I’ve spent countless hours in the forges. Legosia says that I should take a break, that sometimes I look like a man without any soul behind his eyes. Humorous he’d say that. But I’ll earn my sleep when the Spear is finished.

-From The Recently Deciphered Notes of King Arneshal, 6th Grouping

Finding the building hadn’t been the hard part. Most everyone knew where Dolish Venastian’s abode was located, even if he spent little time in the veritable stronghold. No, the hard part was that, once they’d found it, they had to spend hours waiting for the sun to go down.

And wait they did, right in between two small tents that were still standing. Emile crouched near a wooden crate, while Isil kept an eye out for approaching hallowmancers. He created imperceptible portals for him to see through, looking through then with his spyglass.

Galeon felt useless sitting among them. His powers made him a shining beacon to their location, which is why he hid himself now. But staying static had never done him well, as he bobbed his leg up and down on the ground.

Emile nudged Galeon, guiding his eyes towards a door set into the stronghold.

“They’re the last ones. It’s empty now,” Emile whispered to him. a young scholar left from the front doors of the stronghold, locking them behind her with a key she held. She threw it into her pockets and strolled off, which made Emile sigh.

“We can’t take the front entrance,” Emile said.

‘I could move a discrete portal there,” Isil replied.

“Your portals are too slow, if we’re seen, it’ll spell doom for us,” Emile told him. Isil’s mouth quirked down into a slight frown, and Galeon patted him lightly.

“It’s no issue, Isil. We’ll find another way through,” he reassured his friend. Emile bumped his fist to the flat of his palm.

“I’ve got it! Galeon, did you see the elephant pen around here?”

“Yeah? They were right near the training grounds with the automatons,” Galeon replied.

“Free them. A bit of fire from your jets should scare them off. While we’re doing that, no one’s bound to notice someone picking a lock in the streets.”

“But… what if they start rampaging?” Galeon asked. Emile clicked his tongue.

“…Try and be careful then, while you’re doing it,” Emile asked of him.

“I will bring a portal towards you once you’re done, so that you can rejoin Emile and I,” Isil told him. He pointed out another alley, halfway between General Venastian’s building and the elephant pens, covered by a tarp overhead.

Galeon nodded towards his friends, then began to move slowly but surely over to the animals. He had to crouch low to avoid the inspection of any flying Afterburners, weaving in between boxes, carts, clothing and more.

When he began to grow closer, he lengthened his strides. He was about to burst out into a junction between roads, but heard the distinct sounds of jets. Glancing up, no one was there to see, but Galeon still ducked behind an errant cart.

He peeked out to find a man floating slowly above the air, scanning his surroundings. An Afterburner, operating at low power and who was about to catch Galeon. He tightened his cloak around him, holding his breath so the Afterburner would disappear.

Despite his prayers however, the man turned to Galeon’s alley. Crap! He had to time this just right, and without his powers. Galeon freed his bewl, letting it fuel his body with new power. The Afterburner moved slowly, and so did Galeon. Galeon was crouching behind the back of the cart, and the Afterburner had just passed the front, when they both started to move.

Galeon stepped lightly on the dirt, heart pounding as he walked around the cart. The man’s gaze looked rigid, but bounced off the cart as if no one was there. Then finally, they switched positions, and Galeon was at the other end.

He breathed a sigh of relief, but let himself breath too loudly. He cursed himself inwardly, then looked back at the Afterburner. The Ravenishtani hadn’t seemed to notice, moving past and continuing on his nightly patrol. Another sigh of relief, and then Galeon quickly vanished afterwards.

He reached the elephants, and felt almost bad for the sight he found them in. their horses stayed in luxurious stables, but it was clear that the space for the elephants couldn’t be spared. They were cramped with each other in giant pens, with tall wooden fencing separating them. There were stacks of hay and leaves scattered about on the ground, and a giant wide bucket was put in each of the pens, where some of the beasts drank from with their long trunks.

Looking at them like this, Galeon couldn’t help but be amazed. Their large floppy ears and deep beady eyes made them look magnificent. He hadn’t gotten a good look the last time, but felt sorry for having to take one of them out.

He moved up close to the pens and put his hands on the fencing. One of the smaller elephants noticed him, and Galeon smiled. They sniffed his hand with their small trunks, making him feel ticklish. Wait… baby elephants?

Galeon looked over to the rest of the pens and confirmed his suspicions. Some of the larger elephants, not yet adults but not children any longer, were bunched together. Training for the animals, it seemed to Galeon

“These ones couldn’t cause as much harm, could they?” he talked to himself, then jumped inside of them. The teenaged elephants were already wary of the new person that had entered their pen, so they stood frozen. There were more than two dozen of them, all bunched together in a pen too small for them.

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“It might be nice for you to stretch your legs!” he offered them, yet they just looked at him lopsided.

Galeon coughed, touched a single hand to his palm and created a larger jet. Then he blazed it with all of his freed bewl, and the shouting began.

The elephants pressed up against the fences of their pens, and started trumpeting in fright. Galeon ignored their screams, and waved around the jet in their faces, causing them to panic further. He heard wood splitting behind them, and the animals started stampeding.

The noise of their footfalls, along with their trunks, began to wake the people around them. Galeon saw bewllan lights being unveiled inside rooms, and started running himself. Enhanced legs carried him forward, as the stampeding increased and so did the shouts of the animals.

“Get those things under control!”

“Where are the Bladeborn!”

And other phrases that Galeon could barely understand, rose from the tents there. He hoped that the damages wouldn’t be too severe, and slid into the alley where Isil had placed his portal. He lunged through and it closed behind him, revealing Isil and Emile.

“Hurry!” Emile whispered loudly, and Galeon ran through the door and Emile closed it behind him. He crouched down again and redid the lock on it. He shoved the tools into his sleeves and the three of them stood there in silence.

The main hallway was lit up with bewllan and dreadfully empty. It looked the part of a general’s house, having only the barest decorations and furnishings. Emile was the first to step forward, barely making noise.

Galeon and Isil followed after him, as they searched the rooms. The ones at the front of the building were made for meetings, lined with plush furniture and ornaments. The further they walked into it, however, the more clinical it became. A small library followed, along with a communal bath and then rooms that seemed like offices.

Galeon found a single room that looked to be made for kids, then promptly closed it before he could see more. There wasn’t a need to go there. Finally, the last room in the hallway held a plaque in front of it.

Galeon couldn’t read it, but Emile sounded it out for him. “General Venastian’s Office.”

After another quick lockpicking, Emile entered the room. A single desk, with a stack of papers bound together atop it.

They searched through each of the drawers, until Isil discovered a stack of notes. They were bound together with twine, and he placed it down onto the table. The three of them cluttered around the desk, undid the binding on the papers, then took them in one hand. They picked up separate pages, yet none of the words seemed remotely familiar.

He glanced over at Emile, who was scanning the page quickly with a dire expression.

“So, its not there after all…” he muttered to himself.

“What? What do you mean, Emile?” Galeon asked. Then the knob of the door twisted again.

Galeon froze as the door swung open again. A tanned woman with wide shoulders stood on the other end. She looked to be middle-aged, and had manly features, much so that Galeon had mistook her for a beautiful man instead.

“Who…” her eyes jerked over to the documents. She didn’t speak another word. Her eyes glew green and she began to rip a portal open. Galeon reacted immediately, placing jets on his arms and blasting towards her. She opened a single portal, but before she could a second, Galeon hit her.

He tackled her onto the floor and held her arms to the side. The Planar struggled in his grasp, and Galeon began to sweat.

“Only here… Paper!” he tried to tell her, but she headbutt him. Galeon recoiled and the woman freed her leg. She kicked him backwards, knocking him into the wall and dislodging a painting. She tried opening another portal, but Isil created a portal behind her. She turned to face him and Isil stabbed forward with a knife.

It pierced her forearms, and the Planar grunted. Galeon skidded across the floor on his jets, knocking the woman off of her legs, along with Isil. The both of them tumbled to the ground, with the Planar on top. she pushed away from Isil and backed off. She tried opening one final portal, but a vase cracked against her forehead.

Emile had thrown it from the side, distracting her just enough for Isil and Galeon to come running. Galeon had placed jets on his elbows, and ignited them just as he went in for a hit. His fist connected with the Planar’s jaw, knocking her out in a single clean hit. The woman fell to the ground, the green leaving her eyes.

Galeon and Isil panted, while Emile cautiously moved forward.

“We need to dispose of her,” Isil told them.

“Wait, n-”

“Galeon, she saw us! What if she reports to someone else?”

“We can get out quickly! I’ll help you and Emile both!” Galeon pleaded.

“And the others? You’re going to carry all of them too?” Isil asked.

“…Some of them might be hallowmancers?”

“Will enough of them be to avoid the inevitable searches? We can’t just leave her alive,” Isil told him.

“There’s a basement,” Emile interrupted. The both of them looked towards him, confused.

“A basement. I saw a staircase leading towards it. If we bind her and throw her in there, it should take her time before escaping. Enough time to…”

“…To warn the others!” Galeon finished. He turned to Isil expectantly, who was looking down at the Planar woman. Her jaw was dislocated, and she showed no signs of waking up.

“Fine. But we must be quick.”

Galeon thanked his friend, then set to work hauling the woman to the basement. It was a damp location and had not been cleaned in many days. Cobwebs had started forming at the edge of the rooms, and a single broken chair sat at the bottom. Galeon and Emile placed the Planar on that chair, brought in as much rope as they could, then bound her arms and legs as best as they could.

They locked the room to the basement afterwards, and Emile wiped a sweat from his brow.

Isil looked annoyed having to wait, turning away as soon as they were finished. They reached the entrance from where they entered, then unlocked the door slowly. outside, the first wisps of the morning light were beginning to show, and they stung at the group’s eyes. Galeon had long since restrained his bewl, so he felt nothing more than human.

“Let’s move!” Emile told them and left. They didn’t bother locking the door behind themselves, only closing it. Emile held the documents in his hands, being the deftest among them. He huffed as he moved, stopping every so often to look around or hear for noises.

The elephants, Galeon noticed, were nowhere to be seen. A few people also wandered the streets, picking up pieces of broken wood or raising downed tents.

“Looks like they’re in for an early morning,” Emile noted.

They snuck around the camps until they reached the cart they’d discarded. The horses were now missing and the reigns lied on the ground. It looked like someone had helped themselves to their steeds.

They huddled around the small cart, but neither of them knew what to do next.

“Have either of you spotted one of ours?” Isil asked them. Galeon shook his head.

“No, can’t see a single one of them!” he replied. They were standing on top of the cart and looking out over the edge of the tents. The search continued, before something grabbed their attention.

A scream split the skies, and they turned their grazes in its direction. There, floating slowly up into the air, they spotted them. A man, cloaked in all black, held a noble by the neck in his hands. The young noble was broad shouldered, with shoulder length hair and looked like a young man. He was struggling against his kidnapper’s hold, covered in bruises and dust. The wall behind them had a large hole in it, and from inside more nobles poured out to watch the sight.

Galeon stood quietly in awe. He wanted, needed, to help the man. Even if he was Ravenishtani, even if he was the enemy! Yet before he could place a single jet on his hands, Isil and Emile grabbed him.

“W-we can’t…” Emile said simply, and all the energy left his voice.