The Capella’s estate was dark and eerily quiet as Gideon slowly climbed out of the sewer. In the near distance, the outline of the castle-palace loomed against the backdrop of the stars, its windows dark and lifeless.

Panic struck Gideon when he saw no one waiting for him at the top, but he quickly relaxed after spotting Surelin and the others crouched in the shadows of the nearby hedgerows. He trudged across the short open space of the walkway towards them. It was incredibly unwise to be moving slowly out in the open where he could easily be spotted, but he was simply incapable of quick motion.

Every movement he made, no matter how slight, sent new waves of dizziness and pain cascading throughout his body, and he wavered on his feet several times as the group crept through the hedgerows in the direction of the estate’s front gate. After taking several unsteady steps that nearly led to him toppling over, Surelin grabbed onto his arm, steadying him as best she could.

Before long, a dim yellow glow became visible through the bushes ahead of them, clearly being emitted from a source of light at the gate. Vesryn motioned for the group to halt, then crept towards the bushes to take a look.

After peering at the light for a long moment, he turned back to face the group and made a series of simple hand motions.

See three. Gate down.

Len nodded to him, then made a gesture of his own.

Attack.

The Forelians quietly stood up out of their crouches, giving each other determined looks. Surelin stared at Gideon, squeezing his arm.

I get it. I’ll stay here.

Len gave Vesryn a nod, and he led the group quietly to the end of the hedgerow, just out of sight of the hussars at the gate. Vesryn looked back and held up three fingers.

Three…two…one!

He burst out from behind the hedgerow, sprinting towards the gate, and the rest of the Forelians ran after him. An immediate shout of alarm rang out from one of the hussars, followed by the sounds of fighting.

Surelin joined them, leaving Gideon on his own in the hedgerow. By the time he moved over to the end of the hedgerow to watch the fighting, one of the hussars was already dead on the floor, and the remaining two were surrounded by the Forelians. The hussars were striking out in random directions with wild desperation to keep the Forelians at bay.

They were outnumbered four to one, but even so their reaction to the overwhelming odds spoke to their skill and discipline. At almost the same instant, they both lunged at the Forelians closest to them, disregarding their own safety for a chance to kill or disable one of their attackers.

Surelin and Vesryn were their targets. Gideon looked on helplessly as Surelin managed to block just in time, but Vesryn wasn’t quick enough. The hussar’s blade arced toward Vesryn’s sword hand, and three of his fingers dropped to the floor along with his weapon.

A howl of shock and pain erupted from Vesryn, and he scrambled backwards out of range. As he did, the remaining Forelians pounced on the hussars. Their agonized screams rent the cold air as they were stabbed and cut to ribbons, their blood forming pools on the ground beneath the yellow light of the lantern hanging from the top of the gate’s arch.

With their task complete, the Forelians began to gravitate towards Vesryn, who was cradling his wounded hand to his chest.

“Check on him later!” Len hissed. “Get these bodies into the hedgerows, now! Before anyone on the street sees them!”

The Forelians obeyed, and Gideon watched as they worked together hastily to drag the three bodies towards his hedgerow. As they worked, Vesryn trudged over and collapsed next to Gideon, and before long Surelin was hovering over him.

Vesryn’s pinkie, ring finger, and two-thirds of his middle finger were gone, replaced by bloody stumps. He gasped with pain as Surelin examined them, frowning with concern.

“I can still fight!” he exclaimed as the rest of the Forelians gathered around.

Len shook his head. “...I’m sorry, son, but if you can’t grip your sword-”

“No! Please, I’ll use my other hand!”

“You will stay behind and guard the manhole with Gideon,” Surelin told him.

Her tone made it clear she would brook no debate. Even wounded, Vesryn could not summon the courage to defy her. After a brief moment of anxious indecision, he gave her a single, quick nod.

“We must move!” Len hissed at Surelin.

“I know. Let’s go!”

Sword in hand, she broke into a sprint out of the hedgerow and down the walkway, headed towards the palace. The unwounded Forelians followed, matching her breakneck pace. They pounded off into the night, their heavy footsteps ringing out against the walkway’s tiles.

Gideon watched them leave with a feeling of terrible anxiety gnawing at him. From the moment he’d heard Surelin would be joining the assault, he’d imagined himself staying closely at her side, watching her back. She was an excellent fighter, but she’d never fought with her life at stake before and he knew she would need his help. But instead he’d only been able to look on as she’d gotten into her first real fight, just barely avoiding becoming a casualty. Now she’d run off to meet an unknown fate without him.

A sharp, frustrated sigh left Vesryn. Gideon looked over and saw him using his good hand to awkwardly pull a cloth bandage out from his opposite pocket.

“I’ll do it,” he said, taking it from him. Vesryn said nothing, but gasped with pain as Gideon wrapped the bandage around the stumps as best he could.

When Gideon was finished, Vesryn carefully lowered his bandaged hand into his lap, staring at it. After a few moments he squeezed his eyes shut, clearly fighting back emotion.

“I’m sorry,” Gideon muttered.

Vesryn shook his head fiercely and looked over at him.

“Don’t be. This is nothing. I’d give all my fingers up if it meant saving more of our people. I’d give anything.”

The earnestness of his statement took Gideon by surprise, and it finally dawned on him that the whole operation had meant something completely different to the Forelians. When he’d heard about the briefing from Len, Gideon had readily agreed to attend, but that hadn’t necessarily meant he was agreeing to participate in all the rest of it. That had only happened once it became clear Surelin would be joining them. She was his entire reason for being there. But for the Forelians, the assault was a desperate attempt to rescue at least one person from the terrible fate that had befallen their people.

Vesryn got to his feet, and extended his good hand down to Gideon.

“Come on. We still have a job to do.”

Gideon accepted his hand, and Vesryn supported him as they walked down the walkway back towards the manhole.

The estate was eerily calm as they settled down in the shadows of the hedgerow closest to the manhole. The windows of the castle palace were still dark, and the knowledge that Surelin, Len, and the others were currently inside it somewhere—and perhaps fighting for their lives at that very moment—made the entire situation feel oddly surreal.

“Didn’t expect to just be sitting here right now,” Gideon said quietly.

Vesryn scoffed. “Yeah, no shit.”

Minutes passed in tense silence as they both watched the darkened castle-palace. Their fate was being decided by whatever was happening inside, and it felt very frustrating to see that the building's exterior did not reflect the activity going on within.

Gideon’s ears perked up as faint noises began to emanate from the still-open manhole, and he shared an alarmed look with Vesryn. After listening for a few moments, Vesryn took it upon himself to check and got to his feet, quietly walking over to it. Once he was only a few steps away he got down to his knees, crawling up to the manhole while cradling his wounded hand to his chest, then peered over the opening to look down. Gideon watched anxiously as Vesryn briefly froze up, then reached over to pull the lid over the hole. Angry shouting and the sound of someone rushing up the ladder echoed loudly from the sewer.

Gideon clumsily rushed over to Vesryn, and he reached the manhole just in time to help him prevent someone from breaching the surface. They struggled together to get the lid in place as the person on the ladder pushed up against them.

“Fucking hussars!” Vesryn shouted as Gideon pressed his weight against the lid. His head was pounding with near-debilitating pain, making it extremely difficult to work his fingers against the lock. Vesryn added his good hand to the effort, and together they managed to set the lock in place despite the pushing and angered shouting of the person below.

Pounding rang out against the bottom of the lid as Gideon and Vesryn relaxed. For his part, Gideon simply collapsed against the lid, feeling the banging reverberate through his front.

“Look,” Vesryn said.

Gideon looked up towards the castle-palace. Light was now visible here and there in the windows, and a thin column of smoke was rising into the sky from somewhere on the building’s far side, obscuring the stars. The amount of smoke was increasing very quickly, and flames began to spread atop the roof, flickering in the breeze.

“How the hell are we going to get out of here?” Vesryn asked warily.

Great question.

“Only one other way,” Gideon said. “Help?”

Vesryn got to his feet then pulled Gideon up to his, and together they walked towards the gate. The fire on the castle-palace steadily increased in size and intensity behind them, casting a significant amount of light onto the surrounding estate.

They came to a stop in front of the gate.

“Hussars down the street will catch us eventually,” Vesryn said.

Gideon pointed towards the curb on the street beyond “There’s a gutter right there we can crawl into.”

“What, back into the sewers?”

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“You got any better ideas?”

Vesryn shook his head. “It ain’t gonna work. The ones inside here will just chase us out.”

“Not if someone closes the gate after us.”

There was a pulley system built into the side of the gate. Two large wheels with handles built into them jutted out from it, clearly meant for raising the portcullis. A long rope attached to the pulley traveled up the side of the wall towards the top of the gate, where it was attached to a lifting mechanism.

“Look there,” Vesryn said.

He pointed at a lever jutting out from the pulley at an upward angle. “You can hit that latch and the portcullis’ll drop.”

“What?”

“Yeah. I worked the front gate at Forelia City back when I was a levy. Before I joined the retinue.”

“Well, they’ll just raise it again.”

“Then someone'll have to cut the rope.”

Gideon didn’t like the idea of leaving someone behind, but before he could respond they were interrupted by the sound of pounding footsteps from behind. They turned together to face it.

Surelin, Len, Ruvayn and Elas were sprinting towards them down the walkway from the castle-palace. Edwin was with them, running awkwardly beside them with shackles locked around his wrists. He was wearing plain brown slave garments, with the same thin footwraps Gideon had seen him wearing during the play.

They passed the manhole without slowing down, then came to a gradual stop upon reaching Gideon and Vesryn. None of them seemed hurt, but the fact they were missing four people was conspicuous.

“What’s wrong with the manhole?” Surelin panted.

“Hussars,” Gideon said.

“Unlock my shackles, you absolute morons!!!” Edwin abruptly screamed.

Len pulled a ring of keys out of his pocket and approached him. He began to go through the keys one at a time until Edwin impatiently pointed out the correct one.

“Where’s everyone else?” Vesryn asked as Len unlocked the shackles.

Surelin ignored him. “How can we escape if the sewers are closed off?”

“The curb out front can get us back into them,” Gideon said.

“But if there’s hussars-”

“That metal gate by the ladder could block them off,” Len interrupted hurriedly. “One of these keys we acquired may be able to lock it.”

“I need a sword!” Edwin shouted at him angrily.

Len quickly led him over to the hedgerows where the dead hussars had been stashed.

“Get the portcullis raised!” Surelin cried as she rushed towards the pulley. “Ruvayn, help me!”

“They’re coming,” Vesryn called out.

Everyone turned to look towards the castle-palace. The building was now heavily aflame, and a group of roughly fifteen hussars were sprinting towards them from it. A bald man wearing chainmail and wielding a broadsword was leading them.

Elas replaced Surelin at the pulley, working with Ruvayn to raise the portcullis. Soon after, Len and Edwin rejoined the group.

“Form a line!” Len shouted. “We must protect them until the portcullis is lifted!

They took up positions alongside him. Vesryn drew his sword, holding it in his good hand, and Gideon pulled out his claymore. He was by no stretch of the imagination capable of fighting, but he had to try.

The hussars came to a halt well in front of the Forelian line and began to spread themselves out. As the bald man entered the light of the gate's lantern, it became clear beyond doubt that he was Ennio Capella. He took a few cautious steps forward until he was standing between the two lines.

With Ruvayn and Elas working the pulley, only five of the Forelians were left to face the hussars. Gideon doubted Vesryn could fight very well using his left hand, and as for himself he could barely stand upright. He wondered if he could make even a single swing without falling over. Of the five in their line, only three were in proper fighting condition, and they were outnumbered three to one by seasoned professionals.

We’re fucked.

Hatred twisted Ennio’s features as he quietly scanned the Forelians. His gaze settled on Edwin.

“Drop that sword, boy, and come over here, or I’ll cut your hands and feet off.”

“Come and take it, if you dare!” Edwin growled.

“I’m going to rip your teeth out and nail your rebellious tongue to my front gate!!!" Ennio screamed.

“You’ll have to come through me, first!” Surelin shot back.

“You burned down my home, bitch!!!” he raged. “I will skin each one of you alive!!!”

She took a step forward, towards him, and raised her sword.

“I am Surelin Forna! Crown Princess of the Kingdom of Forelia! And I challenge you to single combat!”

The hussars had been looking on with stony faces as their boss spoke, but looks of surprise cracked their expressions after Surelin’s declaration.

Ennio’s fury diminished as the realization dawned on him.

“The princess? Yes, I see the resemblance,” he said feverishly. “Taking another royal slave would make me feel much better. Yes. Perhaps I actually stand to gain something from this nightmare. Yes. I certainly do.”

He raised his sword and took a few steps towards Surelin. “I’m going to disarm you myself, slave. Tonight my men have demonstrated they cannot accomplish anything without me.”

Angry looks spread across the hussars as Surelin and Ennio took up positions for a duel. Behind the Forelians, Ruvayn and Elas completed lifting the portcullis and rushed over to join the battle line. The two lines began to bend, forming a loose circle around the duelists.

Well, we can leave, but how do we keep these fuckers from following us out?

Surelin entered the Plow guard, and Gideon studied Ennio as he began to inch towards her.

I have no idea how well trained he is, but he’s only a few inches taller than her. She can win this. If she’s careful.

Ennio entered the Window guard and abruptly launched himself at Surelin, swiftly crossing the few feet of space between them. Surelin held her ground, then met his swing with her own in a masterfully timed parry. For the space of several heartbeats Ennio was wide open for a counter strike. But Surelin simply stared at him, her sword raised but held still, and he quickly scrambled backwards away from her.

What the fuck?! It was over! Surelin, what are you doing?!

A look of shock was plastered across Ennio’s face as he stared at Surelin. It was impossible to know what exactly he’d expected, but he’d obviously underestimated her to a dangerous degree. Ennio had clearly undergone some training, but his attack had indicated a recklessness that was common among inexperienced fighters.

He doesn't seem much more experienced than Surelin.

Surelin’s failure to press the attack was far more confusing. Gideon’s eyes searched the side of her face, looking for answers.

She predicted his attack perfectly, but why didn’t she follow up?

After taking a moment to regain his confidence, Ennio entered the Window guard once again, this time approaching Surelin with far more caution. She switched to the Fool’s guard, and waited.

When he was in range, Ennio feinted right, then swiftly transferred his sword above his head to strike left. Surelin reacted to the feint slowly, but she just barely managed to block it in time. Ennio leveled another swing at her, and this time she blocked it easily. She began to press forward, and Ennio gave up ground even as he launched successive attacks at her.

Being forced backwards caused Ennio to lose the momentum he’d started with. He swung at her again and again, losing the initiative a little more with each failed attack. His attacks steadily weakened until they seemed entirely ineffectual, like a child playing at sword fighting with a tolerant adult.

Gideon watched with growing panic as Surelin continuously gave up opportunities to strike a mortal blow. It was clear that Surelin was a vastly superior fighter, but she was simply refusing to harm him.

For fucks sake, just kill him!!!

Ennio leapt backwards, a deep, angry scowl etched across his face, and nearly collided with one of the hussars standing behind him. Surelin did not contest his escape, instead she took a few steps backwards and entered the Roof guard.

“Oh come on!!!” Gideon screamed at her.

Both lines turned to shoot Gideon surprised looks. Surelin visibly froze up for a moment, then shot him a wary glance over her shoulder.

Ennio’s lips curled back, and he bared his teeth with rage as he glared at Surelin. He sprung towards her, bellowing like an enraged bear.

There was no technique whatsoever in his charge: he was simply bull rushing her. Once he was in range, he fired a lightning-fast thrust at her, but Surelin stepped past it. She grabbed onto his extended forearm with her free hand, then swiftly ran the edge of her blade against it, delivering a bone-deep cut that immediately began to spew blood.

He let out an anguished scream and dropped his sword. Surelin released him, and he fell backwards onto his bottom, cradling his shaking, wounded arm as his men nearby moved to support him.

Surelin looked over at Gideon and screamed.

“Run!!!”

Gideon turned to try, and felt hands grip his shoulders. Len and Ruvayn began to drag him towards the gate, hurrying him along.

Fighting rang out behind him as they crossed under the portcullis. At the same time, Vesryn ran over to the pulley, and Gideon realized that he intended to sacrifice himself.

“Go!!!” Vesryn shouted in Surelin’s direction.

Gideon looked over his shoulder and saw Edwin, Elas, and Surelin turn away from the hussars they were fending off. The hussars were instantly on their heels, and one of them just barely managed to pass under the portcullis after them before Vesryn slashed the rope.

The portcullis rattled and groaned as it dropped, and it slammed heavily into the ground. The sound traveled through the empty street, echoing off the walls of the surrounding estates.

Ruvayn released Gideon and ran over to help the other Forelians with the hussar who’d managed to make it through. Len remained with him, and practically stuffed him into the gutter.

“Get in, quickly!” he shouted at Gideon.

As Gideon got down to crawl into the gutter, he looked up and saw Vesryn through the portcullis being pinned to the floor by the hussars. Beyond, more hussars were climbing out of the manhole onto the grounds of the estate. On the Forelian's side of the gate, the single hussar who had made it through in time was fighting desperately to keep Surelin and the others at bay.

Gideon felt Len’s hand on his back, pushing him into the gutter.

“Go, son!”

He crawled inside, and before he knew it he was rolling.

The drop into the sewer was a steep incline that led down into a long room which was very similar to the ones Gideon had seen so often on the trip over. He was immediately and completely disoriented by the rolling, and vomited profusely after coming to a stop at the bottom.

The Forelians began to slide down the incline one at a time, landing on top of him before he could attempt to move out of the way. Surelin came down first, followed by Edwin, and after scrambling to her feet she quickly apologized to Gideon before pulling him clear of the rest of the sliding Forelians.

“I’m really fucked up,” Gideon groaned wearily.

“Just leave him,” Edwin suggested.

“No!” Surelin shouted. “Please, someone help me with him.”

Ruvayn moved to assist her, and together they pulled Gideon to his feet.

“Come with me, quickly!” Len said.

The Forelians followed him, hauling a now helpless Gideon. The room was spinning like a top for him, and he squeezed his eyes shut as they dragged him along.

They came to a stop a few moments later, and Gideon opened his eyes. The spinning had stopped, but his vision was now swimming. He could make out Len standing in front of him, and what seemed to be an opening to another room just beyond him, but little else.

“There’s hussars at the ladder,” Len whispered.

“What are we waiting for?” Edwin whispered back angrily.

“We don’t know which of these keys is the correct one-”

Edwin snatched the keys out of his hand and marched through the opening.

“No! Edwin-”

Surelin moved to chase after him, but was grabbed by Len.

“We can’t lose you both!” he hissed.

She gave him a terribly worried look, but remained in place. Len moved closer to the entrance to peer into the room beyond.

For a few moments the sewer was completely silent. Then the sounds of shouting and rushing feet rang out from the hallway Edwin had gone down.

Suddenly, he reappeared in front of them.

“They won’t be getting through,” he said proudly. “I broke one of the keys off in the lock. Hah! They didn’t notice my presence until it was too late!”

“That was absurdly reckless!” Surelin shouted.

"We did not risk life and limb for you to risk yours like that!" Len added.

"You did not risk life and limb...Sire." Edwin corrected him icily. "Now, let's leave, shall we? I have a great many things I wish to clarify with grandmother. Which direction is it?"

Surelin and Len both looked outraged, but said nothing. Len pointed south, and the Forelians hurried off into the sewers.

Gideon shut his eyes again as he was dragged along. A wave of relief washed over him, slightly tempering the terrible pain and dizziness that had disabled him. He was injured, but he was also alive and free. Half of the Forelians who'd accompanied them couldn't say the same.