Back-up Plan (II)

After ten hours of marching, the column halted to rest shortly before nightfall. The gray glimmer of the fading daylight seeped through the swirling patterns carved into the ornate gate before them. Beyond it lay the sloping passage Elena had mentioned.

Like most of the others, Jackson had slept intermittently for several hours while passing through the tunnel beneath the mountain. Experienced veterans did that almost anywhere. Yet when he forced his body out of the off-road vehicle to meet her, he still felt stiff all over and utterly exhausted.

To Jackson's surprise, she was pacing about in the open space ahead as well.

"It's here."

As Jackson approached, she raised her head to look up at the gate and spoke to the commander.

It was far less impressive than the grating at the mountaintop entrance, and the slope was very narrow. Still, it appeared tall and wide enough for vehicles and artillery to pass through without issue, easing Jackson's earlier concerns.

"Once we get this open, we'll be finished."

Of course, they might then have to face the Greenskin army that had likely already reduced Tyre to ashes, but Jackson would rather not think about that just yet.

"All right."

Elena summoned her Wizards and had them set a copper dish upon a tripod. One of them scattered a handful of foul-smelling powder into it and set it alight, while another handed her a bottle of narwhal oil.

Elena made a gesture with it, then smeared the oil across the gate. The pattern in which she applied it seemed completely random to Jackson, though it undoubtedly held some secret mystical meaning to Wizards.

She muttered under her breath as she worked.

After a while, the witch looked up at Jackson.

"This ritual will take some time to complete."

Suppressing