“Strange sounds,” was all she said.
Kirche closed her eyes.
“Uwaaa.” Kirche felt her salamander, Flame, beating against the window.
“You too?”
The moment Kirche opened her eyes again, her sleepiness was gone.
Kirche hastily began putting clothes on.
The moment when she took her wand, the sound of a breaking door echoed.
Kirche and Tabitha looked at each other.
“Retreat,” Tabitha murmured.
“Agreed.”
Not knowing the enemies number or location, you have to pull back to recover. It was war basics.
Kirche and Tabitha jumped down from the window and hid themselves in the bushes and from there watched what was going around.
It was getting brighter - the sun started rising.
At that time Agnes woke up in her bedroom and grabbed the sword placed at the bedside.
Pulling it out from its sheath, she waited at the door.
It was the second floor of the artillery tower. The room was always used as a warehouse and was only recently made into a bedroom.
In all, twelve members lived here.
They all resided in the room next door.
Agnes noticed the mirror placed in the center of the room. It was the “Liar's Mirror”. The ugly made into beautiful, the beautiful into ugly – everything was turned upside down by the mirror. Agnes tried to not look at the mirror while setting the trap.
Four people led by the mercenary mage Celestin went up a spiral staircase to the second floor of the artillery tower. They queued at the two doors.
Two men were positioned at each door while another one waited in the hall.
The doors were kicked open.
In the middle of the room a handsome mage set up his wand.
Alarmed, the mages started to chant their spells.
“Bam…”
However, they were also hit by magic. With his heart pierced by an ice spear, Celestin fell on the floor.
Agnes, who hid herself behind the door, noticed the success of her plan.
Celestin mistook his own reflection in The Mirror of Fibber, which was placed here by Agnes, for an enemy and released a spell which was reflected by the mirror and pierced his heart.
Agnes felt gratitude to Celestin who was foolish enough to shoot himself with his own spell reflected by the mirror.
Another assassin, hastily flounced into the room.
But his throat was cut deeply from the side by Agnes's sword, and he fell down.
Then, her musketeers jumped into the room.
“Commander Agnes! Are you all right?”
She nodded answering their question.
“I’m all right.”
“Two people sneaked into our room. However, we finished them…”
Two people in my room. Two people in the next one. Four people in total…
Apparently these thieves crept into the artillery tower to kill them off…
“Albion’s dogs.”
Muttered Agnes, quickly understanding where they came from. The squad only consisted of mages. It was impossible to mistake them for simple thieves. They must be mercenaries employed by Albion...
Then, Agnes became worried about the situation outside.
Right now, there were only schoolgirls left in the academy.
“In two minutes I want you fully armoured and following me,” Agnes ordered her subordinates.
Menvil took over the women's dormitory without any problems.
Noble daughters were so frightened by his invasion that they showed no real resistance. He took all the schoolgirls’ wands and rounded them, still dressed in their nightgowns, up to the dining hall where he confined them. There were approximately ninety people.
During that, his partners from the other tower joined him.
Seeing the academy’s headmaster Old Osman being one of the captives put a smile on Menvil’s face.
Menvil now gathered all captives in the dining hall and tied their hands behind their backs.
Thanks to the magic spell that someone recited, the rope moved and twined around their wrists by itself.
All the teachers and students were female and were trembling.
Menvil sweetly muttered to everyone,
“Whaaat, calm down, if none of you try to stand out or make noise and if you do what you are told to, no one will get hurt.”
Someone began to weep.
“Silence!”
However, the schoolgirl didn't stop crying. Menvil came closer and pointed his cane at her.
“Do you like cinders?”
The words were not a direct threat, but it could be understood as one. The schoolgirl stopped crying.
Osman opened his mouth.
“Hey you.”
“What?”
“Don’t use violence against women. Albion wants us as hostages, right? To use us as additional cards in negotiations, right?”
“How do you know?”
“Experienced guys from far away barged in here – it’s easy to see what you came here for. Not for the riches for sure. So, be more patient.”
“Old man, and what value do you have?”
The mercenaries laughed loudly.
“How important is one old man for the country? Consider this.”
When Osman ducked his head, the intruders started to look around Alvíss Dining Hall.
One could clearly read, “I don’t want to be here,” on the mages faces.
Fuuun, Osman thought. They might still have a chance.
“Old man, are these all the members of the academy?”
Osman nodded.
“That's right. That's all of them.”
Then the mercenaries noticed that their comrades had not returned from the artillery tower. Are they taking their time? No, he shook his head. The longer it takes, the more chances for the enemy to get reinforcements. And they should be aware of that. Therefore, Menvil ramified.
From outside the dining hall a voice was heard.
“Those that shut themselves up in the dining hall! Listen! We are Her Majesty's musketeers!”
Menvil and others looked at each other. Apparently Celestin failed. However none of the mercenaries changed their complexion. A single mercenary glared at Osman.
“Hey hey. Didn’t you said ‘That's all of them’?”
“Musketeers are not part of the staff,” Osman said calmly.
With a smile on his lips, Menvil stepped to the doors to negotiate with the musketeers outside the dining room.
Agnes hid herself behind the tower staircase landing. She drove one group of commoner staff away from the courtyard so that they would not get too involved with the incident.
The morning sun had not risen yet.
At the door of the dining hall a tightfisted mage appeared. The moonlight from a gap in the clouds lit his figure.
Agnes held her finger on the trigger, while aiming her pistol at the mage.
“Listen! Thief! We are Her Majesty's musketeers! One battalion of our troops has you and your damned accomplices surrounded! Release the hostages!”
Agnes’ “one battalion of troops” was a bluff. In reality, there were only about ten people.
From the dining hall she heard voices laughing hard.
“We couldn’t care less about a single battalion of musketeers!”
“These musketeers have killed four of your partners already. If you’ll surrender peacefully we’ll spare your lives.”
“Surrender? Isn’t it the time to start negotiations now? Well, call Henrietta here.”
“Her Majesty?”
“Indeed. And for the time being, promise to withdraw soldiers from Albion. My client seems to hate it when your soldiers dirty the country's land with their shoes.”
Usually the army doesn't turn back because of a hostage. However… because ninety children of nobles were taken as hostages, it might be a different matter. The invasion troop's withdrawal was a real possibility.