Time seems to pass slowly as we walk. Even if I have to run to keep up, it's otherwise strangely nice. Sunny blue skies and fields of green grass on either side of the dirt road. I have no idea how far we've gone, but the city has already turned into a small dot on the horizon behind us. The other rail units simply walk, the formation long since dissolved as everyone moves at slightly different paces. I'm the only one that keeps looking around at our surroundings.
I've never been this far outside of the city before. The forest is over on our left, but I'm actually far enough away now that I can see tall mountains rising up behind the forest. Both stretch north to south, disappearing over the horizon in both directions. I can't see much directly in front with all the rail units in the way, but the river far off to the right continues northwest, so it should cross our path somewhere ahead.
It's odd. I was so stressed out about the upcoming battle, but now that it's time, we've been going through one thing after another. First the bath, and haircuts, then the exploring, the ceremony... Somehow, it's really killed the anticipation I had built up before. Even this walk, off to some unknown location, taking who knows how long... Somehow it gives this strange impression that the actual battle isn't going to come, even though I know it will. Maybe I just hope it won't come. No, I quickly shake away the stupid feeling.
Even this strange in-between period, doing the last preparations and traveling to wherever we'll fight, are better than the thought of actually fighting. I shake my head a little to clear away my wandering thoughts. No matter how I feel about it, the battle is approaching. I need to be ready when it comes. With that in mind, I keep running to stay with the group.
It's only a little while longer before my guess about the river proves correct. It seems to flow down from the direction of the mountains, cutting right across our path. The road we're following leads right up to a big structure that goes over the river though. It must be the bridge he mentioned. So that's what bridges actually look like...
At the back of the group as usual, the rest of the units cross over before me. When I step onto the bridge, I find that it's made of sturdy, dark colored stone, huge pieces all fit together tightly so they rise just slightly toward the middle of the river before falling again on on the other side. It even has short, solid stone railings on either side to keep people from falling off. I'm really glad this is here, I can't imagine trying to cross the river on my own after last time. And... I guess the other rail units can't either, they never taught us about rivers. Or drowning... I shake away those scary thoughts and keep moving.
As I reach the other side of the bridge, the rail units are beginning to slow down. Once I'm safely on the other side, I squeeze between the edge of the bridge and the rail units in front of me, circling around to the left to see what's happening.
What I find is one man in armor standing near the handler. It looks like they exchange a few words before the handler turns to us. "You are to engage the enemies as soon as you make contact. Follow the battle plans as they have been explained, and return to the city along the same route once the battle has concluded. This is the scout, he will lead you from here on. Follow and obey him. That is all." With a small turn to the man he makes some gesture with his hand to his head. The armored man returns it, then the handler leaves, circling around the crowd of rail units.
I realize he's approaching and instantly go still. Something saying to just hold very still and maybe he won't see me.
When he walks right past, I catch his glance, the look between annoyed and disappointed. The slight shake of his head, and my heart skips a beat. Then he's gone, heading back to town.
I release a slow, shuddering breath I didn't realize I was holding. Safe, for now.
That just leaves the armored man at the front. I refocus my attention on him to find all the rail units staring at him. Without the handler, he's obviously sweating under their blank gazes, but is otherwise keeping his cool while he looks back and forth over the gathering crowd.
Finally, he clears his throat and speaks loudly. "As he said, I'm the scout. I will lead you to the battlefield." As he speaks, I see his eyes lock onto me. I have to force myself not to flinch. Don't worry, he's not a handler. He blinks a few times, but doesn't miss a beat as he continues, eyes still on me. "Follow me."
The scout spins on his heel and begins walking. The rail units all follow behind. I keep trotting along as well. Once we put some distance between us and the bridge, the dirt path dwindles away until no trace of it remains, and we are simply walking through an open, grassy plain. There is nothing much out here besides some shallow rising and falling of the terrain. Hills, they were called.
They make running more difficult on the way up, but easier on the way down. I believe they mentioned that hills are useful for taking cover, and now I see why. Even shallow ones like these, hardly much taller at their peak than an adult is tall, will still break line of sight with an enemy, won't they?
I stop for just a few moments as we crest a somewhat taller hill than the others. I look out, far into the distance. How far away is the battlefield? Can I see it from here?
Then I tilt my head a bit. Far off, beyond the vague hillscape where we are, the plains flatten out. I can still see the mountain peaks jutting high into the air on the left, but what about the land in front of us?
I generate some air mana, and gaze out as far as I can see, all the way to the horizon. It was never clear in the city with buildings and people everywhere. Or the forest, with all the trees. Out here, I can see the horizon for real. The line where the green grass meets the blue sky. Why does it do that? Is the flat plain out ahead actually slightly uphill? So I'm actually seeing the top of a hill just slightly above this one? I don't know, I can't tell by eye.
But now that I'm staring at it directly like this, it strikes me as strange. If I was able to climb those mountains over there, wouldn't I be able to see everything in the world below me, if I could just look hard enough?
With those vague questions in mind, I kick back into a run to catch up with the group of rail units still walking on. I pass by them, soon catching up to the scout leading us. Maybe he'll have some more information. If he knows where the battlefield is, he should be able to tell me what kind of terrain we'll be on and I'll have more time to think over a plan. Getting more information can't hurt.
"So, where are we going?" I ask as I move to walk on his left side.
"Wha-" the man stammers. I blink a little, realizing my phrasing came out a little too... human. It reminds me of the air mana from before. It shouldn't be enough to cause problems - it hasn't so far at least. But I still convert it just in case, to avoid any more slip ups.
"What sort of terrain is the battlefield?" I say, as if to clarify the question, but mostly trying to cover my slip.
"Ahum!" he clears his throat loudly, composing himself. "The battlefield's this way, over the border into Bromunst." Bromunst? "The terrain is rocky an' flat for the most part, but it's got a few canyons carved into it. From previous battles probly," he reports. His words come out a little... oddly though. Strangely clipped in certain spots and spoken just subtly different than I'm used to hearing them. It takes a moment to get accustomed to it, to understand what he's actually saying. It teases at some faint memory, but I can't pick it out right now.
"No hills or trees? Is there any cover available?" I ask, keeping my mind on the conversation. I'm worried that it will be harder to evade enemies if there is nowhere to take cover from their attacks.
"No, only cover'd be the small craters in the ground. Got destroyed in old battles, I'd say." I almost nod a little in response before I stop myself. We continue to walk for a while longer.
Suddenly, the scout speaks up out of nowhere. "So what's with you? New type a' rail unit or somethin'?" he asks, only turning his head slightly in my direction. "Why make it so small n' cute though...?" he breathes the last bit to himself.
I take a few moments, completely unable to answer. He might be the first person to ever ask me about, well, me. As a rail unit, that is. Nana didn't really ask, she didn't believe me at first... I turn, taking a closer look at him for the first time.
He's pretty old, actually. Not quite as old as Mister Fredricson, but much older than most of the people I've seen. Rather than dull gray or shining silver armor like the guards I've seen, his is all kind of... green and brown. Well, I guess the material is brown, but it looks like they attempted to dye it green somehow. It looks kind of sturdy, but soft, made from an animal rather than metal. The way it moves with him, it's definitely more flexible than thick metal armor.
Besides that, there's his short brown hair that looks weirdly uneven, like it had entire chunks hacked off, a scruffy beard, and vaguely dark colored clothing poking out from underneath his armor. He is carrying a sword at his waist, which I guess is to be expected. Even if it's useless against rail units. No other visible weapons though, not even a spear like the guards have. He raises an eyebrow, following my eyes as I look him up and down.
"Why do you ask?" I pose the question, trying to get a little more information. I could just tell him, but I want to know why someone would come up with something like that on their own. Are there different types of rail units?
That just makes him grin. "Sure sounds new," he chuckles a little. "I been scoutin' on the frontlines twenty years now, and never once," he emphasizes with a raised finger, "has a rail unit spoke ta me on its own," he explains, a note of pride in his tone for no apparent reason.
I immediately suppress a grimace when I realize how far out of the ordinary my simple question was. "So I take it you were made for information gatherin' or some such?"
"No, not exactly..." I answer vaguely, since I feel like he's not finished speaking yet.
"No? Guess I just figured they were changin' things up again. Was probly fifteen years ago, they changed that armor you guys wear."
"Armor?" What armor?
"Those things," with a point finger pointed at my robe. "Aren't they some sort a' fancy magic armor or somethin,' like the nobles use?"
"No, I don't think so," I respond. This man... seems to have all sorts of misconceptions about rail units. Even though he actually interacts with them regularly from the sound of it...
"Well I'll be..." He scratches the back of his head. But that makes me wonder.
"You said they first had rail units wear these fifteen years ago?" I ask.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Yeah, somethin' like that. Couldn't a' been more than a few years after I started as a scout, all the rail units started comin' out wearing those. Always thought it was some special armor. If it's not, what does it do?"
I have to push away the small frown that wants to form on my face before answering a few moments later. "As far as I can tell, these clothes repair themselves."
"Wow, ain't that convenient..." he says appreciatively.
"Very convenient." My sarcasm is only hidden by the fact that I've already been speaking the same flat tone this whole time.
"So what is your function then, if it's not information gatherin'?" he asks one more time for clarification. Well, may as well tell him now.
"Nothing, I'm just broken. That's why I'm not like the others," I explain it in a simple way, but can't meet his eyes as I say it.
"Well, that's sure unfortunate," he says. His light tone seems to indicate that he really doesn't care that much, which is to be expected. "So you're all small like that since your rail unit powers don't work right I guess? You any good in a fight?"
"No, I can't use any of my rail unit abilities, at all," I clarify. Well, I can use my mana at least, though not with my divine gear...
"Ahh, so that's how it is. What they send you out here for then? You seem a lot smarter than this buncha boneheads. Couldn't they put you to better use somewhere else? No sense bringin' a kid to a battlefield, if you ask me. End up dead if you get too close."
I can barely suppress my pained smile. I actually need to take a few moments to force down the tone that wants to creep into my voice as I answer. "No, they told me to go fight. I'm supposed to draw attacks away from functional rail units."
He just looks at me briefly. Is that... pity? Why? "You... you're gonna die. You know that, right?"
"Probably," I admit, "though I've prepared as much as I could to live through the battle."
"Ahh..." he responds with a weird tone. "You've never seen them fight at full power then?" he sticks his thumb over his shoulder to the crowd of rail units following behind.
"No... why?" I ask. I think some of my nervousness slipped into my tone there.
"Whatever you prepared, it ain't enough," he says flatly, shaking his head. I gulp a little bit. I was worried it would be that bad... What do I do if he's right? I sink into silence for a little while as we go. Eventually, it feels like my basket is starting to drag on my arms. It is a lot heavier than normal, loaded up with everything I possibly thought I might need. How far are we going to be walking anyway? I turn and ask the scout.
"Battlefield is maybe twenty five kilos that way," he points ahead. Kilos?
"What is a 'kilo?'" I ask to clarify the new word.
"Oh, I meant kilometers," he says, but that doesn't help.
"I don't know what those are either."
"That so? Huh," he says lightly. "It's how we measure distance." He clearly thinks for a bit, trying to come up with something. "For instance, it's usually about four kilometers to the horizon."
"Usually?" I sort of thought it was related to how high up you were though, I could definitely see more at the top of that hill... Is that what he meant by 'usually?'
"That's right, I suppose you can't see as far, can you?" He's not making any sense, his explanations are sorely lacking... explanation...
"Could you explain that a little better? Why can't I see as far?" I ask so maybe he'll give me a little more to go on.
"You're shorter, of course you can't see as far," he's using that 'it's obvious' tone I'm far too accustomed to at this point. It definitely sounds like he's saying sight distance is based on height though, which does fit with my earlier thoughts.
"What I'm trying to ask is why the distance I can see is based on my height." Even if he's terrible at explaining things, I might be able to squeeze this little bit of information out of him if I can just word the question in a way he understands.
"Why? Because how far you see depends on height. You can see way more at the top of a hill, right?" Now that I understand.
"Yes, that makes sense." It does nothing to answer my question from earlier about why height influences the distance to the horizon, but at least it confirms my thoughts from before. I'd like to know more about how it actually works, but I feel like trying to ask about that would be painfully futile... But at least it gives me a way to start understanding distance. My best measure to get an idea for it is about four kilometers to the horizon. Usually. But only if you're taller than me.
This isn't helping...
After walking on for quite a while longer, I go back over what the scout mentioned earlier. The horizon is something like four kilometers away, but the battlefield is twenty five kilometers. So the battlefield is so far away we can't even see it? Moreover, it actually means that we have to walk all the way to the horizon six times over. Isn't that distance a little absurd? How long will it take? Keeping up this trotting pace is slowly but surely wearing me down. I don't want to imagine it, but it feels like at this rate, I'll end up reaching the battle too tired to do anything, and end up dying stupidly, because I wore myself out on the walk to the battle... It's all I can do not to glare at the nice long legs of the adult size rail units, all walking at what looks like a nice easy pace, while I'm forced to run to keep up.
Since I don't really have another option, I generate more fire mana to offset the energy I'm spending. I also make a little more lightning, which also helps out somewhat. With my second wind, I keep up running as best I can as the sun slowly but surely slides across the sky.
Time moves bit by bit as we walk and walk and walk. The hills slowly but surely flatten out into grasslands, seemingly endless fields of green stretching in every direction, only broken up by a few other bits of nature. But apparently, I can't even see four kilometers to the horizon... Except for the mountains. Somehow, those shoot up into the sky, and I can see them no matter how far we walk. Those must be further than four kilometers, right? Why can I see them if they should be over the horizon? With no answers, I just keep going. At least the grass is really pretty, and the scent of greenery and nature hangs thick in the air.
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How far could twenty five kilometers possibly be? The sun is starting to approach the horizon, and we're still walking. If this goes on much longer, it'll get dark. Well, it is a full moon tonight, so I suppose it won't be that hard to see anyway. But going all this way is really draining. I keep needing to generate small amounts of fire mana to keep myself from tiring out.
I look all around as we go. While there isn't much to see, there are a few spots where trees crop up here and there. Besides that, there are lots of places where big clumps of brightly colored flowers break up the fields of grass. They're really pretty and anytime we walk through some of them, a strong, unfamiliar scent strikes me, unlike anything I've ever smelled before.
I'm sure it's partly the lightning mana, but the smell is amazing. Like... some sort of sweet aroma, sort of similar to fruit, while being different enough that it's clearly unique to the flowers. In fact, I notice that the different types of flowers all have different smells too.
The white ones are sweeter, the red ones kind of darker, if that's even a useful description for smells... But the really interesting thing is a pale blue type we cross through a few times, that immediately triggers a memory. That reshlan I smelled, back when I hadn't figured out how lightning mana worked and was smelling all of my food at lunch... The memory fills me with embarrassment, but that's not the interesting part.
That smell from the flowers... One little bit of it is kind of biting. I recognize the scent from the reshlan back then, that acidic bite. It's only one part of the whole smell, but that same biting thing is definitely in both of them. It's interesting in a way, not that it really matters much. I guess my mind is just wandering after walking for so long. Is it really possible to be nervous and bored at the same time?
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By the time the sun just begins to touch the horizon, I'm probably up to thirty percent fire mana, just from the walk. If I could just rest for a bit I'm sure I would be fine, but it doesn't seem like we'll be getting any breaks. I'm starting to worry that when we reach the battlefield, our enemies will just be standing there, and we'll immediately start fighting, with no time to recover or prepare or anything.
Finally, the scout speaks up. "We're nearly at the battlefield," he says loudly to inform the group. Then he looks over at me. "You actually made it, thought you'd collapse along the way." He thought I wouldn't even make it to the battle?! "Must have some a that woo woo special juice in you, to make it here on those legs," he comments. 'Woo woo special juice?' What does that even mean? Why does he speak so strangely sometimes? I just let the comment slide.
The scout brings the group to a stop. I use the opportunity to immediately sit down and breathe deeply. I don't know how long we'll be here. "Ok, battlefield is over there." He points straight ahead, not that I can see it from here. "At the whistle, you go and fight. You should already have your orders from your commander. Next whistle after that, you come back. Real simple." I think back to the strategy that was laid out for us. Draw them in toward the middle and hit them from the sides.
Hmm... that means we'll form into a long, thin line. Should I be in the middle or on the sides of the line? I think about it briefly. The center is going to be attacked while retreating, so that would be more dangerous, wouldn't it? In that case, I should stay near the sides.
However, the sides are supposed to move in and attack. Reena told me I can't fight or I'll die. It feels like those words could have been directly related to which place I need to be, so was she warning me not to take a position at the edges? Does that mean something is going to go wrong and our strategy will fail?
I shake my head a little. Those are way too many assumptions from way too little information. But she told me not to fight, which is the opposite of the orders of any units near the edges of the formation. The middle it is I guess...
While I'm thinking over what to do, the scout turns and begins to walk away. My eyes follow his back as he goes, before realizing there was one thing I completely forgot to ask him. So I run after him for a bit until I call out, "Hey!" when I think he's close enough to hear me.
He turns back, blinking confusedly at me before I stop to ask him my question. "What is your name?"
"My name? Reid. Why you wanna know?"
"Uhh..." I mumble a little. I don't know, I just... do? Not a good enough explanation though, probably. Rail units are not supposed to want things... "No reason," is all I can offer as a response. Whatever his thoughts, Reid just shrugs.
"Well, good luck. You'll need it." Then he waves a little before he keeps walking. I watch for a little bit as he shrinks into the distance. He's heading in the direction of the mountains to the west, while the battlefield he pointed toward earlier is further north. For now, I walk back over to where the rail units are all standing.
Since I don't know how much time I have, I'm going to do my best to just go to sleep until it's time so I'm as prepared as I can be. Thinking that, I lie down in the grass. It's kind of prickly, but it feels absolutely incredible. I sink into it and it almost feels like a cushion, immediately reminding me of the mattress at Marrianne's house. I reach into my basket briefly to generate some earth mana to help with any nightmares, then convert any lightning back to colorless.
And then I fall into a light sleep. It's so comfortable, the soft grass, the warm summer air, even the gentle breeze that blows across the plains... Besides the nightmares, which the earth mana dulls anyway, this feels pretty much perfect. This last period of peace and quiet.
I wish it could go on forever. No battle, just peace.
Behind my eyelids, I'm vaguely aware of the light dimming as the sun leaves the sky and the moons float up over the horizon to light the world in its place.
Finally, the whistle sounds.