Siah soon returned and Mariel had the mindling go with the young elf. Unexpectedly, she seemed in no way particularly frightened by Siah, apparently preferring the small mindling over the frightening adults around her. The plan was simple, to get into the tower using the tunnel, activate the anti-siege measure, and while the enemy was stuck in the sticky muck, attack and wipe them out.

The thought of sending a child to war made Mariel feel a little uneasy, but perhaps more unsettling was her apparent lack of compassion for the child. While searching for meaning, she stumbled across a thought. Less than a year ago, she too had been like that. Innocent and living in peace. Then everything had happened, and now she was in a war. The thoughts of home, which had caused her to shed no small amounts of tears over at the start of her journey, felt like but a distant memory. She wanted to survive. Perhaps she had grown. The thought of progression eased her worries as she waited for the attack to begin.

Outside the tower, the guards were milling about. Some were sharpening their swords in a group, others were chopping food and preparing a meal. A sense of complacency hung over the group, despite the ferocious and no doubt costly battle raging below. A few were even watching the carnage with carefree faces.

"Mariel. We're ready to begin... There are a few guards up top too... We'll clear you a path... This little girl has a few surprises in her." Siah's voice echoed in her mind and she raised her hand in preparation for the signal.

Suddenly, out of a hole in the tower, a big wave of black, sticky tar spurted out. It immediately began spreading. The guards, caught unaware, began trying to avoid the black filth. The tar-like substance then reached the cooking fire. What had been a sea of black goo, suddenly turned into a blazing inferno, immolating every guard, and even lighting on fire some crumbled remains of the nearby ruins.

The tower door opened with a loud bang, and ... appeared in the doorway with Siah on her shoulder. She stretched out her hand, and from her feet, a frost began spreading out, quenching the fire and finally freezing the tar, creating a path.

"Forward!" Mariel shouted and her small force stood up and began rushing forward, stepping onto the ice carefully. Surrounded by the screams of the immolating elves, they made their way towards the tower. Then, behind Yuli and Siah, appeared a big, menacing elf in full plate, sword raised.

"Noo!" Mariel shouted.

A thud was heard, and the elf swayed for an instant, before dropping to the floor with a crossbow bolt stuck in his forehead. She turned to see who had fired.

"I owe her that much I guess..." The elf scoffed and continued.

They entered the tower, and immediately shot off two more guards coming down the stairs. One of the guards managed to fire his crossbow, but luckily only hit the wall next to the door. Through a metal tube coming down from the roof, a continuous wheezing sound could be heard. As it turned out, .... had frozen the metal tube, which Siah had then split in half, silencing the warning horn. Without hesitation, they barred the door and brother and sister were once more reunited, the little brother brought up last by the rearguard. By the time Mariel reached the top, the other elves had finished off the remaining enemy, and begun setting up the heavy weapons.

Mere minutes later, A rain of heavy bolts began pouring down on the enemy positions. Each bolt carrying a pack of some strange powder, which upon impact exploded and sent a shower of stone and wooden splinters in every direction. The battle which had begun to slow down as both forces had retreated to lick their wounds, resumed with vigor. The assaulting troops, invigorated by seeing the explosions from the flanking fire, charged in unison and the defending enemy began to withdraw. The orderly withdrawal soon turned into a rout as the other flank also began to fire upon them, and soon, a ceasefire order arrived by bird to the tower.

Up on the tower, Mariel announced victory, and were met with loud cheers and jubilations from the other elves. ... and ... Had been clothed with items from the armory below, and despite being many sizes too large, they too looked like soldiers.

"Well done, it seems like you have what it takes to command..." Siah whispered in her mind.

"I just got lucky... We should wrap things up and get back to the camp... I don’t want to think about this anymore…”