Breaking Into Prison

The hooded figures moved faster than lightning. Aayla already couldn't move by the time she noticed them. Chris lasted for a couple of seconds longer than the rest of them. Even for him, resistance was futile. Somehow even their mana was locked.

Grabbed before they even realized it, the team was shuffled down another alleyway. Aayla shot 'I-told-you-this-was-a-bad-idea' glares at Chris the entire time. She knew that she shouldn't have gone on this mission.

The team was dragged through the winding alleyways for several minutes. The hooded figures finally stopped at a nondescript house in an out of the way path. One of the figures knocked in a strange pattern on the door.

Chris narrowed his eyes. The walls and roof were heavily patched, just like the other buildings around them. This was the residence of a somewhat poor household. Would the True Order really want to stay in a place like this with their pride?

As soon as the door opened, the hooded figures dragged them inside. The door locked automatically behind them. Aayla and the team were unceremoniously dropped onto the floor. The hooded figures kept a close eye on them as two partially drew back the curtains of a window.

Two hooded figures carefully watched the outside. The streets remained silent and empty. They sighed in relief after drawing the shades closed once more.

"We're clear. No one followed us."

Aayla strained to turn her head to get a good look at the room. She could barely see anything with her face on the floor. Her ears picked up faint footsteps that approached the room. Another door opened behind her, and those footsteps entered.

Shadows loomed over her.

"You can let them go. I recognize them, especially that one. They're all students of ours."

Suddenly, Aayla discovered that she could move again. She picked herself up off the ground as the others got to their feet. The person standing in front of them was a familiar face.

"Professor Brenys?!"

"It's been a while, Miss Glowery. I see that you still manage to get yourself into deep trouble. What are the four of you doing here?"

"Well, we all couldn't sit still with everything going on… and somehow found ourselves here."

"How did you all get here?... Nevermind. You four need to leave right now. It's not safe for students, even skilled ones. We can't keep an eye on you while we work."

Another hooded figure interjected. "Absolutely not. They can't go outside again and risk being spotted. If their memories are read by the True Order, then we could be discovered. We'll keep them hidden here."

Professor Brenys pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

"That's also not a viable option. Knowing these four, they'll just break out to do what they want."

"Then we'll just trap them here. The military will be breaking through the middle wall any minute now. They'll be found soon after the soldiers start searching the houses."

"You mean so they'll be completely unable to run if the True Order happens to find them first? No, it's better if they keep away from the chaos."

Before Professor Brenys and the others could fight more, Chris stepped into the middle of the fight with his most charming smile on his face.

"Please, Professor Brenys, let me talk for a bit. We just want to make sure that the headmaster and Miss Glowery's godmother are alright. Oh, that's Deputy Headmaster Ramona Heston, by the way."

The other hooded figures murmured. So, she's that woman's goddaughter? They thought that her name was familiar.

"They're fine, Mister Vear. It would be better for you to leave so they don't need to worry about you all."

"Yes, yes. We're sure their fine, but can you blame Daren and Miss Glowery from worrying? Anyways, I'm sure that we'll be very useful if you bring us along. We did sneak through the middle wall all by ourselves."

Professor Brenys shook his head. "No. As your professor, I can't allow that."

"Now, now Brenys. Let them speak." Another hooded person with a feminine figure entered the room. "He has a point. They're all adults. If they can be useful, then it's best to bring them along."

"Thank you. I'm sure that I don't need to introduce Daren Forolan. He's the one who got us in through the wall. Miss Glowery and I both have actual combat experience, and Miss Vhassohrin keeps Daren and Miss Glowery safe."

"Wait, I do?"

Aayla remembered running for her life a lot, but not fighting. Chris sighed as he resisted the urge to smack his face with his hand.

"… You're not supposed to ask a question like that out loud in times like these." Chris turned towards the feminine figure. "Despite how she looks, Miss Glowery has survived encounters with a northern glacial boar and snow sharks. She also snuck around campus with Jacki and the True Order camp with me during their surprise attack last semester."

"I can vouch for that." Professor Brenys nodded reluctantly.

"Miss Glowery also controls an artifact which can hide our mana, which lets us sneak around. Its radius isn't that large, but it can still hide several people."

"Oh? An artifact?" The hooded woman paused before glancing at Professor Brenys. "At the very least we'll probably need Daren. Executing will be the first phase will be much easier if we can silently break through solid walls. You four will come with us. Keep an eye on them, Brenys."

He slightly frowned but still bobbed his head in agreement.

"We don't have any time to do anything else, anyways. Let's go."

The hooded figures went deeper into the house. One was left behind to cover their tracks. A crude staircase had been cut into the floor of one of the inside rooms.

The team descended down into the darkness. Aayla found herself in a dimly lit underground tunnel when they exited the narrow stairs. The tunnel was wide and well-made, but the ground had a strange sticky feeling. A river of dirty water with dark objects floating in it ran through the center of the tunnel.

Aayla gagged as an overwhelming stench of rot, decay and filth assaulted her nose.

"Welcome to the sewers of Sarrasak. The True Order has restricted water usage along with other commodities and utilities. While that means trash has started to pile up in homes and the streets, the sewer tunnels are relatively clean."

This was clean? Aayla held her hands over her nose and mouth as her eyes watered. She wanted to vomit. How could people even think of using sewer tunnels to sneak around in movies and books?! Her feet carried her faster down the tunnel. She couldn't get out of her fast enough.

Even the hooded figures couldn't stand the smell. Aayla could hear them muttering reminders to themselves not to cast magic to remove the stench. The entire group practically ran through the tunnels. Suddenly, the hooded woman stopped them.

A ladder reached up into the darkness. Small streams of light filtered in from overhead. Faint screams and roars echoed out from overhead.

"We're here. This is the closest that we can get to the prison. We'll continue as we planned earlier, except the young ones will follow with Brenys from behind. Team one will cause a distraction, while team two will infiltrate the prison."

The first hooded figure went up the ladder. They peered through the small holes in the ceiling, then lifted the sewer cover away. After they climbed out, the person signaled for the rest to come up. Team one began their attack as soon as they could.

"What exactly are we doing?" Jacki whispered.

"We're retaking the main prison." Professor Brenys responded. "A revolt inside the prison should have already started. We need to add more pressure from outside and break in to disable the security systems."

"Is Ramona, I mean Deputy Heston, still inside?"

"Not exactly. We all broke out some time ago. Right now, she might have broken in to take care of the stronger guards. Once we take care of the security system, we can let the prisoners know so they can break out. Let's go."

The furor outside had reached its peak and started to move away from their position. Aayla quickly activated the New Moon Bracelet. She kept the barrier close around the team.

"This spell is rather interesting. Can you make it larger to cover the entire ladder and the sewer entrance?"

"Nope. This is as large as it goes."

"Then we'll need to send you first. Keep the coverage around the entrance and stay low to the ground. Everyone should be too distracted to notice someone without any mana."

Aayla fiddled with the tips of her hair. She should have known this was going to happen. Once again, she found herself wrapped up in more trouble than she could probably handle. With one hand on the ladder, Aayla began to climb.