Leo lay in wait with a portion of his soldiers. They were the closest to the Terpolite party. Others were set at intervals between here and the camp, just in case some managed to break through the ranks. Normally, Leo would say that was impossible, but this was not the time to get cocky. They’d been lucky so far.

The rain had become a light drizzle, making it much easier to see. Unfortunately, that worked in Tara’s favour too. Win-lose. Oh well. He’d had worse odds before. None with stakes this high, but now wasn’t the time to worry about that. He didn’t need to make a fool of himself in front of his own soldiers.

One of said soldiers nudged Leo, handing him a set of binoculars. Leo sighed. This was his drawback as Human. His sight was terrible compared to the others.

Leo looked over the dreary hills. The first Terpolite wave was slowly marching this way and—

Leo lowered the binoculars, shook his head, then raised them again. Nope, not hallucinating.

Leading the first wave was none other than Festus. That would be an issue. At the same time, it did explain why the party’s number was so small. Festus always had had his head up his own arse, and that wasn’t just from when they were growing up.

Leo’s eyes remained fixed on his old friend. It was strange seeing him marching in front of the soldiers. Festus had a habit of making a dramatic entrance. This was anything but.

The entire thing screamed wrong.

The party needed to come a few metres closer for Leo’s plan to have any effect. Attacking prematurely would only serve to give away their location. That was far from a good idea. Even so, Leo had a strong urge to surged forward and attack, to wipe them all out in one fell swoop.

But that wasn’t the plan. He had to wait.

Wait.

“Now!”

A volley of multi-coloured power shot overhead, all directed toward Festus and his troops. Leo didn’t need binoculars to see the coloured smoke and fire from the explosion of mixed magics.

He whistled at the sight before him. No way anyone could’ve survived that. In the unlikely event someone did, there was no way they would be in any shape to put up a fight. They would be defeated with ease.

Leo saw something move in the smoke. Several somethings. Many somethings. Oh shit.

He raised the binoculars, eyed adjusting as the smoke cleared, and swore.

“Again!” he commanded. “Fire again!”

A second wave of multi-coloured power attacked. More of the enemy fell yet, somehow, more than expected continued to survived.

As the smoke cleared, Leo made out the faint outline of a crimson shield. Ah, so that’s what it is. Still, they could break through it with enough raw force!

“Give them everything!”

His warriors responded with a wave of light so blinding that Leo had to turn away. When he looked again, only three Terpolites remained. Of course one of the three was Festus. Oh well, that was to be expected. He’d probably used one of the others as a shield when his own broke.

With the help of his binoculars, Leo watched his old friend raise a hand and twist it into a vulgar gesture. Dramatic as ever, coat bellowing in the wind, he turned and walked away.

Leo stood. This was far from over. Festus would be back. He never gave up so easily. This was merely the first try. He would be back with another plan or, at the very least, more soldiers.

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Leo sighed, crossing his arms. He hoped the spellcasters and arches had enough time to recharge their power. It would be needed again long before the day came to an end.

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It was a mistake to think they could take out the Scouts without something going wrong. Well, not entirely a mistake, but still a bit of one.

Jay caught something flying toward them out the corner of his eye. “RPG!” He tackled Hathor, the two tumbling down a hill—

KABOOM!

At the top of the hill, where they had been running, was a massive hole. Jay’s mouth fell open. That was way too close.

He hauled Hathor to her feet, grasping her hand tightly as they ran once again.

The Terpolites had finally figured out someone was taking out the advanced scouts. They’d called in reinforcements at the same time the pair received Amneris’ message to return to camp. There were too many soldiers this time. Only having two people meant they were seriously outnumbered, so they ran. Even with Fae speed, it was hardly fast enough.

Jay threw Hathor toward the next hill a second before the next RPG hit home. He was thrown from his feet, the impact making his head ring. He tried to stand but fell again. Something had torn into his back! Hathor shook his from his daze and dragged him behind an icy boulder.

“This is ridiculous,” she said, using her magic to heal him as best as possible.

“At least we can’t die.” Jay let out a pain-free breath. “Thanks.”

“Sure. But still, I don’t want to be blown up!”

“Me either.” He frowned. “Alright, you can’t tell anyone about this.”

“About what?”

Jay stood, urging his body to change, to shift into his animal form. A tingling sensation overcame his body, his site changing, his form growing, until a golden stallion stood in his place.

Jay tossed his head, trotting around the gaping Hathor before coming to a halt. There was no way to speak to her now, but he gestured toward his back with her head. The girl nodded, slinging his rifle over her shoulder and climbing on. She gripped his mane with a fierce grip. Jay pounded his hoof on the ground.

“Sorry!” Hathor wrapped her arms around his neck. “That better?”

Jay trotted forward, working his way into canter then gallop. Hathor helped, grasping him tighter to stop herself falling off. He dashed through the frost-and-snow-covered grass faster than his Fae form could ever go. He dared not look back.

Hathor, however, did. “I think we lost them,” she said. “I can’t see them anymore and no one is shooting.” She leaned down. “Now what?”

Back to camp, Jay thought to himself. About fifteen minutes at his top speed. No problem. Hopefully Leo was having better luck than they were.

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Festus returned alone. While it was closer to his usual style, Leo couldn’t help but worry. He was clearly up to something. Perhaps a plan Leo had never seen, a new strategy to throw off his plan. The two knew each other’s moves quite well so could predict with relative ease, but this was something different.

Leo frowned. What was Festus thinking? There was no way he could take out all the spellcasters and launches on his own. There must be something more happening! But what . . .

Leo lowered his binoculars to take in the entire scene from a distance. The area was clear, except for a few small hills and boulders. Surely those weren’t big enough to hide a large group ready to pounce on command. On the other hand . . .

Leo nudged the Fae male to his right, one of his soldiers. “Sense anything?”

“No, Sir.”

A female voice came up on his left. “Didn’t think Festus was as cocky as you.”

Leo gave Ray, an old friend of Amneris, a flat glare. “I’m not cocky.”

The Dreama woman snickered, pushing her long white braid off her shoulder. “I’ve heard some interesting stories about you, General. Mainly from your Queen and her Second.”

“Is that so?” He made a mental note to kick Amneris and Nikki’s butts when this was over.

“Any idea what he’s up to?” Ray asked.

Leo shook his head. He was clueless. While Festus was more of a one-on-one fighter, he wasn’t so idiotic to take on a whole squadron on his own. After all, he wasn’t Amneris. There just had to be more. Leo had a sneaking suspicion that the single blind spot was bigger than it appeared from here. Was he hiding a larger force behind the boulder and the hill beside it? It wasn’t impossible. At the same time, the Terpolite army was still approaching Erostah. Even Festus wasn’t stupid enough to bring everyone in too soon, though it would’ve worked.

The man in questioned sent a signal to his side. Figures appeared beside him out of thin air. Leo counted as they appeared. Ten, twenty, thirty. Thirty. Slightly over. It was nothing they couldn’t handle. Leo made to command the next strike—

In that moment, Leo lost count. There had to be hundreds! The Terpolites must’ve returned home for reinforcements.

Beside him, Ray whistled. “Still think we can take them out?”

“Not all of them,” Leo admitted. Hell, they wouldn’t even take out half!

Festus turned toward where they watched. Leo could see the grin on his former friend’s face and swore under his breath. They couldn’t win this fight. They had to regroup. “Everyone, get back. We have to move now or we’ll be wiped out. Go!”

No one hesitated.

Ray and Leo remained at the back of the group to provide cover, just in case. Once everyone else was clear, they ran to catch up. Leo sent one of his flight-capable soldiers to warn Amneris to of what was coming. The Fae woman nodded, shifting into a golden eagle and vanishing into the storm clouds.

Ray kept place with him as they ran. “What now?”

Leo said, “We prepare.”