[h2]First Battle of Ceboyan[/h2]
[hider=A small date]
The streets of Ceboyan were choked with smoke and drenched in blood. Screamed tangled with the crackle of fire, and the scent of burning wood mixed with something far worse. 

Guiliana whispered and tensed, "You're sure about this?"

"Sure enough."

She shot Alejandro a glare, "Sure enough?" The two leaned against a wall as they covered ground in the streets, taking a second to allow footsteps of strangers to click off in the distance, "Sure enough isn't good enough." 

"He's a wildcard, Alejandro. We don't know who else he's dealing with."

Alejandro grinning and slightly amused, "We're all dealing with someone unknown. That's how this works."

Lowering her voice, "You know damn well what I mean." 

Alejandro glanced at her over his shoulder, his expression easy, almost teasing, "And we decided this was our best option."

Guiliana grit her teeth. He wasn't wrong, and it bothered her. "If this goes sideways, we won't get another shot. If the wrong people get that information-" 

Alejandro cut her off, smooth and effortless, "Then we do what we always do. Adapt. Survive. Find a new way, if we're lucky."

Guiliana exhaled sharply, he was treating this like a game, like all of it would work itself out. His attitude crawled under her skin and boiled her veins. She didn't gamble with things she couldn't afford to lose. She was always one step ahead of her target, this was Alejandro's connection, he was never ahead, always... tripping forward. 

"I'm not interested in luck, Alejandro; we need to control this."

Alejandro turned to her fully now as they arrived at the door, "Then you're in the wrong city, querida." 

Before she could snap back, the door opened.

The door opened up to a black man who was in stark contrast to the city. He was clean, smelled of flowers, and wore light colorful clothes. Most surprisingly, he was smiling. 

"Ah hello, hello," he scanned them and slid over to the side of the door, "Please, come in, can't have too much smoke getting in."

The room seemed to mostly consist of seating furniture with easels strewed about.  Dozens of portraits were stacked up and covered. "Please, take a seat."

"Now this is unexpected. A man with manners in a city on fire." Alejandro remarked as Guiliana closed the door behind them. 

Lingering by the door, her arms crossed, "This is him?" Guiliana asked as her eyes narrowed on Tku. 

"Were you expecting someone covered in blood and soot? Yes, this is him." 

Guiliana remained cautious, "You're awfully comfortable for someone meeting strangers in a war zone."

Tku walked by Guiliana, winking at her, "How I do love someone with some spice." He took a seat to face them and the door.

"I don't worry because we can help each other here," a basket full of Belzaggic fruit materialized on the table between them. 

"So would you like some or to get to business? Either is fine with me," his voice even and undisturbed her suspicion.

Guiliana's face remained firm. It was in the end out of her control. This man had a way in and could help them get what they wanted. He was right.

She took a seat and Alejandro followed but both refused the fruit.  Alejandro spoke first, "Let's get to business, first things first, how are you getting us in?"

He sat there, peeling an orange. "I've examined the fort long before the fighting ever happened. I know its structure and its weak points. Simply create a hole here and there and you are in. Simple for an architect."

"Now how are you going to convince the Virangish families to leave before it's too late?" he bit into a slice of orange.

Alejandro answered Tku, "Our boats." 

"Boats are good," Tku nodded with Alejandro. He would confirm his answer later.

He glanced his eyes up at the broody one, "Did you sense or hear anything when I made them," the question was posed like a statement. "Of course, I have another option if you are interested. Do know it is quite dangerous."

"The biggest issue is getting through without getting caught though you can handle that if I make the opportunity, yes?"

Guliana followed, "a hole? Will this creation of a hole be quiet? We need to remain undetected."

Tku picked a date from the bowl, giving Alejandro a smile as he did. The date fell to dust and swirled to Alejandro's side. It reconstituted just the way it was before. 

"The date would be you. As I told you, more dangerous. But not many would be able to see it at night."[/hider]
[hider=A night later…]
“Okay that was strange.” Alejandro tugged his trousers making sure everything came with him. 

Between the moment they were outside of the fort to now was a blur. Like a hazy dream and back to complete clarity. 

“What I tell ya.” Alejandro jeered, Giuliana reluctantly was impressed, “Too early to cheer, but I admit, he followed through on you being The Date.”

Alejandro teasingly clapped back, “Don’t flatter yourself, I wouldn’t date you.” She didn’t engage. 

“Alright let’s create some noise.” The two disguised as refugees began to take note of their targets.


Past the stone walls of Fort Limanağzı laid an inner courtyard filled with expensive trinkets though they seem less cared for in the last few days. Ash from the city laid delicately in the corners where a servant did not clean. The once boisterous parties had been halted to hushed conversation and the fear lingered though no one spoke of it. 

Guards remained alert, following their laborious inspections to stop any persons who might lay siege to the fort. "Ring ring, Alejandro. It is Tku. The guards on the eastern side have settled so you have a few minutes to integrate." Tku reached out and simply sensed for alcohol, finding the tables that had wine. 

"There, in the courtyard around an oval table some men are drinking, they might be a good start."

"Impressive," Alejandro commented after Tku's voice. But the stank of sweat, damp wood, and the faint acrid scent of spent powder was not impressive. The rebellion had torn through the streets, and the fort, meant to be a stronghold, had become a crumbling sanctuary, its stone halls crowded with the desperate and the displaced.

Giuliana and Alejandro moved carefully through the courtyard, blending into the masses. Their clothes were tattered, streaked with dust and sweat to match the others, their expressions carefully curated to reflect exhaustion and quiet wariness.

Off in the corner, Alejandro saw the oval table Tku directed him toward. A cluster of men gathered, slumped over mugs of cheaper, watered-down spirits. Some of them still bore the grime of battle, their tunics ripped, their knuckles bloodied. Some of these soldiers were once outside the fort protecting the streets, now finding respite with the time they had before the next attack. 

Alejandro found himself next to the table. Giuliana found herself moving into a group of grieving mothers, and one of the men, thick-necked and red-eyed, glanced up at Alejandro. "You new?"

Alejandro shrugged, reaching for a half-full mug abandoned on the table. "You could say that. Escaped through the eastern gate before the whole thing collapsed. Didn't look back." He took a slow sip, letting the bitterness settle on his tongue. "What's left down there?"

The table erupted in grumbling. One man spat onto the floor. "Ruins. Blood in the gutters. Soldiers are rounding up anyone who looks suspicious, and the ones they don't kill outright, they hang."

Another man, already half-drunken and swaying, slurred, "Better to be here than down there, but not by much. This place-" He waved a hand at the battered stone wall, "-isn't gonna hold forever."

Across the yard, Giuliana had settled among a different gathering. A group fo women sat huddled near the wall, their shoulders hunched, their faces soured by sorrow. Some held small children, others clutched at torn shawls as if they could somehow hold themselves together with fraying cloth. These were the grieving mothers, the women who had lost sons, husbands, or brothers to the rebellion-or worse, to the vengeance that followed.  

A woman, her hair streaked with silver, sat beside Giuliana, her hands trembling as she whispered, "They took him. My boy. He wasn't even fighting. He just... was there." 

Giuliana reached for the woman's hand, her grip firm, steady. "I lost someone too," she said, her voice low, measured, weaving herself into their grief. Another murmured, "They took my brother, said they'd make an example of him." She shook her head, her nails digging into her palms. "I heard the screaming."

Giuliana let her own grief show-not for a brother or son, but for everything she had lost before. Her voice was a whisper, just enough to pull the women closer. "We can't bring them back, but we can carry their names with us if we survive." 

From across the yard, Alejandro met her gaze over the rim of his cup. He gave the slightest nod, the two were exactly where they needed to be.

"I am," Tku spoke a few moments later. He had been marking guards and people out of place on a map. Scanning for all of them was impossible but he could keep track of them, note their routines. 

"The vault is inside the eastern building, then going down the northern stairwell, guards lay at the end of it. We can make another entrance mid way through the stairwell or you can manage it yourself." Tku gave the choice to Alejandro, either way, Tku would adapt.

"You lucky charm," Alejandro cast a shy eye to the eastern building. Nursing his drink, leaning back enough to seem at ease but not so much that lost the air of a weary man among soldiers. He chuckled when they chuckled, muttered a curse when they grumbled, all the while listening, watching.

Then, just beyond the low hum of conversation and clinking mugs, he heard it-the first ripple of what Giuliana had set in motion. 

"They're taking families to the boats," a woman's voice whispered harshly. 

Alejandro didn't turn toward the sound. He kept his head angled toward the table, but his attention sharpened. 

"They're evacuating?" one of the grieving mothers gasped, her voice thick with desperation.

"I don't know for sure," Giuliana murmured, her tone laced with uncertainty. "But I heard it from someone who came in an hour ago. Boats are waiting near the old docks, taking women, children, and those who can't fight."

The murmurs spread like kindling catching fire. The women clutched at each other, hope and fear ensnared. 

One mother lined with grief, pressed a hand to her chest. "We have to go. We have to find out." 

By the table, a soldier's head jerked up. "What boats?"

Alejandro finally glanced up, eyes half-lidded, lazy, as if catching onto the conversation. He could see the confusion rippling through the drunken soldiers around him. A few shared uncertain glances.

"The hell's she talkin' about?" One slurred. "We'd know if there were boats."

The conversation shifted. Some scoffed, waving it off, others looked to the officers' quarters, as if expecting orders.

Alejandro leaned forward, his voice loud enough to be heard. "Command didn't say anything about getting us out of here," he muttered, feigning irritation, "Unless they kept it quiet to keep the damn place from panicking."

That set off another wave of murmurs. Giuliana's voice rose, "Please, you have to ask someone. If there's a chance-if we can save our children-"

The women clung to the words, their grief becoming a movement. A few of them were already standing, wringing their hands, eyes darting toward the entrance, expecting to see salvation waiting for them.

A younger soldier, barely past twenty, stood abruptly, knocking his chair back. "I-I'll go check with the watch commander."

"Sit your ass down," a grizzled veteran growled, draggin' him back down by his shoulder. But the doubt was already settling in. 

Alejandro sighed, a running hand over his face. " If this turns into a whole damn mess, someone's getting chewed out," he muttered, pushing back from the table. "I'll see what I can find out." 

He didn't wait for permission. He just stood, stretching, rolling his shoulders, as though this was another nuisance in a long day of them. But as he moved, he caught Giliana's eyes across the room. 

The plan was working. 

Confusion was spreading and soldiers distracted, Aejandro needed to slip away before anyone started asking too many questions. It was time to get into the vault. 

As he made his way to the eastern building, the voices of discontent grew and the soldiers were having difficulty controlling the cries and demands of the grievers. 

"Alright, Tku, make me an entrance." 

Guards were shifting attention toward the courtyard. Some taking steps from their posts but not leaving it. They didn't have much time before someone calmed them down or hell broke loose.

He could feel the chaos in the fortress. Parties who were still before now moved and worried so visibly. The heart of the courtyard gave to waves of worry and panic. It was a remarkably quick turn of events 

"Oh they are good," Tku made note of it for... future use.

At the signal, a rather peculiar oval appeared, just enough room for Alejandro to slide through, "Apologies my Torrogonese friend but it is just enough for you."

The opening led just past the guards, "They haven't seemed to notice, you're good to continue."

Tku wasn't kidding. Alejandro stepped high inside the thick stone dematerialized window.

Inside, he realized where he was, "Shit." Alejandro said as the window closed behind him, and he fell back to press his body lean against it. He was in the officer's quarters. 

The quarters was modest and dark, with a sturdy desk carved from dark oak. A quill and inkwell sat beside a half-written report, the parchment curling slightly at the edges. 

Moving swiftly, his steps silent from the gift as he crossed the desk. Rifling through the papers, eyes scanning for anything of value-names, orders, movements... the dead. He pocketed anything promising before turning his attention to the lockboxes.

With a pick and a precise twist-click. The boxes opened. He grabbed it all, stuffing it into his satchel. The vault would be outside the office, down the hall, and at the back. 

The sound of boots approached the door. The handle jiggled, and Alejandro moved to the side where he wouldn't be seen behind the door when it swung open. A man dressed in uniform walked in, focusing on the desk. 

Alejandro tipped toed around the door and into the hallway as the door shut behind him. It was here that the hall was rather empty. Most soldiers must've been on watch, rotating, or gathering what rest they could.

The further Alejandro moved down the corridor, the more both sides seemed to press in, tapping the cold air like a tomb, carrying the scent of mildew, old iron, and burnt tallow from torches flickering in their brackets. 

At the end of the corridor, the spiraled steps descended into darkness, perhaps Eschirand's belly? He felt the chill deepen as he went lower. The weight of the fort above settled around him, and the silence of the dungeon crept into his bones until he stepped into the wide chamber at the base. 

The room was cavernous, its high stone ceiling supported by thick pillars, the walls lined with racks of old weapons. At the center of it stood the vault door-thick, reinforced, covered in a glow only that which is sealed with wards would show, and... it pulsed, faintly, like a heartbeat.

Alejandro pulled the enchanted key Tku gave him from his tunic, it's surface cold as frost, carved was delicate inscriptions of shimmering light, steadying himself, then pressing it to the center of the ward. 

The magic reacted instantly. The glow flared like the teeth of a wolf snapping before sinking its canines into prey. The energy crackled, twisting, unraveling like threads pulled from a veil. Then it-faded.

The door was unguarded.

But as soon as the last of the ward collapsed, a deeper magic surged through the chamber. Alejandro felt it before he heard it-something became aware of him. 

He didn't have time. The vault door groaned open, air humming as it swung inward. Alejandro pressed forward, the chamber ignited by his arcane flare. Walls were lined with iron-bound chests. A long wooden table in the center bore scattered documents, maps, and ledgers, many of them marked with sigils indicating their sensitivity. Some scrolls were sealed with wax and stamped with the insignia of noble houses, others with foreign emblems Alejandro didn't immediately recognize.

Along the far end of the room, an ornate cabinet stood, its wood darkened with age and its handles shaped like coiled serpents. Alejandro could feel the residual magic emanating from within held something important. 

To the left, a series of pigeonhole compartments stored coded messages and correspondence between generals, commanders, and perhaps spies. The ink on some pages was distorted, while others remained true and tight. 

He had to be quick. He pulled a box that Tku had offered him to shove many of these things in, and he called to him, "Tku, how do I work this box?" Like a child, Alejandro toyed with it as he waited for an answer.

Calmly trekking through the city with a rather serious band of people. Tku always stayed just a few feet away from the rest. It distinguished him and gave him room to operate. 

A sonic bubble came up around him. "Ah you made it there. Good. The item Item has 6 faces. One face should have an image of lock and on the oppisite is a key. Place the key side against the vault entrance and mentally prepare yourself. Once you do that repeat these words exactly..." 

There was a break in communication. 

A palaparese man addressed him, "Tku, how is your progress on the gate."

"It's being resisted, they seem to have a skilled binder, put pressure on the walls and an opportunity will surely arise," Tku assured.

The man didn't have full faith but they continued either way.

" 'The Doge's left toe' "

Alejandro heard the instructions, he pressed the six-sided device with the key face facing the vault entrance. It was an odd incantation, but Alejandro didn't question "The Doge's left toe." The box shuddered, and Alejandro hastily shoved gold, documents, and sealed scrolls all inside.  

Then the world shook.

A thunderous explosion from above rattled the fort, sending dust cascading from the vaulted ceiling. The impact of rebel cannons cracked stone. Alejandro stumbled and yet still on his feet. Minutes were all he had before the vault became his tomb.

As he made his way to the door, something worse, the sound of boots thundered down the spiraled steps. The guards were coming. He slammed the device shut, locking the vault's treasures inside. Placing it back into a pouch, there was no time for subtlety now. He exhaled, centered himself, and drew in for his magic. 

An illusion flickered for a moment, then solidified, appearing as real as Alejandro himself. He smirked, "What a masterpiece if I do say so myself." Alejandro dipped behind the vault door in the corner behind a beam. The guards stormed in, swords drawn, muskets aimed, "There he is!" one barked.

Alejandro didn't wait. The moment their attention locked onto the illusion, he twisted on his heel, thrusting both hands forward. A concussive blast of kinetic energy erupted from his palms, slamming into them. He exited and did the same to the vault door to shut it before they could go after him. The heavy door boomed shut, sealing the guards inside before they could realize what happened. 

Turning up the stairs, he quickened. Down the corridor there were more guards, "They're trapped in the vault, get the watch commander!"

As some listened, others froze, and few asked any questions. They just kept moving to the beat of other drums. Alejandro at the door brushed by at the exact moment the watch commander, too, walked by.  The two exchanged no glance, only that Alejandro's hands slipped into a pocket and took a precious keepsake. 

Upon exiting the eastern building he saw the unrest had only grew further out of control. An entire rotation of guards were trying to control the hysteria and false rumors of salvation among the grieving. The gates to the fort were being pushed back and forth as people demanded their freedom to make a run for the docks. It was pandemonium. 

Alejandro navigated his way back, into the crowd, and found Giuliana who was yelling at some guard to release her and the others.

"It's time to go." He tugged her shirt. She identified him and followed, "Tku, get us out of here."

Tku had been connecting rebel groups for the moment, settling them into their places and leading the timing of the attack. He had time to get them out, just a few minutes before the attack was all he needed. 

And then, someone fired early. A single canon shot prematurely, smacking into the wall with little to no effect. From there another and a roar of the rebels. It had happened early!

"For Dami's sake," he cursed as irritation swept over him. People now asked him about the gate, "takedown the gate!"

Alejandro got what he could and needed a way out. The gate was dangerous, too many rebels. "Head to the sea wall," he cleared his mind of the distractions. 

He drew upon the void and blasted the stone with dark energy, deleting pieces and then crumbling it with Blood magic. His eyes went bloodshot and his nose bled. It was a large area to cover but he needed to. "There, an exit my friend."

Alejandro snatched Giuliana’s forearm and took off toward the wall where Tku’s heroic effort made an impression, a big one. 

As they launched across the yard, the watch commander yelled, “Get them!” Guards who weren’t actively occupied by the fierce grieving mob rattling on the gates began chase. 

Soon it wasn’t only the guards. It was all the desperate families looking for a way out of the frying pan. Alejandro and Guiliana used their kinetic to speed them far from the guards who were gained on by grievers. 

To the docks they ran but could they get out with all they had?

Tku cleared the blood from his nose, "A wall has fallen! Keep pushing the gates!" Tku gave word to the rebels, spreading some hope among them that the fort would soon fall. 

With his own manas stretched, his absolute control over the kites lessoned so he went to the docks himself, "Hello, it's me. They should be coming soon, try to shake their pursuers."

"Okay," came a hushed voice. 

"I'll be there soon."

No voice came this time.

Down the crags of the cliffside from fort to port the Revidian agents bounded like lions chasing meat. It was a feat to see if one did but in the midst of cat and mouse, the hounds broke the bars to the gate. Many would not see the next 10 minutes in their wake. 

Those who could keep up were soon thwarted by Tku’s companions. The path was clear and Alejandro, Giuliana, and Tku were safely aboard as Torragonese freelance sailors, friends of Alejandro set the sails. 

Some families would get through but all in all. Most saw their last light.
[/hider]