An Army

Leaning against a wall, Xilo was with everyone as they watched the last of Katrin's soldiers leave the underground tunnel they arrived in. These were the last of the troops that Katrin would be sending them, there would be no more help from her anymore. Once they had all passed by Xilo went over and closed the hatch as he guided them to their place. Heading back, everyone was quiet as they arrived in front of the lake. Today was the end of the week and the amount of time that they had given themselves to prepare. There was no stalling, no more hoping, the only thing they could do now was try their hardest until they very end.

"Line up over there!"

Giving them an order Xilo stood on top of a small wooden stand as he looked out at the giant crowd of soldiers before him. He had gathered everyone today and lined them up to get a proper count of how many there were. Scanning the crowd, Xilo saw around a thousand different people. It was almost triple the original amount that Katrin was going to send initially. Calling the mercenaries over and the clans that Levia managed to get to join them were almost two thousand people. At the moment it may have seemed like quite a bit yet that wasn't the case.

"Both of their armies together are easily over 10k....We're fighting a terribly outmatched battle."

Xilo kept that to himself though as his voice echoed around the place. If they wanted to stand a chance then he couldn't lower everyone's morale. Telling everyone the plan for today, it was fairly simple. They would start off by taking over any clans openly associated with Landel and keep them as prisoners. That would get rid of the supplies that Landel was receiving from them and any extra bodies that were needed. Small squads would be sent to each major Clan in an attempt to take them out as quietly and quickly as possible. Another squad would be stationed elsewhere in order to handle the flow of information. If anyone called for backup or alerted Landel it was over.

"We'll move out tonight when the sun is setting. Using the cover of shadows we'll take them by surprise and fight. Our goal isn't to kill anyone and there won't be exceptions to that rule at least when it comes to Tidal's people. If anyone gets caught disobeying that order, I will personally slaughter you. It might seem "foolish" to not kill anyone but we want people that are willing to come to our side. This City will stand as one under my control. If they disagree, throw them in prison."

Lexia knew that not trying to kill people would be seen as foolish however she had heard a few things from the last few people on the inside. "Landel's started to slaughter anyone against him." It was shocking to hear at first, that he was stooping to such means. "Whatever the reason, it works for us." People who feared for their lives were a lot easier to convince to leave and if they weren't killing anyone then they could gather up a larger army easier. In a situation where as many bodies were needed as possible to fight against Cestrin it was something they had to do. She also really didn't want to go around killing her own people if she didn't have to.

"I'm sure a lot here don't want to as well, even if most aren't from here."

Finishing up her speech Lexia went into a bit more detail as she explained everything before dismissing everyone. They were given until sunset to prepare and no longer. Everyone walked away as the captains split up everyone into separate squads and went off in their own direction. Stepping down from the stand alongside Xilo, Lexia felt herself getting lightheaded. Even though she was the Queen for a long time she still wasn't used to these kinds of things. Landel used to always be the one to handle them in her place. Placing her hand on Xilo's shoulder she took a deep breath as she calmed down.

"Everything alright, Lexia?"

"Yeah, I just needed a breather. We should also get ready."

While they would be overseeing the whole thing for the most part they would still be fighting as well. Everyone Clan had a few extra strong people that wouldn't be taken down by typical soldiers. When they came out Xilo and everyone else would be the ones to take care of them. They would also be splitting up with each group as the leader of it. If everything went smoothly then they should finish the first batch of people by the time it reached midnight. The ideal would be if they got everyone under control by the time it reached tomorrow. Realistically they would instead be done by the end of tomorrow if there weren't too many bumps along the way.

"True, we all got our own role to play here."

"So try not to mess it up then alright, all of you?"

Lexia walked off leaving them with that comment.

"Are you all ready to go?"

Turning to the girls at his side Xilo just wanted to make sure they were all okay with everything.

"Of course."

"Yupppp, Tearia will be staying here tho so someone needs to protect her."

"Don't worry, I've already got that covered."

Xilo had already made sure to ask a small squad of people to stay behind to protect Tearia just in case. It might have been unneeded however he would rather be prepared for it. "She's working hard as well." Vandor had mostly healed up by now and so has Yulrin. They were just waiting for Rana to get healed now. He would be staying in bed until he was all healed up.

"Let's go."

With only a bit of time left there was no room to talk anymore.