The Cracks Beneath the Walls (4)

Above ground, Wilhelmina and Alina moved with practiced efficiency through the old market square. They directed burly porters to heave grain sacks into hidden vaults beneath the church's crypts—once places of stone repose, now lifelines for a city teetering on hunger. Alina rolled out a map of subterranean aqueducts, pointing to a junction where a sluice gate still held water at bay.

With deft hammer taps, they collapsed the gate. A roar of rushing water followed as the city's clean wells began to draw from the flood, leaving the Varzadians with salted, brackish pools. Wilhelmina's steady eyes shone with victory as she crossed one name off her ledger and underlined another.

In the twisting alleys, Alice glided from checkpoint to checkpoint, her presence a calm beacon for civilians huddled under awnings. Children peered out at her soldier's stance, eyes wide not with fear but hope.