12 Miles Below

He’d fallen here somewhere. She knew the mite structure before her would be a portal, but as all mite technology, she didn’t know how to operate it. Or if it was even operational. Perhaps the massive monument was a red herring, a distraction. And what she searched for was a smaller subsection, or hidden doorway?

The airspeeder had been reported to have passed through here. Last it was sighted, it had destroyed one of the onyx pillars, and fallen down into the lower strata under. Flying there had been trivial.

Tenisent had met her right before the entryway down into that strata. Around him, the Winterscar knights remained stoic, prepared. The few Deathless that had survived the fight stayed seated in a huddle, all power cells stripped from their armors, making the once powerful protective suit a temporary prison. It had been another route, without a single casualty on the Winterscar side. This time, the Deathless had quickly given up once they realized their leader was gone, and their veteran was finally defeated by Tenisent’s unrelenting assault. For all his power, skills and centuries of experience - Tenisent was still in control of a Feather without any of the mental blindspots her kind were crippled from, all the powers of the occult his son had discovered, and every school of combat mastered from the surface clans.

That the old Deathless had even managed to survive for more than three minutes of combat against Tenisent was already credit to his kind. To’Wrathh would have appreciated studying the tricks, gear and techniques she’d seen him wield. Any other day.

Today, she wanted only one thing. Her human back.

“There is a known teleport gate.” Lionheart had told them, at swordpoint, hands raised slightly by his head. His gear remained confiscated, along with parts of his armor strewn around the taken loot. The old Deathless still didn’t seem threatened by the possibility of death of course. Threatening him with a sword had been purely on reflex from her end. He clearly got the message from the moment she said her first questions.

He could have resisted. Lied. Or otherwise misled his captors. It wouldn’t have worked, To’Wrathh had every single possible subroutine running to catch any lie or possible mislead.

Fortunately, it seemed he didn’t harbor any ill will to surface dwellers. Especially not ones he considered newly minted Deathless. She let Tenisent handle the fanaticism part of his speeches, those were beyond her care. All she needed to know was where her human had gone off to.

“Regrettably, we don’t know where it leads.” The Deathless had said with a slow shrug when she’d asked him. “I do mean that. Drakonis had potential, and your leader was highly capable as a warrior. I am certain they are still alive and will find a way home, but I am less certain we will see them again within this century. The world is vast. You’ll find him again soon enough, young lady.”