A Dance of Two Worlds

The Informer

Chapter Forty-Two

The Informer

A battle won, without a drop of blood being spilled, is the most astonishing victory

Elisium

5L 21/21/21/10

"Hell of a day and a never-ending night. Don't know when will I get to see my bed."

Commander Simon was trying to keep himself awake while sipping his eighth cup of coffee. He first supervised the shifting of boats from the yard towards the river, then saw off the convoy, and then assumed the command of the Ruins. With just around one-fifth of the total troops left behind to defend their fortress, he had to ensure that everything was in proper order.

Christopher had warned him that their enemies might try to breach one of their outer posts. After the attack on the storehouse, fortifications had been enhanced and more guns and canons had been deployed. Mines and traps had been laid down on roads leading to the Ruins. Anyone who tried to navigate these roads without proper directions would never make it to the city.

Simon had spent the whole night assigning his troops to different locations and was looking forward to retiring to his residence when one of his soldiers knocked the air out of his plan.

"What?" Simon furrowed his brow. "But how and why?"

"I don't know sir, but they are waiting for you in the command room."

Simon rushed towards the command room. "Good morning HighCommander. When and why did you return from the Demon's Entrance?" Simon noticed that Deputy HighCommander Alfred and three other commanders were also with him.

Christopher's eyes were darting all around the room. "I never made it that far. I got some crucial intel and decided to rush back to the base."

"What intel Sir?"

"Enemies are planning to attack the Ruins and take control over our headquarters."

"I have increased the number of troops on all the outer posts. Shall we send more?"

"No. They will not attack from the outside, they will attack from within. They will use the tunnels."

"But we sealed the tunnels."

"Some of them. There are many more and they are going to use those unidentified passages."

"May I ask Sir, what is the source of this intel? Who is your informer?"

Christopher slammed his fist on the table. "Will you stop asking questions and let me act." Simon was taken aback by this outburst. Christopher never lost his cool but today he was edgy. However, he quickly got hold of himself. "Sorry for shouting but we are short on time. Commander Darren escaped from enemy confinement and reached one of our outposts. He messaged me on my radio. Thankfully I was still in range when he radioed and I turned around to deal with this situation. Darren is in very bad shape and our soldiers will bring him to the Ruins as soon as he is okay to move."

"What shall we do now?"

"As per the info, they will attack all our outposts simultaneously to create a diversion. In the ensuing chaos, the enemies expect us to panic and send most of our troops towards the outposts and leave the Ruins defenseless. That is when they will attack it from within and take it over."

"Seems like a good plan."

Christopher nodded. "Yes, my friend. So first of all, we must disable all the automatic warning sirens. They will be deliberately targeting the security fences to trigger the alarms and cause panic amongst our troops. And the last thing we need is fear and anxiety."