Heroes of Man

by Wake the Wind

Chaldea has fallen. Ritsuka is fighting for his life after a black key nearly rips out his heart. And a dozen Servants disappear when encountering a strange power. Emiya deploys on a mission to recover those Servants, and restore the defenders of human history to full power. But it will take him to a history that was never recorded. With many dangers that he cannot forsee.

20. Colan V

Colan V

"Have your eyes on them now?"

Colan looked back at Nitocris and gave her a nod. She smiled at him, and returned to her sitting position. She had become much calmer upon learning that she was only going to have to sit in this small basement. It was of a minor shop that one of the cultists had owned, and stood at the edge of the city on the eastern side of Volantis. Or at least, the edge of the city outside the black walls. There was around a hundred yard gap between the walls themselves and the rest of the city, so this small little opening was around one hundred yards away from the Black Walls themselves.

And between them and the black walls was a chariot, still mostly obscured in the dark before the daybreak. And in that chariot were the witch and…the Master. Colan felt a bit of anger in his body as he stared at the thin reed of a boy standing tall in the chariot. They'd somehow found him some armor to make him look like a more convincing Azhor Ahai, but he still didn't fit any kind of image of an all conquering hero of legend. Or for that matter, like someone who his Da would ever call "Master."

'He's just a weedy little crimp,' Colan shook his head.

"Again, we'll tell you when he begins," he turned his head to his left, and saw Da and Emiya standing right next to him. Along Emiya's back was a massive tarp, at least five meters length and width wise. Da was looking back at the two women, who nodded at him. Emiya was staring at the chariot like him, his eyes however often moving up and monitoring the top of the wall. Colan could look up, and he could see a few small shadows skittering across the top of the walls, the torches in their hands managing to light up the bottom of the walls.

"Once the shadows give us cover," Emiya said his hands beginning to glow, as he had one hand on the tarp and one hand on the ground in front of him. The tarp itself seemed to begin to shift in color, and slowly began to look more like the earth in front of him. Emiya then focused his eyes on Colan, "The cable feeling okay?"

Colan placed his hand on the large metal cable that Emiya had somehow constructed while inside that strange magic place they'd spent the evening planning. The coils of the metal felt corse to touch, but he understood why this would be so key moving forward. He nodded at Emiya, who smiled, and then looked forward.

"Sun's just beginning to come up," the bronze man said, and smiled as he looked out. He smiled, as slowly but surely, the torches began to be put out. As those lights were extinguished, he could see the guards changing. He then looked down, and smirked, before he held up the tarp, "Okay, let's go, the shadows should give us some cover."

"Good luck," Colan gave one last look to Lady Xuan, who was standing just behind Nitocris. Right in front of the monk was a large metal column in front of her. She stood in front of it, maintaining one of her stances, as she stared at the column, breathing in as calmly as she could. At the bottom of the column was the other end of the cable, twisting into Nitocris's lap, and then going over to right beneath Colan, where what seemed like a hundred yards. The cable went to Nitocris, who was focusing on the cable. Nitocris in particular looked at the tarp around Colan and the rest, and pressed her hand to the cable, and with a sudden light, the cable transformed to the same color as the tarp, and thus the same color as the ground.

"It should be harder to see it now," Nitocris nodded, before adding, "Once you get over there, lock it in," she then looked over at Lady Xuan, "And I'll be able to focus everything on this end to your end," her eyes went to Emiya, "And you'll be able to make sure it all gets spread out correctly, right?"

"I'll be able to find the weaknesses," Emiya nodded. He then watched as the shadows just began to come down right above the window they were looking through, "Right, let's go now."

And Colan quickly jumped up and landed outside on his belly, though he was still behind his Da and Emiya. Still, he pushed forward, despite the cable being relatively heavy. Emiya threw the tarp over them, and slowly, they began to crawl as quickly as they could. THe movement was strange, but he could feel them pushing forward as they did so.

It was so dark beneath the tarp, that Colan had a hard time to know what was happening. While he wasn't sure where they were, the few times he saw the tarp open slightly, it still was dark out there, meaning that the shadow of the black walls was still covering the tarp as it advanced. That meant they were still somewhat hidden, and that meant he felt a bit of stress drop from his shoulders.

'I thought we would have been spotted the first time we went out…'

"So," the witch had finally managed to get out of Lady's Xuan's grip, and was sitting down. Colan felt some relief in her now wearing clothes over her body. Not only were the tattoos on her body unsightly but her body…it moved when she moved, so it was distracting, "When do we start setting fires."

"Ehhhhh," Colan looked back at the Master, who was still frowning deeply, but also deeply frustrated, "Look, we are going to punish this place," Colan could see the older boys hand grip tightly, "Severely," then the hand released, "But we can't just burn the whole place down," he sighed, "No matter how much we might want to."

"Oh come on," the witch groaned, "After everything they di-"

"Look," Ritsuka said quickly, "This place sucks. From what little you have told me so far, this place," he waved his hands up, "It's like if you took every crappy slavery idea from all of human history, and then added a group of semi-nazis on top," he waved his hands around, before pointing at Colan, "Very, very bad people," and Colan nodded, "And then, having made that group of people, make them the wealthiest city on the planet because they happen to control a big trade route. So yeah, they suck."

"That's a pretty accurate description," Da nodded.

"Well, I don't like them," Colan couldn't help but feel a bit of an understatement there, "but I don't think we can just go burning them down to the ground, especially if somehow word gets out that there is a traveling band of magic users that can burn down a major power on this continent," he looked over at the Witch, "This is a major trade hub. Any surviving ships get out and the entire world will know about us, and they probably won't be very friendly."

The witch turned her head, but her expression was one of soft disappointment. Colan looked around, and saw the rest of the other spirits seeming to be less angry than her. Da look peeved, but understanding. Nitocris seemed somewhat relieved, and the shaking she had been doing seemed to stop almost entirely. Emiya was also relieved, though it seemed to be as though a great weight had been lifted from his shoulder. And Lady Xuan was nodding happily.

"Besides," Ritsuka rubbed his head, "You never know, we don't want to burn kids or other slaves either," Ritsuka smirked, "Besides, I have an idea on how we can manage to damage this place greatly, while also keeping ourselves from becoming war criminals or something like that," he then looked at the witch, "Since we are trying to avoid being like that from now on."

"Right," the woman just shook her head, "Though for the record, this place deserves to burn more than France did."

…

"Man, they…wow," Colan could see his Master just stare at the woman next to him, his eyes focused on her, "I mean," he seemed to clinch his teeth a bit, "I get it, but to hear that from you…yeah."

"You only heard the condensed version," the witch's face lost the smirk, but just became a sad smile, "I didn't tell you all the details of what I've gone through," she then tapped her finger to her lips, "Well, I guess we can start from the top," she pointed that finger directly at the older boy, "The night I lost my virg-"

"I don't really don't need to hear the details," Ritsuka groaned, "I would have though you wouldn't want to remember them either."

"Oh, I don't," the sad smile had become a smirk again, "There are things I'd love to forget Master, believe me," the smirk disappeared, "But that doesn't mean I can forget them. These past decades," she placed her hand on her body, "I will be scarred forever, even if we do find a way to get all these tattoos and brandings off," she held out her hand, "that's ignoring that I just can't stop thinking about it. It's like it's always there now, in the back of my head," Colan could see her hands shake.

"...ahhhhh!" the thin young man then slapped his face for a second, "Okay, again, we aren't burning this place," Colan could almost see the vein begin to pop out his forehead, "No matter how much we want to," he sighed, "But, we are going to do something that basically knocks the slave masters of this city down so far that they will spend the next centuries trying to recover from it."

"Alright," Emiya nodded, "So what?"

"There are big massive walls from what you told me right?" Ritsuka said. When all the other servants nodded in affirmative, he finally began to smile again, "and those walls allow the Old Blood to retreat there, and have an impregnable fortress where they can pick off any slave uprising before it can actually take off and kill them?"

"That's the basic idea."

"Okay then," he then slapped his hands together, "How many of you guys remember Jericho."

Colan stopped as Da and Emiya halted their crawling. He pushed himself forward along the ground until he was right up along next to them. The two held their hands up, pushing the tarp so a small opening emerged, and Colan was able to get a better look at the chariot. The witch was in her outfit from before, a red cloak like she had worn as the leader of cult, the hood only barely covering her head, since she was already known. Ritsuka was wearing armor, strangely crafted to show a bronze chest with ripples of muscles that Colan knew didn't exist from the time he'd seen the older boy naked. Emiya had created it on his Master's orders to make him appear more god-like.

Then, Emiya had crafted the rest of the outfit. He had metal covering the rest of his body, likely to keep him from having any features noted publicly. Even his face was in the mask of a bearded man, whose eyes stared forward resolutely. And on the top of his helmet, held very high above his head, was a small torch that they had lit on fire. An attempt to take up the imagery of Azhor Ahai. It would not bother him, not with that strange "Mystic Code" the boy described, a spell that let one enter fire and created a field around the skin for protection. One could transfer it to another by physical contact…all of which explained how this Master had managed to both enter the fire himself and pull in the witch for the performance.

The chariot itself was pulled by two relatively good horses they'd gotten the cult to donate, and the chariot had been put together by Emiya, much like the armor and the costumes. Colan had to wonder where the bronze man had learned to make tools and armor like this. He'd even made the intricate horn that Ritsuka was going to use later in the plan.

"Okay," Emiya suddenly let down the tarp again, "I think they have everything they need," slowly they began to crawl once again, "I even saw the crowd beginning into the courtyard," he shook his head, "With the crowd here, they probably won't try and kill them before the plan happens."

Colan nodded. At least, for how foolish this plan seemed, Ritsuka had decided to make himself the decoy of the plan. If anyone was going to get pelted with arrows from this, it was going to be him. Though, as they continued further and further towards the walls, Colan wondered if this "Master" just had a flair for the dramatic in his blood.

Finally, the tarp began to scrunch up. As they pushed a bit further, the tarp only scrunched further, until Colan was touching the black stone itself. He marveled at it slightly. The black stone of the walls of Volantis had once been like any other wall, stone placed on top of stone with mortar holding it together. But it had been constructed by the Dragon Lords of Valyria, who had then used their dragons to fuse the stone together. That had apparently turned the walls into one massive stone, one wide enough to ride full chariots along the top of the walls.

And these were the walls that Ritsuka wanted to smash down.

'He said Emiya would be able to find the way to break them down,' Colan turned his head toward Emiya, who was looking directly at the black fused stone, his gray eyes focusing on its smooth surface, 'Yet there are no chinks, no exposed mortar or cracks.'

"Okay," Emiya pushed himself upward, "Let's get up here so we can pull this off," he then pushed the tarp off, and then let it sit over them for a second. He looked at the wall, and then at the tarp, and pressed his hand down onto it, and Colan could see the tarp begin to change color, so much so that it became the wall covered in shadow, "Just give me a few minutes, and hopefully, Master can keep serving as our distraction."

Colan, now up against the wall, stared upward, and felt relief when he saw no activity above him. No one had looked down at them, and no one was suspecting they'd managed to make it all the way to the wall. And with the tarp now giving them some cover, they just needed Ritsuka to pull off the distraction to let them complete their plan. Especially when.

BRRRROOOOOWWWWWW

Colan turned, and watched as the horn was up at Ritsuka's lips. He was standing tall in his chariot, with the witch holding her hands to her ears and a look of exasperation on her face. The crowd of followers that had already begun to gather around the major streets leading up to the space around the walls seemed to come to attention, and Colan was just glad that the shadows and the tarp were camouflaging them.

BRRRROOOOOWWWWWW

The horn was magical. It would be exceedingly loud, traveling farther than it should be possible. Colan could hear a rumbling along the top of the wall, as soldiers were likely beginning to come up and watch this. More importantly, because they were up and watching the chariot, they were absolutely not focused on whatever Colan, Emiya and Da were doing right up against the wall.

BRRRROOOOOWWWWWW

"Alright," Emiya let out a massive sigh, "We need to move quickly, if only to maybe give them an out to see if this doesn't work," the tall man turned himself back towards the wall, and placed his hands on the surface. He closed his eyes, and suddenly he lit up with lines of green magic covering his face and arms. He opened them again, and declared-

"TRACE ON!"

BRRRROOOOOWWWWWW

As the crowd and soldiers were growing and growing, Colan couldn't help but notice Emiya's eyes moving at a breakneck pace. They seemed to vibrate as fast as a hummingbird's wing. And as they bounced, Emiya's mouth began to grow into a smarmy smirk.

"Found it," he said finally.

BRRRROOOOOWWWWWW

"Here," Emiya pointed at a small point in the wall at the very bottom of the wall, not even an inch off the ground, "This is where the crystalline fault in the fused stone is," and then a small blade materialized in his hand, with a strange ring on the end of it. He tossed it to Da, who caught it easily, "Stab it in there dog breath, that's our point of entry."

"With pleasure," Da laughed, pulling back his arm, and aiming it directly where Emiya was pointing. He then thrust forward, a look of glee covering his face.

BRRRROOOOOWWWWWW

And on the sixth sound of the horn, the metal knife somehow cut through the fused stone surface, and pierced a full finger length into the wall. Da laughed as he looked at it, before holding a thumb up to Emiya, who smiled. Da, then looked back to Colan, who stared for a second, before remembering his role. Colan untied the knot around his waist, and the cable came loose. Da smiled, and then twisted the cable threw the hole on the end, and tied it deeply into it.

"There," Emiya said, nodding, "That's the start of our tuning circuit."

"DESCENDENTS OF VALYRIA!" Colan was pulled back from the success of their first step, and looked back at the chariot. Da's Master was now standing tall, though that was likely from the platform shoes he had had Emiya craft for his disguise. The torch on top of his head was lit, and he was using a strange spell to project his own voice as loud as possible. Not as loud as the horn, but loud enough for everyone around him to hear him, "I COME FOR RETRIBUTION!"

The wall was silent, as was the growing crowd behind Ritsuka. Only a few mutterings seemed to pop up from here and there, but nothing like an official response. Colan looked down at the witch next to Ritsuka, and couldn't help but admire at how well she had managed to hide her disdain for this plan now that she was a key part of it. After all-

"This is a stupid plan," the ashen haired woman groaned. She was rubbing her temples while leaning down forward.

"Oh come on," Ritsuka laughed, folding his arms together with his cheeks puffed out comically, "I've had way stupider plans than this, and they all worked out."

"It does seem quite foolish," Nitocris spoke up, and Ritsuka turned to face her, but she soon added, "Though…there are some merits to this," she then smiled to herself, "At least this time, the enemy you are using yourself as a decoy for isn't a giant snake deity," she then blinked, "For a third time."

"Ah, I'm not sure that wouldn't be better," Da spoke up, and Colan saw a strangely lustful look on Da's face, his hands stretched out as though to grab something, or two somethings, "If you're about to be killed, better by a giant snake with breasts the size of-" Da's eyes finally caught Colan looking at him, and he sighed, "Sorry about that," he looked down in shame for a moment."

"Wow," Ritsuka blinked, looking at Colan for a second, "It's true…"

"What?" Colan spoke up. The spirits might call this boy Master, but he wouldn't. He stood as straight a possible as he stared at this Ritsuka, looking over his features…which looked vaguely like they were from Yi Ti, but not quite.

"Nothing," Ritsuka laughed, before smiling at Colan intensely, "Just weird to see someone able to get Cu to act like," he then looked over at his Da for a moment, "Like an actual father."

"Da's been great!"

"I don't doubt it."

"Focus," the witch snapped her fingers, "We need to keep discussing what our plan is, and why your plan is idiotic," she rubbed her temples, "I mean really, the thing's fused stone, there's nothing we can do that can actually tear down those walls, not with most of us still not even at half power," she then gave Ritsuka a glare, "And besides, it's not like I'm like that stupid saint," Colan blinked as he almost heard affection in that description, "God hasn't exactly offered me a lot of favors."

"Oh, I think we can still tear it down on our own," Ritsuka nodded, "No need for the divine," he then smiled, "Well, you all have told me that this stone has been fused by Dragon Fire, right?"

The other Heroic Spirits nodded, and that caused Ritsuka to smirk. He suddenly put his fingers into the ground, and began to draw into it. After a few moments, he had drawn what almost seemed to be a ladder, with two straight lines connected by a half dozen lines between them. Colan blinked, wondering how a ladder might help them in this task. Ritsuka then placed his fingers around the two parallel lines.

"This is a wall right," Colan caught up to what the demonstration was, and everyone nodded, "Well, when dragon fire fused it," he suddenly dug into the dirt around those two lines, disconnecting the connecting lines from the parallel ones, "Then that really only got rid of it so deep. I bet you there are still cracks and fault lines inside the stone that the dragon fire never really got to," he smirked, "I bet that they only really fused the surface, since those walls would probably have collapsed more if the fire had fully fused them through."

"Yes," Nitocris leaned forward, "So…that would probably mean, that the walls actually do have weaknesses, we just have to get through the outer shell," she placed the finger back to her lips, "Which would still be quite difficult, considering that the outer wall is still fused together."

"But it's been fused for over a thousand years," Ritsuka pointed back up at her, "And that will mean that the rain and the wind and everything else has probably managed to make a few weak points," he then turned his head toward Emiya, "And I know just the guy who can find them."

"That could work. Hell, if your hunch is correct, then I'll be able to crack that thing at multiple points by tracing to see where inner cracks meet and scatter out," Emiya nodded, "But they aren't just going to let us get close and start tracing and then smashing those walls like that. They'll fill us full of arrows as soon as they see us doing something like that."

"Which is why Azhor Ahai will be the distraction," the Master smirked, "I'm going to go out and challenge them in broad daylight," he then smiled, "I'll say I'll bring down their walls, and get them focused on me while you guys are up against the wall and tearing the thing down."

"Why would they let you get away with that?"

"Because," Ritsuka smiled at the witch, "If I fail, they will think that they won't have to worry about Azhor Ahai at all."

"FOR TOO LONG HAVE YOU AND YOUR WRETCHED CITY HAS HELD THEMSELVES AS MASTERS OF THE WORLD!"

Colan returned his gaze to Emiya, who was now using his magic to see all the cracks in the wall. Ritsuka and the witch were standing out there, and it was clear that everyone both in and out of the wall were focusing on them. He was shouting his challenge to the Old Blood there, insulting them for their transgressions. Emiya was using that time with his magic to find-

"There," Emiya conjured another place, this one without the small circle ring at the end, and tossed it to Da. Da caught the knife, and then slammed it where Emiya had pointed, "Okay, when the energy from our strike happens," he pointed to the first knife with the cable attached, "That will send out dozens of fractures, including one that will," he then moved his finger over to the second knife, "hit that knife. The magic force will thus have another place to tune and then shatter out, and," he then place his hand on the wall, and shot magic through it again, smirking, before pointing at a third point, "And will eventually reach there, where," he handed a new knife to Da, "Our third knife will be, starting the process all over again."

"YOU CLAIM TO HAVE RIDDEN DRAGONS, YET YOU-"

"So I sort of get it," Da looked back at the cable, "So, once it starts cracking at that first knife, it'll crack everywhere."

"Correct," Emiya said, "You see, that will caused a chain reaction. One knife being filled with our magic strike would maybe cause some damage, and if you hit it with a battering ram you could push through," he then smiled, "But as more and more knives are tuned, the cracks will spread out like a spider web through every part of the wall," he clapped his hands together, "A total and complete systemic collapse."

"Which will bring the walls crumbling down," Da whistled. Colan wasn't quite sure what Emiya had been saying, but if Da got it, then that meant it probably was pretty solid of an idea. Emiya looked down at Colan, who stared back up at him.

"Okay Colan," Emiya said, "Make sure to hold up that tarp while your father and I do this," Colan nodded at the bronze man, who smiled down at him, "Good man," he then looked at Da, "Okay, let's get moving, they haven't stated the ride yet, and we're going to need to move as quickly as possible before he starts."

"ONCE I RIDE AROUND THESE WRETCHED WALLS SIX TIMES," Ritsuka shouted, "AND BLOW THIS HORN SIX MORE TIMES," he raised the horn up above his head, making sure to keep it away from the fire of the torch above his head, "AND YOUR WALLS SHALL CRUMBLE UNDER THE WEIGHT OF YOUR SINS!"

"He's not…," Colan spoke up, making sure to hold the tarp as much as he could.

"Public speaking was never his strong suit," Emiya spoke up, "He's much better at personal relationships and working and speaking with you on an individual level, but he's never been a particularly good at open oratory," the bronze man tossed one of the knives over to Da, who caught it and put in the third of the knives, "Especially when he only has a few hours to throw it together," he then shrugged, "Still, he's holding his own, and really, all he has to do is distract them so we can pull this off."

And then Colan turned around, and heard the sound of horses hooves thundering into the dirt, and the twists of the wheels as the chariot began its way around the walls. Colan gave one last look as they passed, and looked over at Emiya and Da, who were moving on to the fourth knife of their plan. He then looked down, and let out a huge sigh as the tarp they brought for cover was still the same color as the wall they were working on.

"I really wish we had had more time," Da groaned, "You know, just so we don't have to do this while he's actually doing his ride," Da's eyes shot up for a second, looking to see if anyone was looking down, "That way, we won't have to work so quickly about this."

"You know we had to do this all today so we don't just leave all of Jeanne Alter's followers out to dry," he then cringed, "Master told them we'd help them today, and since he really wants to knock these assholes over," Emiya stopped, and shook his head, "He decided we were doing this in a way to freak them out," he then smirked, "Just be glad he's we're only doing this side. Just a quarter of the total wall will come down, which should be more than enough to completely rob those walls of most of their ability to protect this quarter of the city from a slave revolt."

"And more than enough to scare the shit out them," Da laughed, and Emiya nodded. Colan hoped it would work as they thought. He had faith in Emiya and his father, they'd gotten through too many things for him not to have faith in them, yet still this seemed far too out there.

And thus, they would continue. It would be a while before the chariot would come back around, and by that time, they'd already finished over a third of the front facing wall, about a mile of wall being set up. They also managed to set up a few extra knives into the gate that lead into the old quarter. They had had to be slow to make sure their cover would protect them, but they managed to do so with no one seeing them. They just had to keep working, and hopefully they would have time to get across with plenty of time to spare.

After the third pass of the chariot around the walls, Colan looked back as he was preparing to head back to the basement, the last few knives being put into another one of the towers. He felt some sweat begin to gather on the back of his head. Where before it was mostly only the members of the cult that the witch had led, but now it was at least ten times the size. None of them seemed to have noticed he and his team but he noticed that they were now beginning to cover the buildings, and were now between them and the basement. He stopped, and hit Emiya as he tossed the next knife to Da.

"What?"

"Set," Colan, still doing what he could to hold up the tarp, pointed at the crowd, "How are we going to get back," he shook his head, "I don't think that we can try to crawl back to the basement."

"Oh, don't worry," Emiya placed a hand on the wall, and smiled, as he nodded at Da, "I think that's enough, we have everything we need for this to work," he then took in a deep breath, "Now, time to see if I can make this work."

Emiya and Da pulled back into the tarp. Emiya then reached out, and grabbed both Colan and his Da's wrists. And then he let out a deep breath.

And then Emiya disappeared. Colan remembered that Emiya had done something similar the previous night. He then looked down, and stared at his own arm, and suddenly realized that his arm was gone as well. He could still feel Emiya's hand, and while he looked around, he could see that the tarp was still being held up where Emiya and Da should be. As he tried to deal with the idea that his own body was no longer visible, he felt Emiya's hand begin to pull him.

"Wha-" but he couldn't speak up anymore, as suddenly he was pulled out from the tarp. The tarp fell down from them, and was quickly tossed to the side so hopefully no one would notice it. Colan looked back at the crowd, and then felt a massive pull as Emiya dragged him away from the wall.

It was almost as though they were flying. The moment he let Emiya pull him, he was beginning to fly into the sky. They were as tall at least as the elephants that the Triarchs had ridden, if not higher. It wasn't completely like flight, there was no flapping that meant they were continuing to rise. Rather, it was like a powerful but floaty jump. As they were sailing through the air, Colan looked down, and saw hundreds of people beneath them. They were of all different colors and races and heights. Most were slaves, with tattoos of their purpose in life, but there were freemen and others. Colan could even see that there were a few of them were in ornate robes with flames tattoos covering their whole face.

And after about a few moments, they landed behind the crowd, and right next to the opening into the basement. Emiya shot down into the opening, dragging Colan and his Da right behind him. They landed down on their bellies, and as they did so, Colan felt Emiya's hand let go of its grip to his arm. He almost immediately regained his view of his body, and the sudden return to seeing his body almost made him feel like vomiting, but he stopped, and breathed in deeply. He looked over at his Da, and felt glad to see he was holding up in comparison to his Da, who also seemed a bit wobbly, but he also regained himself quickly.

"Man," Da grumbled, "I've never been on the end of Servant Magic like that," he shook his head, "Or at least, whatever Emiya w-"

"BLLUGGHGHHH!"

Colan and Da were pulled towards Emiya, and Colan felt his eyes bulge. Emiya was on his knees, and unlike them, he actually was vomiting. Emiya had never had any reaction even slightly like this, he'd always been as in control of himself as anyone Colan had ever seen. And now, he was emptying all the contents of his stomach onto the floor of the basement. Colan took a quick look over to Da, whose eyes were somehow even wider than his own. He then looked over at Nitocris, who had a similar expression to Da, and then at Lady Xuan…whose eyes were closed, as she concentrated for her part of the plan.

"Em-emiya," Nitocris's voice was shaky, she had to remain in her position, so she wasn't able to come over towards her currently sick comrade, "Are…are you-"

"I-ackvlugh," another burst of liquid flew through Emiya's mouth. As it splattered on the ground, he rubbed his sleeve along his mouth, and then continued, "I am okay, I just need to sit down for a second," he turned, and pushed himself against the nearest wall, and slid down the wall. He placed his hand on his forehead, and shook it as he tried to regain himself, "Oh shit."

"Buddy?" Da looked deeply concerned as he walked up to Emiya and placed his hand on the other man's shoulder. Colan had only heard Da use that sort of voice when it had been Colan who'd been hurt or sick, "You okay?"

"No," Emiya coughed again, and spat up again. While Da was able to move his torso out of the way, his shoes on the other hand were covered in some of the contents of Emiya's guts. Da's face twisted in disgust, "I think…I think I pushed this body far beyond what it's capable of," he shook his head, "Even if I do have Master giving me Mana to help it move."

"Yeah," Da groaned, trying to shake the spit up off his shoes, "Yeah, we might need to have a talk about how much we use our powers," he held his own hand in front of his face, flexing his fingers, "Still so weak."

"Would someone check about our Master and Jeanne Alter?" Nitocris finally spoke up, her eyes moving back and forth, "We only have one shot at this, so we need to have someone ready for it when they finally stop."

"Colan!" Da shouted, and Colan finally was able to move again. He rushed up to the window, and pushed his head up to see. Despite the dozens of limbs between him and the space where the chariot would be passing, he still managed to catch the view of the chariot passing the fifth time.

"We're on the fifth pass," he looked back, "Lady Nit-"

"I have it," Nitocris nodded, and began to chant underneath her breath. She began to glow, and her dark hair spread out like a great set of flapping wings. She continued to chant, and slowly the cable around her began to glow in the same manner. For a second, Colan worried that the cable they'd used to route to the wall would glow, but it only seemed to be inside the circle Nitocris had drawn around herself.

Behind that dark skinned woman, Xuanzang seemed to remain at a full calm. Her eyes were closed, her stance the same as it had been before. And yet…

'It's,' he flinched as he looked at the kind woman, a strange dark feeling coming over him, 'It's like she's filling the room,' he then looked over at Emiya, 'Could that also have contributed to making him sick,' he then stopped, and then returned his eyes back out, 'Need to focus, we need just the right timing-'

And then, after a moment more, the chariot appeared for a sixth time out in front of the walls of the Old Quarter. It came to a stop, and even with the crowd between them, Colan could see Ritsuka pick up the horn from his belt. As he did so, Colan could see his mouth open, and then Colan turned his attention back to Lady Xuan.

"Now!" he shouted, and the monk's eyes opened, fire seeming to blaze out from them.

"HIYA!" she screamed striking the metal in front of her with her palm, causing it to vibrate, and for Colan to see magical energy shoot out of the stand in front of her, and into the cable. Then he could see the energy suddenly enter the circle Nitocris was sitting in, and then stop, twisting around the circle making it glow in more and different colors. Nitocris took in a quick breath but quickly calmed herself, and held the energy around her.

"HIYA!"

And then Lady Xuan struck again, more energy being shot into the circle from her strike.

"HIYA! HIYA! HIYA!"

She did so again and again and again, and again, the circle seemed to absorb and twist the energy around her as Nitocris seemed to furrow her brow in concentration. Then, as a sixth and final strike came in, Nitocris took in the energy, and raised up her ears.

BRRRROOOOOWWWWWW

And then the horn sounded, and Nitocris threw her hands forward along the cable, the mystical energy being released all at once out of the basement and toward the wall. It was only Colan's own exposure to magics like this that allowed him to follow what had happened, as the magic traveled faster than his eyes all the way toward the first knife he had attached the cable to, and thus inserted a huge amount of force directly inside the great black walls. The world seemed to stop for a moment as Colan tried to look and see if their plan was working-

CRAAAACKKKKK

"HHHUUUHHHHH!"

And it was confirmed as Colan could hear the crowd gasp in shock. And after a moment he could see the massive crack that had sprung out of the wall, not directly where they had placed the first tuning knife, but rather around the fourth. If he understood directly, damage had been done to the first knife areas, but because of the inner structure of the wall, cracks like that would only appear where there were weaknesses far out of the structure. He turned back to Lady Xuan, who stared at the metal in front of her waiting-

BRRRROOOOOWWWWWW

For the second horn. The smallest of smiles covered Xuanzang's face, before it disappeared, and she seemed to lean forward. Her hands outstretched into open palms, her eyes focused forward and her mouth open in a constant shout.

"HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA! HIYA!"

Nitocris had only been supposed to save the first five for the initial burst. Now, with the process started on the last five blows of the horn, Lady Xuan was to continue striking until the walls came down. With each new strike, the mystic energy shot forward through the cable, and towards the mighty walls. And Colan could hear more and more wonder from the crowd as more and more cracks seemed to appear along the set of walls. He could see the black stone begin to vibrate up and down, and he saw some on top of the walls begin to try and steady themselves.

BRRRROOOOOWWWWWW

As the third blow of the horn came, a few of the men on the walls readied their bows and arrows, and aimed them at the supposed source of this horror. Before long, a half dozen arrows were flying towards Ritsuka and the Chariot. But then, as they were around halfway towards him, a burst of black flames shot out and enveloped the arrows. The wood and steel was incinerated, and Colan could hear more wonder coming from the crowd around them. Now, not only was this a demonstration of the earth, but it was a demonstration of the traditional fire of Azhor Ahai too.

BRRRROOOOOWWWWWW

Lady Xuan continued to lay strike after strike after strike in the metal. Nitocris had dragged herself away from the circle. She laid down next to Emiya, though she was lucky enough to not begin to vomit out over the floor like her comrade. As she sat there, she turned her head, and stared at the monk, marveling at the way her body was moving. She shook it for a moment, before saying.

"So this is the strength that broke the walls of Camelot," she sighed, "At least there is no magic reinforcement for these walls, so she should only strain herself, rather a better result than last time this happened."

"Wait," Colan turned to the dark skinned woman, "What are you talk-"

"Nothing to concern yourself with," Nitocris suddenly waved her hands around quickly, "Just remembering an old adventure," she then smiled, "Though again, with all the preparations, this should go about as well as we could hope…"

Colan rather doubted that, and as he saw Lady Xuan's face begin to become covered in sweat, he felt a sudden drop in the bottom of his stomach. She looked like she was getting tired.

BRRRROOOOOWWWWWW

Colan returned his focus to the outside, and could now see that the whole of the wall was covered in cracks, that pieces of the wall in front of them were falling off. Any of the soldiers on top of the wall were now unable to even try and attack at Ritsuka and the Witch. The crowd was simply gasping and pointing in shock, and Colan couldn't help but understand, as the massive gate of the wall suddenly came free of its hinges, and slammed down before falling forward.

And then, the first set of the wall came undone, and fell inwards. The wall, once so thick you could ride chariots atop it, seemed to break apart from the inside, cracks long hidden by the dragon fire melting the outside together shattering so greatly that the wall collapsed in on itself. The men that were left on top, those who had neither run or already been tossed off, fell through, likely being crushed among the collapsing black rock. It didn't take a moment before another larger section of the wall fell too, and then another, and another.

"Lady Xuan," Colan said, looking back at the woman, "You've done it, it's collapsing now!"

"Oh thank the Buddha," and Lady Xuan pulled her arms back, and fell forward, barely catching herself on the metal pole she had been striking. As she did so, Colan saw Da rush to her, grabbing her up, and pulling her away from the pole. Slowly he pulled the monk from that position, and laid her down next to Emiya, who barely seemed awake. As she laid there, she gave her best smile, "Do not fear, I shall be able to recover from this."

"Good to hear," Da nodded, before looking back at Colan, "Okay, just keep an eye out there," Da shook his head, "Keep an eye out there Colan, we aren't quite out of the woods yet," he looked down, "I'll start loading up the cart for us to get out of here."

BRRRROOOOOWWWWWW

"Right Da," Colan looked out as the gate and the rest of the walls fell into ruin. The crowd was staring in awe at the action, and suddenly the crowd began to fall to the earth, laying prone before the chariot carrying the man they now believed to be their savior. As they did so, Colan made sure to look for anyone that might be trying to attack them, but he couldn't see any soldiers coming from the inner city. They were probably too shocked by the event to fight at the moment.

Colan couldn't hear what Ritsuka was saying, but Ritsuka had laid out the general idea he would be saying. That he was Azhor Ahai. That he wasn't supposed to arrive this early, but he had been called because of the evils done to his people. That he had torn down he walls of Volantis as punishment for these crimes. And for them to stop actively burning people because that was a translation error and that actually made it harder to call him down.

Colan wasn't quite sure how much would be accepted, but after what they'd all already managed to pull off…well, he could hope they'd get everything they were hoping for.

---

Colan looked back at bed of the cart, at the forms of Emiya, Nitocris, Lady Xuan and Ritsuka, all laying down, unmoving.

It had been a bit harrowing actually getting out of Volantis. While Ritsuka had been able to give out his message, it had gone only sort of well. While some of the priests of R'hllor had been accepting of his desire not to burn people, others hadn't, and somehow Ritsuka had managed to cause a bit of a schism. Not enough for actual violence to break out, at least not right away, but more than they had been hoping.

Ritsuka had then used one of his mystic codes to transport he and the witch to the safehouse that Colan and the rest of the team had been staying at, and then get on the get away cart. As they were loading up, however, Ritsuka had suddenly collapsed. Apparently since the servants had been using a good deal of his mana, Ritsuka had been hit with a great deal of the exhaustion from their actions. He had managed to keep his own exhaustion under control while out publicly speaking, but once they had loaded up the other servants, he had more or less collapsed in a heap, and had had to be loaded up like the rest of them.

This had meant that they had been forced to move very quickly out of the city. They had kicked the cart in motion as quickly as they could, and nearly run over several people as they had their cart gallop across the great bridge, but they had made it beyond the reach of the main Volantine army. Still, to make sure they weren't pursued by either the rebuilt forces of the Old Blood or any Red Priests desiring to burn them alive, they had kept moving, only managing to load up on a small amount of food and drink for their ride.

Still…they had made it out alive, and with no casualties this time.

"Idiot," Jalter, the name his Da had told him to use for the witch, grumbled as she looked back at her Master. Colan saw her cheeks puff out as she stared at the young man, before shaking her head, and staring out into the distance, "Always has to do something that puts him in the infirmary after a mission."

"Oh come on," Da laughed, "This isn't even half the worst thing he's done," he smirked at the girl, "If I remember correctly, his first mission involved him getting up and acting like a distraction against you."

"Don't…," The witch turned her finger directly into Da's face, her cheeks deeply red, before lowering it in exasperation after seeing Da's smirk, "Make me burn you to a crisp you stupid dog."

"Oh, we know you wouldn't do that," Da pointed his thumb backward, "Not when our Master is here anyway," as she continued to scowl at him, he only laughed louder, "Oh come on, look at it this way," he leaned forward, "At least your big sister wasn't here to see how Ritsuka what your "Husband" did last night."

…

"Noooooooooo," The witch shivered for a second, and somehow, almost, seemed to begin to make a prayer under her breath, "If that stupid saint ever got it into her head what Ritsu-," she she tensed her shoulders in exhaustion, before leaning back against the seat of the cart, "God, I'd never hear the end of it," she then looked at Da, "So you better no-"

"Long as you don't piss me off," Da nodded, "I won't say a word."

"Good."

For what seemed like a long while, they just rode on the cart, occasionally looking back to both check their comrades, and to make sure they weren't being pursued by anyone from Volantis. The sun above them had been rising as they had left the Western half of that ancient city, and by now they had passed a through most of the rest of the delta. The other mouths of the Rhoyne were much smaller, and so their bridges were much more modest than the Great Bridge of Volantis. And as they moved, the noticed the wings of birds flying west. They never stopped to check, wanting to get as far as they could from the influence of that city, but no matter what, they didn't seem to be being pursued. In fact, as they passed by, it looked like more and more soldiers were moving back east, as though they were being called back to Volantis itself. Colan could only hope that wasn't something ominous, and just an attempt for the Old Blood to stabilize the city after they had lost their security of the black walls.

As the sun continued to set in front of them, Colan could only stare at the oranges and purples swirling together in the sky above them. They were now an hour or so out from the last bit of the delta, and were riding along a small dirt road in the land known as the Orange Shore. The afterglow of the sunset was striking, and he was glad to be able to focus on this, rather than something else. After all, he gave a quick look to his side, and saw his Da holding the strange triangle compass that they had been using to locate their comrades, they were having to go North-West for their next target, so that meant that it was going to be a while before their next confrontation.

"Hang on."

"Da?"

"Horses," Da said. He looked a bit perturbed, and Colan and Jalter began to prepare to turn around, but Da raised his hand, and pointed it forward, "No, they are coming from the West."

Colan turned, and suddenly saw what looked like around two dozen riders galloping toward them. The were all wearing armor, but not like the usual armor he'd seen from the warriors of the Free Cities. Their faces were covered in helms, and the had thick kite shields instead of the round shields of the men he'd seen guarding much of Essos. They also had thick lances pointing directly to the sky, and attached to one of the men out front's lance was a banner with a pure white sword on pure black.

The warrior carrying this banner was dressed in all black as well. While all these riders were well armored, this one was covered head to toe. His horse was large, black and imposing, with massive hooves seeming to shake the earth with each step it took. His armor was all black as well, with a long black cape behind him. The only part of this knight that wasn't black was his shield, that even though it had a black bat on it, had a striking yellow field that they winged rodent flew on.

As the riders came up, they quickly surrounded the cart, and Da brought it to a stop. Jalter jerked out her hand, but Da raised his in front of her, and she lowered it. The leader of this group, the black knight seemed to stare directly at Da, though without being able to see the rider's face, Colan couldn't tell what he actually thought of Da. Instead, Colan turned his head to look at his Da's face.

It was a sad, tired smile.

"Oi," Colan's father spoke up, "This the welcoming committee for a friend?"

"You are no friend of mine, Hound," the voice of the knight was that of the Seven Kingdoms. The plainer speech and less flair was obvious from his common tongue.

"Oh come on," Da laughed, and Colan could see some disdain coming on the few open faces of the rest of the riders, "After everything we've been through," he then laughed, "I mean, you don't think I'm here to cause trouble, right?"

"With you, it matters not if you intend to cause trouble, for trouble follows you like a flea," Da almost winced, but then the knight shook his head, "We heard there was a great upheaval in Volantis, and I wanted to ride out to make sure that there was nothing nefarious coming along this road. Not many come by land towards the rest of the Free Cities, and is better to check that Volantis isn't planning something along this shore."

"Eh, I don't think they'll be causing you any trouble any time soon," Da laughed, "Last I checked they're going to probably need to keep their soldiers close to home for a while."

"...," the knight just sat there for a moment, "I should probably just leave it, for if I ask, it shall only cause me to desire a drink," Da laughed, before the knight turned his attention to Colan, "I see this is the son you caused such a storm in Lys over, yes?"

"Oh right," Da looked over to Colan, "Colan, I'd like you to meet my fri…," Da stopped, before thinking it over, "My…fellow exile," Colan could hear audible winces from the rest of the riders, "This is the True Knights," Colan looked at the riders, remembering the mercenary group that had been mentioned by the Widow, "And he," Da pointed at the black knight, "Is their leader," Da smirked on last time.

"Oswell Whent."