Balancer (Advent Mage Cycle) by Honor Raconteur Page A

tracer is still working on the upper levels.”
    “This is fine,” Shad assured her, turning his eyes to the blueprint. “Our entrance is the back left corner of the building. Hmm. Only one staircase to the basement?”
    Loewen gave a shrug of the shoulders. “Apparently so.”
    “Well, that won’t do.” Shad pointed to the tile floor under his feet. “Loewy, sweetums, make me a new door, won’t you?”
    “With pleasure,” she purred between clenched teeth. Raising her wand hand above her head, she gestured sharply down while commanding, “ Break!”
    A square opening four feet across abruptly opened in the floor, the cut section falling into the basement with a crack and thud. Several male voices yelped in surprise when the ceiling above them crashed through. So, Bornemeier wasn’t joking when he said that there were people directly below them, eh?
    Before anyone below had the chance to grab a weapon or come up with a good tactical plan to fend off invaders, Shad took a giant leap forward, jumping down with a shout of pure happiness. Leaping into an area of known enemies with limited intel and only a sword for backup—ah, it was bliss.
    He landed on top of what used to be the floor with a crack of tiles. The basement had only three oil lamps for light, so the area was dingy at best. Like most basements, it had a cool and moist air to it and that slightly earthy smell of being underground. Shad spun low on his heels as soon as he landed, just in case someone took a swing at him, but it turned out to be a useless movement.
    There were four young men huddled in one corner, not one of them armed. They looked to be in their early teens. Not one of them had on the gaudy robe of a Star Order Priest, but Shad had no doubt they belonged to that group.
    “Captain!” Audax leaned over the opening, a frustrated scowl darkening his face. “What kind of fool stunt was that?!”
    Shad ignored the angry prince yelling over his head and gave the Priests his most evil glare. They flinched and tried to press themselves further into the wall. Clearly, no fighting spirit here.
    “Loewy, make a staircase so people can come down,” Shad ordered casually. He knew good and well that no one else had followed his leap for the simple fact they were afraid to break a leg in the attempt.
    “If you’ll move, I’ll do just that,” she responded with acid sweetness.
    Bossy little thing, wasn’t she? Shad smiled as he stepped to the side, keeping a weather eye on the door and another on the huddling cowards.
    The ruined sections of the floor flew up and reassembled into a crude and narrow staircase. Almost before the last step was formed, people started to pour down it. Shad left the four he found to Loewen and Bos, choosing to go search the rest of the basement.
    He needn’t have bothered.
    The basement had been divided into a dozen rooms altogether, most of them jam packed with either food or storage, and only three of them had been converted for living space. All three rooms held Priests that were young, barely out of their teens, and not one of them ready to fight. When confronted, they quickly surrendered, pleading for mercy. They hadn’t even attempted to set booby-traps either.
    The whole mission was terribly disappointing.
    Shad, with a disgruntled frown, ordered all of them to be taken up. The Priests were herded into an empty ballroom on the main level, surrounded by Remnant magicians. The three Priests from the back had already been dragged into the main building. Judging from the demeanor of their captors, those three hadn’t put up a fight either.
    The Remnant formed a rough circle around the hunched Priests and started the sing-song chant to strip them of their magic. Since he didn’t have an ounce of magical ability in his body, Shad couldn’t follow what they were doing. He’d been given the basics of this before they left, though, and knew that it would take at least an hour before the ritual was complete. Until