Just like that six days have passed.
They spent all this time training and planning. The attack would happen earlier tomorrow... If everything went as they thought.
By their latest intelligence the defense of New Constantinople was miserable. They are vastly unprepared. Sera didn't trust this information though.
The scouts were sent by Dwight and they communicated only with him. He and Sera haven't talked once since that morning, but she knew that Hector was part of his group now.
It wasn't dark yet, when they finished the last of the preparations. Everything was seemingly ready for tomorrow, but while walking home Sera had a weird feeling.
There was something that she was missing, like some obvious sign or threat she was ignoring. It felt like she was under a guillotine waiting for it to drop on her neck, but she had no idea where this strangling feeling originated from.
The plan they made, the preparations they had, the army they brought... It was too perfect.
At this point she knew that sieges were never easy, there was always night raids on the attacker's camp, or they would try some guerilla tactic.
There was nothing. They spent the whole week with not even a hint of attacks. It was like they made themselves easy targets, like they wanted to be attacked...
Her thoughts have been moving around this subject for hours, but she felt like something was missing, which made it impossible to get to the truth of the matter.
As she stepped inside her room a message came. It was from Helena...
Helena:
I sent you Lilith's contact. Sorry it took so long!
Sera knew why it wasn't easy to get her contacts. Helena only had one or two contacts who were in the Angelic Order, which meant that she had to forward Sera's request to them, then they had to forward it as well, until eventually it reached Lilith. Then this whole process had to be repeated with her own contacts, so it only made it back to Sera now.
"Finally!" She mumbled to herself, and wasted no time. Immediately after checking on its validity, she sent a message to her.
Sera:
Hey Lilith! I need information about New Constantinople's defenses. Is it true that they are severely underprepared?
After a few minutes the answer came, but it wasn't good news...
Lilith:
Lady Seraphine! It is so nice to speak with you again, and wish it would be in better circumstances. I don't know what your scouts had reported, but this city is anything but underprepared!
Sera made a confused expression while reading the message.
Sera:
What do you mean? Our scouts reported only one transcended and fewer ascended than we currently possess, same goes for the evolved. Were the scouts off?
Lilith:
I think you should get better scouts, or kill them because they are spies... There are 3 transcended and about 500 evolved, lead by a 100 ascended. They didn't even really try to hide their numbers. My suggestion is you retreat, the numbers are overwhelming especially for a siege.
Seeing their eyes, that desperation, that confusion, that need for guidance...
In her mind a buzzing noise appeared. This noise happened every time when people looked at her like this. The noise wasn't loud at all, but it was there always, never fully silenced. And the worst was that it got louder each time.
She felt it increase yet again. It was the overwhelming responsibility on her shoulders that was slowly crushing her.
Once Sera read about an execution method, where people stacked large boulders on a person, until they got slowly crushed to death. The feeling felt similar to that, but not physical, only mental.
'It's fine... I can take it... I will take a break some other time... Later...'
On her face a reassuring smile appeared, because that's what the others needed to see. It pained her a bit and caused the buzzing to increase in volume, but she didn't let on.
The other's instantly looked more comfortable seeing her confidence, and even David didn't see through her facade.
"I know this looks really bad, but not all is lost. We just have to change the plan a bit... Well, a lot actually!"
After that they spent the next two hours planning. It was fully dark by the time they managed to come up with something that could work.
Frank went away to prepare a few larger explosives that will be necessary for the attack.
Jill went away to spend some time with her family before the attack. Everyone knew how she would spend that time, but they made no comment on it. Tomorrow might be the last day of their life, so they should spend today however they felt comfortable.
David went away to prepare the soldiers and tell their officers the changes they made.
Sera and Cassandra stayed in the conference room alone.
Sera was still talking with Lilith relaying the commands and objectives they need to complete. There was a lot that needed to be taken care of, and little time to do it properly.
Cassandra sat in her seat looking shell-shocked. This was supposed to be an easy siege, where she could finally prove herself to the people who mocked her, and her parents who sent her here.
This was a dream that turned into a nightmare within hours. A previously easy siege, got turned into a really hard nearly impossible one!
When Sera finished giving out orders she turned to Cassandra, who was silently sobbing.
She changed a lot since the first time they met, but she was still new to all this. She haven't gotten used to the struggle and expecting the unexpected...
'And they sent her into a fucking warzone without preparation... Assholes!'
Sera stood up from her seat and walked next to her. There she sat down on the table and watched Cassandra silently.
Slowly she looked up with red rimmed eyes. In that moment her training kicked in and she tried to compose herself. This was something Sera had taught her... 'Never act out of decorum in front of your soldiers!'
This of course only referred to ones that she didn't consider close friends, but it worked like a reflex with everyone.
Sera just grabbed her trembling hand and said, "It's going to be alright..."
Somehow this sentence actually calmed her a bit, which was really surprising, but what she said next was so out of pocket, that Sera could've never be prepared for it.
"I love David..."