I don’t know how to get inside without them noticing. Thinking for a moment, an idea sparks. I release the aether around the rebels outside for just a fraction of a moment. Easily explained away as a distraction to the rebels, but hopefully enough to alert the guards of a strange sighting. I have to wait a few minutes before I hear another guard running toward us, shouting.

“The outside watch spotted something weird. They saw a group of a dozen fae, but then they disappeared,” he calls. The two guards closest to me look at one another, clearly skeptical. “Captain says he wants everyone to meet in the entryway to investigate,” the running guard says now that he’s reached the pair outside the storage room.

“Fine,” one says. They leave, and I thank the aether. Wasting no time, I slip into the storage room and find it filled with boxes that I’m extremely familiar with. The thayar is packed into the very crates we receive and often try to divert in Velmara. I make a quick study of the room, deciding to disguise all but the back wall, which has the fewest crates.

If I’m lucky, the rebels won’t even make it here.

I slip out and head back toward the entrance, where the guards are discussing what to do. Several don’t believe the outside guards saw anything, blaming it on a hangover or lack of sleep. I need them to decide to send for backup, to get more guards here, so I make a stupid decision. One that Silene would absolutely kill me for. I quickly release the magic hiding me, hoping it wasn’t long enough for them to make out my features.

It works. At least four of the guards point in my direction, including the Captain. “One of the air channelers—aerstep to the palace and get backup,” he orders, drawing a weapon. I quickly slink around them and out the front door while they’re still looking where they saw me.

When I reach the rebels, I whisper to Krantz. “I’m back. Are you and your team ready?”

“What the hell’s going on?” he growls. “The guards shouted they saw something, and they all went inside.”

“I created an illusion to get myself through the doors without them noticing. Now we can all get in without their attention.” Krantz seems to believe the lie. When we open the doors, a dozen guards now stand in the entryway, eyes and swords trained on the entrance. They see the doors open and shut.

“Fuck,” Krantz mutters.

The guards attack, though they don’t know where we are. They swing their swords blindly, injuring a few rebels, but not enough to slow the group down. Krantz, a powerful metal channeler, rips swords away from the guards. Fionn described a similar move when he saw Krantz during the initial attack.