Cold air of the night slithered around Damien and his crew while they were escaping the estate of Baron Elliron, of course through the trees which bordered the estate. The information secured from Elliron held record amounts of gory evidence which would bar Elyas's secret operations and his allies. But the weight of what they had learned hung heavy on Damien.
Damien called a halt as they made their way out of the woods. Amara slumped against a tree, trying to catch her breath. Carys knelt down examining the map that they had taken from Elliron's study.
"Looks like it's bigger than we thought," Carys said, her green eyes scanning the markings. "This isn't just hiding spots, it's supplying lines, rendezvous points, and meeting locations with some of the most powerful Families in the kingdom."
"He has been weaving this web over many years," said Damien, his steel-gray eyes locked on the map. "We have only just scratched the surface."
Amara wiped her daggers clean on her cloak, her smirk faint but tired. "Then let's tear it all down. The map is ours, the names are ours—what are we waiting for?"
"Don't suck wind in this operation," Damien said. "If we hit too many at once, we spread ourselves thin. Elyas will use that against us."
"So what's the play?" Amara asked.
"We divide and conquer," Damien replied. "We go first for the most critical locations-those that cripple Elyas's operations and force him to act."
---
The first focus on their list is a secret underground warehouse close to the docks in the capital. Based on the intel he got from Elliron, it contained everything that Elyas collected, from important documents in the rebellion field, to a storage of weapons and gold.
They were Damien, Amara, and Carys creeping around the docks in silence; their footsteps were drowned by the sound of waves. The air was heavy with salt and fish.
"There," Carys whispered, pointing to a large building at one end of the docks. Just above the heavily protected doors stood a single lantern, casting dim light on them.
"Very subtle," Amara muttered. "How do you want to do this?"
Damien assessed the place and began to churn possibilities through his mind. "What we'll do is split up. Amara, make a distraction by drawing the guards away from the entrance. Carys and I are going to slip inside and take what we need."
"I like the sound of this," Amara grinned. "Give me a few minutes."
---
Amara zipped through the shadows like a ghost and into the darkness circling the building, only to meet loud thudding sounds resonating in the dockyard moments later. Within that short time frame were the accompanying distressed voices of guards shouting.
"Fire! That-a-way!" shouted one of the guards, pointing toward the noise.
The guards rushed toward that direction, leaving the entrance vacant.
"Let's move," Damien said, signaling to Carys.
Two figures slipped through the now unguarded doors into a vast space of crates and barrels piled high. The faint glow of lanterns lit the supply rows, and the thick scent of oil and wood hung in the air.
"This is it," Carys said, her green eyes scanning the room.
"Now, we need to find those documents," Damien said, "and if we cannot carry every last thing with us, we will destroy the rest."
---
They searched hastily from a place-to-place over the boxes or shelves. Scattered everywhere they found weapons-swords, crossbows, armor, barrels of gunpowder, and sacks of gold coins. But one chest, locked, at the back of the warehouse was of particular attention for Damien.
"This has to be it," he told Carys to cover him.
He moved hastily with the set of lockpicks through the chest. Within lay stacks of documents, each carrying Elyas's seal.
"Jackpot," Carys chuckled as she peered over his shoulder.
Darkening the mood, Damien reads the papers. He discovered that those documents were not about Elyas's operations but all his designs to infiltrate the royal court and plant seeds of discord among the nobles.
"He's fighting more than a rebellion," Damien said quietly. "He's building an empire."
"Then we will burn it down," said Carys.
Damien nodded and folded the documents into his satchel. "Set the charges. We can't let any of this fall back into his hands."
As Carys rigged up the gunpowder barrels, Damien moved toward the entrance to check on Amara. He caught sight of her far up near the edge of the dockyard dodging between stacks of crates and misdirecting careless guards through a series of quick but precise strikes.
"Amara!" Damien called.
She turned, the grin stretching across her face. "I thought you would never come. Ready to go?"
"Almost. We're setting the charges," Damien said.
"Good," Amara said, blocking a guard's sword with one dagger while slashing his arm with the other. "Because I'm running out of things to break."
A few moments later, Carys joined them, her face taut. "Charges are ready. We've got two minutes to clear out."
"Then let's go," Damien said.
They stumbled out of the warehouse running at a nose-bleeding speed through the dockyard shrieking at the guards on the move before the trio disappeared from sight. They had scarcely taken to the woods when the first explosion ripped through the night.
The warehouse exploded. Flame erupted. The debris and smoke from the explosion reached high up into the sky.
"That'll send a message," Amara said, grinning at the flames satisfactorily.
Damien remained where he was. "That's just a start. But Elyas will never overlook this."
-----
Before thieves invaded the safe house and sprawled the documents they were supposed to steal on the table, Damien's steel-gray eyes were scanning the leaves, looking for patterns and clues as Amara and Carys sat behind him, steady but weary as they stared at the mission.
"What do we have?" Amara asked.
A lot of disruption for Elyas operations but not enough to stop him," Damien said. "He's still ahead of the game."
Carys frowned. "Then we'll keep hitting him. One target at a time until he has nothing left to rebuild."
Damien nodded. "That's the plan. But we need to be careful. Elyas will retaliate, and when he does, we need to be ready."
Amara smirked, her sharp blue eyes glinting. "Let him come. We're not backing down."
-----
As dawn arrives and the first rays of light start to creep into the city, Damien feels the flickers of improvement, a promise that this fight would not end here with Elyas, but that it was another stride in their fight.
He gazed at the two companions; their convictions, too, remain unmoved by the foreboding of unyielding challenges ahead.
"We're going to take this one," Damien said quietly.
"Yeah, damn right we will," Amara grinned.
Damien could be sure of one thing: Fire mattered, but only because Elyas' empire would not lie untouched in battle.