Chapter 257: Chapter 238: Distraction and Extraction

The Cernlian capital was pretty far away, closer to the edge of Regina’s range, but said range had grown and she had gotten better. It meant she was able to watch what happened right now.

In practice, that meant a lot of anxious sitting around while Regina tried to watch events she wasn’t able to directly influence. The swarm of Hive drones gathering in the skies over the capital looked impressive, at least, from the perspective of a few ground-bound drones they’d managed to introduce.

It would be less impressive once people realized it really wasn’t supposed to be the major attack it might look like. Or rather, it was more of a distraction.

Most of the drones gathered here were very low-level. The hive even had a few illusions mixed in, provided by Class Skills since, so far, none of them got much in the way of illusion magic. From this far up, it shouldn’t matter. The southern front against the gnomes didn’t need many Winged Drones, so these could be spared for this action.

At the same time, there was another army moving to meet the main Cernlian forces, this one a bit stronger. Regina checked on them quickly. They’d gathered more high-level drones for this. Unfortunately, they were even farther away and thus hard for her to reach. She’d have to trust her commanders, and instead refocused on the city.

Regina tried to mentally zoom in on the palace, chewing her lips a bit nervously. One of the problems with the distance was that she found it harder to track Madris. Especially since this was a pretty densely populated place. She didn’t particularly care about Marianne Bluegrass, if she was honest. But the young woman was a friend of Kiara’s, and it didn’t seem like a good start to let her get executed or whatever Lyns had planned. Right now, she was second-guessing if she really should have been risking Madris on this, though. The Delver was here without support, and clearly already tired from her earlier activities.

Then again, Madris was also at least level 80, Regina reminded herself with a smile, as she finally saw the dark elf in question coming from a side wing of the royal palace, accompanied by who she recognized as Margaret. Madris must have locked her mind down somehow, made it less noticeable, more unobtrusive, even to psychic senses. Regina took as close a look as she could and made a mental note to ask her about it.

At the moment, they had more pressing concerns, however. It was pretty clear from even just a superficial brush that the young lady Bluegrass was anything but calm. She almost twitched with nervous anticipation and lingering fear, as well as a small streak of pain which might have come from being shoved around by the guards, or trying to fight before she was taken.

Are you both okay? Regina asked Madris hesitantly, since she didn’t want to distract her.

Fine, Madris answered curtly, clearly focused on her surroundings instead of Regina.

Regina left her in peace and only watched, absentmindedly tugging on her mandibles and trying to reach out to other drones in the vicinity.

Looking from above, it was apparent how close to the palace and its soldiers they still were. Madris clearly did something to make them easier to overlook and then guided Margaret away, at a calm walking pace.

Regina sighed and contacted the drones she’d put in charge of this operation, currently led by Ace. They’d clearly been seen and couldn’t afford to linger before the attack, so she told them to go ahead and get into position.

It didn’t take long for the Cernlians to start attacking, themselves. Spears made of light as well as various types of metal sailed into the sky. In response, the drones spread out a bit farther, but Regina watched with narrowed eyes as several of them dropped dead from the sky.

As they went down further to prepare the attack, as well as capture the attention of the Cernlian defenders, the next lines of defense activated. A curtain of fire appeared in the air and swept up and through them. The drones tried to dive and escape it, and magical shields of their own flickered into existence. Regina smiled as they covered most of the formation. Their enemies had used this tactic against them so often that it would have been stupid not to try and prepare some of their own.

It’s good to be able to choose and coordinate our Class Skills and Spells, she mused. They’re still going with every soldier picking their own, in part because many are only really part of the army temporarily, so we probably have the advantage here.

Still, they hadn’t brought that many mages to this attack. Regina frowned as another curtain of fire appeared, this time sweeping through more of her small army. More drones dropped lower, avoiding the flames by going below their level, but it made them easier targets for the other attacks, like the arrows and javelins coming from soldiers on the ground.

Fighting above a populated city presented unique challenges. Regina hadn’t wanted to bomb the city. It was something that happened in war, she knew, even back in her own time or at least not too long before. But the point was to get Cernlia for Kiara, not ruin it, and she didn’t want to embitter more people against the hive than she had to if she could avoid it.

Instead, the drones attempted targeted attacks. The royal palace was somewhat spread out, luckily, and the guard posts and barracks for Cernlia’s soldiers stationed in the capital were mostly clear of other people, too. They’d marked them in advance, with the help of Madris and a few other drones Ben had sent closer to the city previously. It wasn’t as complete information as she’d have liked, but at least it gave them some targets.

A few smaller bombs were dropped, along with rocks and various other projectiles that were slightly less likely to cause unplanned damage or go beyond the bounds they’d drawn.

Regina watched the battle for a short time, before she forced her attention away from it. There was little she could do, her sapient drones had it well in hand. The real battle with the army hadn’t started yet. Instead, she checked on Madris and her last-minute mission again.

The two had managed to get clear of the palace in time not to be caught by the earlier bombs, at least. Regina felt a bit relieved at that, despite herself. She knew that they would have checked and the attack stopped if they had been in danger, but this all was still cutting it a bit closer than she’d like. At least this way, it might help to cover their escape. She supposed Margaret’s departure would be noticed eventually. Maybe they’d connect it to the attack and presume it had been planned that way, to cover it, or just taking the opportunity.

Margaret Bluegrass — no, Margaret Szertyn, the Lady Bluegrass, Regina corrected herself; she’d need to pay attention to these details now — was clearly lagging a bit. She hadn’t been imprisoned for long, so her suspicion that the arrest had not gone entirely painlessly was strengthened. Madris was being surprisingly patient, but Regina sensed a kind of focus from her that she’d rarely felt. Maybe it had been there in her mission during the battle after the psychic link had been suppressed, but Regina hadn’t exactly been in a position to notice it then. It did remind her that Madris was an experienced Delver and hadn’t exactly reached her high level by avoiding all conflict. If such a thing was even possible; the System seemed set up to make that hard.

She hesitated for a moment, then decided that she needed to be sure they were safe and that the slightly increased risk or drain on her focus was worth it. So Regina contacted Madris again.

Did anyone see you? she asked.

I hope not. I left the guards in place and hid us from their minds, Madris answered, her tone a bit curter than usual. Regina could tell she was tired. One result of getting taught by the dark elf; she wasn’t just better at using psychic abilities on other people, but knew her better, too. They will probably discover that she is gone soon if they haven’t already.

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Well, at least they’re in place if there’s a check, then, Regina answered. Then she focused on their next steps and continued, We haven’t planned much of an escape route for you, unfortunately, since we didn’t know this would happen. But there’s a group of drones to the northwest of the city, that’s probably your best bet. If you can reach them, we can evacuate you through the air. If not, we’ll send some units to cover your escape, either way.

Don’t worry, Hive Queen. Madris sounded a bit amused. I can manage something like this.

To her credit, it did appear Madris had it handled. Regina kept watching them, probably more closely than she should have given the way the battle was going and what else demanded her attention. But Margaret, who had developed a slight limp by now, still walked on steadfastly and Madris, who’d condescended to take her arm to guide and support her, led them through the city at a steady pace.

Regina was pretty sure that Madris had dialed down the effect of her camouflage field or even changed it entirely. When she looked closely, it was clear that people’s eyes no longer entirely passed over the two of them and their minds did register their presence, reacting the way they would to other people on the street. But they still didn’t react much or appear to care. Most likely, people either saw what they expected to see or were convinced that what they actually saw was expected.

And enough people were flooding into the streets and starting to panic, now, that it was probably easier. The hive still hadn’t actually attacked the residential parts of the city, but their attack wasn’t exactly secret, either. Soldiers ran down the streets to get to mustering points or gather around buildings they were ordered to defend, and most people who could grabbed weapons of their own as well. Regina suspected that more civilians might die from careless soldiers or the consequences if a panic started than the actual fighting. The thought made her feel a bit guilty for a second before she pushed it aside.

Madris navigated the crowds skillfully. As they managed to get to the outskirts of the city, the crowds lessened and the two of them made better progress. Unfortunately, it was also becoming clear to Regina that they were both tired.

At one point, Madris pulled Margaret into the shadow of a warehouse building to watch as a large patrol of soldiers passed by, probably heading into one of the towers lining an older city wall where they’d set up some ballistas.

“How did they come to take you in?” she asked the young lady. Regina suspected it was mostly to keep her distracted.

Margaret straightened up a bit from where she’d been leaning against the stone wall of the building, panting. “I’m not entirely sure why they targeted me, but presumably it is because I was a close confidant of Lady Kiara. They thought I knew where she was and had come to question me yesterday. I did not say anything, of course.”

“Of course,” Madris murmured. She would not have known anything, either, even if she must have suspected the Hive. “And today?”

Margaret blushed a bit and looked down. “I was coming from a talk with a friend of my father’s, lingering near the Marquis’ receiving rooms,” she admitted. “I heard him mention something about Kiara and stayed to try and eavesdrop.”

Madris nodded. “He appears to have sent men after Kiara, in case you were unaware,” she informed her. “Do you know why he might have done this? It seems stupid, or at least reckless, given what he must know of the Hive’s strength and attitude towards him.”

Margaret’s eyes widened slightly. “Well —“ she breathed. “Marquis Lyns is not the type to like to think of anyone being stronger, if you’ll pardon me, Milady. But from what I gathered, he did seem upset about Kiara … specifically, upset at someone who was either there or who answered to him. He said something about, if I recall, why Kiara was at the Hive and not here, with him.”

Regina blinked. So, he might not have actually attempted to assassinate Kiara, just to kidnap her?

That seems plausible, Madris answered her, seeming annoyed beneath the mental exhaustion. I would assume he intended to ‘retrieve’ Florance, as well.

Regina frowned and cast her mind back to what had happened. It would make sense that Lyns might have tried to kidnap Kiara, and probably Florance. At least, it would be a bit less likely to spark a war, if he could show off that Kiara was with him and unharmed. Instead of her being either away to gather allies and strength against him or a martyr to rally people around. And I never actually got solid confirmation that the two men intended to kill her. They felt hostile, but that much’s obvious. Assassination might have also been a backup plan.

Well, she supposed in the end it didn’t matter too much. It still gave more indication that Lyns really was behind this. And if he’d kidnapped Kiara instead of killing her, Regina still would not have let that pass.

Still, she resolved to get to the bottom of this. There was still something she felt like she was missing. She would talk to Janis as soon as possible.

For now, Regina had to focus on the battle. As Madris and Margaret stood to continue their way out of the city, the fighting reached its climax. The drones swept to the side in two wings, divided over the palace in the center of the city. A rain of spears, arrows and ice crystals swept up toward them, but the maneuver let them avoid part of it.

We’re starting the real attack on the army just about now, Ben told her, interrupting her watching the drone wing’s flight.

Regina pulled her attention away from them and focused on him. Alright. Then I guess we can wrap up this one, that’s good.

Everything should be in position. With your permission?

Regina quickly checked on Madris and Margaret again, then nodded, transmitting the gesture through the psychic link. Give them hell, kids.

Ben chuckled. With pleasure, Mother.

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