I stared down at the map that had been laid out by Ruby and rubbed my chin. Since we didn’t have access to paper, it had been done using a stick and a clear patch of dirt.
“Really would have been helpful if we had a more complete map…” Silva remarked, side-eying me.
“I was a bit focused on not getting caught and on finding the supply depot and the mine. And with what I’ve given her, Ruby has already done a fine job.” I shot back. Ruby looked up from the ground with a proud smile.
“Yes, but with what you’ve given us, it feels like your original plan isn’t going to work.”
“Yeah…” I said sheepishly.
The camp had good policy around fire, and seemed to be rather careful with their lamps. They didn’t do wood fires and only used lamps, and kept track of all of their supplies. Getting one to accidentally light a fire was going to be a pain. It didn’t help that they’d bolstered security.
“And that one Arlinian in the supply depot…”
“What about him?” Alex asked.
“Something about him doesn’t feel right. Arlin doesn’t let their guard walk around looking like that, and even if he was a normal guard, I doubt his out of uniform clothes would have the insignia. Did any of your camps have inspectors visit it?”
The trio of Alex, Silva and Ruby took a moment to scan their memories. Taking a bit of introspection myself, I never remembered anything similar to what I imagine a formal inspector would look like. Supply and shipment transports visited, and that was the only time I could remember outsiders taking a look around our camp.
“What if he’s a researcher like Elm was?” Sera proposed from a distance, sitting around a fire next to the lake which was cooking up a handful of fish. Mell, Wanderer and her had decided to focus on cooking and preparing for the day while the rest of us thought of our plans.
“He could be… I’d be interested in keeping him alive if we get the chance.”
Stares of judgment came from both Silva and Alex, which I’d expected.
“It’s just an if. I’m not invested in keeping any more Arlinians alive than necessary.” I defended myself, “We still need to figure out how we’re going to get one of them to incur the ire and control it so we can do as much damage as possible to the camp without killing slaves.”
“Which is going to be hard, because from what you said, they’re being careful about breaking any rules of the forest.” Alex needlessly pointed out.
“Yeah, that. I don’t know if we can trick a guard into starting the fire now, with the amount of set up and how careful they are. We’d somehow need to force them to start the fire.”
Ruby tapped on my leg to draw my attention.
“And we need to keep them inside the camp. With what I am getting from your descriptions, this location is big. If we want this to work, we need to keep them alive for as long as possible and make sure they draw the ire to specific locations. If they are using the same design principles as our camp, the soundline will be located wherever the guard captain’s office is.”
“Ruby is right.” Silva concurred, “If your plan is to force them to start the fire, you’d also have to force them to run to very specific locations with the express intent of killing all of their comrades. Even if we just go with the first idea and somehow trick them into starting a fire, there’s no doubt in my mind that the person will feel it. The Arlinians could simply figure out who drew the ire and throw them outside, letting them die but limiting damage to the camp.”
I held my head in my hands, racking my brain for any way to deal with all of these conflicting elements. It made me feel like an idiot, trying to hedge my bets on controlling something that was known for never being able to be tamed.
“The only real way we could control the ire is if one of us committed the sin.” Sera solemnly noted.
A collective silence fell over us as we all contemplated the exact same thing. The words that broke the quiet were the ones I’d feared hearing the most.
“I’ll do it.”
Every gaze turned to Wanderer who had stood up from his spot around the fire, his eyes locked onto me emanating an unerring confidence.
“No. I refuse.” I answered bluntly.
“North, you-” Sera attempted to step in, but I cut her off.
“No. I refuse to let any more people sacrifice themselves. We need numbers now more than ever.” I spoke as a pang of guilt ran itself through my chest. The dozens of lives that I’d thrown away due to my own cockiness already weighed heavy on my mind, and the resolute look on Wanderer’s face only reminded me of the sacrifices.
Wanderer’s response came in the form of a painful, wet cough that he covered up with his mutilated arm. When he finished, he turned it to me to show the splatters of blood that covered it.
“I was going to have to deal with the effects of magore poisoning some time in the future. I do not blame you, but I believe it won’t be long before I become a burden.” He confessed with a grin of false security.
My heart sank as the painful guilt I felt over the injuring and poisoning of Wanderer deepened. I had known it was bad, but it was only now that I realized that he was on the verge of dying.
Because of me.
“North, if you respect me as a soldier, then you should respect my choice to do what I can for your cause.”
“I…” The words were caught in my throat. Everyone else looked at me, having resigned their judgment for my final word.
He deserves it.
“Okay. If that is your desire, we’ll do it.” I answered through gritted teeth.
Exhales surrounded me as people finally felt able to breathe, although I was left out of that sensation of relief.
“He’ll need support summoning the ire.”Alex interjected into the collective melancholy, “If the rules of the forest work the same as they did with Silva, I’ll probably need to be with Wanderer to help start the fire, but I can’t be the one who does the direct action. I can create a torch for you, but I need to keep my intent as detached from you as possible.”
“I wouldn’t overthink it.” Sera assuaged, causing everyone to turn their focus onto her. “The forest works on simple rules and tries to be precise in its judgment. When you went hunting with Silva, it only targeted her despite North using his attunement to hide her from sight. As long as no one else actively participates in starting the fire, it should only target Wanderer.”
I nodded along, mentally stumbling from one step of the plan to the next. Wanderer’s proposition, however much I had disliked it, solved one problem and opened up another.
“Once he does that, he needs to get inside. Which should be fine as long as he can carry me.” I said.
“North, you are not heavy. I will be able to carry you.” Wanderer responded flatly. It wasn’t intended, but it felt like a bit of an insult. Beyond whether or not I could be carried, another worry languished in the back of my mind. It was a factor that had never been on our side, especially now.
“If this is our plan, we’ll need time. The forest has to locate the sinner in order to give the punishment, which takes time. We need as much of that as possible so that Wanderer can get in and I can go to the mines and meet up with the slaves inside. The mines should be safe from the forest, and I’ll have numbers to back me up… but we’ll need time.”
The fire would take time to start, but I would only be safe if I was already in the mines by the time the forest had located him. My brain mulled over every detail and experience we had, trying to piece together as many parts of the forest as possible until my brain landed on a factor I hadn’t considered before.
“What if we distract it with another sin?” I proposed aloud, the idea still forming mid-sentence.
“Distract… the forest?” Silva iterated as though to make sure I wasn’t making a joke.
“The forest is massive, but it always tries to be impartial. It attempts to figure out who broke the specific rule and make sure that it only focuses on those individuals. Right?”
Everyone gave a collective nod of agreement. I raised up a hand and pointed a finger at Silva.
“When you broke a rule, the eidgarto almost entirely focused you to the point where they barely cared about our presence until we started to protect you. It also didn’t send any punishment towards Sera and Wanderer nearby who were still committing the consistent sin of remaining inside the forest.”
“North, we know all this. Where are you going?” Silva pushed much to my irritation as I tried to maintain a consistent line of thought.
“It’s just an idea, but I think the forest struggles to focus on separate rule breakers at the same time unless the sin was collective, like all of us entering the forest around the same time.” I rattled off the rapidly baking idea, pausing to take a deep breath. “Maybe, if someone were to go to the other end of the lake, enter the forest and summon the ire, it might make it harder for the forest to target Wanderer, giving us more time.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Sera, who had now started to chomp down on a fish, nodded her head along with the proposal.
“It’s not a concept I heard about from my father, but it tracks with all of the other information we’ve gained.”
I smiled hearing her confirmation, although my real focus was Silva. Her approval stood for both herself and Alex. Sera’s words of support had turned Silva’s passive frown into something that wasn’t quite a smile, but was approaching it.
“If there’s anyone who should act as the sinner, it should be me. I’ve broken the most rules, meaning the forest will put extra focus on me. It’s past being borderline suicidal, but I’m sure I can manage.” She said. I opened my mouth to speak and thank her just before she continued.
“However, if I’m heading to the other side of the lake, there’s an inherent communication issue. We'll need precise timing to make sure the distraction works.”
I quickly sauntered over to my nearby bag, rummaging inside until my hands landed upon something metallic. The timekeeper Galen had given me, however much I despised the sentiments it carried, had uses. I extended it over to Silva, which she took and flipped around in her palm.
“We’ll do it an hour past noon, since noon is when they do water break in their mines. When I was making my way to the camp, I could feel the ire every time I got close to the threshold, which is where Wanderer is going to be starting the fire. Once we feel it focusing in on your location, that’s our sign to start.” I explained with confidence despite coming up with the idea on a complete whim.
Silva seemed to notice that fact and called my bluff.
“Everyone who felt the ire target me was close when it happened. How are you sure that you’ll be able to sense it when you’re on the opposite side of a rather large lake?”
Sera walked forward from where she was resting and placed herself right in the middle of myself and Silva.
“We can test it. After all, it’s right there.” She said, pointing towards the trees which were only ten paces away from where we were standing, “North, when you got deeper and closer to the threshold, did the ire get stronger?”
I nodded. I didn’t enjoy thinking about the sensation, but I had noticed the clear difference between being on the edge and going anywhere deeper inside.
“If one of us is able to sense that growing ire, even at a distance, we should be able to feel when you break a rule. North, when I ask, can you walk into the forest but not past the threshold?”
“Yes.” I said reluctantly, I made my way to the forest’s edge, Sera standing by my side. She took one step forward just past the treeline and shuddered as the weaker version of the strong sensation we’d felt over the past two weeks ran through her.
“North, if you would.”
I took three paces into the forest beyond where Sera was and felt the forest’s hatred wash over me. Turning back to Sera, I could see her neutral uncomfort turn into a satisfied grin.
“Good. I could feel that. Now we just need to test that with a greater distance.”
Both of us gratefully made our way out of the forest and deeply exhaled as the pressure of the forest had lifted.
“Mell, do you mind helping out?” asked Sera politely.
“Of course, Sera.” Mell answered with his usual amount of Asarnian friendliness.
“Thank you. Silva, hand him the timekeeper. To keep things simple, I want you to run for five minutes as far as you can, and place yourself just near the threshold for around one minute. North, since you’re the most mana cognisant, I want you to stand on the edge and see if you can sense Mell’s presence.”
Not knowing what it meant, I mouthed “Cognisant?” to Sera, hoping for her to explain it. She didn’t seem to notice and kept moving forward. With the timekeeper in hand and a dutiful smile on his face, Wanderer began running. I had seen him run before, but it still startled me the amount of speed his large frame could hit.
“With how much distance Mell can cover in five minutes, that should be enough to get a good feeling of whether or not it can be felt. North, can you step inside?” Sera requested, fully knowing just how uncomfortable it was.
She’s just using me because she doesn’t want to feel it.
I took a moment to step inside, trying to remember the exact spot where Sera had placed herself.
“And now we wait.” I said through gritted teeth, feeling the forest’s ire tracing down my back as though it were trying to find which spot was best to stab me.
What was worse is that I had to force myself to focus on that sensation, to grab it with my own mind. After what felt like an eternity, a foreign sensation of ire rippled through me. It was weak, but there was a noticeable tug on its focus in the direction of Mell.
“It works.” I looked back, still feeling the echoes of Mell’s presence, “It’s small, but I felt it. Which means something as big as committing a full sin should be just as noticeable.”
“Good job North. You’re free to leave.” Sera praised.
I walked out, the sensation of the ire washing off almost immediately as I made my way next to the shore and back into the middle of the group.
“How much does that leave us with in the plan? We want as few gaps as possible.” I asked the collective group while we waited for Mell to return. Alex, who had been scratching at his rust, finally landed on a question.
“The refinery workers are the only group we haven’t really accounted for. We’re just going off of North’s assumption that the creatures will avoid sources of mana radiation?”
“I’ll try my best to steer clear of any refinery buildings, since the ire should follow me the closest. The refineries are well guarded against easy escapes from the inside. ” Wanderer answered, looking confident in his own abilities.
It was an answer I felt obliged to accept, since it was only going to be myself and Wanderer infiltrating the camp. The thought was painful, but I had to remind myself that I was considered a higher priority than the lives of others.
After a brief discussion over his pathing with Ruby, Mell finally arrived, wiping the sweat off of his brow. We were together, which meant we could officially set out the plan.
Alex, Ruby, Wanderer and I would head out in the afternoon to set up a base closer to the camp. I was planning on doing a very quick run into the camp to see if I could grab some oil in order to make sure the fire spreads as easily as possible. That had the secondary goal of scouting out more of the camp if possible so Ruby could better help us plan our route once we started the fire.
Silva, Sera and Mell would be heading out in the opposite direction, getting to a far end of the lake to prepare to commit the distraction sin. They’d be taking the timekeeper, since we were using the sensation of the ire as our signal.
Mell and Ruby’s collective job was to help protect Silva as she exited the forest, and Sera and Alex were to stay behind and away from the forest, only coming in once the punishment had ended to give me back up.
Once the fire was started, Ruby and Alex would back away from the location and get to the lake to avoid as much of the damage as possible. Wanderer and I, being the central duo of the attack, would position him in a location where he could survive the longest and focus as much of the damage on the guard as possible while he ran around, utilizing the chaos. I would split from him and enter the mines, taking out the guards inside and unlocking the cuffs of the slaves inside.
Afterwards, everyone would group up at the camp, hopefully having defeated Arlin’s forces and liberated the people there.
It required fairly accurate timing, strong coordination, and for me to throw myself in the line of fire between the forces of Arlin and the wrath of the forest.
I feel like we wouldn’t have been able to pull this off if we hadn’t spent that time in the forest.
I didn’t exactly relish thinking of my time in there as having any positive benefits, but something had shifted in me and the rest of the group. I couldn’t point in any specific direction, but it felt like growth.
A part of me wanted to say something like ‘Once we do this, there’s no going back’, but the phrase felt empty at this point. We’d done so many things along our journey where there was no coming back. That was the point of it all, to make it so things couldn’t return to the way they once were.
Maybe that was the major change. I didn’t feel like I needed to give big motivational speeches to win.
----------------------------------------
The sounds of the night were peaceful, like a calm before the storm. The calm wasn’t there when I had done my second scouting mission. I had already figured out the location of where the supplies were, which meant I could work with more haste, but I also had to keep an eye out.
The lamp oil I stole was a small amount, necessarily so as I didn’t want to alert any suspicion. It was only enough to fill up my canteen, which I’d emptied beforehand. When I got back, the stress and exhaustion of another scouting mission helped sleep come quickly.
When I was awoken in the morning, it was by Ruby. She placed a fish, which we’d cooked before splitting as a grip directly into my hand and then proceeded to drag me right over to the map she’d drawn out in the mud. Wanderer was already seated with his own fish, happily awaiting me as though nothing was wrong.
“You didn’t give me much, but I think I know the best point where Wanderer can do the most damage, and that’s in the kitchen.” Ruby said, placing her arms on her hips with pride.
“It’s a place with minimal guard presence, since they tend to avoid the penal laborers, and will place me directly next to the largest amount. The ire makes you naturally want to run, correct? That’s how everyone felt when Silva broke a rule. That panic should give me more time, and should lead more of the guard directly out into the open where the animals of the forest can attack them.” Wanderer explained, using his sword to point at the spot on the map.
The laborers were another group I’d like to save, but being overly optimistic was dangerous. Still, it sounded like that might give an opening.
“Can we get the laborers to side with us? They seemed to hear a ton when they worked at our camp, so it’d make sense they’d at least hear about our group.” I posed the idea.
“I may as well try.”
I smiled at Wanderer, shoving the thought out of my mind that he was committing strategic suicide within a few hours. The sun was still rising, but it would be midday soon.
“Alright. Once we’re ready, we can set out and get in position.”
We all got to work, ate, and got moving to position until we were close to the camp, but not close enough to be seen. Small bits of the wooden barricades could be seen in the distance, but that only once you stepped close to the threshold.
Alex looked over the area, and found a spot he saw was satisfactory with enough trees bundled together next to the threshold, placing around leaves and sticks at the bottom in preparation as basic kindling. Once it was getting close to midday, he started to prepare the actual fire starting material.
He’d already brought a big stick with him. With a bit of cloth tied around it he poured on some of the oil, creating a makeshift torch. He gave that to Wanderer, before pouring bits of lamp oil near the bases of all the trees he was planning for Wanderer to ignite.
All that was left to do was wait, while the ire of the forest passively pressed on us to leave. Speaking felt wrong, understanding what was about to happen.
We were already standing on the edge of the forest, simply waiting for the signal to throw us off.
When it finally did, it was clear. Like an untuned string of an instrument being plucked to play as loudly as possible, running through our skin. Wanderer nodded to Alex, who put a small flame above his thumb and connected it to the torch, setting it ablaze. He quickly made his rounds to each of the spots, lighting up the fires. I couldn’t help but watch as they spread, growing higher and higher into the dense branches that lay above.
He threw the torch to the ground next to one of the trees and beckoned me to come to him quickly. I ran over and hopped onto his back. I didn't look, but I could hear Alex and Silva begin running in the opposite direction to get to safety.
As I tightened myself onto Wanderer, I could hear him begin to quietly speak.
“Now that I am to die a warrior’s death, I’d like you to know my name.” Wanderer said, and I could see an apprehensive smile form on his lips. “My name was Weiss. Please remember me by it.”
“I promise.”
Hidden from sight, we began to run.