They awaited neither the king nor the night. As the sun grew its sapphire corona, and the shadows of some distant mountain range grew long over the fields of golden grass, Ashtik and her merry men made their way towards the great stone walls.

The castle, if it could be called that in its civil state, was nestled into the side of a great grassy mountain. The near face was a sheer mossy drop while the far held a far continuation of the area’s vast golden fields. A single tree sat at the apex; white leaves bristled gently in the breeze while a fall of blossoms carried down the hill and settled amongst a graveyard of felled tree stumps.

The last whisper of the setting sun bound from the pale stone walls and made evident their every crack and flaw. They wrapped around the city in a single ring with a hundred, hundred houses and stalls clothing its outer bounds. All but the walls themselves were rich and pristine. The aqueducts that ran high over the walls were carved of some beautiful marble and limestone, while the houses were crafted of ornate silverwood and tile.

The scout had given easy directions, “West till’ the inns are built of brown brick, then south till’ the water stops flowing.”

It must have been obvious from his bird’s eye view that the city was colour-coded, but she wouldn’t have noticed had he not mentioned. They entered beneath the shadow of the eastern mountain. Ash had expected to meet some resistance, but instead, all she found was empty streets and abandoned chores.

Cobbled paths ran on for miles, but not a foot fell upon them. Children's toys had been dashed to the winds in some great hurry. Play areas lay abandoned, while valuable jewels sat unaccompanied within the hollow markets.

Of all things, she didn’t notice any food. Not a bite. Crumbs lay on tables outside bakeries, but not a single load of bread had remained.

“They’re ready for a long siege,” Ash whispered. Despite her low volume, the words echoed through the dead streets.

“Indeed, but we have less than a week before the Blood Queen can rally an army against us,” Colu whispered.

They turned left as they came upon a red brick schoolhouse, abandoned in haste like all other buildings. Then they headed right again as a potter's guild blocked the straight path. Finally, a brown tailor shop with an ornate gown in its window. A burgundy velvet base with black lace trimmings that must have trailed along the floor behind the wearer.

“Brown,” Nuk noted. “South now.”

And south they trekked. A feeling finally took Ash, dread. Maybe not at the prospect of failure, but at the idea that she could actually succeed. “What then?” she stressed. “What happens to everyone inside? It was all well and good to burn the fields and food, but... the families, teachers, women and children...”

It wouldn’t be enough to breach the defences. She had to do something to end the siege without blood, surely?

“The lordling,” she realised. If she could get to him, make him surrender, she could save everyone. She would have him stand his men down, allow his people to flee the city, then send him packing. “No. He’s the enemy. I must take him prisoner, even if he is just a child.”

“Sir Colu,” she whispered as they came upon the end of the water systems.

“Child?”

“When we get inside... we need to get to the keep.”

“No,” he flatly said before walking on.

“No?” Ash repeated.

“That's not our orders. We are to sabotage the defences and allow for an easier assault.”

“But when they assault the city, thousands could die!” Ash said, much too loudly.

“That would be the nature of a siege, yes,” he flatly replied with the tone of a teacher stating some fundamental lesson.

“But if we get to the keep, we can prevent that.”

“How?” he asked, though he didn’t look back at her as they carried on towards the old wall.

“The lord Castellan, he’s only a boy. If I can get to him, he will surrender the city. Nobody needs to be hurt.”

“Excellent,” Tuyen, the mage, clapped. “Let's do that then. So, how shall we breach the keep and get to this boy-lord? Oh, and when we get to him, shall we walk out of the front door? Surely, they won’t try to stop us if we have the lord. After all, this is a game of tag; Once we tap his shoulder, his entire garrison is sure to roll over.”

“Tuyen,” Colu sharply whispered. The flamboyant man quickly bowed away without a further word.

“It is noble to seek a means to victory without violence, but this is naive, child. If you wish to save lives, save your own side, your own armies. If the King assaults the walls without help, a thousand of our brethren could die. If we complete our mission, it may be less than a hundred.” Colu finally turned to her. Nearly all of his deep black eyes held a spark of orange that she had taken to mark his focus. Only two remained off her, seemingly scanning the surroundings.

“But if get to the lord, nobody dies, except maybe us,” Ash insisted.

“And if we fail, the assault fails and many, many more die. Donaleaf is a good man, he will not target the innocents, you have my word of honour. This is the best outcome, child. Remember, this siege was your idea, your plan, and a rather brilliant one at that.”

“I didn’t... It was just a plan. I didn’t- all these people. All these children,” Ash stammered, trying in vain not to cry.

“You are the Champion of War,” Colu softly said, reaching a hard hand out to her shoulder. “Mayhaps your Goden was wise to choose such a soft heart for the role. It will serve you well tomorrow, but today, you need to learn to harden yourself. You need to accept that either we win, or we lose by your order. Now, you are Champion, I abide your order above all else – excepting the king himself – so... if you order me to seek out this lordling, I will do so. The choice is yours... Champion.”

The twin moons rose over her decision. Their soft pale glow rushed through her hair and stroked a strange shadow across her face. Their kind light cast her as a ghost, an unhappy spectre walking the world half-dead. The amethyst of her eyes might have held a glow of their own through the sheen of unshed tears, but glowing or not, they were aflame.

“Okay,” she sniffed. “By my order... We complete our mission.”

“And now... you are a leader. Now, you understand,” Colu whispered with something between pride and shame. There was a word for it in Ash’s mind, a feeling in his many eyes that she knew all too well; burden.

----------------------------------------

They hardly needed a magician to crumble the wall. A stiff breeze would have felled this grand foe. Within, an ancient and forgotten aqueduct ran underground into some deep cavern. She could hear the torrenting waters within, an underground river, either natural or not. It must have been the source of the local fertility.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

A part of Ash whispered a cruel idea. She ought to have the magician poison the river. If the assault failed, the crops would still die, and the mission would still succeed. That whisper came not from her mind or heart, but her fist. The rest of her knew that this water didn’t just feed the crops, but the citizens. If she poisoned it, she’d poison the whole city. It was not an idea she could speak aloud nor was it an avenue to victory she could sully her boots upon.

The tunnel dug out for the aqueduct was lined with bricks and used to be a tall spiralling corkscrew but had so badly crumbled by now that it was nought more than a jagged ladder.

They slid down into the darkness, no light to guide them but the ever-dimming sun through the distant entrance. Once they landed in the main chamber of the cavern, it became obvious just how large it was. Though they couldn’t see the distant walls, the sounds of their quiet footfalls echoing from the distant cave roof told them with certainty that they had no risk of hitting their heads.

“Tuyen,” Nuk urged.

“On it,” the magician replied. In a breath, a spiral of flaming wisps erupted all around them, one for each soldier, and one for Ash.

They fluttered and floated a metre above their chosen masters and lit the way forth with a brilliant blue spark.

“Move in line,” Colu ordered. The soldiers quickly arranged themselves. Ahn gripped Ash by the shoulder and forcefully dragged her into the middle of the line, just behind Nuk and before Tuyen.

They moved slowly and quietly, their every noise covered by the torrents of water at their side. It must have been an hour before they came upon an ancient iron gate. Rust coated its every corner and wall-mounted sconces beside it looked to have been disused for a century at least.

“Might or magic?” Nuk asked.

“Ahn, check the gate,” Colu whispered.

“On it,” she whispered in reply, moving from the rear of the formation and kneeling before the gate’s lock. “Too rusted to pick,” she declared in a hush.

“Shall I have at it?” Tuyen smirked.

“No, I can do this quietly.”

She pulled a small iron bar from her pack and slotted it in the ring of the old lock before exerting a grunted effort into snapping the old thing. It crumbled away in moments, the remains clattering across the stone floor. She tore at the remaining parts and dismantled the lock whole, then she forced the ancient gate open, which seemed to take an even greater effort than the lock. The rust was so thick, it seemed to have welded the door to the frame, but she loudly burst through after a moment.

“Quietly, right,” Tuyen scoffed.

“Book of the third: he who scoffs at a completed work is doomed to chase a perfect grave,” Nuk whispered.

“Speak your sermons some other time, holy boy, I’m here to blow stuff up, not convert to the Conclave,” Tuyen grunted.

“Enough,” Colu ordered. “Ahn, front.”

“Yup,” she whispered, dutifully drawing her body-tall shield and marching at the front of the band. She walked with the base of the shield resting atop her right foot, as to avoid it clattering against the stone ground and causing a great tremor.

They marched on a while longer, until the stone became flat and walkable, then became brick and mortar. Eventually, they found light above them. Faint and delicate, but certainly natural. By the breeze whistling through the tunnel, they realised it was a well within the bounds of the city. A faint rumbling of feet and carriages echoed through the shoulder-width hole.

“Door,” Ahn near silently reported. It was to their right, nestled within an oak frame, carved into the stone walls. They approached it silently and Ahn pressed her ear to it.

She signalled with her left hand, two fingers and then a fist. At it, Nuk drew his longsword and took Tuyen’s position in the column. Ash took from context to draw her own spear, though she quickly realised that it would be too long for such a tight area, so she drew her dirk instead.

“Ahn, quietly,” Colu whispered.

She knelt before the door and pressed two thin shards of runed metal into its lock. After a tense moment, the lock seemed to give way and the door gently edged open. She took cover to the left of the door, while the rest ordered up to the right.

“The door,” a voice croaked from within.

“You didn’t lock it?” Another accused.

“I didn’t unlock it. It must have been open since the last guys.”

“Damn, middle of a siege, and we’re leaving doors wide open. You got the keys?”

“Yeah, hang on,” the guard grunted as a chair creaked out. Ahn coiled to pounce as his lazy footsteps sauntered closer.

“What were you saying about the Champ-”

Ahn buried a short axe in the guard’s throat and dragged him out of the doorway in a single swift motion. Colu entered the door, and a pair of small throwing knives found the other guard’s throat within a moment.

“Clear,” he whispered after a moment. Ash stepped in next, Ahn at her back. The room looked to be a storage area. Barrels of grain lined a vast warehouse, though they seemed to only be within a small guard post at that point. Two doors sealed them from the rest of the facility, but she couldn’t see any patrolling guards through the little peepholes.

“The guards have probably been assigned to the defences,” Ash whispered.

“It is likely,” Nuk agreed. “It should make our lives somewhat easier.”

“What’s the plan from here?” Tuyen asked.

“From here, we rise. We find a gatehouse and force it open, then Tuyen, you wreak havoc,” Colu answered.

“Marvellous,” the mage smirked grimly.

“Should we split up?” Nuk asked. “One team finds the gatehouse, the other sabotages their defences.”

“Split up?” Ahn scoffed. “Boy, ya got a death wish?”

“Two or three of us can more easily sneak around than all five,” he insisted. “If we get caught, it doesn't matter if we are together or not, we are done for.”

“Champion?” Colu deferred.

“I don’t know. It's your squad, what do you think?” She awkwardly protested, acutely aware of Ahn’s disgusted glare.

“I think Sir Lucianuk’s assessment is wise, but I also think sticking together would decrease the risk of casualties. You wished to be taught how to lead, so lead.”

Ash tried to compare her mission with some type of hunt, but she couldn’t. There was no hunt where this could apply. You didn’t need to sneak into a bear’s cave and sabotage its defences, nor was it wise to split your hunting party if you battled a greater foe – like some dragon or drake – but that was a straight fight, not like this. A smaller group would be easier to hide with but would make assaulting the gatehouses nearly impossible.

She couldn’t help but sigh as her final decision came, not from logic but from sheer gut feeling.

“We should split up,” she finally said. “It will make an attack on the gatehouse harder, but it doubles our chances of actually making it to a gatehouse. If one group gets caught, the others still have some slim chance, but if we all get caught at once, all hope is lost.”

“Very well. Ahn, Lucianuk, you two are with the Champion. Tuyen, with me.” Colu nodded to Ash as Tuyen floated to his side.

“Sir, I protest,” Ahn said, conscious of her volume.

“Noted and discarded. You have your orders, Ahn.”

“Right,” she grunted.

“We won’t let you down, sir,” Nuk saluted, and Ahn joined him in the motion.

“I know,” Colu smiled. “Good luck, Champion.”

“To you too, sir,” Ash bowed.