Barely a minute after the moon passed behind one of the great towers that was peaking at the sky above the castle of Marbellian, the team was already in motion. It only took them a couple seconds to swiftly ascend the wall, vault above the walkway, passing the unsuspicious guards. Everything had been designed for the plan to work the best: the position of the moon had been calculated by Shemna, Kredz had scouted the paths the lookouts would take and when they switched, and Mexxia had identified the day with the least competent soldiers on duty. They had left nothing to chance, as usual.
Before the moon peaked back from behind the tower, they were already gone, hiding behind one of the barracks. Their objective was further in the courtyard, and there was a lot of obstacles in-between. Akkalia and Vennst both ran behind cover, on opposite sides, and the rest of the team waited for the twins to finish their task. Only a couple of seconds later, after a heavy thud, two guards fell on the ground, unconscious, and were dragged inside one of the barracks, empty for about half an hour. Immediately, Kredz spurned to action, his thin frame blending in with the shadows like he was made of them. It wasn't the first time for any of the Six, but they still admired his work with respect and a touch of fear. The man was an expert, and as stoic and calm as he usually was, his expertise was in war, and he slalomed between the soldiers, putting them to sleep with a tap to the neck, just as easily as he could have killed them.
The rest of the team followed shortly behind, and they reached the last building separating them from their objective. A large checkpoint, it was guarded by a dozen of soldiers, all alert, and commanded by a member of Section Six. This had been for a while a thorn in Amyann's plan, considering that even with their talent, this was an opponent of great worth, but fortunately, even elite soldiers had a weakness. Shemna bolding walked forward, intentionally swaying her hips exaggeratedly, winking at the red armor-clad man.
"Hello there boys, it seems like you're all alone tonight... Anything I can do to fix that?" she said seductively, and Amyann held a little chuckle. Shemna, aside from her intelligence and talent as an Arcanist, had always been a gorgeous woman, and knew how to use her charm and confidence to catch her enemy off-guard. The commander walked forward, already imagining the lucky five minutes he was about to spend with one of the fairly frequent admirers of the guard, or prostitutes, that Lord Gashtan, head of the castle's security, sent them regularly. More focused on the Arcanist's cleavage than he was on anything else, he reacted too late to the Arcanic Matrix being built in front of him, and before he had time to even bat an eye, the entire platoon was on the ground, sleeping soundly. Twenty minutes later or so, they would wake up with no idea of what happened, and no recent memories.
The team quickly rushed through the checkpoint, passing a smaller, opened grate, and arrived in the royal courtyard. The place was beautiful, a large oasis of trees, flowers and freshness in the middle of the metropolis, an insult to the citizens who were begging for some green in the dryness of the grey stone. Mexxia, who grew up in the slums and frequently volunteered there, seemed particularly bothered, but kept walking towards the large building on their right. The door was already open, and inside, past a vestibule, they found a large, powerful woman, the one that Amyann had been in a contact with. They had gone to military academy together, years ago, and were family friends since even longer than that. When she found that out, and that her loyalty lied more to the princess than her father, the Six's leader was delighted, and she quickly gave a handshake to her old friend.
"We have around fifteen minutes, left, let's hurry up. Is she ready?" she asked quietly, and the soldier nodded. She unlocked the door and opened it to a large room, equipped with all the necessary commodities, in full luxury. The Princess was still sleeping, and Zelina quickly woke her up, before loading her on her shoulder like she was made of feathers.
"My apologies, your Highness, but we must go quickly." she said, as the group exited the building before the Princess was even conscious. Outside, they met up with another, blonde woman who looked very much like Mazandrel, but older and way more muscular, and she smiled at Amyann.
"I apologize for the deception, but the guild's identification system required me to use a bit of a trick to hire your services." she said quickly, as they exited the castle the same way they entered it. "I will offer a compensatory fee as an apology." she added, and the leader shrugged.
"Dealing with royals come with that risk. Let's hurry, we must leave the city before they lock it down. We have a ship ready to leave at the harbor."
The whole team, now richer of three members, sprinted to the waterside, and quickly installed the still-confused princess in one of the cabins. Mexxia, the most comfortable of them around children, started to explain the situation to her, and explained they needed to dye her hair for now, but they quickly realized she had as well inherited the moxie of her mother, and it only took a few minutes for her to change her luxury dress, throwing it without hesitation in the water. As the Dargin twins were unhooking the sails, and the ship started to move, they heard the sirens start to blare in the capital, and the soldiers run around, searching for the missing royal, locking up the city.
"And we're out. Easy as that" said Vennst with his usual smile, but Amyann didn't celebrate as early as he did. Her eyebrows furrowed in worry, she looked at the marines already getting onboard their own embarkations. There was no way they knew where they were, but there was a possibility they could be locking up the rivers, and she didn't expect them to be this quick.
"Shup up for once, will you?" said Akkhalia, looking at the same ships her leader was. "What do we do, boss?"
"The same as usual. If they try to catch us, we talk our way out of it. With new clothes, the dye, and a bit of makeup, the princess won't look like herself, but if that doesn't work... We fight, and we run. As soon as we make it out of the Lunsat, we'll be safe..." she said. Kredz had already taken the lookout with his rifle, Shemna was ready to use the Arcane, and the Dargin twins were as always, ready to scrap. She felt the adrenaline rise in her body, goosebumps on her arms. This was the life.
