to leave. The woman at the panel is trying to increase something."

"Can you stop her?"

"I can stop her hand."

"Do it."

Umbra disappeared.

On the other side of the door there was a short scream, followed by the sound of something metallic falling to the floor.

"Now," Kael said.

He did not try to destroy the door. He held the panel, analyzed the sequence of runes and found the pressure mechanism Oren had described. It was not complex; it was simply deliberately inconvenient. Two levers needed to be held in different positions while the third was turned.

"Hold this," Kael told Rhea, placing her hand on the first lever. "Don’t let go until I say."

Sylphie held the second. Kael slowly turned the third until he heard two internal clicks. The final lock retracted.

The door opened inward.

The man with the sword was on the floor, with a band of shadow wrapped around his arm and neck. The woman beside the panel had both hands pinned behind her back by Umbra.

"She was going to pull this lever," Umbra said, pointing toward a red handle on the panel. "It looked important."

Sylphie looked at the mana flow and her expression hardened. "It was. That would’ve increased the draining on every cage."

The woman turned pale.

Rhea entered first with the two guards. "Vareth Guard. You’re under arrest. Don’t touch anything else."

Kael passed them and finally saw the lower level.

It was larger than the depot itself.

Two rows of cages occupied the hall, separated by a central corridor wide enough for small wagons. Some were empty. Others were not.

A white-furred feline remained curled up inside a cage to the left, far too thin for its size. Farther ahead, two deer-like creatures had their antlers restrained by metal supports. A red-winged bird lay motionless on the floor, breathing with difficulty. There were other species Kael did not immediately recognize.

Fifteen cages were occupied.

Sylphie stopped in the corridor.

"Turn everything off."

The restrained woman replied too quickly. "You can’t. If you shut the entire system down at once, some of the physical restraints release."

Kael looked at her. "Then you’re going to explain how to shut them down one by one."

"I don’t..."

Umbra tightened the shadows.

"She will," Umbra said.

Kael raised a hand. "No unnecessary threats." He approached the woman and pointed toward the red bird. "Start with the weakest. Which control?"

She looked at the panel and then at Rhea. "I want protection."

"You’re already under arrest under Vareth’s authority," Rhea replied. "Cooperate and it will be recorded."

The woman took a deep breath. "Third column. Triangular symbol. First you need to reduce the flow by half, wait ten seconds and then open the side lock."

Sylphie went directly to the cage while Kael operated the panel under instruction. The red glow on the bird’s collar weakened until it disappeared. Ten seconds later, Kael released the lock.

Sylphie opened the door.

The bird did not move.

She crouched beside it and allowed Natural Energy to travel through the floor. "It’s alive. Very weak, but alive."

"Next," Kael said.

It took almost forty minutes to safely shut down each containment. Rhea summoned healers, caretakers and two specialists in magical creatures from the city itself. No one was allowed to remove the animals until Sylphie and the healers confirmed that transport would not kill them.

When the thirteenth cage was opened, a guard found another door at the back of the hall.

"Captain," he called. "There’s a room here."

Rhea approached. The door was not locked.

Inside were tables, measuring instruments, boxes of sedatives and entire shelves filled with documents. On the main wall, dozens of drawings showed different species with notes about resistance, behavior, amount of mana and "suitability."

Kael picked up a sheet.

VHARAK — ADULT FEMALE.

Physical resistance: high.

Response to continuous draining: stable.

Temperament after prolonged containment: aggressive.

Recommended value: 4,000–4,800 crowns.

Sylphie read over his shoulder.

"So they’ve done this before."

"Yes," Kael replied, placing the page back on the table so as not to disturb its position. "And they were recording the results."

Rhea entered shortly afterward. "We found Soren’s name."

Kael looked at her.

The captain was holding a smaller ledger taken from an open drawer.

"Soren Keld," she said. "Administrator of the depot for the last six months."

"Address?"

"A rented room in the eastern district. But there’s something else." Rhea turned the ledger around. "He received a message yesterday. Only three words."

Kael read it.

SUSPEND. TRANSFER SAMPLES.

Sylphie stood beside him. "So someone above him already knew."

"Probably before Oren was arrested," Kael replied.

Rhea turned another page. "The message has no signature. But there is a response time and a delivery point outside the city."

"When?"

"Tonight."

Kael looked at the hall filled with open cages and professionals working.

He did not need much time to decide.

"You handle things here," he told Rhea. "Preserve the documents, identify every employee and send someone to Soren’s address. If he’s there, arrest him."

"And the delivery point?" she asked.

Kael placed the sheet on the table.

"That, I want to see."

Sylphie crossed her arms. "We want to see."

Kael looked at her.

She was already waiting.

"Yes," he corrected himself. "We do."

Umbra appeared behind the two of them. "Now it’s interesting again."

Kael exhaled through his nose. "If you say that every time, it’ll lose its effect."

"It won’t."

From the main hall came the sound of one of the creatures finally standing after its collar was removed.

Kael looked one last time at the records on the table.

Oren was only the distributor.

Soren managed the depot.

And someone above both of them was already trying to clean up the operation.

Now they had a time and a place.