Chp.6: Prepare the plan

Darbi, Gord, Brenno and Isaac reached camp just an hour later. All of them seemed tired from the journey, but they didn't show any wounds, at least superficially, a sign that they mustn't have suffered attacks or in any case they mustn't have fought against too dangerous enemies.

Haku left the headquarters and went to welcome his brother. The other dragons also arrived immediately: in fact, all of them were eager to see Darbi again. Unlike Rhaegal and all the others, who had continued to use their avatars, Darbi had in fact preferred to go on missions using his real body. Haku had considered such an action immensely stupid and possibly self-harming, since it meant exposing oneself to great risks, but Darbi hadn't wanted to hear any reason. According to him, he was tired of wearing a mask in front of his new friends. Besides, if they had to risk their lives, he didn't see why he should be safe instead.

Haku hadn't been able to convince him otherwise: when his brother got his mind on something, it was impossible to change his mind. Being stubborn seemed to be a common trait of dragons. Due to the fact that Darbi had left in person, it had been difficult to get in contact with him. Sure, he had left his old avatar behind and occasionally reactivated it to confirm that everything was going well, but there were rare moments when he could afford to close his eyes and activate the link. Therefore, even though they sometimes talked to each other, his siblings constantly lived in fear of what might happen to them. At least Darbi had tried to take advantage of every opportunity to communicate with them: both Haku and Rhaegal in fact had warned him that if they didn't hear from him at least once a week they would come looking for him, and he didn't want them to endanger their lives.

When they finally faced each other, the seventeen dragons hugged each other in a brotherly embrace, and Haku hit his brother's head amicably. Darbi followed that gesture, but didn't make many comments. Jovial as he was, he knew when it was time to work. "We have what we need" he confirmed.

Haku nodded, understanding what he meant. "Very well, we're all going to headquarters. You too" he told Gord, Brenno, and Isaac. "I'll need everyone"

The whole family returned to headquarters, where Zamor, Thora and the adventurers were still present. Darbi walked over to the table and pulled a huge map out of his dimensional pouch. "This is a copy of the original map… or rather, a copy of the copy, enhanced by the addition of certain details known to us. The ones you see marked in red..." and he pointed to several dots. "...are all places where lizardmen, tigermen and lionmen are currently being held"

When Zamor had told him about the situation of his people, Haku knew he could not limit himself to his word to be able to formulate a good strategy. For the plan to work efficiently, all the prisoners had to be released at the same time, so their exact locations had to be known. Zamor knew where the three main labor camps were located, meaning the ones where most of the prisoners were held and forced to work, all of which were close to the border with the east and were busy building defences; but even he had admitted that it was very likely that there were others of smaller size scattered in various parts of the Baudonia City Alliance. For this Darbi, Gord, Isaac and Brenno had set out with two important goals: the first was to find escape routes for the prisoners of the main labor camps, or in case of absence to create some of them themselves; the second was to pinpoint the location of every single prisoner across the nation. And apparently, they had succeeded.

"To get the map, Gord snuck into the labor camp posing as a prisoner" Darbi explained, and the lizardman let out an angry sound, clearly remembering bad things. "It took him over a month, but he finally managed to break into an officer's house. He quickly copied all the necessary documents and also found a map showing the exact location of each labor camp, and he also copied that; while we came back we put it all together and we made this"

Darbi pointed to three huge red dots. "These, as you well know, are the main labor camps. Each of them has at least three thousand prisoners, and they are held in areas from which it is very difficult to escape. Therefore, we have created these" and he pointed to several red lines leading from the camps. and converged in a nearby river. "These are tunnels we've dug over the course of these four months, using both Isaac's magic and runes fueled by my blood. They're all large enough for me to pass through, so prisoners can pass easily. All of them are well hidden and lead here" and he pointed precisely to the river. "This is the Kotenka River, the very border between the Baudonia City Alliance and the nations of the East. The river originates from the mountains to the south and then continues north until it flows into the Skai River, which is precisely the border with the desert. If we move our ships here, a good diversion will be enough to distract the guards and we will be able to move all the prisoners in a few minutes before they can react"

"How are the conditions of the prisoners?" Zamor asked suddenly.

Darbi growled. "Very bad. Ask Gord for further explanations, he didn't want to give them to me. But based on the sounds and smells I felt even in the distance, I propose that we put a good number of healers on the ships so that the prisoners receive at least some immediate cure for... whatever they have suffered"

Gord glared at Darbi, evidently not appreciating being called out, but he knew that sooner or later his name would come up anyway. "I fully agree with Darbi's statement" he said. "It's hard for me to talk about it, but... let's say that most of the prisoners have serious injuries due to the treatment they are subjected to. And they are also malnourished. They must receive immediate help, or they will not survive the journey into the desert"

"Those bastards..." Zamor hissed clenching his fists. "We could produce large quantities of healing potions and transport them to ships along with food. This way we could heal and reinvigorate them while still transporting them..."

"Calm down" Haku said. "The idea is good, but we will discuss it when they have finished telling us everything they know. It makes no sense to talk about it when our information is still limited"

Zamor took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. Haku was right, as usual: if they wanted to have the chance to save everyone, they shouldn't lose their lucidity. For the moment, logic was the most effective weapon, not emotions.

Since silence was returned, Darbi pointed to several other smaller red dots scattered across the map, but still concentrated in the eastern part of the Baudonia City Alliance. "These are all the places where the remaining prisoners are being held. They are scattered in many areas and are building sewers, roads, bridges and other structures. Many of them are near cities, and some of these cities are near small rivers. where we can move our boats. There shouldn't be more than two or three hundred prisoners in each of these camps. In blue, instead, you can see the defending forces" he added, pointing to several blue dots that indicated the position of the soldiers and their number.

Haku studied the map carefully, then picked up some wooden pieces and placed them on top of it. "As you well know, the moment we will attack will be when the king is regaining control of most of the army. Which means that the armed forces present in the individual cities need not worry us" he said placing some pawns over the various cities and making the blue dots disappear. "As a result, only the guards directly guard the labor camps remain. In the case of the smaller labor camps, it is a rather small number, which we can easily manage"

"We can take care of it" Rhaegal said pointing himself, Corgorin, Serengal and the adventurers. "Officially, the party 'One day' is heading to the Baudonia City Alliance. Using our influence, we will be able to transport large numbers of troops throughout the territory in a few weeks"

Haku nodded. "How many men do you need?"

"With our resources, just give me two hundred men and I'll finish it all in half an hour on the appointed day. Three hundred? I'll finish it all in five minutes" Rhaegal replied.

Haku thought, then took some tokens and scattered them all over the map. "You will take two hundred and fifty men with you. You will have to scatter them throughout the territory and find a way to establish a rapid communication channel, so that when the time comes you can warn them"

"I'll just scatter some of my avatars everywhere" Rhaegal said.

"Good. I advise you to study the territory every time before leaving again, in order to formulate an efficient plan to communicate to your subordinates" Haku said, and then he put a pawn in the shape of a ship. "In addition to the two hundred and fifty men, you will also take our smaller boats with you. Establish certain outposts and routes where it is easy to hide, and make sure that your subordinates know where to go. This way in a few days you will all be assembled and you can head towards the Skai River. It is unlikely that the army will try to hinder you as they will be busy withstanding the resumption of power of the king, which certainly won't be without bloodshed, but you must still move as if an attack was certain"

"Don't worry, I'm not inexperienced in this area. In each city I will obtain detailed maps of the territory and be sure to study the field well before leaving again" Rhaegal replied.

Haku nodded satisfied, then he took more ship-shaped pieces and placed them on the Kotenka River. "Since the amount of prisoners is greater, we will move most of our fleet here. A handful of fifty men will wait for our signal and then carry off all the prisoners through the tunnels"

"We'll do it" Darbi said, pointing to himself, Gord, Brenno, and Isaac. "We dug those tunnels, we know the area, we can handle the situation better than anyone else"

"Okay, but Isaac won't come with you" Haku said. "As a level mithril mage, his strength will serve the main army. We will already have a reduced strength as three hundred men will be absent, we cannot give up one of the most powerful mages among us"

"It doesn't matter, we'll do it" Brenno bellowed. "We are gladiators, we have years of experience behind us. Any remaining soldier will snap like a soft breadstick as soon as we hit him"

"Yes, I'd say that's the best solution. After all, you won't have too many enemies; as soon as we start the attack, Carrion and almost all of his soldiers will converge here" and he placed two pawns in a point on the map, quite far from all the city ​​but close to the three main labor camps. "It will be here that the main battle will take place. I already have a plan that I've been studying for months to defeat Carrion"

"Do you want to kill him?" Isaac asked surprised and partly intrigued.

Haku shook his head. "As much as he deserves it, I don't mean to go that far. Killing a legendary level would put us in a bad light and probably lead the king to seek conflict with us. No, we'll just teach him a lesson... at least at the beginning" he answered. "But if by any chance he dares to pursue us after that… then I will have no further mercy"

"Wait, so you already have two plans to defeat a legendary level!?" Thora exclaimed in amazement. It seemed impossible to formulate even one, and the dragon had two?

The answer startled her. "I actually have a dozen" Haku said. "I have been preparing for several scenarios based on the information I have. Legendary levels aren't as invincible as they appear; my sisters brought one to his knees and held another just a few months ago"

Thora's jaw dropped, and she wasn't the only one in the room, but before she could ask for further explanations Haku said, "Anyway, Rhaegal, Darbi, you should pick your men and leave within three days. Given the great distance you must act as soon as possible"

"Why? Are you in a hurry, brother?" Rhaegal asked.

Haku nodded. "We need to reach the oasis by the end of summer. When it's autumn, the currents from the sea to the north will change and cause more winds, which in turn will cause huge sandstorms" ​​he explained. "If we are already at the oasis, then that will be flattering for us because it will block any possible pursuers and give us plenty of time to rebuild our forces. But if we won't, then it will be a problem; if indeed the prisoners are as debilitated as Darbi says, then we can't risk running into a sandstorm, or many of them won't survive. We have to complete the plan by the end of the summer, or we'll find ourselves stranded in enemy territory and with a large number of people who will be impossible to hide"

Actually that wasn't a problem for Haku: he didn't care a bit that many of the prisoners would die. However, if he really wanted to build a stable relationship with the newcomers to allow his siblings to live happily, then he had to work hard to find a solution for that problem as well.

"If so, we will act immediately" Rhaegal snorted as he exited headquarters. Corgorin, Serengal and the adventurers followed. Soon Zamor and Thora were out too, and then all the others. After all, if there was such a rush, there was no point in wasting time.

In the end only Haku and Darbi remained in the room. "Do you still have to tell me something, brother?" Haku asked.

"Just one" Darbi replied with a smile. "You know... if I've kept count of the days correctly... tomorrow is our birthday"

Haku was silent for a second, then his eyes widened in puzzlement. It was true: the next day would mark their presence in that world for exactly two years. "It would be our first birthday together" Darbi continued. "We think maybe we could have done something. I'm not saying celebrate, since we literally don't have time... but at least we could all have lunch together or at least breakfast"

"Yes... that would be nice" Haku murmured.

"Excellent! Then I consider you one of ours. Thanks, brother!" Darbi said leaving the headquarters as well, leaving Haku alone again.