Chapter 27
TRIANA OR BUST
Devon and Beth had spent the last few hours going back over the Triana attack plans. They had discussed things several times and reached a strategy they both agreed upon. Beth had live images coming in from the city, and she’d be communicating via mental link to the five teams once they all split up. There would be three attack squads, a squad of snipers now known as Eagle Squad and the Chaos Squad.
Now he stood in front of Haven and looked proudly at his troops. They were all dressed in their new armour and equipped with all the gear he had lovingly crafted for them. Every soldier had a coloured armband depicting their squad designation. They stood to attention in tight rows, arranged neatly in their groups. The strange thing about that was, he hadn’t asked them to do it. They had organised themselves. Even Izzy had joined the ranks. However, she was grinning at him in high amusement.
Devon felt a nudge against his waist. He looked down and saw Jet, resplendent in her shadow-cat form. She even had a black ribbon around her neck with a troop insignia dangling from it like a medal. “Hello, gorgeous. I was hoping you’d be joining us. You’re looking smart.”
Jet grinned at him and pushed her chest forward proudly. She had good reason to despise the fairy queen, too and would fight by her master’s side. No one would harm him unless they got through her first, and she wasn’t about to let that happen.
Devon straightened to his full height and addressed the small army. “You make me very proud,” He said with a loud voice. “I know that, for some of you, the induction process has been a little hasty. However, there is a bitch-queen and a city swarming with her minions that all desperately need to die. Tonight we all make our mark in the history books.” Devon paused to wait for the cheer that rang out to die down. “I will not judge you tonight. Work together, discover what you can do, learn from each other, and use your strengths. Most importantly, do not target anyone who is not hostile. This is not the time to settle grudges. If you have doubts, take prisoners.”
He looked at the faces gazing at him. Some looked excited, while others looked nervous, but everyone looked proud to be there. “Lorn, you are blue squad leader. Your team have the task of securing the slave pens and the slums. Remove hostiles, free everyone, then escort them out of the city and into the forest. There, volunteers will take over and lead them safely back through the waygate.”
“Yes, sir,” Lorn responded.
“Grace, you lead the orange squad. Your task is to secure the residential areas. Again, clear out all hostiles and, like Lorn, free all servants and slaves and escort them to safety. Anyone who uses a slave as a hostage dies. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” Grace said, her diminutive stature belying the authority she carried within his army.
“Pip, you have Eagle Squad. Do you and your snipers know your target watchpoints?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Mitsey, you have Chaos Squad. You know your targets, follow Lorn in and then get busy.”
“Yes, sir.”
“My squad will secure the trade district in the north and then move south to the palace gates to secure a rendezvous point. Once we’re all back together, we go into the palace as a full group. I want you all to fight hard, but don’t take silly risks. I did not recruit you as sacrifices. Stay alive, understood?”
“Sir, yes, sir,” every one of them shouted at the same time.
Devon smiled broadly. “Well, you certainly scare me, now go and scare them. We leave in five minutes.” Wow! he thought to himself. They’re just too good at the shouty bits.
As dusk lengthened the shadows, they marched through the waygate then onward toward the city’s western wall. Behind the wall were the slums where the slave pens and arena were. While Lorn’s team had business in the slums, Devon planned to march his team clockwise around the circular outer wall to the northern part of town. There he would start clearing the trade district while heading south toward the centre. The city’s inner wall surrounded the palace with its gardens and five towers that lurked underneath the accursed mana-restriction dome.
He remembered the first time he had been there. Back then, he’d been overconfident and marched on the palace alone. He had paid dearly for his arrogance. Now, freeing the subjugated faie was the task of his forces. His focus was purely on revenge. He had to get past this need for retribution and finally move on with his life. He had other things to do now.
He held his arm up, and the five squads stopped about one hundred feet from the city’s outer wall. The sound of the final footfall of each person landing at the same time amazed him. Even their marching was way too good.
Fortunately, the outer wall was just a barrier. There was no walkway on top for archers to fire down from or guards left to patrol its perimeter. The inner walls were different. They were wide and fortified heavily. “Grace, if you would be so kind. Make us a door.”
Grace smiled, then stepped forward. After a second, her brow furrowed in concentration, both arms reached out in front of her, and she cupped her hands together, which immediately began to glow with a swirling silver light. When the light became too intense to look at, she broke her hands apart and thrust them forwards, palms outstretched. A bright pulse of silver light shot forward and struck the wall. The stone instantly surrendered; first, it glowed white-hot, then melted into slag, and flowed apart. Seconds later, there was a gap in the wall, ten feet wide, from top to bottom. Cooling stone could be heard plinking and cracking in a puddle on the ground.
Most of the troops just looked at Grace in amazement. The power they had just witnessed was beyond anything they had ever seen. In the few moments that it had taken the young mage to cast her spell, she had gained the respect of everyone there.
Grace looked back at Devon and winked. She knew how good she’d become in such a short time, wielding magic as if she’d been doing it for years. Devon grinned. There’d be no living with her ego now. He focused back on the task at hand and led his group through the gap.
They filed into the city. Some troops knew the streets only too well because they’d been slaves here only a few days previously. Izzy led Devon’s purple squad around toward the trade district. Everyone stayed vigilant, but the streets were utterly empty here. After a few minutes, he heard fighting taking place behind and to the right of him, which meant that Lorn had met resistance. They continued around the slums until they met a broad road leading to the centre. Following the wall, they noticed the buildings began to improve in quality as the streets became cleaner and better maintained. They were now on the outskirts of the wealthier, commercial area. Finally, they reached the northern entrance and met a small squad of elite orc guards who had been guarding the gate. By the time they realised they were under attack from within the city, it was too late for them. Six veteran soldiers lay dead in less than that many seconds and all with barely a sound. His people were good.
Devon kept walking but reached out for the souls anyway. As Lorn had said, sixteen souls arrived along with the six from the purple squad’s work. He was surprised to see how powerful the souls were, yet Lorn’s squad had despatched them without anyone getting hurt.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
So, the queen still had casters. Interesting. Devon knew that the Earth realm was the only place where symbiots could be found, and the queen had destroyed any access to that over one-thousand, five-hundred years ago. It was a mystery to him how she managed to have magic users in her ranks still. Maybe she’d used some sort of enforced hibernation when the mages weren’t required. He certainly hadn’t been expecting to encounter spells from anyone but the queen herself. She had proved that she was still full of surprises, and he had to take care not to overestimate his chances. Jeffery had been right. His track record was poor thus far.
He sent scouts out to sweep each building from west to east while waiting with Jet, Izzy, Twilight, Eluna, and Djinn on the centre road, ready to sweep in should anyone encounter trouble. Twilight and Eluna were his squad’s unicorn medics, and he was delighted to have them supporting his people. They were incredible healers and had empowerment spells to bolster morale and vitality. Unicorns were the most surgically attuned of all magical healers. They repaired wounds by magical manipulation akin to surgery but with powerful healing magic protecting their work and keeping their patient alive. They had detailed knowledge of their patient’s anatomy, which assisted their talents considerably. It was almost miraculous what these beautiful creatures could do for the wounded. They also came with a vast library of focused healing spells. All his troops were under strict instructions to keep them safe. Devon had tasked Djinn to keep these two under her watchful eye.
They had emerged into the street behind the small crowd that was facing off against Gwen and her team. The fairy was standing in the middle of a circle of seven heavyset orcs, each armed with a blunt weapon and one of the white mana-wands that Lorn had warned them about.
Izzy’s golden light-cage enclosed around the fairy and then chaos ensued. Four black cats emerged from the shadows in mid-leap, and immediately half the mercenaries were down and out of the fight. Dark flames erupted from the eyes, nose, and mouth of one, and a heartbeat later, black, mist-enshrouded chains wrapped mercilessly around another. Black ichor began oozing from the last thug’s orifices as he choked and finally suffocated. Gwen or Sulkiss had hit the last one with a hex; it was a particularly nasty one.
After all the hostile targets were dead, everyone except Jet regained their standard forms. Devon admired the ice-statue that Djinn had created from the last mercenary.
Devon took a hammer from one of the dead orcs and hit the statue hard. Frigid shards of orc scattered the floor.
Izzy gracefully extended her left arm with her fingers stretched wide. She concentrated for a second and then clenched her hand into a tight fist. Her light-cage shrank rapidly, squeezing the fairy tightly. The creature screamed as pain from the pressing cage bars coursed through his body. Then his cries ended abruptly as his skin couldn’t withstand the growing pressure of the constricting bars. There was a wet explosive noise as gore fountained in every direction. Those wearing Devon’s new armour stayed unblemished as the wet mess slid off them, but some of the slaves fared worse. Instead of looking horrified, they cheered and smiled widely.
“That’ll teach that grasping bastard,” one elf woman cheered.
“Take that, you sick, twisted pervert,” a silthrine woman shouted. Her lizard-like features were grinning with joy.
Devon cast a ‘divine truth’ spell, and a golden cloud enveloped everyone in the street. Everyone’s aura stayed golden, and so he knew that they’d removed all the enemies.
“Lord Wayfarer, my god, you really came for us, just as the prophet, Tolomine, said you would,” the silthrine lady said, falling to her knees and clasping her clawed fingers together.
Devon grinned at her, cupped her chin, and guided her back to her feet in his well-practised, gentle way. “Do you have a name, lady silthrine?”
“Oh! Uhm, my lord, my name is Brielle. Though it would be an honour if you would call me Bree.”
“Well then, my lady Bree. Would you be so kind as to assemble as many slaves as you can find and walk westwards around the wall until you find a gap. People will escort you to Sanctuary and a brand-new life. Please don’t head north as there is still danger there. The outer sections are safe for you now, though. When you’re settled, come and find me. We can talk then.”
Izzy smiled and shook her head.
Devon returned the small wave that Bree gave him and watched her collect her fellow slaves and lead them away.
Devon and his squad were back in their travel forms and, flitting from shadow to shadow, heading north.
Ffi’s situation was different. A fairy man and his four guards held blades to the throats of five scantily-clad fairy females. At least twenty more similarly dressed ladies from various species were bound and gagged and sitting on the street outside what could only be a brothel.
Darcia was another silthrine lady, and she was now one of his best sharpshooters, second only to Pip. Not only that, but she was the silthrine they’d met in the forest when she and her sister had tried to rob them on the way to reopen the waygate. She’d brought nearly four hundred silthrine through the gate two days ago, joining the army alongside her sister that same day.
Devon hadn’t realised that she was in range. By his estimate, she must be over two hundred yards away from this point.
Darcia snorted at him across their link. The mere idea she’d miss her shots was ludicrous to her. Two red arrows pointing downward appeared over the two mercenaries on the left.
He saw Izzy’s snow leopard begin to cast her spell and readied his ‘soul chains’.
As soon as the golden cage appeared around the fairy in charge, two mercenaries dropped in quick succession, large holes blossoming through their skulls. Devon’s chains wrapped tightly around another mercenary’s torso, pulling his arms to his sides and forcing him to his knees.
Gwen’s whip arced through the air and snapped around the last mercenary’s wrist. She tugged, forcing the orc’s arm away from the fairy woman’s throat. The orc began to bloat, and thousands of angry insects started to pour from his open mouth and nose. The creature quickly asphyxiated and fell. Sulkiss let out a whoop of glee.
Izzy closed her fist, and both the leader and Gwen’s targets exploded. This time, there were cheers mixed with shouts of disgust.
Devon cast his ‘divine truth’ spell again and was surprised when the aura of the fairy female the leader had been holding hostage went scarlet. Realising her deception had been uncovered, she drew a dagger and flew at Devon with alarming speed.
A shick sound was heard, and a heartbeat later, the flying fairy’s forward momentum was reversed when Devon’s staff in spear form pierced her torso, heart, and emerged through her spine.
The fairy woman standing next to her screamed. Everyone stayed rooted to the spot, shock and horror keeping them where they stood.
The squad freed the hostages after the captured enemies were dead, but the ex-slaves just looked lost and confused.
“Please settle down. You are safe and free now. Please make your way anticlockwise around the wall where you will be met and shown to Sanctuary, your new home,” Izzy said.
The brothel slaves looked at Izzy and then at Devon.
“Come on, girls,” a shapely fairy with long blonde hair said. “Looks like we just became self-employed.”
Devon laughed. “We have plenty of space in our trade district. I’m sure you can find premises there once you get settled. No one’s going to judge.”
“Mmm! I like you. Can I keep you?” another pretty fairy purred at Devon.
“You’ll need to go through me and the elf first, butterfly,” Gwen growled fiercely.
“Sorry, but I am very spoken for,” Devon said.
The fairy sniffed and followed the others off to the west.
Purple squad methodically searched each business and residence and freed over two hundred slaves. Nearly fifty more fairy slavers and a group of very aggressive dwarves met their demise while trying to flee. Sadly for them, they ran straight into Darcia’s path and were dropped before they even knew they were in peril.
Not one slave died during their work, and once done, they made their way toward the palace gates up the slope to the south.