February 15, 9 ATC

City of Knightrose, Plantagenet Province, Military Republic of Lancaster

Austin paced around the campsite, wringing her hands. Most of Lancaster's cities had fallen already, with relative ease. Their instinct was to fall back to the cities and fortify those, but that meant that everywhere else was left undefended. At every major city, they left a couple of legions to starve them out before moving on to the next one.

Knightrose, though, was much more important. The leaders had long since fled to Inferno's court, but taking the capital would still be beneficial. It would provide a staging area for an attack on Pollination territory. More importantly, it would send a message to Inferno and her followers— that their days were numbered.

Her plan to take it, though, stood on a razor's edge. If it worked, the city could be taken almost bloodlessly. If not, it would be a bloodbath, and she wanted as many of her forces available as she could muster for the final push.

As the last rays of the sun hid behind the mountains near the capital, Austin saw Coronam walking up the hill to her campsite, a rare look of contentedness on his face.

"Austin," he said. "It's only you? Where are Nitesco and Gwydion?"

"They left about an hour ago to supervise the attack on the port city. You'll have to deal with me now," she said, a smile coming to her own face. "I don't think I've ever seen you this happy. What's up?"

"I'm happy plenty, wiseass," Coronam said, rolling his eyes. "But for your information, I just got confirmation from a messenger that Cinder has made contact. It seems your little scheme might actually work." He paused. "Well, maybe. I don't trust either of them completely, but if this plan works, I just might."

"What about me?" Austin asked. "If my genius plot works, will you finally trust me too?"

Coronam shrugged. "Depends on what mood I'm in." They looked over the hill at the Lancastrian defenses, watching as the soldiers swarmed like bees around the city walls. "We attack at night, correct?"

"You'll know when to attack," Austin said. "Wait about an hour after the sun sets. Then march out of the forests and wait until the gate opens. Don't engage before that unless they initiate it."

"I will take your suggestions into consideration," Coronam said pointedly. He paused again. "Do you really think they'll be able to pull it off?"

"I hope so," Austin said. "I hope so."

Kazehh and Jelo wandered through the tunnel, ignoring the scurrying of rats and the dripping of cold water from the ceiling. Austin had entrusted them with infiltrating the city. At first, the idea of getting in via a secret tunnel and sabotaging the city had seemed pretty awesome. Now, after about ten minutes of walking in a cramped, dank tunnel, they thought that maybe they shouldn't have volunteered so eagerly after all.

"Damn, how long does this tunnel go on?" Jelo wondered aloud for the fourth time. Kazehh sighed and ducked under another haphazardly placed support beam.

"I'll tell you what I told you the first three times: I don't know." He stumbled a bit trying not to step on a rat and almost his his head on another support beam. "Why is this tunnel so low? I've almost cracked my head open on the ceiling about six times now."

"Well, try not to hit the support beams," Jelo instructed him. "Or clip them with your axe. These don't look too secure, and I'd rather not be buried before I'm dead, thank you very much."

"I'm trying not to," Kazehh grumbled. "Do you see anything up ahead?"

Jelo raised his torch and squinted. The tunnel ended up ahead, and there seemed to be a rope or a ladder or something dangling from the ceiling.

"I think so, yeah. We might have reached the end. It looks like a… ladder, maybe? I hope so."

The pair finally reached the end of the tunnel, finding a ladder propped up against the opposite wall. Above it, they could see cracks of light shining through what appeared to be a trapdoor. Jelo smiled.

"Finally!" He exclaimed. Kazehh breathed a sigh of relief.

"Praise be!" He raised his arms up as far as the ceiling would allow before turning to Jelo. "Ladies first," he said with a childish grin. Jelo rolled his eyes.

"Really going back to your roots there, are you?" He said as he climbed the ladder. Jelo opened the trapdoor above them and looked around. It appeared that they had arrived in the bedroom of a house.

Jelo climbed out and helped Kazehh climb out behind him. As Jelo dusted himself off, Kazehh poked his head into the adjacent room, where two men were sitting at a table drinking beer. One of them stood up to greet them.

"Ah, Kazehh." The man nodded. He took off his cloak and handed it to the other man still seated at the table.

"Go. Tell Coronam that our guests have arrived." As the other man donned the cloak and disappeared down the trapdoor, Jelo and Kazehh advanced into the foyer. It was relatively compact, with only a table, three chairs and a fireplace to decorate it. Still, it was better than the tunnels.

"Greetings, my esteemed friends." The man gave a small bow. "I am the one you know as Cinder. I've been told that you are here to infiltrate the city. Is that correct?"

"It is, my good man!" Kazehh exclaimed, leaning back and placing his hands on his hips in a gallant pose. Jelo rolled his eyes.

"Forgive him," Jelo asked with a hint of exhaustion in his voice, "he's prone to theatrics."

"I told you those acting classes were worth it, Jelo," Kazehh retorted. "Maybe you should've taken a blacksmithing class while you were at it."

"Don't insult my mace!" Jelo demanded, but he quickly exhaled and turned back toward Cinder. "Forgive me. Let's get on to business. I was told you had a distraction in mind?"

"Yes, about that…" Cinder trailed off. "I have a better idea."

"And what would that be?" Jelo asked, unconvinced.

"Well, you see, it appears that my sudden arrival turned a few heads in the city's interior department," Cinder explained, rubbing the back of his neck. "So they sent a pair of guards to inspect the house, see that everything was in order. They came over and… well, long story short, I have two new suits of armor for you. Disguises!"

"Are they still alive?" Kazehh asked.

"Well… maybe?" Cinder pulled a chest out from under the table, opening it up and revealing two suits of armor. "Probably. At least one of them should be. You know what?" He folded his hands together. "They're upstairs. You guys, get changed, and I'll make sure they're still breathing."

Kazehh grumbled and began putting on the armor, with Jelo following suit. "I don't remember him being this unpleasant," he said.

"Neither do I," Jelo said. "But he's our only friend in the city, and he's the man with the plan."

"I wouldn't really call him a friend," Kazehh retorted, trying to squeeze a helmet two sizes too small onto his head. "More like… a colleague."

"Colleague?" Jelo said, tightening the leather straps on his almost comically oversized breastplate. "You make him sound so professional."

"Maybe. But aren't we professionals?" Jelo merely shrugged, and Cinder made his way down the stairs.

"What's the verdict, doc?" Kazehh asked, contempt sneaking into his voice.

"Yeah, and the plan. That'd be nice too," Jelo added, equally contemptuous.

"Well, he's doing just fine, thank you," Cinder said without looking at Kazehh. Kazehh raised an eyebrow.

"Weren't there two of—"

"As for the plan," Cinder said, suddenly raising his voice. "I'm sure you know there's a rather large secret tunnel in the garrison that leads out into the hills behind the city. You two, with your graciously provided disguises, will waltz in through the front gate, locate the secret tunnel, and unbar the gate that's closing it off. If anyone asks you who you are, just say you're conscripts from the civilian populace. Sound good?"

"Sure," both of them said, unconvinced.

"Fantastic!" Cinder said, entirely too enthusiastic. "Now, if you'll excuse me, my visitors left quite a mess upstairs. While I clean that up, you two get on with your sneaky spy stuff."

"Says the 'sneaky spy'," Jelo muttered, but Cinder didn't care enough to respond.

As the two of them walked out into the streets, they watched as night began to fall over the sprawling city. Despite the imminent threat of invasion or siege, the city didn't seem on edge at all. On the contrary, it was almost peaceful as they walked through the streets.

"Man," Kazehh said, staring at the sky. "It's really peaceful here. Nice and quiet. I don't get that often."

"I mean, we are mercenaries," Jelo said. "That's not an occupation that provides much opportunity for quiet."

Kazehh stroked his chin. "I suppose," he conceded. "But I still love my work."

"Your work?" Jelo snorted. "What work? Bashing people's heads in?"

"It's exciting," Kazehh said, as if that explained everything. "And it pays well."

"Both valid points," Jelo conceded. "But haven't you ever wanted to, I don't know, have a more fulfilling career?"

Kazehh paused as they kept walking. "I always wanted to be an artist."

"Oh," Jelo said. "Good luck with that," he added, jokingly condescending.

"Screw you, Jelo," Kazehh laughed, elbowing him in the ribs. They quickly composed themselves again when they realized they were approaching the garrison.

A line of soldiers stood in front of the steps, almost statue-like in their stillness, starting straight ahead. Jelo willed his face to be as placid as the guardsmen's, while Kazehh pulled the visor over his helmet. Both of them gave the guardsmen a nod as they walked by, but received no reaction.

"Hmph," Kazehh grunted. "They're so grouchy in this country."

"All the better, I guess," Jelo said. They stopped in the middle of a large courtyard, with soldiers marching all around, clearly on edge. Jelo stroked his chin.

"Damn, this place is confusing," he said. "Where would the rear entrance be?"

"Well," Kazehh began, lifting the visor of his helmet. "Judging by—"

"Excuse me!" Jelo interrupted him, calling out to a random soldier that had walked nearby. "My friend and I have been assigned to guard duty at the rear entrance, but the commander didn't tell us where that is. Could you point it out to us?"

"Well," the soldier began. "Do you know that—"

"Jelo!" Kazehh interrupted. "There's a map right here." Jelo turned around and saw that Kazehh, true to his word, had found a map of the garrison written on parchment and attached to a wooden post. Judging by the map, the rear entrance was just past the mess hall.

"Yeah, that's what I was going to say," the soldier said, somewhat miffed. "Are you two conscripts?"

"Um, why yes," Jelo said. "Yes, conscripts. Yes."

"Well, I'm glad that at least one of you is observant. It looks like he's the smart one of the pair." The soldier chuckled to himself before wandering off. Jelo scoffed.

"Prick," he muttered, and he beckoned to Kazehh to follow him to the rear entrance. As they began walking off, Kazehh began laughing to himself.

"Did you hear that, Jelo? I'm the smart one." He continued laughing boisterously as Jelo rolled his eyes.

"Smart one, my ass," he whispered. "I'm the one who comes up with all the plans for our contracts."

"I suppose," Kazehh said. "But who's the one that always rescues you when things go wrong?"

"They don't go wrong that often," Jelo hissed. "And it's not like you're making up some grand escape plan when you do, rarely, rescue me. You just go in and swing at whoever's there until they're unconscious or dead and then act like you did something important until you get captured."

"Last I checked, the rescue score is 38-25, my favor," Kazehh added smugly. "I must be doing something right. Maybe if you got a better weapon, you wouldn't be captured as often."

"Hey!" Jelo said. "What did I say about my mace?"

"Don't insult it, even though it looks like a mangled raspberry bush."

"First of all," Jelo spat back. "I don't even know what that's supposed to mean. Second of all, at least I made my weapon. You just stole yours. On a dare."

"Yeah, but I got away with it," Kazehh said. "All thanks to my genius cunning and guile," he added, his smug smile growing ever wider.

Jelo looked down the winding path they were walking. Down a wide set of stone stairs was a large gate hewn from the rock of the large hill behind it. Beyond it, they could see a large tunnel, barred by the gate, and two guards standing by the winch.

"Oh, okay," Jelo huffed. "If you're so smart, I'll let you do the talking here. Go on and convince those two fine fellows to leave without a fight."

"Me?" Kazehh asked, somewhat uncertain. He paused for a second. "Fine. I'll do it."

Kazehh approached the two guards, mentally rehearsing what excuse he would have for getting them to leave. As he approached, the guards turned to face him.

"What do you want, kid?" The older guard asked in a gravelly drawl. Kazehh cleared his throat.

"Uh, the commander has ordered my friend and I to take over this shift. You guys can, uh, take a break, go to the mess hall, whatever you do." He laughed weakly, and the guards gave him a quizzical look.

"But we were just put on this shift," the younger guard asked. "Why would we need to switch?"

"Yeah," the older one asked. "What are you up to, boy?"

"I, um, you see," Kazehh stammered, reaching for his side pouch. "I've got it all right here!"

He slugged the older guard in the groin and body-slammed him into the gate, knocking him out. The younger guard yelped and reached for his weapon.

"Kazehh, what the fuck!" Jelo exclaimed, and he slammed the remaining guard's head into the wall before throwing him to the ground. As Kazehh watched the younger guard slump onto his side, Jelo sighed.

"See, that's what I'm talking about. This is why I'm the smart one."

"Oh, quiet," Kazehh grumbled. "Just open the damn gate."

Jelo began cranking the winch with a smile and watched as the portcullis opened, exposing the path behind it. At the very end, they could see somebody watching from afar.

They sprinted down the tunnel and found a large force of Badaz soldiers waiting at the end. At their head was Austin, smiling proudly.

"So, you did it," she said.

Kazehh nodded. "That we did. Do I get a medal for this?"

"Or payment," Jelo added. "Payment is also nice."

"We'll discuss that later," Austin said, smiling. "Now, we have a city to conquer. Men! Form up and follow me!"

As Austin and her soldiers charged down the tunnel, Kazehh and Jelo remained behind. Kazehh took off his helmet and tossed it to the ground.

"Should we help them?" he asked. Jelo took off his helmet and shook his head.

"Not just yet. Let's get out of these uniforms first."

"An excellent suggestion," Kazehh said. "The best one you've had all night."

"Oh, screw you," Jelo said, unstrapping the breastplate that had been crudely fitted over his tunic. Kazehh did the same, taking off the breastplate and gauntlets and tossing them aside.

"So, our mission's finally over," Kazehh said. "Should we wait this one out or join the fray?"

"Well, Austin's charging into a hostile city," Jelo observed. "Surely she needs all the backup she can get."

"A second good observation," Kazehh noted. "This has probably been the most productive night you've had this year."

"To hell with you," Jelo said. "But I have to agree." He drew his mace and swung it in anticipation. "Shall we?"

"Let's!" Kazehh exclaimed, and they charged down the tunnel after Austin.

Austin's plan to infiltrate the city had gone swimmingly. The secret passage into the garrison would allow her to open the main gate and subdue most of the defenders without much trouble. If they were reasonable. Unfortunately, she would still have to make her way through the garrison, which would probably not end in a surrender.

She charged through the open gate, her soldiers at her back, into an unfortunate pair of Lancastrian soldiers who had been sent to investigate the opening of the gate. Almost instantly, they were cut down by the soldiers behind Austin, who followed her up the winding stairs and into the garrison's courtyard.

The Lancastrians, who had been mulling about, suddenly panicked as they realized what was happening. League soldiers fell upon them as they struggled to grasp what was going on around them.

As Austin watched what was going on around her, a trio of Lancastrian soldiers charged her, weapons drawn. The first one, obviously a cadet or a conscript, swung wildly and blindly. Austin knocked the spear from his hand with a single swing and kicked him to the ground.

The second one was far more experienced. As the first soldier crawled away in fear, the second one charged Austin with his spear, which Austin barely sidestepped. As she began a counterattack, the third soldier deflected her sword with his.

Austin backed up, sword drawn, and lifted it as the sword-wielding guard charged her again. He struck wildly and aggressively, but he was predictable. Austin lifted her sword to try and parry him, but the spear-wielding guard charged her, slicing her cheek and sending her to the ground.

She crawled backwards and sat up just in time to see the sword-wielding guard going in for the kill. Austin quickly stood and thrust her sword into his stomach before he could strike, then wrenched it out and turned to face her remaining opponent.

The spear guard, now clearly nervous, howled and tried to impale Austin. Austin sidestepped it again and slashed the guard across the throat, ending the fight.

Observing her handiwork, she trust her sword into the air. "Soldiers!" She cried. "Follow me! We must take the main gate!"

What soldiers were not actively taking advantage of the garrison's disarray rallied behind Austin as she charged into the city streets. The streets, to her pleasant surprise, were mostly empty, save for a scant few soldiers. As they came upon the main gate, the soldiers guarding it panicked and fled, leaving the gate totally defenseless.

"Well, that was easy," Austin muttered to herself as her soldiers cranked open the gate. As her men streamed out behind the Lancastrian defenses, some of their men turned and noticed that a full brigade of soldiers had somehow managed to flank them.

"League soldiers!" One of the Lancastrians cried, and the defenders quickly turned around to face their opponents. As they began readying their weapons, Austin and her men prepared for a fight.

"Renorans!" Another Lancastrian yelled. "From the forests!" The defenders quickly turned back around, only to be greeted with the scene of hundreds of Renoran soldiers streaming out from the forests, with Coronam at the front.

The Lancastrians, realizing that they had been outmaneuvered, accepted their defeat. Most of the soldiers tossed their weapons to the ground and raised their arms in surrender.

Coronam, on horseback, rode up to Austin's position and dismounted. As he did so, Austin caught a glimpse of a smile on his face.

"Austin," he said. "I must admit, your crazy scheme paid off."

"That it did," she said, somewhat smugly. "You should give me more credit."

"Maybe," Coronam said, unconvinced. "Maybe. But now, we have bigger concerns. Would someone please fetch me the Lancastrian commander?"

"I'm right here, traitor." A well-dressed officer approached them, flanked by two slightly less well-dressed junior officers. "What do you want with me?"

"We want your surrender," Austin said. "You're now the official representative of the city's forces. All of the officers in the garrison are either dead, will soon be dead, or will soon be our prisoners, making you the highest-ranking soldier in the city. Congratulations on the promotion, by the way."

The officer scoffed. "I will not surrender to some civilian lowborn like you!" Upon saying this, he drew his sword and leveled it at Austin. "No, Knightrose is my home, and I will fight to the bitter end for it!"

Coronam rolled his eyes and stuck his glaive in the officer's stomach. The officer groaned and wheezed before Coronam wrenched his weapon out of him and let him collapse to the ground. Austin frowned.

"Congratulations. You did," Coronam dryly remarked. He turned to the two junior officers.

"Which one of you was his second-in-command?"

"He is," they both said, pointing at each other. Coronam rolled his eyes and grabbed one of them by the collar, dragging him to his knees in front of Austin. Austin leaned down in front of him.

"In light of the fact that we will soon be in control of the city and the fact that my belligerent co-commander has just opened up your predecessor's position, I would like to promote you."

"T-t-thank you," the junior officer stammered. "Y-y-you're very gracious."

"Don't grovel. All I want you to do is go with Coronam here to officially tell the rest of the soldiers in the city to stand down. Sound good?"

"Um, sure?" the officer said. Austin smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"Good man. Coronam, would you be so kind as to escort our friend here through the city?"

"With pleasure." He grabbed the officer by the shoulder and began walking into the city with his soldiers. Austin sighed and stood up.

"Alright men, get these soldiers tied up and ready for transfer to prison camp." She paused and looked at the officer's corpse. "And somebody please bury him."

As her men began mulling about, Austin stroked her chin. Lancaster was subdued with minimal losses. Now all that was left was to take down Inferno.

From the hill Knightrose sat on, she could see the riverbank in the distance. Just a hop, skip and a jump away from Pollination.

"We're almost there," she said to herself. "Almost."

Victory was in their grasp. She was prepared to do whatever it took to end this war.