It was still dark when the strike group arrived back at the pit. There was no sign of movement, and neither twin could detect any sign of a trap. There weren’t many spells or techniques that would escape their notice, as they were intimately familiar with most of them, but everyone kept their guard up regardless. Luckily it wasn’t difficult after their recent fight; nobody would be able to fully relax until they were back in their own lands.
The real issue at the moment was the fact that they were going back without all the intelligence they had come for. Either prisoner could likely give them the information they needed, but if they couldn’t, or had some method to ensure they wouldn’t, then their chance might slip by forever. Coming back through the same transporter would be a death sentence once reinforcements arrived. They’d literally be jumping right into an ambush if this side wasn’t dismantled in the first place. The more time Lloyd had to think, the more uncomfortable he was with going back as they were.
And worse, it was still dark. The only way that could be possible was if they were east, and far east at that. They had to be close to the recent war zone, or even behind it. Which also meant they were likely at war themselves and just didn’t know it. An overt attack like this could receive no other response.
“You guys okay to take the prisoners back by yourselves?” Lloyd asked once they were back in the darkness of the pit.
“Where are you going to be?” Artem asked.
“I’m going to get better evidence. Finding two people at the scene is good, but if this is as big as I think it is, no one is going to make the decisions required based on two prisoners. I want more proof.”
“You’re going to wander around hoping to stumble on something?” Ionna asked.
“No. No, I’m going to go back to that fort and wait for the reinforcements.”
“They will send a bigger force than the one we just deal with,” Artem warned.
“I’m counting on it. I need high-ranked people, and I need more survivors. Preferably people who took the time to put on their armor and insignia, and ideally with some kind of orders on hand.”
“We’ll come too,” Jammal immediately insisted.
“This isn’t going to be like the fight we just had.”
“We know,” Ava confirmed.
“This is our kind of fight,” Jammal added.
Lloyd sighed. “Fine, scout the area around us. I’ve been wondering if there aren’t more pits like this feeding transporters into Malvec. My guess is some of them would be clustered together, otherwise you need people traveling between them when you can just build them next to each other. It’s worth a look in case they are nearby.”
“On it,” Ava said, disappearing a moment later with her brother.
“You three go back with the prisoners and keep them locked down. The other team isn’t truly a combat team, and the Apprentices that came with can’t be expected to keep a High Mage secured by themselves.”
“We’ll watch out for them,” Ionna promised.
Lloyd still went into the tunnel with them, so he could watch them leave and make sure there were no problems. Things you took for granted tended to be the things that went wrong in situations like this. It took a few minutes for the rest of the transporter to activate, but everyone was aware that those on the other side had no idea when they would try to come back.
Once they were gone, Lloyd headed back to the smoldering remains of the fort. He knew he might have to wait a day or two, as it took time to get a large detachment of soldiers ready and on the road, and he had no idea how far they would have to travel. But he also suspected that more powerful forces might be sent ahead. And if he could find out what Academy they belonged to, he would have everything he needed.
The sun rose seven hours later, lighting the sky a pale red light that reflected the embers glowing below. Most of the camp was destroyed, but there were charred sections of the wall still standing. Lloyd was perched on one such piece when the twins casually strolled into the camp from behind.
“Five more, arranged in hexagon,” Jammal said without wasting any time. “There were goblins, bunyip, one even had cherufe waiting to go through.”
“You had time to kill all of those?” Lloyd asked, looking impressed.
“Nah,” Ava replied. “Even we could work out how to send something from this side, it’s made for that. So we sent our own package through each and left a little explosive surprise on this side. Let them figure out what to do with these creatures when they can’t send them our way.”
“I guess that works. What did you send back to Malvec?”
“Just a little something to mark the location on our side,” Jammal chuckled.
“Right,” Lloyd said with a sigh, “let’s move further down this road and see what we can find. The sooner we make contact the better.”
The road leading away from the fort was much wider than the dirt road between the fort and the pit. It was properly paved and wide enough for two wagons to pass comfortably. Or for three wizards to saunter down while on the lookout for the vanguard of whatever force would be rushed to the destroyed fort.
They walked for three hours with no other signs of civilization in sight. It made sense, as no one would want to risk holding dangerous creatures near population centers, but Lloyd had hoped to at least find a town where he could get some information. Even a farm would do.
“Hold up, this is the spot,” Ava said, pointing down the road. It continued straight ahead, but this section was slightly higher than the surrounding terrain, looking out over fields of short grass and flowering plants. “We’ll set up an ambush here.”
Lloyd had a deadpan expression when he turned to stare at her. “This is the worst possible choice. They’ll be able to see anyone approaching from kilometers away.”
“Exactly,” Ava grinned. “You do you, and we’ll do damage.”
Lloyd snorted, but he didn’t object. They had a reputation for a reason.
The twins got busy, moving up and down the road on the exposed sections with the view. They moved constantly, zigzagging up and down the road while bent over. Lloyd had to move ahead to keep watch. He wasn’t afraid of an army marching up unseen, particularly with the stretch of road they were on, but it was highly possible that a scouting team would be sent ahead, and he couldn’t let reports get back.
His precautions proved unnecessary, as the twins completed their work in just under an hour and pulled back, going all the way to a rise with tree cover that would let them hide from that section of road, four kilometers away. Lloyd fell back with them.
Nothing happened until early afternoon when an advance force finally came marching along the road. They weren’t traveling any faster than a larger force would move, but that was necessary if they were trying to keep at a specific distance from a larger unit behind them. Unfortunately for them, that also meant that the smaller groups ranging further out on the flanks were forced to cross the open ground, since swinging out a couple of kilometers to stay in the trees would slow them down far too much.
The twins each took a flank to wait for the scouts crossing the fields while Lloyd waited for the squad on the road, his sword drawn. An augmented High Wizard ‘fighting’ a single squad of unconnected soldiers wasn’t much of a fight. Most of the soldiers fell while still unsure if they were under attack.
The same couldn’t be said for the main force that showed itself thirty minutes later.
Heavy cavalry came first. At least three hundred armored riders rode down the road six abreast, wearing full plate armor and carrying long lances. Their ranks were broken every ten rows by a line of six riders wearing an odd collection of leather armor or brigandines.
Arcanists. Twenty-four were visible with the cavalry. Ranks of pikemen marched behind, and even they had mounted men riding up and down their ranks. Most were likely high-level officers, but the chances were good that there would be even more arcanists amongst their number. One particular section stood out, as it was made up of around fifty riders who kept pace in their own section of the column. They didn’t keep to a fixed formation and instead rode in a sort of huddle, talking amongst themselves. Neither did they seem concerned with what the soldiers around them were doing.
“We need to try and get as close as we can before they see us,” Jamal whispered. “The straight road is our best bet after we trigger the ambush. While they’re still lined up.”
Lloyd understood that part perfectly, but he wasn’t worried.
“Stand still,” he ordered, casting the same spell consecutively. Then he cast a different spell ahead of them, anchored to himself. “Walk slowly and without sudden movements,” he added.
Lloyd walked out onto the road and began to amble toward the vanguard.
“What spell is this?” Jammal asked, looking down. He didn’t notice much difference, only that he seemed to have a mild impulse to ignore his own arm.
Ava and Jammal shared a glance.
“Shadow magic!”
“Light spells!”
They glared at each other.
“Shadow won’t help out in the open like this,” Ava scoffed.
“Light doesn’t make you ignore objects,” Jammal countered.
“No, but it makes illusions, so you don’t see them!”
Lloyd was forced to break it up before they got loud that the approaching riders might hear.
“Which is it?” Ava demanded.
“Which is what?” Lloyd asked.
“Are you using light or shadow spells?”
“Focus on the approaching army, argue later,” Lloyd admonished.
Four kilometers was a long way, but both sides were moving toward each other at a consistent pace.
The twins would have preferred to move further along the road before triggering the ambush, but they simply weren’t able to move fast enough to reach the ideal point before the riders drew too close.
Finally, Jammal and Ava were forced to pull out an enchanted stone, with the closest riders just fifty meters away. They both channeled some arcana into the runes to activate them.
BOOM!
The ground shook violently as hundreds of meters of roadway exploded. The enchanted blocks they had requisitioned in Lekton detonated inside their hiding places below the road, each carefully placed earlier and covered over to ensure they wouldn’t be detected.
Waves of force flung stone through the air, blast waves tore through the ranks of soldiers, and burning liquid shot up into the sky, only to fall back to earth in a blazing rainfall that stuck to anything it landed on.
Lloyd was already casting his own spells. The cavalry was in front of the explosives, and they needed to deal with the heavily armored lancers as soon as possible.
He’d long ago learned about how explosives could form streams of plasma if shaped correctly, and how they were particularly effective if there was a thin copper slip along the inside, but while others created spells to simulate the shaped charge, Lloyd went straight to the result.
Streams of compressed copper plasma flashed from his hand, manifesting as perfectly parallel jets of copper particles traveling at many times the speed of sound. Plate armor was no different from paper as the beams of plasma cut through the ranks in long lines of destruction. Lloyd’s beams were created uniformly and perfectly aligned, so the beams didn’t disperse over distance but rather through continuous penetration of objects, unlike naturally formed jets of plasma.
Cavalry fell from their horses just as they rode – in long lines. The arcanists were caught off guard as well, as the penetrative power of Lloyd’s initial strike was enough to punch through the few mage shields that popped up when the explosives went off. Most didn’t react in time to do even that much.
Balls of superheated plasma followed, identical to those he’d used in the attack on the fort. The long straight road meant his spells could burn right through the lined-up ranks of soldiers.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Still, several horses bolted to the side with armored riders holding the reins. A few had somehow managed to avoid being struck by the initial salvo. Most hadn’t.
Further behind the vanguard was a scene of devastation. Shattered stone lay scattered across shattered soldiers. Two hundred meters of road and blown up under their feet and the ground they stood on into shrapnel. Many of the fallen soldiers had been blown clear of the road. Not even the arcanists were spared, though their positions on top of horses, along with precast defensive spells, meant that most were still alive.
The twins ran forward and began collecting pieces of tabards, branded leather from saddles, daggers, insignia, and any other identifiers they could find. They ran further forward and did the same to the pikemen, while Lloyd rose into the air once again to provide cover.
This time it was an intense beam of light that fell on the soldiers below. No matter how many times Lloyd fought arcanists, he was always surprised by how often their defenses were weak to light. Sure, you had to let light through your shield or you would be blind to anything beyond, but you had to let air through dome shields if you wanted to breathe, and yet they still used the shields to block air magic. Light was somehow a blind spot in many defenses.
While the intensity was not enough to be instantly lethal, it would cause burns within a few seconds of exposure, and Lloyd was simply holding the beam for as long as the twins needed.
A few spells flew toward him, but his shields were easily able to resist their effects. There wasn’t a lot of danger from spells fired blindly into the air.
“We’ve got it!” Jammal shouted, already running past Lloyd. He and his sister had armloads of items and scraps pulled from the vanguard. Identification should be easy with all the makers’ marks and insignia they had collected.
Lloyd dropped back to the ground and began to retreat, just as the main group of arcanists managed to get off the road and out of his beam.
Spells began raining down, and they were holding nothing back. This time it was Lloyd who was starting to feel overwhelmed. Several High Wizards were attacking him along with the Mages and Wizards present, and while he was far more powerful than any individual attacker, sheer numbers were beginning to take their toll as he fended off a deluge of attacks.
They practically ignored the twins, but he was clearly the bigger threat. And he was the one throwing spells through the ranks, while the twins simply looted the fallen. Lloyd idly wondered what the troops thought of three arcanists attacking them only to steal a few items and fall back like common bandits.
Jammal and Ava ran ahead with their cargo, while Lloyd retreated more slowly so he could try and hold back the counterattack. He sheathed his sword and unslung his staff, using the power boost to try and even the odds.
Wide swaths of forest on either side were soon set alight, mostly to make sure he couldn’t be flanked while retreating backward. That process was repeated every time the advancing army moved far enough to get past the lines of burning trees.
Lloyd was beginning to feel the strain of countering spell after spell, but luckily he didn’t have to hold them for long.
BOOM!
The road blew up again, this time under the feet of the dismounted arcanists. The twins had obviously planted a few more explosives during their retreat, and looking back, Lloyd saw both waving from a dip in the road behind him.
That was the only pause he took, however. Advancing quickly, Lloyd took a page out of Yaric’s book and shot a shard of ice along the road. The ice did nothing, but he used it to anchor another spell, and it started spewing methane just as it passed over the arcanists sprawled in the road. A follow-up fireball ignited the gas, creating a devastating concussive blast just above their heads.
Finally, a force spell was dropped right in front of his feet, creating a half-meter-high ripple in the road that shot forward. Arcanists were flung into the air with enough force to crack bones, while the road itself was torn up and turned into a near impassable mess of rubble.
Lloyd turned and ran, pushing to catch up with the twins. He already had a slight headache from the focus he’d needed all through their retreat until that point. The strain of fighting so many opponents at once was likely to linger until he managed to get some sleep.
They kept running, with the twins occasionally sending out fire spells to set brush groves of trees alight.
"Would you two be interested in giving lessons to my new Apprentice?" Lloyd asked.
The siblings didn't exactly look enthusiastic.
"He likes using traps and tricks like you two. Almost won his Competition the first time around. He even wiped out older teams without any casualties in some ambushes he set up."
"Anyone can set up ambushes," Ava panted.
"He won the Competition during his second run. Smashed a bunch of records doing it, including time. He won in less than four weeks."
The twins looked far more interested now, though they didn't really have time to discuss things.
No one caught up by the time they went through the destroyed fort, and there was no sign of pursuit when they got to the pit.
Lloyd was briefly tempted to raise creatures out of the other pits to give the reinforcements further trouble, but he knew some were likely to find towns or villages instead. Terrorist attacks were the whole reason they were here, and doing the same in return wouldn’t get revenge, it would just make him the same as them.
They made it to the transporter without any problems. Ava pulled out a few more of her runed explosives and placed them around the underground room, with fully half resting right against the transporter itself. Then they started activating the transporter from their side. The response was immediate, and the room changed in an instant.
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Rebekka still wasn’t sure what they were supposed to do beyond setting up patrols, but she seldom got the opportunity to go on a job with Lloyd. And this wasn’t even an appeal, it was a mission assigned directly by the Council, for state business.
Still, she was an Apprentice helping to protect Mages and Wizards. It didn’t make much sense to her other than the additional eyes and ears.
That was part of why she insisted on taking the last night shift. Everyone hated the job, but at least she could do her part. Especially with the double shifts that had started once the prisoners were brought back, and they were always watched by more qualified arcanists.
Rebekka had just begun pacing back when she saw movement in the predawn light. Below her were several dark shapes moving along the small stream leading to their camp. They weren’t walking slowly either but striding purposefully, as if they had somewhere urgent to be.
There wasn’t much time. With her stomach fluttering in warning, Rebekka ran as fast as she could along the ridge line, then down the side and into their camp.
“People are coming,” she panted. “Along the stream.”
The other Apprentices were up in seconds. They’d all agreed to start sleeping in full armor and with their weapons nearby, just in case. Rebekka began recasting a shield spell with a speed and proximity trigger while the others talked.
“Stop them before they get here, we can’t afford to have anyone see our prisoners. Some of us will follow in a minute.”
Rebekka nodded and set out up the stream with her friends close behind. She hefted her spear and shield, checking everything. You never knew when someone might get ideas and hope to become bandits.
She could hear them up ahead, just behind a bend, so she stopped in place and tried to look nonthreatening, even with her spear in hand.
“Ho, strangers!” she called out. “We’ve lain claim to this hunting ground.”
The group had come around the corner only to pull up in shock. None of them seemed to be able to believe that anyone else was this far out in the wilderness. Their surprise didn’t last for more than a second.
Rebekka staggered back when her shield manifested. She hadn’t even seen what struck her. Carlson was knocked off his feet, but the others all withstood the opening attack.
Once again the eight strangers stared with open eyes. It seemed like none of them could comprehend that they were facing arcanists.
“We’re under attack!” Rebekka screamed at the top of her lungs.
It was immediately clear that they were not in the same league.
Carlson managed to get back up, but he went back down almost immediately in a spray of blood. Elliot was already wounded, with blood running freely from an injury on his scalp.
Rebekka faced a metal lance that manifested and shot her way, but she managed to reverse the direction with a force spell and sent it right back. Ice spells were detonated before reaching her, and lightning couldn't continue with the vacuum in front of her.
At the same time, Rebekka wasn’t able to get a single offensive spell off at their attackers. None of them would last long at this rate.
Many of the others joined at this point, including Artem and Ionna. Rebekka and Craig were the only two Apprentices still standing, but their reinforcements immediately halted the advance. No one other than Artem and Ionna could match their attackers though, and the rest only evened the numbers.
Archie was at the little cave, protecting the space magic specialist, so there wouldn’t be any help from there.
Rebekka cycled through her affinities, hoping the power boost would narrow the gap between her and their attackers, and hopefully catch them off guard with the constant changes.
Her ice shards shattered against shields, causing the spores hidden within to burst out in clouds, only to be blocked by preprepared defenses. Igniting them did nothing, much like her attacks with molten metal.
A force spell drew blood when she managed to reverse a spell before it got halfway, catching the caster by surprise, but it wasn’t much of a victory. They were being forced back, and their attackers were advancing fast enough that it was clear they wanted to engage in melee. Rebekka wasn’t sure she could survive that.
Another blast hit, this time striking her shield and sending her flying. She lost her spear after the impact, but Rebekka was far more concerned about her broken arm. Water sprayed over her as she landed in the stream. Ice-cold water quickly soaked through her right side and down her back. Water ran over her right boot, pushing her foot sideways in the current.
The stream hadn’t done much to cushion the impact, and Rebekka saw flashes of light overlay across the fading stars above her. She struggled to sit up but couldn’t even raise her head.
Rocks struck the sole of her boot a moment before water sprayed over her. A spell had come close, landing just in front of her feet. Normally that wouldn’t mean much, but she was stuck lying on her back with her feet toward the attackers. The near miss was just a degree or two away from hitting her directly.
Another explosion shattered the smooth stones behind her. Rebekka knew she wasn’t going to be able to get up to defend herself, just as she knew that even if she did sit up, she still wouldn’t be able to defend herself against the level of magic she was facing.
Then the sun began to rise above her head.
‘That’s the wrong direction. The sun should be where those guys are.’
----------------------------------------
“Hurry, the camp is under attack!”
Lloyd had only just arrived, but people were already screaming in his ear.
“I think it’s the people who built this, they’re here!”
Ava and Jammal dropped their cargo and took off, followed closely by Lloyd. For a group like the one suspected of building the transporter to attack such a large camp, they had to be very confident, or very desperate. Both would be dangerous.
The camp wasn’t far, and they could hear the sounds of battle before they even arrived. For the third time that day, Lloyd unstrapped his staff and got ready for a fight. He raced along the stream that ran through their camp and jumped, lifting himself high enough to see past his own team and to also get a clear shot at their attackers.
Rebekka was below him. She was barely moving, and her shattered shield was strapped to an arm that hung at an odd angle.
The clearing below him lit up like it was day. There were no fancy spells, no devious tricks. Just raw power.
Lightning, Lloyd’s favorite. Torrents of lightning rained down, engulfing the attacking force. There was enough to drown in, but they were too close to the others for Lloyd to go all out. Instead, he focused on keeping their attention on him.
Artem managed to get a bolt of molten metal through their shields, taking one right through the chest. Ionna got a ball of compressed air under another shield, with the sudden explosion of air and the immediate overpressure giving her the opening she needed to send a lance of hardwood through the man’s knee, removing the lower leg.
It didn’t last long, however, as their attackers reorientated their shields to try and defend from both directions.
It also didn’t matter. Ava ran through the defenders and tossed one of her cubes high over the foreign arcanists. It arced over their heads and landed upstream without reacting in any way. Ava turned and ran back through her lines, throwing shields over her shoulder as she did.
The small cube sat still for a moment, its runes glowing brightly in the predawn gloom. A massive torrent of water suddenly exploded from it, surging out in all directions and creating a sudden flash flood in the small stream. It rapidly dispersed over the ground, but it was still knee-high when it struck the attacking force.
All but two were swept off their feet, and the defenders pounced.
Archie flung stones from the river with such speed that they disappeared with a crack, while water geysered up with each stone that disappeared. The floundering arcanists were pummeled in the barrage.
Artem continued launching his bolts of molten steel, while Jammal and Ava tossed explosives in the turbulent waters.
Lloyd launched a few shards of ice into the water, but he focused on keeping the water flowing around Rebekka.
With only two arcanists still standing, Lloyd paused for a moment, expecting them to surrender. They didn’t pause in their attacks.
A shimmer flashed down and struck one arcanist in the chest, between his outstretched arms. The spells exerted a terrific force in every direction, away from the point of impact. Ribs were crushed while arms were pushed outward, popping shoulders from their sockets. The power of the force spell was enough to snap the head back and crush the spine. He was dead before he hit the ground.
The last was struck by several spells at once, practically obliterating him.
“Ionna! Check the wounded!”
Ionna was only too happy to help in that capacity, and she was already moving to do so when Lloyd shouted. She also fully understood who he meant and was halfway to Rebekka when Lloyd landed.
Rebekka wasn’t actually that bad, at least not in a life-threatening sense. Elliot was badly wounded as well, but Carlson was serious. Ionna worked through the morning, unsure if he would even survive. Many people with injuries like his would have already died.
But while every single Apprentice was too injured to move, no one else had any serious injuries despite the fight they had gone through.
Even so, that wasn’t the biggest shock. Artem had skipped into the air when he realized the arcanist who had lost his leg to Ionna was still alive. He’d lost a significant amount of blood, but Ionna was able to stabilize him in only a few minutes.
That gave them their third prisoner.
The wounded Apprentices were going to be unable to travel for a few days still, so everyone settled in to wait. Archie was given two horses and sent ahead to report to the Academy, the transporter was destroyed, and the prisoners were kept too drugged to have any hope of casting a spell.
All of the Apprentices were soon recovered enough to travel, except for Carlson, who was still in a bad way even though he had survived. They were loaded up on the rest of the horses, with Artem and Ionna staying behind to look after Carlson. They would get him out once he was fit enough to travel.
Getting back to Lekton was difficult, but no one complained. Everyone was eager to get back home, and Lloyd had a lot to report. While there wasn’t anything more he could do, there were a lot of things the Academy could start preparing, and the King needed to be informed as well. It would likely mean war, but that was just a technicality. They were already at war, whether anyone acknowledged it or not.
Being shifted through space was always a preferred method of travel, but arriving directly on campus was a relief that few could understand. It wasn’t just home either. Everything they needed was right at hand. The Apprentices were sent straight to healers, the identifiers the twins had collected were sent to the crafters for analysis, and several members of staff soon arrived to take the prisoners off their hands.
The only problem was that the Council was also close at hand, and they would want a report. Immediately.
----------------------------------------
“Close ranks!” Lieutenant Reuter called.
The Yeren were moving quickly through the canopy. They pounced ruthlessly if his men drifted too far, and they were far too quick for one man to defend himself. They needed numbers, and they needed ranged weapons.
The Yeren had been devastating the area for weeks now. Even with the army called in, they just moved so quickly through the jungle that it was almost impossible to get close enough. At the same time, they were destroying everything in the jungle. No one knew where they came from, or how they kept growing in number.
CA CAR!
Lieutenant Reuter jumped. The odd call echoed through the jungle, causing flocks of birds to take off in panic.
“Sergeant, find the source of that noise,” Reuter instructed.
“Yes, sir!”
The burly Sergeant grabbed a random squad and marched off, keeping his eyes peeled on the canopy above. There was a lot of danger in the jungle at the moment, and no one was able to forget it.
It only took a few minutes for the sergeant to come back.
“Sir, I think you need to see this yourself.”
The Lieutenant followed him, trusting in his judgment.
There wasn’t much to see in the jungle, but a break in the trees revealed the sky and the reason for the Sergeant’s insistence.
Clouds of crimson and emerald-colored smoke rose into the air, billowing into an unnatural cone shape.
CA CAR!
“Sergeant, change direction. Have the men move that way. We need to investigate!”