Lora of Two Worlds

From the governor's palace to the barracks, chaos everywhere. Horn had said the Black Eagle wouldn't show their faces. But their archery was no decoration. On the east side, held by a dozen men, any guard stumbling out of the fire was dropped with a single arrow. No waste. What Lora hadn't expected: Corin had brought over a hundred men. These Turkic tribesmen, to avoid attention, had come in batches, some the night before, armed, lying low near the prison. They'd been bullied by the household guards for years. Endured it. Survived. Now, told they were raiding a prison and fighting household guards, they came like wolves scenting blood. No hesitation. Jian and Mo each led a team holding the north and west sides of the barracks. Corin took Lora's group. In the confusion, they scaled the wall into the military prison. Odd, only one or two sentries outside. Where were the guards who'd stood in a ring? They entered from the rear, through the prison kitchen, the torture room, the morgue. Behind the largest building. Corin pointed. The main cell was inside. Outside: chaos. Inside: silence. A trap? Shawn pointed at the roof, then at himself. Lora nodded. Covert guards were lightest on their feet, rooftops and trees were their specialty. He went up. Came down. Pulled off his mask: "They're all inside!" Good. Now, get in quietly and open the doors. Lyle and Corin moved. Shawn grabbed them: "The guards are all inside too!" A trap. Lora opened the map. Shawn pointed: "Here, the main room. The guards are clustered at the entrance hall. Dozens." A bag formation. Unless you had overwhelming force, one man in, one man dead. The one thing they hadn't covered: the roof. How to fight this? Fire the roof, easily extinguished. Even if they had bombs, the explosion would consume the air. The prisoners inside would suffocate on the smoke. And they didn't have bombs anyway. That was why the warden had ignored the roof: a semi-sealed room with only a few air vents. You couldn't burn it from outside. Lora's eyes lit up: How am I so stupid? We do have bombs! I just saw them. She pulled down her mask and whispered to Corin: "Quick, go back to the kitchen. I saw sacks of flour when we passed. Bring one." Flour? Making flatbread now? Corin didn't stop to think. He ran. "Lyle, Shawn, when Corin comes back, you kill the sentries outside and get ready to charge. Wait for the entrance hall to explode and catch fire." Explode, they understood. New Year's firecrackers exploded. If you packed them with black powder, louder. But black powder was made by alchemists, in small quantities. Not standard army issue. Some generals kept a little, to boost arson efficiency. They didn't have any. But if the young lady said so, she was right. The two men nodded firmly. Corin returned with a large sack of flour. On the way, he'd guessed: the young lady would have them throw flour in the guards' eyes. Naive, maybe, but against a group, a cloud of flour might buy a pause. A pause was a killing window. Not bad, the young lady had some cleverness. But... not the eyes? She had him carry the flour to the roof. She herself was lifted up by Shawn and Lyle. Shawn, per her instructions, lifted several roof tiles over the entrance hall. He covered the gap with his black cap. Below, torches burned. Unless someone looked straight up, they wouldn't notice the faint light leak. Roof set. The three went down the gable wall. Quickly, silently, they took out the sentries at the prison door. They waited at the entrance. Even if the guards inside heard something, they didn't come out. They gripped their swords, waiting for the rescuers to walk in. The guards stared at the door. No one looked up. The roof, a section suddenly open, and flour cascaded down. Lora shook the sack with perfect timing. Flour filled the entrance hall's air. "BOOM!" "BOOM!" Two blasts. The two wall torches had ignited the dust. Lora ducked away from the gap, the explosion was so powerful that flame shot out through it. Below, screaming. Dozens of guards, coated in flour dust, their clothes ignited by the fireball. The explosion froze everyone in the corridor: What kind of sorcery had Horn sent? Flour dust burns fast and brief. The corridor was barely affected. Even the cell area was mostly untouched. The entrance hall was hell. Wooden tables, chairs, doors, all ablaze. And the guards themselves. Hearing the blasts, Corin, Lyle, and Shawn kicked in the door. They were stunned, they'd missed the show. How had the young lady done that? Their blades didn't hesitate. Dozens of guards, burned, dazed, cut down in seconds. They pushed into the corridor and killed the few who'd dodged the blast. "My lord!" Lyle cut down the cowering Tobias the Rat. He scooped up the dagger from the floor and handed it to Leon, stepping out of the cell. "Just... you two?" The guards from the boats hadn't come. Leon didn't recognize Corin, took him for one of Horn's men. He asked as they moved: "What was that explosion outside?" "Four! Only four of us came in! The explosion, the young lady did it. She... ah, she's still on the roof." Leon and Roland ran. Down the corridor, through the wreckage, out the door. A small figure sat alone on the roof. They jumped onto the gable, then the roof. Lora, face smudged black, raised her hand-bow at them. Then her face crumpled: "Roland!" Roland pulled her into his arms: "Silly girl, Alvin and I are fine. What are you crying for? Come on, down we go." "Cousin." Lora saw Leon behind her brother. She raised a dirty, grinning face. Leon noticed, her white teeth were rather charming. This time, Leon felt a twinge of envy. Why couldn't a cousin hug? It was too formal. He smiled: "With you, there's always a surprise." They lifted Lora down from the roof. Watching her run into Alvin's arms, Leon suddenly realized: his knee didn't hurt anymore! The guards grabbed weapons from the floor and headed for the governor's palace. Lora, with Shawn, Keane, and Corin, headed for the barracks. The Turkic and Black Eagle fighters were still holding the guards, but the guards had recovered from their initial chaos and were organizing a counterattack. "Pull back!" Soon, the household guards found: the counterattack worked. The enemy was gone. Back at the guest house, Keane was reunited with his lord. "My lady, those two blasts were incredible. Did you use sorcery?" He asked, thrilled. In the cell, they'd been worrying about the rescuers. Small space, even with superior numbers, breaking through the ambush would have cost lives. Instead, the young lady had set the room on fire from above. Three men walked in and mowed them down. Magical. Corin, his face bright with excitement, left his people and headed for the guest house where the young lady was.

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