Landing

The sun was high in the sky as Shirou joined the Dragon-blooded Exalts looking out towards the Blessed Isle.

Nereth was gesturing towards the isle when he reached them "Can't we get a smaller force in first to take the docks for us?"

Roseblack shook her head "Having enough small rowboats isn't the issue, it's a question of who goes. Assuming we place four soldiers and a leader in each boat, we won't be able to take and hold the docks unless we send out at least a wing of people as that is how many my spies tell me are defending it."

Shirou waited quietly as Rai spoke up "Is it possible to use the smaller ships to smuggle the army on land piece by piece, five people land, one person takes the ship back."

Roseblack shook his head "Assuming each landing and return takes fifteen minutes, that is a low estimate, we have over three thousand soldiers to move." Roseblack tilted her head to the side to do the math "Assuming we use all thirty of our smaller boats it would take over six hours to land. If the enemy found us at any point during the landing then they could cut the army down while we were not yet ready."

Nereth tutted "That assumes we are landing the entire force right now. You told me we couldn't take that dock without a Wing of soldiers. We could land a Wing in something close to thirty minutes."

Roseblack shook her head as an old Dragon-blood approached the group "Closer to an hour, we wouldn't want to risk all the boats if we were not landing the entire force. In fact if we scaled the number of boats to soldiers as would be smart it would still take six hours to land."

The old Dragon-blood began speaking suddenly as he approached "My dear, you are being overly cautious."

Roseblack raised an eyebrow "I don't want to lose a large number of troops before we even land. This is likely to be a long war and I need every soldier I can keep."

The old man shook his head "Then why are you not simply looking at the safe options?"

Before Roseblack could ask, the man answered the question "Sabotage. Send a few men in, they will have to be skilled. Have them destroy the anti-ship weapons they have at the dock and land your ships normally."

Roseblack looked like she wanted to point out a flaw there too, she even started "But when we land-" but she was cut off from a look from the old man.

"When we land," the old man replied, the soldiers directly in the dock can be distracted by something our infiltrators do, something like a fire. If we send enough of them we can even have them capture a point to act as a distraction."

His attention turned suddenly to Shirou and he said something in a language Shirou didn't know. Roseblack sighed "Grandfather he doesn't know low realm. He has been listening to us talk for a while now." She then turned to Shirou "As my grandfather said, do you have skills in sabotage?"

Shirou concidered before answering "I do, but I better have experts with me if I am to do any real damage."

She nodded and looked to Nereth "I have a few captains that have stealth training, can you try and find them and bring them here."

Cloaked Blessing sat on deck, playing cards with a group of soldiers. This destiny that Soaring star gave her wasn't too helpful on keeping an eye on the boy. She only knew he was still here due to the rumours going around after the battle.

"Three dragons." She played her cards and the other soldiers looked annoyed before throwing her a couple of coins. Once her turn came again she played her last two cards "Two lovers, out." A few more coins were thrown her way but she stood up. The other soldiers complained, they were just upset they wouldn't get the chance to win their money back.

As she walked away she heard an overly cheary voice call to her, she turned around with a scowl to see Soaring star walking up behind her.

"Good news!" Soaring star said with a hint of maliciousness "We are going on a mission together?"

Cloaked Blessing cursed "Are our bosses just playing with me at this point?"

Soaring star raised an eyebrow "Oh, sorry, no, not that. We were chosen for a mission by the terrestrial exalted. As far as I know, that boy you are watching is on the mission too."

Cloaked Blessing sighed "Fine then, what is the mission?"

Soaring star cracked another smile "Why, stealth and sabotage. Our greatest traits."

"Choke on evil sea water." Cloaked Blessing's swearing was deadpan, she was tired of putting up with Soaring star.

"Right then!" Soaring star acted as if she didn't hear the swearing and grabbed Cloaked Blessing's arm "Let's go break some stuff!"

The small rowboat landed outside the port town's walls. Shirou looked at the group he had with him. Two pairs, each with a Dragon-blood and a normal human. The five of them were to destroy any defensive weapons in the dock and they were to capture and hold the city's watch tower until help arrived.

The second pair he had seemed to be quiet excited for the mission, the Dragon-blood did at least. She was bouncing slightly and gripping the arm of the normal soldier with her tightly. Shirou was shocked for a moment, the soldier was the same one who had seen him practice with the Aestus Estus Reficio. Small world he guessed.

The small squad began to plan.

End of chapter.