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. \u201c\u2026I can\u2019t stay silent about this!\u201d muttered Malnar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAbout what?\u201d asked Orbak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAbout you charging off into battle while bound in a wheelchair!\u201d Orbak took a deep breath to try and calm himself before he said something wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMalnar, my bond to the Blood Contract is more important. Besides, I\u2019ve got my enchanted armor with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s only gonna give you two hours of mobility! The siege will last longer!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the principle of the thing!\u201d By then, Orbak paused his labors and gave his daughter his full attention. \u201cElgrad is my friend and the rightful ruler of the Mid-realm! If I don\u2019t help him regain his throne, then what kind of ruler does that make me?! Why should anyone follow an Emboramii again?!\u201d After a silence, he returned to sharpening his sword. \u201cBesides, it\u2019d be nice to at least stand up for a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just don\u2019t want to see you cut down within that time!\u201d pleaded Malnar. \u201cDaddy, please! Reconsider!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026I can\u2019t. I have to help Elgrad.\u201d Malnar sighed. Her attempt failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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. \u201cCome,\u201d she called. Foresna then came in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHey, Arsha,\u201d he greeted with a grin on his face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cForesna,\u201d sighed Arsha happily as she got up and hugged him. \u201cWhat can I do for you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve been asking if Rokanth can spare at least three more soldiers, yes?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have. Did you find them?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey actually escaped from Largandra to get here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey did?! Then I need to see them! Where are they?!\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGreetings, your Highness,\u201d said the large one through their mask\u2019s voice modulator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWelcome to the siege team!\u201d greeted Arsha. \u201cWhy the voice modulators, though?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf we revealed ourselves,\u201d explained the second, \u201cwe wouldn\u2019t be taken so seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur usual professions,\u201d continued the third, \u201clead others to believe that we\u2019re not suited for combat. Largandra is our home and, regretfully, two of us are related to Skain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo, you\u2019re removing him from power to spite him?\u201d asked Arsha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s one of the reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell, any enemy of Skain is a friend of my family\u2019s. Welcome to the fight!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou told me,\u201d said Foresna, \u201cthat you came from Largandra to begin with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCorrect, and the way in is still available,\u201d 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. \u201cThere\u2019s a little culvert in the northwest wall,\u201d explained the large benefactor, \u201cthat functions as nothing more than a drain. It leads right into the sewers of Largandra. We used it during the cover of darkness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026The sewers?\u201d asked Foresna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHoo boy,\u201d muttered Arsha. \u201cBetter bring the nose plugs!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The strike force commanders assembled in the Endeavor<\/em>\u2019s Conference Room. Arsha pulled up the map of Largandra. \u201cOur benefactors,\u201d she began, \u201cpointed out how they got out initially.\u201d The computer screen magnified the area where the culvert was. \u201cThere\u2019s a culvert in the northwestern wall that leads to the sewers of Largandra. Everyone, you better have brought nose plugs because Largandra\u2019s sewers do NOT smell rosy!\u201d The screen then changed to a map of Largandra\u2019s sewer system. \u201cWhen 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\u2019s 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.\u201d The computer indicated the path and endpoint. \u201cThat junction is right where the castle\u2019s 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,\u201d she pointed out a four-way path near the castle-side exit of the maze, \u201cone would turn left to get to the exit. This time, however, we\u2019re going right into this dead-end where a secret passage into the castle is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWon\u2019t there be guards patrolling the city or castle?\u201d asked Markulak. \u201cAnd there\u2019s the matter of the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019ll be leading a team two pors east at the junction when we split,\u201d explained Arsha. \u201cDirectly above you will be a manhole cover just outside of the guards\u2019 sight and out of the sight of the robots patrolling the wall. Once you\u2019re up, check the wall for a secret entrance. When you\u2019re inside, set up the det-packs while remaining undetected. If you can, see if you can get other robots to join your cause.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s still the matter of the guards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey aren\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere ARE people in the guards more loyal to coin than anything else,\u201d remarked Elgrad. \u201cSo 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\u2019s base with no interruptions?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDon\u2019t forget the part that this mission will last through the night,\u201d replied Arsha. \u201cEveryone, we deploy at 39:00. We\u2019ve got two hours to prepare. Take some anti-sleep potions and make sure your teams know what\u2019s going down. Teamwork is critical here, there can be no margin for error. Dismissed.\u201d The strike commanders filed out to brief their teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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. \u201c\u2026I can\u2019t stay silent about this!\u201d muttered Malnar. \u201cAbout what?\u201d asked Orbak. \u201cAbout you charging off into battle while bound in a wheelchair!\u201d Orbak took a deep […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,238],"tags":[482],"class_list":["post-5204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-three-realms","category-the-three-realms-book-5-the-final-fight","tag-fantasy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5204"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5205,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5204\/revisions\/5205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}