The popular system of magic is a curious thing, the intangible vastness of the improbable made probable, all hemmed in and controlled by strict guideline of runes and carefully worded spells

-Musings of an old man

"Commander, Sah!" the recruit saluted and stood to attention in front of Commander Alyssa's desk. She put the pen she was holding down. "Walker, I hope you have some good news for me"

"Yes, sah! Sir Caleb has found a lead. He wants you to accompany him to Old Mag to see if a location can be found" he succinctly reported. "Very good, tell him I shall be there shortly." The recruit saluted again and marched out, his long legs carrying him smoothly out, she could see why they called him Walker. In the army it was tradition that everyone took names given to them by their squad mates. Most of the time they were pretty decent.

She quickly finished signing off the reports and strode out, her long legs carrying her easily and confidently down the stairs and across to the stable where she knew her squad that she had placed on the statue case would be waiting. "Report!" She demanded as she entered. There were four soldiers waiting for her. Three men and a woman. There was Sir Caleb; a lanky man with bushy white hair, a squat dwarf draped in thick armour, with a massive axe hanging on his back with a name that was entirely unintelligible who everybody just called Pip. Will, a tall, youngish looking fellow with huge shoulders was brushing his horse in the background in a perfectly pressed uniform, with his leather armour adorned with multiple throwing knives. On his belt hung a small crossbow with a handful of short stubby quarrels, his back taken up with a longbow nearly as tall as he was, a quiver full of white feathered arrows on his leg, with extras on the horses saddle. The last member of the party was already seated atop her horse, sharp blue eyes ever vigilant. She had twin swords strapped to her back, and from experience, Alyssa knew she had a number of other weapons hidden about her body, they called her Am. Sir Caleb answered "We have heard whispers that a statue is being bought by some mysterious priestesses who have appeared recently in the city. They proclaim they follow the god of Secrets" Alyssa noticed the wording and enquired "You don't believe them?"

"No, Sah. I think that they are being misleading. They are indeed mysterious, but they have an aura of power about them that seems...dark."

"Hmm, I'll keep your view in mind. Anything else?" An eyebrow was raised.

"We think that Old Mag may be able to tell us the time and location of the rendezvous between the thief and their buyers."

"Ok, let's go!" Alyssa grunted as she swung on top of her horse who was already saddled. "Sir Caleb, lead the way"

"Yes, Sah!" The rest of the group swung onto their horses and galloped after the Sir Caleb.

+++

Alyssa swung off her horse in front of a worn, old shack in the slums. she flipped a coin at a ragged little urchin, only dressed in a once fancy red dinner jacket, which reached to below his knees, who ran up to her and told her he would take care of her horse with a wide grin, displaying a mouthful of crooked teeth. She strode through the curtained doorway, signalling her team to stay outside, and looked around, her eyes stinging in the thick smoke. The shack looked a little bigger on the inside, partitioned into quarters with thick hemp blankets acting as curtains. To the right of her, Old Mag lounged on her throne of frayed old cushions, smoking some bitter smelling weed which she claimed helped her see things and speak to spirits. In truth, she had a little army of orphans, like the boy who had collected her horse outside, collecting information.

"I assume you know why I'm here?"

"Of course! I know everything!" She cackled, waving her hand dismissively, before suddenly breaking out into a massive coughing fit. Alyssa waited the cough out, wrinkling her nose at disgust, deciding to hurry the process up. She pulled out a gold coin “Just tell me!”

“A single gold coin?” she demanded in outrage “I could be killed for giving you this information, I want ten” her eyes gleamed with greed. Alyssa sighed silently at having to haggle.

“I’ll give you two.”

“Two? You wound me!” screeched the old woman, puffing madly on her pipe. “I want seven, at least”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“I’ll give you five.” Alyssa said, her eyebrows lowered in a menacing line.

“Fine!” she spat a glob of black mucous into a bowl filled with the stuff. Alyssa shuddered with disgust, wanting to get out of the place as soon as she could.

“I hear that there is going to be an exchange of the statue near the tombs at Gleddis Hill, in oh…one hourglass or so”

“Thank you, Old Mag.” Alyssa said tersely, threw the coins at her and rushed out.

+++

Alyssa had gathered her forces a few streets away from the tombs. She had sent a runner to the main garrison to get the few trained soldiers she had, but they would take too long to get here on time, so she had got what guards that were available at the more local barracks that were scattered around the city. There were eleven of them. Three with bows, seven with melee weapons and, rather luckily, a mage. She hadn’t worked with any of the guards before, so put Sir Caleb in charge of the melee fighters, Will in charge of the archers, and she was going to co-ordinate with the mage herself.

Earlier, she had sent up one of the archers who used to be a scout in the army, along with Am to get her information about the area. The tomb was situated at the top of a hill which had been terraced out to provide flat areas for the tombs. The meeting appeared to be a gathering at the very top which had a nice open, flat area with a single tree in the middle, which presumably had been used to hold the funeral ceremonies. This area had been prepared by the priestesses and it appeared as if they were planning to start a ritual.

She looked up at the night sky, at the dark clouds which had been slowly covering up the moons light over the past hourglass, worried, before starting; “OK, people. This is how it’s going to work. The melee unit is going to be split in two, with Sir Caleb and Pip leading charges from opposite sides.” She looked at them both to make sure they didn’t have any questions. Sir Caleb merely straightened and nodded while Pip grinned and patted his double handed battle axe fondly, which he had taken out of its sling and was swinging it around warming his muscles up. “Archers, you will find firing positions and support the melee team. It looks like they have enough fires up there to provide decent vision” She glanced at Will who looked utterly unruffled and confident standing next to Pip and in front of his new team of archers, some of whom already seemed somewhat in awe of him, and continued. “Myself and Vanya” looking at the mage, “will be providing support as well as trying to neutralise any mages amongst them, and Am will be taking care of any other problems that arise” Some of the guards looked at Am, but seeing the predator in her wisely refrained from commenting. A last glance around to see if they had any questions, and she clapped her hands “Let’s go! Move out” Pip and Caleb immediately split up and trotted off with their allotted squad mates following closely at their heels.

Alyssa led the rest of them onto a small, narrow path that led to the top of the hill. There was enough space for them to walk two at a time if they were close but this was too close for them to effectively fight. She made the archers pair up with the mage, Vanya, and Am, taking the lead with Will, having the archers trail half a step behind each of them.

They slowed down as they neared the top, keeping low and quiet the light from the fires above allowing her to see the area more clearly. She could hear some sort of chanting and the light prickle of magic began to build at the back of her neck. She signalled Vanya up to the front near her and raised an enquiring eyebrow to see if she could feel it too. The purple haired young woman shivered, rubbing her arms and nodded, her mouth set in a frown.

Alyssa's mind whirled, testing the magic with her mind before suddenly sprinting towards the top, her startled team following. She recognised the magic being used - ritual magic. Usually it was calling on a deity using some sort of personal sacrifice, but this...this had the taint of something far darker. And, unfortunately, darker usually meant more powerful. They would have to try and stop the ritual from finishing.

As she crested the hill, the chanting got louder and louder, and the heat hit her like a wall, instantly soaking her in sweat under her armour. The chanting got louder and more forceful. Deep guttural words interspersed with a high female voice. She instantly took in the scene, five priestesses standing on the corners of a pentacle with a huge bonfire in the centre, a man holding a struggling figure at the side. One of the priestesses was holding up what looked to be the statue, which was sending out writhing tendrils which glowed a deep evil purple colour.

The man noticed her first, crying out a warning, as the rest of her team appeared behind her, spreading out to find good firing positions. She watched as the man shuddered violently, his body falling away as a creature ripped its way out of his skin. The struggling figure taking it as an opportunity to dart off. She quickly called her spell to mind, fingers flashing as she wove the threads of magic together and threw a glowing blue ball of lightning into the fire, which promptly exploded, destroying the ritual pentacle, and throwing everyone around it to the ground, allowing her time to take in the scene and signalling Sir Caleb and Pip to come rushing in and surround the perimeter of the hill.

The priestesses turned towards her as one, each cutting open their palms as they rose from where they fell and spitting out a quick incantation. The bonfire, which was now multiple fires scattered around the hilltop due to the lightning ball, started belching out thick smoke, the stench of brimstone telling Alyssa a demon was coming. The thick smoke coalesced rapidly into an odd, flat, smoky stick like figure, with elongated fingers that touched the ground. The figure stretched to it full height, more than twice that of Will's. Features appeared on the figure in trails of red, a deep maw opening, showing a gullet that was deeper than the rest of him appeared to be. The creature roared, charging towards her.