Scouts return. Mission begins.

The morning found a restless and pacing Arerto frustrated at how long her scouts were taking but she knew deep down that their intelligence would be key. She found Julieanna supervising the building of all the defences and she looked on wondering if Helena was still alive and also contemplating her mother's wrath. Best case her mother would just chastise her but in the worse case for disobeying a royal order she could decide to make an example and have Arerto executed for treason. She let that slip to the back of her mind as she saw the scouts returning and one broke off and came to her to report and seeing this Julieanna joined them. The scout told Arerto that they had found no way in, except what look liked a disused sewer that flowed from the city into a nearby river. They had ventured inside the sewer and found that a steel gate one hundred yards in that had two guards and these guards were replaced every four hours.

Arerto had one of the prisoners brought to her tent and he was interrogated about the sewer and, under pain of ****, he revealed that the sewer ran the whole length of the city. The sewer had many street entrances and the one nearest the prison was four entrances in about four hundred yards. Arerto had him taken back to work then with Julieanna they worked out a plan on how to get in and release their comrades. They decided that the smaller the group the better and they would need at least two archers each with crossbows and six warriors. Julieanna went to the main camp and asked for volunteers and as expected everyone stepped forward. Julieanna picked six of the smallest warriors and two archers and headed back to Arerto and said they would leave when darkness began to fall. Arerto smiled and thanked her but said she was to say with the army this was Arerto's mission and her responsibility and although she argued Julieanna obeyed.

Arerto and her small group went over the details and used charcoal from the fires to darken their skin so as to blend into the coming darkness. As soon as the light faded they headed out towards the enemy stronghold. After two hours of travel they across the sewer entrance and headed inside and as luck would have the guards were just changing. They waited until two guards departed and the Arerto ordered her two archers to take the guards out. They moved forward and each one picked a target and steadied their aim then fired. The bolts shot out and hit the guards in their throats and before they could register what was happening two more bolts impacted there their chests ripping through their hearts killing them instantly. Arerto and her group approached the gate and she told them all that they had four hours to find and release their comrades before all hell would break loose. They pushed the gate open in the grill and headed further into the sewer.