Excerpt From The Mad Scholar's Wall—

Though it was never truly tested, the Gauntlet was built with the core idea that it would have layers upon layers of defense. When one position could no longer be held, the legionaries would fall back to the next.

Or, if they were trapped as multiple spots broke simultaneously, they would fall back to keeps and towers positioned throughout the fortress while they could continue to fight.

Even though the Gauntlet had been fighting continuously for the past months, it had yet to fight at its total capacity. Different sections were always being repaired or having the bodies filling them cleared out and burned.

Other than when we first started creating the core of the fortress, we were never really under threat of being overwhelmed as a whole. There just weren't enough beastmen attacking. Because we built for what the elves warned us was coming. Though we never truly believed.

But finally, under the endless hoard's assault, the outer walls fell. The bodies were piled up so high outside and within the courtyards that it was like a road was built up to the top of the wall and down the other side.

It took more than a day and night of constant fighting to lead to such a situation, tens of thousands of arrows, and a continuous stream of compressed stone spikes and balls being mined as we dug into the ground for more ammunition and fortifications.

In the end, their numbers were too much, and those manning the outer walls were swamped and forced to retreat.

And still, I stood in the center of the fort, watching the fight. I remembered.

**********

A snap sounded to my left, causing me to freeze in place as the sounds of the forest quieted. Long seconds passed as my heart pounded in my chest. I was waiting for something to happen.

I was not concerned about the source of the noise. I know what that was. Or who.

If it wasn't Jim, I was probably Lutious. Who's name I… reluctantly learned. He seemed like a good enough guy, but I was half expecting him not to make it back. Him and the rest of the trainees, for that matter…

There was also a chance it was Kathren, but the last few hours of experience told me it was most likely one of the first two. And I was long since past warning them to be quiet or giving pointers.

There was no changing the situation now, so I decided to use them for what they were good for, bait.

With all of their stomping through the forest, anything nearby will be drawn to them. With me circling around the trio, I hoped that I would be able to catch any ambushers.

It was a small hope, I was one man, and there was a lot more area around the trio I couldn't see the approach of, but it was the best plan I had.

Eventually, the chirps of birds sounded again, and squirrels scampered across the limbs of trees as they came out from their hiding spots.

Slowly I moved my head to the left, and I caught the movement of the trainees in the corner of my eye. They were trying to make their way forward along a game trail but couldn't make it more than five feet without making a noise loud enough to quiet the natural sounds of a forest.

Standing in place, I let them pass as I slowly scanned the area with my eyes and let out a few gentle pulses just in case.

Seeing nothing, I turned, only to freeze.

I still saw nothing, but I picked up a ping.

Off and on during our trek through the forest, I checked the trainees' shielding and any other castings they were using. With me basically being leashed to their side, it was a good way to monitor them without keeping a constant eye on them. If they were in a fight, I should be able to pick it up right away.

And with the small dome of mental force already made, even I could maintain it with the small trickle of mental energy without much effort.

What I felt hit my dome didn't originate from the trio, it was too faint, and it felt strange, unlike anything I had ever felt before.

I had no idea what the source was or where it bounced from, but it was strange. And strange while moving through a definitely enemy-infested forest didn't bode well.

I panned the dome from the recruits to the right. Slowly shifting it higher than lower as I went farther right, making sure to cover the trees from the tops to their roots.

Seconds passed, and I scanned nearly all of the forest in which something could be hiding.

As I saw it, the most important and most dangerous area was the position next to the river Rush. The warband that attacked the walls of the northeastern fort had fallen back to the eastern side of the northern forest, so they were definitely watching the river.

They might even be trying to build a bridge over the damn thing, for all I know. I thought to myself. Which is why were are here… Wait… what was that.

I moved my detector back slightly, and again I got a hit. There was that energy again. If mental energy was like a high warble, then this energy was like a low deep thrum.

Except it was… becoming louder? Yeah, that's right, it was—

"Ohh, shit! I hissed to myself as I sent out an ambush pulse while quickly moving forward in a low crouch.

From what I could tell, the energy came from a rock outcropping in the center of some trees sixty feet to the side of the trail the trainees were moving along. And eighty feet from me.

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I was even farther from the trail, sitting at about seventy-five feet, putting me in a great position to flank the position.

If I could see what I was sure was the beastkin. Or fell their minds. I couldn't do either of those things at the moment, so that was a pretty big problem.

My eyes roved that my detector was telling me where the energy was coming from, but try as I might, all I could find were mossy rocks partially hidden by trees.

Throwing a quick glance to my left, I saw the trainees scrambling for cover and to position themselves. Whatever surprise the source of energy thought it had, it had to know that that was no longer the case at this point.

As I turned my head back, my eyes widened in shock, and I stumbled before falling to the ground on my hands and knees.

One second, I was looking at a pile of mossy rocks hiding within a clump of trees. The next second, I looked at two tents and a campfire surrounded by those same trees.

A scene that I would only believe if I saw and made me question reality was bad enough, but I also saw the four beastkin.

The three in the front were wolven and had swords and round shields raised. The last, I could not tell what subspecies he was, but he held a staff in one hand that had a glowing tip. Above the tip were three shards of ice floating in the air.

Even as I was fighting to suppress the shock filling my mind, my body was already acting out of long training and instinct. My left hand raised my new bow while my right reached over my shoulder to my quiver, grabbing an arrow.

In one motion, I knocked and fired the arrow while I remained kneeling on the ground.

With my arrow loosed, I planted my hand on the ground so I could leverage my way up without taking my eyes off the path of my arrow.

I was filled with a calm surety. My arrow was good. There was no wind, and nothing was in its path or could move into it.

My arrow would strike the weird beastman in the chest, and I would move farther to the right to get a better angle on the warrio—

What? My mind froze as I could not accept what I was seeing.

Again I missed my step. But at least this time, I didn't fall to the ground.

It did not change the facts, though. And those facts were that a foot from the beastman, the arrow splintered into splinters like it had hit a stone wall. Or a telekinetic shield.

But beastkin didn't have those… And they can't shoot fireballs, either! Forget the past and fucking move!

I jumped to the right, slamming my side into a tree before I continued moving past it building up to a sprint.

I didn't plan on moving past my cover, but as I reached the tree, the ground shook, and I could feel small projectiles peppering my back.

Hardly a few steps past the tree, I heard a loud crack and then the clinks and thunks of tiny shards of wood hitting the ground. Then a groan and woosh of the leaves as the tree started to fall.

Vaulting over a rock, I hung in the air, so I pulled out an arrow and fired it at the dangerous hooded beastkin.

"Fuck." I muttered under my breath as I yanked on the back section of my harness for an instant before pulling forward.

My arrow had been deflected by the shield, but my jump had given the beastman enough time to aim his last ice shard. An attack that was as fast, if not faster than my arrow, would have hit me in the side of the chest if I had not pulled my body out of the way. The maneuver disrupted my stride, but it was much better than getting a spear of ice through the chest.

After a few stumbling steps to catch my balance from my interrupted landing, I turned and started running towards the beastkin camp.

I was quickly closing the distance, but I wasn't going to be fast enough. I could already see the beastman forming more ice spears over his glowing staff, and two of the warriors had positioned themselves to block my path.

Forming six mental strands, I moved them to grab one of my arrows while my hand grasped the hilt of my sword, unsheathing it as I dropped my bow.

Everything around me was a blur as I focused all my attention on my opponents.

Their shields were blocking their chests, and they were close enough to support each other no matter which one I attacked.

I knew time until the glowing beastman's attack was short, so I had to take risks I otherwise wouldn't have by rushing. It was better than staying at rang, at least.

Raising my sword hand over my head like I was going to try and stab down over the shield, I ran forward. At the last moment, I shot my arrows forward, arching them around the shield of the other beastman to distract him as I aimed them at his arms, legs, and head. Then I mentally pulled myself forward at the last moment, adding a burst to my speed.

Instead of swinging my blade over the shield like I pretended, I moved it in front of my chest, turning the edge so the flat side of the blade was facing me and then pressing my other arm against that as I thrust it forward. It slammed into the beastman's shield hard enough to shake me to my bones. "Humph!" I grunted from the impact.

I planted my foot backward as I bounced off the shield before taking two steps back as I caught myself. The beastman was not so lucky.

He was not expecting me to put that much effort into hitting his shield or as low as I did, causing him to be off balance and stumble back from the impact, falling onto his tail.

Glancing to the side, I cursed as I dove to the left. The other beastman was uninjured, and his lips were curled back as he showed off his long fangs while he thrust his sword at my chest.

Rolling to my feet, I pulled out three more arrows with mental strands and shot them at the beastmen just beginning to get to his knees as I rushed at the standing one.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the arrows strike the kneeling beastman as I passed him, only to splinter against an invisible shield again.

"Ahh!" I shouted in frustration and anger as I charged forward. When I got close enough, I used two tendrils to grab the side of the round wooden shield and pull it to the side.

That was the plan, at least.

When my tendrils touched the shield's edge, I got one yank, then my mental energy came into contact with a foreign energy. I can not say what it was, but it was not the mental energy from humans.

The was a moment where nothing happened. Then the foreign energy lashed out and latched onto my tendril seeming to pull on it. When the two energies intermingled, they seemed to fight with one another, evaporating into nothing from contact. All at once, the mental energy forming my castings was ripped from my control as it was pulled into the struggle between the opposing energies.

The shield was pulled out of the way, but I was unable to take advantage of the opening as I was mentally reeling. Spots filled my vision and a third of my energy was sucked away along with all of my mental tendrils in whatever that encounter was. And the world was kind of swirling and twisting around me. So no big deal.

I rapidly blinked a few times, in what felt like only a moment, surprised I was still on my feet after the world spun, Then I raised my sword to attack the beastman.

Looking at the beastman in his yellow eyes, I could see he was also shaken from whatever happened, as his shield was not yet fully back in position.

As I positioned a foot so I could roll to the side and attack his feet, an arrow sprouted from his throat. Coughing up blood over his chest, the beastman collapsed to the ground choking on his own blood.

Blinking once, I turned to attack the other beastkin, only to find that they were already dead, the two male trainees standing over their bodies, blades drawn and bloody.

Eyes sweeping the camp, I groaned, "Aww, fuck!"

"What instructor," Asked Kathren in concern as she jogged up, looking at me and then around the area.

Pointing, I said, "That's a legion saddle."