Thomas took a deep breath, spread the charcoal-sketched parchment flat, and traced several circles on it with a firm finger.
"The entire underground Workshop is shaped like a target, divided into four concentric zones from the outside in."
He pointed to the largest circle on the outside.
"The first layer, the outermost one, consists of the Abandoned Mine Passage and transport tunnels you just came through. The terrain is complex, a maze originally designed to confuse intruders. Although Hector has pulled some troops away, he still stationed two full squads here. With hidden sentries and roaming patrols, there are at least fifty men. Unless we..."
"They're dealt with."
Kale's flat voice cut short his lengthy explanation.
Thomas's words caught in his throat. His eyes widened as he stared at Kale as though he were mad. "What did you say?"
"All fifty-three targets on the perimeter have been eliminated. It took seventeen minutes." Kale raised his eyes, his black gaze utterly still. "The bodies have been disposed of. No one will find them. Move on to the next layer."
Thomas felt a chill shoot from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head.
Those were more than fifty fully armed guards! Even rounding up a herd of pigs would take half a day, yet these people had killed them all without a sound?
He swallowed, forced down his shock, and pointed a slightly trembling finger at the second circle.
"The... the second layer is the Raw Material Processing Area. It mainly houses crushers and grinders. It's very noisy, with relatively few guards-only about ten overseers."
Then his finger slid to the third circle, and his expression grew grave.
"The third layer, this enormous red circle, is the Curse Filling Workshop. It forms the outer wall around the