Margali didn’t say much as the two women continued their journey to Clea’s secondary rebel base. She was hardly one to make small talk under normal circumstances, and even though her life often involved traveling to odd places with even odder people, this situation was far from the usual. Not because of where she was or who she was with, but because of the blow she’d just taken to her self-confidence.
Her bravado to Holly notwithstanding, Margali had been deeply shaken by how easily she’d been taken in by the Dreamqueen’s hallucination. By how completely she’d believed it and how devastated she still felt at the remembered loss of her powers and her children, even now, hours after Holly had slapped her awake.
It didn’t help that her magic was, in fact, beginning to wane. She had followed the path of the Winding Way long enough to know when the tide of power was starting to ebb, though she could never predict it beforehand, or tell how long it might last, or how severe it might be. Some cycles lasted a day, and she could not even conjure a glamour to hide dark circles under her eyes during that time, let alone protect herself or anyone else. Some lasted weeks, but only stripped her of her most potent spells, barely affecting her. It was, as Kurt liked to say, a crapshoot.
The monotonous landscape was no help either, the sheer boredom it imbued practically forcing one to look within for mental stimulation of any kind. But there did, finally, seem to be something different about the prairieland through which they trudged.
Though everything had looked the same for kilometers, the terrain was beginning to change, golden grass giving way to rust-colored dirt and more of the rock outcroppings that had protruded randomly from the plains as they walked. The ubiquitous grain-laden smell reminiscent of a far-off brewery was replaced by that of dirt and dust. Hardly a fair trade in Margali’s estimation.
The ground seemed to be rising, too, which Margali took to be a good sign, since Clea had told them that the base was located in a large cavern hidden in the hills. The silver-haired sorceress had – with the group’s permission this time – implanted a mental map in each of their minds, so they would head unerringly toward their objective. But the exact destination itself had not been part of the psychic path laid out for them, to thwart any potential captors. An unnecessary precaution in Margali’s opinion, but no one else had voiced any opposition, so the Sorceress Supreme of the Winding Way had likewise taken the unfamiliar step of keeping her opinion to herself.
Even though Margali was in the lead – a measure that limited the amount she had to converse with Holly, if not how much the girl actually talked – it was the pink-haired witch who spotted the cave opening first. Hidden behind a patch of crimson scrub brush and a precisely placed outcropping, the entrance was only visible from one particular angle.
“Are we there yet?” she asked, somewhat rhetorically, pointing out the opening to Margali.
Margali realized that the guideline that Clea had placed in her head, a blazing trail that had floated in the air before her whenever she closed her eyes and concentrated on it, was no longer there. This must indeed be the place, though she didn’t bother to answer Holly’s question. She had finally realized that the other woman wasn’t looking for a reply.
But when they tried to enter the mouth of the cavern, moving aside some of the brush and shimmying around the stone outcropping, they found that they could not. Some force pushed back against Holly’s concealment bubble and would not let them through.
“I think it’s dueling cloaking spells,” Holly said after a moment. “Clea did say the place was both physically and magically hidden from Umar and her minions. I’m going to have to drop my spell so we can pass through.”
Margali nodded. She didn’t particularly care what the issue was or how Holly opted to fix it. She just wanted to get inside and find Clea’s rebels. Along with a warm meal, a bath, and a bed, preferably in that order.
She did think it odd that they hadn’t encountered any lookouts or guards up to this point, but when manpower was short, it was deceptively easy to rely on magic to make up the difference.
It was also usually a bad idea. No matter the intricacy of the spell, magic could only do so much, and it was no substitute for someone who could observe, weigh, and make split second decisions.
But perhaps Clea’s rebels were just better concealed than she expected. After all, they had survived this long against both Dormammu and Umar, so they must be doing something right.
Still, she could not dismiss the feeling that something was amiss. She was about to say as much to Holly when the other woman whispered something behind her back, then pushed her through the opening, following right on her heels. Together they stumbled into a vast, cold, echoing cavern, the roof and back walls of which stretched nearly out of sight.
It was empty.
“Where are they?” Holly asked, turning to Margali with a frown. She hugged herself, shivering beneath her sweatshirt. “It should be a lot warmer in here if it’s housing a large military force.” She paused to consider. “Well, largeish.”
Margali tapped the bottom of her staff against the stone floor and the caged gem flared to life, bathing their immediate vicinity in yellow-white light and brightening the cave for a long distance beyond that.
Not only was it empty of people, it was barren of anything that might conceivably furnish a military installation or rebel headquarters. There were no tables topped with maps or foodstuffs, no beds, no weapon racks. Nothing to indicate other sentient beings besides the two of them had ever been here, except for the concealment spell. And a gaping hole in the rear of the cavern that might have been the opening to a cistern, or a well. Or just a natural feature that meant nothing.
“Do you suppose Umar found them before we got here?” Holly asked. “Wiped them out?”
Margali shook her head.
“We would see signs of a struggle – scorch marks, melted or pitted rock, blood. Overturned or demolished furniture. Except there is no furniture, and Umar’s forces would hardly be inclined to take it with them if they had overrun the place.
“No. I think it’s pretty clear there was never a rebel base here to begin with. And that can only mean one thing.”
Holly’s doe eyes filled with dread. She wasn’t a stupid girl. She knew where Margali was headed, and she didn’t want to go there.
“This place is a decoy. We are a decoy, meant to keep Umar’s attention away from Clea and Elizabeth while they… do whatever it is they’re doing without us.” Margali could feel her eyes blazing yellow with barely contained rage. She’d been played for a fool, and by someone she had actually begun to think she could trust. She didn’t know who she was angrier with – herself, or Clea.
Holly was still staring at her, refusing to connect the dots.
“Don’t you get it?” Margali snapped. “We’ve been duped.”
•••
The Dreamqueen watched as the Pink One dropped her concealment spell just before she and the Green One entered a cave that was otherwise cloaked from the gazing pool’s sight.
There were only the two of them. The Purple One – Umar’s daughter – and the Talisman were nowhere to be found.
The Dreamqueen screamed in rage, slamming a fist down into the basin of water, the image of the Dark Dimension obliterated by its sloshing waves.
She had been duped.
Someone was going to pay.