The irony was that if Torm hadn't driven the enemy to insanity with his hair brained attack they would have been well and truly fucked. Of course that didn't mean that they weren't well and truly fucked now Bianca thought as she heaved on a heavy pry bar to shift another ancient stone out of the way. The aqueduct was huge, but so old it had faded entirely from the memory of the people of Palona. How Grimgi had discovered it she had no idea. Probably it had been stumbled across while working on the sap to bring his guns closer, or perhaps the innate tunnel sense of dwarven kind. In long years living with Cadger and his folk, she had learned the knack of keeping her bearings beneath the earth, the same knack that made her a good scout, but she lacked the kinship for rock and stone the dwarves seemed to be born with. Grimgi's dwarves had cleared up to within a dozen feet of the cellar, but they had been waiting for the siege to begin before they cleared the last few feet. The dwarf who had brought the warning had torn through the last few feet in a frenzy, but Bianca and the sappers were working furiously to widen the gap enough to allow for horses. Left to her own devices she would have just sent infantry true, but concerned as he was for the fate of fellow mercenaries, the Captain wanted men on horseback to make the rescue attempt.

"We got this Bee if you want to go," Lavarak, one of the senior sappers told her. He heaved a shovel full of silt forward through the hole they were enlarging. There was no time to establish a bucket line to take the spoil out.

"You sure," she asked, dropping the prybar.

"You scout and I'll sap," he responded sourly. She was well known among the sappers as Cadger's niece, but that respect didn't go so far enough that she could tell them how to do their jobs and except no come back. Bianca nodded and drew her sword.

"Right, sorry," she said and then slithered through the hole. The interior of the aqueduct was massive and crumbling. She moved swiftly along the ancient structure, noting that in places the stone had crumbled and been buttressed with fresh cut timber. It was possible whoever was in command of the enemy army didn't even know about the passage. A human miner would certainly have crowed about such a discovery, but dwarves were secretive when it came to tunnels, even when they had no reason to be. She followed the stonework for a minute or two before emerging into a gravel pit, with one face gently slopping up. A large spoil pile lay infront of it, along with mining equipment and the other tools of digging work. Pressing stealthy up the slope, she peered over the rim. Trumpets were beginning to sound as the enemy army prepared to try their insane escalade. Two large structures had been built over night, pens to hold prisoners. Grass had been piled up against the side and was already blazing as the fires were kindled to begin the sacrifice.

"Shit," Bianca cursed, and bolted back down the tunnel to relay the information to the Captain.