The tunnel that ran to Blackstone’s core was massive. It was large enough for a large airship to fit through if it could somehow get within the city in the first place. Reawakening clones sat at a guard post in front of the tunnel, watching its entrance. The wall the tunnel was built into was nearly a sheer cliff.

Angel squinted into the tunnel from their vantage point in the shadows of a large house, but he couldn’t make much out beyond the faint glow of lanterns. The tunnel descended at a sharp slant, heading deeper into the mountain and presumably to the prison.

“We’re going to have to do something to get past those guards,” Silver whispered. “It’s pretty dark, but the tunnel isn’t so large that we can just walk in with them watching.”

“We could kill them,” Lilian suggested, turning her voice amplifier off completely. “There are only three from what I can see. If they die fast enough, they won’t have a chance to alert anyone.”

“It would have to be incredibly fast,” Angel replied. “If any of them have a connection to Mind, they can send off a warning with just a few thoughts.”

“Well, Mind can only split his attention so many ways,” Lilian said. “It’s very unlikely he would notice if the kills are in fast enough succession, especially if the guards aren’t people he checks in on frequently.”

“I could do it,” Silver offered.

“I probably could too, but everyone would know we’re here,” Angel said. “But we should probably stick to stealth for now.”

“In that case, this one should be mine,” Silver said, placing a hand on the hilt of his sword. “I can make a few people disappear without a sound. Stay here, I’ll be done in a few minutes – one way or another.”

They nodded and he slipped back into the shadows, disappearing around the corner of the alley. Angel watched the guard house nervously. It was positioned a short dash away from the nearest house. That would be the most important part, as the guards would have full view of Silver while he was approaching.

Silver was fast, but Angel was pretty sure the former bandit wasn’t nearly fast enough to sprint over to the guardhouse and kill everyone in it before they could even react. Still, Silver had seemed confident of his skills, so Angel could do nothing but wish the man luck and watch.

Minutes passed with no change. It should have been more than enough time for Silver to wrap around the city to a better access point. Angel started to wonder if the other man had gotten caught up in some other trouble while traveling through the city when he caught a flicker out of the corner of his eye.

“That crazy bastard,” Lilian whispered. “He’s climbing the wall.”

Silver moved along the ragged mountain slowly and deliberately, going until he was above the guard house. He descended, using his sword to help find purchase in the sheer stone.

“How sharp is his sword?” Lilian wondered. “It’s going through rock like butter.”

“No idea. If I knew how to use one, I’d get myself a Serpentine Blade as well,” Angel replied, shaking his head as Silver disappeared behind the back of the guard house. “But I’d probably end up cutting my head off. You can’t use a normal sword well without training, much less one of those.”

They fell silent, watching the guard house’s window with rapt attention. Of the original three clones, two had moved so that only one was still visible in the window. A faint, clean note rang out, barely loud enough for them to hear. The clone crumpled, disappearing from view. Silver poked his head out and gave them a thumbs up.

After a quick glance to make sure nobody else was in the area, the two of them strolled up to the guard house casually and walked inside. Four clones laid dead in a pile on the floor, each bleeding from a precise wound in their necks.

“There was a fourth,” Silver said, curling his lip. “Luckily, he wasn’t paying much attention. I don’t think they’re expecting someone to be dumb enough to attack a fortified position in the center of the city.”

“Their defenses will be much stronger in the actual fort,” Lilian said.

“Don’t be such a spoilsport,” Silver complained, grabbing one of the men’s masks and wiping it off on his shirt. “These might come in use and buy us a second or two if things go sour. There’s an extra on the table over there, so we should move quickly. There might be another bloke in the area if he left his mask here.”

They each took a mask and slipped it over their faces. It wasn’t the most comfortable and it thinned Angel’s field of view, but he could work with it.

“Let’s get going, then,” Angel said. He poked his nose out the back of the guard house, then gestured for the others to follow.

They headed into the dark tunnel, moving casually but keeping to the shadows as much as possible. The heavy slant in the road made it so that they had to lean back significantly to keep their balance. It had clearly been meant for vehicles more than people, and that became more apparent when the tunnel showed no signs of ending. A gentle breeze ran through the tunnel, sending dozens of thin lines connecting the lamps above them swaying. The light from the lamps occasionally flickered, threatening to go out completely before reigniting.

It took nearly half an hour before the dull monotony of faint lamps and black walls was broken by a gray wall in the distance. They ducked behind one of many jagged outcroppings of stones lining the tunnel walls. The wall rose up about a quarter of the way into the tunnel, and the tunnel split off behind it.

“Looks like a checkpoint,” Angel whispered. “And I think I can see the path fork beyond it.”

“We could scale the wall,” Silver offered. “I don’t see any Reawakening clones walking around, so if we stay near one of the edges, there’s a good chance they don’t see us.”

“It’s a possibility,” Lilian said. “I don’t think the front entrance will work this time. We don’t know how many or where the guards are here, so we have to make sure we’re never seen.”

“They’ll almost certainly spot us when we’re walking up to the wall though, even if we try to hide behind rocks,” Silver said with a frown. “How are we supposed to get up to the edge of the wall without them noticing?”

“I don’t know,” Angel muttered. “Even though we’ve got the high ground right now, we’ll be forced to be in their line of sight if we head down much further. There needs to be something to make sure they aren’t looking in our direction for a few seconds.”

“What about some sort of distraction?” Lilian suggested. “We could trick them into thinking that Rebellion was trying to make a move?”

“That would be far from stealthy,” Angel grumbled. “And that would probably set the entire prison on high alert, even if we did sneak by while someone caused a distraction.”

“The lights,” Silver said, nodding up at the lanterns above them. “The tunnel would be in complete darkness if they went out, and there aren’t that many of them. If the lights near the wall went out while we were approaching, we’d have enough time to get up to the edge of the wall. That would put us out of their line of sight.”

“They are already flickering,” Angel said, rubbing his chin. “And it looks like they’re all powered from the same source connected to those lines all over the ceiling. If we were to yank the power from it for a few seconds, we’d have a shot.”

“You’re the power sucker,” Silver said. “Have at it.”