The forest was silent around them. Eerily silent. Even as Azalea strained her ears, she couldn’t pick up the sound of any wildlife around her, neither predator nor prey. It was as if someone had placed some kind of dampening spell on the area, cutting out all sound except the small rustling of leaves and snapping of twigs under the feet of their party. Each tiny sound was amplified by their nerves until it could have been mistaken for gunshots and small explosions. And with each inadvertent noise, their nerves were strained tighter. It was as if they were an approaching storm, rather than a team trying to move about unseen and unheard, to strike without notice. Azalea knew that at least part of her paranoia was unwarranted, but the tension of the past hour wouldn’t allow her to sweep the concerns away.

Oscar, of course, moved so quietly that he seemed to be part of the wind. Azalea knew exactly where he was, but it often seemed that he dissolved into the darkness of the forest around them from time to time, as if he were some rogue spirit that had merely chosen to travel along with them. She had to keep an eye on his position because, without him, they were truly lost He was their eyes and ears. She wondered if the noise they made was making his job any harder. He hadn’t complained so far, but she supposed he wouldn’t mention if he were annoyed. He was laser-focused on his task, dashing lightly between the smallest patches of cover and scanning one hundred and eighty degrees around their party. Every once in a while, she’d see him turn to face the rear, checking to make sure that nobody was following them. But he never did it on a predictable schedule. There was a reason for that, she was sure, but so far, he hadn’t decided to share.

They had been under the thick canopy of trees for nearly two hours now, with no sign of the source of that anti-magic field. Again and again, Azalea found herself trying to cast a spell, but nothing worked. So instead, she kept her spear close at hand, ready to retaliate at the slightest hint of danger. She was stationed toward the front of the party, just a meter or two to Caius’ left. She’d been confused by this decision at first, but Caius had cleared the matter up.

“With that spear, and without your magic, it would be a waste for you to be in the middle or rear,” he’d explained. “You have more reach than any of us, and that will come in handy when we find the enemy. If we’re attacked from behind, then you can shift to take up a new position there.”

Predictably, their party had very few magic users. They’d brought some along just in case they were able to disable the field before attacking. They would come in handy for buffs and long-range attacks. Including the ring of warriors and Oscar and another archer scouting toward the rear, their party numbered twenty-eight strong. A sizable attacking force, and the largest one they could muster. So, of course, they were heading right for the most likely source of the field. The direct center.

She knew they were on the right track and close to finding the enemy when Oscar suddenly threw up a hand, his fist clenched tightly. It was their field signal to stop moving. She froze at once, and the others copied her action, only delayed a second or two as they all became aware of Oscar’s hesitation. Quiet as a shadow, Oscar inched a few feet forward, disappearing from view. She couldn’t quite explain the anxiety that spiked up as he vanished, but she couldn’t suppress the sigh of relief that came minutes later when he returned. She could see him moving directly for Caius, so she crept over to listen in.

“There’s about twenty of them,” Oscar was saying. He nodded approvingly at her as she took care to watch her feet, making sure she didn’t produce any extra noise. “So we outnumber them. Unfortunately, there’s no cover once you cross that hill. Our only option will be speed and surprise.”

Caius nodded his understanding. “Could you see the source of their field?”

Oscar shook his head. “Nothing stood out. I’m sure it’s there. Probably in one of the buildings.”

“There are buildings?” Caius asked sharply.

“Of course there are. It’s a long-term camp. Does that make a difference?”

“Of course it does. They could be hiding extra men in there. And those buildings will obscure parts of our vision.”

Caius scowled, thinking through the problem. “But I agree that a rush will be our best option. Assuming there are a few men in those buildings, that means our numbers will be more or less equal. That’ll be a challenge, with this group.”

Azalea knew what he meant. By a generous estimate, maybe ten of their number had any actual knowledge of the combat system in this game. “We really should organize some kind of teaching system, so we have more fighters when we need them.”

Caius looked mildly surprised at the suggestion, but only for a moment, then his face became thoughtful. He nodded slowly a few times. “There’s something to that. Don’t forget that idea, dear. You may be on to something.”

She beamed with pride as they returned to the discussion of their upcoming attack. She didn’t have anything to volunteer anyway, and she was confident they could come up with a good plan between them. Sure enough, only five minutes later, they seemed to have come to an agreement. Caius gave the signal to the group to retreat several dozen yards away. The other members of the party were clearly excited, sensing that they were getting close to their goal.

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“So there’s twenty,” Caius repeated Oscar’s earlier report. “We’re going to bum rush them, because we can’t sneak up. That means that our ranged fighters need to stay back. Mages, keep a weapon on you but be ready to cast the instant we knock that field down. The rest of you, we’ll be forming a wedge. Stay close enough together to make an impact, but for the love of god, not so close together that we all trip each other.”

They all nodded their understanding, a bit of worry now replacing their excitement. This was, after all, the first large battle for many of them. “Good. Now, shields to the front. Everyone else, behind them. I’ll take the lead. Patsy, on my left. Azalea, on my right.”

She nodded, understanding the reason behind that last decision. As Patsy was the least experienced in their guild, Caius wanted him on his shield side, so he could protect him as much as possible. “Right. We’ll go as quietly as we can while sticking in formation. The moment I run out, you follow.”

They crept forward. Azalea was certain they were making more noise than before, or perhaps it just seemed louder now that everyone was closer together. She switched grips on her spear, wiping her clammy hands on the outside of her leggings, then for good measure swiped a hand across her brow. Caius saw the movement and smiled reassuringly at her. She returned the smile, though it did feel a bit strange.

The quiet was shattered by Caius’ admittedly terrifying battle roar. That old guy could really yell when he wanted to. The sound of it rippled across the short incline to where the bandits were camped out and bounced off the walls of the three buildings so that it reverberated back to the attackers, who were now charging down the slope toward their enemy. It inspired them just as it intimidated their foes, and soon more yells were joining his own, creating a full-throated war chorus, announcing their arrival.

The following battle was a fierce one, but it was over quickly. Staying close to Caius’ right side, she gave him just enough space to wield his sword freely, and thrust and slashed her spear at any enemy that tried to flank him. More than a few times, Riley had to step in to protect her flank, beating away or killing an enemy. The threat provided by the buildings proved to be less than Caius had predicted. They were able to swarm the buildings in no time, more or less surrounding the surprised bandits. The bandits fought hard, taking out many of their attackers, but they were wiped out to a single man within ten minutes.

Caius knocked the weapon out of the last bandit’s hand, then kicked one leg out, sending the man crashing prone to the ground. “Right. Let’s get some information out of you, lad. Tell us everything we want to know, and we’ll let you live.”

Azalea didn’t pay attention to the interrogation. Instead, she directed the surviving players with Oscar, setting them to search the area thoroughly for the source of the anti-magic field. There hadn’t been any sign of it during their pitched fight, but she was certain with enough time they’d locate it. Of course, then they’d face the challenge of figuring out how to disable it, she thought with a scowl. She had no way of knowing what was required until they could actually see the thing.

She took the furthest building on the left, while the rest split up to cover the other two. It was a dingy place, with very little natural lighting making its way into the building. Several cots were shoved roughly against one wall, leaving just enough space for a table and four chairs. The signs of dice and drink were still evident. She wagered that, when night fell, those cots would be strewn across the room, filling it so that there was barely room to walk.

“They might as well just sleep in one big pile,” she muttered quietly, shaking her head in disgust. They’d had days, even a week to make more comfortable accomodations. She’d done better than this in just two days. Then, having completed two laps of the room with her nose wrinkled against the stench of unwashed bodies, she was forced to accept that the source of the field wasn’t in this building. She left it gratefully, just in time to hear some raucous laughter. It was coming from the area where Caius was interrogating the bandit, she thought. Curious, she made her way over.

“Where is the source of the anti-magic field?” Caius thundered. His face was only a few centimeters away from the bandits’, and he had the point of his sword pressed against the man’s chest. Even as he asked the question again, he pressed insistently. Not hard enough to break the skin, but definitely enough to be painful.

“Ah!” The bandit exclaimed, trying, unsuccessfully, to back away from the point of the sword. Still, it didn’t quiet his laughter. “I already told you, ya fool! There ain’t no source here! You wasted all your troops for nothing!”

He cackled again. Caius, calm and collected in spite of his anger, stood upright and slammed a boot against the bandit’s shoulder, slamming him painfully against the outside of the building. “Lie all you want, bandit. We’ll find the source and disable it. And you’ll lose your chance to survive this encounter.”

But as the search parties left the buildings shaking their head and looking confused, Azalea realized that it truly wasn’t here. Caius was only half a second behind her train of thought. “How can it not be here? This is as close to the dead center of the field as you can get!”

“You fools. You don’t understand how the magic of this world works,” the bandit sneered. “The Old Man knows his art too well. There’s no way you’d be able to find the source of that magic when he’s casting it.”

“The Old Man?” Azalea asked. For some reason, that triggered a nearly-forgotten memory in her mind. It took her a few seconds of furious thought to recall it. “Old Man Sumba?”

At once, the bandit’s laughter died away, and he hurriedly re-arranged his face to one of stubborn refusal. To Azalea and Caius, that was as good as a confession. “I didn’t say nothin' like that. You- You be putting words in my mouth!”

Azalea and Caius shared a quick look. She could tell that he was thinking the same thing as her. If Old Man Sumba was behind this in some way, it was a huge betrayal. It was also going to be next to impossible to prove it. But if he was the one who had put up this anti-magic field, then he was the one who knew where it was and how to disable it. Caius cursed quietly. The bandit looked elated for a moment, but that expression quickly changed to shock as Caius pivoted neatly on one foot, lopping his head off with a single swing. His eyes were still wide when his entire form exploded, dumping a small pile of items and coin on the ground.