I was shaken awake by Sera, torn from a dreamless sleep that I had gotten far easier than I would have liked. I groaned as I staggered to my feet and immediately locked eyes with Wanderer. His face was pale, but he still gave me an attempt at a reassuring smile.
“Hey.” Wanderer said groggily.
I sheepishly scratched at the back of my neck as a wave of guilt punched me in the gut.
“You feeling any better?”
“Yeah. Still feel like I got a brick of magore shoved down my throat, but I’ll be fine. It’s not like I’m unused to mana radiation.”
Ouch. That hurts even more when he’s the one who says it to me.
“Please don’t worry about me. You’ve got other battles, if you’re still planning on scouting out the camp.”
I nodded and looked to my left to see another Cassoban roasting over a new flame before an already dressed wing was tossed in my face. It smacked into me and greasily fell down into my hands.
“Just because you’re unhappy with yourself doesn’t mean you can slow down.” Silva bitterly remarked.
“I know. Ruby, what’s our position from the camp?”
The group slowly gathered around Ruby who was resting near the flame, drawing imaginary lines on the map with her finger and mumbling incoherent thoughts. I had to tap her on the shoulder to get her to snap back to the present.
“Oh! Uh, well I’m pretty sure we ended up here at…” Ruby’s head popped up and pivoted to Sera, “What’s the name of this lake?”
“Haven Lake. At least, that’s what my father called it.”
“Got it. So we ended up at Haven Lake, and we needed to get to this red spot to the east, which is the camp. Since we’re following the edge, I think we could get there in less than a day.”
I paused and held my chin, attempting and failing to map out the distance. It was another great reminder why I should be extremely thankful to have Ruby as a comrade.
“We should go a bit over halfway.” Silva reached over Ruby’s shoulder to point at the map, “We need to be able to move quickly towards the camp, but with the exception of North, we’d be putting ourselves at risk if we got too close. Until he does his little scouting mission, we have no idea how big of a problem we’re dealing with. If this mining camp is built on a town, it’s going to be far larger than either of our mining camps, and probably even more defended now that we’ve alerted Arlin. Sound good to you, leader?”
“Sure. Let’s get packed and moving. Ruby, I’m sure you’ll find a spot based on Silva’s suggestions?”
Ruby let off a beaming smile and quickly went to work studying her map and mumbling things that only made sense to her. I sauntered my way over to Wanderer, who was resting on the ground.
“You think you can walk? If not, I’m sure Mell would be fine carrying you.”
“I would!” Mell merrily shouted out in the distance.
“I…” Wanderer paused as he shifted all of limbs around like he was testing to make sure they still functioned, “will try. Mana poisoning fades, and I’m sure that I’ll be fine by tonight.”
My eyes naturally drifted over to the stump of flesh where his right arm would be. I didn’t know whether or not to call it my fault, but it certainly felt like it. Wanderer seemed to notice and sighed.
“North, please. My pride as an Ireborian warrior, however tainted it may be, remains. I will fight as long as I have breath.”
I gave a nod and extended out my hand, helping to lift him off the ground. He wobbled slightly as he landed on his feet, struggling with his asymmetrical body. Grabbing the bag resting nearby, I made my way to the front of the group and began walking east next to the lake’s edge. Without words, the rest lined up behind me and trudged forward in near silence.
It didn’t take long for me to notice a pattern in the landscape. The forest seemed to intentionally space itself out from the lake, with the gap between the two filled with only small grass and shrubbery. The animals that I saw were either fish or bugs, likely pushed to the edge of the forest due to the predators kept within. As I walked, I could feel a beetle land and begin to trudge along the top of my head like a jolly explorer. Nostalgic memories of toying with the bugs in my village reignited, to which I couldn’t help but smile.
Corith was a land of unfamiliarities and unknowns, and it certainly kept those unknowns to itself. With the context of our time in the forest and the ability to somewhat relax, I could see just how much the little town of Marlisle had sheltered me. Even now, I was being sheltered by the lake.
Yet, as a very friendly beetle treated my head as a place to rest its wings, I was trudging right back into danger. At the very least, I’d assumed it was going to be slightly more familiar.
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By the time I saw the lights of the camp, it was already getting dark. I was alone and had been for some time, as the rest were setting up camp and awaiting for my scouting mission to be over.
I slowed my pace, darting in and out of the forest’s edge to remain hidden. Each time, I could feel the faint echoes of the forest’s ire brush up against my mind, reminding me that I was no longer welcome inside.
As I got closer, the first thing to greet me was a large wooden barricade with equally spaced guard towers along it. Letting out a quiet sigh, I walked further back into the forest and traced the barricade until I came upon an entry gate. The way to the entrance was too open for me to continue using cover, and I couldn’t risk getting spotted early. Taking a deep breath, I made my request and felt myself surrounded with a veil of obscuring light.
My time in the forest had pushed my attunement to its limits, strengthening my connection to it. Although I lacked the timekeeper, my best guess was that I could keep up the veil continuously for twenty minutes. I’d made the assumption at the outset that twenty minutes was more than enough.
Quietly stepping onto the entry road and through the open gates, I was able to see the whole mining camp in all of its horrific glory.
This is nothing like our camp.
Only a few paces away from the entrance, a metallic building without windows loomed over me. It was a refinery, identical to the one we’d liberated Wanderer from. Worst of all, I could make out the chimney of another refinery not much farther in the distance.
The refineries were part of the mining camps in Corith. Being built off the corpses of these villages gave them more than enough room to do so, and didn’t require them to clear the landscape. Taking a closer look, some of the buildings that seemed to be relegated to the guards looked like repurposed houses from the previous residents.
I hugged the walls as I delved further inwards, avoiding getting near the guard as much as possible.
There were two things I had to confirm and locate. The first of which was the mine itself, since that was where we were planning to have all of the slaves be once the forest fire started. That had changed now that we had refineries at the same location. The second was the supply depot, as we needed oil for the fire.
My focus was solely put on my attunement and my surroundings, meaning I couldn’t eavesdrop. The vague conversation I could make out was the same as the one that I’d hear all the time in Boralis or the other mining locations, but I could make out bits and pieces referencing our caravan.
As I moved forward carefully following a tent that looked like a mess hall, I was nearly brushed up against by a wandering guard. In the light of the lamp he was carrying I could see that the cold air left my breath visible. Holding it, I watched as he made his way towards the entry flap to presumably go eat. Once that had passed, I did another scan of my surroundings to see what areas looked the most populated with guards.
My best guess was that I was close to the town center. If this camp was done with some of the same principles, the slave bunks would be closer to the mine. Seeing some more shabby buildings in the distance which seemed to have a higher presence of guard, I made my way closer. Four of them were lined up next to each other, surrounded with two guards at each door.
Farther down the same road of the bunks, there were guards lined up to what looked like a large protrusion out of the ground with a metal platform directly beside it. Our mine was carved out of a hill, yet this one looked like it had to be opened manually. Turning around, I headed back towards the center of the outpost and tried to look for any hints to where they might keep supplies.
Oh.
Near the center, sitting directly next to what seemed to be a repurposed tavern, a small sign jutted out of the ground labeled “Supply Depot” with an arrow pointing north of where used to be the town square. After only a short few paces, I saw a building that was painfully familiar. A long structure, with a protruding metal box on the side. What it was connected to was far larger than the armory at our camp, almost the size of the mess hall, yet the metal room that I knew all too well was the home of the magore technician.
I couldn’t help but wonder at the sight of it whether the technician here was dealing with the same amount of strig shit from the guard. Knowing that we needed oil for the trick to work, I carefully made my way up to the door and inside.
It was a large, cluttered space with shelves and cases dotted around, each with specific labels to make sure everything was sorted. It was surprisingly organized for how large this place was and how many people it had to manage.
“Hello?” A quivering voice from the back of the room shouted out. I quickly ducked over to the side and placed myself in the gap between two free standing shelves.
Under the light of a carried lamp, a modest looking man came forward. He wasn’t wearing any piece of the guard uniform, but I could see the insignia still placed onto his clothing. His well cut beard, combed hair and unblemished face was enough for me to guess that this wasn’t a part of the Arlinian military, but something more administrative. He did another scan of the room, worryingly pausing on the gap I was in before letting out a frustrated groan. Wrenching the door open, he took a look outside before making his way back inside. Seeing an opportunity, I used the moment to leave as the door closed behind me.
A burning sensation ran through my veins as I realized I was hitting my time limit. I’d given up on quiet and begun briskly walking through the side paths between buildings, hugging walls and avoiding sight. I could sense some of the veil start to flicker until I regained focus on it and maintained it. It felt as though I was pulling on a hundred individual threads, trying to keep them from slipping.
I looked at the occasional guard as I neared the exit, seeing one of them almost lock eyes with me before repeatedly blinking. My veil had likely flickered, which he had luckily guessed to just be a trick of the mind. I passed the wooden gates without too much trouble, but I could feel my veil fade as I took my first few steps into the forest edge.
Knowing that I could be seen now, I ran as far away as I could before taking a moment to breathe. There was a lot to think about, and very little of it was positive.
There were no fires.
That was something I’d only really been able to notice in hindsight. The only light source and thing they were using the see and warm themselves were oil or gas lamps, all of which looked like they were being treated with care. Arlin had a habit of looking down on other cultures and their practices, yet they seemed to readily understand the rules of the forest and how important they were.
It had been a while since I had underestimated Arlin, and the last time I did, I got nearly everyone following me killed. I wouldn’t make that mistake again, not with the literal fire we were about to toy with.
Whatever happened, the next two days were going to feel extremely long.