The blue orbs began to come at Vidya and her group and were slowly starting to hit their marks more often than not. It was strange magic, it felt a lot different than she had felt from other races. Thankfully the orbs were not too strong, mostly annoying, but did slow them down. Almost everyone who had brought their bows was shooting at the humans who were fleeing. Vidya who did bring a bow, opted not to use hers, instead, she was launching small bolts of lighting. She did not want to kill them, at least not their Scaledins, so she used less mana with each shot. This back and forth went on for some time, neither side killing any of the others, but there were a few close calls.
After quite some time running, Vidya started to notice a towering wall in the distance. This meant they were getting close to the human town. This was not a good thing, as it was not supposed to have large walls like it did, at least not according to her fifty-year-old map. This would mean a lot more people, and they would likely need to back off. Her thoughts were interrupted as another group of humans came running from the city. As they neared, Vidya and the other elves leaped into the trees to get out of sight. They did not want to reignite the war that divided the world, so instead of fighting, they backed off. However, after witnessing the strange magic surge from miles away and seeing a mage with a magic of a color hue they had not seen before, they would need to find answers. They would need to find another way to get their answers. This would likely mean sneaking into the camp and finding the man with that strange magic.
The group watched as the humans returned back to the town. After they were no longer in sight, the elves hopped down from the trees onto the awaiting grass below. They decided to not remain in such an open area, or near the road leading towards the main entrance to the city. The walls were tall and made of stone. It had to have taken a long time to build since humans could not wield magic to aid them. About a good kilometer away, was the main gate. It was a large wood and metal gate controlled by large cranks on the inner side of the wall. There was a smaller entrance for just people without wagons, which only had two guards instead of the twelve at the large gate. Atop the wall, there were several points that jutted out which could hold observers and archers who partoled around the top of the wall. Getting into the city would be difficult for Vidya, but rather simple for the other elves when night came. Since they gained power from the moon, they would be able to sneak into the town without drawing too much attention. Vidya had managed to talk her way into going with the group again, saying her skills and knowledge of the humans would be beneficial in getting them through tricky situations. They were resting before night since the moment the sun was down, they would move into the city to begin looking for the man they were after.
“I still don’t understand why you are letting her come along,” one of the elves had said to Ajal.
Many of the other elves followed suit giving reasons as to why Vidya should not come along. Vidya was out scouting a way in by request of Ajal after he saw the weariness of the others.
“I brought her along because of the unique skills she can contribute,” Ajal had said. “You all are good at stealth and assassinations, whereas she is capable of blending into her surroundings, causing distractions, and gettins us out of tricky situations.”
“She does not know anything about stealth though,” Another Elf had started to complain, when he was silenced by a gesture from Ajal.
“We all started out knowing little about what our jobs meant, and she will have to learn as well,” Ajal resumed. “If you keep bringing this up, and if you keep making this hard on her, I will see to it you are removed from your positions. I will talk with her and be sure she knows what she is getting into. We are going to be busy tonight, get prepared and do not bring this up again.”
Ajal hated taking command in this fashion. He would have much preferred just giving advice, but he knew people would need a leader, and he was chosen because of his clever planning. The reason today went as bad as it did was because they did not know what to prepare for. Since they would be trying to sneak into the town and find someone, he now knew how to prepare.
It was the next day, and Vidya was up in a tree a good distance away from the camp. She was just close enough to see the towering wall while just out of sight for the humans. She knew why she wanted to go looking for this strange man, she too was curious as to how a human was able to cast magic. She wanted answers. She had always wanted to be an assassin, which is why she was out with a bunch of them now. She was finding it not as easy as she had thought it would be. She found it easier to just practice and use her magical abilities, rather than relying on martial capabilities.
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Her thoughts were set aside, as she was able to find what she was looking for. A blind spot which could be used by a few at a time to sneak into the town. It was close to one of the protruding points in the wall which hung over the side giving vision on what is below. However, this particular one was at a strange curve, where in the bottom center on the ground, was not visible from the two other points to either side. There was a small human sided gate underneath, where she could not see any guards. She watched the wall carefully, timing the patrol changes which came every two hours, during which the guards at the door would leave, and a few minutes later new ones would arrive. After making sure it would be conscient, she began to return to the group to let them know her findings.
Along her way back however, something made her freeze. Rather it was the lack of something. Normally she could feel the magic in the air around her, which she drew in and stored for when she needed to use a spell. However, where she was, she could not sense the air magic she could normally sense all the time. As she began to use her own mana to experiment, she found there was no natural magic in the air. Instead it was a constant, not overpowering, but noticeable amount of mana which felt exactly the same as what she had felt when that massive burst of mana happened a few days past. She stood studying the air for a short time, when it faded and everything returned to normal. She was unsure what to make of it and remained where she was for quite sometime before noting the sun was almost down. She broke into a run to let the group know about the blindspot in the city defenses.
When she arrived she informed the group about what she had found, and since no one had mentioned the void of magic in the air from just a little ago, she kept it hidden. She did not know what it meant so she did not want to have them jumping to conclusions.
No need for them to start tearing their way through the. It’s thinking there are dark forces at play. She thought to herself.
“We will leave for the city when the moon is up.” Ajal said. “They will be less likely to see us in the dark. We will move silent but quick. Get in, find out what is going on, then we leave. Preferably with that mage but do not risk being discovered and getting killed just to get him out.”
The group gave their conformations and they headed towards the opening. As they walked Vidya reached into her pack to start going through some of the books she had taken with her when she left. She wanted to do some research into the magic she had noticed. She was not expecting to find anything, but found a couple mentions in the legends book. Nothing definitive but it was a place with the rest of her knowledge. She continued to read on about different races she had not heard of and lost track of her surroundings. She only knew they had finally arrived when AJal grabbed her arm to stop her from walking past. She put the book she had in bad back into her pack. Vidya then turned her attention towards the guard tower, the two at the gate before repeating what she had told the group before.
“The moment those guards walk away we will have exactly two minutes until the next group takes over,” she told them. “We will have to move in pairs so we cannot be seen by the other tower. Be sure to stay as close to the center line from the front of that watch post.”
To Vidyas surprise she got a round of acknowledgment and thank yours from the group. She had mixed feelings, but before she could get carried away in her own mind, the guard turned and walked away. The group then ran to the gate. Ajal slipped a small pouch from his coat and removed a silver key embedded with elvish runes. The runes glowed slightly showing the magic at hand. Humans would not be able to see it, as it was a mana glow which only those with magic would be able to see. He went to use the key on the lock to the gate. It was the wrong key, but as it got close to the lock, it warped and changed until it went in with a click. Ajal quickly pulled open the gate. They all slipped in and the gate was shut and locked behind them. They quickly moved to the roof of the closest building. A short time after they had made it to the roof, two new guards could be seen headed towards the gate they had come through.
“Split up into groups of two.” Ajal said. “ I’ll remain here in case you find what we are looking for. . We will all meet back here in three hours. If you find him return sooner and I’ll go with you to assist you with getting him out of the city. He was traveling with those soldiers so he will likely be in one of the barracks to the north.”
The group split up to begin looking for the strange man. While searching, she was getting increasingly frustrated with not finding the man. She decided to think back and maybe find something from the small encounter she could use. She started thinking back to when she was changing the humans through the forest. As she was running she had seen a man with his legs off the side of the Scaledins. That same man had then begun shooting mana orbs at her. Blue mana orbs which she had not seen before.
Suddenly she had a revelation. The man had both legs to one side. Scaledins we hard enough to ride as is, but sitting to one side would be worse. The only reason she could come up with was that his legs were bound. He may have been their prisoner. Just as she relished that, she froze. The same void of magic appeared with the same strange magic in the air. She was only stunned for a second before using it to follow it back to the source. It led her strait to a small building. On the front there was a sign which whe could read even though it was not in the Elvish. She peaked through the door to see if anyone was inside. After seeing no one, she entered the building.