Tim shifted position on the rock he was sitting on, leaning back and getting comfortable as he watched the group of people make their way up towards him.
The southern expedition hadn’t even really started, and they were still getting used to each other, but he thought he had a good handle on them. It helped that he knew all of them. He paid little attention to his own companions, though, more focused on the other group who would be joining them for the trip. Regina had used the chance for a bit of diplomacy, although he suspected it was only part of her plan. Still, it made sense for a larger expedition like this. They weren’t the only ones who wanted to get access to the southern realms, regular access if possible. And the elves were still allies of the Hive.
“Commander Anuis,” he greeted the woman in the lead he recognized, smiling as he jumped down and went to meet them to be polite. “It’s nice to see you again.”
He hadn’t seen her in a while. Anuis Eltarianal, a Three-Century Commander of the elves, and one of the first people he’d ever met. Actually, she’d been the first person outside the Hive he’d ever met on positive terms, come to think of it. She might be called a little low-leveled to be here in this position, being only in the early third Tier, but he suspected other pragmatic considerations made up for it. And neither group could send only the strongest elites, anyway.
“You as well, Sir Tim,” she smiled warmly. “You met some of my companions before, I think?”
He had, and he greeted them with as much warmth as he could muster. His Queen wanted to strengthen diplomatic relations between them, after all, and besides, he did like the elves well enough. They returned his greetings and then started to get to know the other people assembled.
They had tried to keep the party as small as possible, but it was still a decently sized group in the end. Four elves, three sapient drones — not many, but they still weren’t sure what welcome Hivekind would receive south of the Alps and were being cautious about it — and four Cernlians and three Nerlians, with two and one of them, respectively, being Delvers. Not counting several lower-leveled squires and sergeants and various others who still hung around, but wouldn’t be joining them once they ventured into the dangerous monster territories.
And, of course, there would be their newest guests, but they weren’t here yet and Tim wasn’t sure if they were coming. It was rather short notice.
“I assume you are in command of this operation?” asked one of the elves, someone he didn’t know.
[Tirias — Level ? Champion of the Blade]
Tim couldn’t see his level, which meant he must be strong. The Class didn’t tell him much, it sounded rather generic even if it was strong. He shrugged slightly. “No one has officially given me a formal charge,” he said. Regina had probably just forgotten, though. “But I think it’s safe to assume so,” he grinned a bit.
“You’re the Empress’ champion, I’d certainly think so,” Anuis said.
Tim didn’t say much to that. He didn’t want to come off as arrogant, or feign excessive humility. Fortunately, not saying much was expected of him, so no one minded.
“We should set off,” he spoke up after watching everyone mingle for a bit, getting ready for the trip. “We have a campsite planned and it would be good to reach it before the end of the daylight.”
It was interesting to watch how everyone reacted. The Hive’s drones were already ready. The Cernlians and Nerlians completed their preparations, the Delvers noticeably being ready earlier. The elves had only just arrived, so they didn’t have much to pack up, but they started walking in good order.
I’m dealing with professionals across the board here. That’s good. He didn’t want to go on this expedition with less than reliable companions. It shouldn’t be too dangerous, but that ‘should’ was carrying a lot of weight here and he didn’t want to lose anyone on this trip. At least it seemed they all understood the seriousness of it.
They were also all strong enough that they moved quickly. There had been debate about flying, but in the end they ended up mostly walking, only a few of the others using tamed monsters. Tim didn’t mind. They didn’t speak much as they moved, but they reached the suggested campsite when the sun was still a sliver on the horizon.
This was only the outskirts of the mountains, but the occasional strong beast did lurk in this area, or perhaps even gnomes striking out. Tim got a few of the Swarm Drones accompanying them flying circles up above to scout out the lay of the land, then chose two of the team to stand watch. Two Imperials, since they’d moved less today. They accepted his orders without complaint.
Then Tim checked in with Regina one last time, making sure nothing had happened that he should be aware of. She seemed busy, as she usually did these days, but it was nothing to be particularly worried about, she told him. The gnomes are still preparing and marshaling their forces, and our own plans are proceeding as planned, not that there is much happening this week.
I don’t like the idea of being away when things will be coming to a head, he admitted.
She sent him a mental pat on the head — making sure to subtly frame it like that instead of just the feeling of a hug, he noted; she was getting better, although he didn’t know why she bothered, it wasn’t like he would be embarrassed — and responded in a reassuring tone, Don’t worry, I’ll have plenty of help. Just focus on your own trip.
I will, my Queen, he acknowledged.
After the short conversation, he went to bed early, or at least his thin travel mattress. He lay down and fell asleep quickly.
He was woken up several hours later, in the early hours of the morning, by an interruption he’d half-expected. Tim got up quickly, glad that he hadn’t cuddled close enough with the other drones to prevent that (they usually didn’t if there was danger, but everyone moved in their sleep), made sure he had his sword just to be safe, and then stepped outside. It was still pretty dark, but his eyes pierced the gloom effortlessly, allowing him to see the people approaching from his own position as well as the Swarm Drones’ eyes.
Considering it was only two people, he supposed they’d done well spotting them. Their clothes blended into the night, as did their dark skin. A stray bit of moonlight showed him a flash of orange from one of their eyes. It would have been pretty clear they were dark elves even if he couldn’t hear the difference in their gaits or sense the subtle differences in their scents as they approached. The latter were muted, however; they’d probably done something to help hide from the monsters around.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
[Nucme as Inaven — Level ? Hand of Shadow]
[Alvol as Oliren — Level ? Ranger of the Dark]
“Welcome to our camp. I was expecting you to arrive with escorts, but we’re happy to see you,” he greeted them.
The two dark elves stopped, as if surprised by his presence, although he doubted they hadn’t realized he was there. “Thank you, my lord,” the man in the lead said. “We apologize for arriving late, there was some trouble hashing out the details of our contribution.”
“I know,” he replied, nodding. “It’s good everything was sorted out. I’ll go wake the others to welcome you.”
“There’s no need,” he shook his head. “We do not wish to disturb their sleep. Let us meet them tomorrow morning.”
“If you say so.”
If nothing else, Tim figured, their reactions were funny. Two of the humans almost drew their weapons upon finding there were suddenly dark elves in the camp when they woke up. Luckily, it didn’t escalate any further, and they were clearly a bit embarrassed about their reaction later. Inaven and Oliren didn’t seem to mind. Anuis had apparently met the former before, when the dark elves established contact with Ariedel, and they quickly struck up a conversation.
Tim mostly watched, before reminding everyone that they should get going. The weather was still good and there was no point wasting daylight.
To be fair, the weather should be good for the next week or so, which was why they were traveling now. Apparently, that kind of thing was something the Delvers’ Seer could help with. After that, there would be a lot of rain, and they probably wouldn’t get a good opportunity until the spring flood, which they did not want to encounter during their trip. So, while it was still late winter, not the best time … it might actually be the second-best time. Autumn storms, sometimes even in the late summer, were vicious here. Right now, it was late enough that it shouldn’t be entirely too cold and the days were getting longer again, but the spring melt hadn’t really started yet.
There’d be lots of ice and snow, if they had to cross a mountain, but they’d manage. Tim had never climbed across a glacier, but he’d heard it was better than fields of scree. He was almost looking forward to it.
First, though, they had to actually get into the mountains. That was hardly trivial. The route they’d planned stuck to the outskirts, at least for now. For parts of it they would be using tunnels, either dug by their hive or appropriated from the gnomes. The war had pretty much moved on from this region, so no one had really been here in a while, and monsters would have moved back in — maybe even more than there’d been before, driven to escape the commotion elsewhere.
Tim marched with the others, keeping a sharp eye out. They were using an overgrown path to start with which might have just been a game trail. It led in the direction they wanted to go and the Winged Drones scouting overhead could tell the path was clear.
At least until one of them was pounced on by a flying monster. Tim quickly backed out of his mental connection to it before it was eaten, feeling a bit queasy. I don’t know how Regina does it, he thought, shaking his head. She had to feel every death in the Hive, didn’t she? Or could she shut herself off entirely? He didn’t think so. Tim just tried not to think about it as he focused on the path ahead.
After that, he kept the Swarm Drones closer. It limited what they could see, but having eyes flying overhead at all was still very helpful. In a larger flock, they were also less likely to get attacked, or attract attention to their group. Sooner or later, he’d have to send them all back, or they’d just be monster bait.
They marched for hours that day, only taking a short break around midday, getting closer to their destination. The vegetation started to get a bit sparser as they went steadily uphill, though the way back down to the northwest was nice.
“Are we going to be crossing elemental territory, Sir Tim?” Anuis asked, hanging back a bit to join him.
Tim glanced at her and shook his head. “Only at the edges. We’ve talked to the elementals, but they’re still prickly. Volance and her friends are allowing us through,“ — mostly for Janis’ sake, he was sure — “but they don’t want us to linger for too long.”
“Well, at least we should not be troubled by any monsters while we are there, then,” Anuis said. She paused and turned forward, frowning. “Speaking of other monsters, I believe it is time to get ready to fight.”
Tim glanced around as well, then checked through the flying drones’ sight. It took him a second to realize what she meant; the monster was very well camouflaged. No, two monsters, actually. He squinted a bit, but didn’t get a System notification, perhaps they were still too far away. From here, they looked like oversized Lionits in mottled gray and brown.
“Monsters up ahead,” he called to warn the others. “One by the pink-flowering bush and the other over sixty degrees to its right.”
“We see them,” Tirias said calmly, hefting his blade.
“I’ll slow them down,” Inaven agreed, gesturing sharply with one hand.
Thick tendrils of shadow shot out of the ground and wrapped around the monsters, incidentally marking them to everyone. Tim got the flying drones to back away, figuring they were too high-level to be very bothered by the flock. His other companions formed up into a decent approximation of battle formation on their own initiative, the mages and healer stepping back and the physical fighters like Tirias forward.
It would be enough for this threat. Anuis had drawn her bow and shot an arrow at the closer monster, one of the Delvers doing likewise. Inaven activated another Skill or Spell and his tentacles grew thorns, piercing their captured monster. It drew blood and the beast roared loudly.
Tim grimaced and hefted his sword, but decided not to waste one of his better Abilities. Instead, he tracked the second monster, which had gotten free of its snare and was charging at them with a supernatural burst of speed.
Tirias jumped forward and met it with a slash of his sword. Tim waited for the right moment and then stepped in himself, slashing at its lower legs with his blade-arms and stabbing at its eye with his sword. It dodged, but ran into a lance of rock rising out of the ground. A moment later, it cried shrilly and its coat started smoking.
That distracted it enough for a final swing to finish it off. Tim stabbed into its eye to be safe, then glanced at the other monster. It had dragged itself forward, but their ranged party members were making short work of it. As he watched, it crashed to the ground and a final Firebolt finished it off.
“Good work,” he said, quickly cleaning his blade. “Our coordination could be improved, but we’ll work on that.”
“I think we’ll have more than enough chances for it,” Inaven said sardonically, glancing around.
Tim nodded. “Yes, we should make sure to leave quickly. Pick up the pace.”
“You think more monsters will show up?” Tirias asked.
“You think they missed that commotion?” he asked, then turned.
Apparently, everyone agreed, and they quickly hurried away from the scene of the fight. It was a bit of a shame, but he’d find other food later. He could already tell more monsters were being drawn to the site to investigate. But with the help of their scouts, they managed to steer clear of them.
“How long now?”
“We’re just about there,” Tim answered. He consulted his map in the psychic link, then nodded. “Up ahead.”
It didn’t take long to reach the rocky outcropping beside a minor hilltop. Tim made sure he had the right place, then slashed through the branches of a bush and pushed it aside. A hole just big enough for a humanoid person to descend into was revealed.
“There’s a gnomish tunnel down there?” Eduard asked a bit skeptically.
“It used to be,” Tim answered with the ghost of a smile. “Let’s go.”
Since the others mostly seemed uncomfortable, he lowered himself down first. It was dim inside, but more than bright enough to see by, and he could tell the passage widened once it leveled off into an actual tunnel. I suppose leading from the front it is, he mused, hiding a smile as he watched the others carefully make their way down to join him. They’d follow this one for a while. Their journey had only just started, but it was a nice change of pace.