Raini's spirits remained high as night fell. She had always enjoyed mid-summer nights at sea. They brought back memories of her first few weeks in the navy. Of being under the watchful eye of Younie, always rushing from one place to another and yet never realizing the sheer amount of danger she was in. Raini had been young, brash and inexperienced enough to do things that now sent shivers down her spine.
She was stood on the aft castle of the Sea Dancer and leaning against the railing. Not far away Lilis was carefully keeping the ship’s wheel under control. Most of the crew and officers were below deck taking there evening meal and the main deck was bereft of the usual hustle and bustle. Raini glanced behind her to check that the captured frigate, renamed the Runner Reborn, was keeping up with them. She didn't have enough crew for both ships but there had been thirty survivors from the Wave Runner, and they were enough to act as a skeleton crew. She could have taken the ship herself, in theory it was a far better warship than the Sea Dancer, but it didn't seem right. The Sea Dancer embodied the Kasom Clan, it was made out of necessity, always struggling and always the underdog, to give it up for something that would make each battle so much easier felt like a betrayal. Besides, as Sinas so often reminded her, she was the youngest Captain in the fleet, surely the frigate would be better suited to someone with more experience.
“It's a warm night,” Lilis said, breaking the spell of silence that had held between them for a good twenty minutes. “And a clear sky too, don't see that too often.”
“No you don't,” Raini admitted not really paying any attention.
“Awful lot of stars out tonight,” Lilis continued. Instinctively Raini glanced up and was momentarily taken aback by the view. Those who had lived their whole life in the city were often surprised by the number of stars visible out in the middle of the ocean, but even to Raini the sight was astonishing. It was as if each star had given birth to another.
“Huh, it must be our lucky night,” Raini said.
“The Illifran used to believe the stars were angels who watched over us.”
“Then it must have been cloudy when the Dragons came and killed all the poor bastards.” Raini continued to stare at the stars and felt a smile creep across her face. A good victory, and now a pleasant night, did anyone ever need anything more out of life?
“Yeah,” Lilis said after a few moments of silence. “But I always thought they looked after me as well, and I've survived a thing or two in my time.”
“You were at the fall of Raven's Claw, weren't you?”
“Yeah. That's how I ended up here. I was the only one to get out and warn the rest of the clan. Asked for this posting to be my reward.” Raini was familiar with the tale, or at least she had heard enough bits of it to piece together the whole story. She knew too how everyone in the Navy had been warning the Clan Generals that a night landing by a raiding party, a quick march up the coast followed by a short but brutal attack, made perfect sense to the Lasrom. If it failed, they'd have only lost a few hundred Protectors, if it succeeded then they might have captured a city or coastal fortress. Through ill luck they had captured the largest of the coastal forts, putting the four hundred strong garrison to death in a single night. Only Lilis, who was five months into a messenger's apprenticeship, had escaped.
What Raini didn't know yet was why Lilis had asked to be made a naval officer. She’d asked twice so far but each time the young woman had just shrugged, smiled, and given a noncommittal answer.
“I can't believe it's taking so long to recapture the place. How can two hundred Lasrom hold off so many of our Protectors for three months?”
“Siege warfare,” Lilis said as if that answered everything. “It takes a hell of a long time.”
“I wish they'd let me try. I’d have the Protectors launch a land-based feint, I come in from the sea and storm the place while no one’s looking. We'd be back in there in an hour.” Raini had seen such a tactic work twice before, both times Younie had led the assault.
“That's why though; You'd make the Protectors look bad.”
“They don't need my help to do that.” Lilis laughed and the sound echoed around the ship but died quickly. Raini could tell from her expression that she was thinking about old friends. She looked up again and sighed.
“There's a shooting star,” Lilis said nodding upwards. Raini saw the small streak of light heading downwards in an almost lazy arc. Raini watched as it disappeared behind the horizon and then shrugged.
“What did the Illifran think shooting stars were?” She didn't expect an answer and was pleasantly surprised when Lilis spoke again, her voice oddly distant.
“A dying angel Captain.”
***
Inis city could never claim to be rich or influential and in truth it could hardly claim to be a city. It was a provincial town that sat on the coast with delusions of grandeur. The buildings were small squat affairs, built of sandstone and permanently covered in a layer of sand that the low walls failed to keep out. Like most cities it stank, was crowded and possessed nothing that Raini saw as remotely redeemable. But, as the Sea Dancer sailed in, even she had to admit that at night the city possessed a strange beauty. Thousands of lights, from the smallest handheld lantern to the great light house, sat like an island in a sea of darkness. It was as if the city was trying to rival the stars.
Lilis guided the Sea Dancer past the light house and next to the small pier. To Raini’s surprise someone was already waiting for them. He was an older man, in his late forties or early fifties, and was dressed in the blue of a Protector with the the yellow shawl of an officer. He didn't say anything and just glared at the crew as they lowered the gang plank. Then, ignoring everyone as if he owned the Sea Dancer, he marched towards the aft castle.
“Prepare to repel boarders.” Raini whispered to Lilis as the man climbed the small set of steps.
“Ready when you are Captain,” She whispered back. The man reached the top of the stairs without even losing his breath. He looked at Raini and Lilis with a slight hint of confusion and then offered a sloppy salute.
“Who's in charge?” The man’s voice was powerful, but the words were a little slurred.
“Identify yourself in the name of the clan.” Raini's voice was like a knife cutting through the night air and she saw Lilis straighten up to attention once she'd heard the formal challenge.
“Involia, Kasom Protectors, Captain of the Inis Guard.” Raini returned the man’s salute.
“Raini, Kasom Navy, Captain of the Sea Dancer. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit Captain?” If Involia noticed the lie he didn't show it.
“Ain't you seen the stars?” He laughed. Raini felt her hand tighten into a fist. This man had barged onto her ship uninvited, drunk and was now clearly not making sense. If it hadn't been for that yellow shawl, she'd have thrown him off.
“Captain Involia, I'm not in the mood for playing games. Either explain yourself or I will have lieutenant Lilis here remove you from this ship.” She was used to Protector officers giving her trouble. Usually, it varied between sarcastic comments and minor bureaucratic obstruction; she'd never seen one drunk and on duty before. Involia leered at Lilis and grinned.
“I'd like to see her try,” he spat. Raini didn't wait for Lilis to move, she reached down to her belt and drew her mag pistol. Involia just sneered as she raised it to point at his shoulder.
“I don't mind making it easier for her.”
“Wait!” Someone shouted from the deck. Raini glanced down to see that a second man had forced himself on to her ship. He was waving up at her as he pushed through the crew that had come to watch the show Involia was putting on. Raini moved her finger away from the trigger.
The second man clambered onto the aft castle with far less grace than Involia had managed. He stood and panted for a few moments; his arm outstretched trying to ward Raini away. “Wait.” He swallowed, took a deep breath and then grabbed Involia by the scruff of the neck.
“You’re a Protector officer, start acting like one.” He shouted. For a moment the two just stared into each other’s eyes until finally the first man shrunk away. Raini lowered the pistol as the second turned back to her. Closer now she could see that the second man was a taller but thinner, roughly the same age and dressed in a set of greying robes. He offered her a slight bow.
“I'm Avon, Kasom Clan Council, Surgeon Commander of the Kasom Clan.” Raini felt the blood drain out of her face and Lilis's attention jumped from being adequate to death-defying. Raini saluted again and made sure her bow was far grander than his had been. He waved it away with one hand. “I'm terribly sorry Captain, but we may need to borrow your ship.”
“Of course, sir.” She managed. “Shall I take it that by 'we' you refer to only yourself and Captain Involia here.” Avon held his hands up in mock surrender.
“Well,” he said and turned back to the small pier. “Us and two hundred of Involia’s friends.” On the docks, approaching in a shambling mass from the direction of the city's citadel was what Raini would call a column or protectors if she was being charitable. Lilis, perhaps due to youthful naivete, gave a decent approximation of Raini's uncharitable description.
“He's friends with a drunken mob?” Behind her Raini winced and Avon, probably the most powerful person anyone of them had ever met, sighed in agreement.
***
Raini's stateroom was not large, and it certainly was no place for a member of the Clan Council. It was just large enough to hold a small desk, a bed and a tiny couch and just ostentatious enough to make Involia look as out of place as Avon. Neither of them appeared to notice. Involia collapsed on the couch and groaned while Avon headed over to the bulkhead and stared at the small map of Kasom lands that Raini had hung there. Raini herself sat down behind her desk and waited for either one to speak.
“We have a situation here,” Avon began in the clipped voice of someone who was used to speaking formally. “I don't want to cause much alarm, so we've been keeping it secret from the Protectors. I would prefer it is we could do the same with your crew.”
“Of course, sir, can you at least tell me what the situation is?” Raini said. Avon glanced at Involia who looked half asleep.
“I did that with Involia an hour ago and his first reaction was to pour a whole bottle of wine down his throat.” Involia raised a hand in a mocking salute.
“Well sir, in case you hadn't noticed I don't keep any spirits in this room,” she said. Avon's face fell a little.
“Really? None at all? Shame, I could do with a drink myself.” His eyes dropped to Raini's chart covered table. “Oh yes of course, you wanted to know what was going on didn't you.”
“If you don't mind sir.”
“You don't have to bother with that formality. Avon will do,” he said. Involia pushed himself up a little.
“But you can still call me sir,” he managed before collapsing back down.
“No, she doesn't.” Avon said with just a faint hint of anger in his voice. “This is a navy ship Involia, you do know what one of them is don't you? It's one of those big wooden things that move across the sea and where you have absolutely no authority.” Involia just stared at Avon, an odd mixture of hurt and fear on his face.
“I-”
“You are a guest on this ship, here at my request and Captain Raini’s pleasure.” Avon turned back to Raini, and she saw his smile slip back. “Now, where were we?”
“Somethings going on and for some reason I need to take onboard two hundred Protectors.”
“Right, yes, of course. I need you to sail up to-” Avon picked up one of Raini's charts, glanced at it. and put it back down on the table before pressing his finger onto a spot of the coast. “Here.”
“Are you sure?”
“Utterly. It should only take you about an hour even loaded with the Protectors.” Raini glanced at the chart and saw that his estimation had been correct.
“Then what?”
“Unload Involia and the Protectors, then wait until they get back. Won't be too hard.” Something in his eyes told Raini he was lying, and he didn't care if she knew or not.
“If that's the case then can you told me what you told Involia?” As a rule, you didn't argue with a high councillor, but as Avon had pointed out moments earlier, this was her ship.
“One day you'll look back and understand.” He stood up out of the chair. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd better go and take a look at Involia’s men since he is clearly too drunk to do it himself.” He gave her a courteous nod then turned and left the stateroom.
Raini breathed a sigh of relief; it was either that or swear in frustration. Involia's head shot up, a glint of sharpness in his eyes.
“He's terrified,” he said, his words perfectly clipped. “Poor bastard came riding into Inis shouting and swearing as if it was the end of the world.” Involia got to his feet and put his hands to his head and groaned.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“I'm glad to see you’re feeling better.” Involia left out a bitter laugh.
“It takes more than one bottle to drop any Protector officer worth his salt,” he said. “Although looking back on it I think I should have chosen a better vintage.”
“So, what is it that's terrified a High Councilor and made a Protector officer drunk?”
“The Dragons are back, or so he says.”
***
The Protectors infested the Sea Dancer. They stood in every corridor, filled the deck and looked so very unhappy. Raini took a little too much pleasure in their discomfort as she pushed passed them and climbed up onto the relatively clear aft castle. Lilis had gone but she'd been replaced by Tain and Sinas. Neither of them looked too happy.
“I don't think any of them have been sick yet,” Sinas said with half a grin. Raini stared at the Protectors, half looked too young, the others too old. Their weapons were a mixture of battered swords, old shields and the occasional spear. Most wore mail but a few of the more alert ones had brigandines.
“Where's Avon?” Raini asked. Tain shrugged.
“Down there somewhere, do you know where we're going yet?” He sounded about as happy as the Protectors looked.
“It's a cove not far away, we're to drop them off,” She gave a nod to the Protectors, “and then we get out of there before Avon decides to turn us into his own private transport.” A hand appeared on the top of the ladder and Raini felt everyone on the aft castle brace themselves. Lilis pulled herself up another rung until they could see her head and Raini breathed a sigh of relief.
“The idiots are messing up my guns,” she said.
“Are any of them loaded?” Raini asked.
“Not that I know of. But if at some point in the trip we're picking bits of Protector out of our hair then it turns out I've been misinformed.” Lilis glanced down at something on the deck and then looked back up at Raini. “Cap'n, you've got a Surgeon-General here to speak to you.” With a sigh and a fake smile Raini walked to the edge of the aft castle and looked down at Avon who gave her a friendly wave.
“I think we're ready to set off when you are.”
“Yes sir.” Raini said and saluted. She turned back to Tain and Sinas. “Tain, take the wheel. Sinas get the anchor brought up. Lilis, are you still there?”
“Yes Cap'n.”
“Get us to full sail, can you handle that?”
“Of course, Cap’n.” She said and let go of the ladder to land besides a slightly shocked Avon. To her credit she only staggered a little and to his he looked set to catch her if it all went wrong.
“As quickly as possible as well please.” Avon said. Lilis gave him a snappy salute and then vanished into the crowd. “We really don't want to miss this.”
***
The location that Avon had selected was known as Tilin bay, surrounded by high rocks on either side and named after a small village that stood forlornly on the northern most rocky hill. It had a small pier that jutted twenty feet out into the water and the Sea Dancer, despite being laden with the Protectors had a low enough draft to pull alongside it. Avon was the first off the boat, his face flustered and his eyes wide. Involia was next, pushing himself past Avon to the piers edge so he could be sick.
The only other Protector officer, a young man who had hesitantly introduced himself as Travic, clambered over the side of the ship and almost slipped and fell at least twice in as many seconds.
“Are you coming Captain?” Avon shouted. It wasn't so much a question, more of a very, very good suggestion. Lilis and Tain both looked at her, a mixture of shock and confusion on their faces.
“Why in Den's Grave does he need you?” Lilis asked. Tain, slightly more cynical came to the answer first.
“Because Involia’s drunk and his Ensign doesn't know his left from right,” he said.
“He does have a point,” Raini said, and then shrugged. She walked to the railing and shouted down into the mass of men. “Sinas, half a dozen marines with me.”
“Yes Captain,” came the sullen reply. It took a minute to organize the marines and get both her and them through the crowds of Protectors and onto dry land. It was only then that the Protectors were allowed to disembark, a procedure that thankfully Raini was spared from by the arrival of a small delegation from Tinis village.
There were three of them, dressed in the remains of black or dark blue robes. Their faces were partially covered by veils, and they bowed low enough to the ground to give the veils a covering of dust. Avon, Involia, Travic and Raini offered lesser bows, although even Travic didn't need to.
“Welcome back, Councilor Avon,” the leader of the delegation said in a harsh but weak voice. “We are glad that you have seen to grace us with your presence yet again. Perhaps this time we may be able to pass on our grievances to the Clan Council? Our stipend has not been increased in twenty years, we no longer receive trade caravans, or the resources needed to maintain the watchtower.” Raini winced a little at the desperation in his voice.
“Village Leader Turuk, while I am of course pleased to assist you in any way possible I am simply not in a position to help you at this moment, if your draw up a list of your grievances I will take action as soon as possible.” Silently Turuk held out his hand and a scrap of parchment.
“We already have done sire.” Avon grinned nervously and took the parchment. He gave it a glance but in the dim light it was clear to everyone that he could read it.
“Thank you for this, I will make sure that these problems are addressed.” He offered a very small bow. A motion in the corner of her eye caught Rani's attention and she glanced up the mountain pathway just in time to see a runner break over the crest and careen down towards them. Avon and the representatives turned to look at the sound of falling stones and we're just in time to see the man slip and roll head over heels until he arrived in a tangle of arms and legs at their feet. The man let out a gasp and waved a hand weekly.
“They'd said you'd come back,” he managed.
“Who?” Avon said.
“The- then village elders.” Raini took a step forward and offered the man a hand up. He accepted with a smile. He was a couple of years younger than her, with his dark hair cut short and a concerned look on his face. He stood carefully and cleared his head with a vigorous shake.
“Are you alright?” Avon asked with genuine concern. Only now that she was closer could Raini get a good look at his clothing, it was a military uniform, but it looked slightly odd with nothing in the right place. It was only after staring for a moment or two in the dying light that she realized it wasn't the dark blue of the Kasom, but the dark red of the Lasrom. Involia made the realization at the same time, and he took a step forward to place himself in front of Avon and drew a small black powder pistol from his belt.
“Oh right, of course.” The Lasrom man said. The representatives flung themselves backwards until they were clearly out of any danger and then stared daggers at the man. Avon put a restraining arm on Involia.
“He's not a spy,” Avon said calmly. “A spy in uniform isn't the most sensible thing in the world.”
“I don't care,” Involia’s face was flushed, his breathing rapid and this close to her Raini could smell the drink still on his breath.
“My name is-”
“No.” Involia cut the man off. Raini eased a hand down to her own mag pistol and placed a finger on the charge switch. The other man had raised his hands in surrender. “It doesn't matter who you are.”
“It might help,” Raini suggested. “Besides you don't intend to just shoot him in cold blood, do you?” Involia’s eyes flicked to her and for a moment she wondered if he would.
“Fine,” he spat, “identify yourself in the name of the clan.”
“I am Kraven of-,” the man paused for a moment, and he glanced to Avon. Raini followed the look and saw the smallest of nods from the High Councilor, “of the Dead.”
Avon was the first to recover. “Understood. How may we be of assistance.” The village representatives flung themselves to the ground and started to tremble. Involia was frozen in place, the pistol held loosely in his hand. Kraven gave a smile and a bow.
“Is it true Councilor Avon that you discovered a body of a strange creature not too far away?” Of all of them Avon appeared to be the only person unperturbed by the Kraven's identity. Like Involia, Raini didn't feel the need to move anytime soon. Movements, sudden or otherwise, could end badly in front of one of the Dead.
“Yes, not too far from here, do you want me to take you there?” Avon answered.
“No.” Kraven said and then turned his head to Involia. “Would you please put the pistol away.” Involia swallowed and then slowly and carefully lowered the gun. Raini breathed half a sigh of relief. Stay calm, she told herself, you haven’t done anything wrong. Her mind flicked back to the Lasrom ship she'd beaten earlier in the day. But no, killing soldiers was allowed, and she had accepted their surrender. Then she remembered the captain still in her hold. A chill ran down her back and Raini forced herself to remember that it had only been a few hours ago, there was no way the Dead would know of him so soon.
“Good,” said Kraven after Involia had lowered the pistol. He reached into his own cloak and drew out a series of thick leather parchments. “Now we've got that out of the way it is my duty to inform you that five days ago the Observatory spotted several objects in the night sky that appeared to be getting closer to us. We have decided to declare a state of emergency and possible invasion. All interclan wars are hereby ended and anyone attempting to ignore this order will be executed immediately”
“I see,” Avon said, his voice strangely distant. “I think I may have spotted one of the invaders not too far away from here, in fact that's why we are here in the first place.”
“I saw it myself,” Kraven said. “But now that I’ve found you, I would like to borrow you Avon. While my papers may get me through Insi I think I will have problems with the siege works at Raven’s Bluff.”
“Why do you need to go there?” Involia finally found his voice. Something that Raini was still struggling with.
“I need to pass on this message to everyone and if we are about to be invaded then every army and fortress is going must be alerted as soon as possible.”
“H-,” Raini began and almost stopped when Kraven's eye flicked to her. “How come it's taken so long for the message to get to us? We've just come from a battle with a Lasromi ship and-” Kraven silenced her with a hand.
“Relax Captain Raini. Everything is taking longer than we thought, even getting the message through, we are not going to take actions against those who did not know the Dragons were back.” Raini would have relaxed if she wasn't so terrified by the fact that he had recognized her. Kraven turned back to Avon.
“If you come with me, we can get to Raven's Bluff in a few hours, meanwhile your Protectors here should find the body and secure it. Just leave it where it is for now and wait for further orders. Understood?” Involia nodded.
“We should go as soon as possible,” Avon said. “My first horse should still be here.”
“Mines a little tired, but we can exchange them at Insi on the way.” Kraven said and without another word the two rushed up the path of the hill leaving Raini and Involia to do nothing but watch them go.
“Son of a Den,” Involia swore softly. Raini took a deep breath.
“That could have gone a lot worse,” she said and resisted the urge to check that she still had all her limbs.
“Son of a-” He started again.
“Sir?” Raini turned around to find Travic waving up at them from the pier. The Protectors were all off the boat and formed up in a marching column. “Sir, we're ready to go, what are you orders?”
“Son of a-”
***
Raini led her men up the path after Involia's. Raini's men weren't used to marching and by the looks of it neither were Involia's. They tried marching in in a column ten people wide and twenty deep, but the lines of Protectors soon began to spread out. Raini, not really use to a marching pace, took her own men off the road and overtook the column until she reached Involia and Ensign Travic.
“How long until we get there?” she asked, a little out of breath.
“Avon told me where to go, assuming he knows which way up a map goes it shouldn't be long, a few minutes more or so-” He was cut off by a rumbling sound. Without saying a word, the whole column turned around and looked up into the sky where a fireball was falling towards them.
“It’s heading right for us!” Travic shouted. Raini narrowed her eyes and tried to make out the object. It appeared to be surrounded by fire and, yes, Travic had been right, it was certainly heading straight-
“Take cover!” Younie had always said that when in doubt, yell something really loudly and Raini lived up to that advice. The whole column evaporated in front of her, the Protectors scattering off the road to hide behind rocks or run for a gully that was off to one side. Her own crew though, realizing that time was the most important factor simply threw themselves to the ground. A mere second after she had yelled and done likewise Involia crashed down to her side. She glanced around her and saw Travic still standing, staring up at the object with a terrified look on his face.
The object, a huge fiery behemoth, was just a few seconds away and Raini grabbed hold of the ensign by his trousers and tried pulling him down. He didn't budge. She pulled herself to her feet, then with the roar of the object drowning out her shouts she tackled him to the ground. She felt the heat of the object blaze by overhead, heard the breath being knocked out of Travic’s lungs and prayed desperately that the object wouldn’t land on her.
She looked up just as the object began to slow down. The fire faded away as it did so, and Raini finally got a clear look at the thing. It was like a giant silvery bird, but with short wings and no head. Its body was a simple box, no feathers or claws or anything.
She pushed herself off Travic and got to her feet. Besides her Involia cursed loudly.
“Den's grave but I only just got them marching right!” Raini stared at the object as it came to rest gently on the ground.
“Erm...captain, mind giving me a little help?” Travic said holding out his hand. Raini grabbed hold of it and pulled him to his feet. Then continued to stare at the object while Involia began another round of screaming at his troops.
The bird like thing was still, as if it was waiting for something. To Raini's surprise a back dot appeared on its side. She reached for her telescope to take a better luck and discovered that no, it wasn't a dot but a perfectly round hole. Then a creature appeared and stepped through the hole.
The Illifran had once believed in beings called angles. Tall, with wings of glass or fire, who moved with absolute grace and skill. The creature reminded Raini of that story, but something looked odd, as if the proportions of the limbs had been chosen at random, or the gait was controlled by a blind puppet master.
“Do you see anything, Captain?” Travic asked.
“There’s definitely one creature or thing or something that's just stepped out of the flying thing.” She scanned the area and caught site of two much smaller objects. They looked less like birds than small silver towers, both had openings in them. “Looks like there could be quite a few of them” The creature had stepped out of the first object and was walking towards one of the others when a second creature appeared behind it in the opening. This one was much taller and bulkier with massive fists but no wings. It looked like a tall but compact giant. Two more of the same type of creature followed and walked a few meters towards them. Raini felt her heart skip a beat, they were staring right back at her, formed in a single line facing her.
The first creature was kneeling down in the sand when she heard Involia shout in her direction.
“Captain Raini, we are ready to move out when you are.” She didn't move. The creature was ... digging through the sand? She couldn't quite tell from this distance. “What do you see?” Raini almost jumped; she hadn't realized that Involia had stood beside her.
“Four creatures, three of them watching us,” she said.
“I think I can just about make them out, though the lights fading quickly. Are they armed?”
“Not as far as I can see.”
“Right, then let’s get moving.” Involia turned to the Protectors as Raini pocketed her telescope.
“Let's get there as quick as we can. Detachment, double pace, forward!”
They set off again, Raini and her men almost running to keep up with Involia. Infront of them the three larger creatures stood completely motionless.
“They looked messed up, don’t they?” Raini jumped as Involia whispered in her ear. He laughed.
“They do indeed.”
“I'm giving you Travic. I want you to take him and your men and flank the buggers while we stand in front of them in a nice big, impressive formation. I'm going to try and talk to them but if death starts then open up some enfilading fire or something.” Involia's attempt at strategy was poor and as see through as glass. He wanted all the credit to be gained from talking to the creatures while Travic and Raini, the only other people who were remotely in a position to do likewise, were side-lined.
That was alright with her anyway. She didn't care if she was in the history books or not, and if all kinds of death did start then at least her group would have a chance to either save the day or get out of there.
Raini took her men on a parallel course to Involia's. They were on the right of the column, and it appeared at the creatures were not paying attention to them. They reached a small outcropping of boulders that was almost at a ninety-degree angle to the creatures and the Protectors and within musket range of both. Her men scattered around the rocks, taking cover and resting weapons wherever possible. She herself pressed her back up against a boulder so that only her shoulder, right arm and head were visible. Travic just stood in the middle of the rocks, armed only with a thin sword and looking like a lost child.
“Ensign,” Raini hissed and motioned for him to come and kneel besides her. He did so, although if anything he looked more uncomfortable. “Don't they teach you to take cover in the Protectors?”
“To take what?” She stared at him for a moment, not trying to hide look of shock on her face. Then he grinned and wiped some sweat from his forehead. “Officers shouldn't take cover. Or at least that's what we've been told. We have to be seen to inspire.”
Raini swore. It was only now that he was away from Involia that Travic was coming out of his shell, but this was really not a good time for it.
“They've started talking,” one of her men called. Raini turned back to look. She could just about hear Involia was talking but could not make out the words. The creatures must have been talking a lot quieter than him, for she could only tell when they were talking when Involia wasn't.
“It looks like it's going quite well,” Travic said. As he did so one of the larger creatures took a step forward and rammed his arm through Involia's chest. Raini blinked and all around her musket smoke blossomed into fire.