Tazo paced, thinking. "I don't know if that lich theory's true at all. But if any object could act like that, it's the dungeon core. What if you don't destroy it?"

"Then it'd just revive from whatever damage you deal."

There was a knock on the door. Vonn opened it and stared at wizard Ralator, who'd come wearing too-tight armor and with a henchman loaded with tools. He looked cross. "I'm told the fool attacked already?"

Vonn ushered him in and introduced everyone. Ralator's head bobbed higher at the mention of Polestar in particular, but he didn't bring up the Centaur's origin for now. When Selen explained the theory they were now kicking around, the master mage hissed, saying, "Some discoveries are best left buried. If the monsters attacked in coordinated fashion, I think you've nearly hit the mark about Baron Kolm's intentions. Or those of his pet Necromancer, who may have planned all along to seize immortality for himself."

Vonn asked, "Would you happen to know of a mighty Human wizard who blew himself up last year, doing immortality research?"

"Why, yes. How would you know that?" Ralator blinked and his head reared back. "Oh! I... I knew him a little. But this isn't the time to discuss that. In any case, I'm pleased to meet you all. I'm here to prevent this blight from getting any worse."

"Can I put this stuff down?" said the weary young Kobold carrying his luggage.

Vonn showed him a spot. Meanwhile Ralator expounded on magic theory to the confusion of everyone except maybe Tazo, who had to slow him down. She said, "In short, what you're saying is that the mind down there is crazy and hates everybody, and has no interest in the usual deal where people risk themselves to get treasure. Right?"

"To oversimplify, yes."

Polestar shrugged. "Then we kill it. That was the plan already, once the troops showed up."

"Well, yes. But we must beware of it being much more canny than a normal dungeon, and more efficient and effective. The Duke's men have now given it specific experience at killing Woven, so it will improve at that. And it would have the knowledge and assumptions of Kolm's henchman. What do you know of him, young stallion?"

Polestar looked briefly confused to be called that. "He didn't talk much. What I got from him was standard 'those fools don't understand' raving, and something about 'an unstoppable source'. A source of what?"

"Monsters, perhaps, or magicite. Dungeoneering is not my specialty. Though you should have seen me in my younger days! I'm not sure how well the dungeon's current state reflects what the traitor was trying to do. It's not producing magicite for one thing. But if the mind down there is bent on empowering itself, we may be able to use that."

#

That afternoon they tried out the balloon-pulling experiment. It was a menace to all involved. Not only did their lead boat not have enough force to really drag the passive balloons along behind it, it came just close enough to tilt them and risk toppling everyone inside. Vonn clenched the ropes of the middle boat and even had his tail curled around them as the slow aerial waddle went on. Afterward they tried giving the two crude jets to the middle or rear craft to help them keep up, but those things weren't built for towing. It was hard even to keep the jets attached. You couldn't hold onto a tube meant to serve as a miniature jet engine without more excitement than you really wanted.

The Duke's forces were feinting at the dungeon, exploring the fringes and gauging its strength. Vonn watched parties retreat in good order and a few Aves and Centaur scouts fly away in fear.

The Engineers went back to the workshop to maintain and tinker with the aircraft. Selen said, "Didn't you say you were getting more boats?"

Vonn answered, "Rafts, for river use. First one should be ready, if you want to see the practical details of mounting a propeller engine on one."

Before they could get distracted with that, the young Centaur messenger who'd worked under them arrived with a note. "Orders, sirs." He looked around wide-eyed at the machinery. "What is all this?"

Vonn said, "It's the seed of a huge industry."

Tazo read the latest note. "Just confirming our bomb-dropping and scouting role for tomorrow. They must've seen us flailing around at today's test. In a way that's reassuring; he's not demanding too much or ordering us into battle."

Selen tilted her head. "Vonn, let's fetch that raft. It might be useful."

She waved off help and went outside with Vonn. But when she retrieved her photography equipment from the hangar and started heading for the bridge north instead of the boatwright's place, Vonn understood her aim. They were headed for the Woven encampment. On the bridge he asked her, "What's on your mind?"

"They're cannon fodder, before anybody's seen a cannon. If the goal is to destroy the dungeon, tomorrow could get awful. I want to know how eager they are for this job."

To their west, Ian the Geomancer was setting up what wards he could, including a movable barrier of iron rods. The Woven were more animate than Vonn was used to seeing from his few encounters. Instead of standing immobile they were sitting alone or in little groups, playing with dice or carving wood or reading. The little bells attached to them jingled in the wind like the door of a shop. "Are they really people, then?"

Selen said, "I think so, but when I press, I get strange answers." She approached the nearest group and said, "Sorry we couldn't do more from the air."

Their eyes were amber, their faces expressionless. Vonn imagined they were huddled against the cold and wondered how much the living plant part of them could feel. He had once wondered about the potential for robots to be conscious, and here was something stranger, built on however magic worked. Wouldn't any necromancy-type energy cancel or repel the life energy of the plants? For that matter, if plant matter carried Mana currents, vines ought to be a viable control system for artifacts.