“Sir! Longsights confirm that there is only one mana signature in that area, outside of our own men. They don’t recognize the signature, but they estimate it at the sixth tier. The lieutenant gave me this to give to you.” The messenger finished his report and saluted before turning and leaving the tent.
Alton held the letter he had been given with some trepidation. A sixth tier fiend would be the most powerful fiend he ever encountered. Outside of stories of old, he had never heard of one. The strongest members of the strike teams were only now breaking into the third tier, himself included. He thumbed the silver medallion hanging from his neck before opening the letter. It was stamped with the image of a wolf, representing one of the many aspects of the Mad God, a sign of his status.
Alton, more than thirty soldiers have gone missing from night patrols and sentry duty on the south side of the camp. Reports give no description, no signs of struggle, nor evidence of what type of fiend we face. I am assigning this task to my most trusted team. We must retake Old Barrow before we can launch an offensive against Kitsu Fortress. Without the use of that pass, we are forced to march on an open field against superior numbers. You know the stakes, take Fox team and evaluate the threat. Use your judgment. I know you will not let me down.
Lieutenant Corbin
He finished reading the ominous letter and handed it over to Davih, the new captain of Fox team. He stood and walked to the edge of the pass they were camped beside. The newly formed Third Army of Agorra was looking for a way to strike behind the Edorian line at the village of Old Barrow. This was one of a few mountain passes that were described from the old maps preserved from the time before. The strike teams had been clearing the pass ahead of the rest of the army for a few weeks now. These attacks were coming from an unexplored direction, farther south that led away from the Lucia Valley. Davih grunted as he finished the letter, and Alton tucked it away in a pocket.
“Sixth tier, eh?” Davih finally said and broke the silence.
“Seems that way,” Alton replied slowly. Neither sergeant was overly exciting at the risk to their teams.
“Well, old friend,” Davih stood and stretched, “best to get to it. Waiting around only lets the fear fester. I’ll assemble the teams.”
Alton nodded at his friend and stared off over the edge. The mountains were laid out before him in all their eerie beauty. Snow covered much of the ground and every peak, even now in late spring. The sun would be up soon and shine blindingly bright against the white powder. He had grown up with the backdrop of the Mountain of the Mad God, but had never ventured its slopes. It was a novel experience that brought many challenges for him and his team. The footing was treacherous and required slow and steady progress. Caves and caverns littered the walls and hid many beasts and fiends. The ambient mana was higher here than on the floor of the valley. Alton was sure the mages had theories about that oddity.
Davih had the two teams up and ready by the time Alton wandered back over to the fire at the center of their camp. There were sixteen members between the two teams, all elite soldiers of the Agorran army. Alton was proud of the team he had been selected to lead. His confidence in the mission was significantly higher having his friend here.
“Listen up. We have been assigned to investigate a pass that runs south of the army’s current location. Night patrols and sentries have gone missing and the longsights have confirmed an unknown mana signature a few miles off. We will investigate and, if within our means, eliminate the threat to allow the third army to pass unmolested. Pack up everything. We will leave the extra supplies with the army when we cross paths. Cycle during the hike. We are facing an unknown threat and will be on high alert.” Alton gave out his orders, and the teams snapped into action, professional soldiers to the core.
“Decided not to tell them? I don’t blame you. Not sure what I would have said myself. Glad they put you in charge of this one, to be honest.” Davih said quietly as he came to stand beside him.
“Best to not let the fear fester, as a wise man once told me,” Alton replied with a smile.
They broke camp quickly and began the march back down to join the army at camp a few miles behind them. They would shed extra equipment and resupply on the necessities before heading out to investigate the mana signature. Alton circulated through his legs to ease out the soreness of hiking and fighting in these mountains over the past few weeks. His core was full to the brim with the higher levels of ambient mana. It was far easier to cycle. One of the newer members of his team stumbled to a knee ahead, so Alton walked up beside her. She looked up, embarrassed, cheeks flashing red.
“Sorry sir. I loaded my pack too heavy on the right side and my feet are numb. Circulated a bit too much on my left and lost my footing. Won’t happen again, sir.” Private Carlianne blurted out in a rush.
“Relax, private. This damned cold has everyone a little off, a few more weeks and we will be back on the valley floor where humans are meant to live,” Alton said in response, trying to lighten the mood. He helped her to her feet, and they set off again. Alton couldn’t help but admire the way her now wet pants hugged her figure as he walked behind her. He caught himself and swiveled his head around to find Davih grinning at him, who then gave him a wink. It was Alton’s turn to have his cheeks turn red. It was the icy wind. That’s what he told himself, anyway.
They reached the main army camp and dropped off the extra gear while warming by one of the large fires. Alton had ordered for full strike gear and sent his corporal off to requisition enough health potions for both teams. He went in search of the longsights which took him to the center of the camp. The space had been cleared by large plows pushed by enhancers. The snow was piled up on the edges of the camp and served as natural walls. When he reached the longsights, he had them mark the location they suspected on the map and found it was a little more complicated than the messenger had implied.
“Sir. The mana signature only appears once or twice a night. It flares brightly enough to blind whoever is looking and then disappears. Always in a different spot, but in this same general location. Thats the best we can do unless we spend more nights observing it.” The longsight filled him in while updating Alton’s personal map.
“Then that will be enough for a start. We will follow this path. If any of you see another flare, send a runner to let us know.” Alton left the tent and walked back over towards his teams.
He filled Davih in on the update and they sat together and made a plan over a cup of coffee, one luxury of being in a full camp. They would set off on the route suggested to them and investigate each spot a flare of mana had been seen starting from the closest point. It looked to be about an hour hike away from their current location. He let the teams spend a few more minutes by the fire before Davih gathered them and they headed out, leaving the army camp through the south side.
The path chosen would take them through a series of valleys that crisscrossed smaller peaks. That meant large snow drifts of unknown depth and potential for caves dotting the sides as ambush sites. Alton ordered the team to equip their snow boots, the boot were attached to large and flat panels of thin wood that allowed them to walk on top of the snow rather than sink through it. The hit to the speed they could move was somewhat mitigated by circulating through the legs. It was a physically draining way to move that left Alton grateful for the high ambient mana.
The first valley passed by without any surprises. Heavy snowfall the night before blew the fresh snow around and erased any trails. Two sentries posted on this side of the camp had disappeared last night. There should have been signs. Sentries were a specialty unit in their own right, focusing on manasight and longsight. There should have been evidence of a struggle unless the soldiers were incapacitated without any chance of warning others.
Alton ran through every type of fiend he knew about as they hiked, but nothing seemed to fit. When they reached the end of the second valley, they found themselves entering an alpine forest. There was no underbrush visible above the snow, but the trees were densely packed, leaving little visibility. Alton checked his compass to confirm they needed to go through the forest. A sense of dread crept up Alton’s spine when he looked into the dark depths awaiting.
Alton gave a sharp whistle to get everyone’s attention from his position near the rear. “Anyone need a break?” He was pleased that no one spoke up “silent protocol through the forest. Buddy system. If something is in here, there’s no reason to give it any extra information. The first flare occurred a quarter mile or so in that direction.” Alton gave the order and pointed to the south and west, right through the dark and creepy looking forest.
Buddy system for the strike teams meant everyone partnered up. You stayed within five feet of your partner, with no exceptions. It was to keep soldiers from getting separated and lost alone or getting ambushed alone. Typically, blades partnered with utilitys or archers, shields with mages or healers, and kept the command structure separated. Alton indicated for Davih to take the lead and he fell back to the rear again.
The two teams began moving through the forest in a single file line as silently as possible. The wind was creating creaks and groans as the trees swayed and rubbed against each other high above the snow floor. Alton followed his team. In front of him was Carlianne, Alton grimaced. This was a tough mission for someone so new. His own nerves were frayed, let alone how she must be feeling.
In what Alton guessed to be the middle of the forest, they made contact with their first foe. It happened so fast that he almost missed it when he looked down to dust the snow off of his eyes. A shape hurtled out of the tree canopy and landed on one of Davih’s men. Both teams responded immediately and surrounded the shape with a wall of shields and sharp swords. A few stabs later and the fiend was dead. It was a fiend well known to the Agorrans called an Apeon, a forest ape that had manifested the ability to use mana. This one looked young and had died easy. They ranged from tier one to tier four and presented little harm alone to a team. If there was an entire pack, however…
Perimeter. Eyes up and out. Silent.
Alton signaled rapidly to both teams and then checked on the downed soldier. Davih’s healer was working on him when Alton arrived. He had taken a few bites to the neck that were bleeding, but the damage was light, all things considered. A brief conversation in hand code later and the team was back on the move, this time with at least one set of manasight enhanced eyes up at all times. They rotated observers to prevent any one person from emptying cores prematurely.
The healer would need time to cycle and recover his mana, so they bunched the formation to keep him and the injured soldier in the middle. Mana healing would close wounds and prevent worsening, similar to healing potions. Powerful healers could cleanse infection and speed up internal healing, but it placed a strain on both bodies. Healing in the field was a quick and dirty version of the healing available in a settled camp.
The group encountered six more Apeons before they exited the alpine forest. They were able to spot these well before they could attack and use their archers to kill them in the trees or injure them to the ground and finish them there. Alton was relieved when they finally left the dark canopy up above. The stress was taking its toll. He waited until they had cleared it by a few hundred feet and were in between several large rock structures that obscured vision in both directions to call a halt by whistling once.
“Syca, how many more hours of light?” Alton asked his observer.
“Hmm, at least two, no more than three.” Syca answered in his typical nondecisive way. The man was useful but refused to answer in exacts unless threatened with latrine duty.
“Let’s make camp here for tonight. I don’t want us ending up exposed after dark or in one of those forests. Fox team go back and fell one of those trees and drag it up. Wolf team set up a defensive camp and prepare a drying station. I’m going to scout out ahead and see whats around the bend. Two of you scout east and west. Buddy system, keep noise to a minimum. Observers rotate mana sight, one always up and scanning.” Alton gave his orders. “Syca, you're with me.”
Alton and his observer hiked another quarter of a mile through the snow and rock, finding nothing significant. The last valley of the trip ended shortly after and it would be moving up the rock face after that. He dreaded having to climb that much exposed rock and half hoped the fiend would attack them instead. On his return, they detoured far to the east and came up a different path, only finding more snow and rock. When he returned to camp Fox team had felled a tree and was in the process of splitting it apart, while Wolf team had cleared the rocky ground of snow.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Some of the wood was set apart to be shaped into spears. These would be placed around the camp in easy to reach locations in the case of an attack. If the ground were soft, they would be implanted at angles to prevent charges on the defenders. Two tents were erected around the fire, each tent capable of sleeping four soldiers. A cooking pot was being placed on metal poles that could be placed over the fire, and mana lanterns were placed around the perimeter of the camp.
Burning wet wood was difficult in the best of conditions and these were not those. They cut the wood down to small and slim chunks and laid it out to dry as much as possible in the fading light. They used a specific type of mana tool called an igniter to light the first batch. An igniter was a special kind of rock that was inlaid with runes that would cause the rock to heat to beyond natural levels. Wood placed in contact with the rock would ignite and burn, regardless of the state of the wood. The only downside to the igniters was the significant amount of mana it took to use it
When the sun died, the camp was finished and the two strike teams were ready. Each team would alternate sleeping and guard duty so that eight of them were always awake and prepared. There was enough firewood to last a full day, even at an aggressive burn rate, and dinner was cooking over the fire. A hearty stew that was a mix of meat and vegetables courtesy of the third army camps supply. Alton sat with his back against a large boulder and warmed his hands while watching Carlianne cook the stew. The teams had a tradition of assigning cook duty to the newest privates, which was convenient because the two privates in question were skilled at it.
“Going to be a long night up here.” Davih commented as he sat beside Alton against the boulder.
“That it will be. Cold one as well. Team all set for first watch?” Alton asked.
“Ready to freeze while you snore, you mean?” Davih chuckled back before his face turned serious. “I can’t decide if I want it to come for us or make us go to it,” he said with much less mirth in his tone.
“You and me both, here we at least have our back to the rock from two directions and time to prepare. Out there? We could walk into an ambush at any point.” Alton replied in a quiet voice.
“One hour at a time, like Thresh always said. No point to worrying if you can’t point at what you're worrying about.” Davih chuckled again after mimicking one of their old corporals. He pulled a copper flask out of his jacket and offered it to Alton.
“I’ll drink to that!” Alton laughed and responded.
Dinner passed peacefully, and everyone ate their fill before taking down the pot and prepping for the night. Each team of eight would split into four teams of two. Alternating mana sight with cycling and scanning the assigned directions. Observers were given the eastern and western facing directions as they would climb up the boulder and watch from on high. Spears, alta stones and extra supplies were placed near the fire for ease of access. Alton exchanged a nod with Davih before ordering his team to get some rest and packing himself in one of the tents with Syca, Lithil and Carilanne. He ignored Davih’s wink as he tied the cloth strap and sealed off the outside world.
———-
Alton took a long sip of his flask and stared deep into the fire. He remembered what happened next, as if it had happened yesterday. It was one of the seminal moments of his life and the impacts of it still echoed out to this day. He scanned the youthful faces surrounding the fire and thought back to that night three years ago.
---
A sharp whistle sounded through the air and pulled Alton out of the half sleep he had been in for the past few hours. The rocky ground they had camped on was hell on his back and his hip ached from laying on his side. The sharp whistle sounded three times, and Alton jumped off his bedroll and crouched. Three whistles meant danger. He reached out and shook the body lying next to him, finger held up to quiet any protest. Alton left him to wake the other two and harnessed his sword while untying and stepping out of the tent, already dressed for battle. Strikers in the field slept in uniform without exception.
Alton’s eyes slowly adjusted to the mana lanterns, a soft blue gaze clashing with the fires roaring yellows and oranges. It looked to be less than an hour before first light would appear on the horizon. One of Davih’s foxes met him at the entrance to the tent and leaned in close, the light too poor to rely on signals. He spoke in a soft near whisper, forcing Alton to strain to hear him.
“Two men missing. Davih gone with three to investigate. Requests immediate back up. Other tent waking.” He near sighed out into Alton’s ear.
Alton just nodded and threw open the canvas tent door. His half of the team was slower than him to wake, but ready nonetheless. Rhet’s half woke and exited the tent a moment after. Alton motioned for the team to gather and repeated the message from Davih’s man. He ordered a quick weapon and potion check before ordering silent protocol and finally nodding to the man to lead them toward Davih. The other three members Davih had left behind followed along.
They started in dagger formation, three in the lead in single file, three across, spread out ten feet and five behind to guard the rear. Alton was the midpoint with Syca directly ahead of him as lead observer. He would scan their surroundings with mana sight while the observer behind Alton scanned that direction. Their best tracker was on point to follow the trail left behind by Fox team. They all carried mana lights that cast the world in a shade of blue, bouncing off the snow in the same way the sun did.
The trail left the camp moving south towards the original destination. The ever ominous sense of dread crept up Alton’s spine as he followed his team through the rock and snow. All was silent as they followed the trail left by a sword or stick being drug through the snow. They reached the point that Alton had explored until the day before, and the trail took a sharp turn through a snowbank and between massive boulders. It appeared his assumption that the fiend lived high on the rock face was mistaken.
Beyond the boulders there was a small crevice that was roughly the shape of a large man if he turned sideways. The trail led to the crevice and then stopped as the snow didn’t reach inside the cave. A trail of wet could be seen on the floor. The lead man looked back for orders and Alton signaled to continue. Two people could stand abreast in the cave that the crevice led to, although it wasn't very spacious. The cave continued for fifty feet, where they found one of Davih’s men waiting for them. His signals were easy to read as the mana lights pierced the caves darkness with ease.
Danger. Ahead. Quickly.
He fell in with the lead group and they continued on for another few dozen feet before the cave narrowed. Sounds of combat could be heard when they reached the threshold, and Alton gave the signal to prepare for combat. Swords and shields left their harnesses, bows were nocked and prayers said through silent lips. The man in the lead prepared to breach while the man behind him placed his hand on his shoulder and turned to watch Alton count down.
Three.
Two.
One.
They moved through the opening and emerged to find a large cavern only partially illuminated by mana lights. A chaotic battle was taking place between three members of Fox team and a horde of fiends that Alton couldn’t identify. Fox team had their backs turned and Alton weighed the risk distracting them. They were wedged in to where the rock narrowed to limit the amount of foes they had to fight. It was sound strategy and gave Alton a moment to think. He gave one sharp whistle and waited. Davih returned one whistle without turning his head.
He surveyed the area above and surrounding Davih’s position. To join them they would have to cross the open ground and open themselves up to attack. There was a steep decline leading down to the open area that would take precious seconds to navigate and leave them vulnerable. The decision was taken from him when one of Davih’s men cried out in pain and limped off the battle line, leaving them down to two fighters.
“Forward! Establish a shield line at the bottom. Archers remain at height and fire at will. Blades fill the gaps! Kill and press forward!” Alton ordered, the first words spoken in an hour.
His voice echoed off the cave walls as his allies surged into action. The four blades were the first to reach the cave floor and began hacking at the fiends while the shields got into place. Arrows flew from around him and skewered unsuspecting fiends. When the shields reached the bottom, they shouldered their large shields and stood shoulder to shoulder, creating a line that rivaled a stone wall. The blades leapt forward with enhanced speed and strength now that they had a safe fallback point. Alton remained on the rise to watch and direct despite his longing to run down with his team.
“Davih! Report!” Alton shouted at his friend.
“One down, maybe two. Unknown amount of enemies. One of them can shoot mana blasts! It took out Muso in one shot, I think its leading the others! It’s taken control of the missing sentries!” Davih shouted back.
“Hold your position, we have a line, we’re coming for you.” He returned and made three decisions.
First, he took out both of the mana lights he carried and activated them with a surge of mana infused directly into the stone. He threw both stones out beyond the battle lines to gauge the enemy. What he saw shocked him. There were dozens of fiends of various sizes and shapes waiting to join the fight. The missing soldiers were there fighting against Davih. They moved jerkily and appeared unfocused.
Second, he ordered his line to press forward and relieve Davih. They could use the narrow opening in the same way with superior numbers and fresh rotations. His shields moved forward one step at a time, stabbing outwards with short swords as they made contact. His blades danced around their allies, hacking and slashing at anything that tried to get behind the line or simply didn’t get out of the way in time. He left his archers up top and ordered them to spread out the remaining mana lights through the edge of the cavern floor and keep firing.
Third, he circulated through his legs and leapt down to the cavern floor. It was time to join the fight and rescue his foolish friend. Alton skipped the climb down and hit the cavern floor with a thunk, then ran the ten feet to his shield line. He took his place in the blade rotation as the backer and studied the fight. They were making progress towards Davih, who was still fighting at the narrowing. It looked like he had wedged a shield against the rock and was using it to narrow the opening further, and Alton noticed with dread, was alone.
“Stay in formation!” Alton ordered his line and then did what wolves do best. He hunted. He ramped up his circulation and his sword danced through the air before meeting its first prey and slicing deep into the hide of a fiend that looked similar to a Gwelli. Cries of pain followed as he spun and slashed horizontally. He surged further and further into the crowd of fiends, leaving devastation in his wake. His heart raced and his muscles bulged as he left the limits of simple humanity behind. His mind cleared, and he felt himself center, the mana in the cavern and coursing through his body reaching an equilibrium until he felt the ambient mana thin.
With him carving his way through the horde, his team was able to make haste to the narrow and form up defensively, so he began working his way back to them when his instincts screamed at him and he dropped to the ground. A raw blast of mana shot through where he had been and ripped right through a fiend shaped like a goat. He turned and watched as a misty and bluish shape floated through the air towards him. Mana gathered around the form and every sense of survival inside of Alton roared like a bonfire.
“What is that thing?” Someone behind him shouted.
Alton didn’t know, but he couldn’t let it fire another attack and hit one of his men. There were a dozen fiends between him and it, including the two bears. The turned soldiers started advancing and Alton grimaced as he cut one down. He only had seconds to decide what to do, discarding plans as they popped into his head.
“Archers! Take that thing out! Wolf team strike out at the bears. Tight formations, no risks!” Alton shouted.
He trusted his orders to be followed and turned his body left towards the floating figure. He could vaguely make out a human body formed of the misty, blue mana. Two arrows whizzed right through it, causing no noticeable damage. Alton expected his sword to have the same result, but leapt forward and tried, anyway. He watched with dismay as his sword rusted and eroded simply from touching the mist. He jumped back and tried to take stock of the situation. The figure didn’t appear to be moving aggressively but he could feel the ambient mana thinning again.
He had one full team and one half team against an unknown foe, with four men down. A barely illuminated cavern and no way to get out without suffering more casualties. His mana reserves were less than half, some of his team would near mana exhaustion soon. Two more arrows whizzed through the air and harmlessly flew through the figure he mentally called Mistman. It finished gathering and shot another blast of mana. Alton ducked, but this one was aimed at Davih’s line in the narrows. It slammed into one of the shields and threw the man holding it back against the wall of the cavern with a sickening crunch.
He fought fiend after fiend, his damaged sword still enough to kill. He saw Carlianne stab through the eye of one of the bears and with that; the cavern was cleared of the regular fiends. “Fallback! Grab the wounded! Steady retreat!” Alton commanded and placed himself between the mistman, the turned soldiers, and the narrow.
His mind raced nearly as fast as his heart as he desperately thought of what to do. If the corrosive mist reached his men…No. He would not let that happen. No one else was dying today, at least before him, he thought grimly. He circulated as much mana as his arms as he could handle and was about to circulate to his legs when he felt a strange sensation. Almost like his mana was flowing out of his body…it was. The sword was glowing blue.
Acting purely on instinct, he dashed forward and swiped at the creature, eliciting a cry of rage from it. He saw some of the mist surrounding it dissipate and the glow diminish. The sword glowed a brighter shade of blue before it violently exploded into a shower of glowing metal shards. The shards sliced him and the mistman without prejudice and Alton recoiled in pain. His hand was covered in deep gashes and his stomach was bleeding. He didn’t have time to dwell on it.
“Sword! I need a sword!” He bellowed at his team behind him. They were evacuating the wounded soldiers and had already cleared the middle of the cavern. One of his blades tossed him his sword through the air so that it stayed vertical. Alton snatched it out of the air and turned back to the enemy. The mana in the room was thinning. He knew another of the blasts was imminent.
He circulated his mana again and pushed as much as he could handle through his sword arm until the feeling of it flowing out of his body returned. The sword glowed blue, and Alton surged towards the fiend. He hacked and slashed as the mist flowed away from the creature with each strike. By the time it readied its attack, it was a much smaller blast of mana that it fired point blank at Alton’s chest. The blast threw him back a few feet and burned his armor right off. His chest hurt like it was on fire and he struggled to breathe.
He grunted and pushed more mana through the sword, circulating through his legs and shooting forward for a last volley of attacks. It happened suddenly, between strikes of his blade, the mist shape fell apart and lost all semblance of form. The ambient mana in the cavern responded and rose just a little and took it for confirmation that it was dead. It only took a few moments to finish the former soldiers, and then the cavern was silent. He looked around for any signs of danger before sinking to his knees in exhaustion. He turned to his team that had retreated towards their entry point and smiled before everything went black.