Alton was enjoying himself, Wolf team was whole, and it helped him feel whole. Losing his friends and especially Carli still hurt, but the pain was more like an echo instead of a shout. He sent Yuri up the mountain to set an ambush at his place of choosing with the Tooth squad while he kept Claw here and had them burn and cycle mana. He wanted to practice ambushing and counter ambushing to see how well the academy had prepared the kids.

He was impressed by the lack of complaining. They still walked on eggshells around him. That would change soon enough, Alton knew, they would grow familiar and familiarity would shave some of the edge off them. A special type of friendship was bred in combat and he knew that’s what these kids needed. They had been trained for over a year and honed into fine weapons, now they needed to be made into soldiers.

After half an hour had passed, Alton gave a sharp whistle. “Alright listen up, no point in pretending you don’t know that Tooth squad is waiting to ambush you somewhere up there.” He paused and swept his arm out dramatically. “Amelia, your job is to lead your squad through the ambush and successfully defend against it. You should have all taken classes on this in the academy and now it’s time to see what you learned. I will act as a private rank blade and will act as commanded. We have less than ten hours of daylight today or we will be marching in the dark.” He finished and nodded at Amelia.

The poor girl stared back at him for a few seconds before realizing it was her turn to speak. “Oh...ok. Form up! Prian take the lead follow by Captain” A loud Ahem sounded “er Alton with myself next and Nelson guarding rear. Circulate for speed and balance, keep your core more than half.” She finished and looked around at their faces. “Silent protocol…?” She stated more than asked. “No wait, silent protocol…but don’t get rid of extra gear? Just no talking or extra noise.” She finished in an exasperated tone. Her cheeks were turning red at the attention she had brought on herself.

Alton saved her and start walking towards the trail that led away from the plateau they camped on. The others quickly fell in line and Prian jogged to pass him and take the lead. Prian would be his observer. With the ambient mana in the valley continuing to rise, Alton would have a powerful advantage by having access to longsights in the field. He heard Amelia lower her voice and whisper to Nelson behind her.

“I didn’t ask for this! I don’t know how to lead! I took the blade track. I didn’t take a single leadership elective! Why didn’t he pick you?” Amelia whispered to him.

“Are you complaining about your promotion from a man you beat for the promotion Corporal?” Nelson whispered back and Alton pretending to scratch his neck and saw him grinning.

“Uh sorry no. I guess I’m not.” Amelia replied sheepishly.

He tuned them out and focused on the path ahead of him. Before going back to camp a few days ago, he had hiked this trail to make sure there was nothing too dangerous waiting up top for his young team. It appeared to be a drake den, although it wasn’t home when he had popped in for a chat. If it was a large drake, they would just leave it be and let them know at Kitsu to be on the lookout. If it was a small one, then Alton would decide when he saw it. Drakes could be dangerous, but most were just dumb and aggressive. The army paid out well for the scales and the kids could get some extra pocket coin.

The first location that Alton had suggested to Yuri for an ambush site would come up in a few minutes. He suspected that the man would choose the second spot, which was a few miles further up, but he steadied his nerves just in case. He didn’t want to get jumpy and give it away to Amelia behind him. There would be many circumstances she would have to act on her own in his stead and she needed the confidence a successful defense would bring.

He felt confident in his choices with the kids. He was choosing Amelia and Rico as his officers. Both were both excellent melee fighters with quick instincts. Rico was quiet, but smart and confident in himself. Amelia was easily his match in smarts but hesitant and doubted herself, he would have to carefully build up her confidence. His two would-be shields were large, hulking men that Alton pegged for followers rather than leaders. He couldn’t wait to see what they all specialized in, but he hoped at least one of Rico or Amelia would choose body enhancement like him.

Ahead of him, Prian held up a hand and everyone stopped. Prian put up one finger before beginning a series of hand signals. They had reached a blind corner where the trail narrowed.

Mana. Caution.

Amelia crept up and signaled for a battle formation with Nelson to take the lead with Alton and herself in an arrowhead. Nelson unloaded his large shield and braced it against his shoulder while Alton and Amelia detached their scabbards but left the swords inside. It served as a training blade while in the field. Prian had his bow drawn but without an arrow as they crept along the trail. They exited the narrow curve, finding no sign of the other team. Amelia returned them to the original formation, and they continued up the mountain.

From this side of the mountain the valley below them was laid out in its full glory. The sun had risen and bathed the snow covered ground in the soft white light. Trees poked through with leaves that never changed colors or fell and the wind whished through, leaving trails of snow floating. It was a breathtaking sight and Alton took his time appreciating it. They were halfway up the trail to where Alton knew the cave lie when Prian held up his hand again, this time with two fingers.

Mana. Ahead. Danger.

Amelia brought them back into arrow formation and they continued at a slower pace. Alton turned his head to look out at a new valley when and watched a rock bounce off his shoulder. He dropped to a knee and turned to see Tooth team pounce from a different location that he was expecting. Yuri had pulled one over on him. They surged up from a depression that had hidden them out of view and caught the Claw team from the side.

Nelson pivoted to head off Rico while Amelia tangled with Yuri and Miser. Alton ducked out of the way of another rock and saw Letty hiding still down in the depression. He chuckled to himself and whistled loudly.

“Well done. Tooth team takes the win this round. Excellent job on the false mana trail and good discipline to wait until we were out of position.” Alton clapped and let them gloat for a little while.

“Fall in and let’s keep moving. We’re just about the halfway point and theres only three or four hours of light left. We need to check out that cave and see if it’s a comely place to spend the night.” He announced. “Prian, you did well. A false mana trail is a hard lesson for every observer. Continue in the lead.” He nodded, and they continued up the mountain.

“Nice touch to hide there and lead the mana trail up. It must have taken quite a bit out of you.” Alton said while walking up next to Yuri.

“Hah. That was all your new corporal, kids sharp as a knife. I played the part of an obedient private, just like you asked me to.” Yuri replied and chuckled.

Alton grunted but couldn’t help the smile that dawned on his face. It seemed that he made the right decision. Ambushes were a big part of their role as strikers. Standard army units were slow and bogged down by huge amounts of equipment and camp followers. It was difficult to secure the area and move so many people and supplies. The strike and skirmisher teams were the ones responsible for quick and dirty actions.

The following hours were peaceful as the team hiked the remainder of the mountain. Under the bright sun and warm temperature, most people took off their large winter coats and fastened them to their packs. The views were unmatched, and Alton longed for more time to explore the wanton beauty. Major Corbin’s last message about the urgency of need for him to return weighed on him against those desires.

When they reached a familiar-looking rock structure that was shaped oddly like a goat’s head, Alton whistled to call for a stop. He gathered everyone around and had them remove their packs and prepare for battle. Once muscles were stretched and cores full, Alton explained what he knew.

“I believe this to be a drake’s den. Adult drakes are large and powerful, to be left alone at all costs unless you happen to have multiple strike teams or a unit of archers. Smaller, young drakes are more like aggressive bulls. They cannot fly and rely on overpowering physical strength. They are easily out smarted although none of your weapons will easily hurt them. If it is a drake, I will judge the danger and decide if we attack. I will be the one to strike first and aim for a quick kill. As much as I want you to practice and train, I will not risk your lives for it.” Alton finished without a smile this time.

“Silent protocol from here out. I will take point and Yuri will serve as rearguard. Manasight on when you can see the cave, full circulation if contact is made. Do not hesitate, do not get caught alone, do not disobey a direct order from myself or Yuri. We are not in the training yard anymore.” Alton stretched his arms and felt his mana flow through his limbs. The rest followed his lead.

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When they were ready, he crept around the side of the rock structure and continued up the trail leading to the mouth of the cave. It was a large one, at least thirty feet across and ten foot high. Alton reflected on how much time he had been spending in caves lately and vowed to ask for an assignment in a forest or a nice grassy plain next. He let his mana flow through his eyes and watched for any sign of habitation.

The entry was littered with bones and carcasses. Whatever lived here had been here for a long time, no matter how powerful it was. Alton walked all the way in and looked for tunnels leading out or down, but found none. The cave was empty of the living. He wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed. There were scraps of supplies, packs, tents and clothes strewn all over. This was an active treasure hunter and animal tracker area, hence the man in Old Barrow, but something wasn’t adding up.

They moved back out of the cave and spread out over the small plateau that led to it. That made two times in three days the cave had been empty. What kind of fiend behaved like that? He wasn’t sure, but made mental notes to give to the scholars back at Kitsu. Alton sighed and was about to order them back down the mountain and force them to hike down in the dark when he had a stray thought that sent a chill up his spine. His ever familiar companion, that sense of dread, welled up and Alton knew he was right.

He turned and walked back inside, taking out a mana lantern. Yuri noticed and walked up beside him to see what he was doing. The rest followed, except for Amelia, who smartly stood watch. He smiled to himself again when he noticed that, smart girl. He began to rapidly hand signal behind his back but in view of the mana lantern.

Danger. Battle. Imminent. Stack. Archers out.

“Tell me Yuri, what kind of fiend lives in a cave but is never home?” Alton asked his fellow sergeant.

“Beats me Alton. Lore is not my strong suit.” Yuri shrugged in a way that thumbed off the safety latch on his sword harness.

“And what kind of fiend stacks the bones and carcasses so neatly in a corner near the entrance for all to see?” Alton asked again while pointed to three places along the wall where the carcasses didn’t block.

His team responded in good time, his two shields bringing theirs around to bear while Amelia and Rico staggered behind them. His two archers had stealthily moved outside and had arrows ready, one facing in and one facing out.

“What are you thinking, Captain?” Rico asked from behind him.

“I think we are about to have company of the decidedly non-fiend kind.” He said loudly just before a trapdoor in the rock opened where he had pointed.

Alton had his sword up and ready as the first human ran out of the door and Alton helped him impale himself on Fang. “Edorians!” He shouted as two more swings brought down two more humans dressed in shoddy armor and covered in tattoos. They were screaming at him in a language he couldn’t nor cared to speak or understand.

“Shields, funnel them to me. Blades keep an eye on the wall for other doors, archers stay vigilant,” he shouted out. The two tower shields slammed into place on either side of the wall, leaving nowhere to go but straight at Alton.

He waited another few moments of silence before throwing a mana lantern beyond the threshold. It bounced for a few feet before it hit a wall and revealed a turn in an obviously man-made tunnel. Alton bent down and examined the corpse at his feet, tracing his finger along one tattoo that ran up its neck.

“One of the tribes. Not an imperial. The three of them might be the only ones left, or there could be dozens. We retook this area only two years ago. These mountains were covered in various tribes when we started retaking the valleys. Still are I suppose,” Alton said to himself as much as anyone else.

“Tooth your with me, Nelson, lead with your shield. Claw, with Yuri, secure the cave and keep an eye on the surrounding area. There may be another exit. If they run, let them. Don’t pick a fight you can’t win,” Alton said and looked at Yuri. They traded nods, and Yuri turned to take control of his task.

Alton tapped on the shield of Tooth squad, Miser, and then started down the tunnel. He picked up his mana lantern when they passed it and followed the bend in the tunnel another dozen feet. It ended and opened out into a large open cavern that was full of even more bodies. Alton almost gagged as the smell hit his nose while behind him Rico did turn and vomit on the floor. The corpses were days to weeks old and had been partially eaten.

He circulated his manasight and confirmed the room was empty of living. There was another tunnel leading out of the cavern, and they advanced down it. The tunnel opened up to a large room that was filled with the mindless. Both groups stared at each other in shock for a moment before one of the mindless launched itself in their direction. Alton shoved his way in front of Miser and hacked it apart.

“Retreat to the cave. Fill Yuri in and remain there. I’ll stall them and lead them out. Be ready.” Alton commanded with a voice cold as ice.

Alton didn’t wait to see if his order was followed. The mindless in this room were not the same ones that had taken from him, but they would feel his wrath as if they did. His core sprung to life as he pulled violently and circulated it through his body. Fang lit in his hands as if a torch from the gods. The mindless had swarmed in his direction and Alton took a deep breath, exhaling just before contact.

His sword whipped through the air, decapitating fiends with every swipe. His strength was enough to cleave through multiple of the walking corpses at once. He moved too fast for them to claw and bite at him, only standing still long enough to finish a cut. A few stragglers ran down the hall as he massacred the rest. He paid them little mind, Yuri would handle them. This many mindless meant a Sapient was here. Alton smiled to himself, a test worthy of his new power.

Fang was coated in gore as Alton hacked his way through the rest of the room. Dozens of the fiends lay dead behind him. He left a scene of devastation behind him as he swept through the tunnels leading deeper. Moving farther inside the tunnel system showed it to be a full living complex inside the cave. Dozens of tunnels that contained belongings, food, and clothing. Alton lost himself in his rage. Finding rooms containing more mindless and some with cowering Edorians, he butchered them all.

He reached a dead end and found nowhere else he could go. Where was the Sapient hiding? Where were the imperials? He screamed in anger at the air. Backtracking, he still found no further way through the stone. When he returned to the room with the first group of mindless, he found a spot near the wall and slid down it. He cradled his head in his gore streaked hands and rocked back and forth, letting his rage settle. His team couldn’t see him like this, nor what he had done.

The sound of boots scuffed the rock near the entry tunnel and Alton turned to see Yuri hesitantly walking in. He stood and surveyed the carnage before walking over to Alton and sliding down on the wall beside him. They sat in silence for a few minutes while Yuri gave Alton time.

“I assume none of that blood is yours?” Yuri asked quietly.

Alton just shook his head no and said. “I lost control, Yuri. I killed them all, mindless and Edorian.”

Yuri whistled and stayed silent for a moment. “We saw Edorians fleeing down the mountainside. Ten of them tried to storm the cave. A couple dozen jumped out of well-hidden tunnels. It seems we missed more than a few when we cleared this area. This many mindless, Alton, they are preparing for an attack.”

“I agree. They must be sacrificing themselves to become fiends. That many Agorrans missing would have raised alarms.” Alton stood and tried to focus his mind, “we need to get to Kitsu and let them know.”

Alton was conflicted as he sat in the cave entrance and let his wolves search the rest of the cave for any other tunnels. The tribes had lived in the mountains since the original fall of Agorra. They were being pushed out as the country reclaimed its ancestral valleys and while Alton felt no sympathy for imperial Edorians, these were guilty of nothing but clinging to the old ways of life. Such was war and expansion, he supposed. Not everything was a convenient shade of black and white. This would be a good lesson for his young team, who could expect to spend more time in conditions and situations like this.

They regrouped on the plateau and Alton gave them the option to camp in the cave, on the plateau, or hike down in the dark. They quickly discarded the stench of the cave and Alton listened with amusement as they debated the danger of freezing to death without firewood or dying on the way down in the dark. The fear of the cold won out over the fear of the dark after a few tense minutes. There was less than an hour of daylight left, so Alton ordered them to pack up and get ready before he spoke to them all. The youthful faces that were so bright a few hours ago now looked troubled and drawn.

“In the future, you may face a situation like we faced today. I do not relish killing my fellow human, Edorian or otherwise. These tribes have been in these mountains for a thousand years and it is we who force them out. I will not force my morality on you. You are free to think as you please, but you will follow orders if I give them. We will not pursue the survivors, but we are obligated to alert Fort Kitsu to their location and they will hunt them down.”

“In the fire of battle, where steel clashes with steel and the roar of adrenaline drowns other emotions, it is easy to kill. We face a darkness in these mountains. Man turned to fiend as a weapon against us. We carry the burden of killing those that may not yet be a threat but could be. It leaves an indelible mark on our spirits that no mark of valor or glory can erase. Every foe faced on these battlefields are sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. They bring their own emotions, dreams, hope and goals, and we take it from them. Do not ignore this feeling, do not push it down and let it fester. Understand the sacrifice that we make, that we are asked to make. Do not become a prisoner of those emotions. Instead, let the weight of our actions spur us to seek understanding, compassion and work towards a world where combat is but a memory.”

“Victory is a word with many meanings. We were victorious in this cave, yes. I will not deny that, nor take it from you. It feels a hollow victory to me. The Edorians are forcing us to become monsters to fight monsters. On our hike down tonight, I implore you to think about this. Let your emotions flow and try to understand the way you feel right now. They may seem harmless, and indeed most are. Though not all of them are this weak and easily defeated. Many Agorrans lie dead where they fell, frozen on some mountain because they thought otherwise.” Alton finished. The faces around him were drawn tight with contemplation.

“Stay in formation on the way down. I will lead and then it will go shield follow by observer followed by blade. Observers hold the mana lantern and alternate manasight every few minutes. Keep your cores above half, circulate through your legs for strength and balance. It should only take us three hours to get down if we make good time.” He started down the trail and back to Kitsu Fortress and left his young wolves to think on his words behind him with tired muscles and heavy minds.”