I woke up to the extremely strong slap across my face. I had only fallen asleep for what must have been an hour, but it was pertinent that I was awake according to the person who had just done some damage to my cheek. I looked up to find Elina, smiling while slightly gesturing to get moving.
She doesn’t hold back with her slaps.
“Get up. We need to meet.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m getting up.”
My head was already slightly bandaged from the wounds I had sustained during my fight with Galen. I felt mostly okay, but there were a couple good bumps that his many decorations had left. Elina was bruised in several places and had, according to her, dislocated her shoulder making a flashy move. However, she appeared to be moving completely fine. That definitely showed the difference in toughness that she had gained over her years on the battlefield. Elina might not have the greatest mind for tactics or any politics, but she could hold her own in a fight. It was something I was desperate to learn. Noticing all of the injuries, another subject came to my mind.
I need to learn how to heal.
Elm had been holding out on teaching it to me even though I needed the skill. Having the ability to heal those who were following me would help a lot in the future.
“Oh hey, what’s the meeting about?” I asked groggily. My movement was a bit off balance, but I was adjusting quickly.
Elina cocked her head to the side, confused at my question.
“The supply shipment is arriving today. We need to plan an ambush.”
Oh fuck. I forgot about that.
***
“How in the hell do you forget about these things?” Sera slapped me on the back of the head, which hurt a lot more than expected. She most likely hit one of the bumps I had received during the battle.
“Ow… I’m sorry, I was really focused on the revolt and it slipped my mind. I mean, do we need to worry about it as much? They’re probably not as heavily armed and all of us have access to magic now.”
The group was standing around one of the tables in the guard cafeteria, which were noticeably larger than the slave tables. I presumed that the tables were larger because more guards sat together at once. They probably didn’t want us all sitting together and planning stuff, but it appears that failed. Elm was still resting due to his injuries, as the burns he got were a lot worse than he initially thought. A few others were also still resting due to injuries, but most of us were fine and ready to go when tomorrow came.
“The shipment should be coming within an hour or two, and we have no plan. Do you just expect us to flow through this one?” Sera was still lecturing me for my mistake. I was sitting down at this point, praying for something in my mind to click.
Doing a great job as a leader, North.
“I mean, can’t we jump them on the road in here? The woods are pretty thick from what we’ve seen and the shipment groups are usually pretty small. Plus, I’m pretty sure Elina over here wouldn’t mind another battle.” I wasn’t wrong. Elina did look like she wanted another fight which wasn’t exactly a problem, and she could probably do it on her own, but I didn’t want to risk losing one of my best fighters. “I think we can just get a few of our battle mages on it. That’s not too much of a problem. Alex, you can fight with her, right?”
Actually, now that I think about it, Alex and Elina both have a fire attunement. I’d say that they were perfect for each other, but if this were any other circumstance they’d probably be murdering each other on sight.
“I can probably do it. I know a few others who can help, but I seriously think you might want to put some more thought into this. I mean, are we going to kill the transport crew?”
I stopped for a moment and looked at the table around me. Sera had a deep look of worry on her face when Alex asked the question.
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Killing them…
“I’d prefer to not kill them. They’re not people who worked at the camps. They don’t deserve the same fate as the bastards we fought last night.” My voice wavered as I spoke. This was an issue that I’d been pushing away for a good while even though I knew that I wanted to liberate other camps. It was a thought I didn’t relish.
“North, are you sure about this? You do realize the amount of trouble keeping them alive will do?” Sera said, her arm on my shoulder. “I get that they’re not at fault, but do you know what you’d do with them?”
Alex nodded in agreement. “She’s right on this. You need to think about the bigger picture here. If we keep them alive you have two options- Take them with us or leave them here. Take them with us, that means we’re going to have extra mouths to feed on our journey. Plus, there’s no guaranteeing that they won’t stab us in the back and try to run away. Leave them alive and go on without them, that means we have people who have information on us who could help track us down or fight us. The military will eventually start to go after us, and the less information they have on us, the better. I know it isn’t easy, but this is how war works.”
Alex’s military experience is really showing.
I shook my head, trying to untangle the moral headache I had given myself. I didn’t want to kill anyone who didn’t deserve it.
“Let’s try and capture them for now. I can decide what to do after that.”
The rest of the group around me sighed. I knew that it was in character for me, but I wanted to give myself the choice after seeing the people firsthand. I knew that doing this was going to be difficult, but having my headaches start so early and with so little sleep was a sign of the difficulty on the path to come.
***
The soft rustling of the tree branches and the slowly browning leaves signaled that fall was starting to truly set in. Winters in Marlisle varied wildly. Sometimes we would struggle to open the doors due to the snow and sometimes it’d feel exactly like fall, just a tad bit colder. At the camp, snow was common during winter. The guards all had winter clothing, but the slaves were simply asked to endure. Sometimes we’d huddle together in the bunks on especially cold nights to use body warmth to keep ourselves from freezing.
It was odd being out of the camp for the first time in what had been years. I’d only stepped a short distance away from the entrance of the camp, but it felt like a completely different world. The atmosphere of the mine was suffocating in that way. I kept my body still as I watched the road, listening for the sound of the guards and carriages. Elina was nowhere to be seen, and Alex and a few others were on watch alongside me. How Elina could disappear so thoroughly was beyond me, but it did show again that her confidence in stealth was well founded.
It was a nice moment to see everyone working together even after our losses. We had the will to push forward as a group, which gave me hope that I could gain a majority of the people to my side. Whatever Nicole was planning, I didn’t fully know, but I knew it was something.
As I took a moment to think about the wider situation, I started to hear sounds of joyous conversation between men and women. The transport was apparently having a good time if their tone suggested anything. That was fine, since it drowned out any sound of our movement. Our position from the side of the road was on a high ground, which gave us a bit of cover as we hid behind trees and other foliage. As they slowly grew closer and closer I could spot more details about them.
There were 4 carriages, each drawn by a separate Strig, a massive creature that people rode and used to transport things such as carriages. They had red fur, hooved feet, a long face and horns that spread out to each side. I could spot 4 soldiers, one for each of the strigs.
I need to take a closer look at one when this is over. I never got to get too close to them back in Marlisle.
Once they were close enough, Alex gave a countdown and we all jumped out of our cover and onto the caravan. Alex had asked for specific mages to join us in order to deal with them. An earth mage knocked over two of them by launching large rocks before they could reach for their burners. A water mage had jumped off of a tree and had hit a soldier in the back before the attack had even registered with them, hitting them off of their steed and onto the ground. Alex made a move to go after the guard in the front, who was scrambling for his weapon, until Elina dropped out from above giving off a loud warcry. As she tackled the man onto the ground, I could see her hold him down while keeping a flame in his face.
That was quick.
Being around trained battle mages gave me a lot of confidence. The strigs were all looking panicked but Alex and the earth mage managed to restrain them while Elina and I worked on binding the fallen guards. It was a much easier mission than the revolt and showed the difference in power now that we had our cuffs removed.
“Can you handle the strigs and the supplies?” I asked while tying the ropes around the soldier. The man was barely conscious from how hard his head had been hit by the stone mage. “I’m not used to working with them.”
Alex nodded and had some polite conversation with the water mage about their shared military experience, although I couldn’t hear any details. The supplies they had looked to be really useful for a trip. There was a good amount of food supplies and munitions, along with a few clothes.
I should probably get some new clothes from the guard’s stuff.
I sat back and watched from the sidelines as the hastily made team transported the carriages and soldiers back to camp. There was a lump in my throat the entire time, knowing that I had to make the hard decision about the fate of these people.