This was supposed to be a routine escort mission, Mox thought to himself.

Escort minor noblewoman A to and from the Bruxian Capital to attend the wedding of her younger sister. That was what they had been told when he and the rest of his fifty man unit had been integrated into a larger force of two hundred and fifty. It had smelled a bit fishy, but he hadn’t been able to able to put his finger on it until they had left the spires of Lycanter well behind them; when they were met with a sudden rendezvous with the most elite knight order in the Alessian kingdom.

Known simply as the Aegis Knights, they immediately briefed the hybrid unit on their updated mission. Turns out minor noblewoman A was actually Queen Synthis. The Queen was a Bruxian who had married into the Alessian royalty, and it was well known that her younger sister was marrying soon. Also turns out that he and the rest of their escort unit had been hand selected both for their martial skill as well as their loyalty.

Of course his first reaction had been to ask why the need for all the secrecy. As he was about to ask his question he suddenly thought better of it; if they had declined to tell us until now they surely had a good reason.

A good reason they’d had indeed. Everything had been fine on the away trip, no bandits were foolish enough to attack a large military convoy and the monsters along the Central Road of the Dreamer’s Forest were regularly keep in check by patrols from the two countries that shared the enormous forest as a border. Upon their return to the forest entrance however, they’d been been set upon by no less than 1000 soldiers. Unmarked, they seemingly appeared out of nowhere as they leapt from the trees surrounding the caravan.

How had they managed to suppress that much aura?! Rumor had it that the Aegis Knights had a master sensory mage in their ranks too. Trying not to think about how potent a mage would have to be to suppress the aura of a 1000 trained soldiers, he shouted orders at the fifty men and woman under his command.

As he and his unit were fighting for their lives, waves of magic and martial powers crashing into each other, he saw three Aegis Knights fighting their way to his location. Well...fighting wouldn’t have been an accurate word for it truthfully, slaughtering maybe? Regardless, they wore silver armor with black trim, and that meant only one thing. Commander Roson and his elite guard.

Upon reaching his location the elite guard split to either side of him and kept a clear ten foot perimeter around him. Roson approached and reached out his hand to initiate the clasping of gauntlets.

“Captain Mox, I won’t waste any time seeing as we may not have much left.” The staunch man said. Up close the atmosphere around the man was immeasurably oppressive, and again Mox had to wonder what in the seven hells could scare a man like that. Clearly his face had been more expressive than intended.

“Good, I’m glad you understand how serious the situation is. I’ve been led to believe that as a child your father used to take you through the forest with traveling merchant caravans?”

“Yes sir, but we would take the old road. Made for a much shorter trip” Mox responded with as much confidence in his voice as possible.

“That’s what I’m counting on.” He looked around with a very serious expression on his face before casing a sound barrier around the two of them.

Stolen story; please report.

“The queen is pregnant. While these vermin are unmarked, I have an good idea of who they are and that they don’t intend for the infant to survive the trip home. If I am right, then it’s likely none of us would survive a prolonged battle here.”

At that moment Mox felt a terribly confusing mix of terror and curiosity. “What do you need from me sir?” He asked.

“I would have you and your unit backtrack down the central road and enter the forest via the old road. I understand that it has been closed for nearly fifty years now, but the dangers there may aid in your escape. If you are able to make your way into the forest, you will find that the road is cleared after roughly fifteen minutes of riding.”

As he was speaking he reached into a small pouch on his waist and retrieved a small seed. It was roughly the size of a copper coin, but it was pitch black save for a red line that ran down both sides of it forming a loop. He reached out and handed it to Mox.

“You may or may not meet a man who lives in that forest. He is…” The Commander looked Mox in the face with a look that warned of danger, but ultimately shook his head. “If you meet him, give him this seed and he should provide you safe passage.”

Mox nodded as he took the seed.

“Recall your men and fight your way to the carriage at the eastern end of the fighting. We do not have much time so don’t tarry.” With that he released the barrier and he along with the two elites rode off.

Mox collected himself before mumbling to himself “Whisperwind.” The spell connected his voice to a predetermined group of people that had to be set ahead of using said spell, in this instance it was each of his ten man squad leaders.

“Orders from Commander Roson, pull all forces back to my location. Mounts will be necessary so if you have lost yours then commandeer one from somebody. Make haste, we will be falling back with the Queen.”

There was no need to wait for confirmation, the five were all trustworthy individuals. So Mox began organizing his men as they arrived. Somehow the fighting had lessened in his area and through the crowd he thought he caught glimpses of the blue trimmed silver armor of the regular core of Aegis Knights. “Must be trying to give me some space.” He spoke softly to himself.

As quickly as possible he and the 44 surviving members of his unit made their way to the carriage the queen was in. It had been reinforced with a number of protection spells, but the attacking forces had been battering it for duration of the fight from range.

“Hurry, we need to get that carriage out of range of their mages. I don’t know how General Roson plans to create an opening for us, but we need to be prepared to move as quickly as possible when he does.” Mox communicated through Whisperwind.

No sooner had they arrived and encircled the carriage than General Roson rode up next to Mox, looking straight down the road they’d come down.

“I don’t find it likely that either of us survive this, but know that if you manage to save Synthis, you’ll have my gratitude in whatever form I can give it. Be that from the comforts of home or the afterlife.”

The two men glanced at each other and once again clasped gauntlets.

Roson then rode forward and after a brief moment of meditation, a tower of solid light appeared above the battlefield. Every soldier on the Alessian side suddenly felt empowered. They were invigorated, especially the Aegis Knights. After undergoing special attunement training each of them was a dervish of death under the effects of Roson’s image. They rode forward cutting a swath in front of Mox’s knights. It was not an opportunity they would get again.

The carriage and 44 knights sped through the opening, reaching the open road just as the effects of the beacon wore off, having moved out of it’s range. They fired counter spells and watched as a hail of magical and physical projectiles cut down their unit by a dozen, attempting to stop their retreat.

Finally out of range, Mox spared a look over his shoulder. At the edge of his vision he could still see the Aegis Knights blocking the road, fighting for this one chance.

“I won’t let you down Sir…”

They raced towards the old road, and a new danger.