Chapter 178: Twin Gambit

  The beating heart felt warm in Stryg’s hand. He wrapped his fingers around the organ and ripped his hand out from between the woman’s ribs. She choked on her own blood and collapsed at his feet. Stryg threw the heart aside and surveyed the carnage.

  The campsite had fallen into utter chaos. The ambushers had managed to cause massive casualties before Stryg and the other magi students were able to finish them off.

  The wagons had been badly damaged or burned down altogether. The centaurs had fared no better, they all lay dead, several arrows and spear sticking out of them. Over half the humans they were escorting had been murdered. Spouses hugged their dead loved ones and shook in silence. Mothers wailed in utter misery as they held their dead children. Toddlers cried for their parents that would never respond.

  Stryg had never seen anything like this. He was no stranger to violence and death. But the pain in all of those anguished voices was something he wasn’t accustomed to. It bothered him.

  “Stryg, are you alright?”

  “I’m fine, Kegrog. What about the others?”

  “Clypeus was wounded, but he’ll be fine. Freya and Callum are healing him now.”

  Stryg’s eyes widened, “What happened?”

  The orc held his bow with a shaky grip, “There was so much going on, I’m not sure.”

  Stryg ran past the tall archer and searched for his best friend.

  Clypeus was sitting down on a barrel, shirtless. Bright red scorch marks streaked across his chest. Nora held his hand, her eyes were puffy. Freya and Callum stood next to Clypeus, infusing the injured vampire with healing spells.

  Stryg gritted his teeth, “Cly, what happened to you?”

  “Oh, hey, Stryg. Didn’t notice you,” Clypeus grimaced.

  “Stay still, healing a wound like this isn’t easy,” Frey glared at him.

  “Sorry, sorry,” he mumbled.

  “Nora, what happened to him?” Stryg asked.

  “...There was a blue mage hidden among the enemy. He could cast storm spells,” Nora said with a sore voice.

  “He was going for Callum. I tried pushing Callum out of the way, but I got hit instead,” Clypeus winced.

  “I said stay still,” Freya warned.

  “Clypeus would be dead if it hadn’t been for his yellow durability spell,” Callum said quietly.

  “The scales weren’t able to handle the full brunt of the blow,” Nora bit her lip.

  Stryg stared at the burns on the vampire’s chest, “I see... Where is the blue mage?”

  “Kitty killed the bastard. She blasted him away with a wind spell, he got impaled on a wooden spike from one of the broken wagons. Serves him well,” venom dripped from Nora’s voice.

  “Kitty seems shaken up about it, I think it may have been her first kill,” Clypeus noted.

  Stryg spotted Kithina, she sat hunched over by herself in the distance.

  “I said stop moving, dammit! We aren’t professional healers!” Freya yelled. She pinched Clypeus’ cheek.

  “Ow! Shit, alright, I get it,” Clypeus winced.

  The spokesperson of the human families stomped over to them.

  “What happened!? What in all the damn Null Realms is happening?” The man screamed.

  “We didn’t expect this, same as you,” Nora sighed.

  “Isn’t he the leader here?” The man pointed at Clypeus. “Why weren’t you prepared for this? Wasn’t this your job? Your only job?!”

  “We were ambushed, clearly,” Stryg stepped in front of Clypeus. “If you have something else to say, say it to me and we can deal with this one-on-one.”

  The man’s snarl broke apart and he fell to his knees in tears, “They killed my son... He was only 4, he was just a child!”

  The anger in Stryg’s chest died away, he didn’t know what to say.

  “We need to get out of here, before more come,” Clypeus muttered.

  “There are more of those murderers?” The man said anxiously.

  “I don’t know. That’s why we have to move,” Clypeus said.

  “Where do we go? The wagons and centaurs are gone, half the families are dead, and we’ve lost five classmates. We aren’t in great conditions to keep fighting,” Nora said.

  “We should head back,” Callum suggested.

  Freya shook her head, “No, we’re far closer to our destination. We should reach the town by morning if we travel through the night. It’s a full moon, there’s enough light to stay on the trail.”

  “We don’t know if the enemies were working alone. For all we know they may be part of a Valley tribe, one that’s taken over Widow’s Crag. Going deeper into this region could be more dangerous,” Callum said.

  “So, what’s it going to be, Cly?” Nora asked.

  “You both make good points, I’ll need to think about it,” Clypeus admitted.

  “We don’t have time to think. What if more enemies come? We need to move now!” The commoners’ leader yelled.

  Clypeus narrowed his eyes, “Look around. Do you see any master magi? Any armies? No? I am truly sorry for your loss, but let me make it clear to you, we are alone out here. And if we don't assess this situation properly, we may all die out here. You still have other family members, think of them first.”

  His face was filled with pain, but he nodded, “...I understand.”

  “Good man. I need you to go rally your people and prepare them for travel,” Clypeus said.

  He left without another word.

  “We really are fucked aren’t we?” Kegrog walked over.

  “Maybe,” Clypeus sighed.

  “...There may be another way,” Stryg muttered.

  “What?”

  “My master told me, before we left, that she had assembled a team of magi to follow us from afar, in case something went wrong.”

  “Wait, so we aren’t actually alone out here? Oh, thank the gods,” Freya said in relief.

  “Then where are they? Why didn’t they show up when we were under attack?” Callum asked.

  “I don’t know,” Stryg admitted.

  “Why didn’t you tell us any of this sooner?” Clypeus frowned.

  “Because… Because I didn’t want their help.” Stryg inhaled deeply, “But now people are in danger and I’m not sure we can defend them. My master told me of a rendezvous point at the end of Widow’s Crag. There are two sharp cliffs, we’re supposed to go to the first one, I think.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “You think?” Freya said incredulously.

  “I think it was the first cliff. She might have said the second…”

  “Stryg, we need to know for sure. We can’t take any chances. If you're wrong, we could all be in danger,” Clypeus said sternly.

  Stryg nodded. He wished he had paid more attention to Loh. “...It’s the first cliff, it has to be.”

  Clypeus nodded “...Okay, I trust you. We’ll go to the rendezvous.”

  “Okay, Cal. I think we’ve done good enough,” Freya lowered her hands and released the healing spell. “Cly, you’ll have some burn scars, but you should have full movement of your arms and chest.”

  “That’s all I need,” Clypeus stood up and rolled his shoulders.

  “...Thank you for saving me, Cly,” Callum swallowed.

  Clypeus patted his shoulder, “I am a Gale, you are a Veres. Enough said.”

  “Right,” Callum smiled bitterly.

  “We should get moving,” Stryg said.

  “He’s right, let’s go,” Clypeus said.

  The others nodded.

~~~

  Loh Noir walked past the scorched corpses strewn about her. She ignored the scent of burnt flesh and focused on the tall grass surrounding her group.

  “Are there any more of them?”

  Tauri Katag walked up beside her, “I don’t think so, not in this scouting group at least. Vayu tells me he’s spotted several other scouting parties in the surrounding areas.”

  The orc’s flail hung at her hip, the spiked metal orb at the chain’s end was covered in blood.

  Loh stared at the smoke rising from the south, “We need to keep moving. That fire is from Stryg’s camp.”

  “Don’t worry too much. Vayu’s hawk already confirmed Stryg and the others managed to deal with the enemy scout group that ambushed them. They took some losses, but Stryg and the other six tourney candidates seem to be fine.”

  “For now, but there are dozens of tribal scouting parties out here. It’s too dangerous,” Loh said grimly.

  “And we’ve eliminated each group that has come towards the students, well, except for the first one. But the students handled themselves,” Tauri raised her hand and clenched her fist.

  “Fighting all these other enemies has cost us precious time. We should have been with the students by now. We need to move already.”

  “We’re still waiting on Vayu. And I think Gete is reanimating some corpses,” Tauri.

  Vayu Glaz was crouched over the last remaining tribal scout. The wounded raider had been tied up and was helpless as Vayu’s purple mind tendrils wrapped around her head.

  After a few more minutes Vayu released the mind spell and opened his eyes.

  “So, did you find anything out? Why are there so many raiders out here?” Loh asked impatiently.

  Vayu wrung his hands, “The woman and all her teammates are from the Cairn Tribe.”

  “Cairn Tribe? What are they doing this south in the Valley?” Loh’s eyes widened.

  “I should have made these bastards’ deaths far more painful,” Tauri snarled.

  Vayu shook his head, “The scout does not know very much. It seems her orders were kept fairly vague. All she knows is that her captain along with every other scout team’s captain were given orders to scour the surrounding areas to ensure the safety of the meeting.”

  “Meeting? What is that about?” Loh asked.

  “I’m not sure, the woman clearly doesn’t know, I searched her memories. All she knows is that there is a meeting with the Adder Tribe and it takes place at dawn,” Vayu said.

  “The Adder Tribe? Aren’t they one of the most powerful of the Dusk Valley Tribes?” Tauri recalled.

  “They are,” Loh nodded. “Vayu, has your hawk spotted anything?”

  Vayu closed his eyes, purple arcane sigils flared across his neck and temple, the symbol of binding magic, “There are dozens of scouting parties crawling all over Widow’s Crag. None of them seem to be going near the students.”

  “That’s because we killed the ones that tried,” Tauri grinned maliciously.

  “Yes, although the problem is that the students seem to be moving off the trail. They are still moving towards the Dire River, but not towards the town,” Vayu furrowed his brow.

  “They are going to the 1st sharp cliff at the end of Widow’s Crag,” Loh said.

  “Why?” Tauri asked.

  “Because I told Stryg to. In case anything went wrong he was supposed to meet up with us there. Good lad, he listened,” Loh smiled.

  “It’s not a bad plan, the students are actually moving away from the scouting parties. They should be fairly safe. The problem is they are moving away from us too. We’ll probably have to fight a few enemies before we reach them,” Vayu said.

  “Then let’s get moving,” Tauri grabbed her flail.

  “Agreed,” Loh nodded. “Vayu, how fast can your hawk get back to Hollow Shade?”

  “He’s a fast one, it should only take a few hours,” Vayu said.

  “Good. I want you to write a note, attach it to your hawk, and send him back to my grandfather,” Loh said.

  “The distance is far. My binding spell will be broken,” Vayu said.

  “Is that a problem?” Loh asked.

  “No. My hawk is trained, he’ll get the message to Hollow Shade. I just won’t be able to communicate with him until he’s back,” Vayu said.

  “That’ll be enough. We need to inform my grandfather of the current situation. Something doesn’t feel right, there are too many Cairn scouts in the area,” Loh said.

  Vayu’s back tensed. His jaw went slack.

  “What is it?” Loh frowned.

  “My hawk spotted a lone wagon in the distance. I think the person inside is heading to meet the Adder Tribe,” Vayu muttered.

  “In a wagon? That seems odd. Aren’t meetings between tribes usually done on centaur-back?” Tauri said.

  “Why do you think the wagon is going to be meeting with the Adder Tribe?” Loh asked.

  “...Because the wagon has a white and black flag on it,” Vayu admitted.

  A shiver ran up Loh’s spine, “That’s not just a random meeting. It’s a negotiation between two chiefs.”

  “Are you saying Lord Marek is on that wagon?” Tauri trembled with fury.

  Vayu nodded slowly, “The white and black flag represents a negotiation of the utmost importance to the Valley people. Usually, only a tribe’s chief would lead such a meeting. If Lord Marek is in the wagon, it would explain why there are so many Cairn warriors out here.”

  “They’re here to protect their lord,” Loh muttered.

  “We should go kill him right now,” Tauri gripped her flail tight.

  “No. Our sole mission is to protect the students,” Vayu said.

  “You said it yourself, the students are running away from the enemy, they will be fine,” Tauri said.

  “Even still, we can’t attack the wagon. Lord Marek may have an arch-mage on his side. Who knows what other enemies could be hiding in that wagon? It’s too risky,” Vayu shook his head.

  “Isn’t it worth the risk? Killing the head of the Cairn Tribe right here and now, while he is exposed?” Tauri argued.

  “No. It is not. We are not simply aristocrats in the city, right now we are soldiers at war, and our mission’s sole goal is the protection of the students. Tauri, you are a daughter of House Katag, the greatest warrior family in all of Hollow Shade. You of all people should understand the significance of duty,” Vayu said sternly.

  Tauri grimaced in shame. She straightened her back and saluted, “Forgive me, captain Glaz. I spoke out of turn and let my emotions get the better of me. I will cease my foolish behavior and obey my commanding officers.”

  Vayu nodded in satisfaction.

  “...Tauri has a point,” Loh mumbled.

  Vayu did a double-take, “What?”

  Loh cleared her throat, “Widow’s Crag is not under the influence of any Valley Tribe. This is neutral land. The Cairn and Adder tribes are meeting at dawn. Tomorrow is the summer solstice, a sacred day for the Valley people. Which means Lord Marek and the Adder Tribe are following the old ways of the Valley Tribes. This is a sacred negotiation, each leader is only allowed one bodyguard. Nothing more. At best Marek is with one arch-mage.”

  “How do you know about Valley tribal customs?” Tauri asked.

  “I’ve studied my enemy extensively.”

  “Loh, even still, we have our mission,” Vayu said.

  “...Including the three of us, our fighting force comprises eight master magi and two high-masters, along with ten centaurs. We could most likely overwhelm an arch-mage and Lord Marek,” Loh muttered.

  Vayu grabbed her arm, “Think of our past mistakes, think of what they’ve cost us.”

  “...I am,” Loh swallowed.

  “Then you know what the right choice is,” Vayu whispered.

  “Yeah,” Loh sighed.

  “Commander!” The black mage Gete called out. “I finished reanimating the few corpses I could, the rest were too burnt. We’re all ready to go, just say the word.”

  Vayu’s fire drake lumbered over behind him. The giant lizard stared at Loh curiously. Vayu nodded to Loh.

  Tauri bowed her head, “Commander Noir, what are your orders?”

~~~

  “Is this illusion barrier really necessary?” Marek asked.

  “Yes,” Vaughn said curtly. His hands flared with purple magic as he maneuvered the illusionary bubble around them while they walked.

  “There’s been a strange hawk flying overhead. It just left but I still don’t trust this area,” Dawn observed.

  “Your safety is our priority, I think the twins have the right idea. The illusion hides our presence from any potential threats,” Nokuti said.

  “We have our scouts out there and we haven’t spotted anyone, I think we’re all just a little stressed out about the Adder meeting. Crow and Kyriil will be fine,” Marek said.

  “I’m not even going to talk about that idiot elf nor the bird-man. What about the scouts that haven’t reported back yet? That doesn’t seem fine to me,” Nokuti crossed her arms.

  “Fair point. Lysaila, Grim, take a few men and go find out what happened,” Marek ordered.

  “Yes, my Lord,” the tall axlean bowed.

  “This is why you don’t send humans to do a night mission. Come on, Grim. Let’s go pick out some vampires. I bet those human scouts fell asleep,” Lysaila slithered away.

  “The night is young, we still have many hours till morning. I suggest you get some rest, Marek, while you can. I'll stand watch,” Nokuti said.

  “I’ll be fine. I don’t wish to sleep while everyone else is working. We’ve only just begun.”