The Castillian Expedition

As promised during the taking of the Rock, the companions are journeying to Rancho Velasquez - in northeastern Zepeda, Castille - to reunite Don Cruz and his daughter Zoya with their family. Before the leave, however, Philip du Paix approaches Don Cruz and offers him a position as Governor of Zepeda (for the Montaignes) as General du Toille, the Montaigne general, is becoming too brutal for public consumption. Don Cruz refuses, and so Philip enlists the companions to try to convince Don Cruz to accept so that the southern front of the Castillian war can be wrapped up. Philip also tells the heroes that the Montaignes have a secret weapon: he gives them a blooded brooch belonging to Lucien du Lac, his pet Porté master, and says Lucien will bring the weapon through when they reach San Augustin.

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The Ruins of Rancho Velasquez

Several days south of Capistrano, the companions reach Rancho Velasquez, Don Cruz' family home. It is ruins, and from what they can gather from the locals Doña Esther Villar del Velasquez, Don Cruz' wife, is being held prisoner by General du Toille at the Last Wall. On their way out of Rancho Velasquez, the heroes encounter El Vago: it is a tense moment, but after some negotiation they convince the Vagabond that they are acting in Castille's interests and that he should try to break Doña Velasquez and the other prisoners out once the companions have weakened the guards on the compound.

The Right Side of the Wrong Wall

The deal with El Vago is all part of a larger plan: the companions are trying to get rid of the cruel General du Toille out of camp so that they can go to his lieutenant, General Morlais, summon Lucien and then deploy the secret weapon to take San Augustin. If this happens while General du Toille is chasing after prisoners, it will prove an embarrassment for the general, forcing his removal from command and paving the way for Don Cruz to become governor after San Augustin has fallen.

They do this: Sebastien arranges for a meeting with all the Musketeers, leaving the prison camp holding Doña Velasquez and the other Castillian prisoners with a weakened guard. Los Vagos stages a raid to break out the prisoners, and then Aleksei - playing the messenger - enters General du Toille's tent while du Toille is in a rage. du Toille ignores him, of course, and storms off to pursue the escaped prisoners, taking about a third of his army with him.

Aleksei and Sebastien then go to Morlais, the lieutenant-general, and deliver the word from Philip that a secret weapon is on its way. Morlais is concerned about du Toille being absent with his men, but sees a chance for advancement and agrees to begin planning the attack. Lucien arrives, bearing four crystal phials full of blood, and says that if these phials can be poured on the ground behind enemy lines he can open up Porté gateways that can bring 50 men through to the other side.

Julien and Marie-Celeste, meanwhile, have been scoping a way across the lines to San Augustin; having found one, they return, and the all companions plot to cross the lines with Don Cruz and Lady Zoya after midnight that night. They have plan: Don Cruz, who has reluctantly agreed to become governor for the Montaignes, will make contact with the local dons so that once the wall falls he can become a resistance leader who will eventually negotiate a peace with General Morlais.

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The Taking Of San Augustin

All four of the companions distinguish themselves in battle. Julien takes a party of sappers across the wall in a flanking manuever, blowing gaps and fighting hard there cut off from the main body of the troops. Marie-Celeste and Sebastien, by contrast, go with the main force, and Sebastien ends up fighting his way into the gap the Musketeers sent through the portal opened in the bastion, taking a cannon in a bit of bloody battle to turn it on the Castillian forces.

Aleksei hang back, fancying himself no warrior, but when he sees his cousin Yevgeny fall to an assault by Musketeers he takes a body of men and charges into the heart of the fighting, taking up his wounded cousin and beginning the slow slog back out of the fight. Finally, as the sun begins to set General Morlais is able to close the gap, pushing past the wall into the city itself, where battlefield fighting fades into bloody house-by-house fighting.

All of the heroes are deeply wounded, and Julien - lost behind the lines - is missing, until Lucien du Lac appears with a bloody and unconscious Julien in his arms, handing him to the companions.

Aftermath

It is a long recovery; the companions begin a slow journey by sea north to Paix, with Julien and Yevgeny bedridden. Left behind in Castille is the war: true to plan, Don Cruz negotiates a truce after several bloody weeks that leaves him installed as Governeur du Zepede - governor of Montaigne-occupied Rancho Zepeda. This selling out led in turn to a breach between Don Cruz and his wife, who reportedly vowed vengeance on him before she fled to the countryside, taking her daughter with her. Montaigne, however, does well, as General Morlais continues to run down the last Castillian remnants following the breach of the Wall.

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