The medical ward was filling up quickly with wendigo feeling the effect of the poison. Earlier the symptoms started out mild, nausea, dizziness and headaches. With only the normally stationed guards being hit with the effects while the enchantments on the royal knights armor held strong. Then there was a wave of power that Bjorn and everyone else could feel being carried throughout the air. It was like a trigger that caused the formerly mild symptoms to balloon into deadly extremes.
Only a few seconds after the trigger hit Bjorn could taste death in the air from guardsmen that weren’t able to resist the now far deadlier poison. Tanisha and Jakob had to hurry and administer the antidote they concocted before more losses could pile up. They hurriedly went from guard to guard making sure they were given the correct dosage.
“Bjorn we are going to have company soon,” Failsafe said in alarm. “I finally finished analyzing the strange magic you were picking up coming from the stone. It was geokinesis hidden under the blanket of the poison siege spell.”
“Do you know where they are coming from?” Bjorn asked as he quickly looked around hissing loudly.
“No. There is too much interference, but it is getting stronger. So they are close.”
“Gotcha, thanks!” Bjorn said as he ran over to Joha.
Druids are here. Digging underground. Bjorn scratched into the stone at Joha’s feet.
Bjorn couldn’t help but notice that carving a message was far easier than it had been before. Tasting the air he noticed that the enchantments on the stones were gone. When he had entered there were hundreds of different enchantments across the entire cavern system, but now he could barely pick up two. Before he could think further on it Joha had sprang to action.
“Everyone that can fight, get ready!” Joha roared. “The druids are digging through the mountain!”
There was a moment of shock as the guards that received the cleansing potion scrambled to their feet. Tanisha and Jakob never stopped helping those facing the worst of the poison’s effects; two more people died before the cleansing potion could help them.
There was a quake like a distant explosion that rocked the fort. It threw the less coordinated guards to the ground. Mere moments after the initial wave a second then third also rocked the mountain. The sound of fighting echoed through the corridors and everyone realized this was the assault.
***
Kara strode toward the gatehouse with an air of unyielding purpose, her silhouette cutting a solitary figure against the gloom of the border fortress. Alone and uncontested, she moved with a calm, deliberate stride. The guards, who moments ago had stood vigil at their posts, now lay crumpled at her feet, their bodies convulsing violently as foam spilled from their mouths, the lethal toxin her men unleashed silently melting their insides. They hadn’t even had the chance to scream.
Her lips moved in a hushed chant, each syllable a thread of raw power woven into the air. Tendrils of green lightning crackled and hissed from her outstretched hand, searing the air with a deadly glow. The portcullis before her, an ancient and fortified barrier imbued with powerful enchantments, should have withstood any assault. However, Kara’s machinations had come to fruition and the enchantments eroded beyond repair.
With a deafening crack, the arcane bolts slammed into the gate. For a moment, the air shimmered as the protective wards fought to hold—only to shatter in a brilliant cascade of emerald sparks. The spell's energy surged forward, unstoppable. The iron gate groaned under the pressure before exploding outward, a burst of twisted metal and splintered wood.
Kara stepped forward, admiring her work with a satisfied smirk, when suddenly, two figures emerged from the shadows—a pair of knights clad in gleaming armor, their insignias marking them as Royal Knights. One raised his hand, summoning a wall of flame that rushed toward her in a roaring wave that melted stone to slag, while the other called forth gusts of slicing of wind that whipped the flames into a deadly vortex.
Kara barely had time to react, diving to the side as the searing heat grazed her arm, leaving an angry burn on her skin. She hissed in pain but was quick to recover. Her daggers were already in her hands, their edges crackling with green lightning as she charged at the fire-wielding knight using blink to meet his own quick movements. He raised his sword to block, but Kara was faster—he was obviously slowing from the poison in the air. She slashed upward, her lightning-infused blade cutting through his defenses and striking his chest while not penetrating the armor. The electricity surged through him, lighting him up from within like a torch. His body spasmed violently before collapsing, lifeless.
Kara smiled wide, it wasn’t just the defenses of the fort that were weakened, but also the armor’s arcane protections had been eaten away without the knight’s even knowing what was happening to them. The second knight, undeterred, conjured a gust of wind that sent Kara flying backward into the crumbling wall of the border. He moved in for the kill, his blade flashing as he aimed for her exposed side. Kara was quicker than he anticipated or he was slower thanks to the poison. She twisted out of the way, letting the blade skim past her. In a blur of motion, she closed the distance between them, her dagger finding the gap between his armor plates. With a shift of her arm she drove the blade into his ribs.
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The knight gasped, the air leaving his lungs in a ragged breath as the blade found its mark. She twisted the dagger, electricity crackling through his body. His legs buckled, and he crumpled to the ground, dead.
“Fucking piece of shit,” Kara spit.
Breathing heavily, Kara wiped the blood from her dagger, her arm still stinging from the burn, but she paid it little mind. Her work here wasn’t done. She raised her hand, and a bolt of green energy shot forth, striking down the convulsing cannibal savages still writhing on the ground. She hadn’t needed to destroy the gate or kill the guards—it was a message, more than anything. She drew her energy into her leg as she stomped down onto the knight's head denting in the armor after a few harsh stomps until she felt it give way and the head underneath splat.
Before she could fully savor her victory, the ground beneath her feet suddenly gave way. She had only a split second to react before she was swallowed by the earth, falling into the awaiting arms of Waddell as her men marched unseen into wendigo’s border fortress.
“Commander. Well done,” Waddell said as he placed her on her feet. “Phase two is complete. We have infiltrated the border fortress. The knights are the biggest threat as you predicted, most of the regular border guards are either dead or close to it.”
“Have you located the Hand?” Kara asked.
“No, not yet, but we are still facing resistance in places so I am sure she will show herself soon.” Waddell said.
“Fair enough,” she agreed. “Men, we are moving into phase three. We are going to kill every last savage here.”
***
As chaos reigned outside, Bjorn could feel the tension inside the medical ward rise with every passing moment. The once quiet, sterile room now bustled with activity as wounded guards and Royal Knight’s alike stumbled in, desperate for help. The air smelled of blood, sweat, and herbs as Tanisha and Jakob worked feverishly, administering antidotes to the poisoned. His sharp senses caught the soft groans of the injured and the hurried whispers of the few healers trying to keep up with the influx.
Those that received the poison cleansing potion were immune to the poison, but there were so few of them that the best bet became gathering as many people as possible to regroup before the poison or the druids killed them. Bjorn could hear the faint sounds of battle echoing from above—clashes of steel, screams of agony, and the eerie hum of druidic spells. He felt a flicker of discomfort as he shifted on the cold stone floor, his body coiled in case of danger, his long tail thumping lightly. Tanisha moved quickly between patients, tense but focused.
The room’s focus soon shifted as Joha, Jakob, and a tall, battle-hardened knight with long black hair—he was introduced as Sigvard—gathered in a corner. His armor still bore the scars of his earlier encounter with the druids, but the poison had been cleansed from his system. Their voices rose above the murmurs of the wounded.
“We can't wait any longer,” Sigvard growled, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword. “We’re immune to the poison now, and the longer we stay here, the worse it’s going to get. We need to re-engage the druids before they spread further into the mountain.”
Joha, pipe in hand, leaned against the wall, his calm demeanor a stark contrast to the knight’s urgency. “Rushing out there without a plan will only get us all killed. You might be immune to the poison, but the druids still outnumber us, and their magic is unpredictable.”
Jakob, wiping sweat from his brow as he finished administering an antidote, interjected. “Sigvard, Joha's right. The druids didn’t just poison the air—they’ve tunneled through the mountain. We don’t know where they’ll come from next. We need to regroup with as many survivors as possible and move strategically.”
“Strategically? While our fortress falls apart?” Sigvard scowled. “My duty is to protect the interests of the First Princess and kill those tree fuckers, not cower in the depths of a mountain.”
Tanisha, kneeling beside a wounded soldier, glanced up. “And we will protect it, but not if we charge into battle without considering the people left behind. The antidote isn’t in short supply, Jakob and I made enough for the entire fortress. If we don’t get them together and treat them, they’ll die.”
“You can’t fight a war with a dozen soldiers and a handful of survivors scattered throughout the fortress. Tanisha’s right. You need to gather your strength before you strike.”
Sigvard shook his head, pacing in frustration. “Every second we spend here, more of my men die out there.”
“And every second we wait could save more lives,” Tanisha shot back, her voice calm but firm. “The poison is everywhere, and without the antidote, people out there will be dead before we can even reach them. We don’t have the luxury of splitting our forces. You came here to us, so help save more people.”
“So, what do you propose?” Sigbard asked incredulously. “Sit here until the druids break down the doors?”
“No,” Joha said, stepping forward. “We gather everyone we can. Use this ward as a central point to treat the poisoned and regroup. Once we have enough people—those immune and those strong enough to fight—we can strike back.”
Jakob nodded in agreement. “If we fight now with our small numbers, we’ll be wiped out. But if we regroup, we’ll have a chance to reclaim the fortress and get to the spellcasters controlling the poison. They’re close, I can feel it.”
Sigvard stopped pacing and turned to face the group, his eyes hard but resigned. “Fine. But we don’t wait too long. Once we have enough people, we hit them hard. We find those druids and we make them pay.” He turned to the rest of the ward. “I need a reconnaissance team now! If you have already received the antidote, come here and get your orders. We are retaking the fort and saving our brothers and sisters.”