"If her explanation is to be believed, that seems the most logical explanation," Ignatius admits. "When you are expecting to be under siege, having a back door would be advantageous."

They make it to the gate of bone that Childermass saw with his constructs. It's as if the earth suddenly grew a skeletal structure, but none of the bones particularly match. It's like a graveyard of giants was mixed up and sewn back together as a piece of architecture.

Nightshade continues on ahead, not bothering to pause. She's grinning just a little.

"You're not long now," she says, and disappears through the other side of the gate. As members of the carnival pass through it themselves, they'll feel the obfuscation of magic they were experiencing before roll over them like pushing through heavy brush. Suddenly, the presence of the Ringmaster, or something like it, is all too loud.

As they push through this entrance, like the inside of a monster, they'll find that it's leading to a cellar-like partition of the fortress. A dim red glow is obvious in the path up ahead, illuminating a grim looking fog that tastes putrid in the mouth and dry against the skin.

Nightshade has suddenly disappeared.