As it was in French, Alexandra did not understand a word of what the man had said but it didn't look good. Turning her head, she saw Male Foi limping towards the group of goblins, kneeling one of the most muscled one and telling him a few words in his pointed ear.
Whatever was told had the merit to brutally stop all the goblin mutterings.
The muscled goblin debited a court and loud speech in Gobbledegook, which made several of the sentinel goblins moan. Not good news, then.
"RALLY!" Shouted after long seconds the goblin who looked to be the new commander. "RALLY!"
Alexandra groaned and stood slowly on her foot. Everywhere, the sleeping goblins woke up, emitting loud groans or protests.
"We have a problem!" Continued the goblin once the group of nineteen goblins and two humans had gathered around him.
ROOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
In the distance, everyone saw a brief eruption of blame and light. The temperature in the hall, which had been rather cold compared to the warm summer outside, rose up by several degrees.
"The Summon found us!" Shouted Male Foi.
"Summon?" Asked Alexandra.
The last piece clicked in her head. Knight Summoner. That was the name found in Devkins papers by Hermione. Now, Alexandra knew why.
"Called it like you want." Replied the French wizard. "Demon. Being of another plane. Summon."
"Your race has forbidden any use of this magic and destroyed the knowledge as best as it could." Said the muscled goblin. "Summoning an entity from another place is punishable by death since the Fall of Atlantis."
"The last person to use them was Morgana Le Fay at Camlann." Said Male Foi in a sinister and grim tone. "At the time they caused untold devastation in the ranks of the Knights of the Round Table."
"I'm sure we are all happy to know this now Steelfang!" Snarled the injured goblin who had previously treated Alexandra of coward." Does someone know a means to get rid of this thing?"
"The Hammer of Judgement did not work against the Summon." The goblin named Steelfist sent a glare to his injured soldier that made him retreat from three steps. "In fact, the temperature around this thing is simply too hot for the Judgement to unleash its power!"
"Then extinguish his flames."
All the goblins turned their head towards Alexandra, who realised after a moment of silence she had just blurted her thoughts out loud.
"We tried to douse it with Aguamenti spells, young girl." Sighed Male Foi, looking with fear in the distance at the flame signalling the presence of the salamander of darkness. "Nothing worked. These flames are something on the level of Fiendfyre."
"Surely a large fortress of ours like Brise-Roc has large reserves of waters somewhere." Protested a goblin on Male Foi's right.
"It might be the best plan at our disposition." Said Steelfang. "At least it should give us a chance to weaken enough this Summon and strike the killing blow with the Judgement."
"And what do you make of the link this thing has with another plane of existence?" Asked weakly Male Foi. "If it's not cut, the Summon will regenerate endlessly, no matter what kind of damage you do!"
"That might be a problem." Admitted Steelfang, polishing absently the handle of his axe.
"Let's divide into two groups then." Proposed a goblin who looked more roasted than alive. "One will attract the monster in the reservoir. The other will try to find and close the breach by which the Summon came."
"Closing the breach implies going back into the lower vaults!" Protested Male Foi. "That and nobody here know how to stop a Summoning. Let's admit you find the breach. What are you going to do?"
"Improvise." Said Alexandra, having decided in the mean time everything was better than to play the bait with the demon which made a Balrog inoffensive.
"I will need a goblin to guide me and open the vaults." She said to Steelfang.
"I will go with you, human." Affirmed the warrior goblin. "I am the only one here alive to have seen the plans of the fortress in its entirety."
"Gurblak!" Barked Steelfang. "Delay the Summon until we comes back! Keep Warfist alive and the Judgement intact. If you don't, I will rip your throat out myself!"
The soldier goblin half-opened his mouth in protest at the impossible order but at the angered expression of his chief thought better of it and nodded in resigned acceptation.
Turning towards Alexandra, the goblin snarled: "Run human!"
The young witch didn't need to be told a second time. The Summon was at the other extremity of the gigantic wall by now, and it looked bigger than at the time of the fight in the depths of the mountain. Maybe sixteen or seventeen feet in height. Steelfang ran. Alexandra ran behind him. All the while behind them, the roars of challenge of the fire salamander resonated and the survivors of the expeditionary force fled to save their lives.
13 July 1992, Ministère de la Magie, Paris, France
"If a high-level incident has happened to our expeditionary force, I can assure you there will be repercussions!" Shouted the goblin representative of Gringotts Paris, storming in fury out of the Minister office.
René De Ségur, Minister of Magical France, exhaled a loud breath and tried to resist the temptation of putting his head in his hands. One day before France's fête nationale, the last thing France and the wizarding population needed was a Goblin Rebellion.
"Tell Directeur Delacour to come here immediately. And alert all our military forces. We have a Level 1 alert." He said to his secretary who had just accompanied the irate goblin out of his office.
"Oui, Monsieur."
13 July 1992, Brise-Roc Fortress, France
"Are you sure we are not a bit lost?" Asked Alexandra to the disgruntled goblin.
Steelfang didn't answer.
"I was just asking, you know."
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