26 - Executing the Plan

"I think something might go wrong." Katie whispered to me.

She and I were hidden in a bush near the Boss's camp. Juliana and Thomas were hidden on the other side. Silence was getting ready to sneak into the camp. Between the trees in the wind and the dark night sky, we were as imperceptible as we could be, I hoped.

"That's why we have back-up plans." I whispered back.

We were currently watching a pair of guards circling the camp, one wielding a spear, the other a bulky club. They seemed to be whispering to each other.

The only other people we saw were the ten in their cage. They were sleeping, or at least trying to. Whether they were awake or not was not calculated in our plan. Another twenty tents filled the clearing, with one standing out among the rest.

*The Dragon's carrier is preparing to enter.* the Ancient notified me.

I nodded and let him possess me. I was our communications man in this operation, since the other blades could shout to me and not be heard.

*There's an opening. We're going in.* the Dragon informed me.

A dark blur dashed into the camp on my right. The guards were out of sight, hidden behind the tents on the other side of the camp. The shadow-blur, Silence, darted into the largest and fanciest tent, which was at the center.

Moments later, I received another telepathic message: "Oh, crap."

Before I could process what the Dragon meant, a chill wind rushed past me. The tent Silence had gone into tore off the ground, lifting into the air. It was supported by a giant wave of ice. Also caught in the ice, about halfway up the wave was a man who wore a suit, even this late at night. He was awake?

Gold flashed in two places: where the Boss was frozen, and the jail cell. A frail woman took his place in the ice, still unconscious. Immediately after, another flash came from the cell, paired with one from the guards patrolling the perimeter. "Intruders!" the Boss shouted, storming towards Silence.

Sounds of men waking up came from each of the other twenty tents, but it was overpowered by the sound of clashing metal. Using the dueling cane as an oversized needle, the Boss was attacking Silence, who blocked each thrust deftly with a sweep of the Dragon.

"She'll be fine, right?" Katie asked in a whisper.

"Yep. That's why we're here." I replied, standing up. At the same time, one of the furthest tents burst into flames. Its two occupants barreled out of the entrance as it collapsed.

I walked closer to the sword duel, which was an even match. On the off chance that Silence got a break from blocking, she struck at the Boss's head, which caused him to jump back. As the Boss made another stab, I blocked it with an impact barrier. I still had to concentrate to avoid overspending mana, but I was better. He spun around, noticing me.

Silence attacked, her target's back towards her. At the last moment, though, a golden light wrapped the Boss. When our eyes cleared, a young girl's crumpled body lay where he had been standing. I froze. This was all going so wrong.

More people were coming out of the tents. Many of them picked up weapons after seeing Silence and myself.

The jail and the remaining guard on patrol flashed gold. Was there no limit to how many times he could do that?

The Ancient put an impact barrier behind us, which stopped a spear coming for my head. I turned and hit the spear in a single move, taking its head off with a sharp, clean cut.

Silence was seething with fury. She screamed something wordless as she charged toward the Boss. He nimbly evaded each of her quick blows.

I had to turn to my own attackers, who surrounded me. Sharing control with the Ancient, we created a group of barriers. Most of them shattered on spear-strike, halting the attacks. Ancient launched us off another one, completing a backflip as we hit the goon with the flat of our blade. Before we landed, we pushed off another barrier, and slapped another goon unconscious.

As we stood, I smiled under the hood. *That was cool.*

*Focus.* the Ancient reminded me. My opponents were stunned by my spin move, so I chanced a glance at Silence and Boss. He was still casually evading her swings, which had become sweeping arcs, as opposed to her previous flick-like strikes.

After one last strike, the Boss darted forward, stabbing Silence in the upper-arm.

Silence screamed again, the second sound we had heard her make. The last one was in anger. This one was pain. She hadn't been exempt from the haphazard injuries over the past month, but never had she screamed like that.

"We need to get out of here!" I shouted.

A fire ignited on the Boss's suit jacket, and he backpedaled, trying to pat it out. Meanwhile, Thomas and Juliana charged from the bushes, Thomas holding the Lost with the intent to swing at anyone who got in his way. As they arrived, Thomas put Silence on his back, because she seemed too stunned to move herself. And the three of us ran out of the camp. Katie joined us on the river shore a distance away from the camp, where we stopped. No one seemed to be following us. We continued walking.

"Out of all the plans we came up with... Stealing the sword was the one we had decided to go with. Great job, everyone." Juliana said sarcastically.

Katie put her hand to Silence's shoulder wound and healed it with a quick pulse of mana. The older woman was unconscious on Thomas's back. Despite that, the Dragon stayed in her fingers.

"Let's get home." I said. "We need to make a new plan."