Three loud booms sounded from the Capital gates. The Wyvern army had broken through. “[i]This is it![/i]” Kire said, and moved forward. The soldiers were eager. Everybody was. They had overwhelmed the standing army, with many surrendering, but Kire also knew there would be greater danger lurking inside, especially if the Gemini had created dolls out those who remained inside. As she and Ed rode forward, she could sight the Palace and the hill upon which it stood, see the wide street that led through the Capital. Her home. After over a year of running, fighting, and biding her time. 
But it wasn’t over yet. 

She could see something was wrong, and that feeling of foreboding sank into her stomach as she watched the vanguard break formation once through the Capital walls. While many were able to follow their predetermined path, forging ahead of the city, many others seemed to be chasing some other path, or an enemy she couldn’t see from her vantage point. When she neared the broken gate, she felt it, stronger now, perhaps, because of the blood they had recently spilled on the ground. She looked to Ed, eyes wide as she saw his nose bleed. “Fuck,” Ed cursed. “It’s happening.” Why wasn’t she affected? [i]The disguise.[/i] 

“[i]Stay back,[/i]” she warned Ed, then, turning behind her, “[i]Halt! Don’t go in yet![/i]” she shouted. “Give me a horn, quickly! When you hear three blasts, you follow!” Once one was placed in her hand, she galloped in after the battalions that had gone ahead of them. When she stepped through the fallen gates, the smell of Gemini magic filled her nostrils, and she could see ghostly images, illusions. [i]She[/i] could tell they were illusions, but the soldiers who had gone ahead have not. They had suspected this would happen, but the city would have been too big to cast illusions of this scale. [i]The citizens. Did they sacrifice all the survivors?[/i] 
Kire looked frantically around for signs of runes. She couldn’t see any on the ground, but she just noticed that some lanes had burnt homes, while those nearby did not. “No….” [i]Did they burn the runes through the city? Burned whole streets and lanes?[/i] Her blood boiled, and she urged her horse forward again, to the nearest wayward group of confused soldiers. They were following one of the burned paths towards a dead end. 

“[i]Stop![/i]” she yelled as she caught up with them.“[i]Turn back![/i]” 
“[i]Your Grace![/i]” the commander cried, in surprise and confusion, realizing then where they were. The rest of the soldiers followed her orders, their expressions looking like they had just emerged from a daze. 
Thank the gods the illusions weren’t as strong as the ones Kire had experienced, but it was clear they only needed to last long enough for her soldiers to be led into a trap. “[i]Follow me back, there should be a shortcut—look out![/i]” 

The back of her neck prickled, and she halted her horse just in time to see dolls leap down from the burnt and dilapidated homes, cutting off the battalion’s exit. [i]They’re ignoring me,[/i] she realized. As the dolls charged, she met them head-on, beheading them swiftly while the dolls were preoccupied with the soldiers. This unit had seen the dolls from the battlefield and knew what to do, cutting away the gems quickly before they could explode or deal some other kind of extra damage. “To me!” she said, directing her steed back the way they had come. 

Meanwhile, Narda, Maika, and the rest of the [i]Wenches[/i], after subduing the last of the wall’s defenders, heard the order not to enter the city. “Stop? Why?” Maika asked, concerned, as she and the women took stock of how many incendiary weapons they had left. 
“Look,” the giantess said, looking down at the city below them. “Some of them are going the wrong way! What are they doing!” 
“Shit—and there’s Kire!” Maika said, pointing at the Empress as she chased after one of the battalions. “What’s going on?”
“Whatever it is, it’s magic,” Narda seethed. 

From their vantage point in one of the wall’s guard towers, they could see that some of their troops had made it as far as the Palace hill, where they’re meeting the Gemini defenders there. They could see flashes that resembled Kire’s portals and knew Ruli and Gavin were there, too. “They need help there,” Maika said. “And looks like if you make it past the city and near enough the Palace hill, you don’t get affected.” 
“Ysaryn,” Narda called. “How many of us can you bring to the foot of the Palace hill?” 


“Got it,” Gavin said, readying himself as they emerged from the edge of the wards. A part of him was so, so tempted to stop and look around, to see the Palace up close and finally get an accurate picture of the maps they had been studying so closely. He could smell the orchards from here, a strange thing to smell, contrasting with what was happening just downhill. But—what [i]was[/i] happening downhill?
“Wait, where’s the rest of the Amrians?” Though part of the vanguard had made it through the city and were making the climb up the hill, the rest, Gavin saw, had not. But he didn’t have time to ponder; Gemini guards poured out of the Palace itself, heading their way. “Archers!” 

Gavin dodged as arrows landed near them, just a foot or so away from their current position. The first of the guards followed them to where they had ducked for shelter. Concealed by shadow behind a broken statue, Gavin cut him down before the guard could spot them. His hands shook around the sword handle. He had cut open flesh before, as he had gone in and out of the daze of Ikegai’s control. This time, he was facing foes that fought back. [i]Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck![/i] 
The first group from the vanguard that had made it to the hill, and their swords clashed with the Gemini. The Gemini guards were torn in two, one group diverting to push back the attacking Wyvern soldiers, the others chasing after ‘Kire’. More warning shots were fired, which confirmed to Gavin that the Gemini were hoping to capture them alive.