Disclaimer: I think it is pretty obvious to all involved that I don't own Escaflowne or any characters.
Chapter 2: The Mission
Dilandau saw Lord Folken and Commander Clavell walk off together, heads bowed in private conversation and snorted quietly to himself. Why on earth would Strategos want to talk to her for? He wasn't sure what exactly it was that she or her men did but knew that her group were never sent out with the main troops.
"Probably incapable of a real battle," he thought to himself, "That is why she only has such a small, ragtag group of men to command. I doubt she could cope with any more then the eight she has. Maybe she is trying to build up a proper troop one man at a time." He gave a small nasty grin, "I wonder what they did to deserve a female as a leader? And how can they bear to stay, I would certainly request a transfer out the first second I had if I were in that unfortunate position."
He thought indulgently of his Dragon Slayers and the respect they commanded from all the other troops on the Vione. He was smug in the fact that places in his company were prized and fought for tooth and nail. He supposed that places in Commander Clavell's troop were a booby prize of some sort – a threat to be used for soldiers who were not pulling their weight.
"Seriously though," he thought, "who would want to have that jumped up little bitch as their leading officer? Some girl who had ideas way above her station and had probably slept her way to where she was."
He shook his head and marched up to his elite group of Dragon Slayers.
"Training hall 1, now," he snarled, "and you better not disappoint me or you might find me in a bad mood, and you wouldn't want that!" he added with an arched eyebrow.
As he marched to the training halls complex he thought of tomorrow's battle with a thrill of delight. Fighting was fun enough, but just maybe, Van might be there to make the day even more enjoyable. He threw his head back and laughed at the thought and a couple of foot soldiers pressed themselves against the wall in terror.
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In Folken's ante room, Sienna sat attentively as she listened to her newest mission. Folken was pacing leisurely, stopping only to emphasise particular points.
"We have decided that King Aston and Princess Millerna will be your targets as that would cause the greatest de-stabilisation of Asturia." said Folken.
"Millerna is the next heir to the throne since Eires has renounced her claim to it, so with the king and Millerna dead, the ensuing chaos will be perfect for exploiting."
Sienna nodded her agreement
Folken continued, "You will complete your task and be back on the Vione by daybreak. Our troops will attack the capital about the same time that the King and Princess are found dead. They will take advantage of the confusion and emerge victorious."
"Who will be accompanying you on this mission?" he asked, "the assassins are obviously yours to command but I would like to suggest Carlo"
"He was the one I had in mind when you first mentioned this mission," replied Sienna, "as he has worked previously in Palas castle, he will have inside knowledge of the grounds and castle itself."
"Agreed. When the mission is completed, go to the forest on the outskirts of the town and communicate from there; we will send a guymelef down to retrieve you."
Sienna stood up and bowed her head
"Of course my lord, I will go and prepare Carlo and myself now. We will be waiting for our escort to the surface two hours before daybreak."
"That only gives us a couple of hours," she thought to herself as she ran back to her quarters, "that is not a lot of time to make preparations. We usually have at least 72 hours to prepare a plan of attack. Dammit, we have to plan routes and back ups, that is normally a day's work by itself." She pushed her brown hair out of her eyes in frustration. But if Folken wanted them ready in a couple of hours, then that is what they must do.
She found Carlo in the assassin's private mess hall and gave him a quick brief on their mission.
"At midnight we are to go Palas castle. My assignment will be King Aston and you will take Princess Millerna," she said, "I am relying on you to get us in and to the bedrooms. We will split up there and upon completion, we make our way out to the forest. Retrieval will take place there."
"It's about time we had a decent mission," said Carlo grinning, "we've been spending more time in the training halls than in the field."
They sat down together to discuss strategies for gaining access to the palace.
A few hours later they stood in the main hangar. They were both dressed in lightweight, loose black trousers and long sleeved tunic, made of the softest cotton that made no noise when rustled. Soft black shoes with rubber soles meant that they could walk around with the minimum amount of noise and dark smudges covered their faces and hands. Concealed about their clothes were an interesting variety of blades of varying sizes and other small but extremely deadly weapons, all covered in a black waxy substance that made sure that no metallic gleam at all would be give them away.
A guymelef strode over and knelt beside them, lowering its gigantic palm. Sienna looked at Carlo and smiled.
"Ready?" she asked. Carlo grinned back.
"I'm always ready."
They jumped on and crouched down low as the guymelef stealth cloaked itself and walked off the open edge of the vast hangar, transformed into flying mode and took them down to the outskirts of the Asturian capital, Palas.
