“That’s a big camp.”

Cali’s powers of observation had not been dulled by days upon days of trekking through the swamps. I had nearly let loose a cry of relief when we finally crested the hill and bore witness to the comparatively clear landscape of West Blackwake. Back again, this time to put an end to the madness of war on behalf of Warsister Xerces, if only temporarily.

From atop that hill we witnessed the first of many obstacles to completing our objective, Sull’s main line of defence in Blackwake. A huge camp consisting of dozens and dozens of tents, enough to house hundreds of soldiers. They weren’t kicking back and relaxing either. I could see patrols and watchmen from our perch. If I was moving alone it wouldn’t be much of a problem. I could probe their line for holes and slip through – but Tahar and Cali didn’t know the first thing about stealth.

Even as I tried to explain the concept to Cali before, she never seemed to gain any understanding of it. We did not want to get seen here. We’d gotten lucky with the patrol a few days ago – these guys were going to stab first and ask questions later. I did not want to be chased down by a mob and have all of my stuff taken from me for ‘inspection.’ They would have loved to get their hands on some of the money and expensive gear we were carrying.

The silhouette of the city could be seen far off over the horizon. There would be more soldiers there, but getting into Blackwake would alleviate most suspicions levied onto us. They couldn’t accuse us of being infiltrators so easily if they didn’t see us sneaking over the border. Instead – we would run the regular old risk of being accused of a random crime, just like everyone else did.

“How are we going to get through here?” Cali pondered. There was too much security.

I scanned the metaphorical wall for an opening and my eyes locked onto something of interest. A cart had been left beside the main road. It was filled with hay to feed the cavalry’s horses with. Highly flammable and just a little bit explosive. It would be very loud and distracting if something were to happen to it.

“Cali, how far can you shoot a fireball?”

She matched my gaze and nodded, “Far enough that they won’t see me.”

I studied the line again and found my patch. Close enough to hit the carriage and cause some noise – far enough away from the main camp to let us slip through unseen. I stroked my beard and grinned, “Alright. It looks like that spot over there is the weakest link. We get down there and you blast that thing to hell. While they’re panicking and trying to put it out, we sneak through and get to Blackwake. Easy as that.”

An elegant plan, if I do say so myself. Magic doesn’t leave behind much of a paper trail either, so they’d probably write it off as some kind of freak accident or an act of futility from an unseen Federation saboteur. Moving down through the patrol’s blind spot, we set ourselves up at the bottom side of a shallow trench dug into the ground.

“Alright, burn it.”

Cali took careful aim, tilting the halberd upwards and holding the shaft like a rifle.

“[Ignite!]”

The trigger clicked with a satisfying metallic clang and another ball of fire sped from the barrel of her gun. I watched the shot travel up and over in a long arc, losing some of its power during the journey. The beige tarp roof wasn’t going to stand up even to a weakened version of Cali’s immense magical power. It cut through it easily, and a moment later the cart was set alight.

I could already hear the men on watch shouting and yelling as the cart exploded into a pile of wooden splinters and torn fabric. It burned violently, spouting licks of yellow flame and crackling with energy. We didn’t have time to sit back and admire it. We stormed over the gutter and charged to the treeline ahead while nobody was looking. I dived down into one of the bushes and tried to calm myself. I rolled over and was grateful to find my two companions behind me, none the worse for wear.

I took the chance to see if anybody was looking our way. The plan had worked perfectly. Every single guard and watchman in the area was trying to fight the fire with pails of water. The last thing they needed was for it to spread through the grass and into the forward base. Tahar was entranced by the pandemonium unfolding across the fields, I tugged on her poncho and dragged her with me.

We kept running, without stopping and looking back again. Thankfully nobody tried to intercept us by heading East. We had a clear run to the city now. Our pace slowed as the fatigue of the sprint settled in. I could taste bile in my throat already. I turned to Cali and pointed to the catalyst launcher bolted to the spear.

“Hide it. We don’t need them putting two and two together.”

We found a nice rock to sit on out of sight of any guards. Cali retrieved a small screwdriver from her pouch and quickly unscrewed the launcher, slipping it into her coat pocket instead of the designated holster. She was learning a thing or two about subterfuge after all. It was almost enough to make me shed a proud parental tear.

After making ourselves look presentable – we broached back through the trees and onto the road into Blackwake. I still took the roundabout route, not wanting to be collared by anyone and asked about the mysterious explosion that just occurred. By the end of it all we had reached the lightly defended Western gate. The city was surrounded on all sides by military camps, but closer to the middle things were much more normal.

“I never want to do that again,” I complained. The journey was stressful in all of the worst ways. Constantly having to check over my shoulder, never knowing who or what was waiting for us on the other side of the fog. I had my fill.

“The hardest part of the mission is yet to be completed,” Cali stated, “Where do we begin?”

The cobbled streets of Blackwake beckoned. To be truthful, I didn’t know where to start exactly. Xerces’ men didn’t pinpoint an exact location for the house that Forester was using. That was my job, I needed to find where he was. Some would call it passing the buck – but I knew first hand how hard finding someone in a city this big could be.

My first port of call in a situation like this were my informants, but Fourst wasn’t in a good way the last time we met. As much as it hurt to admit it, the old man had probably kicked the bucket in the time since my last visit. That would make my life much harder. Clark had some very, very big shoes to fill if he wanted to be as good as Fourst was at dishing out information.

Before we could get any further than the gate though, a guard held out his hand and collared me at the last moment. “Wait a moment, you bloody git. What are you doing out of the city?”

Not this crap again. I thought fast and started talking to him in circles, “What do you mean?”

“You know full well what I bloody mean! We’ve had a lot of shady characters, Feddie spies, poking around our fortifications and looking for weaknesses. And then you come swaggering through armed to the teeth, and looking a mite odd in the process!”

“I’m a mercenary.”

“Oh yeah, and who’s your employer?”

I tilted my head in Cali’s direction, “Lady La’Corvan.”

The guard snorted like a pig, “Her? This ashen skinned wench?”

I stepped in before she punched his teeth out, or worse; “Does she look like a wench to you? That coat costs more than your house.”

“How am I supposed to know that? She’s lucky that she’s even allowed to walk around here! If I was in charge, there’d be none of that! I'll tell you now. Nothing but bad news, these Ashmorn.”

I ushered the conversation away from his folksy blend of racism and paranoia.

“Are you quite done? I shudder to think that all of the guards here tolerate manners like these.”

He backed down and returned to his spot against the wall. He didn’t want to fight me and Tahar just to question us. They were confident in numbers and utterly cowardly on their lonesome. “You’re fine. But if I catch you up to any funny business – I’ll come down on you like a palette of bricks!”

Funny business? He couldn’t spot a noble, but he had a lot of experience identifying clowns – he must have had a full body mirror in his bedroom. With that, we had gained full access to the city and only made two or three witnesses slash enemies along the way. We were already close to Clark’s house, so the decision had been made for me. I’d press him for some rumours about Forester and go wherever they took me.

The word on everyone’s lips was ‘occupation.’ Even from the brief path that we took to get to Clark’s home, I heard a dozen plus discussions about the ongoing presence of the Sull knights and footmen. They weren’t earning any fans with spurious accusations and some destructive behaviour. Soldiers were a boorish sort when with friends and comrades. It was best to keep them as far away from the civilian areas as possible. Desire to win the conflict with the Federation wasn’t enough to overwrite people’s feelings on the matter.

“What an amazing city!” Tahar gasped. It was the largest and most impressive she had seen during her march across the continent. I had to agree. Blackwake was rather modern, very big, and had stone paved roads from end to end. This was the jewel in Sull’s crown, so to speak. They’d do anything and everything to protect it.

“Try not to get lost,” I yelled over the noise of a passing carriage, “You’ll never find your way out of here.”

I managed to make it to Clark’s back door without having anyone else question my motives. Why was it that I was attracting more attention now than I used to when I did look like a thief? I knocked three times and waited. And waited. And waited. For a brief moment I feared that Clark had taken one of his rare excursions outside of the house, but that gear was extinguished as I heard the rumbling of feet against the floor. The door clunked open, revealing a fresh-face Clark who looked like he’d just hopped out of a bath. His hair was still damp, and there was a thin layer of steam on the lenses of his glasses.

“Ren? I didn’t expect to see you here again.”

“I didn’t expect to come back to Blackwake either, but somebody offered me a lot of money to sneak in. So here I am.”

“Well, don’t just stand out there, come in.”

Tahar had to duck under the doorway just to fit into the back room. She found a place to sit atop one of the many crates that Clark had shoved back there. Clark seemed afraid of her due to her size.

“Uh, there’s one more of you now. Who’s this?”

“I am Tahar. Ren’s… partner.”

“Partner?”

“We met a while ago – and she decided to fly the nest to come to Sull,” I explained. I noticed that Tahar had avoided describing herself as my wife or mate like she used to. Clark shied away from the towering woman and adjusted his glasses with a nervous twitch. He was never much good with strangers.

“What are you here for?”

“Have you heard any interesting rumours about Lord Forester lately?”

He tensed up, stiff as a board; “Forester? What the fuck are you doing tangling with a fellow like him?”

“When I said ‘a lot of money,’ I really meant a lot of money, Clark. You can just tell me to piss off if you don’t have anything.”

He waved his hands frantically, “No, no! No need to be so hasty! I was just a little concerned about your wellbeing, that’s all!”

Not likely. I snorted, “Alright then. Give me the lowdown. What’s been going on around here?”