And so, about a month and a half after they had left Waterslide, they returned as winners.

As soon as the group arrived, Sayfire and most of the revolutionaries were waiting at the entrance of the mountain. She hugged Jiovanni and shook hands with the rest. Pier, who had come along, was looked at with unconcealed hatred by the gathered crowd of revolutionaries, but Sayfire shook his hand as well.

“I am glad you all came back safely”, she said. “I thank you for your contribution to the campaign against the Black Beard pirates.”

“We just did what we had to”, Jiovanni raised his head proudly.

“This elf here is Pier, and his help in the battle against the Black Beards was crucial”, Sayfire turned towards the crowd. “Please don’t judge him just for his race. He even offered an elven ship to the White House.”

The crowd’s intense gazes softened, and she smiled before continuing. “And I’m guessing,” she looked at the bound and tired man hanging from a horse, “that you are the infamous Black Beard.”

“I am, indeed. It is a pleasure to finally meet my archenemy”, Edward Teach, though tired and dirty, gave her a charming smile.

“I am not your archenemy,” she replied, “I am your nemesis. The court that will judge this man’s future will be held tomorrow at noon at the main hall. I would like you all to be there. For now, go back to your jobs, I believe you all have important jobs to do.”

After greeting the group, the crowd dissolved with haste. Apparently, they really did have something important to do. With a sharp nod, Sayfire ordered Jiovanni to follow her deeper into the mountain.

“It is beginning, isn’t it? My lady”, he asked Sayfire when they were far enough from others to not be heard.

“We have to act fast. Our enemies are left with no power at sea right now, it is our chance to officially begin the revolution.”

“And what about the elves?”

“Against the king, we scheme. Against the elves, we hope. We are preparing a diplomatic envoy for them and the dwarves.”

“The dwarves?” Jiovanni raised a brow. “Why them? They have nothing to do with this, and they refuse to leave their mountains anyway.”

“They don’t have to leave their mountains. If they just claim willingness to help us, the elves may be too scared to move. Our opponents will be just humans.”

“And why would they agree to help us and risk going to war with the elves?”

“That, I don’t know yet. But they have a strong sense of justice and brave hearts. There is always a chance. Besides, if the mission at the elves succeeds, we won’t even need the dwarves.”

Jiovanni opened his mouth to reply but changed his mind. “A lot happened while I was gone”, he decided. “I will simply trust in your decisions. Who will be in those two missions?”

By now, they had reached Sayfire’s rooms, and the four guards respectfully let them through. Sayfire stepped first into the room, covered in maps and parchments, and headed straight for a small cabinet, from which she took two glasses and a bottle of whiskey.

She raised a brow at Jiovanni, who nodded, before pouring them both a drink. Their glasses touched, an implicit sign of the revolution leader’s trust in the face of Jiovanni. Sayfire took a deep gulp, savoring the burning, amber liquid, rolling it over and below her tongue before she sighed.

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Then, she finally spoke.

“General Escers just finished subduing the bandit clans. He will be back here in a couple of days, and I will have him be our ambassador to the dwarves. As for the elves, I will leave it to Ashter.”

“Ashter is back already?” Jiovanni asked absent-mindedly, still smiling from the all-too-familiar taste of good whiskey. “I thought he wouldn’t be back for at least six months.”

“The Magic Council’s approval is important, but this mission is even more crucial. I sent him a message and he agreed to have one of his supporters represent us at the Council. The convoy going to the elves will meet with him near the borders of the Dark Area.”

“But still, this is a huge risk we are taking. When we finally managed to assemble the Magic Council, our country’s head wizard doesn’t attend? What are the others going to say about it?”

“Do you know what the Magic Council is, Jiovanni?”

The armored man hesitated for a second. “It is the gathering of the three greatest wizards from each nation, eighteen wizards in total from six countries. It is held in a secret location in the Dark Area and every country has a head magician. Coincidentally, ours is Ashter. But if the one who called the Council together doesn’t attend, won’t the elves overpower us?”

“Don’t think of them like that, Jiovanni”, she shook her head, discarding his doubts. “Those wizards are wise, they understand that Ashter has his reasons for not attending. He has probably already sent word of it anyway.”

“Even so, do you think we can do it? Convince them to support us?”

“Yes, I think we can. The trolls will be absent again, they haven’t shown up in the Council in the last hundred years. The dwarves will probably vote for us and, of course, so will the Northern Human Kingdom. Even if the halflings vote against us, the votes will be 3-2 for us. Unless something extraordinary happens.”

Jiovanni nodded at her words, a smirk of mixed amusement and worry emerging on his lips. “Extraordinary things keep happening lately, my lady.”

Sayfire didn’t look at him, having already turned toward a rough map of the continent. “Are you referring to those boys?”

“They even befriended an elf and captured Black Beard, but it’s not just them. There are also those young vice-admirals who turned out to be extremely gifted, all three of them. And Black Beard himself, he too is something else. People like them don’t appear often, and now we have several showing up at once. My lady, I fear-”

“Please, Jiovanni,” Sayfire cut him off with an exasperated sigh, “don’t start spouting that religious nonsense. Not you too. I need at least a few people to remain sane.”

“As you wish, my lady. But speaking of religion,” he changed the subject, “there is something I have to report that I couldn’t tell you through the written messages. Black Beard had made contact with the Madred, as well as Roben’s bandits.”

“WHAT?”

“They were in Black Beard’s base. The Roben’s messenger was killed and the Madred priest was spared, understandably.”

Sayfire bit her lip. “This complicates things. We can ignore the Roben’s, Escers just landed a big blow on them. But if the fanatics start moving against us, we will not come out unscathed.”

She slumped on a chair, her fingers massaging her forehead. “We can talk about these later. For now, just make sure Black Beard doesn’t escape.”

“Yes, my lady”, Jiovanni bowed deeply and, getting the hint, walked away.

🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️

That night, while everyone was asleep, two cells opened at the mountain’s dungeon. Three people holding swords walked past the guard’s corpse.

“It’s a shame your cover is now blown. You were the best spy we ever had. Don’t worry, there is a Sword position waiting for you at the Black Beard pirates”, said Edward Teach, testing his grip. He only had his right arm left, his bad one, and was still getting used to that.

“Not yet”, a cloaked man replied. “If I am going to leave anyway, I can do one more thing while they still trust me.”

“Finish my job”, said Sting.

“Exactly. You two wait near the entrance, I will be there shortly. Sting knows the way.”

The cloaked man took off his cloak and walked back in the mountain, heading to Sayfire’s room, his steps swift but confident.

“Good evening, sir”, the guards saluted when they saw him, trying not to look like they had just woken up.

“Stand down”, he waved them down, reaching for the doorknob.

“But sir, what are you doing?”

“I have an urgent report. Is there a problem?” The guards’ faces turned red but they stepped aside and he quietly entered the room, closing the door behind him.