Chapter Twenty Eight

Raid

MELODY

"That's our cue." Melody watched the rooftop of the building across the street that was overlooking the Merchant's Bank. The sound of the rifle crack echoing through the air and the flash of yellow-pink from the muzzle were distinctly unmistakable.

"Wait." Charlotte held up a hand stiffly. The group of individuals Ivon had designated as "Bravo Team" froze. Then, the shouts of soldiers were evident as were the stomping of boots as a great number of the First Imperial Guard rushed out of the weapon storage facility they were guarding.

"Now that's our cue." Charlotte said. She motioned for the Warriors and the small group of Insurgents to follow her down from the rooftop and into the building.

"You think this will work?" Deirdre asked Melody a little apprehensively.

"I hope so." Melody shot a glance at Charlotte who was leading the pack. She was used to being the one leading missions that it was a relaxing change to just be a participant. However, she couldn't help but feel like she wasn't in control of the situation, putting the command of the mission into the hands of another. "She looks capable enough to know what she's doing."

"Well you better be right," Tracy snorted. "Otherwise we're gonna get caught and probably executed on the spot."

"Come on." Bow in hand, Melody followed behind the insurgents and hurried her team past the small group of insurgents and down the stairwell to the front where Charlotte was cautiously staking out an entry point.

"Charlotte," she said in a low tone. "How many weapons are we talking here?"

"All of them." The older woman replied without looking at her. "We're cleaning out their cache to arm the common people."

"Even with Tracy's powers, I don't know if we'll be able to do it in time," Melody said doubtfully. "There's only so long Elsa and Ivon's team can keep the First Imperials occupied."

"We have to."

"And what if we get caught?"

"Then don't." The reply was stubborn and steadfast.

Melody sighed a little in exasperation, as though she were a waitress dealing with a hard patron at the restaurant. Charlotte was determined to ensure the success of the mission, even though it was being a little unrealistic. Still, they had to try their best since they were already here.

The fact that her parents were still alive gave her the motivation she needed to stick with the Insurgency's plans and agendas. Tracy had managed to find a time to relay the good news to her in private, and she knew for a fact that the Insurgency were planning to return the power to the rightful monarchs.

"Clear." Charlotte motioned for everyone to follow her into the room.

Shaking her head ever so slightly that it was unnoticeable to Charlotte - not that the woman was paying her any attention anyway - she drew an arrow from her quiver and nocked it. She held the bow at waist level, moving cautiously into the room.

One by one, the Warriors and insurgents trickled through the door and into the room, standing in the middle of the weapons cache.

So it actually does exist. Melody was astounded by the sight of so many weapons. Muskets, rifles, carbines, pistols and boxes of lead balls and black powder were stacked up in different corners of the room, and there were numerous crates probably filled with even more firearms and ammunition.

She had honestly been doubtful that any of it would be in such an unsecured location like in the middle of New Town where the municipal buildings were. Apparently the Empire was cocky enough to assume that no one would dare to go anywhere near their facilities. They were wrong.

"Deirdre and I will keep a lookout." Melody told Charlotte, who regarded her with a dismissive nod.

"Alright, people. Listen up," Charlotte said in a loud voice. "Assuming Alpha Team manages to keep the First Imperials occupied, we have roughly ten minutes - or five - before a fresh detail of soldiers show up to take their place here. I want this room cleared out by the time they get here. Got it?"

The insurgents muttered indistinctly amongst themselves in reply. Evidently they too saw how impossible it was to ransack everything by the time the First Imperial soldiers arrived. Nonetheless, they went to work like ants of a colony, painstakingly forming a chain to get the items to the centre of the room from all four sides of the room.

"She's delusional." Deirdre noted from the side of the room where she was standing with Melody.

"She's desperate." Melody bit her lip. "But can we really blame her? She's trying to do what she thinks is best for her kingdom."

"Noble. But reckless."

Melody couldn't argue with that. Deirdre was right. Either Charlotte knew exactly what she was doing, or she was damning them all to execution if they got caught. Still, something told her that the Insurgency's leader wouldn't go down without a fight.

"We have to do what we can." Melody half-sighed. "It's all we can do anyway, at this point."

She watched as Tracy sat in the middle of the room with legs crossed, breathing deeply as she began to pull open a stable portal of purple mist. The Crossing Point that Melody had seen a thousand times before grew large enough for seven men to enter abreast. And then, a second portal pulled itself open on the far side of the room. And then a third.

"Maybe we were wrong." Deirdre too was watching Tracy as she strained to keep the three massive portals of magic open at the opposite ends of the room. "At this rate, maybe we can make it."

"Props to her." Melody marvelled. The former sea witch had grown immensely in her abilities and had once mentioned that she was getting close to her full potential as what she termed "a Ha'naeth."

And Deirdre was right too. At the rate the insurgents were going, they would soon clean out the entire place with the help of Tracy's multiple Crossing Points. However, the toll it was taking on Tracy was obvious by the fact that the girl had gone rather pale and was struggling hard to breathe while keeping her focus on tapping into her magic.

"Someone's coming." Deirdre said urgently in a low voice.

Melody spun to the nearby staircase. Amid the sounds of the insurgents moving the supplies, it did sound like a sizeable force was entering the building. She ran over to Charlotte who was directing traffic and overseeing the move of the crates, which were more than halfway done.

"Charlotte, someone's coming." She hissed.

"What?" The older woman was taken aback. "So soon?"

"Yeah."

"Then hold them off," She demanded. "Buy us more time." And she turned away before Melody could suggest evacuating the premises.

Giving a low grunt of exasperation, Melody hurried back to Deirdre.

"So?"

"She's not gonna budge." Melody gritted her teeth. "She intends to finish this operation even if it means getting everyone killed."

"Then shouldn't we stop her?"

"No, we can't afford for the Insurgency to fall apart from an argument here. Best we can do is hold off the First Imperials and hope that they'll be finished soon." Melody gripped her bow in hand tightly. "Come on."

She led Deirdre out to the staircase and came face to face with a line of soldiers who had begun to clamber up the first flight of stairs.

Upon seeing the two girls emerge from out of nowhere, the first one in line shouted, and the first few soldiers brought their muskets to bear.

"Get down!" Deirdre pushed Melody behind her and raised both her hands. Vibrant flames of fire rocketed out of her hands like flamethrowers, forcing the soldiers to yell and retreat back the way they came. Given the narrow staircase, there was no way they could get round the flames without being burnt to a crisp.

As they scrambled away, Melody crouched by Deirdre's side underneath the flames, nocking a few arrows and taking down the soldiers as they turned their backs. The ones who had been in front now fell on top of their companions, causing a domino effect all the way down to the base of the stairs.

"That's not going to hold them for long." Melody nocked another arrow and drew it, but this time she waited. Squinting past the dense smoke from the flames, she couldn't see the soldiers, but she was certain that they were regrouping under cover, forming a new tactic to strike back.

A single ear-splitting crack caused Melody to start as a lead ball zinged past the top of her head and wedged itself in the wall behind her, causing the plaster to crumble slightly.

"We need to move before they realise they're not shooting at regular height men." Deirdre hissed as more balls started to ping and whizz past them wildly over their heads.

"No kidding." Melody dove out of the way with Deirdre. Fortunately, the First Imperials at the rear hadn't seen that it was two girls who were smaller in size and height as compared to regular soldiers giving them resistance, which resulted in their aim and trajectory being above the heads of the two girls.

Running back to the insurgents, they were welcomed by the sight of most of the room being relatively empty apart from a few remaining large crates. Most of the insurgents were ducking through the Crossing Points while being hurried along by Charlotte. She herself bore one of the smaller crates under her good arm.

"Leave it, we have to go now!" Melody shouted as she gestured behind her at the oncoming soldiers.

"No, we're-"

"Look," Deirdre snarled and grabbed the older woman, shoving her towards the Crossing Point. "If we don't go now, someone's going to die."

"Hurry up!" Tracy groaned weakly, though loud enough for Melody to hear that it sounded unhealthy.

Melody shot an urgent glance at the remaining insurgents who were about to lift yet another crate, and thankfully they got the message. Dropping whatever they were doing, they dashed for the Crossing Point and went through it, leaving only Tracy, Deirdre and Melody behind.

The moment the Insurgents had left, two Crossing Points closed and Tracy released a loud gasp of relief and fell to the ground, still tensing her hands to keep the final remaining Crossing Point open.

"Come on!" Melody gestured Deirdre over and they each took one of Tracy's arms, slinging them over their shoulders.

They barely made it through the Crossing Point before the horde of soldiers poured into the almost empty room in loose order, only to find that their intruders had fled.

###

Stumbling out into the safety of the insurgency base, the three girls sprawled against the crates and boxes of weapons and ammunition. Tracy immediately collapsed into an unresponsive heap, sweating profusely. For a moment Melody panicked, thinking that the exertion had killed her closest friend.

"Tracy!" she scrambled over to the prone body of the girl, putting two fingers lightly against the side of her neck. To her relief, she felt a pulse, though the fact that it was weak still sparked worry in her.

"She needs help." Melody whirled to look at Deirdre who similarly crouched down beside Tracy.

"I don't think there's anything anyone can do." Charlotte stood a short distance away, looking concerned.

"She's right." Deirdre said apologetically. "This is magic. She's drained and hurt badly from the strain."

"I've never seen her exert herself this hard and been hurt this bad." Melody said, her throat suddenly feeling thick and uncomfortable. Tracy had always been powerful and proficient in harnessing magic, but not once had Melody ever seen Tracy in such a poor condition. The only other time had been when she had teleported Elsa's forest tribe to Arendelle, but even then Tracy hadn't shown such alarming side effects.

"She'll recover." Deirdre sounded reassuring, or at least she tried to sound like it.

"If it weren't for her…" Charlotte trailed off.

"Your guys wouldn't have made it this far." Melody said pointedly.

"Yes." Charlotte said quietly. Then she called out to a few insurgents for help. Two men rushed over, still looking grimy but thankful that they had made it out alive. "Take her to the med bay." The Insurgency leader instructed.

The two men lifted Tracy gently between them by her arms and legs, and slowly carried her out of the room.

"Be careful with her." Melody called out stiffly. "Please."

"Don't worry," Deirdre put a hand on her shoulder. "She'll be fine…eventually."

"But when?" Melody pursed her lips morbidly.

"I'm sorry about your friend," Charlotte tried not to sound too gruff.

Melody was about to say something angry in return when Ivon strode into the room with a dark look on his face.

"We have a problem." Ivon said grimly, glancing between Charlotte and the two girls.

"What else?" Deirdre mumbled.

"What is it?"

"We succeeded in ransacking the place and escaped in the nick of time before we were swarmed by the First Imperials. We turned the money out onto the streets the moment we got clear of the bank." Ivon began gravely. "But…"

"But what?

"Your friends…they…" Ivon looked apologetically at her.

"No…" Melody stepped back. "No, no, no. Are they-" she refused to utter the words that would turn it into a reality.

Ivon shook his head. "Not yet anyway. They were taken by the First Imperials after trying to slow them down and draw their fire away from the rest of us. A truly heroic gesture."

"They're still alive?" Melody felt a glimmer of hope spark in the depths of her heart.

"They're going to be taken to stand trial in front of General Kane, like all the other people deemed as threats to the Empire."

"Then I'm going to the Maine." Melody slung her bow across her back.

"What do you think you're doing?" Charlotte stood in her path.

"I'm going to rescue my friends."

"Miss, are you mad?" Ivon protested. "The place is swarming with First Imperials. If you go in there with your-" he glanced disapprovingly at her bow. "-weapons, you're not coming out alive."

"He's right, there's too many of them." Charlotte agreed. "We'll think of something to spring them."

"No," Melody said stubbornly. "I'm here to help liberate Denmark from the Empire but I'm not prepared to lose my teammates in the process."

"Listen to yourself." Deirdre put a hand on her arm. "You're talking about going in there without a plan. That's not like you."

"No, this is our only chance! We know where they're going to be. Once the trial is over, we don't know where the Empire will take them!"

"Girl, you're going to get yourself killed." Charlotte protested.

Melody fought back tears. "Elsa, Will and Jade are going to die if I don't help them. I owe them that much."

There was a short silence as the four people in the room contemplated their choices.

"Alright, I'll go with you." Deirdre said. "But only to make sure you don't charge headlong into danger."

"Someone needs to watch Tracy."

"I'll watch over her," Charlotte still sounded uncertain and skeptical about the whole thing. "You have my word."

"And I'll think of a contingency in case you guys don't manage to rescue them at the Maine." Ivon gave Melody a small nod. "Don't worry, we're going to get them back."

"Thank you." Melody said gratefully, and walked past the two older insurgents towards the exit of their base.

"Melody. Please." Deirdre pleaded with her. "Don't do anything rash."

"That's funny. That's usually my line to you guys."

"I know you're angry and worried, but you're not going to be able to help them if you're not level-headed."

"How can you still be so calm?"

Deirdre sighed. "I know I can't stop you. This is your choice, so make the right decision. I'll back your play and keep you in check."

Melody exhaled and set her jaw. "I'm going to the Maine."

"We'll go the Maine, see if we can find a way to do something discreetly." Deirdre said firmly. "But we can't afford to be spotted."

"Okay." Melody took a deep breath. She usually was the one who kept her calm on missions, but this thing with the Empire was more personal than it had ever been.

First, her home and kingdom had been invaded, and now her friends were in danger of being executed? She was not going to let that happen. No, not if she could help it.