The howl of a wolf echoed down the valley, reaching those manning the walls. Eyes were drawn to the secret path through the magical and engineered traps leading up to the gates, where a pair of grey wolves raced through. They were greeted at the gate by a Varren with nearly the same color fur where it showed through his leathers.
“Strangest thing, seeing them together like that.”
Korin tilted his head slightly to look at the speaker, one of several humans he hadn’t gotten to know yet. There were hundreds of Warriors under his command in the guild and would take a while before he was familiar with all of them.
“What is strange about it, Warrior?”
The human turned towards Korin, blanching slightly as if suddenly remembering that their commander was also a Varren. He swallowed before speaking. “Just, a Varren Beast Caller with wolves. Aren’t you cousins to wolves and such?” The man’s color returned, this time as a blush that covered his entire face.
Korin huffed, his ears tilting back slightly. “You forget, human, that none of us are native to this world, save for the Majestix. My people are no more related to the wolves than your people are related to those poor cave dwelling trogs, or those rare giants that appear to be excessively tall humans.”
The human nodded and directed his attention on the approach to the city. Korin watched him for a few moments before following his example. After another moment a thought occurred to him. “If you want something interesting to think about, take the Majestix. They were all awakened from cats native to this world, but not every cat was awakened. That means the base version of each member of the Majestix still roam the wilderness. There are white tigers and snow leapers in these very mountains, cousins to the Raka and Prada.” He barked a laugh.
“Travel to Central sometime. When you see a Raja Beast Caller with a tiger companion and greater tiger war mount, then you’ll truly have seen strange!”
The human laughen, then seemed surprised by the sound, hunching his shoulders.
Korin leaned on the wall and continued to wait. Eventually the Beast Caller arrived. The Varren was from a distant pack, sent to learn the fighting trade before returning to the pack to be replaced by another, a practice used by many of the packs, though not his own.
His pack was a bit more mercenary about it. They sent their young Warriors out for years to learn their trade in the major cities, most of them in Central. Those who survived their twenty years abroad brought that knowledge and acquired resources back to the pack and were given their choices of mates and formed the core of the pack’s defenses. They then shared that knowledge with the next generation of young Warriors, who left with greater skill, thus ever strengthening the pack.
The Beast Caller saluted with fist to heart. “There are a trio of giants just outside the valley. Not sure how they managed to get so close without being seen, though the weather up there has been nastier than usual” The Varren shook his head, the fur on his ruffled for a moment before calming. “They seem to be working to implant some sort of tall pole, a totem if I had to guess, given what we saw in the encampment.”
Korin nodded, reaching up to rub his muzzle. “A totem means elementals, but what could they hope to accomplish at the valley? They won’t surprise anyone, though had a patrol run into a trio of giants supported by ice hounds they would have been mauled.” He rubbed his muzzle again before huffing in frustration. Nothing giants had done of late made sense. His own performance clearing the encampments only served to stoke the fires of frustration.
“See to your beasts. We may have need of them again soon if the giants do not show their hand. Then see if any of your comrades have bird companions that can handle the weather at the end of the valley.”
The Varren saluted again before loping away.
Korin looked along the wall, populated with people from the Warrior and Mage Guilds. It was times like these that he regretted that the Mage Guild only had combat Mages. While they were much more useful in attack and defense, they were practically useless in terms of surveillance. No Far Seers and no Shadow Dancers.
Even his Warriors were limited in their stealth capabilities, other than the Beast Callers. They tended to be more upfront in their approach towards life. Great for killing giants and monsters, less for finding out what those giants were up to until it smacked him in the face.
Perhaps he should reach out to Central for some stealth types. The problem would be that it would be a blow to his reputation as a leader, making him appear less effective than the hundreds of people who had held the position over the centuries.
Korin’s lips pulled back in a silent snarl, baring his fangs. He’d hoped to have control of the gemstone mines for the guild and had been looking forward to the bonus from the mission. Now the giants were doing something else that would delay those plans. As if that busy body Knight hadn’t been bad enough with his involvement with the Antala.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
Hathor leaped up the stairs, the large Raja landing near to Korin. “One of the Elementalists said they felt something gathering at the end of the valley. They’ve never felt anything like it. The closest they can think of is wild elementals, but there aren’t any wild elementals near the valley. We destroyed any nexuses within a hundred miles of the valley.”
Korin rubbed his muzzle then growled. “That must be what the totem is. An artificial nexus. I've never heard of such a thing. Why would anyone think to make one? What do the giants plan to do? Summon enough elementals to lock us in the valley? That only serves our interests!”
Hathor shook his head. “I don’t think they plan to hold those elementals back. Take a look.” He pointed a claw towards the end of the valley.
Korin gazed down the valley. It took him a moment to see the bounding form of an ice hound heading straight down the valley. “What is it doing? There is no way it’s going to get past the traps.” He watched as the elemental hit the outermost defenses, a magical array that ignited into a pillar of energy that shattered the ice hound. The roar of energy and scream of an elemental could be heard from the wall.
“You see? Pointless. Maybe the giants didn’t think this quite through. Let’s get back to the guild house. There doesn’t appear to be any true emergency out here.” Korin made for the stairs when he was stopped by a massive paw on his shoulder.
“What is it?”
Hathor just pointed down the valley with his free paw. Korin huffed and looked. It didn’t take him long to see another elemental, this one a whirling cyclone of ice and stone. It too hit the defensive magical array and was destroyed. This time however, the roar of energy couldn’t be heard. Was it weaker? Did it have a recharge time?
Korin went looking for one of the magical engineers. In the time it took him to find one, two more elementals had been destroyed by the array. It was definitely growing weaker. How many elementals before the array was drained? What about purely physical traps?
The magical engineer nodded at Korin’s question, though her gaze was locked on the array. “There are only a couple dozen charges on that array at full power. It was designed for giants, not little elementals, so it fires at full strength with each charge. It draws power from the environment and takes about a day to replenish a charge, a few weeks to return to full power once drained. That’s going to need to be redesigned it appears if these types of attacks are going to continue.”
Korin growled and interrupted the mage. “Then how do we fix it? Can you mages do it from here?”
The Mage blinked then shook her head, shoulder length hair swishing. “We aren’t even sure how to modify the array. Those things are the result of years of study and research. Even if we had the math for the new version, we couldn’t do it while it’s firing. We can keep it from triggering on our approach, but it will still trigger when the elementals cross the perimeter of the array, which would then kill anyone working on it.”
She tapped her lips with a finger before continuing. “If you had a force outside the defenses that could stop the elementals that would give us time to charge the array. One we know how to modify them, that is.”
Korin growled again, just short of a snarl. “The Knights and Warriors can deal with the elementals while you all fix the array. How long will you need to work?”
The mage shook her head again. “I already told you, we don’t know how to modify the array yet. We’ll have to study and experiment to figure that out and there is no way of knowing how long that will take.”
Korin finally snarled and reached out to shake the Mage. He was stopped as spellwork ignited beneath her and a force globe appeared around her. Light spilled from her eyes and her hair swayed in an unseen breeze. “Behave, Warrior. I will not be attacked because you do not like the answers you were given.”
Taking a firm hold on his temper, Korin backed up a few steps. This Mage could cause him some embarrassment if she chose to take offense at his actions. He lowered his head, ears flat against his skull. “I apologize. I let my concern for the city overwhelm me. It will not happen again.”
For a moment the mage regarded him with that cool gaze that must be taught in their Academies. Finally the force globe and spellwork winked out and her appearance returned to normal. “Apology accepted, Warrior. I understand your concern for the city. This type of attack is unfamiliar, unexpected, and unnerving. I will go to the Mage Guild immediately to enlist my fellow Mages in finding a way to modify the array, as well as others in anticipation of future actions by the enemy.”
She turned and leaped off the wall into the city, slowly floating to the street below.
Korin watched her go with a silent snarl. Bah, Mages. Worse than the Knights with their superior attitudes. Shaking those thoughts away, he went in search of Hathor. The Guild had some planning to do.