Craig leaned back in his rickety chair and rubbed his chin, eyes closed. He muttered. “Guerilla tactics eh? It’s been some time since I’ve had to employ them myself, but given our disparity in numbers and the quality of our forces I’d say that’s probably the wisest course to take.” His eyes snapped open and he leaned in. “So what specifically did you have in mind? I assume you’ll want our hunters with you, but what of the rest of us? How will we fight, and where? And what shall the non combatants do?”

My smile only grew. I really love watching people do what they know, it’s endlessly fascinating. Every. Single. Time… But that’s just another reason I can’t fail.

“The hunters will work with me through the day to find and set up good ambush points. After that, we’ll head back and prep the village’s defenses. Anyone able who wants to fight will be counted in, and placed at the various points, where we’ll make the most of our resources to whittle them down and escape without them noticing you’re even there.”

He arched an eyebrow. “What do you mean? How will they not notice us?”

“That’s the best part. I’ll be the one standing at the fore, while the rest of you hide below ground, attacking or triggering traps as needed. With any luck, they’ll be so focused or busy with me that they won’t have even a moment to spare looking for, or trying to catch, you.”

Craig frowned. “Underground? We lack any earth essence mages, and Rochelle’s mind over matter won’t suffice for such a large space, so how are we to dig chambers big enough to do this?”

I waved him off. “Leave that to me. I happen to be an expert when it comes to digging holes.”

His stern expression and tight shoulders relaxed a bit. “It sounds like you have it all well in hand, but are you sure you won’t be too tired by the time the battle begins? By the sound of it, you’re going to be doing the most.”

Tired? Me? That’s funny!

I nodded. “That’s right. I’m the cause of the problem so it’s only fair that I pull my weight.”

Craig grabbed the old spear on the wall behind him and got to his feet. “Then we should get started. No point sitting around when our time is so short.”

“Right.” I took a deep breath, rose from my stool, and followed the Alderman out.

Letta was still in bed, but her little green eyes widened when she saw us, and all traces of sleep vanished as she bolted out of bed and over to me. “Anon? What’s happening? Why’s Alder-Craig got his spear? He only uses it when bad things happen.”

I scooped her up without stopping, and whispered. “That’s because a bad thing is going to happen soon, and we need to make sure everyone is ready for it.”

Her adorable face darkened, and she hid it against my shoulder. I gently combed my fingers through her messy bed head while we walked, and once we reached the communal fire pit, Craig bellowed. “Attention! Everyone gather please!”

In all of five minutes, anyone who wasn’t already outside and aware of Craig had come out alone or with their families, until every villager was present and accounted for, all seventy two of them.

Quiet chatter, and questioning glances greeted us in place of their usual friendly smiles, and Craig raised his spear toward the sky. “Good people, a grave threat has chased our friend Anon here, and will arrive this very eve. Time is of the essence, we must prepare to face armed and disciplined soldiers, but fear not! Anon and I have agreed on a strategy, one that will carry us to victory! So listen up! We all have a part to play!”

He launched into the explanation we came up with, and I tried not to smile at the amusing mix of reactions that washed over the crowd. Obviously, fear and trepidation were first, and they quickly changed to despair and resignation at the mention of soldiers, but their Alderman’s confidence and the details of the plan changed their dour expressions to ones of courage. Courage and hope. And with that boost in morale, came our first step to winning.

Though I really should’ve expected this. The man’s a general, plus he’s got both the command and leadership abilities, so it’s no wonder that he’s so effective.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Even Letta, who was cowering in my arms, stopped hiding, and turned to listen to Alder-Craig. The part about how the children could help gather and move resources proved especially interesting to her, and before his spiel was over she had gotten down, and simply held my hand until the end.

“That’s it! You know your parts! Now get to work!” Craig bellowed, and the villagers scattered without a cheer or grumbling.

I was slightly surprised at their lack of reaction, given how well they took his speech, but then I remembered that they came here to live in peace, so they no doubt abhor violence, even though it’s necessary to survive. And who am I to judge anyway? I don’t really want to kill anyone either… .

Letta tugged on my finger, and I knelt to give her a quick hug before she tottered off to join the other kids in their tasks. They have a lot of stuff to move if my plan’s to be realized, and it’s past time I got moving too.

#

Everything happened all at once. The hunters went off to locate good spots, those willing to fight armed themselves and got a crash course with Craig, and I started by going to the lakeshore, near an old tree that Craig had mentioned, to dig out a big honkin’ hole. One large enough for all the non combatants to shelter in, and reinforced with the roots and thorny vines of nearby vegetation by way of Witness’ ‘one with nature’ trait. Then I planted one of my spears, the one named Discipline, into the center of it all, wrapped it in roots, and moved on to my next task.

All in all, an hour well spent.

Next, I relied on Witness’ ‘pathfinder’ trait to guide me to the first of the hunter’s chosen ambush points. I had a rough idea where they’d be thanks again to a quick chat with Craig, but since I was going by way of Excavation Emperor, I needed all the help I could get. Because I apparently dig faster than a horse can run, maybe even a car can drive, and I obviously can’t see where I’m going.

The first spot was a little clearing a couple hundred feet away from the village, and since I’d already taken the time to open up a small cavern, not even nearly as large as the clearing itself beneath it, all I really had to do was use Witness to set up various traps that could be activated with the pull or cut of a vine. Oh, and I didn’t leave a spear this time.

I then repeated that process several more times, stopping only when I started to feel light headed for reasons I can only assume are related to my manic mana consumption.

And that makes four more hours down. It's about time for everyone else to eat, but not me! I literally don’t need it!

After that, I went and placed two more caverns off in more distant locations in the valley, both for the sake of acting as retreat points, but also as part of my last resort, which again included placing two more of my spears down, specifically Retribution and Reprisal, in the same fashion as Discipline.

Two more hours gone.

“And with that, I think I’m done out here… Though I’ve only got one hour left to set up the village’s defense now… .” I sighed, as the hardest part lay just ahead and I was cutting it awfully close, but at least I could move forward knowing everyone other than me would be safe even if the ruse is discovered. “And that’s the most important part.”

So let’s hustle back to town, and mentally review, if only for my sanity.

All the tunnels are interconnected in a general triangle shape, and protected just like the caverns, largely thanks to the Wise Old Friend pitching in once it realized what I was doing. At least that’s what I think happened, for all I know someone else could’ve butted in and moved those roots, but I seriously doubt that. With any luck, Rochelle and Corra will reach the two more distant spears sometime before I run out of traps, or strength, as they’ve got quite a bit of distance to cover and weren’t scheduled to head out till after lunch. That leaves old Craig, but he’s already positioned with Discipline and won’t budge from the village’s cavern no matter what happens. The rest of the villagers should already be underground with their necessities so that I can make Kormath look abandoned when I get back, so assuming nothing goes catastrophically wrong we should be able to hold off the soldiers, if not take them down outright, and do it all before cutting off this valley from that white clad lady’s wrath. All in all, not a bad plan if I do say so myself. I just hope my limited knowledge of magic is going to pull through where it counts.

Only half an hour remained before sun down when I got back to Kormath, so I quickly, and admittedly haphazardly, used Witness to throw vines and moss and other vegetation all over the village. I didn’t go too crazy, both to conserve my mana, but also to make it look like a more recent and thus believable occurrence, and that’s when I heard rustling in the trees outside the village.

My breath caught in my throat, and my heart started to race. Crap! I’m out of time!

I didn’t hesitate to dive underground beneath the cover of a newly grown bush, but instead of running, I waited.

The village is camouflaged to a believable level… I think... But this is it. They’re here. There’s no going back, or changing anything! The fight is all but on, but what do I do? I should probably hang out to eavesdrop on their plans, but after that… Do I jump straight in with an ambush? Or should I try to be a more reasonable person and talk things out? Wait. Is that even sane? No, it has to be, I’m immune to insanity.