Use the spell of bonding to break the siege on the city.
Michael looked down at the sword. Then he looked back up at the soldier. He cocked his head to the side. One particularly canny archer ran off to call for reenforcements.
The sword vanished. More than vanished, the sword simply ceased to exist. This caused quite a bit of blood to come gushing out of the both of us, but that was fine. In this state, blood was easily conjured. After we felt the imperial soldiers were sufficently awed by the demonstration our wounds healed. The eyes of the soldier who had stabbed us got very wide before she turned to run. She got a small ways away before an enormous fireball blasted her off the path and, indeed, blasted away most of the path she had been standing on. She would be fine, I made sure of that, but the effect was well worth it. The other soldiers that had been watching took off towards their camp (and in some cases, the forest) at a full run.
We continued walking.