Anam

  She made it to the top without incident, and squeezed through the partially open door.  Before her stretched a corridor, leading deep into the mountain.  Many doors came off it, leading, Anam guessed, to the barracks and common rooms.

  Ydd's lair would be at the end.  He was that kind of man.

  Wrapped securely in her spell of invisibilty, Anam strode down the corridor.  As she passed open doors her guess was confirmed - bunk rooms, common rooms, latrines, and kitchens  opened off the single corridor.  There was enough room for five thousand men in these rooms alone.

  At the end of the corridor was a stairwell.  Anam went up it.

  Another corridor, with more rooms, for another five-thousand men.  Anam weaved her way down, through the men that chatted idly, that crossed form room to room.

  At the end, a second stairwell.

  And another corridor.  Functional and defensible the design might be, considered Anam, but it was boring.

  Finally she came to a door.  Like the main front doors, this one was made of the steel that did not rust.  A quick thought showed it to be bolted on the other side.

  Anam waited, standing quietly on one side of the corridor.  She could feel the minds of the bored men behind that door.  A shift change was due soon.

  After some minutes, fifty men fell into line behind her.  One, a captain, strode to the door and stood in front of it.

  "Captain Garcs, shift change," he said to the door.  "Password lynx leopard elephant."

  The muffled sound of well-oiled bolts being slid back could be heard from the far side.  The door opened, and the captain of the old shift saluted Captain Garcs.  His men began to file out - only one person at a time could fit through the door - a line of fit, strong men, all well armed and evil-minded.

  As the last man went past, Anam went in.  She quickly hurried to the only other door in the room, noting as she did so that this room was similar to the main entrance - no furniture.  At least, here, a fire burned in the middle of the floor.

  So, another door.

  Anam sensed that this door did not open often.  Ydd would hide behind it, with his attendants and cooks and harem, ruling by way of message globe to his vassals and lords.

  She studied the door carefully, letting her mind probe its tiniest particles, its very essence of being.  There was no magic imbued here, though the door was of dwarven construction.  And there was enough space...

  Anam closed her eyes, adjusted her mind, and allowed her body to follow.  Like smoke through a grate she passed through the door.

  This took some time.  Holding herself invisible whilst holding her own essence distinct from the essence of the door was not an easy thing, and it was a slow, methodical process.  If anyone had chanced to open the door at that moment, Anam would have died instantly.

  But she passed through, and some hours after closing her eyes, opened them onto the final corridor.
  Like the barracks behind her, this corridor had doors leading to the servants quarters, the kitchens.  As she passed one door, Anam heard the bored mutterings of the harem.  Theirs was not a good life, since the Emperor enjoyed killing as much as he enjoyed sex.  A harem girl who went to Ydd had as much chance of dying as of returning.