SIXTH BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES OF FANTASILIA SERIES
𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥. 𝘕𝘰𝘸, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴.
Xanthiene Vivenca has to find allies and legendary objects of po...
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Reeca trudged past the fortress' gates, ignoring the murmurs following in her wake. Her boots clacked dully against the dark, compact soil; her sword slapped the side of her thigh whenever she took a step. She kept her face neutral but deep inside, anger roiled in her chest, tearing at her muscles and devouring every sense.
She passed the outer quadrant, one of the first walls after the barrier. It was built by the crafty earth sprites Elred had brought to Penleth. Syl, the air sprite, manned the gates on his own. His other team members were out in the air, scouting for any sign of aerial assault.
Reeca gave Syl a curt nod. He touched the gate with his hand and opened it ever so slightly, enough for Reeca to squeeze through. Exhaustion marred her arms and legs but she continued walking.
Over the past six days, it had been nothing but cannons aiming to bomb down the barrier. Both land and air scouts haven't reported any sign of foot soldiers from the enemy camp nor had they wandered near the base of the barrier.
However, a few distance from Penleth, right at the lip of the border between Diven and Rabante, the scouts have reported the presence of a wall stretching far and wide and filled with artillery at every inch. Those weapons had been the ones running them down without mercy since the siege started six days ago.
Reeca exhaled, not bothering to keep it dainty, startling a few soldiers sitting idly in their tents as she passed. The gates to the inner quadrant loomed closer. She had come out here just to inspect the damage on the barrier and get Trix, their resident mechanic, to work on it tonight.
The barrier had been Reeca and Cyrdel's design. During the months of preparation, she and the brownie had knocked their heads together and developed a way to buy themselves a bit more time while they executed what they had really been here for.
It turned out Cyrdel had been studying the barriers closing around Umazure for so long he could recite all the elements he found on it during his years of extensive research. Why he was even researching the barriers was something Reeca didn't have the time nor the energy to prod into.
Still, Cyrdel had this bright idea to recreate the barrier and cast it around the fortress. Soon, their nights had been spent inside one of the tents in the center quadrant, devising and developing until finally, they had the perfect prototype.
That prototype had been the one in use since the first blasts of artillery rang during the first day of the siege. Trix, a brownie from the underground cities, took charge of maintenance after Cyrdel left with Xanthy in whatever it was the Virtakios was planning.
Reeca nodded at Dreak, a pixie manning the gates to the inner quadrant. The pixie stared at her with his passive, narrow eyes and touched the gates as well. The tall, wooden gates swung inward. Reeca squeezed through the small gap and pulled her wings out of the way before it got caught between the gap.
The inner quadrant wasn't a pretty sight to look at. The outer quadrant housed the weapons, the supplies, and some of the living tents. The inner quadrant contained the sick bay where all the wounded, the sick, and the dead were piled together.
