"They only sent 30,000 men, how come?" The prince asked.
"They are anticipating the attack Sire," One of his aides replied.
"So we have a mole our midst, a spy!"
"Sire, with so many people involved in the operation, it was bound to leak. However, it doesn't matter whether they know or not, we'll still get them either way."
"I like your confidence, but need I remind you that this is also a test of my ability to lead. I cannot just steamroll my way through, even though I can."
"Be that as it may Sire, how a commander deals with the spies and the leaks is also an essential part of war and leadership. I am sure his highness will be interested in knowing how you handled both with extreme care."
"And what do you suggest?"
"We use the leak to our advantage. Right now they are singing to our tunes, we make a few changes here and there, they won't know when the song changed, Sire."
"I like where this is going, do explain," the prince said with a sly smile.
***
It had been a long night. The King woke up with a start, only it wasn't a start. The alarm had sounded. The long-awaited alarm. It sounded across the entire city, from the inner sanctum to the outer city, everyone heard the cry of the alarm.
This was it, the moment everyone had been waiting for. For a long time, Tristanites had known they were at war, and that the enemy had made it to their shores. They also knew that this was a landing party, a small group while the bulk of the forces came later. That was why it was business as usual in Tristan.
Granted, there had been more than a few people who thought to leave was best, but many of the citizens stuck around to fight for their homeland. Some had joined the army and become soldiers, while others were in some way or other involved in the war effort. However, this was mostly in the outer cities. Within the inner cities, the business had been going on as usual. With that alarm, everything changed.
This was it, the arrival of the bulk of the army. Gumina's fleet was coming. From this moment onwards, everything would change in Tristan, at least for a time. Down on the streets, many people could be seen rushing about in response to the bell.
It should be known that, unlike other cities, Tristan was the most heavily fortified city in the East. The massive walls were not just for show. They offered continued and permanent protection for the residents according to social class and standing. Moreover, the walls were not the only fortification.
Tristan had a very well developed tunnel system underground. All the major institutions had tunnels dug out leading out of the city if worse came to worse. It was well known that even if one successfully took Tristan, taking the important personnel and resources was still a tall order since moving them underground was easy as pie.
The Tristanites may seem to have panicked but it wasn't true terror. It was just a coming to terms with reality. Just like in the case of COVID-19, there were a lot of tall tales and misinformation going around about the upcoming disaster as the entire city held their breath.
responding quickly, by the time the King had come out of bed and adorned on his armor, the special guard had gathered.
"Where is the princess," The King asked as he ascended to the wall headed for the deck. From there he could see the entire coastline. Already all non-essential personnel had been cleared out in the area around the King's dais.
"Your highness, her majesty is still leading the invasion into the enemy's camp."
"Get her behind the walls by the time the enemy gets to the shore." The King was already regretting his decision to allow her to go get some experience. Had she stayed behind the walls, he would have been sure she was safe. "Captain Morio, I want you to take care of this personally."
"Understood," Captain Morio said as he peeled off to tend to the King's orders. It would be a hard ride to get to the princess in time and an even harder one to get her back before the enemy got to shore, assuming no trouble came up to him.
***
Sir Masked Twin Blades thrust his sword with all the venom he could master at the woman in front of him. As one of the Ghost squad's special elite, he had hundreds of assassinations under his belt. He was trained for this moment, this singular purpose, to end lives. He lived for it.
Lady Maara felt constricted, as though she had no more room. The attack held a certain threat about it that made her tense up. Her instincts were screaming at her to run away but alas, she had nowhere to go. It wasn't just how easily Lord Marco had fallen that was making her tense up, it was the whole feeling this new threat gave off. He felt lethal, the same feeling she got from Barda.
Watching the sword descend, she raised hers to meet it, but she feared she couldn't block it. She never would find out, for in the next moment:
Pang!
An arrow had struck the sword, throwing off the attack. Fortunately for the princess, or was it by design, the assailant was throw right on the path of her attack, causing her sword to strike his torso.
In that instance, the princess was given another shock. Given the man's simple appearance, she had assumed he was just another soldier, but a normal soldier's armor would not be sturdy enough to withstand her full-powered strike. This man had to be special.
She didn't have time to ponder on that as Sir Masked made his escape, cutting down 2 royal guards in the process. He couldn't believe it, he had failed! Realization dawned on him as he retreated. He didn't even have time to look back and see her face once more as more and more people surrounded him, determined not to let him go.
Sir Masked was also smart enough to know a formidable archer was targetting him. He had not believed that such a powerful archer existed, thinking the commander had been overstating, but now, he was inclined to believe her report. He, therefore, made his retreat hiding from the archer among those chasing him.
Barda would have wanted nothing more than to put an arrow through the assailant's head but he couldn't. The bulk of people chasing him were on his way, and Barda could sense the man was doing it intentionally.
Barda made a point to start a file on this unknown masked assailant. He recorded his movements and fighting techniques. he would be on the lookout next time the man showed his head.
Something else was gnawing at him. There was a group on standby should the pirates show themselves, yet for the life of him, Barda couldn't figure out why they hadn't made a move. They were supposed to be their backup and based on where they were, they should have arrived by now, or at least within his scan area. Barda had a feeling something was wrong. That was when he heard it.
***
"Well, I have to admit it, that was one hell of a shot!" The man said as he played with some cloud air. Both he and his companion were seated on thrones in the clouds overlooking the battlefield like gods watching mortals fight.
"That is not what we came here to assess," The woman said a bit saltily. She gave the man a dirty look before proceeding, "his archery skills are not the ones on trial."
"I get that Arnea, but you got to give a compliment where one is due, and this guy deserves one," the man persisted.
"Fine, I admit it, Krib. he is a good archer, but does he qualify?" Arnea responded impatiently.
"Good? I'd say he is more than good. Did you see ..."
"Quit it!" Arnea roared. Krib roared in laughter, she was just too easy. Pissing Arnea off had been one of the very few upsides to his boring assignment, but it was not going to be boring for much longer.
"Well?" Arnea prompted impatiently.
"Don't forget we still don't know where he came from," Krib began, "and I have not seen any trace of magic on him."
"He's got magic alright, look at all he's been able to achieve. Maybe this is all a ruse so that we don't suspect him." Arnea stated.
"He could just be a genius ..."
"Who came out of nowhere?" Arnea loved interrupting Krib, her way of paying him back.
"Let's just see how he deals with the coming threat, then we can assess his abilities better." Arnea agreed with Krib. Whatever that was coming at them was so horrifying he'd need to pull out all the stops, if he had any chance of surviving.