A rustling noise came from the direction of the bushes, and then a moment later, the figures of a young man and woman emerged from the undergrowth, their hands raised, their faces in shadow.

Saul twisted his fingers in the air at his side, sending the Light Globe sailing over toward the two newcomers. As the light fell on them, Saul saw that they were younger than Zorea and Brand, but not by much. The young man looked Xornian, with black eyes and a mop of dark curly hair, under which a blush showed his embarrassment at being caught out.

The woman was a different picture altogether. She had fair skin, but she was taller and much more lightly built than any Xornian Saul had ever seen. Her eyes were green in the glow of Saul’s Light Globe spell, and she had a mass of very bright red hair that gleamed like polished metal in the spell’s light.

Both wore Xornian officer armor. The young man had a short sword at his side and a small hide shield strapped to his back, but the woman had a longsword at her hip, and she carried a longbow on her back. Both her weapons were very unlike the regular Xornian officer kit.

The young man looked chagrined, but the woman’s eyes blazed defiantly at Saul, and she threw an angry glare at her companion. Saul thought that he could piece together what had happened. The squeak had come from the young man, and the blow they had heard had been this fierce-looking woman punching him to make him shut up.

Well, they’d been found out now. They didn’t seem like much of a threat, but Saul was troubled. They were wearing Xornian military uniforms—officer uniform, no less. Were they spies of some kind that had infiltrated the Xornian army? If that was the case, then could he trust the Xornian soldiers at all?

He took a breath to speak, but before he could say a word Elman strode forward and harangued the two interlopers.

“Fyrea, Arlo, what is the meaning of this?” he thundered. “In the name of the…” he glanced at Saul and checked himself before invoking the gods. “I mean, uh, explain yourselves at once!”

“Uncle Elman—” the young lad began, but Elman Tell cut him off.

“No, Ranger Arlo, I’m not Uncle Elman to you, not this time. For now, you will address me as armsmaster, and you will explain why you have been caught spying on a superior officer!”

“Sir,” Arlo said stiffly, lowering his hands to his sides.

The woman, Fyrea, did the same, stepping back a pace as if to give Arlo more room for his explanation. Saul caught a glint of satisfaction in her eyes at her companion’s imminent humiliation.

“Uh, well, it’s like this, sir,” Arlo began, dithering a little. “We returned from our mission on the other side of the Dragon River, looking in on the Daggerforts, and when we got back into Xorn a message came by dragonfly to inform us that you were at Jillin. We arrived in Jillin just after you’d left for Sprite’s Corner, and so we thought we’d follow you up. When we arrived, we saw magic lights and did not know what was happening, so we… we concealed ourselves to find out what was going on before we showed ourselves.”

“That’s right, sir,” Fyrea added in a calmer voice. “You understand that we had no idea what might be going on up here, and when we saw lights and heard the sound of magic, we wanted to make sure that all was well with you, and that there was no threat. It seemed wisest to hide and get an idea of the lie of the land first, so to speak.”

“Hmph,” Elman said, crossing his arms. “Well, I suppose that’s understandable. And what do you think of what you saw?”

Arlo gestured at Saul. “We heard this man speak of a portal, and we saw him placing some kind of bright object on that standing stone, and then we saw the map. When we heard your words, sir, and understood that you proposed to leave with these people, that’s when—”

“That’s when Arlo here squeaked like a mouse, and I had to thump him to try and keep him quiet!” Fyrea finished, breaking into a smile. “We were about to show ourselves anyway, but I confess I wanted to take advantage of being hidden to see just a little more.” She looked at Saul with a twinkle in her eyes. “I guess you might not have been so keen on showing your spells if you’d known you had an audience, and I suppose that concealment comes a bit too naturally to elite Xornian scouts such as Arlo and myself.”

Saul chuckled, relaxing. He liked these two already, and all thought that they might be spies had left him. They were just young and a little naïve and had wanted to see the show.

“That’s true enough,” he said to her. “I trust Armsmaster Elman, but I don’t know you two. I guess there’s no harm done, however. Elman, why don’t you introduce us?”

Elman introduced the interlopers as his nephew, Arlo Tell, and Fyrea the archer. Both held the rank of scout sergeant, a mid-ranked officer level in the Xornian ranger division. Both were specialists in quiet missions for Queen Lylandra of Xorn. Saul raised his eyebrows at that, given how they had given themselves away from their hiding place but, on reflection, he supposed they had gathered valuable information before they had let themselves be discovered.

“This is Saul Kramitz, who has been appointed Thane of Jillin by the queen, and these are his friends, Brand of Harkin’s Holdfast and Zorea the Healer,” Elman said, introducing them.

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“You’ve certainly turned the fortunes of Jillin around,” Fyrea said, eyeing Saul with interest. “The people there can’t speak highly enough of you, and word of the marvelous change has spread throughout the borderlands. Jillin was always a run-down little town, but now it seems on the way to being the most prosperous place in the region. After seeing what you’ve done here tonight, however, I’m less surprised than I might have been.”

“Saul is a man of many talents,” Zorea said with a smile.

“But just at the moment,” Saul said firmly, “I’ve a mission to do. I may be a man of many talents, but hanging about isn’t one of them. Can I rely on you two to keep your mouths shut about what you’ve seen here?”

They both nodded, then when Saul glared severely at them, they spoke.

“You can rely on us,” Fyrea said.

“Absolutely,” Arlo added.

Saul looked at Elman. The old soldier rolled his eyes once, then nodded. “They may be fools at times but, in a pinch, I’d trust them with my life,” he assured Saul.

He trusted Elman’s judgment. Arlo and Fyrea were young, but they seemed experienced and capable for their age, and he believed they were sincere. “Good,” he said. “You keep your word to me and, in return, I can’t see any reason why you shouldn’t learn more about my magic in the course of time. Will you be able to stay at Jillin? We’re not going to be more than a day or two in our mission.”

The two youngsters glanced at each other then looked at Elman, who nodded his acquiescence. “Anything especially urgent to report from the Daggerforts?” Elman asked.

Arlo shook his head. “Nothing that won’t wait a day or so, sir,” he said.

“Good,” Elman replied. “You two return to Jillin and tell the captain of the guard I’ll be staying. He should take his men and return immediately to Blackrock. You two stay at the town until I return, and I’ll take your reports when I’m back.”

The two young people nodded in agreement, said their goodbyes, and then went off, talking together in low voices and throwing curious glances over their shoulders as they went.

It was quickly decided that Saul, Zorea, Brand, and Elman would travel together to the Northwood that very night. Saul had something he wanted to ask Captain Jerryl as soon as possible, and Elman was as keen as any of them to see how the portal would work. Now that Arlo and Fyrea were delivering Elman’s orders to the guard company, there was no need for Elman to return to Jillin before he set off with Saul to the northlands.

Saul turned to the map again, and focused on the red circle that marked the portal in Eastwood Clearing in the Northwood.

Select: Transit to Eastwood Clearing Portal

After selection, Saul was presented with a second set of options.

Select: Bring All Squad Members

Select: Choose Squad Members

Select: Travel Solo

That was useful. He could pick and choose who to bring with him. For now, he selected Bring All Squad Members and, immediately, the map flickered and vanished. There was a whooshing sound, and they felt lifted and carried forward in much the same way as they did when traveling to the Workshop.

A moment later, they stepped out into the cold, stark winter whiteness of the Northwood.

“Look out!” Zorea shouted as soon as they stepped into the clearing.

Saul ducked instinctively, and Brand dived to the side, but Elman wasn’t quick enough. He wasn’t used to magic and was disoriented from his first ever portal transit, and a thick gobbet of white webbing hit him in the face, knocking him backward. He stumbled into the stone pillar, and then dropped to his knees as a shape of horror dashed toward him from the darkness.

The Fire Squad leaped into action. Brand’s Firebrand spell blasted from his hands in a moment, illuminating the snowy clearing with a yellow, flaring light. Saul reached for his Fire spells, running his eye across the combat ready options.

Spells Available: Tier 2

Fireball (Ranged Attack)

Burning Hands (Melee)

Firestorm (Area-of-effect)

He hadn’t had the chance to fully take stock of how many enemies there were, but he could see there was a crowd, so he chose Firestorm and cast it into the midst of the thickest mass of shadowy moving shapes.

A thunderous explosion rocked the ground beneath their feet as the spell took effect. In the light from the explosion and Brand’s spell, they saw what they were facing.

Spiders.

A whole brood of giant forest spiders had taken up residence in the Eastwood Clearing, and there was no question that Saul and his friends were outnumbered at least five to one. In the darkness it was hard to tell exactly how many there were, but it seemed there were many large, fully grown adult spiders and a whole brood of juveniles.

Even these smaller creatures could deliver ferocious bites, and their fangs were often poisoned. The spiders of the Northwood were more than capable of killing fully grown warriors, and Saul and his friends would be hard pressed to fight this group off.

They had no option but to try, however. Saul knew from experience that the portals wouldn’t work if he was engaged in combat, and neither would the Workshop. There was no escape except cutting and burning their way through the enemy.

“Hold together,” Saul called to Brand. “Zorea, get that webbing off Elman’s face! It will suffocate him. Try to bring him ‘round, then join us. Brand and I will hold them off while you work.”

Saul and Brand fought side-by-side, Brand’s Firebrand spell and his flame-enchanted sword working wonders against the horrible creatures. Giant spiders were particularly vulnerable to fire magic, and Saul and his team made good use of the fact.

Saul reached for his magic again, this time casting Firestorm again and adding a School of Air combination to make the storm burn even more brightly. The flames demolished the spiders, sending them burning up like kindling soaked in oil, their nightmare silhouettes writhing for a moment in the flames and falling in a heap to the ground.

He then cast Gladesword, adding a fire combination to the spell so that the summoned weapon ran with flames.

Zorea pulled the thick webbing from Elman’s face and applied her Healing Flame spell to the armsmaster, bringing him around from his daze.

“What’s happening?” Elman asked blearily, looking about.

“We’re under attack,” Zorea said shortly, standing up and helping him to his feet. “Giant spiders.”

“Spiders? I hate spiders!” Elman said, but he sounded like he was relishing the opportunity rather than feeling fear. He drew his blade.

As Saul sallied forward, slashing left and right with the flaming Gladesword, he saw a flicker of silver text appearing in his vision.

New Squad options available:

Select: Add Magic Spell: Elman Tell

Saul picked the option. Elman let out a whoop of pleasure. As a Squad member, he could see the System options as Saul looked through them, and he was very happy to find that he was about to be granted magic.

“Ready, Elman?” Saul called and opened the options to give his new Squad member a brand new spell.