The two warrior Tamings were much more challenging than the one with Mage Eldan. Pax had to do most of the heavy lifting, and it took both warriors way too long to figure out how to push their mana outside their bodies.
Mage Eldan took over guard duty so Bryn and Tasar could help coach the warriors through the process. It eventually worked, and there was at least one positive. They didn’t need such long lengths of infused rope to slow down the mana when it finally broke free. The adult beasts, even injured, were more robust and not as easily overwhelmed as the babies had been.
After a long hour and a half resulting in a diffuse headache that ached at the base of his neck, they finally finished with the digger. Pax resolved to make unlocking at least one mana skill a requirement for any future candidates wanting to Tame, especially the warriors.
Then again, he wasn’t sure how that would go over. Some people didn’t have any available skill slots. But once Taming gained popularity, maybe they could let those with a mana skill jump to the front of the line to encourage the practice.
In Pax’s opinion, the ability to see, understand and manipulate mana was crucial to everyone, mage or not. The empire’s leadership over the generations had fallen into such rigid, narrow sighted paths they’d lost a lot of opportunities for innovation over the years.
Pax let out a weary sigh as he helped Tyrodon and Dahni break down the digger’s cage. Rin had pulled out a travel perch for Eris and fed their tired scout some meat while she took a break. Across from them, an awestruck Finrick fed pieces of meat to Cobble, his exhausted, newly Tamed companion.
The bonding with the warriors hadn’t quite healed their beasts like Mage Eldan’s huge reservoirs of mana had done for Whisper. Pax would have donated more of his, but didn’t want to come up short while they were still out in the Wilds. Experience had hammered into him to expect the unexpected.
At least, Finrick had been able to further stabilize Cobble with a couple of healing potions. This was new for them, working with injured beasts while Taming and deciding how well healing potions worked on beasts. In the past, most of his crew’s companions had stayed off the front line and hadn’t been injured more than their innate abilities could heal.
They’d need to start a record to keep track of everything so they could further refine their process of working with adult beasts. Finrick promised to keep them updated on how Cobble recovered with rest and food, so they could learn more.
Just a few feet away, Ironfist still looked a bit stunned by the sequence of events that left her with a large inferno serpent draped over her lap as she sat cross-legged on the ground. She’d named him Pyro, because, in her words, “I’ve always been jealous of the fire mages during battle, and now I’ve got my own.”
“Everyone ready?” Mage Eldan strode out of the shadows with Whisper’s sinister skittering sound beside her. “Time to get back to safety so we can all recover to full strength.”
The others nodded wearily. Although everyone had taken care of after-battle healing, they still needed rest, food and Meditation to finish topping off. Finrick’s hand moved to rub absently where Whisper had slashed his arm before being Tamed.
“Form up,” Bryn said as she and Tasar walked over to Eldan with their stonepaws moving into position on either side.
With practiced motions, the others finished up and fell into their familiar diamond formation. Finrick and Ironside took up the rear after a bit of jostling to get their new companions into outside flanking positions. While everyone found their spots, Rin heaved Eris up into the sky and then put her perch into inventory.
Eris flapped into the sky, but Pax could tell she was tired. Talpa sent a pulse of weary emotion his way as he waddled forward, not bothering to dive into the ground until everyone was ready. Even Whisk had decided that he wanted to ride back home, moving to his familiar position as a flexible liner just beneath Pax’s armor.
“Ready? I’ll go ahead to the base and make sure your path is clear.” Mage Eldan waited for Bryn’s nod before spinning and jogging off, much faster than their formation could move. Still, it offered Pax comfort knowing she’d make sure nothing dangerous waited for them ahead.
They’d hardly been running long when Rin almost stumbled mid-jog.
What is it? Pax’s adrenaline spiked, and he scanned their surroundings.
We need to turn around.
“Hold up!” Bryn called out, drawing out the words to give them all time to slow their steps and not run into each other.
“Eris made a last loop out and said there are people out there.” Rin turned to look back over her left shoulder. “And they’re fighting.”
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“Which direction?” Bryn asked without hesitation.
Pax didn’t interrupt because he agreed they needed to respond. Anyone out here fighting off beasts had to be incoming recruits in trouble.
“About a mile that way.” Rin pointed before giving them all a troubled look. “They’re not fighting beasts. The people are fighting each other.”
Everyone hesitated for half a beat before Bryn looked at Pax. “Tell Eldan to keep going and get reinforcements from the base.” She turned to Ironfist. “The two of you will have to stay out of this and get your new companions back to base.”
Finrick made a sound of protest, and Ironfist looked like she wanted to argue. But Bryn was the official leader of this expedition. After a quick glance at their still injured companions, Ironfist nodded. The last thing their exhausted pets needed was a battle.
“But next time, you can count on us.” She motioned to Finrick, and they stepped out of formation and began running for the base.
Meanwhile, Pax gave Eldan a quick update, glad she hadn’t quite reached the range of their Echoes. She promised to keep pinging him when she was on her way with reinforcements to reestablish contact as soon as possible. She told them to wait for her if the fighters were higher level than they were.
“Top speed after me.” Bryn didn’t wait for their agreement, just spun and ran in the direction Rin had pointed, boots pounding and Onyx by her side.
Everyone fell in rapidly around her, the sense of urgency giving them fresh energy. Whoever was out there fighting, one side had to be rebels. That meant the other side was an enemy that was close enough to their base to threaten everything they’d been working for.
Pax felt a flush of energy strengthen his mana recovery and gave Dahni a grateful nod for boosting their recovery as much as possible for the coming fight.
Any more details before we get there? Bryn asked Rin.
Eris says there are two groups, and the bigger one isn’t winning like she’d expect because it has a bunch of what she calls younglings.
Kids? Pax broke in.
Yes. I think so. The number of actual fighters between the two groups seems to be similar, but the youngling group has more injured and is retreating. She’s going to try to get closer and see better.
Bryn’s pace picked up more, and no one protested. The group with kids had to be rebels, and some nasty empire group had followed them. Not only did they need to help the one with the kids, they needed to make sure no survivors made it out alive to report on this location.
It looks like there are about ten to fifteen fighters on either side. Mages and warriors. Spells and weapons flying back and forth in a running battle. Rin’s update interrupted his planning. There are about twenty kids, but they’re staying away from the battle, running toward us. Some of the bigger kids are acting as rear guards, holding shields and weapons to protect the younger ones. Both sides seem to be leaving them alone, though a stray shot could hit one of them.
Relief flickered through Pax at the update. Whoever the empire flicks were, at least they weren’t targeting unawakened kids. Pax triggered his Strategist skill, feeding it the sparse information they had, and tried to design a plan. He knew it would have to be a general one and flexible, because the fight was ongoing. Despite Eris’ updates, they wouldn’t really know what was happening until they saw it in person.
His skill struggled, and Pax couldn’t see a clear path forward. This was completely different from anything they’d done before. Not only were there no beasts involved, but there were two sides of people fighting each other. How did they stop it without getting attacked by both sides? Even the rebels might target them when they came barging in with no warning.
Bryn and everyone. We need to brainstorm a good plan, warrior and mage tactics together. And fast.
As his arms pumped and breath came too fast to speak easily, Pax was grateful for their ability to use the Echoes to make plans. The others threw out ideas ranging from practical to outlandish and, as the seconds passed, they outlined the bare bones of something that might just work.
Two fighters are down, one on each side. They’ve all stopped to fight. The kids are still running our way.
That threw out the part of their plan to run past the kids without hurting them in view of the rebel fighters to reassure them they were allies. They were at least another two minutes away, and the group of kids would be out of sight of the main battle by then.
Everyone, just do your best to stick together. Protect each other and try to subdue the loyalists. Remembering how many people they knew who were fighting on the empire’s side, he added, Kill them only if we have to, but make sure none of them get away.
It was more of a directive than a battle plan, but Pax trusted in his crew’s ability to improvise and fight together. They’d come a long way from their first awkward battles out in the open together at the start of the Purge.
Then the random nature of battle threw it all into disarray.
Rin cried out in pain and pitched forward, muscles going slack.
Pax barely grabbed one of her arms and barely kept her from faceplanting into the jagged ground. Around him, their formation broke and staggered as everyone came to a ragged stop, concern on every face.
“No. It’s not me.” Rin growled the word with pained effort, one hand clasped desperately to her side as she forced herself to straighten. “We need to run faster. They shot down Eris. I can’t get her to respond. All I know is she’s alive and in pain.”
Pax ignored the pit of worry that tried to swallow him at his friend losing her companion and focused on what they needed to do right now. “Brace yourself for Overcharge, everyone.” He spent some of his precious mana, hoping Dahni’s and Neptid’s boosts would help him recover it before reaching the fight.
“Yes,” Dahni exclaimed when the spell hit.
Amil gave Pax a sheepish grin. “Maybe your lightning spell is pretty amazing after all.”
Pax aimed a quick grin his way before messaging Talpa. Go ahead. Stay underground. Find Eris and get her to safety. When he got a confirmation back, he updated the others, hoping it would reassure Rin.
Moving faster than they had all day, they formed back up and leaped forward at an even faster pace. With how rapidly the situation was changing, they’d just have to figure this fight out as they went.
Pax pushed himself to keep up the brutal pace, sprinting across the landscape, holding one thought at the forefront of his mind as he spun up his mana to be ready.
He trusted his crew.