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  Later that night, Cherry and I rented a room at an inn in the far corner of the Nebula District - the city's northeast quarter. It was the most deserted part of the city - except, of course, the mansion area of the Evermoon District, but that was way far south and way too open to sneak through. The Nebula District was right next to the motte, so we had much better access to the NPC camps. Because it was so quiet, there were also far fewer World Guard patrols there, making it the perfect place for the entente to smuggle in their equipment.

  But the question was how they'd get the materials in through the city's curtain wall? The walls were scaled to the size of the Citadel - massive, hundred-plus foot tall cyclopean brick structures that completely encircled the city. To find out, after the curfew had gone into effect, Cherry and I snuck out of our room and slunk through the shadows and alleys of the city.

  The streets were unnervingly quiet. Occasionally, the distant clanking of World Guard patrol armor would send us diving behind barrels or into doorways, holding our breath until the danger passed.

  Near the walls, the stonework blotted out the moon, leaving us in almost complete darkness. There we met with a group of Loyalist soldiers with their armor wrapped in cloth to prevent reflections. They were in a little park, crouching in the bushes by a short brick wall surrounding someone's yard. They were led by Lieutenant Anderson. He gave Cherry and me a curt nod.

  "Looks like you're all ready - are we late?" I whispered.

  "We're waiting for the signal now." Anderson replied.

  Soon enough, a bright flash came from the top of the wall - the reflection of a mirror pointed at us.

  "And there it is. Move in!" Anderson commanded.

  The soldiers rushed out from the bushes and filed through the streets to the foot of the wall, where a squad of Resistance agents had secured a winch. A few, now wearing the armor of the King's Men, were on lookout while a half dozen more wearing head-to-toe black garb lurked in the shadows. They gave the Loyalist team nods as they boarded the platform attached to the winch, then the Resistance turned the crank to raise it up.

  It was a long ride, and the elevator platform only had very shallow railing on some of its sides. Cherry and I huddled together well away from the edge. The view of the city was fantastic, however - I pulled up my menu and opened the camera to get some pictures of the city at night. The Citadel rose like a mountain of shadow against the starry sky, its highest towers piercing the low clouds that had begun to gather. We'd have to come back in the day for more pictures.

  The winch slowed down as it approached the top of the wall, where we were greeted by a derisive scoff. Livitha, heading the Resistance team at the top, stood with her hands on her hips. "They sent you?"

  Anderson said, "My liege wants this job done swiftly and to the highest standards - naturally I would oversee it myself. I do find it odd Sir Alephred would trust this to you, however. No wonder it has been delayed."

  The Loyalists and Resistance glared at each other, neither side moving.

  "Alright fellas, the fight's out there!" I stepped between them, gesturing toward the distant Citadel. "Argue on your own time!"

  "He's right." Anderson conceded. "I trust you do, at least, have this planned out, so please-" Anderson motioned Livitha onward. Livitha narrowed her eyes at him, but turned and walked across the wall walk.

  The top of the walls were a good twenty feet wide and lined with merlons and machicolations. Near us was a bastion-like platform that stuck forward from the main course of the wall. The platform housed the framework of a massive ballista built to be able to swivel and aim up or downward at the plains that surrounded the city. I supposed the height of the walls gave the defenders some degree of trouble aiming as well. But that wasn't the important part.

  Livitha walked over to the edge looking out at the distant wetlands of the Black Marshes and sea of trees of the King's Woods. Another fantastic view I noted to photograph later.

  Pointing down, Livitha said, "Our people are waiting at the base of the wall. We have some supplies here to build another winch - a smaller one that we can use to lift the welding machine directly up to us. We have to get it done before the next patrol comes, so stop standing about!"

  Livitha climbed down into the bay that held the ballista mechanism and uncovered some crates of pieces. The Loyalist soldiers began to unpack and assemble them into a portable winch.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  For her part, Livitha came back up to the level of the wall walk and swung herself around one of the merlons, her hands sticking directly to the rock. Hanging freely off the side of the wall, her eyes glowed a dull brown, and she reshaped part of the stone to fuse in hooks to hold the winch mechanism.

  They seemed to have the whole thing covered, so I opened my camera again and took some more pictures of the countryside, the city, and the Citadel towering above us even as we towered over the city.

  "Sometimes it's hard to wrap your head around the scale of this place." I said, gazing out at the twinkling cityscape below us.

  Cherry, looking at the city, nodded. "Yeah - it's like a giant fish bowl. Glub-glub."

  "Glub glub." I agreed, still taking pictures.

  Cherry started mimicking a catfish and walked in circles around me.

  I clapped my hands. "Ort! Ort!"

  "Mrrrglrrrlgr!"

  I tried to mimic the monstrous caw of the kraken. "Scrawwww!"

  Anderson, who had been supervising the winch assembly, turned to stare at us. "What are you two doing?"

  I cleared my throat and straightened up. "Oh, uh, we're just..."

  "Keeping a lookout!" Cherry jumped in. "Don't worry; we're... on the watch."

  "I see..." Anderson said. "Could you help Livitha run those ropes? We're nearly ready."

  "Sure thing, boss!" I said.

  Cherry and I went over to where Livitha was hanging over the edge. She had embedded struts in the wall to hold the winch ropes, but was having trouble laying the ropes along and through them.

  "Here, I got you - Cherry, hold me." I said.

  Cherry grabbed my waist and held me down as I leaned out over the wall - careful not to look down - and helped Livitha position the ropes in the pulley wheels.

  "Thank you." Livitha said. "Now we just need the platform and the reel."

  Suddenly, someone on the wall walk hissed, "Lanterns - patrolmen!"

  Further down the wall, some partially-covered lights were drifting toward us, bobbing slightly with each step of their bearers.

  "Cover and hold!" Anderson ordered in a harsh whisper.

  The group scrambled to take cover in the ballista bay. Livitha grabbed my arm, her grip like iron. "Hold on tight!"

  "Whoa whoa whoa!" Livitha dragged Cherry and me off the wall. We clutched onto her for dear life as we dangled over the open air, hidden from view from the wall behind a merlon. The empty space beneath my feet seemed to pull at me, and I tried not to think about the several-hundred-foot drop. We couldn't see a thing going on on the wall, though.

  Then I got an idea.

  "Hold me." I whispered.

  Both Cherry and Livitha grabbed and held me in place as I fumbled in my inventory with one hand. I retrieved our drone and threw the quadcopter into the air, then scrambled to gain control of its flight with the controller.

  I piloted it up over the wall and looked down. In the little screen, the three of us could see a pair of King's Men. Unalarmed, they casually ambled down the wall walk to the bastion. They shined their lanterns over the ballista bay, quickly peeking at the corners, then started to pass by.

  Before they left, however, they hesitated. It took me a moment to notice it - there was a slight scuffling coming from the ballista bay, like cloth rubbing against itself. Someone was moving in there.

  The patrolmen walked over to look down into the bay. Livitha swore under her breath and hooked her foot around the edge of the merlon.

  Through the drone's camera, I could see the patrol men look down and meet the eyes of the dozen-odd Loyalist soldiers hiding there. For a frozen moment, all parties simply stared at each other in mutual shock.

  Then chaos erupted. The patrolman dropped his lantern onto the Loyalists and immediately started to book it. The second guard drew his sword, but was instantly swarmed by soldiers bursting from their hiding place.

  "They'll raise the alarm!" Livitha hissed.

  Praying this wouldn't hurt it, I steered the drone into a dive. It slammed belly-first onto the helmet of the fleeing patrolman with a clang. He stumbled and held his head, looking up in confusion.

  "What the-?!"

  Livitha swung us around the merlon onto the wall walk. Cherry took off at a sprint, hounding down the fleeing patrolman. I activated the drone's camera to take pictures as she tackled him to the ground and began to beat him into submission. The slower-reacting patrolman was already dead by the time I remembered to check on him, having been mobbed by the Loyalist soldiers.

  Livitha pointed at Anderson and hissed, "You had one job - keep your men in line!"

  Anderson hissed back, "We didn't pre-scout the area or were informed of any proper cover - we had to improvise off your lack of intel!"

  "Ladies, please!" I interjected. "Before the next pair come!"

  Livitha took a short breath and nodded. "Fine. Silence that man." She pointed to the patrolman Cherry had bruised purple and forced to his knees with his hands behind his back.

  A look of panic crossed the guard's face as one of Anderson's men approached and finished him with a quick slash across the throat. The body scattered into glittering dust that blew directly into Cherry's face.

  "The parts are assembled - is the pulley in place?" Anderson asked, all business now.

  "Yes." Livitha swung back out onto the outside of the rope and guided the pieces into place as the Loyalists passed them out to her.

  Cherry wiped the blue corpse dust off herself as she walked back to stand next to me. "Geez; they could've at least let me step away - I've got dude all over my hair now."

  I piloted the drone to hover in front of us and caught it out of the air. I checked the bottom, but it looked undamaged.

  "Well, no harm no foul." I said. "Did that guy drop any loot?"

  "3 pfennigs." She spat out some dust.

  "Man, that's not even enough for a pack of chips. What're they paying these guys?"

  Cherry shrugged. "King makes a mark, they make 3 pfennigs. That's why we're bringing this system down."

  The NPCs lowered down the winch platform, and Livitha swung back onto the wall walk. We waited in tense silence for the signal, Anderson and Livitha giving each other dirty looks.