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From the other side of the shield, Garrick watched my antics with wry amusement. Finally I stopped wasting my time beating on the wall of magic and deployed a cliché instead. "You won't get away with it," I shouted, "The whole area is swarming with cops. You're surrounded." Garrick reacted with mild amusement. "On the contrary, I believe I have just got away with it. You're wasting your time. We all have been, for a long time. We have been hiding in these caverns and caves for much too long, pushed out of our true realm by the humans and held in check by the machinations of the so-called Wise Ones." The old Professor just couldn't help but deliver a lecture, even at a time like this. Old habits die hard. "And now, dear boy, I must be going." He made a gesture which was barely a twitch of the fingers. Flamboyant movements were never the Professor’s style. "You won't be seeing me again. Do remember me to your relatives." There was a burst of light, bright and golden from the floor all around the perimeter of the magical shield. I instinctively threw up my arm to protect my eyes and took a step backwards. The light faded, as quickly as if it had been just switched off, but it took a few moments for my eyes to recover. The whole circle, the area where we thought we have Garrick and his compatriots hemmed in, had started to move upwards. Within moments, Garrick's party was far above my head, supported on a vast column of polished blue-grey rock which flowed smoothly and seamlessly from the floor. If this was another example of the magic he had stolen from the Old Ones - and it looked very much like it was - then Garrick might well have been correct in his assertion. This magic could take him anywhere, at considerable speed, and in a fashion which would be very difficult to trace. Around me, uniformed cops were shaking or scratching their heads, like me unable to think of anything to do. A few fired their guns at the column - quite uselessly, of course - while a similar number managed to turn the air blue with oaths and curses. I watched the rising column despondently until it reached the cavern ceiling thousands of feet about my head. As it touched, the column of rock froze suddenly, unexpectedly immobile and somehow looking like it had always been there. At the same time, the blue haze disappeared with a soft pop. It seemed that this particular cavern had just gained an additional supporting column. A thought struck me. Garrick was a smart cookie, but he might just have missed something. Reveal spells like the one I had deployed at Dulelm Hollows are delicate things by their very nature and very personal in their effect. They have to be, since their intent is to detect the left-over traces of other magic. Garrick was sure to have watching eyes all over Dulelm Hollows, but only magical ones: I was certain that I would have been able to smell out the presence of even a single Goblin. So, all the poking around that Gumshoe and I had done latterly, and the deployment of a single subtle spell, might just have slipped below the old Professor’s radar. Besides, the Old Ones were looking out for me, they said; they might have helped too. I had the strongest hunch that Garrick and his entourage were on their way to Dulelm Hollows.
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Part 91