“What do you see, Timber?” asked Elucard. He peeked from the cover of his tree.

Just beyond the treeline stood a tall watchtower, built from stone from a nearby quarry and surrounded by a wide open field. Although it could be overrun by an army, especially one the size of the Cypress Alliance, it could still prove problematic if left unattended, with the clearing standing in the way through to Aric City. The lone tower served as an Estinian defensive position for a team of well trained mages and archers to harass an invading army. With unknown obstacles between here and the capital city, it would be in Wiccer’s best interest to not lose any forces on his warpath.

Timber collapsed her spyglass before reporting to Mave and Elucard. “It’s an active watch tower, alright. I saw four soldiers. Three were armed with longbows, the other one was wearing the brown robes of an earth mage.”

“We need to secure this bloody tower,” said Mave. She gestured for Corso to come closer to her. “Do you think you and the kanis can take out those fellows in the tower?”

“Can I borrow your spyglass, Tim?” Corso waited for the wolf to pass him the spyglass before using it to examine the exact positioning of each archer and mage..

The turret of the tower had arrow slits built into it, narrow windows that provided enough cover for each archer to adequately fire out of while making counter attacks from enemy archers nearly impossible. Furthermore, the gaps in the walls gave the mage ample vision to mount suppressive fire into the swamps and field.

“Negative, captain. That tower is the perfect vantage point for a deadeye with a bow. Combined with the walls for protection, and I’d say those bowmen are set for life,” said Corso. Timber nodded in agreement.

Mave stroked her whiskers. “Well, Elucard, any ideas?”

Elucard studied the tower base, particularly the large ironbound door. “Elisa, if we gave you the time needed, could you blow open that door?”

“I don’t specialize in demolition, captain. I’m more of the toxic type,” responded Elisa.

Quinn stepped forward and pulled a stick of dynamite from his belt. “Need a locksmith?”

Elucard nodded. “Fine. Quinn, you get that door open. Mave and I will run distractions from both sides of the tower. Hopefully we can draw their fire.” Elucard placed a confident hand on Kyzo’s shoulder. “When they take the bait and attack us, Kyzo, you get Quinn to that door. Once the entryway is open, I want you, Quinn, Bruce, Elisa, and Essie into that tower to take out those archers.”

Elucard looked at Timber and Corso. “You two fire everything you’ve got at that tower. I don’t care if you miss every shot. The idea is to keep them distracted in case Mave and I can’t keep their attention.” Elucard drew a circle in the ground with his finger. “Mave, you and I will double back around once we hear the explosion go off.”

Mave crossed her arms and nodded. “Worth a shot. Alright buckos everyone get set up, let’s bring down a watchtower!”

***

Kyzo ran in a full on dead sprint as a barrage of boulders rained down from the sky. He dove and rolled forward, just barely dodging as the heavy stones smashed into the ground all around him. One of the large rocks cracked and exploded into hundreds of jagged fragments that shot in every direction. The stone shrapnel nicked Kyzo’s flesh and clothing.

The boy grunted as a wayward stone whacked him in the back of his knee. His leg buckled as he stumbled and crashed to the ground. Elisa slid to his side and lifted him to his feet just as a boulder slammed into the ground. A layer of pebbles pelted them in the back as it erupted apart.

“Come on Kyzo, we’re almost there!” Elisa cried, trying to get her voice heard over the commotion of the falling rocks, whistling arrows, explosions, and the cacophony of other's commands. It was an utter disarray of chaos.

Kyzo and Elisa scrambled further and further through the field. “Why do you suppose he can’t just make a tidal wave of earth?” Kyzo yelled as they reached the base of the tower. His back slammed against the wall.

Elisa bent up her head to get a good look at the top of the tower. “He’s creating those boulders from thin air. Watch!”

Elisa pointed at a single stone appearing in a flash of bronze light. As the stone flew forth from the Mage’s hand, it doubled in size, then as it reached the end of its arc and fell in the air it tripled in size until it was a fully formed boulder careening to the ground.

“I’m no mage, but I think he is out of range of the earth to control it. So he has to just use his ability to create new earth instead,” theorized Elisa.

“I think you are right, darling.” Quinn collapsed against the door, wheezing and huffing. “You elf lot are fast.”

Essie and Bruce soon followed and found protection just under the tower.

“Do you think you have what it takes to open this door, Quinn?” asked Kyzo.

“Well…” Quinn knocked on the heavy oak door and grazed his hand over the iron hinges. “It’s a sturdy door. But I have the dragon powder for it.”

Quinn pulled a clump of a soft clay like substance from one pouch and stuck it onto the top and bottom hinges of the door. He pushed a dimple into the clay then poured a coarse, black powder into the pocket he created. Finally he closed the clay pocket around a cord fuse that he stuck inside the powder.

“Alright, this door is about to go kaboom, I need you ladies and gentlemen to run like Dahlemar is on your heels, because you don’t want to be near this concoction when it goes off.” Quinn pulled out a match and struck it against the stoney wall of the tower. “Ready… RUN!”

Kyzo and the rest ran around the side of the tower just as a blast of fire and white smoke blew the heavy door off its hinges. The elf watched in amazement as the door was lifted into the air and somersaulted over the trees landing in an unknown location in the swamp. Quinn laughed like a maniac as the elves jogged back to the now open doorway.

“I think I went a little too heavy on the dragon powder!” chuckled Quinn. The harekin wafted away a cloud of smoke.

Kyzo cracked a mischievous smile and pointed to Quinn’s singed ear tips. “I guess so.” Peering into the darkness of the tower, his face grew serious and drew his dagger in one hand and his sword in the other. “Let’s go,” he said.

Kyzo, Elisa, Essie, and Bruce climbed the watchtower with Quinn covering their rear. Kyzo kept his eyes sharp, waiting for boulders to crash down the stairs or for arrows to fly at them, but the more progress they made, the more they realized the nature of the twisting stairs protected them from any such hazards.

“We need to rush them,” said Bruce, “While we still have an advantage.”

Kyzo nodded and quickened his pace. Together the group raced up the stairs until they reached the final step and found themselves at the backsides of the archers and earth mage, peering warily through the thin slits of the tower. With ferocity and agility, Kyzo leaped into the air and drove his two blades into the chest of the surprised earth mage. The others charged after Kyzo’s attack, making short work of the longbowmen. The tower was theirs.

***

“What’s the situation Kyzo?” Elucard asked as the squad regrouped outside the tower.

“We only found a mage and two archers at the top, master.”

“Did an archer get away?” Elucard turned to Timber. “Perhaps you were mistaken about a fourth man?”

“I was sure I saw three bowmen, Elucard,” pressed Timber. She eyed her partner for help.

“She’s right, I saw a third too,” said Corso.

“Well then, there goes our element of surprise,” said Mave. “That archer will no doubt alert any nearby barracks and armories that we are behind enemy lines.”

Elucard patted Elisa’s shoulder. “You’re up, Elis, set up some traps. I don't want another Estinian reclaiming this tower.” Elucard waited for Elisa to head into the tower before unfolding his map. “There’s a town called Valleyhorn coming up, about half a day's journey from here. If it’s occupied, we might need to make it easier for the town to be captured. If it’s not, we can avoid it.”

Elucard examined the ‘X’ that marked the town and then looked at the distance between Valleyhorn and Aric City. They were still a long way away from their destination and with only one usage of runecloth left, the room for errors narrowed. Any injury with such a long march left would make this mission more difficult than any mission he had dealt with before. He knew he could count on his men, but once again his doubts about the harekins wormed their way back into his mind.