The two of them stepped off the boat, treading lightly upon the sand underneath their feet. Pale did a quick gear check, making sure both her weapons were fully loaded, before looking back to Kayla and nodding.

"We should be good to go," she announced. "I will likely need some heavier firepower if we are to directly assault wherever they're holding your father, which I presume will be a main camp of some kind. If that's truly the case, then I would expect to see heavy resistance. And this time, I will not be able to pull that same trick with the pod."

"You won't?" Kayla asked, fear creeping into her voice.

Pale shook her head. "I have a limited amount of pods, I cannot afford to sacrifice too many of them. Not to mention, this is supposed to be a rescue mission – I cannot very well rescue a dead man."

Kayla's expression tightened, but she nodded all the same. "Very well…" She cast a glance around, her gaze landing on the nearby forest. "I don't have even the faintest idea of where we're going at this point, Pale."

"Then we're both blind, I guess," Pale surmised. "So be it. We aren't turning back at this point, so might as well pick a direction and start walking."

"Okay… through the trees, then."

Pale nodded, then followed after Kayla as she took up the lead. Together, they both pushed their way through the foliage and underbrush, carefully moving as quietly as they could to avoid attracting any unwanted attention. Of course, it only took a few moments for Pale to realize something was very wrong.

"Kayla," she said softly.

"Yes?"

"Listen. What do you hear?"

Kayla's ears perked up. After a moment, she looked at Pale over her shoulder. "Nothing."

"Exactly. I think we may have picked the right direction unintentionally."

"Okay… what do you want to do?"

"Keep advancing," Pale said. "Stick to the treeline. I want to get in close and do some scouting before we push in at night. Once we've gotten a read on what kind of opposition we'll be facing, we fall back, I'll resupply from a pod and switch weapons if need be, and then we'll come back when night falls. Understand?"

"I get it," Kayla confirmed.

"Good. Keep moving, let's hurry up and end this."

With their plan now set, both girls continued moving through the forest. Eventually, they reached the edge of the treeline, and from there, they were both able to see a large camp made up of log longhouses and tents. Several large fire pits had been dug across the camp, upon which hunks of meat were roasting. And through it all, people milled about – men, women, and children dressed in thick furs to insulate them from the winter chill. All the men and some of the women had bladed or blunt weapons on them, while a rare few were dressed in thicker furs or robes and did not carry large weapons, signifying them as mages.

"I count at least a hundred," Pale confirmed.

Kayla blanched at that number. "A hundred…? How are we supposed to deal with that kind of opposition?!"

"Easy," Pale urged. "A fair few of that number are children – not harmless, but nowhere as dangerous as the adults are. If we're going by just the combat-ready adults, then that number seems to be more like seventy. Still a lot, but not insurmountable." She looked around the camp, a frown crossing her face. "Where is the warrior-king?"

"Sven? I don't know. I would guess that his home is the largest and most ornate one in the back, however."

"Probably a safe bet…" Pale turned towards the house, but there was no activity around it; it didn't appear as if anyone was home, at least from what she could see. After a moment, she turned back to Kayla. "What do you think?"

"I think we're going to have to be careful."

"That's an understatement. This is extremely dangerous, Kayla. Now, I have no problem doing this, but you-"

"Stop," she said firmly. "I'm with you, Pale. I'm not letting you go in there by yourself."

"Somehow, I knew you'd say that." Pale shrugged. "Very well, then. I may have an idea."

"Let's hear it."

She began to gesture, pointing around the camp. "The back part seems relatively unguarded, for some reason; it's likely they aren't expecting any kind of attack on their home territory like this. I say we wait until nightfall, then sneak in and start silently eliminating anyone who gets in our way. Don't worry," she added, noticing Kayla's disdainful expression, "I'll do the dirty work there. Anyway, once we get in the camp, all we need to do is find where they're holding the slaves, get your father, and then get out."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"And the others?"

"I'm still working on that, but rest assured, we are not leaving them there," Pale insisted. "Does that sound good to you?"

Slowly, Kayla nodded. "I think that's the best we're going to get… okay, what do you need from me?"

"Come with me," Pale said. "We're going back to the beach; something tells me my current weapon isn't going to be sufficient for what we have planned."

"You're going to call down a pod?" Kayla asked as the two of them began to double back. "Won't that attract attention?"

"That's exactly what I'm counting on, actually," was all Pale had to say.

–

Several minutes later, and they were back on the beach. Pale wasted no time in calling down a pod; the moment it touched the ground, she threw open the door and swapped out her shotgun for a new weapon, a semi-automatic .308-caliber battle rifle with a suppressor and low-power scope, plus a new chest rig filled with enough spare ammunition to kill the entire camp three times over. Just as well, she also grabbed a suppressor for her .45-caliber pistol.

As soon as she'd armed herself, Pale sent the pod back into the atmosphere, then motioned for Kayla to follow her back to the foliage. They both double-timed it to the forest, and then hunkered down and waited. Sure enough, just like Pale expected, several bandits emerged from another part of the forest closer to the beach, weapons already drawn and at the ready. They all congregated around the newly-formed blackened crater in the sand, looking around for what could have caused it.

The moment Pale was convinced everyone in the group was there, she spun out from behind cover, her rifle barking. Shot after shot came pouring out of the end of its barrel, coming as fast as she could pull the trigger; five bandits had come to investigate the noise, and in a matter of seconds, all five were lying on the sand, blood and gray matter congealing beneath their heads as their eyes stared lifelessly at the skies above.

Pale dropped her newly-empty magazine and replaced it with a fresh one, then smacked the bolt release to chamber a round as she advanced, sweeping the area. Once she was confident it was clear, she lowered her rifle, then motioned with her head for Kayla to come out.

"Should be safe," she announced.

Tentatively, Kayla stepped out from behind cover, doing her best not to look at the five men Pale had just killed. "W-won't they come looking for those guys?"

"They will, but we'll be long gone by that point. Follow me; looks like night is about to fall."

Kayla nodded, then the two of them began to head for the forest once more, Pale leading the way slightly, the stock of her weapon firmly tucked into her shoulder as she moved. By the time they got back to the bandit camp, the sun had already started to set, but to Pale's surprise, there was hardly anyone on the outskirts. Confused, she looked around, before a large commotion near the warrior-king's home caught her attention. She peered through her weapon's scope, watching as a crowd gathered around it.

"What's going on?" Kayla asked, trying to peer out from around her.

"No idea," Pale said, continuing to stare down her scope. "Wait, hang on – something's happening…"

As she watched, a large man dressed in far more ornate furs than the others stepped through the crowd, all the people parting to allow him passage. This had to be Sven Greymane, she realized, if only because of the respect the other bandits were showing to him. He was big, standing just under seven feet tall, and was very well-muscled; coupled with a head of flowing blonde hair, steely blue eyes, and a jawline that looked like it was carved from stone, and he looked every bit the part of a royal.

He moved to the front of the crowd and held up a hand, and everyone present fell silent. Pale was tempted to put a bullet through his head then and there, but she held herself back – he wasn't the mission, Kayla's father was, and she couldn't risk compromising their position just yet. And besides that, they still needed answers from Sven with regards to the letter they'd pulled from the bandits who assault Evie's caravan.

Reluctantly, Pale kept herself from squeezing the trigger, instead listening in as Sven cleared his throat and began to address the crowd, his voice loud enough to carry even over to their hiding spot.

"My people, it would seem we have underestimated the enemy," he announced. "I am afraid to say that the five men we sent to investigate the beach earlier have not yet returned. I can only assume this means they are dead."

A few women in the crowd suddenly began to wail, but Sven silenced them with a wave of his hand. "Fear not; they shall all be avenged, and soon at that."

A wicked grin cracked his face, and he turned towards the forest. "I know you are out there, listening to me. I must say, it's very brave of you to have come all this way. It will make killing you all the more sweet."

"How does he-" Kayla began, only for Pale to shake her head.

"He's trying to draw us out," Pale whispered. "Don't fall for it."

"Ah, but what made you come this far, I wonder?" Sven mused. "It can't have merely been that you wish to take revenge for something we have done to you. What, then? Hm… perhaps we have someone close to you?"

Pale's eyes narrowed, and her grip on her rifle turned white-knuckled. Meanwhile, Sven's grin widened.

"Yes, I suppose that would make sense," he said, nodding to himself. "But let's test that theory, shall we?"

He motioned to someone behind him, and as Pale and Kayla watched, two bandits brought forth a struggling woman, her hands bound behind her back. She was dressed in little more than loose rags, and her body was covered In cuts and bruises; her hair was bedraggled and frayed, and tears trailed down her cheeks as she sobbed in fear. The two bandits forced her to her knees, even as she tried to resist, but it was no use.

Before Pale could do anything, Sven drew a dagger and thrust it into her throat, then roughly tore it outwards. Pale grit her teeth as she watched the woman gasp and sputter and thrash on the ground, blood gushing from her wound, before she finally fell still a few seconds later.

Once she was dead, Sven wiped his knife off on her ragged clothing, then motioned for the bandits to take her body away.

"Must not have been someone you cared about," Sven mused. "Not to worry, though – you killed five of my men, and as luck would have it, we had five slaves left. There are still four more to go through; perhaps eventually we'll get to someone you do care about, hm?"

He snapped his fingers, and the same bandits from before brought forth another prisoner. Kayla's gasp told Pale everything she needed to know about who it was, even before she saw the wolf ears and tail on him. That was more than enough for her.

As Sven began to march towards Kayla's father, Pale took aim at him and fired, dumping the entire twenty-round magazine into his torso. Sven flinched as the rounds made impact, but otherwise showed no indication that he'd even been struck. Slowly, he turned towards the forest as Pale's gun clicked empty, his manic grin widening.

"So you finally show yourselves," he announced. "This just got interesting."

He snapped his fingers, and as one, the bandits began to surge towards them, a deafening war cry filling the air around them as they rushed.