After Alice and her group departed, we moved with Drackar and the orcs to the outskirts of Huiesta, where the rest of his troops were stationed. I wanted to get a better understanding of how he and his orcs operated, as well as the dangers we were up against.
We had no idea where the raiders were, so Drackar’s orcs remained on high alert, ready to mobilize the moment any of our troops made contact with the enemy. It was maddening to hear reports of burning villages and murdered peasants without ever seeing the enemy ourselves.
Drackar’s orcs used their own messaging system, somewhat like the one silver messages employed by the adventurers’ guild—though without the convenience of mailboxes. If a message failed to reach its intended recipient, it was simply lost. The system wasn’t perfect, but it worked well enough for their purposes.
Of the villages attacked, Donnercup was the closest to us. Drackar had scouts spread throughout most of the domain, which is how we learned that at least two peasants in Donnercup had been killed, with the rest likely fleeing into the forest. A few houses were still burning, and there was a significant risk the fire could spread to other homes or food stocks.
Without wasting time, Drackar sent Woktarod and twenty grunts to Donnercup to help contain the fire. Hopefully, once the peasants saw the orcs and realized the raiders had gone, they would come out of hiding and assist in saving what remained of their village.
To get a better look at the map I’d received from the orcs and discuss the situation with Drackar, I pulled a table and several chairs out of my inventory. The sight of the table must have triggered a memory for Ju, because as soon as she saw it, she quipped, “Should I serve some wine? Do you still have any of that sparkling wine?”
I rolled my eyes, barely suppressing a grin. I hadn’t used the table since that first memorable meeting with Drackar, back when we came to take over the barony.
“Actually, coffee would be ideal!” I replied in jest, spreading the map of the barony across the table. “So, you said the villages here, here, and here were attacked?” I asked, pointing to the marked locations as I tried to piece together where the attackers might be operating from.
“Yes, that’s correct,” Drackar confirmed with a nod, “And possibly there as well!” he added, gesturing toward Malahe village, where Sid was heading.
The attacks were scattered across the domain—two in the north, one in the south, and now potentially one in the east. All of them happening in quick succession.
“Where are they now? Did they retreat beyond the domain, or are they hiding somewhere in the woods?” I asked, my finger hovering over the marked areas on the map.
Wortar let out a heavy sigh and shook his head. “No. We’ve sent troops to search the surrounding areas, but we haven’t found a single trace of them.”
“Could they really be hiding that well?” I wondered aloud.
Drackar shook his head. “Unlikely. It’s nearly impossible to hide from hounds—they can track even the faintest scent. And we’ve also got hunters with flying pets surveying the area from above. The strange thing is, their tracks begin and end suddenly at the same point.”
I frowned, staring at the map in frustration as my thoughts churned. We were in a world where magic was a reality—they must be using some kind of trickery. But what kind? And more importantly, what was the purpose of these seemingly random attacks?
Before I could dive deeper into my thoughts, Ju appeared at the side of the table, placing a tray down with a thermos bottle and several neatly arranged cups.
“Coffee, my lady?” she asked, stepping forward with practiced grace, lifting the thermos in one hand.
I blinked, momentarily caught off guard. “You have coffee?” I asked, nodding in response to her offer as I watched the dark liquid pour smoothly into a porcelain cup. “Thanks!”
“Of course, my lady. What kind of servant would I be if I couldn’t anticipate her ladyship’s wishes?” she quipped, her tone balanced somewhere between playful and serious. Then, turning toward Drackar, she added with a slight smirk, “Sir, Captain, coffee?”
As I took the cup, the warmth seeped into my fingers, and the rich aroma curled into my senses. I was grateful for the coffee, but my gaze flicked toward Ju, wondering why she was leaning so heavily into her “servant” act.
Before I could dwell on it further, just as I took a sip, Wortar gestured toward Oxfarm.
“Captain, Lady Lores, if I may speak openly?”
I nodded, setting my cup down as he continued.
“If we try to chase them, we’ll always be a step behind. My proposal is to focus on defending a few key villages—places we can hold—like Oxfarm or Huiesta, or any other settlements you consider crucial. We can’t protect everything, but we can protect a few. If we try to defend all, we may end up losing everything.”
“But wouldn’t the others feel abandoned?” I asked.
Drackar nodded, a determined expression on his face. “It may seem that way, but Wortar has a point. If we spread our forces too thin, they’ll pick us off one by one. What do you think, Lady Lores? Should we concentrate on a few key locations until we get a better grasp of who we’re up against and how they operate?”
I didn’t like the proposal, but I had no better alternative. As I mulled over how to respond, watching Ju quietly refilling my cup, Sid’s vexed voice suddenly cut through my thoughts.
“Mom, there were five raiders at Malahe. I burned two, but the other three escaped through something like a gate!”
How dare they escape rightful punishment! - He didn't voice that, but I knew he was angry about it.
“What kind of gate?” I asked, my mind racing.
“I don’t know, Mom. It melted into the air before I could get a proper look at it.”
“And the raiders? What did they look like?” I pressed, trying to determine if we were dealing with mercenaries, soldiers, or just desperate scavengers.
His answer made me pause. “Like coal?”
For a second, I was thrown off, but then the realization hit, and I sighed. “No, I mean before—were they orcs or humans?”
"Mom, probably humans," Sid replied, his tone thoughtful but uncertain. "But orcs and humans look very much alike. It’s hard to tell them apart."
That left me momentarily speechless. Unable to process the information just yet, I set the thought aside and turned to Drackar, meeting his intense red eyes.
“Could they be using some kind of portals?” I asked.
Ju shook her head firmly, her nearly white-blond hair whipping furiously with the motion.
“Not portals. Portals are one-way and expensive,” she explained. “Besides, I don’t know of any active portal points here in the domain. That’s why even the prince had to walk.”
“Why is that?” I asked, genuinely curious.
Ju’s brows shot up, surprised by the question. Then, with a sigh, she raised her arms, as if preparing to lecture a group of students, and launched into an explanation.
“The theory of portals is this: a mage doesn’t actually create a portal. Portals already exist, linking what we assume are fixed nodes or planes to our own, and they’re always unidirectional. A mage’s role is simply to temporarily sever one end—the entry point—and take control of it for a limited time.”
She gestured animatedly as she continued, clearly in her element. “That’s why there can never be two portals open to the same location at the same time. If one mage has already opened a portal to Guaranga, for example, another mage would have to wait for the first one to close before opening theirs. Fortunately, casting portals is difficult, requiring rare ingredients and a massive amount of power to both open and sustain. So while it's uncommon, portal queues do happen. When they do, a mage has to hold their spell longer until their turn comes.”
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
I rolled my eyes at Ju’s long-winded explanation, but I couldn’t really fault her—I had asked for it. Still, her detailed breakdown only deepened the mystery. If portals weren’t an option, then what exactly had Sid seen?
“Yes, but Sid saw several of them escaping through a gate that melted into the air!” I blurted out before I could stop myself.
I immediately regretted it. That was a careless slip—I shouldn’t have said Sid's name. For a fleeting moment, I considered brushing past it, pretending no one had noticed. But honesty seemed like the better choice.
With a small shrug, I admitted, “Sid is the dragon. But please, keep this to yourselves.”
Drackar and Wortar exchanged a glance before Drackar nodded.
“We already had our suspicions,” he said, “But we’ll keep it to ourselves. That said, Sid is probably right. It sounds like they’re using teleportation gates, not portals. Did he manage to capture or kill any of them? Do we have more information about who we’re dealing with?”
“Teleportation gates?” I echoed, deliberately sidestepping Sid’s description of the attackers.
“Warlocks can make them,” Wortar explained. “These gates don’t allow for long-distance travel. A skilled warlock can link two gates across a few leagues, but they need a direct line of sight between the two points. The real question is—how are they creating so many gates in different locations? They must have a whole team of warlocks, or…”
"Mom, a wyvern!" Sid suddenly cut in.
“A wyvern?” I exclaimed aloud.
Wortar nodded at my reaction, “Or a warlock riding a wyvern… That could also work.”
“Where is it, Sid?” I asked.
"Here! It’s camouflaged with illusions, but not well enough."
Here…? I nearly rolled my eyes, but then I stopped. I knew where he was—I always had a sense of the direction his telepathy came from. Trusting that instinct, I turned eastward and lifted my gaze. And there he was, high above, his wings barely moving as he glided.
I raised a hand and pointed. The three others at the table followed my gesture, their eyes scanning the sky.
“But where’s the wyvern?” Ju asked, frowning.
"Camouflaged..." I muttered, watching intently, waiting for Sid to reveal it somehow.
Without warning, Sid made a sharp turn in midair, rolling onto his back before plunging straight downward. I’d never seen a bird move like that—maybe a fighter jet at an air show, but not a living creature. He streaked toward the ground like a meteor, and I expected him to level out at any moment.
My breath caught as he vanished from sight. I yelped, nearly dropping my coffee.
"Sid! Are you okay?"
For a split second, I feared he’d crashed. Then, his voice chimed back in my mind, casual and cheerful.
"Sure, Mom! The wyvern is dead. Can I eat it?"
I gulped. That was all?
"Ahm... And... was anyone riding it?"
"Yep! I ate it already! It tried to shoot a spell at me, Mom!"
I gasped. That was… unexpected. Maybe it was time for a serious conversation about what does and does not go on the menu.
"Mom, you promised to make me an inventory! Will you make me one?"
I blinked, trying to process that.
“Did something happen?” Drackar asked, noticing the sudden pallor on my face.
I sighed, offering a small shrug. “The wyvern is dead,” I announced.
They exchanged glances.
“Who was riding it?” Ju asked.
“Unidentifiable… after such a plunge,” I replied with an innocent blink, ignoring the way her brows knitted together.
Pushing past her scrutiny, I turned my attention back to Sid. “Sure, I’ll make you an inventory. But why do you need it?”
"To store the wyvern until I finish it! Its flesh is sooo special! That’s why I asked if I could eat it! I thought you might want it too! Yum, yum!"
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, forcing myself to stay calm. We were in the middle of an attack, and this was what he was thinking about? Food?
I exhaled slowly, counting to ten before answering. “I’ll make it today when we’re finished. Okay?”
"Cool! Thanks, Mom!" Sid chirped happily.
I rubbed my temples.
“It makes perfect sense,” Drackar said.
I blinked, momentarily confused—I must have missed part of the conversation.
He continued, “The group might be relatively small, which is why they retreat the moment we arrive with larger numbers. They’re not here for an actual fight; their goal is to sow panic and disorder. At Deraa, we had only one scout, and we’ve likely lost him. My guess is that one or two of them were flying on the camouflaged wyvern, placing the gates, while the rest teleported through, torched the village, and then retreated. Meanwhile the wyvern moved on to set up a new gate elsewhere.”
“They must be operating from a central location, somewhere high up,” Wortar mused.
“True. But where?” I wondered aloud, scanning the map again.
“One of the two heights of the Saddle would be ideal,” Drackar said decisively. “It’s within range of all the attacks, nearly deserted, and positioned right in the middle of the barony.”
The Saddle was a formation of two hills resembling—unsurprisingly—a saddle, located west of Oxfarm and south of our current position in Huiesta. A small hamlet by the same name sat on the southern slope of the lower hill, which meant if they were hiding there, they were most likely using the higher peak.
A stronghold hidden in plain sight.
Wortar lifted his gaze to meet Drackar’s. “Maybe I should take a small troop and scout the area?”
Drackar shook his head, much to Wortar’s displeasure. “No. Their whole group is likely there, and we don’t know their full strength yet. We should wait for Woktarod to return and go together. I don’t want to split our forces too much.”
I frowned. Why wait when we had Sid? He could scout the area much faster and without the risk of running into an ambush.
“Sid, can you go check the Saddle? That’s probably where they’re hiding.”
"Sure, Mom! But can you guard the wyvern in the meantime? I don’t want scavengers getting to it! I’ll bring it to you—just make sure no one touches it, okay?"
I hesitated. “Can you even carry that?” I asked, skeptical.
Apparently, he could.
Moments later, to my astonishment, I saw him soaring through the sky, a massive wyvern clutched tightly in his claws.
“What in the—?” Wortar muttered, watching in wide-eyed the display.
I shrugged, “I sent Sid to check the Saddle, but until he’s back, we need to guard the wyvern from scavengers.”
A few moments later, Sid released the giant wyvern, letting it drop with a resounding thud that shook the ground not far from us. Without missing a beat, he soared off toward the Saddle.
Drackar quickly assigned a small troop of orcs to guard the wyvern. Meanwhile, Sid flew toward the suspected hideout. It wasn’t long before his voice chimed in my mind.
“I found the place, Mom, but… they’re all dead.”
“All dead?” I echoed, frowning. “Did you kill them?”
“No, Mom, they were already dead when I got here. Judging by the traces… I think Lynx was here.”
I raised a brow. Lynx? How had he found the place so quickly? I glanced around and realized—of course he wasn’t here with us. I should have known he’d be investigating the attackers on his own.
Drackar must have noticed my expression. “Is something wrong, Lady Lores?”
I offered him a weak smile and shrugged. “He found their central teleportation point… but they’re already dead.”
“All dead?” Drackar repeated, his brows shooting higher.
I shrugged “Yes. Looks like Lyn got to them first.”
The orcs exchanged looks. It was a bit of an anticlimactic end to the incursion. After all this chaos, there would be no grand confrontation—just corpses and lingering questions.
I decided to stay put and wait for Lynx to return. Meanwhile, I sent Sid to continue circling the barony, making sure there were no more raiders lurking in the shadows.