The woods looked exactly the same as I remembered but felt very different. It wasn’t that I’d never felt scared in the woods before, I hadn’t felt it often but I had felt it. The difference was that back then I’d been scared for myself, and once I’d been scared for Jethro. Now I was scared for everyone else. I wasn’t scared of dying. I was scared of surviving while everyone else died.

The sun was low when we set off. I couldn’t see the horizon for the trees so I couldn’t be sure it was still up at all. I knew that it would surely be true dark before we got to the campsite. I wasn’t worried that we would get lost, the route was simple and there were plenty of people around with low light vision.

My worry was how the people without low light vision were going to react to the woods at night. Humanity has been telling stories about not going into the woods at night for as long as we’ve been human enough to tell stories.

I was distracted from my worries when I realised someone was making their way through the groups of the convoy and making straight for the front. I suppressed a stab of anger. It felt like I had only just finished telling people to stay in their groups.

The light was low and they were wearing black, so I couldn't see them well enough to know who they were. There were too many other scents for me to recognise them by smell. Their movement was odd and stiff and I didn’t recognise the body language either. I was just about to ask Amris to put them back in their group and so I could get back to scanning the road ahead when I realised that they were moving so stiffly because both their arms were splinted straight.

It was the Ostian soldier with the wrecked arms. I was surprised that he was walking under his own power. Maybe someone had found some of the poppy tincture that was the local equivalent of morphine? Then I realised that it couldn’t be that because he was far too steady on his feet.

He caught up with us at the front and opened with “I’m sorry, I know I should have stayed with my group but I have information you need.”

“You’ve changed your tune,” said Amris.

“And you’re looking awfully chipper for someone with maracas for arms,” I said.

“Your people have treated me better than the medics in the army did. All they ever did was give me pills that made me feel like my eyeballs were drying out and my brain was on fire. When your people couldn’t find any medicine to take the pain away they got a teen aged Turtle-Kin to punch the back of my neck and now I can’t feel my arms at all.”

“One of Varma’s students,” said Amris.

I remembered the kid. He was a sweet boy and not nearly as dumb or as reckless as he seemed at first meeting. I was fairly sure that the soldier would eventually get the feeling back in his arms. I just hoped that if he didn’t that Varma would know how to fix the nerve damage.

“What’s so important that you broke my rules to tell me about it?”

“I know you’re mostly worried about us, about the Army of the Empire following your people into the woods, or already being here but that’s not what you have to worry about,” he said and he seemed earnest about it. My instinct was to believe him, but ineffectually I knew that was madness.

“Really?” I said, “And what should we be worrying about?”

“We’re under orders not to enter the Black Woods in squads of less than twenty and not to go in after dark at all. The orders don’t say why, cus they’re orders, but the rumour is that we’ve lost a lot of men in there. We had a rider transfer in from a unit that was sent to take Uln. He wouldn’t say what happened but I know that we’re still besieging Uln, so the attack failed, and they sent all the riders away because they were useless that close to the trees.”

I was glad to hear that Uln was still free but I didn’t trust the information. On the other hand I’d seen what just one witch could do with the trees and I knew that the towns and villages in and around the Black Woods were lousy with witches. On a hypothetical third hand I also knew that plant magic on that level wasn’t common amongst witches.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Still, I could think of at least three reasons why the Woods might not be a safe place for Ostian troops: The locals, the Murder Hobos and the wildlife. The wildlife hadn’t been much of a worry before but that was then. The crew of the SS Fantastic had never needed to worry about robber crabs and void squid until suddenly they did.

The soldier said, “So?…” and I realised that I’d been trudging along, barely aware of my surroundings and deep in thought for an uncomfortably long time.

“Thank you for the information, I will plan accordingly, now please go back to your group before you give people the idea that it’s okay to move around.”

He thanked me for listening, moved to one side of the road, and stopped to wait for his group.

The lead group were silent until we were well out of earshot. “You believe any of that?” said Amris.

“Regrettably, yes” said the Mayor.

“Me too,” said Amris.

“Don’t panic too much,” I said. “Some of the dangerous things in the woods are our friends.”

“They don’t look very friendly,” said Amris, gazing into the distance, squinting and slowing down.

I was about to ask him what he meant when I smelled them. Unwashed leather, adrenaline sweat and blood. The combination that I would probably always associate with Murder Hobos. I hoped I was wrong. I could be wrong. In these trying times anyone might smell like that.

“They don’t smell friendly either,” I said.

The Mayor turned around and signalled a halt as Amris and I kept going. We were quiet but we weren’t sneaking. There was probably no point in trying to hide. We were at the head of a column of refugees. If they didn’t already know we were here then they soon would regardless of any stealth tricks that Amris and I might try.

I was aware that Ursula and the Mayor were creeping after us. Perhaps they thought we needed backup. Maybe they were just itching to hit someone after being cooped up so long.

Ahead of us, at the next junction, were three men standing in the middle of the road. They had spread out, which tended to suggest that they had some idea of what they were doing, and they were trying to look big and intimidating. They were also trying hard to keep all attention on them and not on their friends in the trees.

I sniffed deeply, trying to get a feel for how many there were.

“Three on the road,” said Amris. “How many others?”

“Yes… No. Not three,” I could smell someone else on the road, someone female who smelled a bit like Ursula, if Ursula had ever gone a week without taking her boots off. “There’s another on the road, female, Gnome or similar. They’ve got some kind of concealment spell up.”

“Shade glamour,” said Ursula, she sounded like she was right behind me, whispering in my ear but when I turned my head she was at least 10 feet away. “It’s a common cantrip amongst Gnome rogue types. It’s low cost but it has to be maintained. If you break her concentration the spell will drop.” She still sounded like she was right behind me, even though I was looking at her.

“I can distract her,” said the Mayor. He also sounded like he was right behind me, though he was even further away than Ursula. I realised that I still didn’t know what type or class the Mayor was and I’d never looked up speech magic. Too late to do it now.

I turned my attention to pinpointing the rest of them. I sniffed again. “I smell at least six more. There’s two in the branches above us, both human, I think I hear someone messing around with a bowstring, I can’t tell what the other one is up to. There’s two hiding behind the wall on the left side of the wall. One human, the other smells orcish. The other two are on the right side of the wall. One right behind it and the other farther away, in the trees, smells of chemicals, maybe an alchemist or a potion specialist of some kind.”

“The chemical smelling one on the left is definitely an alchemist,” said Amris, “I can just see him.”

“The other one in the branches has twin daggers,” said Ursula, “He hasn’t blackened the blades and I can see them glinting. Probably planning a drop attack.”

“We can deal with them, if we have to,” said Amris.

“But we might not have to,” I said.

“If we have to,” said the Mayor, once again sounding like he was whispering directly in my ear. “I’ll distract the invisible gnome. Ursula, use a shield to contain the alchemist. We scatter to avoid the drop attack. Petra, get up into the branches, deal with the archer, and the other if he doesn’t drop. Amris, occupy the three in the road. I’ll take the Orc. Ursula, fill in as you can once the Alchemist is dealt with. Petra, when you’ve cleared the branches, take out anyone still standing. But hopefully we won’t need to.”

“Hopefully,” I said. I glanced at Amris. He also looked torn between wanting to ask if the Mayor was sure that he could deal with the Orc, and also really not wanting to have to deal with the Orc. I shrugged. Amris shrugged back. The Mayor was an adult. If it turned out he couldn’t handle the Orc he could at least distract it long enough.

I walked forward to where the strangers could see me. “Are you gentlemen looking for something? Perhaps I can help?”