The fort that Prince Roland was holed up in with his remaining troops was a few day's travel. Tristan focused entirely on spinning his essence crucible in both directions, and sank into his inner world to try and improve upon his essence capacity. He encouraged Felicity to do the same, and Onyx kept them close to the main vanguard.

Evenings were spent in the Fey Realm. And this cycle of travel continued for a few days, and on the eight of Harvest Season, they arrived at a staging point outside of the massive fortress. It was a near-identical twin to the one they had left. "Why are they the same?" Tristan asked as he dismounted Onyx in the camp alongside the prince's retinue.

Marineaux replied, "The late king created two fortresses in the center of each half of the continent. There is a larger, completely-centered citadel which is currently unoccupied, but will be once Prince Merrill is the only claimant to the throne." She gestured to the large walls and turreted towers, "The two princes each claimed one of these as their base of operations."

Tristan scratched his head, "Why not just use the largest middle capital as a staging ground?"

Marineaux's voice lowered to a whisper as she leaned in, "It is an ancient curse upon the place. Only when a king sits on the throne of Maladonia, who is of the royal blood, will the capital city allow residents. We tried, but the troops vanished." She shook her head and then turned away to see to her prince.

Tristan walked over to the edge of the campsite with Onyx, looking out at the enormous fortress walls. "Do curses exist?" he asked Felicity.

She nodded as she flew down from his head and landed on the small, grassy knoll. "Hexes are a type of spell. I suppose one could call a hex a curse as well. So…perhaps?" She swished her tail back and forth lazily, "Visiting the capital might be interesting. See if there really is a curse."

Tristan shrugged, "I am not opposed to it. I am just…a bit scared, to be honest. Those assassins could be anywhere. They have some capable essence-weavers among them if they could find everyone of the Winterbloom bloodline. I don't want to stay in one place too long and risk exposure."

Felicity nodded, "Makes sense. Well, we deal with this hostile prince and then we'll get that contract and be off. Let's see assassins try to get us out in the open ocean!"

The day progressed onward, and Tristan was left to his own devices whilst the army staged. Around midday, the commander and Prince Merrill came over. Tristan stopped spinning his essence crucible and stood up. "Is it time?"

The commander nodded. "Your fairy dragon-"

"I'm right here," Felicity said as she flew up from the ground to Tristan's head.

"Erm…sorry. You are going to unlock all of the sally ports?"

She saluted with her paw-claw to her head. "Yes, sir! I can shapeshift into all types of things! I'll unlock those things…but then what?"

Prince Merrill looked at Tristan, "You had mentioned you could also turn invisible, and my men saw you appear from nothing. Are you able to infiltrate? When the army approaches, their forces will go to the walls to defend…but you can possibly get past them, yes?"

Tristan nodded, "I could try. But it is risky. Why should I risk my neck like that?"

The prince's eyebrow twitched, and Tristan knew he had hit a nerve with being insubordinate. But, Tristan did not care all that much at this point. Merrill spoke through a tense jaw, his words harsh but even. "I will get the contract signed before you go in."

"Deal," Tristan said. "Write it up; exclusive contract for my shipping fleet to deal in your mead to foreign lands."

The prince turned around and waved for Tristan to follow, "Come along then. My seneschal will write up the papers."

Tristan looked to Felicity, "Pysy turvassa, jooko?" (Stay safe, okay?).

She gave him a grin, shapeshifted into a sparrow, and then replied in a chipper, bright voice matching her new form. "Olen paras hiippailussa! Ei hätää." (I'm the best at sneaking around! Don't worry). She flew off towards the walled city in the distance.

Tristan turned to follow the prince, and spotted the commander staring at him with a curious expression. "What?" he asked.

The commander shrugged, "Never heard Elvish before. It's a weird language."

Tristan kept walking and arrived at the prince's tent. Heading inside, he was waved over by the young man to a middle-aged man at a portable desk. The individual gestured to the parchment on the table, "Lord Tristan, there are a few terms to discuss."

Tristan spun his essence crucible and activated his ear cuff's stored Spoken Message: Half-Realm spell. "Admiral, you available?"

"Aye, I'm here," Yokain replied.

"I'm going to read a document to you. Tell me when things need to be changed or altered."

The prince and the seneschal both looked at Tristan quizzically, and he quickly added in their direction, "Just talking to the admiral of my trade fleet. Let me see the document."

A few hours passed and Tristan had to keep spinning his essence crucible to reactivate the ear cuff. It left him low on essence, and he was winded by the end of it. But the admiral was pleased with the final product, and even the seneschal was impressed by the thoroughness of the document. Some of that time was spent copying the terms to two sets of parchment – one for the kingdom, one for Tristan.

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Effectively, he would get fifty percent of all sales of the mead, and every year he would have to return to fill up his cargo holds and offload the kingdom's split of the revenue. It was a good deal, and by the end the prince had left to attend to his troops – keeping them motivated for the impending attack.

Tristan received the signed contract and shoved it into his jerkin under the armored chest plate. Heading out to the edge of the arrayed military, he stood in a relaxed stance as he listened to Prince Merrill's boring motivational speech to the troops.

It was a droning, monotone affair, and Tristan prioritized reverse-spinning his essence crucible, trying to tap into any ambient essence in the environment. But nothing responded, and so he stood there as he waited for his crucible to refill.

An hour passed, and as the sun began to set behind the army, Tristan realized why they were waiting until that hour. The sun coming from behind the attacking force would blind the defenders on the wall. Clever tactic, Tristan thought.

The prince waved Tristan over as he finished his speech. "Are you ready?" he asked.

"I can head out right now. Felicity should have the sally ports open." Tristan looked past the prince and thanks to his visual acuity, could see the tiny crevices in the outer wall that showed a hidden sally port or a well-concealed door…but they were ever-so-slightly ajar. "And the one we are looking at is open," he said with a smile.

"Then I ask you to enter ahead of the main force. Infiltrate the keep if you can, and kill my brother. If he dies, we may avoid bloodshed."

Tristan felt a sour taste in his mouth, and he felt slightly nauseous at the idea of being an assassin, but he knew the truth of Prince Merrill's words. If I can kill prince Roland, show off the head atop the citadel walls…I could perhaps force a surrender saving gods-know how many lives. He swallowed down the slight bile in his throat and nodded, "I'll do it." He walked past the prince and took a deep, shaky breath as he faced the huge wall. "Verhoa minut hunnulla, joka maastouttaa minut. Estä ketään näkemästä minua, kun valo taittuu kehoni ympärillä." (Manifest a shroud around my form that will blend me into the surroundings. Prevent any from seeing me as light is bent around my body). He spun his essence crucible and performed the spell gesture for Minor Invisibility as he finished the incantation and vanished from sight.

He then continued to use essence-weaving for several seconds. Spinning his crucible, he activated the stored Lucky Instinct spell within the Starmetal Maul, the Anorox Family Crest to use Disguise Form – appearing as one of the soldiers he had slain in the supply train a few days prior – and then cast the Near Miss spell with the spell gesture and phrase. I should put more spells into objects, he thought. It would set me far apart from other essence-weavers.

Tristan began to jog across the soon-to-be-riddled-with-arrows battlefield in front of the fortress. The terrain was soft grassland that was clear-cut to prevent fires close to the walls. As such, he was not concerned with being seen from the slight bend of the foliage as he advanced. Getting to the walls, he made a beeline for the small gap, and opened the sally port just enough to squeeze in.

Gripping his dagger, he made sure to pull the sally port door almost shut but left a small gap just as he had found it. He was inside the wall, in one of the chambers along the outer ring. It was, thankfully, empty – which is what he expected from a smaller defending force. They would be atop the walls, not inside them to sally out and attack foes up close.

Tristan made his way to the main exit from the wall interior and saw a city preparing for siege. Citizens were being ordered around by a handful of soldiers, directing food reserves, water storage, and assigning locations and tasks. The citizens looked scared, a few were downright terrified, and the soldiers seemed to be on the brink of despair given their situation. It will be easier to break their spirits than I thought, Tristan mused as he began moving along the main thoroughfare.

Well, as much of a thoroughfare as a city like this could have. It was haphazardly designed – just like the other city that Obadai had obliterated. Perfect for fighting defensive engagements as one retreated. But they were not using Tristan's tactic – soldiers were being arrayed along the walls.

Tristan began to run. He knew it would be a slaughter if the army attacked. Once they got into the sally ports, the forces on the walls would be surrounded and would be slain to a man. And as for the citizens; he didn't want to see any of them die.

He didn't care for the noise he made, as there was plenty of movement – but he did slow down when he came to a moat with the drawbridge raised. How am I going to get around this? He thought as he saw a spiked pit just like the one in the other city. I could use Frost Wall to make a platform – but that would get spotted instantly. It's thirty feet across – too far to jump. And going down into that muck and sludge will coat me, making my invisibility practically useless.

A shimmering, sparkling sparrow flew over and landed on his head. Felicity's voice chirped out, "Yeah, I was a bit worried about this part. All the sally ports are open, though!" She was quiet, and Tristan was relieved knowing that only those with Elf blood would be able to hear her.

"Can you lower the drawbridge?" Tristan whispered.

"It is too heavy. Takes two people."

"Thoughts?"

"I can use transmutation to get us into the wall – but getting across the gap?"

"What's the biggest thing you can turn into?" Tristan asked.

"About a big-dog sized dragon…why?"

Tristan looked over to one of the buildings nearby. "If you can hold onto me and glide – we might be able to make it with enough height and speed."

Felicity nodded, "Will do. Meet you on top of the building!" she flitted up and away, and Tristan went to that building. Testing the door, he found it locked. Well…I can bust it down but that will definitely make some noise. He began feeling around the edges of the door frame, and smiled as he felt a bit of brick come loose. Pulling on it, he found a key that had been hidden behind in a hollow space. Just like how I kept my spare key at the townhouse.

He used it, entered the building, and closed the door behind him. The building was well-decorated, with plenty of wood carvings and knick-knacks on shelves making it quite cozy. He ascended the stairs, and at the top found the ladder ascending to the roof. Going up, he met back up with Felicity – still shimmering, but now a large dog-sized white dragon. Her scales were glistening with pure, white radiant light and she was seated on her haunches.

"About time. Come on, we get one shot at this." Tristan nodded and walked over to the farthest end of the building. Felicity flapped over to him and hooked her foreclaws into the top of his pauldrons, and her rear claws into his chassis. "Ready!"

Tristan took a deep breath, sucked it in, and then sprinted to the far end of the building facing the moat. Kicking off and pushing, he leaped into the sky – and Felicity unfurled her wings. The two glided forward – clearing the moat and Tristan had to put his feet up to keep them from impacting the wall.

The clatter of his boots against the stone made him wince, and he slid down to the small dirt berm along the base of the wall. Scooting away from the location, he saw Felicity swap back to her sparrow form and perch on his shoulder. "That could've been quieter," she commented.

Tristan kept his mouth shut and slowly worked his way around the berm. Getting to the drawbridge, he was able to grip the chains through the crevice in the wall that was protecting them. Carefully, and as quietly as he could, he dug his fingers into the links and clambered up the wall next to the drawbridge.

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