Secret Mission

A few minutes later Aayla found herself wearing a military uniform in a wagon. Her warm meal and sleep were nowhere to be found. Only silent tears as she got dragged into something dangerous again. She only had her artifacts and Jacki's spyglass that she shoved into Aayla's hands before the guards hauled her off.

Chris calmly sat next to her while reviewing a map of the terrain. Stallesso Forolan sat in front of them with several armored guards taking up the rest of the seats. One of the guards continued with a briefing of the plan.

"According to the latest intelligence reports, the True Order has set up several temporary outposts in the wilderness surrounding Nafriton. The kidnapped victims were teleported to those various outposts. Splitting up the victims into smaller groups makes them easier to hide and transport."

Several markers were placed on the unfurled map. The guard pointed to the largest one.

"This is the suspected base camp. The garrison forces have raided all of the temporary outposts except for the most remote ones and the base camp. The young master hasn't been rescued yet. We suspect that he's being held here, along with the stolen goods and at least half of the kidnapped victims.

"There's been a magical surge and minor spatial distortions in the area to suggest they have a method of long-range magical transportation. Here are the latest numbers."

Stallesso stroked his beard while. The amount of mana required was too little for short range teleportation.

"They've opened a portal? Do we know where?"

"It could be anywhere in Chinebar, the Northern Divide Mountains, or the northern area of the Ferreus Empire."

The old man closed his eyes and restrained his anger. By now, his grandson could have been taken anywhere. Those jackals would pay for this. Chris's pale face somehow lost even more blood.

Several figurines were placed on the map. They each had symbols on them. Many of them had the symbol of the garrison forces, but Aayla didn't recognize the others.

"We will be coordinating with the Forest Waypoint garrison for this mission. Our primary objective is to retrieve the young master and shut down the portal. The military will rescue the hostages and reclaim the stolen goods."

The figurines marked with the garrison's symbol were placed around the mark of the enemy base camp.

"The military will contain the area and launch the initial assault. Lord Stallesso and his personal guards will assist to draw out the main enemy wizards. We expect for the commander that we faced at the stage to be present."

The table cracked beneath Stallesso's hands. All the air was knocked out of Aayla as she doubled over in pain. A strong hand kept her from collapsing. Even the other guards shrank back in fear from their lord's anger.

In an instant she was fine again. Stallesso coughed into his hand and pretended like he didn't just lose his temper while thinking about the villain who kidnapped his grandson before his eyes. That rat better hope that Stallesso never got near him.

"… Continuing on. The headmaster and deputy headmasters should join us as soon as they are able. They will not leave campus until the defense system is fully operational. In the meantime, we will have two covert operations."

The remaining figurines were moved towards the camp.

"The first is our unit's. The Halcyon Guards will sneak inside to disable the portal while keeping an eye out for the young master. We will infiltrate on the east side, which is closest to the energy spike. The portal or the power source of the enemy's camp should be there. If we find the core of their defenses, we'll sabotage that too."

One tiny figurine was separated from the rest and placed on the opposite side.

"The second is a bit of a long shot, but its worth a try. Chris and our volunteer will sneak around the opposite side. With her special ability, they will sneak around the camp and try to find the young master. We must lure as many of the high-ranking wizards out as we can. Intelligence suggests that they are unaware of her abilities, but detection is still possible given her lack of experience."

"And what abilities are those? She doesn't look like much."

The guards stared at the young lady with ragged hair and an ill-fitting military uniform. She didn't seem to be on the level of a Nafriton student at all. Aayla stopped fiddling with her armor when she felt the stares on her. She stared back at them like a deer in headlights. Chris nudged her and pointed to her bracelet.

"They want a demonstration, Miss Glowery."

Aayla snapped out of her thoughts and glared at him.

"No? Really?! I thought they were wondering about my hair."

She closed her eyes and focused on the New Moon bracelet. It greedily started absorbing the mana around her. As Aayla focused on keeping it from going out of control, the guards actually looked a bit interested.

"It's consistently absorbing all of the nearby mana. Even high-ranking wizards have a hard time with this."

"But she's all skin-and-bones. And her mana isn't much. Does she have the stamina for this?"

"Idiot. With her scrawny size and low magical talent, she'll be really hard to detect."

"Still, it's not that useful if Chris's mana is discovered. Can she keep up with him or actually do anything else that's useful?"

The other guards nodded in realization. That made a lot of sense. The mission required stealth not offensive might, after all.

Aayla's mouth twitched. Was that a compliment or an insult?! She was sleek and athletic, thank you very much! While not a soldier, she could take down northern glacial boars and snow sharks if she really wanted to. Aayla scooted closer to Chris and extended the range of the New Moon bracelet's greedy pull.

Chris's own mana signature disappeared from the wagon. The guards were sitting right next to him, but if he used stealth magic then they wouldn't be able to find him. Stallesso nodded and his stern expression faded a bit.

Honestly, Stallesso just didn't want to see the face of his grandson's bodyguard and attendant for a while. Daren got kidnapped while he was barely hurt. However, this second operation might have a better chance of success than he expected if he factored in Chris's usual excellence.

"This young lady worked with Vhassohrin's daughter Jacquelyn to disable the enemy's command center at the main library. She'll do for now. If anything, they can at least get information or sabotage something."

**********

Hours had passed since Chris and Aayla began left the military convoy. The light from the twin moons barely illuminated the forest beneath the thick canopy. They could hear the fighting intensify off in the distance. Lights flashed and explosions roared as the two sides bitterly fought.

The military had blockaded the woods around them. It was set up a distance away from the enemy's main camp and slowly crawled inwards over time. No one was getting in or out without the military knowing. Chris pulled Aayla down as they crept over the next hill.

When they peaked over, the enemy base was in sight. A thick rampart complete with watch towers had been built, and bright orbs of light shined down onto the grass outside. Chris carefully inspected the walls, but they were completely smooth with no windows, doors or gates.

"Tch. They built this place carefully. There's no way to climb up or easily sneak inside. More importantly, the areas around the wall have been cleared. We can't even get close."

"Could we try a different spot? Or maybe flying or burrow underground?"

Chris shook his head. "Not unless we want to get involved with the other operations. In which case we'll probably die without anything to bury."

Aayla thought for a moment as she watched the guards patrolling along the walls. She took out Jacki's spyglass and carefully looked around. A sudden movement caught her eye. One of the lonely patrol teams suddenly fainted and were pulled into the shadows of a nearby watch tower.

"Chris! Look at that! One of the patrol teams disappeared! Check out the third watch tower from your left!"

She stuffed the spyglass into his hands and pointed in the direction of the abnormality. A smile crept up his face as tiny dots began to descend from the wall. Someone was attempting to escape. Just before half of them got down, an alarm went off and the orbs of light focused on the escapees.

Those on the wall scrambled to get down. The ones on the ground abandoned their comrades and fled towards the forest. A familiar sly grin formed on Chris's face.

"We need to help them get into the forest."

"Are you insane? We could blow our cover!"

"Only after we ensure that several of them get into the forest. Then, we'll let those True Order idiots bring us inside with open arms."