New Investigations are up for Jeane, Templeton, Kin, Cairoh, and Gusoku! And there's a new Bath Scene up as well!

Part Six

—

Burning Heart

Cast

Hugo: Oisin

Chris: Jeane

Geddoe: Varnaz

Luc: Lorik

Sasarai: Luciano

Thomas: Rico

—

The theatre quieted as a soft melody drew from the stage. The stage lights came up to reveal Lorik standing at center stage. A backdrop of ruins was hung behind him. "They say," he said. "That fate cannot be changed. That we must stay the course of the life we are destined to have."

Lorik shook his head, his eyes sad. "But I will not let fate drive me. I will ruin the destiny that has been sent forth for me. Even if I must destroy the world, I will be my own person!"

There was a rustle as Lorik was suddenly surrounded at four points. Oisin appeared at back stage left (still holding a script), Jeane appeared at front stage left, Varnaz appeared at back stage right and Luciano appeared at front stage right.

"Luc," Oisin recited directly from the script in a monotone voice. "In the name of the Flame Champion and as the bearer of the True Fire Rune I will never forgive you. Chris: Luc, in the name of my fath—"

"Oisin, STOP!" Nāṭaka hissed helplessly from the front row as people behind her laughed. "I told you so many times to only read the lines marked for Hugo!"

Oisin looked nonplussed. Jeane laughed softly as she sauntered forward. "Luc," she breathed, and several men in the theatre immediately sighed. "In the name of my father and as the bearer of the True Water Rune, I will stop your evil here."

"Your motives matter nothing to me," Varnaz said in a surprisingly proud voice. "But I Geddoe will proudly stop you!"

"Ohhh," Luciano sighed, holding a hand to his head dramatically. "To know that my own brother would try to take my own life! My heart is breaking!"

"I don't remember Sasarai being that…dramatic," Nash said, making a face.

"It may be the Narcissist," Sierra said blandly. "Or the theatrical writing."

"It is too late," Lorik said dramatically. "The wheels are already turning, and too many people have died by my hand." He pumped a fist. "If you think any of you can best my True Wind Rune, then have at you!"

"LUC!" Came the shout behind him. Lorik was suddenly shoved forward and he face-planted onto the stage with a loud "OOMPH!". The four turned to see Rico standing there, trembling violently. "I-I-I am sorry!" She squeaked. "But I cannot allow you to hurt anyone else!"

"WOO-HOO, RICO!" Fred cheered from the audience, startling a couple of people sitting near him.

"Master Thomas you saved us," Oisin read quickly, not looking up from his script.

"Good show, Master Thomas!" Jeane cheered.

"U-Uh, nice," Varnaz said, fumbling over his line.

"Oh my dear brother!" Luciano cried out, flinging himself upon Lorik. "Oh why did it come to this?!"

"Luciano, what are you doing?!" Nāṭaka shouted, standing up.

"I…saw their rehearsal and this wasn't part of it," Daunte said as the patrons began laughing.

"Looks like Luciano is going into business for himself," Roen said.

Nash scratched at his head in confusion. "I…don't remember any of this happening during the Second Fire Bringer War."

"It's called dramatic license," Sierra told him blandly.

"Definitely dramatic," Nash agreed. "I remember Nadir to be quite…eccentric."

—

"Okay, everyone," Caesar said to the assembled in the war room. "Tomorrow there will be a reckoning. We've been over this, but so that we're all clear, I would like to go over our strategy. Lord Daunte?"

Daunte nodded and stepped forward. "I will lead six Army units in the march on Sloan Faakhir's Garrison. We will leave at three in the morning and should arrive by sunrise. Öt will advance ahead of us and attack the Garrison directly. He will cause another earthquake; he swears that he will create an earthquake so powerful that it will bring down their main building. Then Hero and James will fly down with the skyship and attack."

"Then I will fly in with a unit of Wingers," Oisin said. "Dahlia and…Rafe," he said reluctantly. "Will be my support. We'll attack and kill that butcher."

"Don't be too hasty," Lorik said. "I'll be riding with a calvary with Tala and Zander as my support. I will ride quickly to ensure I can see Sloan Faakhir fall."

"We will go for a pincer formation," Daunte said. "Lorik Varra will lead with his unit from the west. Keiran, you said you would take Mihr and Lanny with your calvary unit again?"

"I will," Keiran said. "And we will attack from the east."

"I will be the fourth unit, infantry," Daunte said. "Caesar will be with me, and I will take Roen and Felicity with me again and we will march from the south."

"Hey, you work best with your two best friends," Caesar said. "Why change a good thing?"

Daunte nodded. "Surya, you will also march from the south with your unit as well, right?"

"Yes," Surya said. "Mokuren will be with me of course. And Sir Georg asked to come with us this time so he will be with me."

"And Allise." Daunte turned to her. "You will lead a rune archer unit from the south as well, correct?"

"Yes," Allise said. "I can't imagine how much different my rune archer will make in the battle after Hero's skyship makes its rune attack, but I will try. Jeane and Viki will be in my unit."

Daunte nodded and looked across the room. "I'll be taking 600 soldiers into direct battle, but I will do what I can to minimize casualties on our side. Öt's attack and then the skyship's attack should sufficiently dispatch troops at the Garrison before we arrive."

"You'll be lucky if there's any of those bastards left when the Wingers are done with them," Oisin said with dark promise. "I will not stop fighting until I see that murderer dead. Spirits willing, it will be by my spear."

"You'll have some competition then," Chinmaya said. "Between the unit from Agameru, and the Death Worm looking to avenge its mate, at this rate nothing will be left of Sloan Faakhir but a stain on the ground."

"They may still fight in self-defense despite it being a day of calm," Daunte said. "But because it's a day of calm the other Garrisons may not mobilize in time to save the Sheikh. Isn't that right, Caesar?"

"That is correct," Caesar said. "We of course have provisions for any worst case scenarios, as many of the units will be here on standby."

"But we have codes," Chinmaya said. "So that in the event of a dire situation we can transmit a message to our allies without the enemy knowing what it is."

"We've gone over several codes that we've developed," Daunte said. "But I want everyone cleared on the two most important codes—Code A and Code F."

"Code A," Varnaz said. "That's in the event of an invasion. It will call everyone to their stations and be ready for battle and to hold the enemy back."

"And Code F," Tamara said. "Is our worst case scenario. The HQ is lost and to evacuate."

"Hopefully we don't have to use either code," Caesar said. "But the trio upstairs know the necessary codes to call, and we've been instructing everyone here, including non-combatants, on the meaning of each code."

"Sloan Faakhir has a reputation for a reason, as we all know," Daunte said. "Meeting him in a war battle will not be easy, even though we're ambushing him. Once we take him down, we'll need to be prepared for the Holy Army to throw everything at us."

"Taking the Sheikh down will cause irrevocable damage to the Holy Army," Keiran said. "He's considered an asset by the High Clerics. The Matron of the Dark Chasm seems to have kept him as a close ally."

"And with him gone it will be easier for us to take on the Army," Gunther said.

"And end the war as quickly as possible," Daunte said, nodding. "We should stop here. We'll need to rest early if we're going to be leaving on time."

"Just relax, get a hot meal, and get to bed early," Caesar said. "With any luck by this time tomorrow we will have disabled one of the Garrisons and we'll be one step closer to victory."

"The skyship looks good after the lightning strike," Daunte said, smoothing a hand over the exterior.

"Your Rune helped with the repairs," Hero said. "But this isn't a war vessel. This is primarily for travel, though we can fire rune spells from the front."

"I'll be doing that!" James called from the door. "Grandfather will steer and I'll aim!"

"Okay, good," Daunte said. "Viki will teleport Xi An here to let you know when to take off."

James made a face. "Does she have to come? She keeps interfering with our work!"

"I don't care," Hero said, shrugging. "Some of the ideas she has are pretty sound."

"Please have patience with her," Daunte said to James. "Xi An lost her family and was sentenced to the Dark Chasm. She doesn't have anyone, much like a lot of children in the Army."

"…All right," James reluctantly agreed. "Just so long as she remembers that I am the co-pilot, not her."

Daunte returned to HQ not long afterwards and left the property. He traveled thirty meters northeast of HQ before kneeling down and pressing a hand to the ground. "Öt?" He called out.

The earth shifted slightly, and the head of the Death Worm carefully broke through the soil and rose up. Daunte was no longer scared to look into Öt's gaping mouth and rows of razor sharp black teeth. "I'm glad to see you," Daunte said. "How are you?"

"Please do not waste my time with small talk," Öt responded. "I have a question for you, but I will let you speak first."

"Okay," Daunte said, nodding. "We've gone over what to do tomorrow so I won't rehash it. But I want you to be careful, Öt—"

"I am the last of my race, about to avenge my mate on the human who murdered her. I have nothing left to lose."

"Please don't talk like that. Your life is worth—"

"My existence is meaningless when there are no other Death Worms left."

"How about this," Daunte interjected. "In exchange for the help you've given me, I will help you look for more of your kind at a later time. I will show you not to give up. Is that a deal?"

"There are no others, Daunte. My mate and I were the last ones, and she died before she could birth me children."

Daunte tried not to shudder at the unwanted mental image. "I don't believe that. I don't believe that you are the last Death Worm. I will help you find more of them, I promise."

"Do as you will. Now for my question."

"Yes, go ahead."

"The butcher who slayed my mate. I have heard his mate and offspring are part of this Army. Is that true?"

Daunte swallowed hard at Öt's dark tone. He knew that he could lie and deny it, but he felt he owed Öt the truth. "…Yes," he confirmed. "But they are innocent and have been victims of his violence in the past."

Öt shifted as though in shock. "What sort of person brings harm to their mate and offspring?"

"The same person who killed your mate," Daunte said.

Öt swayed slightly from right to left. If he had a head, Daunte imagined he would be shaking it. "I am…filled with bitterness that the person who took my mate from me has a mate of his own and will have offspring that will live on after I kill him."

"Do NOT do anything to Tidur or her daughters," Daunte said sternly. "I told you that they are innocent! We don't punish children for the sins of their parents! That's what the Holy Army does!"

Öt was silent. "They are our allies," Daunte insisted. "They have proven their loyalty. Esther and Ciana have Sloan's blood running through their veins but they are their own individual persons. They are children and they are innocent. Tidur is innocent, too. Please do not turn your wrath upon them."

"You speak with passion," Öt said. "You would lay down your life for these three humans?"

"I would," Daunte said without hesitation.

Öt was silent for a long time. Then he responded. "I have put my trust in you. You are the only human I trust. If you trust the mate and offspring of a killer…then I am compelled to believe that they are innocent."

"Thank you, Öt," Daunte said sincerely. "We will be leaving at three in the morning—"

"Time is meaningless to someone like me. I will sense your movements and head on ahead. I will reduce the home of the murderer to rubble. I do not want to eat him because I fear I will be tainted by his toxicity but I will rip him to pieces."

"I must warn you though that you are not the only one seeking vengeance. The Wingers want vengeance on Sloan Faakhir, as does Lorik Varra and his people."

"I would like to see Wingers and humans try to stop me from killing him first."

Daunte decided not to argue the point. "Just rest up and take care of yourself tomorrow. I don't want to lose you."

"Your concern is unnecessary. But…appreciated."

Öt left to bed down and Daunte went to visit Tidur one last time before he retired as well. He didn't see Esther or Ciana anywhere though. "Tiara is still keeping them distracted," Tidur said softly. "Tiara seems to know something is wrong and she's been trying to comfort and play with the girls."

"I…" Daunte hesitated before continuing. "Whatever happens tomorrow, it will be handled respectfully. Caesar, Chinmaya, and I have made it clear that no one is to bring you any news of the battle. We will deliver the news to you personally."

Tidur nodded. He could see tears in her eyes. "I…Lord Daunte?"

"Yes?"

Tidur quickly shook her head and forced a smile. "No, never mind. We've discussed this already. Whatever happens tomorrow, I—I will try to remember the good times I had with Sloan. How he saved me from marrying someone I didn't want to marry. Giving me my two beautiful daughters. And the…kindness and love he once had for me.

"I-I have come to terms with the fact that I will probably never have closure on why he changed so much. So much has happened and he has—hurt so many people. He must pay for what he has done. I know this."

Daunte debated if he should apologize or say nothing. Ultimately he settled on being silent because he knew words were meaningless in this situation.

He played with Arin and Kibbeh for a little while before heading off to bed. He drank some tea to help calm himself and sleep. Down below he could still hear soldiers getting ready, either to march or for the defense of HQ. Daunte raised his hand and looked at the Rune of Restoration on the back of it.

"Well," he said. "Tomorrow is an important battle. I will be relying on you greatly. Please…don't let me down."

The Rune of Restoration predictably didn't have a response for him. Daunte lowered his hand until the back of his hand hovered over his mouth. He closed his eyes. "I wish I knew your secrets," he said softly. "If I knew all four of your spells, I could be a better leader to my Army. I feel I could end this war faster. But I have to prove myself worthy of those spells, don't I?"

Daunte opened his eyes to look at the Rune. "I hope to someday prove myself worthy of your power. But I still ask for your help tomorrow."

The Rune still had no response. Daunte dropped his hand away from and sighed heavily. "I guess this wasn't meant to be easy…"

"GET UP! GET UP NOW!"

The shout startled Daunte awake and he fell out of bed. As they would marching early he didn't bother to put on pajamas. He quickly stood up to face Sierra, who was frowning deeply. "W-What is it?! What time is it?!"

"Two minutes past midnight, but that's not the point!" Sierra shouted. "The enemy is here! We're under attack!"

"WHAT?!" Daunte shouted.

Nash suddenly materialized from the darkness and came to stand by his wife's side. His face was hard and serious. "It's true, Lord Daunte. Enemy ships have sailed up the underground river and they are attacking our allies down there! There are also enemy forces wearing monster skins slowly advancing from the north, south, and east! This is clearly an ambush!"

The Holy Army is attacking us?! On the day of CALM?!

"Get up to the sixth floor and tell Sanji to call Code A," Daunte said quickly. "I will—"

"I can't go up to the sixth floor!" Sierra snapped.

"Why not?!"

"Remember the smell of garlic we've been complaining about?" Nash said softly. "We discovered the source; the sixth floor. We cannot go near it."

Daunte was wholly confused as to why Sanji, Gertrude, and Bax had hung up garlic, but he shook off the feeling as it was unimportant. "Okay, I'll go and call Code A! You two go and wake up Caesar and Chinmaya! My announcement should wake up everyone else!"

"Got it," Nash said, opening the door. "We're in for a rough morning, Lord Daunte."

I know it. But he didn't say that out loud.

Nash and Sierra left, but Daunte lingered briefly and looked towards the ceiling. "Yuber?" He called out.

Yuber did not appear. "Damn it," he cursed under his breath.

Daunte raced up the stairs and hurried towards the stairwell leading to the sixth floor. His nose wrinkled at the overpowering smell of garlic, but he ignored it as he reached the rotunda. Sanji, Gertrude, and Bax were sleeping on bedrolls along different walls of the rotunda. Daunte didn't stop to wake them as he raced to one of the pipes and pushed off the cover. "CODE A!" He screamed into the pipe. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Gertrude and Bax snap awake. "CODE A, CODE A, CODE A! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!"

"Oh good morning Lord Daunte," Sanji greeted him nonchalantly as he slipped his glasses on. "You're calling the Code A? That's not good."

"Isn't this supposed to be the day when no violence is supposed to occur?!" Gertrude complained loudly as she climbed to her feet.

"Yes, which is why we were supposed to attack," Bax said softly.

"You two come with me," Daunte said. "Sanji, you said you're not good with combat—"

"I'm positively hopeless in combat," Sanji confirmed.

"Then you stay here and keep announcing the Code A. Do you have a watch?"

Sanji calmly pulled out a pocket watch. "It's 12:03 am, Lord Daunte."

"Keep announcing Code A until 2:03 am," Daunte said. "If no one comes up to tell you to stop in that time, you are to switch to calling Code F. Do you understand me?"

"Oh, you have my fullest confidence that you will have everything under control by then," Sanji said positively. "But I shall do my part and keep the announcements." He took Daunte's place in front of the pipe. "Code A, Code A. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill." He looked at Daunte. "Does that sound okay?"

"Yeah, sure," Daunte said, looking at Gertrude and Bax. "Are you two ready?"

"I'm ready to kick ass and take names," Gertrude said confidently.

"I-I will do what I can to help," Bax said.

Sanji continued to calmly call the Code A as Daunte descended the stairs with Gertrude and Bax. The hallway in front of the war room was filled with people, with Caesar and Chinmaya standing at the front. Arin hurried over to hug Daunte. Kibbeh was whimpering in confusion in his arms. "A-Are we in trouble?" Arin asked tearfully.

"Everything will be fine," Daunte told him, forcing his tone to be calm and confident. "You know what to do from practicing. I'll take you to see Ms. Tidur and she will take care of you."

"I-I know," Arin said quietly.

"We're mobilizing and soldiers have gone down to the underground to fight the forces down there," Caesar said. "So far we've had no reports of fatalities on our end. It looks like though that Ramiro Lažov has led the attack from underground."

"So the Holy Army knows about the river now," Daunte said grimly. He looked around. "Is Varnaz down below?"

"He took his unit to engage the forces underground," Tamara said. "Gunther and Jantu are acting as his support."

"We confirmed the forces advancing from the north, south, and east," Allise said. "It does appear that they are wearing the skins of dead monsters to lessen the odds of detection."

"If Ramiro Lažov is attacking from below, then that means the forces coming from all sides must be the other Sheikhs," Daunte said. "How long until they get here?"

"From the way they're advancing, twenty minutes maximum," Keiran said grimly.

"I'll go down and assist Varnaz as well with a party of six," Daunte said. "I'll help stop the invading forces from below and then help deal with the three forces advancing upon us up here."

"I'm very glad you advised us to move my people to this headquarters before the battle," Lorik said. "But I am absolutely shocked that the Holy Army is attacking on the day of calm! This is direct violation of the Scriptures!"

"Well when your government is runby immoral assassins, they're not going to care," Caesar sighed. He looked at Daunte. "We'll need to contact Hero and Öt and see if they can get here as quickly as possible."

"This is a failure of my intelligence gathering," Oboro said softly. "I know Takefute to be unpredictable, but he's never violated the rules of Blood Fest before. I must ask your forgiveness."

"There's nothing to forgive," Daunte said reassuringly, though his stomach was still knotted. "I'm the leader, so this ambush is my fault and my fault alone."

"I can't allow you to take fully responsibility for this," Caesar said. "As your lead Strategist I should have anticipated this. But let's worry about that after we survive this battle."

"I'll send Xi An to go and get Hero and James," Daunte said. "And Öt is roughly eight kilometers northeast from our position. He may not know about the advancing forces because they're wearing the skins of other monsters…"

"But this many people moving at once should get his attention," Chinmaya said. "So we have to drive out the forces below us and hold off the land forces until we can get reinforcements from Hero and the Death Worm."

"Okay!" Caesar called out. "Oisin and Lorik, have your forces outside of HQ facing the north! Those will most likely be Sloan Faakhir's forces!"

"Will do," Oisin said with dark promise.

"I will take Lord Daunte's forces and standing facing west with Surya's forces! The forces advancing from the east are most likely Imbuka Liger's forces!"

Daunte said Oboro flinched but he nodded. "I'll join you all after we battle back Lažov's forces."

"Keiran and Allise, take your forces facing south! Those should be Keha Hale's forces!"

"I'm looking forward to battling him," Allise said.

"All other units stationed here will act as the last defense!" Caesar said. "Now GO! We will propel back the Holy Army and win the day!"

Everyone raced for the stairs. Daunte turned to Gertrude and Bax. "I'll have you both in my main party, but go down and wait for me on the first floor. Caesar, call Xi An, River, Priscilla, and Barō. Tell Xi An to have Viki teleport her to Hero's Island! The rest will be in my main party!"

Gertrude and Bax headed for the stairs, leaving Daunte alone with Arin, Caesar, and Chinmaya. Caesar was about to leave when Chinmaya let out a loud, frightened exhale of breathe. Daunte turned to her and saw that she was shaking violently. "O-Oh," she said quietly, looking down at her trembling arms. "Oh Nagar. I don't know what's come over me. I-I think I'm going to throw up…"

"Are you all right?" Daunte asked softly, though her fear was made him feel nervous. "It'll be okay, don't panic—"

"I'M NOT PANICKING, YOU'RE PANICKING!" Chinmaya shrieked, looking at Daunte with wide eyes. Arin jumped at her shout, and tears filled his eyes.

"Hey!" Caesar hollered. He slapped her cheeks with his palms and held her face in his hands. "Look," he said more calmly. "Panicking is normal. You've never been put in this position before. The only experience you have with war is in textbooks. But you need to take a deep breath and calm down. You're the Secondary Strategist, you forced yourself into this position. The soldiers are going to be looking to you for calm and answers and you must give it to them! If they see you panicking, then they're going to panic! Do you see Lord Daunte panicking?"

Chinmaya looked towards Daunte, her eyes still wide. Her breathing was coming out in quick and short breaths. "He's younger than the both of us but he's the leader of this Army," Caesar said. "He needs us. Just breathe, calm down, and believe that this is going to work out! He needs us and this Army needs us! Got it?"

Chinmaya's breathing slowly calmed. She squeezed her eyes shut and inhaled sharply before exhaling loudly. She pulled away from Caesar and bowed deeply to Daunte. "My sincerest apologies, my Lord. I am ready."

"It's okay, really," Daunte said. "I've panicked on battlefields before. But it's going to be okay. I'm going to make it okay. And I trust you both to make sure that everybody knows that we will be okay."

"Thank you, Lord Daunte," Caesar said. "Now go. Your party will be on the first floor waiting for you. I'll take Arin to Tidur."

"Right." Daunte hugged Arin. "I love you, Arin. Now go with Caesar, everything will be okay."

Arin nodded stiffly, tears rolling down his cheeks. "I love you too, Brother…" Kibbeh licked at his face.

"Let's go," Chinmaya said more confidently. "We have a battle to win."

"Code A, Code A. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill."

Sanji's voice calmly repeated the code without pause as soldiers frantically ran in all directions. Noncombatants were being directed on where to take cover. Daunte's party was waiting for him on the first floor. "I'll kill these bastards for ruining my beauty sleep," Priscilla grumbled.

"I will kill all of the humans who come to us," River said darkly. "They are the ones who killed my people."

"Tell me who to kill and Rotkappchen will take care of the rest," Barō said.

Viki thankfully had no problems teleporting Xi An before she ran to join Allise's unit. Daunte and his group raced for the cliffs, but paused in his tracks when he heard, "Lord Daunte! I can sharpen your weapon!"

Baldemar was waving at him frantically with his Silver Hammer. Daunte looked at his group, who looked largely unconcerned. "If you're offering you'll have to pay," Gertrude said. "I spent my paycheck recently."

"On booze," Bax said unhelpfully.

Daunte took a moment to have Baldemar raise everyone's weapons by three levels (spending quite a bit of bits in the process) before they ran for the underground. As James had still not fixed the lift the raced down the unstable stairs. Daunte could hear the sounds of battle and he saw Liberation Army and Holy Army soldiers spill out from the mouth of the tunnel, falling into the water whilst still fighting.

"BERATE!" Daunte shrieked, raising his hand. The attack from the Rune of Restoration took out 15 Holy Army soldiers. Daunte jumped from the middle step and tackled another soldier, pummeling him until he didn't get back up. He looked up the tunnel and saw brutal fighting in the torchlights. There were boats crammed into the passage, so many that Daunte couldn't see the water flowing into the ocean. "Varnaz!" He shouted.

"Lord Daunte!" Varnaz called from deep in the tunnel. "The Dragon Knights are trapped in Futch's room!"

"I've got it!" Daunte shouted back. He waved to his party. "Let's go!"

The group fought their way up the passage, battling Holy Army soldiers that stopped to engage them or jumped from the nearby boats. After five consecutive battles, Daunte was weary but he tried to remain outwardly calm.

I let this happen. The Holy Army violated their own religious holiday to attack and I let it happen. I have to stop this! I MUST stop this!

"Lord Daunte!" Gunther sailed over one of the boats and slew a Holy Army soldier that Daunte had been engaging. "Sorry for the delay! I'm here to help!"

"Get them all!" A man in Sheikh's robes shouted from the final boat in the row. He did nothing to assist his soldiers. Daunte however knew his voice from anywhere.

Ramiro Lažov.

"Kill the infidels! Ki—HIM!" Lažov shrieked, pointing to Daunte. "Kill that brat! He's the leader of the Liberation Army!"

"Barō!" Daunte shouted, pointing to Lažov. "Maim him but don't kill him!"

"'Maim'?" Barō asked incredulously. He shrugged. "All right." He swiftly hoisted up Rotkappchen and fired it upon Lažov.

"AAUGH!" Lažov shrieked as the bullet struck his right, causing a burst of blood to fly up into the air.

"Barō!" Daunte snapped. "I said not to kill him!"

"I shot his gallbladder," Barō said dismissively. "He will live."

"What's a gallbladder?" Gertrude asked, making a face.

"A relatively useless organ in a human body," Barō responded. "The removal of such an organ will not end your life. It will cause you issues if you like dairy products though…"

"Why do you know something so morbid?!" River spat.

Barō shrugged. "I learned a lot in the Howling Voice Guild."

Lažov fell backwards into the arms of a man wearing robes that made Daunte think he was Lažov's second-in-command. "The Sheikh is injured!" the second-in-command shouted. The call caused an immediate change in the demeanor of the Holy Army soldiers. Instead of fighting fiercely they quickly panicked. Some even dropped their weapons.

"LAŽOV!" Varnaz shrieked, rushing towards the boat Lažov was sprawled in. Before he could jump onto the bow though, a female Holy Army soldier jumped between Varnaz and the boat and deflected Varnaz's morningstar with her sword. "Haa!" she shouted as she pushed back on Varnaz.

"Nigel, give it a rest. These look like a bunch of poor kids."

Daunte's eyes widened. Wait—that's Nigel's comrade! Tamara said she sent a warning to Nigel about Lažov! What was her name—

"THEA!" Priscilla suddenly shouted. Priscilla hoisted herself up onto a nearby boat and waved wildly. "Yoo-hoo, Thea!"

Thea paused in her fight with Varnaz, and her eyes widened when she saw Priscilla. "Wh—"

Varnaz backhanded her, and the blow sent her flying backwards against the bow. Her head smacked against the bow and she went still.

"Varnaz, grab—" Daunte began.

"RETREAT!" Lažov's second-in-command shriek. Quick as lightning the boat surged backwards up the tunnel in reverse, Thea's prone body was still srpawled dangerously across the bow.

"NO!" Varnaz shouted. "Get back here, you bastard!" he gave chase after the boat. Just as quickly boats were in retreat, leaving Holy Army soldiers clinging to the sides, chasing after the boats, or outright stranded.

"Oh no," Priscilla said, pressing a hand to her throat. "I hope Thea is okay…"

"She'll be lucky if she doesn't fall off and drown," Gertrude scoffed. "What a bloody coward."

"Typical humans fleeing for their own self-preservation," River said with disgust.

"Well that's not a trait exclusive to humans," Bax said thoughtfully.

"If anyone surrenders accept their surrender!" Daunte shouted, racing to Futch's room. The door was in pieces against the stones "Futch! Sharon!"

"We're okay!" Futch shouted as he exited the room. Sharon was right behind him, as were their dragons. "The boats arrived so quickly and quietly that we had no time to prepare for battle."

"There were 100 guys trying to tear the door down!" Sharon snapped, hugging her dragons to her. "Didn't you say they wouldn't attack today?!"

"Technically they shouldn't have attacked today," Daunte said. "They must have known that we were planning an attack…"

"So we have a traitor," Gertrude scoffed.

Daunte shook his head. "Lady Leknaat said we don't have a traitor. But they DID somehow know about our plans…"

"Code A, Code A. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill."

Daunte looked towards the ceiling. Sanji's voice carried down into the tunnels. "Futch?"

"Yes, Lord Daunte?"

"Could Bright and you carry me towards the ceiling?"

"Sure," Futch said, but he looked confused. Daunte grabbed a nearby torch and climbed onto Bright's back with Futch. All around them Holy Army soldiers were either surrendering or refusing to kneel and dispatch. As they rose into the air, Daunte was relieved that he didn't see any of the Liberation Army soldiers had fallen.

I can take comfort in that at least.

Directly underneath the ceiling Daunte held the torch up. He saw piping that was vibrating slightly. He reached up and pressed a hand to the pipe. It was cold to the touch, but he felt the vibrations of Sanji's tone inside the pipe. Daunte shined the torch and looked down the tunnel. He could see that the pipe did not end, but stretched out of his line of sight. Sanji's voice carried down the tunnel.

"…How far does that pipe go?" He wondered aloud.

"I can find out," Futch said, taking the torch. "You need to get back up above ground, right?"

"That would be great, thank you," Daunte said as they lowered the ground. "You follow the line and in the meantime I'll take care of it. Barō?"

"What is it?" the man in question asked as Futch took off with Bright down the tunnel.

Daunte pointed to the pipe above. "Shoot that pipe. We need to sever that connection."

Barō shrugged and complied. There was a loud 'POP' noise as the bullet pierced the pipe, severing it in two and Sanji's unfiltered voice filled the tunnel entirely.

Varnaz raced back to them, his face full of rage. "He got away from me."

"I'm so sorry," Daunte said, but Varnaz quickly calmed down. "It's all right. We suffered no fatalities so we can thank Nagar for that at least."

"What happened with the pipe?" Nash exclaimed from the mouth of the tunnel. "It's super loud down there!"

"I severed the line," Daunte called back. "We were wondering how the Theocracy knew about our plans, and I had an idea of how it happened."

"It wasn't a traitor?" Varnaz asked.

"No." Daunte pointed to the pipe. "I think they've been listening in on us through that pipe."