After the team’s first resurrection and visit to the Imbuement Chamber, Davon thought they could use a low-stress mission to get back into the swing of things. To that end, he accepted a scouting run from the quest board. The only goal was to check on a rumored sighting of Crimson Reaver forces. Simple enough.

Even so, as they prepared to set out in the eerie red light of early morning, Kai announced he was staying behind in Walden’s Hold.

“I’ll just blow your cover if you need to sneak,” he said, attempting a casual grin. “I’d better sit this one out.”

The other two didn’t argue. But the truth was painfully obvious to Davon, and he assumed Lyla had reached the same conclusion. Resurrection had hit Kai the hardest. All of his usual optimism was gone. He spent most of his time moping.

Still, there wasn’t much Davon or Lyla could do. They just said goodbye and set off into the forest, leaving Kai to wander back towards the barracks.

Davon lifted his head as they walked. A gentle breeze caressed his face, bringing a familiar comfort with it. Even without the smell of brine, the morning air reminded him of simpler times.

He cast a quick glance behind him to confirm that Lyla was still keeping up. Her face was twisted with concern, her eyes staring at the ground in front of her without seeing it. She had been more distracted than usual since their resurrection. She was even neglecting her normal habit of reading at any given opportunity.

Slowing down until he was walking beside her, Davon broke the silence.

“How are you holding up?”

Lyla turned to him, unable to hide the surprise on her face, then took a moment before replying.

“Better than it might seem. I’m just… concerned for Kai, among other things.”

“Kai will be fine. People like him don’t stay down for long,” Davon said, trying to sound confident. Then he narrowed his eyes. “But… what other things?”

Lyla’s expression grew carefully blank.

“Before you woke up… from the resurrection, I mean…” She stopped walking, then looked directly into Davon’s eyes. “Did you see anything?”

The question caught Davon off guard. He paused to collect his thoughts, recalling the strange memories that had flashed through his mind moments before awakening.

“Yes, I did,” he replied slowly. “But I don’t know what exactly it was. Now that I think back, I can’t even recall any details. It was more… echoes of memories than anything solid.”

Lyla nodded as she started walking again. “Yes. I saw the same thing. Only… I remember some of it.”

Davon shot her an interested glance, waiting for more.

“Voices, writing, flashes of the night sky,” Lyla began, her voice shaking with uncertainty. “I don’t know what any of it meant. But it’s been repeating in my mind since.”

It was then that Davon caught the sound of wheels rolling down the road towards them.

“A mystery for later, I suppose,” he whispered, pointing ahead. “We have company.”

As they moved closer to the sound, a familiar smell reached out to envelop Davon, making his stomach churn.

Rot and sulfur.

“Hide!” Davon growled as quietly as he could before dashing towards the nearby trees. It took Lyla only a second to catch up with him.

Davon kept his eyes glued to the road, anxiety welling up in his gut. He could feel his heart beating faster and faster as the first Crimson Reaver walked into sight. It was a human-sized, fully armored soldier, just like the group the trio had fought while on patrol. Then another appeared, then another. A whole troop of the creatures came marching down the road, pulling on a myriad of chains connected to a massive cart.

The cart was carrying a strange collection of materials. Some pieces seemed to be made of flesh. Others looked like bits of carapace held together with pieces of black metal.

After a moment, Davon realized exactly what he was looking at.

War machines.

Ballistae, catapults, pieces of a trebuchet. He’d seen them enough times at Port Perle to recognize them immediately.

All at once, Davon remembered what Grant had told them about the city of Heinburg. The anxiety in Davon’s mind exploded into panic. Every urge told him to turn and run, to get back to Walden’s Hold and warn them of the incoming invasion.

He took a deep breath, forcing those urges down. It wasn’t enough to know the enemy was on the way. To help Walden’s Hold, he needed to wait and learn as much as possible about the incoming force.

So, he waited. He watched as dozens upon dozens of Crimson Reaver soldiers marched slowly past them. Davon thanked the skies above that this war procession was moving slowly. If the invasion force kept to their current pace, Davon and Lyla could take a shortcut through the forest and beat them to Walden’s Hold by at least half a day.

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Then a guttural shout echoed through the forest. The convoy halted. Reflexively, Davon ducked further under cover, almost crashing into Lyla. They both froze for a few terrified seconds. But as the sound of more voices rose from the convoy’s direction, Davon swallowed his fear and peeked out again.

Standing on the road beside the convoy was a massive figure in crimson-trimmed black armor. At first sight, Davon thought it was the leader who had killed him and his teammates at the enemy encampment. But this beast wore a different helmet, with three horns instead of two.

The monster was barking something in a language Davon couldn’t understand. As it spoke, more and more soldiers gathered around it, keeping a respectful distance.

“That must be their leader,” Lyla hissed, peeking out from behind Davon’s shoulder. “Or one of them, anyway.”

“Helmet’s different than the last one,” Davon replied, furrowing his brow. “Chances are there’s multiple of those beasts coming to the siege. Wonderful.”

They were both silent for a moment, as if picturing a flood of the imposing figures swarming over Walden’s Hold.

When Lyla spoke, her voice was tight with fear.

“We should head back and warn the city.”

“Wait.” Davon shook his head. “We need to get the full scope of their forces first.”

The pair continued watching. Moments later, three Crimson Reavers stepped out from the group and drew close to the leader. While their armor was the same as the other soldiers wore, Davon noted these three had decorative capes around their shoulders.

Silently, Davon directed Lyla’s attention to the caped trio. In that same moment, the three Crimson Reavers saluted the leader and split off, shouting orders to the regular soldiers around them.

As the convoy resumed its movement, Davon’s nerves finally got to him. Surely they couldn’t wait any longer. But just as he turned to Lyla to suggest they get moving, the end of the convoy finally rolled into view.

Davon inhaled sharply at the sight.

The final cart held a gigantic cage. Within it were two massive creatures covered partially in black armor. Each of them was roughly twelve feet tall, and as wide as three men standing beside each other. Their arms and legs were disproportionately small compared to their torsos, but every bit of ashen gray flesh Davon could see was nothing but muscle.

To top off this intimidating image, helmets covered their faces completely. The only visible feature was a massive horn protruding from the middle of their heads.

Davon looked at Lyla.

“Time to go?” she asked shakily.

“Yeah.”

—

“Open the gates!” Davon shouted as the pair finally reached Walden’s Hold.

A guard peeked over the ramparts. After a brief exchange of shouts, the gates began to raise.

Davon didn’t wait for the gates to open fully. Instead, he slid under them as soon as he could fit through and ran up to the nearest guard.

“Who… who is in charge of the Stalwarts?” Davon asked, doubling over and squeezing his words in between breaths.

“I’m afraid Knight Franz still isn’t —“

“I know Franz isn’t here, damn it! There’s an army coming! We need to warn the Stalwarts!”

The guard stumbled, as if driven backwards by the shock. Quickly recovering himself, he gestured for the pair to follow him.

“Alright. This way.”

Davon’s muscles were aching with exhaustion, but he still found it hard not to push forward as the guard led them towards the nearby barracks. Anxiety was racing like wildfire through his veins. He kept glancing towards the city walls, scanning the ramparts. There were only a few guards up there. None of them were Revenants.

Cold sweat formed on his brow. How many Revenants were even in the city? How many were out on quests?

Once they reached the barracks, the guard led them up a set of stairs and into a moderately sized room. A large table dominated the space, surrounded by chairs. At the opposite side of the room stood a heavily armored figure with its back turned to the door. From where he stood, Davon could only make out a blond ponytail and a blue shawl draped around the figure’s shoulders.

“Sir Meyer, some scouts here to see you,” the guard announced with a quick bow. Then he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Meyer turned to face them. The red sunshine pouring through a single large window cast his handsome face in an ominous light as he stared at them intently. His piercing blue eyes seemed to bore directly into Davon’s soul.

“Well, if it isn’t Grant’s latest protégés, lacking one member.” Meyer’s voice dripped with condescension. “What news do you bring?”

His haughty tone immediately tugged at something deep within Davon, sending waves of anger through him. Davon grit his teeth. He hadn’t experienced this strong of a reaction in a while. Before, it had been exclusive to the second mate, whenever the idiot was pretending he knew how to run a ship.

Davon cleared his throat and managed to calm himself before speaking.

“Sir, we found a Crimson Reaver convoy headed for the city. They’ll be here by sun fall.”

Meyer sighed, clearly unimpressed. His gaze dropped to the map laid out on the table in front of him.

“By my count, there were at least two hundred soldiers,” Davon continued, swallowing down the bubbling anger in his gut. “They had siege engines in tow, and cages containing some kind of massive beast.”

“Whatever they bring, it will break against our walls.” Meyer waved his hand dismissively. “We are prepared.”

“With all due respect, sir, I disagree. I —“

Davon was interrupted by the sound of Meyer’s fist slamming down onto the table.

“You what?” Meyer growled. “Do you even know what siege engines look like? And how dare you lecture me about beasts? Have you ever seen monsters, all the way back on that island you call home?”

Fury overflowed in his chest. Davon barely held himself back from shouting at the acting commander of the Stalwarts.

Somehow, he held his tongue. Picking a fight here wouldn’t help.

“As. I. Said. They won’t make it past the walls,” Meyer continued, straightening his posture. “And remember: I won’t have some islander tell me how to defend MY city.”

The final sentence told Davon everything he needed to know. Wordlessly, he turned and walked out of the room, quickening his pace until he was out of the barracks. He heard light footsteps hurrying after him.

“Davon! Slow down!” Lyla’s voice reached his ears, halting his step. He turned to look at her, reading the worry on her face. “Where are you going?”

It took Davon a moment to pull his thoughts free from the torrent of rage in his head.

“The Stalwarts don’t want to hear us out, so we should warn the Guild,” he finally ground out. “We need to find Kai… and Grant, or Mia.”

Lyla nodded in agreement, falling in step beside Davon as he set off for the Guild House. “Mia only shows up when she wants to be found. Kai is probably hanging around the mess… and Grant is usually near the warehouse.”

The pair picked up their pace, running down the city streets. Davon paid little attention to the curious glares they attracted. They had no time to be careful. Even a moment’s delay could make all the difference.

When they turned into the street which housed the Revenant’s Guild, Davon immediately spotted Kai at the gates, chatting with one of the guards.

“Kai!” Davon called out, getting the warrior’s attention. “Where’s Grant?”

Kai looked the pair up and down as they approached, Lyla panting in an attempt to catch her breath.

“What happened?”

“Crimson Reaver army,” Davon explained, making no effort to hide the desperation in his tone. “We need to find Grant. NOW.”

Kai’s eyes widened. “Okay, then. Follow me.”

Chapter 11: Convoy