"This Was Supposed to Be a Coup"

Dawn had barely broken when the first ranks of soldiers reached the capital.

They approached cautiously, shields raised and swords at their sides. Many carried magically enhanced weapons and shields, their surfaces giving off a faint shimmer beneath the morning light, while several mages moved among the advancing ranks. Hundreds more soldiers followed behind them, steadily pouring towards the open gates.

No one stopped them.

The first soldiers exchanged uncertain looks as they entered the capital without so much as a challenge.

“There are no soldiers guarding the entrance.”

“Perhaps they’re still celebrating.”

“At this hour?”

The man beside him shrugged.

“Three days of drinking. Probably the hangover.”

A few soldiers laughed as they continued forward.

“Our men inside said the celebration was enormous.”

“They said the food was good too.”

One of the soldiers sighed.

“That’s what I’m annoyed about. I was looking forward to that.”

“Keep moving.”

Colourful banners still stretched between the buildings, and tables from the festivities remained beneath canopies along the streets. Everything suggested that thousands of people had been celebrating there only hours earlier, yet every door was closed and every window remained covered.

Not a single person appeared to watch an invading army march through the capital.

The soldiers grew quieter as they advanced.

“This place is strange.”

“They’re sleeping.”

“All of them?”

Nobody answered.

The man at the front glanced towards the soldier beside him.

“I’m telling you, once this is finished, I’m finding whatever place our men were eating—”

He walked straight into something.

The impact threw him backwards. He struck the cobblestones hard with both hands clamped over his face as blood poured between his fingers.

“My nose!”

Several soldiers rushed towards him.

“What did you hit?”

The injured man pointed furiously towards the completely empty street ahead.

“That!”

Everyone stared.

There was nothing there.

Another soldier approached more carefully and extended one hand. His palm stopped abruptly in mid-air, and his expression changed as he pushed against something none of them could see.

“What even is this?”

The officer tested the empty space himself before turning towards the ranks behind him.

“Get one of the mages up here.”

A mage pushed through the soldiers and placed his palm against the invisible obstruction. A faint glow spread from his fingers as he examined the magic woven through it.

“A barrier.”

“Can you remove it?”

“Give me a moment.”

The mage raised both hands and began dismantling the spell.

Everyone’s attention remained fixed on him. Nobody noticed the small straw-and-cotton doll lying against the wall several paces away, its crude body decorated with strange golden fibres around its neck.

A faint chittering came from somewhere nearby.

One soldier glanced behind him.

“Did you hear that?”

Before anyone could answer, the mage faltered. The glow surrounding his hands flickered violently before disappearing, and his arms dropped as his face rapidly lost colour.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“I…”

His knees buckled.

The nearest soldier caught him before he struck the ground, and confusion immediately spread through the surrounding ranks.

“Was he hit?”

“I didn’t see anything.”

“Check the roofs!”

Shields rose as soldiers turned in every direction, searching windows, rooftops and doorways for an attacker that wasn’t there. Others dragged the unconscious mage backwards while the officer shouted for the formation to hold.

Behind them, a dozen tiny golden insects scurried back beneath the straw-and-cotton doll and disappeared among the strange fibres around its neck.

◆ ◆ ◆

Elsewhere in the capital, another group was discovering that their map had become almost useless.

Their officer stood at an intersection, repeatedly looking between the parchment in his hands and the buildings surrounding them.

“There is supposed to be an alley here.”

One soldier leaned over his shoulder.

“There isn’t.”

“I can see that.”

“And this road?”

“Should continue directly towards the castle.”

A solid row of buildings stood ahead of them.

The soldier stared at the map.

“This isn’t the correct map of the city.”

“It is.”

“Then who drew it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Who commissioned it?”

The officer glared at him.

“How would I know?”

“Well, somebody should.”

With considerably more force than necessary, the officer folded the map and shoved it beneath his armour.

“Forget it. We’ll find our own way. Swords out.”

Steel slid from dozens of sheaths.

The group entered one of the narrower streets with their shields raised, watching every rooftop and window as they advanced. The road curved between two buildings before opening into a long alley.

“Through there.”

The first soldiers moved inside.

One of them caught his boot against a thin thread stretched close to the ground.

It snapped.

“What was—”

Arrows tore into the alley.

Several soldiers went down before anyone understood what was happening. One was hurled backwards by the force of an arrow while another collapsed against the wall, and screams erupted as the rest reacted almost instantly.

“SHIELDS!”

Enhanced shields slammed together overhead and along their sides just as the next volley struck. Arrows hammered against the magically reinforced surfaces, ricocheting into the walls and cobblestones while the surviving soldiers crowded beneath them.

“Move! Move!”

They began retreating as a unit, dragging the wounded where they could while arrows continued pounding against their shields. Someone screamed for the rear ranks to clear the way, another soldier stumbled over one of the fallen, and the formation began breaking apart as men pushed backwards towards the street they had entered from.

“Get us out of here!”

The first soldiers reached the entrance and stopped so abruptly that those behind crashed into them.

A wall stood across the way.

“What are you doing? MOVE!”

“We can’t!”

The officer forced his way through the panicking soldiers and stared at the obstruction.

The wall hadn’t been there before.

Another volley struck their shields.

“Other end! GO!”

Whatever discipline remained collapsed. Soldiers ran deeper into the alley, some keeping their shields over their heads while others dragged wounded companions between them. Commands disappeared beneath shouting, clattering armour and the relentless impact of arrows.

The officer was swept along with them. His hand went instinctively towards the map beneath his armour before he stopped himself.

The map no longer mattered.

◆ ◆ ◆

Another group had made it considerably farther into the capital.

They hurried through a wide street with their shields raised, having already heard screams and shouted orders echoing between the surrounding buildings. None of them knew what was happening to the other units, and every turn seemed to take them farther from where their maps insisted the castle should be.

Something struck the cobblestones in the middle of their formation.

A crystal sphere almost the size of a loaf of bread shattered on impact.

Black powder exploded across the street.

Soldiers coughed violently as the cloud engulfed them, coating their armour and faces. Men stumbled blindly into one another while others dropped their weapons and clawed at their throats, struggling to breathe through the thick soot.

“My eyes!”

“It burns!”

One soldier rubbed frantically at his face.

“DON’T RUB IT! You’re spreading it!”

“It’s in my eyes!”

The warning came too late. The man cried out as the powder smeared farther across his face while those around him coughed and staggered through the black cloud.

“We need water! Get a mage!”

One of the mages stumbled forward with his sleeve pressed over his mouth. His eyes were streaming, but he managed to raise both hands and force out a spell.

Water burst over the soldiers.

Several immediately dropped to their knees, washing the soot from their faces while others tilted their heads beneath the downpour and gulped clean air between desperate coughs. Gradually, men began helping one another back to their feet as their vision returned.

The mage lowered his shaking hands.

Something glinted above them.

One soldier looked up just as another crystal sphere came tumbling towards the street.

“Oh, come on—”

It shattered in the middle of them.

◆ ◆ ◆

In another part of the capital, a group emerged from a narrow street into a broad square.

After the screams and crashes echoing through the surrounding streets, the silence there was almost worse. Abandoned decorations fluttered overhead while the soldiers entered cautiously, keeping close together with their shields raised.

One of them suddenly stopped.

He lowered his shield and looked around.

“Where are we?”

The soldier beside him frowned.

“Etheria.”

“Etheria?”

His confusion deepened.

“What are we doing in Etheria?”

Several of the men turned towards him.

“What are you talking about?”

The soldier didn’t seem to hear them. His face had gone pale.

“Lena.”

“What?”

“Where’s Lena? She’s about to give birth.”

The men around him exchanged confused looks.

One of them stepped closer.

“Mate, Lena already gave birth.”

The soldier stared at him.

“What?”

“Your kid is four months old.”

For several seconds, he said nothing.

His sword slipped from his fingers and clattered against the cobblestones.

“No.”

“I saw you get the letter. You wouldn’t shut up about it for three days.”

The soldier stared at him as though he were speaking nonsense.

A faint chittering moved through the square.

Every shield immediately rose.

“Where is that coming from?”

The sound came again, this time from several directions.

The soldiers closed ranks as their eyes searched the surrounding buildings. One of them slowly looked towards the ground near the edge of the square.

Straw-and-cotton dolls had been left among the remnants of the celebration.

There were dozens of them, each decorated with strange golden fibres around its neck.

Something moved underneath one.

Then another.

The soldier who still believed his child hadn’t been born stared at the dolls while the chittering spread around the square.

“What are those?”

Nobody knew.

◆ ◆ ◆

The invisible barrier finally collapsed.

A faint shimmer passed across the street before the obstruction vanished, and the exhausted mage stumbled backwards into the soldiers behind him.

Before the column could advance, a soldier came running from one of the adjoining streets, his armour streaked with black powder and blood.

“Sir! We’ve lost contact with the eastern units. Two groups entered the adjoining streets and neither has returned. There are barriers everywhere, and the roads don’t match the maps.”

Another soldier staggered after him, coughing heavily.

“The western column was attacked. Arrows from the rooftops. They tried to retreat, but the road behind them was blocked.”

The officer looked towards the capital ahead.

They had entered Etheria expecting an open route towards the castle. Instead, their forces were being divided between streets that led nowhere, invisible barriers blocked their advance, and attacks were coming from enemies they could barely see.

Somewhere deeper in the city, another scream echoed between the buildings.

“They’ve been expecting us.”

The soldiers around him fell silent.

“The city has practically been turned into a maze, and magic is involved. The element of surprise is already ruined.”

He turned sharply towards one of his men.

“Get back to the main force. Tell Duchess Mariana we need her and the other mages.”

“Sir?”

“There’s no point hiding our strength anymore.”

The officer drew his sword.

“Tell them to attack with full force.”

The soldier hurried away.

The officer looked back towards the silent streets. They had been told the royal family would be caught unaware, that by the time Etheria understood what was happening, the capital would already be theirs.

Instead, they had barely made it through the gates.

He tightened his grip on his sword.

“This was supposed to be a coup.”

A scream echoed somewhere deeper in the city.

The officer stared ahead.

“This is a war.”

◆ ◆ ◆

From a rooftop overlooking the capital, Rowland and Sammy watched the invading soldiers through their binoculars.

Sammy lowered his with a scowl.

“I hate these things. Why couldn’t we just zoom our eyes like Sybill does? It would be so much better for espionage.”

Rowland glanced at him.

“Because we’re not Sybill.”

Sammy sighed and raised the binoculars again.

“I knew Sybill and Grandmaster Erasmus were planning something with those fifty mages,” he said. “I didn’t realise they were turning the entire capital into a fortress.”

Rowland continued watching the streets below.

“A fortress?”

Sammy grinned.

“A deadly, almost impenetrable fortress.”

“Don’t forget Leo,” Rowland said. “Most of the weapon adjustments were his.”

“Fine. Sybill, Grandmaster Erasmus, Leo and fifty mages.”

Sammy shifted his binoculars towards another part of the capital.

“Did you see the confusion in the third group?”

Rowland followed his gaze. Several enemy soldiers were arguing among themselves while one stood in the middle of them looking completely bewildered.

“Sybill really outdid herself with that memory spell,” Sammy said. “Some of them seem to have lost entire chunks of their memories.”

Rowland watched for another moment before lowering his binoculars.

“She doesn’t need to keep doing it anymore. It’s created enough chaos. The target’s been achieved.”

Sammy glanced around the rooftop.

“She must be back by now.”

Sybill landed gracefully behind them.

“I am the back.”

Rowland and Sammy turned.

Sybill smiled.

“And I have been listening to the conversation since the very, very long time.”