The group disembarked from the wagon about five hundred meters away from the camp’s checkpoint. It was a precaution in case the coachman’s guise didn’t hold up to the same scrutiny, after all, there was more chance that the guards would be suspicious of a new coachman appearing. They would probably see similar faces with each shipment or transport, whereas a group of ‘fresh’ soldiers would just blend into their force.
“Don’t speak unless spoken to. Let’s hope that they don’t address Stacey or Jane, otherwise the plan is sunk. It is probably best in fact, for the two to be a bit more central in formation. They’ll be less visible that way. Just in case though, have the two of you girls been practicing any male voices?”
Both Stacey and Jane nodded as they moved in between Gram and Wilt.
“Hello, I’m a strong manly man, into man things,” Jane said, getting a chuckle from Tarn and William.
William knew his sister was teasing them, but the effort in her voice seemed genuine. Unfortunately, genuine intent didn’t always result in success. This was one of those occasions. The tone was soft and somewhat light. It might have ben more convincing if she could do a more bassy version, but they didn’t have any time for that.
Stacey’s soft natural voice made her attempt even less believable than Jane’s one. He didn’t mind though as her voice was a catharsis to his ears.
Nite shrugged before she said, “Was worth a shot. Okay, let’s just carry on as intended.”
She used that moment to do some arm gestures before walking on. William and his friends didn’t know the gestures’ meanings but they followed, mirroring Tarn, Gram, and Wilt. Time crawled as they approached, some anxiety creeping up, right when William desperately didn’t want it. He was nervous at how his mother was holding up, along with everyone else, whilst equally afraid they would be discovered immediately. Sweaty condensation started to laminate his forehead as pricks of sweat started leaking along the length of his back.
To William’s horror, they were already at the checkpoint.
“Victos Ammenori!” His group chanted, doing their salute. William felt horror as he realized that he hadn’t saluted.
“Soldier! What’s wrong with you?!” one of the guards shouted.
“...Victos...Ammenori.”
His salute wasn’t very good and this seemed to irritate the guard. Nite stepped in and with her back to the guards, put on a decent act.
“Soldier, your constitution is frail. You will go straight to the Medics once our business at this checkpoint concludes.”
“Y-yes sir!” William sputtered, making use of his anxiety to add genuine obedience to orders.
Nite turned back to the guards and continued, “Please excuse my Fighter. His constitution has been...lacking lately. I’ll accept responsibility for his lack of discipline.”
William glanced at the badges on the guards and on Nite. She was a higher rank, so William doubted they would contest her.
“Why now! Fuckk!” William mentally raged, angry at the sudden attack. Something here wasn’t right. His anxiety had been less active as he built his charisma over the past months, so why now at such a critical juncture?
The original guard that yelled at William, glared at him and replied, “We will let it pass on this occasion, but if it happens again, we will report it to the Commander-” He looked at Nite, “-Sir.”
William stayed silent, sweat still blossoming over his body.
“If there’s nothing else, I’d like to be shown to our tent. Our squad’s Medic will take care of it. Resources matter after all,” Nite said, her voice fully authoritative.
One of the soldiers waved another over to the checkpoint.
William was more than eager to get to a secluded sheltered space, like a tent. He didn’t register any of the other interactions with the soldiers and didn’t usher a word. He just wanted the group to move on and follow them. At that point, William wasn’t mentally functional enough to do much else. Why now? His anxiety was never consistent, after all, that was one of the biggest issues with the condition. After what felt like an eternity, the group entered a tent, saying goodbye to the escort. William slumped down and let out a tired sigh. He was fighting it a little better at that point, then he felt a warm hand on his, followed by another one cupping his cheek, equally warm, but a lot nicer to feel.
His focus came back to the room as everyone looked on at him. All except Stacey. She was beside him, her pale and pillow-soft hands brought him back.
As he lay there, he thought on why it happened. He was trying to figure out any logical conclusions and started to fill out some blanks. In the end, it clicked. Echo’s emotions travelled down the bond subconsciously, Fear. That was what Echo felt. Echo mentally willed where the threat was. William had an intuition in his bond with Echo and knew that they both would feel similar fears. William knew he was afraid. Afraid of losing those he loved. After all, everyone who was captured in the camp was endangered, and now, with his party’s infiltration, everyone else close to him was in danger as well. He was also afraid of the highest levelled people coming over and swatting him like a bug. This was the worse anxiety attack in a long time for William and he knew it, but Echo’s fear was more focused, as if it was the result of an effect.
A minute of focus with their shared senses later, William found the source. The commander was releasing his Aura across the camp. It was a first time experience using that aspect of their bond. It was a sensory experience both visible and intangible. He saw no direct image, but he could feel the goings on and that painted a clear outline in his mind’s eye. Commotion occurred outside the tent, footsteps moving past towards...somewhere away from their tent. Thankfully, his mental work with Echo had calmed both of their senses somewhat and William made a mental note to try it again in the future. With that in mind, William got to his feet and after kissing Stacey and hugging her, he walked outside the tent, watching as two hundred feet away, a massive wooden keep stood tall over a growing crowd.
Nite pulled William inside the tent, taking a quick look at the commotion herself before they were obscured once more.
“What happened? I don’t believe for a second you were actually that afraid,” Nite said, her tone serious and urgent.
“Anxiety. I think someone’s Aura triggered it. Do you all feel on edge? Afraid, but able to hold it together?”
Nods all around.
William continued, “I think...the Commander is projecting his Aura, He must be angry at something.”
“Or someone?” Jane mused, her eyes suddenly going wide.
“What? William asked, heart quickening again.
“What if it’s Mum?”
“It can’t be. Why would the Commander be angry at a captive? Surely they’re beneath his attention,” William replied, skeptical, but not ruling anything out completely.
“She’s a good shot with a bow. What if she managed to get a hold of one and tried to kill him?”
William struggled to believe that. Their mother had started to toughen up and adjust with the world, but she wasn’t anywhere near mentally conditioned for assassination. They should still investigate though.
“Let’s go look. Sorry Nite, about earlier I mean.”
Nite looked thoughtful and considered something before replying, “Anxiety sucks. It’s a Curse. Cleansing it is hard as it’s of the mind. Charisma increases can make this easier to handle, but it means that Auras, even those not fully developed will trigger it easier as Aura’s attacks a person’s emotions, something governed by Charisma. The only other way to hold the problem at bay is to fully form a Soul Constellation. This will effectively bring the effect of the curse down to a miniscule amount. Only high level Medical Classes of Advanced tier are proven to have the ability to remove Curses. Like things affecting emotions however, mental willpower even if it isn’t truly measurable by a particular attribute can keep one functioning when the curse is particularly potent. Enough about that though, we need to move.”
No one spoke further, simply moving up in squad formation until they reached the gathering crowd. They started shouldering their way through to get a better view, squeezing between cuirass and sheathed weapons alike that adorned the garrison. William managed to get a clearer view from between the shoulders and heads of two particularly burly soldiers at the front row, his face barely visible from open space that the crowd encircled. When he got a clearer view, his blood ran cold. On his knees at the center of the gathering was Steve, one of the people from his old town on Earth. Though they weren’t friends, there wasn’t any bad blood as Walter, his old bully was the one that pressured Steve and John to be his friends. William knew that John and Steve weren’t exactly best friends, but they on several occasions had chatted with each other amicably back in Greenwell. William hoped that John didn’t do anything rash if he spotted Steve.
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Above Steve stood a mountain of a man, with long hair that was done in a warrior’s braid. His eyes were a rich hazel that matched his hair. A well groomed beard covered his face, trimmed to line up with his Adam’s apple. Adorning his torso was a plate metal cuirass, two large pauldrons with ridges at the top made him look sort of like a Warcraft character with their large size. The ridges were about two inches thick as they were tall, designed to stop a blade from sliding up the curvature of the pauldron into the bearer’s neck. A yellow shoulder cape covered the man’s right arm and a large, two headed and bearded Battle-axe was housed across his back.
The same plated armor shaped in gauntlets covered the man’s arms in rounded layers, making gaps or chinks in the armor much smaller. This would have no doubt added an unwieldy weight to the armor, but from the man’s size, that wasn’t an issue. The bottom of his cuirass was skirted with thinner plates that lined several rings of metal that circled the man’s waist, creating something similar to a metal ribcage for lack of better comparison. Thick steel greaves finished the visage, its form matching the styling of the gauntlets.
That sight was imposing, more so than any Fell-kin he had encountered up to that point, and when the man spoke, his knees gave an involuntary shudder.
“Hear me, one and all! No one likes thievery, and it ain’t something that us decent folk do, now is it?”
“NO SIR!” The crowd boomed, in stern resolve.
“Bring the other’s forward!” The Commander or who William suspected was the Commander crossed his arms and a predatory grin curved up his bearded face.#
The malicious grin highlighting a large diagonal scar going from the top of his left eyebrow to the bottom right of his chin. He would be a nightmare to fight, William knew. A divide in the crowd to the left of him became visible and two pairs of soldiers dragged two other soldiers behind them by neck collar and chains. William glanced back and saw Steve in dingy cotton clothes with a neck collar and chains of his own. The two other prisoners were lowered onto their knees in a line next to Steve.
“You three are accused of stealing from the granary. We have rations for a reason, men. We are civilized people, not thieves and charlatans. We have heard reports of your involvement in the missing foods. Furthermore, crumbs and chicken bones were found in the captive accommodations that matched the missing goods. This is even more egregious. You deprive my soldiers of food and give that food to prisoners who have their own rations provided, out of the kindness of our hearts.”
Steve to William’s surprise, was the one to reply, “A slice of stale bread and cup of water isn’t a ration. You moan about us not doing enough work, yet don’t give us the food we need to maintain a working strength.”
The commander belly laughed then, his deep, gruff voice reverberating through the camp.
The malicious grin grew sinister and he stepped around and squatted down in front of Steve. With that same grin, he dealt a metal backhand to the side of Steve’s head. A resounding pop sounded and muffled groans of pain echoed from Steve’s broken jaw and bleeding mouth.
“When I say walk, then walk. When I say jump, you jump. Now, You will all give me your end of the story, and we’ll see who’s lying. Let’s start with you, Krow.”
The Commander pointed at the leftmost captive, a soldier that appeared quite scrawny with plain features. He was still in his armor, but had no weapons visible. Maybe he was a mage and a surprise attack would come? William felt disappointment as Krow started shaking in fear, making it clear that no retaliation was coming.
It didn’t take long for him to crumble and start spilling his guts.
“It wasn’t me, I saw these two working together to conspire against our glorious forces. When I confronted them, the noise drew attention and we were all captured. I pleaded my case, to the soldiers that arrived, but no one listened.”
“Krow Mennace, you are a Fort Boulder local correct? And you have a wife and son, correct?”
“Um… Y-yes.”
“And you know the consequence of the charges if found guilty?”
Krow nodded, his lips quivering in terror.
“We have your account of things. Let’s move on. Wizzel? What do you have to say for yourself?”
The second captured soldier was addressed next and William felt some disgust at the man. His face was warted and spotted, a large vessel of pus and flesh like a tumor bloated one side of a pointed nose. The thin, beady eyes gave him an animalistic look.
“Wizzel? More like Weasel!” William smiled, despite himself, pleased with the quip.
“I-it wasn’t me sir. It was them-” Wizzel pointed both hands at Krow and Steve. “-They were scheming to steal more than what they already had. I found it suspicious as to why one of our own was aiding a prisoner. Turns out, he had treasonous views about you sir, Fort Boulder, and Stonegate as a whole. He also spoke to the prisoner about joining the Foundation after escaping. He was even willing to abandon his comrades while the prisoner was willing to abandon his friends.”
The Commander stroked his beard, nodding at the report. He turned to the still damaged Steve.
“What’s your side of the story, prisoner?”
Steve gurgled, his eyes rolling back from pain before his eyes glazed over with tears.
“Oh? Nothing to say, Silence is an answer in itself. You obviously have no defense for the charges against you. Wizzel, arise. Guards, undo his bonds.”
As ordered, Wizzel was freed and the picture became clear. Wizzel was the one who reported them. He must’ve been spying form the start. There was a familiarity between Wizzel and the Commander. Wizzel gave a salute once freed and walked away, leaving Krow and Steve at the Commander’s mercy.
Mercy was not given however as the battle-axe was drawn.
“You are both guilty of capital crimes. Krow, you and your family will be sentenced to death. As will you, prisoner. You should’ve behaved for your betters.”
In a blur, the axe swung down, decapitating Krow, the soldier’s head rolling off from his shoulders and bouncing once before stilling beside the body. Spurts of gore leaked from the neck as the body fell forward, creating a dull thud. The Axe was at an apex, about to end Steve with a downward swing. William could do nothing. His friends could do nothing. To act was to be discovered, overwhelmed, then beheaded in turn. Before the axe swung in finality, Steve looked around in desperation. His eyes found William’s and they widened. Steve went to stand, most likely intending to run towards William in need. The unbloodied axe head cleaved through Steve’s neck, lopping his head off. Steve’s headless body briefly stood, the signal to his muscles and nerves registering before the decapitation. Milliseconds later, the body spasmed and flopped to the ground beside Krow, a splatter sounding as Krow’s blood puddle became the landing point of Steve’s body.
William had just seen someone he knew be killed, right before his very eyes, inches away and unable to act. Nausea fought within, but he was barely able to hold it together. He felt a hand on his arm, and saw Stacey’s teary eyes peeking through the visor of her helm. Her grip tightened as she silent cried and he rested his hand over hers. They didn’t need to worry about being seen like that given the density of the crowd.
“They’ll pay!” John quietly growled from William’s other side.
William agreed wholeheartedly.
The Commander in the time they looked amongst each other, had wiped his axe clean and stowed it on his back once more. His hands held the two severed heads.
“We will display these at the gates for all lawbreakers to see, and learn from. I want a messenger heading back to fort boulder for Krow’s family. Corruption must be pulled out by the root.”
His voice was calm, but absolute. An intensity shone in the man’s eyes and he seemed like a goliath amongst men. William’s concern for the success of their mission increased several-fold at the sight.
“Stupid soft cap.” William mentally cursed, wishing he could power level a bunch to even the odds, or maybe even become stronger.
He didn’t get any more time to think however, as the Commander shouted, “Alright, you louts, get back to your stations!”
An explosion of movement occurred around his group. They needed to move. William saw everyone making ready to move too, and noticed John staring at the body that once belonged to his friend, or at least someone he spent a large amount of time with.
“C’mon dude, we need to go,” He said, trying to sound gentle for John’s sake.
John gave no verbal reply, but nodded and turned, following the others. William glanced back at the scene, and burned it into his memory. It was an outcome for them all if they failed. They had truly entered the lion’s den.
A few minutes later, William’s group were back inside their squad tent.
Nite scanned the group once they were all inside the tent, and said, “Okay, so I know some of you are angry at the loss of a friend, but cool heads must prevail. We need to stick to the plan. Get sabotage measures in place, Make specific targets have ‘accidents’, as well as freeing, and arming the captives. The espionage measures will be left to us of the Foundation, whilst the rest of you meet up and get yourselves acquainted with the captives. We will most likely be directed into patrol rotations or switching out at the work sites to watch operations. We can use that time to liaise with the captives. When we aren’t on shift, we can roam freely, within reason. That will be the route to reconnaissance for us and yourselves. We will have follow up meetings whenever we regroup in here. This will be the most private location we get as a group.”
William thought on it and couldn’t really fault the plan, or the bare-bones phase one of the plan, at least.
Nite seemed to wait for any counter arguments or discussion, but none came. William glanced at his friends. Stacey held his hand, saddened at the execution they had seen. Jane and John were glum, the former probably finding the true gravity of their situation. John was sad for obvious reasons, and Maya was lost in thought.
The Foundation team were probably so used to death at this point, that it was just another day at the office.
Seeing that no one spoke, Nite continued, “You may need to ‘discipline’ your friends if they get caught breaking any rules. This would only apply if there were other witnesses present that were part of the garrison. If we’re the only ones in an area, we can be a bit more liberal with our schemes and the captives’ aid. Be prepared to whip or even drag offenders to higher ups. I would advise that you tell those you care for most to persevere and follow everything in compliance even if it brings them to breaking point, otherwise you may find yourselves hurting them or bringing about their execution. None of you want that. We are in even deeper waters than first planned, but we can still pull this off. Be careful who you talk to as some captives could be under the thumbs of the garrison. It usually happens in these camps. You must make sure that those you want to rescue don’t say anything about the plan to fellow captives.”
William decided to join the conversation as he said, “Can these ‘spies’ be bribed?”
Nite shrugged before replying, “They are still captives, but ones with better treatment than the typical prisoner. This means that they might be amicable to a deal, but any deal disclosed to the enemy will lead to discovery. If we kill the enemy, take this place down, and free the captives, those ‘spies’ will go back to their normal lives.”
That made sense. To summarize the situation, it was difficult at minimum. They needed to disclose the plan to their people, whilst ensuring that info isn’t repeated. They needed to scout and figure out a way to arm and free the captives, and they needed to be mentally resilient enough to harm those they are trying to save to protect the many. All of this was to also be done while avoiding the watchful eyes of the garrison.
Just another day in GAEA.