Bella found a small stick, Joe found some dried leaves and dead grass. The lieutenant bent down, grinding the small stick against the leaves and grass his team had gathered. Jeren was piling a bunch of tried wood together a few meters away.
“A fire?” Hunter asked. A shadow passed over them. He looked to the sky and saw a small object in the distance, high above them.
Right, he thought. A smoke trail was the only way they’d get their attention.
But what if they don’t want to get their attention?
“Are we sure this is smart?” Hunter asked, “What if they’re Clarke’s people?”
The lieutenant didn’t pause. Smoke rose from the small bundle in quick puffs. His faced showed immense strain, and he wheezed out an agonized breath as a spark seemed to catch, and a small fire bloomed.
“The sound,” Joe said.
Bella elaborated.
“Skyhold has older generation aircraft. The platoon’s newer generation craft were destroyed when we were shot down, so—
Relief flooded Hunter as he said, “So they’re from the Cloud.”
The lieutenant brought the flame to the woodpile Jeren built, while Bella added dried grass to it.
A pillar of smoke soon traced a curving line into the sky as a soft wind carried it across the sky. It took a few minutes for the scouts to notice the smoke, and the team heard them fly closer to circle their position. The team waved, yelling at the top of their lungs. Hunter’s throat felt raw by the time the small craft was visible.
When he saw the insignia of the Merciful Cloud stenciled across its side, he almost cried. The vehicle lowered itself a dozen meters away from the team. Hunter stepped forward. He could see the pilot through a small window, and another individual with black body armour and the grey Oberon trim stepped out, offering his hand to Hunter.
“Are you Hunter Koar?” the man yelled, struggling to be heard over the sound of air being displaced across the surroundings as the etheric propulsion of the craft floated mere feet of the ground.
Hunter nodded and waved his arm towards the team.
“From Guard Captain Bell’s platoon, survivors,” he yelled back. The Guardsman nodded and waved them into the small craft. It carried 5 people at most, and the Guardsman elected not to take a seat or the handhold, doing his best to keep his balance as the pilot commanded the craft to gain altitude.
Closing the small craft’s door reduced the amount of sound the team had to endure. The Guardsman who was standing with them, leaned over Jeren and reached past the pilot to grab a small radio. He thumbed the activation switch.
“This is Scout-3 reporting to the Merciful Cloud. Come to Merciful Cloud. Scout-3 is on our way back with 5 survivors, I repeat, 5 survivors, including Hunter Koar. Have a med-team prepped to receive, over.”
Hunter heard a voice warbling back through the radio.
“Yes, sir, I repeat, 5 survivors, including Hunter Oberon Koar, over,” he said.
He was silent for a few seconds as he listened to the response. He smiled at whatever he heard.
“Roger that, sir. Over and out,” the Guardsman returned the radio and looked at Hunter.
“Permission to speak freely, sir?”
“Granted?” Hunter said, still not used to having any authority over people who could kill him from a mile away.
“Many people are relieved to hear that you’re alive, but your sister said something about finishing what the forest couldn’t, if you catch my drift.”
Hunter snorted.
“Death threats are her way of showing affection,” he explained to the team. The lieutenant rose an eyebrow but kept his thoughts to himself.
“Some family,” Jeren said, lacking the inhibitions of his superior officer.
“I’m adopted,” Hunter said, “and she and I only became friends about just before we left Sanctuary.”
“Wait, if death threats are her way of showing affection, then how does she treat you when she doesn’t feel affectionate?” Bella asked, leaning forward.
Hunter pursed his lips, remembering his first month with that monster.
“Say no more,” Jeren said, shaking his head. “I’m glad I’m not an Oberon.”
“No? What about the money? The fame?” Joe asked.
“You think I need to be an Oberon to get with women?” Jeren asked, spreading his hands as if he couldn’t believe the insinuation.
Bella scoffed and shook her head. The lieutenant now looked at Jeren with the same look he’d been giving Hunter.
“How many survived the crash?” Hunter asked the Guardsman while the team bantered among themselves.
Sir, the casualties were minimal; a handful of fatalities and two dozen serious injuries. Ms. Aera and Mr. Oberon survived, as did the rest of the command staff. The ship was still undergoing repairs when we experienced a strange pulse of energy, which broke the remnants of the beastwave. Guard Captain Niklaus sent us to investigate and ensure we didn’t miss another potential threat.
“It’s the opposite of a threat,” Jeren said. “The creature saved our lives. And straight up healed the lieutenant’s leg.”
“And mine,” Joe said.
“And my ribs,” Hunter said.
“You hurt your ribs?” Bella asked, her eyes widening, “why didn’t you tell us?”
Hunter shrugged.
“What would you have done if you’d known?” he asked.
“You said it healed you? The creature you’re talking about?” the Guardsman asked.
“Yeah. Hey, what’s your name, by the way?” Hunter asked.
The Guardsman seemed taken aback for a second, and then saluted.
“I’m sorry for my lack of discipline, sir. I’m Lieutenant Guardsman Shawn Fitzpatrick, sir.”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Hunter sighed.
“At ease?” he said, and then muttered, “this is going to take a while to get used to.”
Then a thought occurred to him.
“Hey, while we’re all up here, is it possible to check on the location of the other platoon?” he asked Lieutenant Fitzpatrick.
The lieutenant nodded.
“We can fly by to confirm their position, but we need to get back to the ship as soon as possible, sir. They’re expecting us.”
“It should only be a brief detour,” Lieutenant Pellar said. He stood from his seat and offered his hand to Lieutenant Fitzpatrick, “Lieutenant Guardsman Richard Pellar.”
Hunter almost slapped himself, unable to believe that he’d forgotten to introduce the team beyond what he’d shared a minute ago. After Lieutenant Pellar made all the introductions on Hunter’s behalf, he directed the pilot to the platoon’s base camp.
When Hunter saw the location of the camp on a small map the pilot was using to navigate, and compared it to where the Merciful Cloud was, he whistled.
“26 kilometres is pretty far out. I doubt we’re gonna want to have you all jog to the ship.”
“You mean 16 miles,” Jeren said. “The metric system is inaccurate.”
“What?” Hunter asked. “How is it inaccurate? What does that even mean?”
“Smith uses imperial, still,” Bella said.
“I mean, I knew that,” Hunter said. “I just thought it was a symbolic relic from a bygone age.”
“It’s the world’s last grip on its sanity,” Jeren said, crossing his arms and pouting, “and I’m speaking ironically. In fact, I’m almost offended that you haven’t caught onto that yet.”
“You’re probably right, Hunter,” Lieutenant Pellar said. “We’ll have to enlist aid from the Merciful Cloud to ferry our people over. Do you think the ship has the space?”
Hunter shrugged.
“I’m not an expert on these matters, but I’m pretty sure the guys in charge want to take Skyhold as soon as possible. We’ve got, what, a week until we expect the first wave of ships to arrive?”
“So the sooner we get everyone together and ready to collaborate, the better,” Lieutenant Fitzpatrick said, “Most of the scouts are awaiting orders to map the immediate terrain now that the beastwave is over with, and I’m sure we’ll want to get a better visual on the anomaly zone—”
“—Lake Striptease,” Hunter said, unable to help himself. The Lieutenant paused, his brows furrowed.
Jeren snickered, and Bella covered her mouth, hiding her smile. Lieutenant Pellar and Joe were having a polite conversation amongst themselves.
“It’s an inside joke,” Bella explained to the lieutenant, “we ended up inside a cave overlooking the lake. The creature that ended the beastwave lives beneath its surface.”
Lieutenant Fitzpatrick shook his head.
“I’m still shocked that a living creature could do something like this. It defies everything I thought I knew about the world.”
“It’s a new world, lieutenant,” Bella said. “that’s more clear to me now more than ever.”
“Approaching the camp,” the pilot yelled from the front.
The team gathered around the windows of the craft, watching as hills turned to flat forest, and then opened to a large clearing covered in animal corpses and abandoned camp equipment.
“Shit,” Lieutenant Pellar whispered, “the beastwave must have been huge if it stretched this far out.”
“There must be hundreds of corpses down there,” Lieutenant Fitzpatrick said. “I’m seeing Guard uniforms.”
Hunter’s heart sank. He didn’t know the people who had died down there. He could only imagine how the team was feeling. Jeren was quiet and tense. He clenched his jaw and darted his eyes across the clearing, taking in everything he could.
“I’m seeing less than a dozen dead Guardsmen. It’s hard to make out from up here, of course, but my guess is that most of our people made it to the fallback position.”
“Right, the canyon,” Jeren said, raising his voice as a sudden elation gripped him.
“Follow the river until it runs through a small canyon. They had a last-resort planned for this exact scenario,” Lieutenant Pellar ordered the pilot. Lieutenant Fitzpatrick didn’t make any protest to his colleague’s command as he observed the garden of death sprawling beneath them.
The pilot flew the ship along the path of a river nearby. They could see signs of battle along the way. For every dead Guardsman, there were over a dozen dead beasts. Hunter could see the canyon approaching, and as they got closer, the amount of fighting seemed to have increased. The beast corpses grew more abundant, but the Guardsman bodies seemed to decrease.
What seemed to be the aftermath of a landslide cut off the canyon. Between the canyon’s end, and the additional barrier which must have served as an impossible obstacle for the beasts to cross, dozens of men and women were waving up at them.
“Thank heavens,” he heard Bella exhale. Joe gave her shoulder a squeeze.
“Scout-3 to Merciful Cloud, come in Merciful Cloud, do you read? Over,” Lieutenant Fitzpatrick was speaking into the vessel’s radio as the pilot had them descend.
“We ready you loud and clear, Scout-3. What’s your status? Over,” came the response. The transmission surprised Hunter. Last time, it sounded like warbling static to his untrained ears.
“We have found the survivors from Guard Captain Bell’s platoon. He requested for exfiltration teams to be sent to the coordinates shown on the map, reading the numbers aloud.
“Copy that, Scout-03. Guard Captain Niklaus has scrambled the rest of the Scouts, and they are inbound to your location. Return to the Merciful Cloud with the V.I.P. How copy? Over.”
“No more detours, loud and clear. E.T.A,” the Lieutenant checked his watch, and the map, “5 minutes at full throttle, over.”
“We’ll see you then, Scout-03. Over and out.”
“You can drop us off here, Lieutenant,” Lieutenant Pellar said. “We’ll debrief while we wait for our transportation to arrive.”
The scout vessel neared the ground and Lieutenant Fitzpatrick opened the door to let the team out. Bella was the first to exit, giving Hunter a hug and then saluting once she’d exited. Jeren slapped Hunter on the shoulder, and Joe gave Hunter a smile. Lieutenant Pellar extended his hand, and Hunter shook it.
“We’ll see you on the Cloud, sir,” he said. Hunter pursed his lips and nodded. Once he left, and Lieutenant Fitzpatrick closed the door, he heard Jeren yell over the noise of the ship.
“Drinks are on you, boss!”
Hunter shook his head and laughed. He didn’t know if he was referring to Hunter, or the lieutenant, but given who Hunter was, he suspected he knew the answer. Hunter would need to make some inquiries with the Cloud’s quartermaster. If any of the alcohol survived the crash, he’d see if he could requisition some.
The trip back to the Merciful Cloud was short. Lieutenant Fitzpatrick brought his attention towards the sky a couple of minutes into the flight and pointed towards 6 specks rapidly approached and then passed them in the blink of an eye.
“The other scouts,” the Lieutenant said.
“They’re making good speed,” Hunter said.
“We don’t know how many wounded Guardsman are in that canyon,” the Lieutenant explained. “When we scramble the fleet, they’ll burn fuel getting to where they need to be. "The platoon needs to get lifted out of that canyon yesterday. If I’m not wrong, they used explosives to close off the entrance, but we don’t know how that might have affected the canyon’s walls.”
Hunter felt chills.
“Then again, we don’t know that the canyon would have collapsed on them while they tried to climb out,” the Lieutenant said, “but it’s better to assume that we’re on a timer.”
Hunter nodded. Guard Captain Bell would appreciate the haste.
They approached the Merciful Cloud, and Hunter breathed a sigh of relief. He could see workers walking along its hull, making repairs. The ship seemed intact from what he could see. The shield flickered out of existence for a second to allow the ship to enter the docking bay.
He opened the door to the ship before the Lieutenant could and saw Aera and Trey waiting for him.
“Hey guys, miss me?” he asked.
“Terribly,” Trey smiled as he spoke, moving forward to meet Hunter and putting his arm around Hunter’s shoulder as he led him back to Aera. She stood with her hands behind her back, her uniform as well-kept as ever. Her chin was out, and despite her still confidence, he could see her wariness. There were dark bags forming under her eyes.
Aera turned to walk by Hunter’s side, keeping pace with him and her father.
“I’ve got quite the story for you guys,” he said, but Trey held up his other hand towards him, signalling for him to wait.
“You’ll have plenty of time to fill us in once they have gathered Bell’s platoon onboard. Although we won’t have much time to debrief,” Trey said. “We’ve finished the Cloud’s preliminary repairs. Unfortunately, it will take too long to get it airborne, so we’re going to shuttle the crew to the outpost once it's time to make our move.”
Hunter stopped walking.
“The damage is that bad?”
“We’ll keep a few people behind in order to the shield in the event of a beastwave.” Trey said.
Hunter looked to Aera. For the first time in her life, she seemed reserved. She appeared unfocused and lost in thought.
“We’ve had a long couple of days,” Trey said, “and the last week’s preparations had already exhausted everyone. Once we secure Skyhold, we can give people some time to rest. In the meantime—”
They stopped halfway down a corridor, beside a door with a red cross on it.
“—You will receive a full check-up, and then getting some sleep.”
Hunter furrowed his brows.
“That hardly seems fair,” he said.
“The crew will not blame you for getting some rest,” Aera sighed, “and besides, with you rendered unconscious, it’s less for us to worry about.”
Hunter felt a pang of guilt. He didn’t avoid it.
“I guess I deserve that,” he said. “Sorry about keeping you both win suspense for so long.”
“Suspense,” Aera scoffed, “right. Hunter?”
Hunter glanced at her, raising an eyebrow.
“Don’t worry me like that again, ok?” she said.
A sudden surge of warmth rose in his chest. He even felt tears threaten to form if he wasn’t careful.
“No promises,” he said, stepping forward and putting his arms around her. She returned the embrace.