Uh. Lucien looked at her awkwardly, one foot dangling in the air mid step. What should I do? She’s clearly doing something important, and I can’t exactly tell her that a magical rabbit brought me here.

“My apologies. I couldn’t sleep so I went for a walk and my curiosity got the better of me.” He was somewhat embarrassed. It felt like when his mother caught him tracking dirt into the house after she had just cleaned the floors.

Of course he didn’t show that on his face. “I couldn’t help but hear what you were saying, is there anyway I could help?” he asked, hoping to lead the conversation somewhere else before she yelled at him.

She scrunched up her face as she stared at him. Scrutinising. “Hmm, do you know runic formations?”

“...No,” he replied honestly.

“Of course you’re useless,” she muttered under her breath. “Well there’s not much you can do here. Head back. Stop disturbing me”

Lucien nodded. “That’s probably for the best. My apologies.” He carefully started retracing his path back, making sure to not step on the lines.

Now why did the rabbit want me to go here? There must be a reason. His vision drifted across the ground, trying to find anything that stood out to him.

What am I doing? It’s all just lines. I can’t make heads or tails of it. I should just go back to sleep so I can be ready by morning. Lucien shook his head as he stopped looking for anything in particular.

He still did keep his eyes on the ground, but only so that he could get back without the old woman coming after him.

He didn’t know what this was all for, but if he damaged it, he knew that he would be in big trouble, and there would be no way to hide that it was him.

Was the rabbit just bored? Probably just wanted to have some fun since it knew I couldn’t read it a story while I was in there with everyone else... I do wonder where its gone off to? Oh well, it’ll show itself eventually.

Lucien had reached the end of the runic formation when he noticed something odd at the spot where the rabbit had stopped earlier.

Why do I feel like something is wrong?

The lines were complete nonsense to him, but there was a feeling in his gut that he just couldn’t shake. He crouched down next to the spot without much thought and stretched out his finger before he could even realise what he was doing.

The line was a small portion of a much larger circle that encompassed the entire formation. Several lines branched off this large circle going inwards, all of which were curved. Unlike the more central area he was in earlier, which had a mixture of curved and straight lines.

Almost instinctively, he used his finger to carve out a few notches along the inner part of the curve, as well as made the outer part of the curve smoother. It was such a small change that it would be hardly noticeable by anything but the keenest of eyes.

Dusting himself off, he got up, went back to the barracks, and quickly fell asleep as if nothing had happened.

Out in the yard, the old woman was now standing above the section Lucien had just touched, appearing thoughtful.

“Looks like I have more work to do.” She observed it closely for a few minutes before disappearing, her voice the only thing left behind.

~

“Wake up!” a voice bellowed through the barracks, rousing everyone from their sleep.

The soldiers orderly climbed out of their beds and collected their things before filing into the walkways and out the door.

Lucien was among the last to leave, taking up the back of the line because it took him longer to get off his bed than the others. Unlike when he first got here, there wasn’t much for him to carry.

Since food would be supplied by the cooks while they were out there, he didn’t have any need for most of the supplies he had previously had in his bag. The only things he carried on him was his sword, a waterskin, and Earnest’s journal inside his satchel.

He felt the early morning wind brush against him as he followed everyone to the training field. Different to before, the lines had been filled by a strange sponge-like substance that prevented anyone from damaging the formation by stepping on it.

Everyone filed into the formation, lining up behind their captains, quickly filling the space as they were joined by a caravan of wagons that held the supplies they would need for the rest of their journey.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Lucien joined up with the rest of his squad, finding himself squashed between William and Michael as the space became cramped. Even though they were near the edge of it.

The commander was standing a slight distance away facing the well-disciplined army of 3000. Next to her was the old woman who had set up the formation, still dressed in her pyjamas.

“Hurry up. I want to go back to bed,” the old woman said, frowning.

The commander couldn’t do anything but bow, smile, and try to placate her. “Of course respected elder. I’ll keep it brief.”

Standing straight, she projected her voice so that the entire army could hear. “Attention! Bandits have been a thorn in our side for a long time now. But recently, some of them have seemed to have forgotten about us, and believe that this land is there’s to do whatever they want with!

His Lordship will no longer tolerate this dishonour! It is time for us to remind them of who controls these lands. It is time for us to strike back and protect our people!”

She nodded to the old woman, her rousing words still lingering in the air and in the soldiers’ ears as she joined them in the formation.

The old woman raised her staff and plunged it into a hole in the top of the formation.

Mana coursed through every part of her body as she channelled it through the staff and into the formation. The sponge-like substance glowed a bright purple as the mana flowed from the top, splitting down each line like a powerful river breaking off into its tributaries.

Lucien felt a heavy weight press down on him from all directions as the formation filled to completion. As did everyone else. Some of them staggered and almost fell to the ground, but they had been drilled for this.

The purple glow was now blinding, as Lucien found himself alone in the hazy void of mana. For a moment, everyone else had disappeared. He was floating there, completely still, almost unable to process what was happening. As if time and space had frozen around him.

What the-

And then it was gone.

He felt the ground beneath his feet again as the pressure dissipated. He felt the wind through his hair and the sunlight on his skin. He could hear the world again, and see his fellow soldiers.

He wasn’t sure how long he was in there for. It could have been seconds, minutes, or even hours. He didn’t know. It felt like all of those were true, but reason told him that was impossible.

He saw his fellow soldiers shake off the effects of the long distance teleportation. Some took longer than others, but it wasn’t long before everyone was back to normal.

After making sure that his squad mates were okay, he turned his attention to the outside world, hoping to get an idea of where they had been teleported to. And as luck would have it, he was in a familiar spot.

They had teleported to just outside the southern gate of Whaeldrake. While it was nowhere near as impressive looking as Whitmore Castle, it was nice to see a familiar place that was so close to home. Even if he had only been there once.

They were standing in a field just outside of the town. Thankfully, they had been teleported to a space large enough to accommodate all of them. Lucien didn’t know how the magic worked, but he was glad it didn’t result in any of them appearing inside someone’s home. Or even worse, inside a wall or a person.

That would be terrifying. Pushing aside that rather somber thought, he noticed that their arrival had drawn a lot of attention from the local populace. While he was pretty certain that the town’s leaders, and maybe the guards, were already aware of what was happening, it was definitely a surprise to the average townsfolk.

A caravan just so happened to be pulling up to the gates when they had arrived, which unfortunately must have given the horses a great fright, as they were now trying their best to break away and flee.

Poor things.

The next thing Lucien noticed was that there were a lot more guards on duty than the last time he was here. Maybe it was because of them, or maybe it was because of the bandits.

As he was looking around as best he could from his position, he saw the town mayor approaching them from the gate. There were a few other people accompanying him that Lucien didn’t know. Probably other leaders or important people around town in some capacity.

The group approached the army, stopping a few metres away from them. Commander Vernon broke away from the army to talk with them.

“Greetings Mayor.” She bowed, and so did they in return. “What news do you have of the bandits?”

“Here’s what my scouts have discovered.” The mayor handed over a few loose pieces of paper.

The commander took over the papers and quickly flicked through them. “Thank you. This will help us greatly, and it must have been dangerous for you to get your hands on this.”

“It was worth the risk.” One of the men on the side, dressed in light padded armour, stepped forward and bowed. “We hope that you can get rid of them as soon as possible. All of us would be very grateful.”

“Of course. We’ll see to it right now. Thank you.”

Lucien couldn’t quite tell from where he was, but it didn’t look like they had a lot of information to go off.

The commander returned to the army, the captains now waiting for orders. “The bandits have been spotted down south, let’s set off post-haste.”

And with that, their procession of wagons and soldiers began down the road and away from the town. The road just outside of the town was sizeable, but it was nowhere near big enough to contain the army unless they were to stretch themselves thin. It would also cause problems for anyone travelling to and from the town, especially if they were in a wagon.

There wasn’t much the army could do however. They tried for a middling approach where they had the wagons take the road and all of the soldiers in a circle around it. It would have to do for a while, at least until they reached the roads surrounded by forest that would make it difficult.

“How are you feeling now that you’re close to home?” William slipped in beside him.

“It’s going to be... tough, to see it. But it’s likely that we’ll have to go there if the recent news isn’t good enough.” Lucien still hadn’t told them about what happened. He decided that he would tell them now that they were out here.

“Just know that I’m here for you.” William patted Lucien on the shoulder as they continued to walk.

They continued travelling for the rest of the day. Considering their size, they moved significantly slower than Lucien did when he had travelled through here on horseback.

After finding a suitable place, they set up camp around the wagons, had a meal, and prepared to rest for the night.

I wonder how Lynn is doing? Sitting at one of the many campfires eating, Lucien allowed his mind to wander until he saw his captain approaching.

“Lucien, the commander wants to see you.”

Lucien nodded and quickly finished off the remainder of his stew as he followed his captain to the temporary command tent that had been built.