A few hours had passed since Twigs group had left the estate. His three disciples had been talking and arguing a lot. Their favourite food, places they wanted to visit and some stupid and nonsensical travel games. Jorak however had fallen silent since his confession to Twig before. The young man would have to brood a bit more, before Twig would relieve his stress. He would be thankful that Twig would relay the message in his place to “protect” him.

Hopefully the message would lead to a quick departure on his masters part. Staying vulnerable in this foreign country that hated Antalia was just too risky. For a few hours swamp and forrest had been both present in near equal amounts. Now that they reached the are around the city, the forest got much more dense and Twig knew, that the army outposts out here would not be too far away. It was dangerous to just try and force one's way through this area.

What they needed was a diversion. And Twig was basically made for this. He started to split up his troops into six groups. One consisting of five golems, another two were basically ten to twenty goblins lead by a hobgoblin. The other four groups he had created while they were on the move. Trolls. As they were hard to kill and would heal very quickly the soldiers would have a hard time wounding them severely with their weapons. It would hardly surprise if they killed quite a few people.

That was uncertain however and Twig would never just rely on such a frontal assault plan. His hobgoblin scouts however had switched from the overall surveillance and intelligence gathering that had proven relatively unsuccessful, to shadowing the lookouts and guardpost along a certain safe path throughout the woods. Twig planned for his group to follow along that selfmade road on which his hobgoblins would use the distraction of his six assault groups to slaughter and assassinate the enemy guards. Thus, it would allow them to proceed towards the city unseen.

“We will pause here for a few minutes. Gather your breath, prepare to run at full speed for some time.” Daz stopped immediately, unpacking some water to use his break nicely. “Will we run the rest of the way? Why?” Twig nodded at his question and explained: “There is a rather large army stationed in the woods around the city. I will let some trolls do skirmish attacks to distract them and we will push through their line of defense.” Mira frowned. “Isn’t that risky? Attacks could alarm them to us as well?”

Twig had thought that through previously as well. But organising a defense in chaos was something only a experienced and well organised army was capable off. That was something the swampland folk clearly was not. Spying on them for days Twig knew that they slacked off, panicked from time to time on the smallest things and he estimated most of them as normal soldiers, hardly any capable of casting magic. Which was the second reason for his little assault tactic.

He estimated. Twig did not know. And he was really curious how capable human beings other than his disciples were. This information would also be crucial in deciding on evacuation tactics for the prince, Teiming. But that would all come at a later time. For now he had to focus on the current situation. After observing a little more with his ravens he picked six rather weak spots in the enemies defenses before he was interrupted. “Twig?” Oh, right they had asked something. “Yes, but the risk is calculated. I have scouted their behaviour for some time we should be alright.”

Mira rolled her eyes. “No, I did not mean my question, I meant Joraks. You clearly did not listen.” Twig frowned. It was harder to pay attention to everything when he shared the link to his minions. He would have to work on that. “I’m sorry. What is it?” The young scout spoke up again. “I asked if you want to hide yourself in a mantle with hood? The city guards will hardly let you in just because you tell them you are friendly…”

Twig had not thought about that. Yes, his looks were a problem. “What if I just summon some golems and we storm the gate?” Marcella grinned. “That would be fun! Mira could bind them or put them to sleep and we just smash right through. Or climb over?” Daz shook his head, smiling lightly though. “We should really not. I guess Jorak is right, maybe cover yourself. If they are disrespectful we can still storm the gate.”

Twig nodded and as everyone seemed to agree he was shrouded in a brown mantle that Jorak had packed. It was a bit too large a looked more like a cape rather than a common mantle when he was running but as long as it was not hindering his movement Twig was fine with it. As his team had recovered their stamina and all assault groups were in position it was time to greenlight the operation. Quickly the path they would take was explained and he made a last ready check.

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“Everyone ready?” - “Yes.” - “First to the gate wins!”, Marcella shouted and dashed off into the woods. Daz grinned wildly and followed. “I’m so not gonna let you win!” Mira looked a bit sad or concerned over their rivalry but also followed with a quick sprint. Twig was really wondering what that was about, but he contained his curiosity. He had to micromanage while running. All along their planned path through the woods before them hobgoblins dropped out of the shadows assaulting and killing guards.

This part of the plan was the quickest and most efficiently carried out. Only twenty seconds after Twigs go signal, they were finished. His fighting parties had still not reached their first enemies yet. Impressed he ordered them to stand by while he micro managed his golem party. They had the most problems so far, one got stuck between two large roots in the ground. As Twig was progressing on his trail the fighting started. Mad goblins threw themselves at unprepared warriors, most of them unarmed, ripping into their flesh with claws and teeth.

On all campsides screams of enemies and alarms were to be heard, and soon the battle was no longer a one sided surprise attack. The swamplanders gathered their forces much quicker than Twig had anticipated. A goblin squad was completely wiped out by a group of lean and slender men, carrying shields with sharpened edges. On each arm they wore one, cutting into his monsters like a knife through cheese. Twig was intrigued by their choice of weapons. That was interesting.

Two troll groups fared similarly. They ran into strong opponents, one being the druid Twig had spotted while spying earlier and the other a seemingly weak woman, that carried around a mace, bigger and heavier than a baby troll. Only a few smashes later six trolls lied dead, dislocated joints, broken rib cages and crushed skulls. The ones fighting the druid did not fare any better.

Two were turned into fungi infested creatures that followed the man’s every will while he himself changed into a huge monster. His body became roughly twice the size of a common cave troll, equipped with long claws and teeth. The head was similar to a bear or a wolf, but Twig could not tell as he had never seen anything like it. He ripped through the trolls in such speed that he, without any doubt, would be able to take care of Twig and all his apprentices at the same time.

He had underestimated the army quite a bit. Luckily the other squads found remotely more success and the screams of dying men kept the druid busy. Quickly they reached the end of the forest as the fights were getting more and more intense. It would not take too long and all his assault parties would lie dead. As they entered the road towards the city a few scouts noticed their arrival. Twig sent his hobgoblins after them, hopefully he would be able to silence them before they could report.

There was no knowing what the army leader was capable off, and Twig really did not want to find out. Before the last of his monsters was killed they delivered a heavy blow to the enemy. The druid was wounded considerable by a troll that had thrown a boulder. He had at least shattered some bones and if he did not possess healing powers he would be unable to fight for quite some time. Twig made a mental note and let some Ravens track the injured man.

Then they already were in shooting distance off the gate and his group slowed down. So far so good. Everything went pretty much as planned. And there had been a few deaths as well. At least thirty, maybe forty men were injured, sixteen dead in addition. Goblins had been the least successful creatures, although they created the most chaos, because they fled all throughout the human camp. They had only killed one poor guy, that fell over his own feet and knocked himself out on a another man's shield. After which he was trampled to death.

Twig made another mental note: goblins, good for sacrifice and nothing. Hobgoblins: only scouting and assassination. “Hold! Stay where you are, do NOT approach the gate!” A few dozen city guards prepared their crossbows and targeted the group from above the gate. They were ready to shoot, although Twig was not scared for a second. He had disciples, that were far stronger than himself and when push came to shove, they would easily take that gate.

Daz stepped forward slowly. “We are here on royal order! The great kingdom of Antalia sent us to deliver a message to his royal highness, prince Teiming!” Mumbling broke out between the city guards and a few moments later a man rose, waving them closer. “Step forward to the gate! Do not draw any weapons!” A short walk later Twig stood before the gate, his minions behind him. The wooden gate was drawn upwards, leaving only the metal grid behind. That metal gate barely allowed for a head to pass through each hole.

“Open up, guard. We need to deliver a message.” The man eyed the group suspiciously. “Who’s the hood? Show your face. I will not let you in otherwise.” Daz stepped forward to the gate.”You will let us in. If you do not, I will personally tear that gate down.”, he said calmly. Jorak came to his aid drawing his dagger slowly and very intimidatingly. If they knew how bad he was at melee combat they would have laughed him away....

The intimidation did not show any effect yet, so Mira hovered a conjured black thorn while Marcella let a fireball glow in her hand. Immediately the attitude of the guards changed. They raised their crossbows and stepped back from the gate. Twig stepped forward, and waved his disciples aside. He was flattered that they defended him so passionately. Or they were just eager to fight. Whatever it was he wanted to get through quickly.

“That’s enough. No need to start anything violent.” Twig unveiled his face, revealing his chitin scaled face and needle like teeth. Immediately the guards raised their weapons, waiting for a order to shoot. “I am assistant to the prince of Antalia. And you will open the gates and let us through. You may accompany us with your little…”, he eyed the weapons with a laughing expression and continued: “..toys.”

Awkwardly the officer in charge of the gate was caving in. About ten minutes later they walked down the streets of the northern city, accompanied by sixteen heavily armed men, pointing their spears at them.

Twig couldn’t wait to finally confront his master about that soulbond.