Malnar stayed with her parents in their quarters. For now, it was her and her father. She kept sneaking a glance at Orbak as he sharpened his sword. “…I can’t stay silent about this!” muttered Malnar.
“About what?” asked Orbak.
“About you charging off into battle while bound in a wheelchair!” Orbak took a deep breath to try and calm himself before he said something wrong.
“Malnar, my bond to the Blood Contract is more important. Besides, I’ve got my enchanted armor with me.”
“That’s only gonna give you two hours of mobility! The siege will last longer!”
“It’s the principle of the thing!” By then, Orbak paused his labors and gave his daughter his full attention. “Elgrad is my friend and the rightful ruler of the Mid-realm! If I don’t help him regain his throne, then what kind of ruler does that make me?! Why should anyone follow an Emboramii again?!” After a silence, he returned to sharpening his sword. “Besides, it’d be nice to at least stand up for a bit.”
“I just don’t want to see you cut down within that time!” pleaded Malnar. “Daddy, please! Reconsider!”
“…I can’t. I have to help Elgrad.” Malnar sighed. Her attempt failed.
Arsha finished drawing up her battle plans in her Ready Room, still grimacing about how uphill the operation would be, even with the soldiers she had at her disposal. If she could get at least three more, it would be a fool-proof plan. She then heard her door chime. “Come,” she called. Foresna then came in.
“Hey, Arsha,” he greeted with a grin on his face.
“Foresna,” sighed Arsha happily as she got up and hugged him. “What can I do for you?”
“You’ve been asking if Rokanth can spare at least three more soldiers, yes?”
“I have. Did you find them?”
“They actually escaped from Largandra to get here.”
“They did?! Then I need to see them! Where are they?!” Foresna led her to the conference room and met the three soldiers. They wore modern Elf armor and masks to hide their faces. One of them was big around the middle.
“Greetings, your Highness,” said the large one through their mask’s voice modulator.
“Welcome to the siege team!” greeted Arsha. “Why the voice modulators, though?”
“If we revealed ourselves,” explained the second, “we wouldn’t be taken so seriously.”
“Our usual professions,” continued the third, “lead others to believe that we’re not suited for combat. Largandra is our home and, regretfully, two of us are related to Skain.”
“So, you’re removing him from power to spite him?” asked Arsha.
“That’s one of the reasons.”
“Well, any enemy of Skain is a friend of my family’s. Welcome to the fight!”
“You told me,” said Foresna, “that you came from Largandra to begin with.”
“Correct, and the way in is still available,” replied the large one. They pulled up a map of Largandra as it currently stood with a massive wall surrounding the city. Arsha flinched at the sight. She never liked walls around a city. “There’s a little culvert in the northwest wall,” explained the large benefactor, “that functions as nothing more than a drain. It leads right into the sewers of Largandra. We used it during the cover of darkness.”
“…The sewers?” asked Foresna.
“Hoo boy,” muttered Arsha. “Better bring the nose plugs!”
The strike force commanders assembled in the Endeavor’s Conference Room. Arsha pulled up the map of Largandra. “Our benefactors,” she began, “pointed out how they got out initially.” The computer screen magnified the area where the culvert was. “There’s a culvert in the northwestern wall that leads to the sewers of Largandra. Everyone, you better have brought nose plugs because Largandra’s sewers do NOT smell rosy!” The screen then changed to a map of Largandra’s sewer system. “When we get in, my team will travel the southern tunnels until we hit the chocolate factory a por south of the culvert, then we turn east and head to Cryer’s Square in the middle of the city, roughly 5 pors. After that, we turn southeast and proceed thirteen pors until we hit this junction here.” The computer indicated the path and endpoint. “That junction is right where the castle’s plumbing connects to the sewers. The manhole cover is just shy of the western end of the stables. Once we get into the stables, we enter the castle proper via the garden maze. Ordinarily, when we get to this junction here,” she pointed out a four-way path near the castle-side exit of the maze, “one would turn left to get to the exit. This time, however, we’re going right into this dead-end where a secret passage into the castle is.”
“Won’t there be guards patrolling the city or castle?” asked Markulak. “And there’s the matter of the wall.”
“You’ll be leading a team two pors east at the junction when we split,” explained Arsha. “Directly above you will be a manhole cover just outside of the guards’ sight and out of the sight of the robots patrolling the wall. Once you’re up, check the wall for a secret entrance. When you’re inside, set up the det-packs while remaining undetected. If you can, see if you can get other robots to join your cause.”
“There’s still the matter of the guards.”
“They aren’t being paid as much as Daddy pays them. I think, if not their patriotism, then their wallets will easily convince them to look the other way while we take Largandra back.”
“There ARE people in the guards more loyal to coin than anything else,” remarked Elgrad. “So let me sum up the plan; we all go into the sewers, split into two groups to deal with both the wall and Skain, work our way through the defenses that each target will likely have, take Skain out, blow up the wall once any civilians living near them are evacuated to a safe distance, then we start rebuilding the Mid to Under Realmgate so we can storm Dr. Borg’s base with no interruptions?”
“Don’t forget the part that this mission will last through the night,” replied Arsha. “Everyone, we deploy at 39:00. We’ve got two hours to prepare. Take some anti-sleep potions and make sure your teams know what’s going down. Teamwork is critical here, there can be no margin for error. Dismissed.” The strike commanders filed out to brief their teams.