Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Most of the businesses in Varris suffered as a result of the sudden change regarding non-elves. A lot of business were run by those same citizens and many others relied on their employees who were a mix of different races. The only places that did not suffer were those that just so happened to only employ elves, or those that were run by purists prior to the change.

The hardest hit types of businesses were blacksmiths and transport companies. Most of the blacksmiths were elves, since Aedridan elves were basically born to forge, or at least that's what all the elven blacksmiths claim.

When massive swaths of the workforce that did transport work were exiled from most parts of the city, the smiths could not get the import of the necessary raw materials to continue their work.

Luckily for them, it was a problem that had been prepared for, so recovery was relatively swift for most businesses. After that recovery period was over, they began to churn out arms and armor at rapid rates to replenish the supplies of Ayalla's armies. Almost all of the smithies in town had been ordered to perform this work so it could be completed quickly.

As such, the transport companies that remained, were constantly moving wagons full of arms and amor throughout the city.

Kestis's men had been keeping an eye on all known smithies within the city as well as the guard patrols that would cycle through the area. The closer the shops were to the slums of the city, the more frequently they were patrolled. As such, they had to make a choice.
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Play it rough close to home, but risk inevitable conflict, or venture further from the slums where patrols were fewer and they could slip out unnoticed.

The benefit of hitting the wagons closer to home was that it was a shorter distance to retrieve the supplies, however, any battles would easily draw the attention of surrounding patrols who could swarm into the area and create a large and bloody fight. The benefit of the further away targets was a lower risk of massive bloodshed, but the distance for retrieving those supplies was longer.

Sheza and Snow were told to work together to scout out a few of the locations and figure out which one was more worth it. With Snow being an elf with no other bloodlines, she was able to walk freely along the city streets and even enter some of the shops as a potential customer without attracting notice.

Sheza was annoyed by this, but could tell that it was also not Snow's specialty. She was clearly the type to prefer stalking from the shadows, so hiding in plain sight was a foreign concept to her modus operandi. Still, the elf performed her job to the letter and under the watchful eye of the dragon-blood, quickly and easily slipped under the radar of the different guard patrols.

The newcomers to the city were less than trustful. Even the normally easygoing Kestis was on edge when it came to the idea of trusting Wulf and his sidekick, which made Sheza feel like her friend had grown in his time leading the rebels. This had only been going on for a handful of months, just under half a year, in fact, but Kestis continued to grow through it all.

At first, the rebellion suffered losses with many of their forces being captured or killed in raids. Every man they lost, Kestis would personally visit their next of kin and take responsibility for any anger they felt. The basement where he did his planning was lined with bricks that had the names of their fallen etched into them.

When Sheza first saw Kestis seemingly clawing at the basement walls with an old chisel, she had thought he lost his mind. However, something told her to simply sit and watch. After hours of simply observing her friend tapping away at the bricks, he finally finished before slumping down onto his knees. Silent sobs had wracked his body, though no tears ever fell.

She let him sit there in silence until he was done, after which he stood and left the room without acknowledging her presence. Her curiosity got the better of her and she went to look at whatever it was that Kestis had been doing. That was when she realized that he had learned the first name, family name, and the age of the fallen.

Each one was etched into the brick as a solemn reminder of his failures.

With so many losses in the beginning, it was obvious that people would try to oppose Kestis's leadership. Many wished to push him into the role of a figurehead, acting only as a face while true leaders with experience performed their roles. Those people who wished to use Kestis's name had shown up at their hideout demanding he step down.

Before their cries for his removal reached his ears, Sheza intercepted the angry leaders and showed them to the basement. When they saw the names on the wall, each carefully spaced so that they were easily identifiable, it brought tears to their eyes. Even they had not learned the names of every one of their men, but the man they thought unworthy did the work to find out and honor them.

With such a sight permanently held in their minds, all talk of removing Kestis from power ceased and the rebels became more unified under his name. Since then, the other leaders formed a council, not taking away his power and changing his decisions, but educating and guiding him.

The wall of remembrance continued to grow because casualties in war are unavoidable, but each day, less and less names were added.

Kestis's growth continued to develop at a rapid rate, showcasing his extreme intelligence and adaptability. Him realizing he should not immediately trust these newcomers was yet another example of his amazing growth. Such thoughts often stirred Sheza's heart and flushed her face.

"Hey, dragon-girl," Snow's voice whispered into her ear from behind, nearly sending her to the ground. "You alright? Your face is red."

"Shut up," Sheza grumbled, "Anyway, what did you find?"

"It seems that hitting the places further into the noble district will be better. There are a lot of weapons due for a shipment near the slums, but I think it is better to hit one with a fair mix of both. Also, the wagons bound for transport in closer to base should be arriving in a few hours, leaving little time to prepare." Snow advised.

Her words were accurate. They truly needed to take into account the amount of time needed to set up a heist varied, but having more time to prepare was better if at all possible. With that in mind, they would definitely hit the noble district facilities. The only thing left was to flag extra time for transport of the materials back.

Once the goods went missing, the guards would be on high alert, making it hard to move long distances easily. Sure, they had conspirators and supporters among the pure elves, but it would still look suspicious for anyone, regardless of race, to be walking around with equipment after a large shipment was stolen.

Snow seemed to realize what thoughts had run through her head because she smiled slyly before she advised, "Wulf is already taking care of securing a location closer to the noble district. Inside of a few hours we will have a safehouse where your forces may store your goods. Once attention dies down, your people can retrieve them in small quantities.

It might slow down the speed in which you can arm yourselves, but it should negate a fair amount of risk. Especially since it is a guard station."

"Is that so?" Sheza whispered excitedly, "How is he managing that?"

"He borrowed a healer from Kestis." Snow answered simply.

A healer? Sheza had a hard time understanding how borrowing a healer would help Wulf take control of a guard post, but she decided to let it be. Their forces had a number of people who were well-versed in Light Magic, so if Wulf failed, losing one healer would do little to impact their forces. Though it was a cruel way to rationalize it, losing one person was better than losing multiple.

Sheza briefly threw her thoughts back to Kestis and how he would feel adding yet another name to the Wall of Remembrance. She found herself hoping Wulf found success in his endeavors. Though they were only tentative allies at best, he still had one of their men with him.

"Well, I hope that he knows what he is doing." Sheza growled.

Snow began to giggle quietly. Though it was not loud enough to attract attention, the sudden action still spooked Sheza, who found herself glancing around hurriedly to ensure they would not be discovered.

After a short, but intense glare, Snow stopped giggling and wiped a mock tear from her eyes. She also began to glance around, thinking that Sheza heard something she had not. When she realized that the girl was worried about Snow revealing their location, she shook her head and gave an annoyed sigh.

"You don't need to worry," She said, "He does."