The heavy bronze keys clicked softly against Kaelen’s belt as they slipped through the service corridors.
Leaving the Old Smeltery behind them, the strike team moved through the dark volcanic fissures of the upper bedrock. Deputy Warden Vorg and his twelve enforcers remained gagged and bound in the cold smeltery basement, guarded by Old Barnaby and Deacon Vane.
Ahead lay the primary blast gate of Sector One.
The massive bronze portal was thirty feet high, reinforced with heavy dragon-iron studs and carved with protective earth-vein wards.
Kaelen stepped up to the central keyway, his fingers selecting the longest of Vorg’s bronze keys.
He slid the faceted key into the lock cylinder and turned it half a turn to the right.
CHUNK. CLACK.
The internal counterweights shifted with a heavy, oiled groan.
