Elemental Cats

The fortress wall created a fortified circle around a castle-like stronghold, and six spires connected the walls and the castle with small stone bridges. Trying to siege the castle would be extremely difficult without a significant difference in the number or strength of forces between attacker and defender. In addition to limiting how many attackers could charge at the same time, the bridges also looked like they would be easy to destroy.

There was still the ground that people could use to get to the castle, but Toz didn't see any viable entrances into the castle other than the gates leading to the bridges and spires. And if Toz had to guess, there were probably countermeasures in place to prevent attackers from flooding the ground with numbers. He didn't know, but it might be fun to find out if they get the chance.

Toz and the cats sneaked over to the nearest stone bridge, disposing of any guards they encountered on the way. Since killing the first one had already exposed them, they might as well get rid of any further hindrances in advance. Any guard they killed now would mean one less to try and stop them on their way out.

Toz worried that someone in the spire would notice them as they jogged over the bridge. However, they arrived in front of the spire without anyone raising any alarms.

The bridge continued straight through the spire. Toz saw the bottom tips of an iron portcullis point out of the ceiling at the entrance to the tunnel, but it didn't look like the gate had seen any use for a long time since rust covered most of the visible iron.

Toz and the cats entered the tunnel, it was short enough that there wasn't any need for light within it, but there was still a lit torch sitting on the wall. However, it became clear that the torch's purpose wasn't to light up the tunnel. The torch sat right in between two stairways, one leading up to the watchtower part of the spire, and the second leading down to what Toz assumed, was the mechanism that would disassemble the bridge.

Darkness covered both stairways, making it difficult for most humans to peer into their depths. However, Toz wasn't a normal human. He had excellent vision, even in darkness, thanks to his inclination, so he saw what lay beyond the stairs. The one leading upward ended in a simple wooden door whose outline he saw clearly due to the light coming from the other side.

The stairway leading downward was crooked, so Toz had to enter the doorway and bend his head to see the stairs lead to beneath the bridge, which confirmed his suspicions.

However, Toz hadn't expected the large storage space that was the tower's center. Since it was completely black, he thought it was empty at first. But after a few seconds, he picked up a vague scent that told him otherwise. The scent also told him what the fortress' last defensive measure against attackers was.

Toz backed up out of the stairway with a wicked grin. The cats were naturally curious about what he had discovered. They had also smelled something, but they couldn't determine what it was. Unfortunately for them, Toz refused to explain his discovery, only promising a grand surprise after they finished looting the castle.

Since Toz had discovered what was in the spire, and most likely the other five as well, there wasn't any need to directly target everyone within the castle. They only had to do whatever they wanted. And most of the cats agreed that they should most definitely look for treasure if they were going to raid a pirate stronghold.

Toz quickly sneaked up the stairway and snuffed out the guards in the room before he and the cats continued on to the castle.

Toz realized they had been lucky to have their intrusion go undetected so far since they had left a dozen corpses in their wake. However, his thoughts might have jinxed it since a tooting alarm began resounding throughout the fortress by the time Toz and the cats reached the castle.

Thankfully, Toz and the cats managed to enter right before the iron gate slammed into the bridge.

Toz and the cats heard the shuffling and clanking sounds of fully armored guards running through the large hallway toward the iron gate. The hallway was wider than the bridge, but it was completely bare, and there weren't any places for Toz and the others to hide.

The squad of guards had rushed to put on their armor and make their way over to the gate they were assigned to as quickly as possible since it was very likely the intruder had chosen the bridge connected to it to enter the castle.

Only a few moments had passed since the alarm rang out, and there shouldn't have been enough time for the intruder to enter the castle's depths and to have passed by the hallway where the first few doors were the barracks.

However, when the guards arrived in front of the gate, they hadn't seen a single trace of the intruder. And since other guards were coming from the other side of the bridge, there wasn't any way for the intruder to have retreated as soon as the alarm blared either.

The guards looked around at the empty hallway and bridge with confusion.

"Spread out! First unit, take the castle's insides but make sure not to disturb the councilors. Second unit, cover every inch of the walls, the spires, the ground, and the cave. If the intruders are still here, I want them found! If they aren't, I want to know where they went."

The leader of the group of guards was easily distinguishable thanks to his armor being more decorative than the ordinary guards. The guard captain took off into the castle with the first unit after giving out his orders.

The second unit, led by the vice-captain, opened the gate until they were all outside, after which it closed, leaving an empty hallway once again.

In the silent and empty hallway, Toz and the cats left their hiding spot in the ceiling and landed on the stone floor without making a sound.