Well, the guard house is certainly a very hard place to sneak into. The main problem with the place is that it has been built like a miniature fort. Much like the place it has been built in, the guard house has a wall that surrounds it.

  On top of this miniature wall, it also has a moat that surrounds it. Well, calling it a moat is wrong. It is more like a channel that you are more likely to find at a farm than anything else.

  The purpose that it serves is also different from real moats. Instead of a line of defense, the thing is meant to be used to make patrolling the place a bit easier. Overall, it is kind of useless. I would say that this place is more like a glorified sewage.

  As for why I can tell this confidently I am right now wading through this moat myself. The smell of the place is the only thing that would be deadly to a would-be attacker.

  We began sneaking into the place about half a day ago and we have spent the majority of the time inside the moat. You see, there are no buildings that are surrounding the guardhouse. After all, it is supposed to be hard to infiltrate this place. A building right next to it would have left a potential point of entry for their enemies.

  Well, they might as well have had something built, when they left a moat for us to hide in. Hiding in the moat is not particularly comfortable. Still, it is the only way that we would be able to sneak into the place.

  It is a pretty right fit since the stream in the fort is barely capable of reaching my knees. The only way that we can hide ourselves in the damn thing is by crawling in it. I am sure that must sound almost impossible, but it is not that hard if you are trained for it.

  Most mages are capable of holding their breath for hours on end. Neither Trevor nor I are capable of pulling that off. The both of us can pull off stretches of a few minutes at a time. I think that I can push myself to do ten minutes if the need be.

  Well, I haven't needed to push myself to ten minutes if I am being honest. That would have been a worry if the pirates that are doing the patrolling above me were any good at their job. Well, pirates already are not the most disciplined bunch.

  The fact that they are even willing to follow schedules like this is a surprise to me. They should not be willing to do that. If they were good at doing something like that they would have been a part of an actual army.

  Well, even if the vampires have somehow motivated the gang to act as guards, they are not particularly good at it. The patrols on this wall are a mess if I am honest. Every delay in a person reporting to his position means that part of the wall is unsupervised. That gives us plenty of opportunities to pop up and take a breath.

  Well, just because hiding in the moat is easy does not mean that it is pleasant. I was not kidding when I called this place sewage. This place is being treated as a sewer.

  The moat is full of debris through which have to move. Everything from the food that they have thrown away to their shit is floating in the moat. I can feel all of this slide across my back and my legs.

  There is only one reason that I am bearing with this shit (literally). It is because this will allow us to sneak into the guardhouse, relatively undetected. As for how we are going to be doing that, we are doing that through the toilets of these people.

  As I told you, the people are shitting into the moat. The only way that they can do that is to make holes in their washrooms and shit through it. Trevor thinks that with a bit of creative climbing and burning, we will be able to sneak into the guardhouse undetected.

  That is why we are sitting here waiting in the moat. Right above us are the toilets of the guardhouse. Right now, we are waiting for the period in which the toilets will be used the least.

  That time is something that Trevor is going to decide. I could decide for the group, but then if somebody were to use it when we are burning through it. Let's just say, we might as well forget about stealth then.

  On top of that, the main problem is that I am going to be the person doing the work of burning through the wood.

  Stolen story; please report.

  I will therefore leave the decision to Trevor. After all, he has been the one who has been scouting the place. I don't know what exactly is the man waiting for but it shouldn't take long.

  Right now the remaining two members of my troop have been left in the sewers. Having them here with us will just increase the probability of us being caught. They don't boost our combat strength enough to justify their presence. They might as well cultivate and breakthrough.

  As I am recording this, Trevor has been popping his head up to scout the scenario above us. He has been doing that every half an hour to decide if it is finally safe for us to continue our task.

  This time is different from the few times before as he gestures to me to come up with him. Well, here it goes. As I surface, the stink of our present location hits my nose like a bull.

  Well, let's hope that I don't need to transform in this mission or things could go bad. The stink is going to leave us quite screwed. Almost as soon as we have left the moat, we are on the wall.

  The wall is smooth, and built by clearly skilled masons. There are gaps between the individual slabs of stone used in making it. They are thin enough that I don't think that an ant could get through it.

  Well, that is not a problem as I channel cycle my vital mana. Then I begin to climb the wall, my hands crushing the wall. Well, right now it feels like somebody is crushing my fingers between two rocks as well. (considering what I am doing that is not far from the truth.)

  Well, I can't take too long to do this. Trevor is looking at me. That is what I tell myself as I climb the damn wall. Well, the holes in the wall are a bit of a risk but at the moment this is the only way that we will be able to get up there.

  Trevor is right below me, making use of the holes that I have left to climb behind me. Well, he will be poking me with the butt of his sword to indicate when I have to start sawing. To prepare for that, I start by removing my sword first.

  We absolutely cannot fail now. If we were to give up now, we would be leaving clear proof of our plan. We will not be able to enter the place in the same way again. As I am recording all of this, I have finally reached the target.

  The instant that I do that, I can feel the weight of my body in my left hand. It is a dull throb, something that I should be able to manage for now. In my right hand, I have called upon a small fireball. The thing is the size of my thumb, but the intensity of the flame is at another level. I would be able to melt steel with it.

  I feel the pressure in my legs as Trevor tells me to begin my work. Well, I begin by burning into the wood. The way that they have built these toilets is by removing a few slabs in the wall and covering it all with wood.

  Right now I am burning this wood to create a hole large enough for the both of us. As I begin to burn the wood, I can hear the wood roast as the fire eats into the wood. A few seconds later, the smell of burning wood hits my nose.

  Right now if anybody were to find us now, then we would be in a pretty helpless position. I can already feel the ache in my hand grow steadily. That is why Trevor is keeping an eye out for other people while I focus on burning.

  As I am recording this, Trevor pokes me again. That is a sign that somebody is out there. Right now Trevor has a very good view of the wall, as he is just a bit under its top. I am parallel to the top of the wall, so I can't see anything up there.

  Well, I dissipate the fireball hoping that this does not drag on for long. Already the pain in my arms is like a fire slowly and steadily taking over all of my thoughts.

  I can feel the sweat forming on my body, both from how much I am pushing myself and the situation. It feels cool in this weather. I swear that I can feel my grip on the stone become looser due to my sweat. Almost in a panic, I grasp the wall even more tightly as the pain in my hand grows a hundredfold.

  The pain is so great that I almost ignore the footsteps echoing in the empty hallways. Somebody is walking through this part of the fort.

  The wave of fear is enough to overpower the pain in my arms. I can feel my hand quiver under my weight as I try to keep as quiet as possible. These echoes seem to continue for almost an eternity as I wait for a head to pop up from above us. (Don't ask me why they thought that a toilet should have a window in it.)

  The only consolation that I had was that with the way that we were positioned any person taking a dump would do it right on Trevor. If we are going to die, that is going to be a pleasant revenge at least.

  The echoing of footsteps finally stops, as Trevor finally pokes me to continue my work. I start burning the wood, the sound of burning wood a drumbeat in my ear. Frankly put, I honestly don't care how loud I am being. I just want the fucking pain in my hand to stop.

  Every movement brings a fresh wave of pain in my hand. The pain is still fine. It is the fact that I can feel my arm grow weaker that scares me. If I were to lose my grip it would be a long drop-down.

  Right now I am doing all of this on as little of my vital mana as possible. The more vital mana that I use the more I risk discovery. I could cycle a bit more vital mana. It would not help me with my pain, but it will at least make sure that I will not lose my grip. Still, I can't bring myself to make use of more vital mana. We can't be discovered here.

  As I am recording all of this, I feel the fireball eat through the wood. I almost don't believe it as I complete my task. I pull out the damn block of wood as it falls to the ground.

  A new wave of pain almost makes me open my hand as push my hand through the hole. As my free hand grasps the floor of the toilet, I almost sigh in relief as I pull myself into the guardhouse. I almost manage to ignore the throbbing in my hand, as well.