"So how's it feel like not seeing your lady in 2 years?"
Eli asked between bites of a crusty old fish.
" How's that bruise I gave you 2 days ago?"
Ursula responded nonchalantly.
Eli rubbed his arm, grimacing at the purple-black splotch.
"Could be better."
"We haven't seen μαμά in a while, but that's fine by me. "
Ursula said at last, surrendering with an innocent smile.
Eli was about to comment on how she oh-so obviously preferred him over her mother, when Atlantia let out a piercing whistle with her salpinx, only playable because of a spell the first Octopid general had placed on the instrument.
Eli turned his head, then at once swam to his line, ready to listen to given orders for the raid.
Back straight with a calm look in her eyes, Atlantia commanded in a loud, authoritative voice,
" The time for the raid has arrived. Our objective is to successfully capture and transfer 200 mer to the Dark Underwater Empire of Atlantia to serve as our slaves. Anyone who opposes to our terms will be seen as a coward and be thrown in the dungeons to be punished by the Empress herself. "
"Anyone caught helping a mer escape or letting a mer escape will without good reason be executed in front of the subjects we have sworn to protect, having committed treason to not only those around us, but the Dark Empire as a whole."
"We will discuss the plans once more. Have a seat, do not over-eat, for we march in not even 10 minutes. "
Atlantia did not take a seat, though her army did. She swam in front of the table, her best soldiers at her beck and call for whatever needed to be done. Ursula rose beside her aunt, erect, nervous yet excited, scared, yet confident. Morgana appeared beside her, her face shadowed by the towering hoplites behind her.
Morgana laid out the maps, one being the Kingdom of Atlantica's version, and the other the Dark Empire's version, detailed more specifically because of the mer's fear of what lived in the deep murky waters.
"We will march towards the mines.
Atlantia pointed to a dark corner of the map, circled in red.
"Dawn is darkest, and they won't see us coming. The farthest the mines lead toward their territory is north-east."
She sweeped her finger forward to her right, stopping at the end of the longest red trail on the map.
"Their food farms are towards the sky, west of the end of the mining trail. There are guards nearly at the very edge of our territory. Our strongest spearers will take down the 70 guards with poisoned heads, the blades having been dipped in a concoction made by Ursula, making deaths quick and silent. The closest guards, positioned beneath where we are camping, are to be killed, where the 10 I assigned will take their place as to not arouse suspicion. Nok, Iantha, Eos, and Spyro, you will spread out at your assigned spaces to kill the messengers. At my estimate, there are 3 through 4 messengers, fast and agile. I am expecting you to be faster."
Atlantia nodded firmly at the silent group.
"After we dispose of everyone, we will move beneath their food farms, where we will find shelter between a camouflaged group of rocks and moss. There will be a crack between the rocks, haven been discovered before our last three raids. Since then, we have worked to widen it and find where it leads to, which is between the heart of the kingdom and the servant quarters. We will take down the mer at their weak points when Ursula, Morgana, Agnes, and I will lead you to the entrance, which should be located right in someone's house. We will slice whomever lives in that house's heads off, then proceed to the next house, rounding up the mer with gags, killing anyone who is even near the door. Take as many as possible. There are about 50 houses, each house consisting of about 4 or 5 mer family members, giving us roughly the amount we need. If there are any pregnant mer, do not harm them. "
"Should there be any guard interference, take them down as soon as possible, then evacuate into the tunnels with the mer, the groups of 7 I assigned take at least 3 mer."
Atlantia stopped, then nodded at Morgana and Ursula.
Morgana looked at Ursula for a moment with anxiety, then looked all of the army in their eyes as she stated her part of the plan.
"After all the mer have been rounded up, we will evacuate, Ursula first, and I last. I will let the guards to come after me, let them think they have me, where in reality I will be leading them into a trap."
Ursula leaned forward and stuck her finger on the tunnel's exit.
"As soon as Morgana exits the tunnel, I will obliterate the tunnels with a bomb, killing all of the guards in the tunnels. Everyone other than Atlantia, Eli, Macedon, and Morgana aré to immediately head towards the Empire through where we came from, Agnes leading the way. "
Ursula turned to her aunt, in shock from how fast 8 minutes had passed by.
Atlantia nodded firmly, who then turned around and cried,
"Στρατιώτες, σχηματισμός, Μάρτιος!"