Chapter 55 - Last meeting before the storm

Chapter 55: Chapter 55 - Last meeting before the storm "Okay, what is the plan?" I ask during the meeting of the warriors of the tribe. "We can’t simply assault the town with the size of our forces, nor is our intention to attack the normal people who live there." "I agree with Aurea; a frontal assault is out of the question." "Why don’t Aurea and Lovelace infiltrate the city and attack the building, the two of you?" "Yeah, you would be able to turn them into mincemeat." "No, I want to go in there as well." The one disagreeing is Yaci, whose mother is in there. "It makes sense." I say. "I’m also worried about your safety as you wait for us outside, as you could be attacked by adventurers. So I think that it would be better if Lovelace stayed outside." "So, only you and Yaci would enter? But how would Yaci enter the human city?" It would indeed be a problem for a beastkin to enter a human city without a good cover story. "I could pose as Aurea’s slave or something." "Yaci..." "Yes, you’re still a child, and nobody in the city knows of your prowess in battle. I’m your bodyguard slave." "But..." "It’s just a cover story anyway; don’t fret about it." "Okay... If you say so. But we still need a story for me as to why I’m walking around alone." "And there’s the thing with your clothes... They are too obviously made by and for beastkin." Lovelace’s words are true. My clothing will invite suspicion by itself, but I have a plan for that. With a quick, silent aria my clothes change to a dress like the ones I was used to seeing in medieval movies on Earth. The commoner’s kind, obviously. "I have that covered with my illusions. I can sustain this for a couple of hours." "Good. And the story?" "I’m coming in search of my older brother, who became an adventurer. I’ll just spin some tragic backstory about our parents having died or something." Everyone nods in agreement. "The real problem starts after we rescued them. How do we get out? I don’t think jumping off the wall is a valid option for everyone there." "And a group of beastkin women just walking around would be too suspicious no matter how you look at it." "Exactly." As Yaci brings up that question, I smile mischievously. There was one thing I have been training exhaustively in secret during the last year or so. I chant an aria in my head, and everyone disappears. "I can sustain this for fifteen minutes at a time, at max." I dispel the invisibility from everyone. "That was amazing... Aurea, you keep outdoing yourself." "So that’s how you keep disappearing sometimes when I want to call you to help with the chores." "Heheheheh." I’m sorry, Yaci. But at this moment, practicing my magic is more important than tribal chores. "Fifteen minutes might end up not being enough to cross the gates, especially if something unforeseen happens." "I know, Lovelace. But it will be enough to reach the room we’ll rent in an inn during the night." "I see... If the inn is close enough to the gates, it might work." "That’s the plan. We can then escape unnoticed as soon as the gates open, first thing in the morning." "And we’ll be on the Wilds, waiting for you." "They will probably follow you as soon as the invisibility vanishes." The plan is too frail, I admit. We’ll be inside enemy territory, which we are unfamiliar with. Guiding a group of escaped slaves. During the night, the gates are closed, so the only way outside is over the wall, like I did. To cross through the gates, we need to go during the day, which means that they would lock on us after we walked just a couple dozenmeters. "I guess I could use the gravitational magic we’ve been training to ease their jump from the wall at night, but the invisibility would be disrupted as soon as we do it." "And then the guards would quickly be on you anyway." Ughhh. This is so hard. I always hated stealth missions. They are the worst. Escort missions have their downsides as well. But an escort stealth mission is just... "You can just kill all the guards, you know." "That’s not an option, Lovelace." I’ve never killed a human being before. And I’m not interested in having my first time on that. I’m here for saving people, not for killing people. I mean, other people than the Duke. That one I’ll give a one-way ticket to hell. But that isn’t the same, okay? Guards are just doing their duty. They’re not to blame for this state of affairs. It’s the ones with the power to make decisions over the lives of everyone else, the ones who made an active choice to maintain the status quo. Those are the only ones to shoulder all the blame and the guillotine. "But if it comes to that, I’ll do it. I just don’t want it to be our plan A." Our planning meeting went on for another three hours after that. ::: The following day, we parted ways. Lovelace’s group would stay hidden on the outskirts of the city, to the north. It’s comprised of only four people to better stay out of sight. The four being Lovelace, the scouts Kawan and Mwacyr, and the healer Pyatan, who has been training to become a shaman for the tribe. Other warriors also wanted to join, but we argued that a larger group would attract too much attention. The role of this group is to provide support as soon as we get out of the city. The other group is just me and Yaci. We are circling the city to get in through the southern gates. After all, a little girl and a beastkin coming out from the Barren Wilds would be considered too weird by the guards. There’s no way we can avoid scrutiny completely, but coming from the south, at least the ’looking for my older brother who became an adventurer’ cover story will be more believable. We arrive at the southern gate by noon of the eighth day since we left the tribe’s camp. Now, the time of truth has arrived.