Ugh, this took too long to write, but I'm rather proud of the result. Really now, I promise that you'll see more updates soon. The holidays should give me a breather to write, and I already have a couple of future chapters written up. Merry Christmas, everyone!

As for this chapter, cue the theme from "Mission: Impossible", please!

Chapter 24, Maranda Gear: Shadow

Guards wandered back and forth on top of the wall. The wall that hadn't been there a year ago. Not even six months ago. Maranda was a raped town, imprisoned within herself, beaten by strangers that had driven out her lifeblood; her children. Now she appeared more a fortress than a town, the tallest roofs fighting to peek above the high wall in the dim, dancing lights. Torches were set on poles along the hindrance of bricks and concrete, close enough to chase all hiding shadows away.

    Having crept into the forest to the west and taken a turn down to the southern side, the small group of Returners now watched the scenery before them in the same light that was thought to make their entrance impossible. So far on a safe distance and in a small grove beside the road south, they took their time to regard the guards through field glasses. But since night-vision wasn't invented yet the torchlight was all that could help them see.

    There were at least twelve guards on top of the wall, but in the spies' circumstance it was hard to tell.

    The wall ran only along the southern, western and north side of the town, since the ocean ruled the east. But to attempt entering by swimming would be madness. The Returners didn't have nearly perfect knowledge of the setting, but what little they had gotten from a lone spy was enough to know what logic already said; the ocean way was sealed by nets through which magical electricity ran, to touch it would lead to death, and if not that then capture due to the stunning force.

    They didn't know how it looked on the inside now. Their infiltrator just had to make it inside and see what he could do from there.

    As he watched the silhouettes of guards high up there, Shadow felt a slight stir of old thrills. It had been long ago since he had last actually sneaked into an enemy lair, most of the jobs he had been hired for had been nothing but simple assaults. Take out this man as he walks home through the park. Help us fight. Follow these warriors to Thamasa and aid them in the search for the espers.

    For a moment he almost worried about being able to pull off a mission that required skills he had almost been forced to dull. But in the next second it was gone and his hand absentmindedly stroke Interceptor's head. The great dog made no sound.

 "I'm ready," he finally whispered to his companions.

    As his eyes had gotten used to the dusk long ago he could see them nod, slowly.

 "Godspeed, my comrade," Cyan murmured as Celes turned her back towards the town.

    The magitek knight whispered out a spell, pressing her hands tightly together and willing her powers to not even sparkle as they were released. The misty cloud that left her hands didn't glow as it normally would, but floated into the night air just like the breath of its mistress.

    Shadow melted out of sight for mortal eyes as the magic touched him, fading into the night in a way that not even his black clothing would allow.

    Without another word he headed towards the town. Locke was the only one to vaguely hear his first few steps, but that was all. Interceptor laid down on the ground, waiting like his human allies.

    The invisibility spell would only work for about seven minutes; before leaving for the mission the Returners had carefully measured the lifespan of Celes' spell. When it wore off, Shadow would have to re-cast it upon himself or simply do with his normal abilities.

    As they waited in silence, Celes kept watching the silent town, the city which once had been known for its beauty. She had volunteered to this mission not only because Locke would lead it and she wanted to follow and help him as he had promised to protect her. Hanging over the young woman was also the need to purify herself of the ensnaring feeling of guilt, to pay back something to Maranda for all the pain she had caused it as she led the empire's invasion of the fair town.

    Nobody had said it to her but she had a feeling that all of them understood. And here she now was in the darkness, watching the town she had conquered and then left to its enemies. Beside her was even one of them who had thrown that sin into her face, blind to the tearing anguish he caused her as he attempted to rip the shrouding mask of trust from her raw emotions. But Cyan was silent now. They all were.

    Celes kept watching Maranda, trying to suppress the feeling that she wasn't doing hardly enough, never would be able to do enough to pay back her debt to it. Not even after she had betrayed the orders of her emperor and ordered the troops to hold back, to spare the innocent of South Figaro. Gestahl had wanted a complete toast of the city.

    The fact that the dove she'd sent towards Figaro castle to warn king Edgar of the invasion of his southern town hadn't exactly helped her either. And every fist planted in her soft flesh, every kick marking her skin and cracked rib now seemed petty, not nearly enough to comfort the silently crying memories that the very stones Maranda desperately held on to. 

    Celes shifted slightly, but that was the only thing she did. Steel hard discipline kept herself in check. Not even Locke would know.

    And while his blond ally mused so bitterly, Shadow silently climbed the western side of the wall after tracking the route taken a few minutes ago. The gate was to the south; he'd hopefully be able to use that later. But for now, he had to do with climbing darts conveniently set in two holders on his hips. Their sharp edges had been induced with tiny amounts of thunder magic by Strago – it had taken a while to figure out exactly how much could be set there without it creating any sparkle but the old man had been a fabulous hunter and he had his tricks. Now the darts almost slid into the concrete like a knife through bread, and not a sound was heard, not even a tiny star of the magic force showed. Shadow almost smiled to himself. He could surely have gotten inside the prison with the simple methods he always had used, but magic sure made things simpler.

    Despite knowing that he couldn't be seen by normal eyes and that he made no sound, Shadow kept all his senses open for the movements of the guards above him. There was no reason to be careless. As he closed in on the top of the wall he was able to see his own transparent arms in the torchlight, but later on it could be difficult to tell whether he was still invisible or not. In the back of his mind he was keeping count on the seconds that passed, just to make sure.

    He reached the top of the wall, hanging still in the junction between two pools of torchlight and listening for the sound of the guards' steps. This would have been the tricky part had he not been invisible. Well, it was still dangerous, he couldn't deny that.

    They had discussed a distracting maneuver of some kind, set off by the others in the infiltration team. But no, Figaro had learnt the hard way that the empire had found a way to use magic to within minutes send messages between its bases and the palace – they couldn't take the risk of backup arriving before they were ready. Having little to no chances of keeping an eye on where Vector currently was – and getting away from it to report its location – the Returners would never be sure where Gestahl, Kerr and their army were. Each operation would forever be a risk, as it always had been in this new world. And apart from that, if the guards stationed in Maranda got any indication that there could be an intruder before it was too late, the whole operation would be spoiled.

    Shadow however didn't have time to think of things like this, and didn't even need to as he already had carefully gone through it with the other head Returners. He was busy focusing on the guards above him.

    Another one passed, then the next one was about eight yards away. That'd do.

    Moving almost like a snake the ninja heaved himself upwards, hardly making a sound as he slid over the top of the wall and in the same movement over the edge of the firm ledge running along the inner side of the tall obstacle. A second later he safely hung on the ledge instead, allowing his screaming, offended survival instincts a moment to realize that he had made it unnaturally after all. But now he was starting to run out of time.

    Maranda was built around a set of hills that had made up a sort of natural defense; the town itself seemed somewhat submerged within a crescent of grassy earth and bricks of the old wall. The wall which the empire had built ran on the outside of the old one, creating a high, two-step stair which would be very hard for escapees to make it passed without getting shot by the upper guards halfway through. An invisible intruder, on the other hand…

    Quickly glancing around and seeing nobody on the ground in the immediate area Shadow let himself drop to the ground several feet below, his soft boots and reflexes wrenching most of the sound out of existence. Still, he heard at least one of the guards stopping briefly above him and quickly backed up against the inner side of the upper wall, into the flicking shadow of the ledge.

    A few moments of intent listening followed, but then the guard resumed his pacing.

    Shadow didn't have time to be relieved, he had to find some better place to hide now that he was inside. The invisibility wouldn't protect him for more than about one and half a minute longer; soon his skills would stand alone again. Until he managed to recast the spell, of course.

    What he could see of the uneven town was lit up by more torches, stuck on the walls of the old inn and half-buried armory. And further ahead, with the help of his high point of view, he could see that the old town square also was lit by torches stuck on tall sticks fastened in the ground along the brick roads. Light, though dimmed, splattered out from every visible window, and he could see shadows lazily moving within the houses.

    All this light quite effectively killed off all shrouding shadows that could have swallowed a clever ninja that tried to get into the town-fortress. But it also illuminated the twenty or so guards idly walking around. They had their orders, but they didn't appear too faithful in the idea of a jailbreak.

    Ah. A challenge.

    Silent as a cat Shadow slid along the wall. None of the guards above heard him, and neither did anyone inside of the by grass and moss overgrown part of the armory, the bit built into the old wall itself. Of course, since the wall turned into a part of the city's streets behind and beside the armor shop and the act of leaving the lower wall completely unguarded would be plain idiocy, the ninja had to count on surprises around the corner.

    But since he heard the steps long before the guard came around said corner of the armory roof, it wasn't much of a surprise. And the soldier of the empire never saw the intruder who had already crawled up on the leaning roof beside the highroad, shrouded by the night and his fading invisibility.

    Shadow crept up to the peak of the roof, to the junction of the crossing housetop. By now he knew that he was visible, but for now he would still be hard to spot as the flicking light of the torches really didn't reach this spot. Would a normal human be able to climb up a roof covered with tiles without causing a ruckus? Nah. And besides, anybody would be seen long before they made it there.

    Cautiously "not just anybody" used his new vantage point to regard what he could see of the area. On the other side of the well-guarded square was one of the bigger residences, once home to among others a young woman waiting for letters from her love. It was a two store building, and through the windows open for his sight Shadow now more clearly observed the shades of guards within. But they were seen through bars, covering the windows and apparently further inside as well. The living rooms, the bed rooms, all had been rebuilt into cells.

    But going to that building would be tricky, hardly worth the risk for now. Closer by, just a little bit ahead of him and to the left, was the old weapon shop, the biggest building in Maranda. Supposedly it had been the home of a count once upon a time, the weapon smith had been a famous man as well while he still owned the house. Now this old home too wore bars in every window, and bored shadows moved within.

    The assassin didn't bother about the inn; it was a small building really, and he knew what the empire's men did with inns. The lack of bared windows in the old tavern just proved that this was no exception. It was now the soldiers' main quarters.

    But just on the other side of the narrow road below Shadow was the western wing of the former weapon store, stretching out like an arm from the main building. It was in the same shape as the first building which had been observed from the armory roof; bars and dim light. However, though the barred windows were almost within reach when standing on the road, it wasn't exactly an outstanding pick of attempted entrance, since another guard already had walked past in the torch lit alley while Shadow planned his next step.

   He could see a triangular, protruding shape on the slanted roof of the big, former shop, turned towards the town. By memory and common knowledge of architecture, he knew that there would be a window there, probably leading to the attic of the house. The shape of the building hindered the light from the alley to pierce the dusk up there, and it was too high up to be bothered by the square's torches.

   The roof of the wing went as good as parallel with the northern part of the outer wall, but they weren't side by side at least – even if the couple of feet's distance didn't help much. And the guards still trotted along that wall.

    Still, it was probably his safest bet. For a moment he considered trying to make it back to the outside and then go back in from the northern end of town to get closer to his goal that way, but waved it off. It would be no less risky than continuing to operate from within town, and changing directions like that in the middle of a job would be both dangerous and highly unprofessional. He hadn't been doing things like this for almost fourteen years for nothing.

    Perhaps it would be wise to try to recast the invisibility spell… Shadow considered it for a moment, weighing the risks of crawling along the roof beside the wall against the risk of the magical light alarming the guards.

    Hmm. 

    He let another couple of minutes pass, keeping track of how the bored guards wandered both below him and on the wall, adding that to what he had already seen. There was a gap of about one and half a minute between the passing of each soldier below him.

    Shadow swept into action as the next guard turned around the corner of the armory. Quietly whispering he crawled over the peak of the roof, slid down on his stomach on the other side and slipped down on the street in the shade beside the armory's chimney, placed on the lower corner of the building.

    Moving close to the ground with spidery movements to as good as he could avoid casting any suspicious shadows around the walls, the intruder made it over to the other side of the street, towards the middle of it. Right there he was just barely out of view from the square. Pressing himself against the wall he released the cloaking spell which he had been chanting on his way down to the street. Though the magical cloud sparkled a little, the guards were in no position to see it right then and the assassin managed to control the mystical power rather well. The mist floated around him in the chilly night air and erased Shadow from view, and with this also itself. Reaching up he grabbed the sill of the nearest window and heaved himself upwards.

    Nobody heard anything as Shadow climbed up the low wall. Stealing a glance inside he could see humans curled up on simple cots or the floor itself in the small cell behind the bars. The door seemed to have been removed and exchanged for a sturdy bar door to make it simpler to keep an eye on what was going on within the prison. It also helped Shadow to see the guard that just then walked past in the corridor further inside. But nobody noticed him crawl further upwards, only the tip of his momentarily transparent boot for a second placed on the rectangular hole in the wall as he continued.

    He reached the roof and though he knew that the guards couldn't see him he stayed low, creeping over the tiles not to take any risks. He had complete fate in Celes' magic. His own was another matter.

    But before he had lost the transparency he managed to reach the main building. Checking on the guards a few feet to his left and waiting until he knew that none of them was too close he stood and easily clambered up to the old weapon shop. Now he should be safe, unless he slipped of course.

    Ha.

    Easily Shadow made his way over to the dark triangular window he had spotted. In the bad light from far below he observed shadows of boxes and various rubble inside; as he had suspected it was an attic. But there were still three iron bars which barricaded the opening. Probably rather meant to hinder possible escapees from committing suicide by jumping than to hinder imposters.

Shadow pulled a dagger from his belt; infused with the same magic as his climbing darts it was easy to saw through the metal though it still turned out rather tough. But it worked far better than his normal equipment for things such as this.

    As one bar broke he caught it in his working-hand and placed it on the windowsill by his feet; the other hand was still needed to hold on to the wall. And so it went on.

    Within a couple of minutes he had removed the last hindrance and sheathed his dagger again before carefully collecting the three metallic staves in his hand and slipping inside feet first.

    Not even his skills were enough to keep the thick dust from whirling up from its rest, but his mask protected him from any risk of sneezing. Now that he could take a closer look he saw rolled up carpets and simple chairs, broken flowerpots and wooden doors among the rubble in the low attic. Apparently this was where all the use- and worthless remains of Maranda had gone after the empire had taken what it wanted before the renovation.

    Ruefully the ninja placed the three bars upon two carpet rolls conveniently lying beside each other. The Returners could have used that iron; the blacksmiths of Figaro castle had probably been able to at least make a couple of daggers from them. But he couldn't take them along, they'd just hinder him. He'd felt far less inclined to risk bringing them along had they even been made of diamond.

    But perhaps he could still save them, provided there'd be time to.

    Slowly he crept down the room towards the shade of a hole in the southern end, now only enlightened by his own dark sight. All the way he kept as close to the wall as the rubble allowed to avoid any creaking sound of the planks he stepped on.

    Even as he reached and began to slide down the stair his hand sought out a dirk from one of his many mysteriously hidden pockets. There was a door by the end of the stairs, a wooden and not a barred one. Light seeped through the keyhole.

    Shadow reached the bottom step and slowly crouched down to peer through the tiny hole. On the other side was a rather narrow corridor of about three yards' length before another stair started, and there seemed to be at least one cell along it, on Shadow's right side. Considering the architecture there was most probably another one that faced the first, but it was impossible to see that through the keyhole. Rooms at this level of a house had probably belonged to the servants.

    For the moment Shadow found that the looks of the building came in second place of interest though. He was more focused on the brown shade coming up the corridor. Unless the empire very suddenly had changed the fashion of their soldiers, that was a guard.

    Unmoving the ninja watched and waited as the man on the other side stopped, probably to glance into the cell(s), but his head and upper chest was out of view by then and thus Shadow couldn't really see how his enemy turned. After a couple of seconds the guard appeared satisfied and turned around to stroll towards and down the stair, the planks in it squeaking in protest at this. Shadow listened to the steps fading off, but the sound didn't quite disappear. It and others were heard from below, faintly.

    Listening intently, the intruder tried the door just to make sure. To little surprise it was locked. He halted and waited for a bit, patiently listening to the pacing from the lower floor. Almost two minutes had passed before another guard graced the corridor with a visit.

    As the second servant of the empire had headed down the stair, Shadow slid his dirk into the keyhole and began to work on the lock. It didn't take him long to figure it out, with skills only rivaled by Locke. But before he opened the door, the ninja waited out another guard. As the third back had descended the stair, the infiltrator pressed his hands against each other and quickly repeated the magic incantations that he had used on his way inside the prison. His body once more turned transparent to his eyes.

    Only now when he had another couple of minutes to work with and the spell to shroud him again did he open the door, slowly pushing it away from the opening it covered. It squealed a little, but only faintly.

    Now he was in more danger than he had been when outside. Quickly he closed the wooden door behind him and hurried over to the barred door to the right. As expected there were two locked rooms, and in the cell before him he could see a big lump on a cot to the right and two more on the floor in the inner left corner.

    There was too little space in this narrow corridor, a guard that came up here would doubtlessly notice that something was wrong if he suddenly touched something invisible. Even if Shadow could dispose of a threat quickly, it was a risky situation considering the lack of fighting area, a hand or foot could easily hit a wall and alarm the people below. And even so, the allies of any guard taken down would probably notice that somebody was missing fairly quickly. Before starting to take out the soldiers, Shadow needed a bit more information and allies.

    Counting the seconds and listening to the outmost of his ability, the ninja took out the lock mechanism and pulled the door open ever so slightly, slipping past the tall and crossed bars to get inside the cell. He still had about a minute before the guard came. Quickly Shadow exchanged the dirk for his dagger and sliced off the metal cube protruding from the lock, catching it and placing it beside the wall on the cell's inside. This hadn't been possible half a minute ago, the door and its frame were too closely set when locked.

    As he finished this task Shadow shut the door behind him, but since he had destroyed the binding mechanism there was no risk of not getting out again.

    Apparently the three prisoners were asleep as they didn't react to the faint clicking and the silent opening of the door.

    Shadow slid up to the corner to the left of the entrance, there the guard wouldn't be able to see him unless he poked his head inside.

    Another soldier passed and left, and meanwhile the invisibility faded off.

    Next step.

    It was not without a small voice in the back of his head complaining about breaking against the laws of sneaking that Shadow crossed the floor and hunched down before the two still forms on the floor. Two men with beards starting to grow wild, dressed in clothes that even in this bad illumination showed signs of having seen better days. No colors of skin and hair could be seen in the dusk however. They laid back to back, apparently trying to stay a little warmer than the situation would otherwise allow; they were coiled up in a ragged blanket each.

 "Hey, wake up!" Shadow hissed, placing a hand over a mouth each and shaking slightly. 

    Surprised, muffled groans answered him as the two began to stir, and feeling the pressure on their faces they groggily started to struggle.

 "Be still!" the ninja hissed, "I'm here to get you out!"

    Despite their bewildered, dozy states, those words hit the mark in the men's brains and they instantly froze. Eyes glistened in the weak light between batting eyelids that fought against the blur of fatigue.

 "Don't move, don't make a sound," Shadow instructed in a cold, practical tone, "if you do, I'll kill you. Understand?"

    Nods against his hands.

    The ninja swept up and stepped over to the cot, repeating the procedure with the man lying there. As this was done, the intruder spoke his next instructions.

 "I'll explain the situation once the next guard has passed."

    And with that he disappeared into the shadows in the outer corner.

    The prisoners were hardly sleepy anymore after that, listening to the eternal steps below them. But those sounds were almost overpowered by the rising beat of their hearts, whether it was excitement, relief or fear that made it so was hard to tell. Probably a mix of it all.

    After what appeared to be an eternity another guard of the hellhole came walking and left again, like the last one not noticing that one of the barred doors lacked an important piece of the lock. But the gate was so well shut that it didn't slide open, the hinges were too tough to move by themselves.

 "Stay where you are," the ninja said as he resurfaced.

    He spoke in a low voice all the time, barely heard.

 "Now listen," he ordered, "I don't care who you are or what you're in here for, not now. I'm from the Returners. If you want to get out of here you'll have to help yourselves, there's only so much I can do."

    The prisoners nodded with a mix of fear and steadily growing hope.

 "Tell me quickly," Shadow continued, "do you know how many guards there is in here?"

    There was a nervous, brief silence before one of the men on the floor spoke up.

 "At this hour, there's about twenty in this building at least," he hissed in a hoarse voice, "I'm not sure about the other houses."

 "But they move around all the time, between the floors," a deep, rash voice came from the cot, "I used to be on the second floor, I know. There's only about ten there at the same time."

    Shadow nodded. They had to count on that there were at least one hundred soldiers here all in all, but this information was hopeful. They had a chance if they could get everything going quickly. Everything depended on speed.

 "I'm going to open the other cell now," he informed the three, "but you will stay here until I tell you that we can take a course of action together, understand?"

    Again they gave their silent, tense approval. The assassin nodded back at them to at least appear a little less an emotionless demon clad in black. Then he turned on his heel and swept up beside the exit again.

    Guards would pass, but dawn was closing in. Soon they would all know the results.