"You're telling me that there's no way any of us can get inside the city safely without having our strength drained by those towers?"

Farin pranced to and fro, looking at the two strangers she and Rinvar found wandering inside Luminberg's emergency tunnels. Both seemed relaxed as they sat – the younger of the two was busy chomping down the sandwiches provided to them.

"It's true. There's a bunch of men wearing these." The blond swordsman pointed to the slick, tight-looking black attire. "We wouldn't be talking to you if not for the suits."

"He's right." Rinvar lifted the tent flap on his way in. "The field commander has a hundred of his men and one of the armored machines lying near the city center. He wouldn't have any men left had he sent the entire unit into Luminberg."

There was silence. Rinvar looked at the two strangers; his eyes scanning them up and down. Moments later, he said:

"Those suits of yours are going to be needed. I would have to ask the two of you to take them off."

"Fine by me," The younger man placed his half of a sandwich back to the plate and stood up. "These things are a bit too hot on the skin."

"You are too laid back for people who are possibly related to this incident." Farin watched their guests remove the special clothing off their bodies. "What were you doing in the city?"

"We did just like any other tourist or visitor there: watch the festivities."

"Visitors huh?" Farin poured herself a cup of tea and sat in front of those she was interrogating. "If these suits weren't yours to begin with, and you were running from the men who owned these, how were you able to get if off their hands?"

"That is going to be best explained by our friend." The foreign swordsman eased his back on the chair and grabbed a sandwich. "We did a bit of fighting with them to get these, that is as far as I can tell you."

"That clergywoman?" Rinvar butted in. "Don't worry. She's with the medics at the infirmary. They said her right arm was worse for wear, but she will be fine."

"For now, the two of you will remain under our custody until further notice." Farin stood up and set her teacup on the table; small ripples formed at the surface of a half-finished serving. "We'll leave this place to you both for now, until your friend is able to speak with us."

"We're not going anywhere without her. That we guarantee."

†

Farin and Rinvar left the tent just in time to see a large truck arrive. At least two dozen men went to the site where the monster fell, busy with hoisting pulleys on various areas of the giant carcass. Rinvar saw the monster's body largely unaffected by the various guns it was pitted against. Its hide was still intact; even the area at its left hindquarters where Rinvar fired a field gun at only managed to some of its bristly fur. Smaller trucks were present in the area; some bore the De Melvich family seal while the others sported the red and white cross of the Imperial Health Ministry.

"Looks like the scientists will be very busy with that pile of meat."

"Meat? That's one way of putting it, after that creature tried to make a barbecue of an army – your father's army, at that."

"I'd wager that news of my presence in this camp reached the old man's ears by now." Rinvar sat down on an empty ammunition crate; his gaze still fixed on Luminberg and its deadly dome. "He'd be smug about how being in his military served me better in a time like this if he were here with us."

Farin let out a soft, short bout of laughter; her soft voice almost lost to the wind. "Lord Erik has always shown his concern for your welfare – in his own twisted ways, if I may say so."

"You can say that. I wonder how Elena and Demian are doing inside."

"I'm sure they're holding out quite well, or let's hope that they are."

"While I know that they're won't be put down so easily, I..."

"Had you rushed in there, you can choose between kissing the floor like all the other Luminbergers inside, and get trapped in a firefight before being knocked-out cold. I'm sure Elena definitely does not want to see you in a casket."

"Guess you're right, but family's inside. I still have to get in there, and see them for myself. Since we have a special suit from the foreigners, and one of them even had a gun that could have belonged to the intruders. We got ourselves a very effective disguise."

"I'll be calling in that spotter team you requested a while back." Farin said, "I won't need them to be inside Luminberg. Their job is to look for unusual people, or things, moving out of the city."

"That's great, Director. How long till they get here?"

"More likely in a couple of hours. They're coming from Connsbruick."

"So, what did our Science Ministry find out about the brilliant object those two were carrying?"

"I still find it hard to believe, but they said it was a concentration of massive amounts of magical energy."

"Wait... mana?"

"In the words of magic-mongers, yes."

"So whoever was behind this turned the Wizards' Wall into a giant extraction device. That explains the soldiers dropping like flies inside. Why would anyone need such an unreal volume of magical energy?"

"Must be an avid reader of Demian Silbern's theories."

"If this is the hand of the Gray Fox in motion, he must have developed some kind of machine that needs this much power."

"We'll figure it out once we know where he is holing up – or if he really is the one behind it."

Both turned away from Luminberg; the glow of its Wizards' Wall threw a spectrum of colors all over its surroundings. As for Rinvar, this was a chance to find out what happened to Elena and her father.