“I guess you managed to finish the gate earlier than expected.” The paladin remarked, earning a slight nod.

“It’s as good as I can make it,” Regis stated. “Now we just have to wait until tomorrow morning to send over the golems.”

“Are we going to fight as well?” Quentin asked the important question, the dark letting out a perturbed sigh.

“I don’t know. I mean... this isn’t just some small incursion or a defensive fight from atop the walls. It’s going to be a full-on siege. If we were to go, our chances of survival would be... bad.”

“I guess we’ll have to arrange a meeting for the team to discuss it.”

“Let everyone decide for themselves whether they want to fight or not.” Regis finished the train of thought with the paladin agreeing.

“That’s the only way to make sure that nobody feels forced to commit or to be held behind, but you have to promise me something.”

“Promise what?”

“I know you want to keep Letty safe but if she decides to fight, you can’t stop her.”

“You know I will try to convince her not to.”

“I know but it’s up to her. The same goes for Valerie. No matter how much I want to keep her here, I know it better than to try to force her to stay.”

“You know,” the dark elf gritted his teeth. “You can be an annoying son of a bitch sometimes.”

“I know,” Quentin chuckled with a strained and downhearted tone. “But this time it’s necessary.”

“Sure,” Regis nodded as he channelled some arcana into his far-caller. “Listen up everyone! Sorry to disturb you but Quentin and I agreed that we should hold a meeting about the incoming siege of the capital. Meet us in the manor as soon as you can.”

“Alright.” He heard several voices respond in the magical earpiece.

“I’ll be there.” The rest of the team spoke as one.

“It’s settled then. Let’s go back to the manor.” The loremaster said and the two left the training yard of the barracks.

Since they were the closest to it, the two of them got their first, soon followed by Amanda and Sophie with Fabien and Mary closely behind them. Cruz and Osmond also arrived shortly with Letty and Valerie getting there last. Even Khan and his team were there, the mercenary group of ten standing at the side, most of them outlanders with only three locals. Tristan got to take his honorary seat at the table as well. With everyone there, the group sat down beside the long table as usual, waiting for the dark elf to break the awkward silence.

“I guess you already know why I call you here so I won’t beat around the bush. Master Felix asked for our golems and I agreed to lend them to the church and the united noble army in the fight against the royals and the Exiled Court. This, however, leaves us with another question.”

“They’re expecting the golems,” Quentin joined in. “But I have to ask, who in here is going to join the battle?”

“Join the battle,” Cruz asked back surprised. “I thought we agreed that we’d stay out of it unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“I hate to be that guy,” Osmond cleared his throat. “But what can we even do? I mean... it’s going to be a freaking army marching against another army. What can the few of us do in a battle of that size?”

“Just five of us managed to make a difference in Mistfield,” Valerie remarked. “If we can cut down half the amount of demons in the capital as we did in Mistfield, then I’d say we more than helped the war effort.”

“This is different,” Fabien said with a stern voice. “We’re not talking about the bunch of imps and a couple of lesser demons, but an army of perhaps thousands, most likely made up of lesser and common demons. Just the number of imps they’d sic on us could be in the thousands. There won’t be any barriers to hide behind or chances to retreat if shit turns southward.”

“He’s right,” Quentin agreed with the storm knight. “This battle will be unlike anything we’ve ever faced.”

“Bullshit,” Khan said from the side. “This will be just like the nights back in Hunor, except this time we’ll be the attackers.”

“I’m pretty sure you died to a ghoul that time.” Cruz remarked with a smirk, making the Mongol youth turn red-faced.

“This time I’m much stronger and I’m a lot more experienced too.”

“So is the enemy,” Celine, the dark elf deserter from the Argent family argued. “This won’t be your run-of-the-mill undead or common bandits. We’re talking about demons starved for blood and war. Those things are going to tear through anything they come across. If we were to find ourselves a group of twenty or thirty then we could win, but thousands? That’s way beyond our capabilities.”

“I... I can’t go,” Mary spoke up for the first time since the meeting began. “I’ve been having morning sickness in the past few days.”

“Wait a minute,” Valerie called out to her while her brother just stared at the young woman baffled. “Are you telling me that you’re... pregnant?”

“I don’t know,” Mary answered with her head down. “It could be just all the stress or the work or...”

Before she could finish, Fabien swept her up from her seat, spinning her around while holding her in a gentle yet firm hug.

“I guess that’s two people we can write off the list,” Regis sighed relieved. “Congratulations you two.”

“Holy shit,” Valerie mumbled. “I’m going to be an aunty. I’m too young to be an aunt.”

The previously strained and lethargic atmosphere immediately changed to one of celebration in light of the possible new life the outlanders would welcome into this world a few months from now. This festive mood, however, didn’t last long as their current trouble quickly diminished it.

“I believe we can all agree that Fabien and Mary are out of the question. What about the rest of you?”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Hopefully, I speak for all of us,” Celine cleared her throat. “When I say that our group will stay out of this. We’re good at small skirmishes and bounty hunting but a battle of this scale is out of our league.”

“Agreed.” The rest of their group said as one with only Khan grumbling at the side.

“The rest of you?” Regis looked at his friends.

“I want to go,” Cruz stated. “But I know that Osmond would chew my ears off if I did.”

“Damn right, I would.” The bone puppeteer hummed.

“I take it you won’t go either.” Quentin turned to Osmond, earning a slight head shake.

“That’s two more off the list.” The dark elf noted.

“Will you go?” Letty asked Regis with a shaky voice, already dreading the answer.

“Someone has to deliver the golems and pass the command brand on.”

“It doesn’t have to be you,” the wood elf argued. “You could just pass it on to a soldier and send them instead.”

“You know that’s not how it works,” Regis said as he looked her in the eyes. “I’m not saying I’m going to stay and fight, just get there, pass the stuff on and come back as soon as I can.”

“I’ll go with him just in case.” Quentin stated firmly, earning a response from Valerie as well.

“There’s no way I’m going to let you go there alone.”

“I won’t be alone,” the paladin remarked. “Regis will be there as well.”

“You know what I mean. The last time you went to check up on somebody, it also turned into a battle. I’m not taking any chances.”

“I...”

“No,” Regis said with a heavy voice when Letty wanted to speak up. “We’ll only be away for a few minutes. There’s no need for you to come with us.”

“But...”

“Letty, please.”

The young woman wanted to argue but stopped herself when she noticed the pleading look Regis was giving her.

“Fine,” she huffed. “You’ll have ten minutes to get back or I’ll go after you.”

“Agreed.” The loremaster nodded with an obvious relief in his voice.

“Since nobody else intends to fight,” Amanda spoke up. “I won’t risk my life either.”

“Same here.” Sophie hummed in agreement.

“Then I guess Thornfell will only take part in this battle by providing supplies.” Quentin stated the obvious with everyone present agreeing with him.

“Now that we have that out of the way,” Cruz spoke her mind. “I think it’s time we discussed plan ‘B’ in case the church fails and we’ll have a literal archdemon coming for our asses.”

“Can’t you at least pretend to have some faith in the church and the army they cobbled together?” Osmond asked ruefully.

“Let’s be honest here. When did it ever go our way when it came to shit like this?”

“She does have a point.” Khan agreed from the side.

“I have to agree too,” Amanda joined in. “We had terrible luck whenever it came to such matters and if the pattern holds up, we’re screwed. Big time.”

“If they fail, we will only find it out when someone manages to come over to tell us the news or when the demon army will be at our gates. Either way, we’ll have to find a way to evacuate the people.” Valerie summarized the situation.

“Previously I planned for us to use the gateway to teleport out the people in small groups, but Master Felix was kind enough to bring us an alternative.”

“You mean that big ass gate you’ve been working on?” Osmond questioned his friend.

“I built a couple of secret gateways in the past months in case we needed to leave Thornfell. I could go to the one I built in the mountains between Ecragurne and Menelrond. If I start now, I should be able to finish it by tomorrow evening. That way even if the army loses, we could get our people out of here along with their belongings and supplies.”

“So that’s it,” Amanda sighed. “We spent so much time and effort to make this place prosper, only to leave it behind like this.”

“We can always rebuild elsewhere,” Sophie tried to calm her. “It’s a far better option than the alternative.”

“Alright,” Regis stood up from his seat. “We won’t achieve anything by sitting idly by. I’m heading over to the mountain pass between the kingdoms to build the new gate. Quentin, I leave organising things with the guards here to you. Tristan…”

“I’ll deal with the logistics and make preparations about the supplies we would be able to take with us if needed.” The man said from beside the mercenary group.

“I’ll inform Grego and the guards,” Quentin added. “We have to make sure that they keep things on the low to avoid panic.”

“When will you tell it to the people?” Sophie asked. “They’ll have to be filled in on the situation sooner or later. And what about Zola and her people?”

“We’ll inform the townsfolk when necessary,” the loremaster stated. “As for Zola, she had most likely prepared her people to leave Ecragurne already.”

“I’ve got to ask,” Valerie raised her voice. “You spent a bunch of time and effort creating some super anti-demon weapon and now you won’t even use it or give it to the church?”

“Do you want me to give it to the church?” Regis asked back, making everyone look at each other questioningly.

“How long would it take you to build another one?” She inquired.

“From scratch? About two days.”

“Then no,” the infernal woman shook her head. “We wouldn’t have time to get another one in working order and get this... mass migration gateway done as well if the church failed.”

“I think that’s exactly why we should lend them the Gatling spider as well,” Osmond surprised everyone with his words. “If that thing is as powerful as Regis intended it to be, then it would be a game changer in the hands of the allied army. Our main focus should be on escaping if needed anyway, and once we managed to leave Ecragurne, you would have time to build more Gatling spiders.”

“That could work.” Amanda agreed.

“Even if it works, what’s to stop the church or the nobles from producing altered copies of it?” Cruz argued. “Far be it from me to boost his ego, but at the moment, Regis is the Shardlands’ equivalent of Oppenheimer. Some of his creations are downright insanely overpowered. Sure, the element of light is only effective against the demons and the undead, but switch it to fire or ice...”

“I already placed a ‘copyright’ rune on it, so they won’t be able to copy the runic diagram.” Regis claimed, but Letty thought otherwise.

“Even if they can’t copy the original schematics, a skilled enough enchanter should be able to figure it out on their own. Your designs are usually pretty intuitive. As long as they can figure out how the components work, putting them together wouldn’t be impossible. It would just take them a while, a few weeks or months maybe.”

“The last thing we need after they get rid of the archdemon is a new war that’s being fought using huge ass spiders with guns.” Khan said with a stone-cold expression, shuddering at the thought.

After a few seconds of deep silence, everyone began to laugh at the absurd idea, needing a good minute to come back down.

“Honestly, how the hell can you make such a serious face when sinking something so stupid?” Celine asked from the side, tapping him on the back of his head.

“It’s a gift.” He replied immediately.