“How’s her ankle doing, Essie?” asked Elucard. He grunted as he rested the Kanis against a nearby merchant stand.

Elucard slid a dagger into his hand and waited for any sounds of footsteps coming up the street. He heard none. He looked back to Essie massaging the wolf’s sprained ankle.

Essie glared at Elucard. “This is insane, Captain. There needs to be a better way to transport Timber besides running all the way down to the docks!”

Elucard muffled her with his hand. “Lower your voice, Es,” he whispered.

Essie ripped away Elucard’s hand. “Don’t you dare touch me!” she whispered back loudly.

Elucard narrowed his eyes but then looked past the medic. Timber, Essie, Kyzo… where was Elisa? He frantically checked his surroundings. The street they were on was only a few hundred feet from the building they took shelter in. She couldn’t have gotten far. He turned back to Essie.

“Corporal, you’re in charge. Tend to Timber.”

Elucard turned his attention to Kyzo. His apprentice’s timing and movements were off. He was either too slow following Elucard’s instructions or he ended up running too fast and stumbled when trying to stop. Elucard tenderly tugged at Kyzo’s chin. “Are you alright?”

Kyzo doggedly nodded his head. “I-I’m fine, Master. I am just weary, I need to sit down.”

Elucard gave him a crooked smile. He plodded down his apprentice next to Timber and pulled out a dagger from Kyzo’s belt. The dagger was made of a blackened steel, and thus didn't glint in the heavy moonlight that blanketed the city.

Elucard took one of Kyzo’s hands and firmly placed the dagger in the boy’s hand. “Rest for now. Protect Essie and Timber if any trouble arises.”

Kyzo rested his head against the boards of the stand, his eyes rolled back ready for sleep. Elucard sighed and stalked away to go search for Elisa.

Elucard didn’t move more than ten feet before the sound of a horse trotting on the cobblestone street came to a stop in front of the merchant stand. It pulled along a small black carriage with two rose-tinted windows so no one could see the wealthy nobles within. The horse pulling the carriage had a deep black coat that glistened underneath the stars. It neighed as the hooded driver tugged at its reins.

Elucard looked up to the driver with worried eyes, he spun his dagger to an inverted grip, ready to strike.

“Calm your nerves, Elucard.” the carriage driver said in a light tone. Her voice was silky, smooth. She almost sounded like she was mocking Elucard or at least playing with him. The driver lowered the hood of her gray cloak, revealing Elisa’s beautiful violet eyes and shadow elven skin. “I found our ticket to the docks, hurry up and get in.”

“Where did you-” started Elucard.

“I said hurry,” Elisa pressed with urgency.

Essie and Timber pushed Elucard off to the side as they hobbled the injured archer into the coach. Elucard shook his head and assisted Kyzo in as well before hopping beside Elisa. The shadow elf threw Elucard an extra servant’s cloak and lifted her hood up. She clucked her tongue and signaled for the horse to ride on.

***

Wiccer relaxed in his hammock, his foot pushed gently against the ship’s bulkhead. He rocked back and forth, much like the ship against the ocean’s current. The sunrise attack on Ghostoc Port was a complete failure with devastating losses. No progress had been made in capturing the shore nor city.

Of course it had been a failure. Putting faith in Elucard either meant failure or sacrificing everything for success. In this case it was the former. Wiccer would have to explain to grieving wives and mothers that their loved ones were killed over the folly of a single elf with a death wish. Despite royal funding and joint training with Southtail’s drake riders, Elucard still managed to screw that up and what more, he got himself and his men killed.

It would require considerable manpower to force the Ghostoc gate open from the shoreline. The New Estinian soldiers were more driven to protect their country than the Estinian invaders that he faced in Varis. They had a fire in their hearts that drove them to fight like men possessed, disregarding their own safety or any basic instinct of self preservation. They fought to the very end. Cut off their arms they kicked, cut off their legs they clawed, and if their heads were cut off they would probably still bite.

Wiccer admired their persistence, but feared that surrender was not in their blood. If the Cypress Alliance could not find a way to sack the city, then this, he thought, might very well be the bloodiest siege in Draak’Terra’s history.

Wiccer’s thoughts faded as the faces of Essie, Kyzo, Timber, and Elisa broke through. His friends. Had he just lost them? Comrades he experienced gloom and joy with? Celebration and tragedy?

Wiccer’s lip quivered. Even Elucard… They had been through so much together—all of them. They were his Watchers, and he sent them to their deaths.

“Major?” a young runner entered the sleeping berth and tip-toed his way past the various slumbering troops and sailors until he reached the only high-ranking officer in the entire room.

Wiccer hid away his emotions. “Speak, private,” said Wiccer, still half awake.

“Sir, General Newsun requests your presence in the captain’s quarters.”

Perhaps his father had a new plan to set in motion? He sat up in his hammock and slid on his deer hide boots. “Very good, Private. Inform my father that I am on my way.”

***

Wiccer knocked on the oak door with a quick rap. He waited briefly before entering. This was it, now his father would have his new plan in motion to lay siege to Ghostoc Port or burn it to cinders. The city was all that stood before them and the rescue of his king. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that his father wouldn’t think twice to show the New Estinian people that Marcus Newsun was not one to be trifled with.

Wiccer entered the captain's quarters. The maps and charts had been cleared off the captain’s table for bowls of stew and cups of cider. Mave

Silvertail stood with her arms folded discussing the morning’s attack with Marcus. Wiccer scanned the room for other officers and leaders, but only saw Elucard Freewind, alive and well.

Wiccer gasped, his eyes widened. He felt the urge to both strike and hug his former friend all at once. “You should have reported directly to me that you were alive,” he finally said.

Elucard ignored him.

“I command the Anti-Rogue Ops.” Wiccer turned to his father. “Why was I not informed that Elucard survived? And why haven't the gates been opened if Elucard stands breathing?”

“Easy, Major,” said Mave. She raised a hand to calm Wiccer’s nerves. “Elucard reported to me first, as I command the Skyborne Military Operations and his unit is attached to mine.”

“Enough idle chat about who reports to who, what of the new plan?” snapped Elucard, irritated by the stall in the conversation.

Marcus gestured for his son to take a seat. “Now that Major Newsun has arrived, we can finalize the new mission.” Marcus waited for Wiccer to sit down and listen. “As we all know, the initial plan to fly to the gate was blocked. According to Captain Freewind, three wind mages guard the gate.”

“I took out one, but no doubt he will be replaced. I was pretty sure I saw a mage school while flying over the city,” Elucard informed the room. He walked over to the table and pointed to a section of the Ghostoc Port layout. “There.”

“Very well.” Marcus rubbed his chin. “Silvertail, explain your proposal.”

Mave gulped down the remainder of her cider and slammed the wooden cup onto the mapping board. “We suicide dive!”

“You what?!” exclaimed Wiccer.

“We bloody suicide dive, Major. Am I not being clear enough?”

“I think what the major means is he'd like a detailed explanation, Captain,” chuckled Marcus.

“Right-O, Chief.” Mave dipped the tip of her hat downwards and cleared her throat. “My brother, Quinn, and I used to have this game when we were still training to become dev—er—parachutists. We flew high on Maisy and Basil—”

“Who?” asked Wiccer.

Mave shot Wiccer an annoyed glance, but answered his question. “Our drakes, Maisy and Basil.”

“You named your dragons Maisy and Basil?” Wiccer cracked a wry smile.

“And what is your dragon named? Oh, that’s right, you don’t have one!” spat Mave.

“Children please, can we get back to the topic at hand?” scolded Marcus.

“Sorry, sah.” Mave adjusted her tunic, visibly still flustered. “So my brother and I would take our dragons real high in the air. Higher than we would normally need to fly and then we’d drop. We challenged each other to see who could pull their chute first. The last to do it would win.

“It’s dangerous, I know, but what we’d be doing here is a low opening to avoid detection,” finished Mave.

“How?” Elucard asked this time.

“Drakes make a lot of noise, and parachuting in can be seen too easily. Wingsuits are stealthy but they require an artificial manipulation of wind, so the mages would feel us coming,” said Mave

“So we suicide dive into the city and open the wingsuits just as we are about to hit the ground. Unseen by guards and undetected by the wind mages!” Elucard smirked. “Brilliant!”

Marcus turned to Wiccer. “It is a good plan; what do you say, Major?”

“It could work.” nodded Wiccer. “How are your men, Elucard? Will they be ready for another shot at the gate?”

Elucard shook his head. “No, they need some time to recuperate.”

“I’ll be using my men as well as Elucard for this mission,” said Mave, “We are trained in jumping and infiltration. Perhaps not to the same skill level as an Anti-Rogue Operative, but better than most.”

“Then it is decided, but this time you can not fail,” ordered Wiccer. He was weary about the new plan. A suicide dive did not sound ideal for a flawless plan, but then again, what plans were flawless?