Wyrd: Book One of the Witch War Trilogy - WATTYS 2018 WINNER!

Chapter 5: In Which Rowan Infiltrates an Internment Camp

Nothing was going the way Rowan had planned.

She had appropriated six of the most elite rebel fighters, all kinetics, for this covert mission. And Joel, of course, for any magical requirements. He was a talented bastard. She tried not to remind him too often. His head was already big enough.

The team had watched the concentration camp for a fortnight tracking the changing of the guards, the ratio of sentry to prisoners, and any defenses or specifics that might come into play. The squad had even planned for an assortment of different complications and outcomes.

They'd done operations like this before, but usually blind. This time, Rowan had the blueprints. She'd stolen them, along with the ones for all other revolting places like it in the region, from the head architect. She'd spied on the spineless beady-eyed man for a while afterwards, his comings and goings, his jobs and his women, but he'd never reported the maps missing. You could always trust a coward to act cowardly.

Knowing the exact layout of the camp had bolstered the squad's spirits. This would be one for the win column.

But now, Rowan wasn't so certain. She was actually pretty sure, looking around, that she'd managed to get herself into the shit. Every precaution she'd taken had been undone in an instant. Now, the sun was up, she was surrounded and there was no one around to help her. Rowan was royally screwed.

It had all started out just fine.

Under the cover of darkness, Rowan and Rask had climbed the stone wall on either side of the posterior gate up to the sentry stations. The rest of the team had waited, hidden a good distance away. The windows, bereft of glass, gave the guards a 360-degree birds-eye view of the land. As she peered into the room, she found two burly bowman, attentions drawn outwards towards the inky black night beyond the gloaming light cast by the torches.

She'd snuck into the back of the lookout, taking the first sentry from behind, drawing her knife across his throat and spilling his blood in an instant. As he let out a gurgle and slumped to the floor, the other guard turned, alarmed, and dropped his bow. He fumbled to draw his sword, but before he could let out so much as a whimper to sound the alarm, Rowan had already gutted him with her knife: into the soft belly, pulling through the intestines and up into the sternum to silence his beating heart.

Her dagger dripped blood, but fortunately the gushing spurts hadn't so much as splattered her black leather boots. She wore a black studded-leather, full-armor body suit and a black cloak with a hood covering her platinum blonde hair. She had paid a handsome sum for the suit – the tanner had worked in the leather until it was supple and silent. It was an indulgence, but it had saved her life more than a few times. It was more expensive than anything else she'd ever owned except perhaps her Karkuri swords. Rowan didn't own much. She didn't need much.

She expected Rask to make an equally quick business of dispensing the men in his tower, so when she peered over to the second lookout, she was pleased to see he was only a few seconds behind her. She was satisfied with his progress, but her pride would have pricked had he surpassed her. Rask held the last guard in a hold from behind, choking him, the rebel assassin's strong arms a human trap. With one hand he held the archer's head, twisting and snapping his sturdy neck with a muffled crack. Sagging into Rask, the guard was softly lowered to the boards. Rask stood tall and waited for the signal from Rowan to continue.

They both scanned the camp. Behind the gate were eight more guards. It would have been nice if the guards had been exhausted, but Rowan had planned the invasion to occur right after a shift change so that no one would be noticed missing for a while. That meant these Empyrean FF Guards would be minutes into their watch, not asleep though perhaps still a bit groggy. Ideally, it would take longer for the rest of them to catch on.