“The air is so… fresh out here,” he said, as he stretched and yawned after standing around and hearing the Wardens and their explanations.

Jiehong shook his head. “Indeed. The air in the command center could be of a higher quality. I did not know how stifling it could be until I breathed in this outside air. I hope it will be something the Wardens can fix while they're making repairs.”

Nodding in agreement, he said, “Okay! Well… to Thundervale. Which is that way, right?” he made a vague, pointing motion with his finger.

“Yep, that road. The same one overrun by those columns of troop carriers and automotrons. It will be a good while by foot, so we should get over there right away, and hustle,” Jiehong said, already starting out toward the camp’s perimeter.

“Leaving already?” an elderly man asked.

“Yes. Thundervale needs our help,” Zan replied.

“I think the whole country needs your help… look at you two. Such clothes. And the swords you both carry. Incredible! It reminds me of my youth. I encountered a man, once, with nearly the same.” As the man spoke, he got a good look at him. He was the same man who talked his ear off during the defense of the town.

“I highly doubt that sir,” Jiehong said, taking up the cause of keeping the man straight. “These clothes and gear are from the Wardens who safeguard that building over there. If you really met someone with the same equipment as us, they would of have to have been Ranger-Knights… which is impossible.”

“Oh, why is that?” the man asked, unaware.

“Because we only just reactivated the order yesterday.”

“Oh…” the man said. “I wonder who that man was. I supposed he could have been a mercenary from one of the Advanced Outposts. Then again, a mercenary so far from his home seems off. And then—”

Making nice with the man and not wanting to argue anymore, the boys bade the man goodbye. They had a mission to do.

The boys stepped outside the perimeter of the camp. They saw what had to be thousands of black splotch marks throughout the meadow. Each black patch an automotron grave. "For how long did the automotrons throw themselves against our encampment?" he thought about. The answer was not clear. It had to have been hours, he reasoned. If not the whole evening. And then some...

But no enemies were nearby. Not now.

Walking for several minutes to the road they had to take, he surprised himself when he saw the road had no enemies upon it. Mentioning it to Jiehong, he said, “Where would the enemy forces have gone? If Thundervale is over yonder... then that’s all well and good. But the column of bad guys we encountered yesterday wasn’t heading to Thundervale on this road. They were going elsewhere.”

Jiehong shrugged, clearly not believing the issue important. “There are many roads to Thundervale. We shouldn’t overthink our role. Let’s keep ourselves alert and ready for anything.”

“Absolutely,” he agreed, and they resumed their march, just now wearier of a surprise force ambushing them.

Theoretically, the road was a straight shot to Thundervale. Yet as they found a couple hours into their trek, they saw enemy checkpoints dotted the road ahead.

“What do we do?” he asked. “If we knew how many checkpoints there were, then we could take them out. I don’t want to tire myself out to the point of exhaustion, though. Would it be better to sneak past some?”

Jiehong shrugged again. He replied, “We could sneak past some, but it is our goal to eradicate every invader. So… I say we take them out. If we find too many, we can take a rest. Besides, we brought some basic camping gear, right?”

He shook his head. “No, we didn’t. Our camping gear was among the casualties of yesterday’s assault.”

“Oh!” Jiehong said. He clearly thought the camping gear was alive, well, and on them. He sounded let down.

“I still have some magic stored from the other day. Most of it likely burned off, but I think I can manage some to help us. I say we get the sneak on them, set fire to their checkpoints.”

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

“Love it. Let’s get going... keep me good and I will keep you good, brother,” he told Jie, nervous energy filled him, and he hoped the imminent battle would go their way.

Jiehong split from him, taking the other side of the road. Or the ditch more accurately; the boys could not risk taking the main roadway and be seen as they approach. Such would negate the ‘stealth’ idea they were going for. Speaking of ideas, he had thought of the strategy they used: Jiehong was to ‘take’ the checkpoints on the right-hand side of the road, while he would take the ones on the left. They would swoop up from the ditch, burn the checkpoint, and advance relentlessly.

Coming upon their first checkpoint, it was on the left-hand side of the road. Which meant ‘showtime’ for him.

Seeing only a couple of automotrons inside the flimsy-looking wooden structure no larger than a small hut, the two enemies stood unnervingly still. Without any eyes — beside their simple slits where their eyes should have been — the automotrons appeared little better than statues. He snuck his way past their gaze, pressed himself to the building, and used some of his magic to set fire to the defensive structure.

The building went up in flames quickly. He scurried off and returned to his ditch. But only after making eye contact with Jiehong and motioning for their advance.

Coming upon the next pillbox, this time on the right-hand side, and therefore it was Jiehong’s turn to take it out. He watched his brother spend his magic and create fire to burn.

The pillbox went up in smoke as quickly as the first one. Yet he worried himself and wondered, 'would the golems be able to see the fire and smoke from the destroyed huts? Just how bad is their eyesight?'

He did not have long to wait to find out — two pillboxes, one on each side of the road and one for each he and Jiehong.

Thinking extra-strategically for a moment, he still wondered about the enemy’s vision. He figured it better for the enemy to discover them now, while they were still quite close to the command center, than get into trouble much later into their journey. Worse came, they could always retreat.

He approached the bunker nearly by simply walking up. The automotrons did not react until he had gotten weirdly close to their checkpoint. By then, thought, he had jabbed his sword into one and then the other, de-activating both.

They dealt with both checkpoints in a hurry. Neither boy got spotted.

With flames at their back and confidence soaring, he wondered if the automotrons were blind. Or practically blind; he guessed they still could see some since they knew what they were doing in melee combat, as he remembered so vividly from the previous day.

At a point in the day, he wanted to test — to truly test — the limits of the golems’ vision, but he also didn’t want to endanger the mission. Besides, he already knew their vision was bad. He didn’t need the exact science behind it… not unless documentation said otherwise. Documentation looted from an enemy base? The idea intrigued Zan.

Remembering his earpiece was a communication device, Zan touched the device hanging inside his earlobe and said, “Jiehong: stay on the lookout for enemy intelligence. Any intel about our enemies during the conflict should be prioritized.”

Jiehong did not respond right away. Another checkpoint burned — by him — before Jiehong replied. Eventually, Jiehong said, “Sorry. Took me a second to remember how to work this ear thing… yeah. Will do, buddy.”

A few more burned fortifications later and he had depleted his energy. Coming upon a fork in the road, he tried to figure which way they should head. This would be so much easier if someone taught me foraging! He moaned. At least then I would know the lay of the land!

“I think we go that way…?” Jiehong said, though it came out more like a question.

“I don’t think we should give ourselves guesses and treat them like facts. We should ask the Wardens for directions. Neither one of us has ever left the village, so—”

Zan talked but Jiehong interjected and said, “I have left the village before. I would know. This path,” he spoke, with some force to his words.

“Fine,” he complied. “That way, but if it isn’t the right way, we’ll just be wasting our time and the precious seconds of Thundervale’s defenders.”

He saw Jiehong roll his eyes. But he led the way, getting his way once more. As usual...

An hour of walking crawled by. Time was like a baby, skittering around on its hands and knees as birds of prey circled overhead. He felt aggravated after so long. After so much longer, he couldn’t hold in his objections anymore. He burst and yelled, “Enough! I’m tired! This doesn’t look like the way, huh?! I’m pinging the Wardens!” Before his brother could object with anything more than a sputtering of syllables, he touched the earpiece. It took him a couple of tries to touch the correct button on the earpiece which connected him to the Wardens.

“Sigma-Prime speaking: go,” a voice came through after registering his signal.

“Sigma! Thank goodness it works. We need directions to Thundervale. Can you help us out?” he asked.

“Easiest thing to do. Hold."

A minute of silence passed. He knew Jiehong was not happy at being opposed, but he was only like that because he always got his way.

No more, though, Zan told himself. I discovered the command center; I discovered the Wardens; I destroyed the walker; and I was the first to thrust that crystal-parasite thing into my belly. I am the leader. Not Jiehong!

A chime in his ear. It was Sigma-Prime. She said, “You are way off course! Reverse track. There is a fork in the road you should have passed; return to that fork and that the other road, understand? Continue that way until you arrive at a lake. Thundervale will be beyond the lake.”

“Thank you, Sigma-Prime. I will be in contact if we need anything more.”

Taking his hand off the button, he turned and said, “Other way.”