-waystrider-

[https://i.imgur.com/LoYByv0.png]

Four figures raced through the empty plains right on my heels. Their breaths were heavy, but controlled—two short inhalations on a steady beat with one long exhale.

My breathing was just as labored and following the same rhythm. As we were all part of the same party, it made sense.

“That—fucking—sucked.” The man closest to my right, Alexander, swore between his gasps for air.

“Shut—up.” I hissed back.

Alexander was right, though. What just happened was not great. It did suck.

“Both—of you—stop—wasting—stamina.” A girlish voice, Knight Aeko's, our team’s Operator, warned from the center of our formation.

“Screee!”

Valiance cried in alarm from above. Our mental link told me that our pursuers were falling behind, but still very much on our tail.

My paerir was a streak of dark feathers in the sky. She dipped down ahead of us and let out a high-pitched cry.

Obstacle ahead.

I skirted past a sharp outcrop of rocks that broke up the dull grassy flatlands. We had been running full-force for close to ten minutes now and my lungs were on fire. A muscle in my leg was starting to cramp.

“Aeko—I can’t—keep—going!” Knight Pearson cried out, her steps faltering.

“You—have to—push through!” Aeko called back.

Aeko slowed her pace just enough to fall in with, and help push, Pearson.

A great big mound came into view just ahead of us. Relief washed over me.

The first good sign today.

We heaved and struggled for a few more miles, finally reaching the subterranean outpost we’d dug out earlier.

The opening was on the backside, in a small gap between two rocks where the hilly terrain got a little chaotic. We slid down the grass and collapsed into our hideout.

Knight Anherst, a recent attachment to our group from the Stellae Prolaetoris, wrestled a large bolder into place and blocked the entryway.

As my breath caught and the heavy gasps slowed, I went to stand back up—but Aeko placed her hand across my chest, stopping me.

“Just rest. Give it. Five minutes. At least.” Her breathing was still strained. She swiped her hand over her wrist and a misty projection appeared, “Yeah. I thought so.”

She tilted her wrist my way.

The interface shows the details of our party.

My STAMINA was showing as zeroed out. If I didn’t rest now, I risked taking on exhaustion penalties, if I hadn’t already.

I gently brushed my hand over my wrist and my own interface displayed onto the mist that settled in around us.

» YOU ARE AFFLICTED WITH EXHAUSTION RANK II.

» YOU ARE SUFFERING FROM A STRAINED LEG.

I breathed out in a huff and looked back at Aeko’s party interface.

Pearson’s STAMINA was also bottomed out, and her HEALTH had depleted to around fifty percent, meaning her exhaustion rank was level four or higher.

Alexander still had some energy to spare, as did Anherst.

Knights Ilphas and Savael… Both of their statuses were marked in black.

“Anherst,” I croaked, my throat starting to burn, “Watch the door. If it sounds like they followed us let me know immediately.”

He nodded, “Will do, squad leader.”

“Alex. Unpack the water and help Pearson drink some.”

“Aye, Ma’am.”

I collapsed onto my back and reflected on the past few days.

When we arrived at the spot that had been scouted out a month ago—a small forest tucked between hills and mountains—we discovered the Renaultians were already there.

At first, I believed our intelligence had been compromised so I ordered our whole division to remain dark. We hid the wagons with the communications equipment and broke into smaller party-sized divisions to investigate.

Turned out, the Renaultians were gathering in the same spot we intended for the same reasons, it was quiet and secluded.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Iron cages, filled with people, were affixed atop wagons. They were lined up like a massive merchant convoy.

Forty wagons with a dozen or so people in each.

Three parties raided the Renaultian camp under the cover of night. They were successful, and we recovered many Vanixian Republic loyalists and dissenters against the Renaultians.

But some of the enemy escaped.

And that was when things started going wrong.

“Haaah.” I sighed, thinking back on it.

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The prisoner’s celebrations were short-lived.

As the sun rose the next morning, one of the sentinels rushed to our makeshift camp with news that the entire Renaultian garrison from Elyssia were en route to our position. Some three hundred strong.

I assigned two parties of agile fighters to act as interference—to delay the Renaultian gendarmes.

My remaining forces, a little over one hundred soldiers, would escort the large number of civilians south. Luke and Hanna’s team should arrive at the rear camp in the next few days, and would be able to get them squared away. They scrounged what they could from the Renaultian prison camp and set off with as light of packs as they could manage.

The interference teams had one primary set of orders: Retreat if things get sketchy and rendezvous at the Crimson Seeker base if they could lose any Renaultian pursuers.

I decided my party would stay behind to make a final check on Elyssia and try to cause enough trouble that would force the Renaultians to divert troops from their eastern garrisons.

All teams had their orders and we moved out. My team sneaked past the incoming soldiers and headed toward the town.

I think digging this fallback shelter was about the only thing we truly did right since then.

We reached Elyssia before noon and found their defenses had been stretched thin.

Elyssia was a farming town far removed from the typical dangers expansion and reclamation towns faced. Very little monster or demon activity occurred on the northwestern half of the Axian peninsula, so these towns didn’t pay much attention to their fortifications.

Elyssia, luckily for us, was one of the towns that had let their earthwork barriers and walls decline.

My team easily maneuvered through a gap into the town proper and found the town hall, which we knew from the released prisoners' intel had been acting as the main barracks for the Renaultians.

It was a massive three-story building and probably had a basement. Town halls were the central meeting location for all residents as well as a shelter against monster attacks or natural disasters.

Anherst, Savael, and I, all tuned our communirunes to the same wavelength.

With Valiance on overwatch, I confirmed we were in the clear. Savael and I activated our STEALTH skills and climbed up through an open window on the second floor.

Anherst and the remaining party members scurried off to hide close by. I’d call them once we had secured the front door.

I split from Savael to survey the building. She went to the third floor while I cleared the second floor. Unless we encountered anything we couldn’t handle, the plan was to meet back up before descending to the ground floor.

The top two floors were completely unguarded and we cleared them with ease.

Savael and I joined back up and we headed down.

Three soldiers were lounging in what looked like the lobby. Savael had her sword drawn, waiting for my signal. I readied an arrow, steadied myself, and fired.

It embedded deep in the closest enemy’s head, and he went slack.

Savael activated FLICKER STRIKE and appeared behind the furthermost soldier, cutting her throat in an instant.

The last enemy scrambled to their feet but didn’t even have the time to pull a weapon before I set an arrow in their face.

Savael and I both reapplied STEALTH and quietly moved back to the stairwell. Once we were sure the noise hadn’t attracted any more soldiers we continued to secure the entryway.

I called Anherst and in less than a minute my whole party had breached the town hall.

There were a few more straggling guards who were dispatched with ease. Then we moved to the basement, with Savael remaining topside to keep watch.

My mental link with Valiance still told me we were clear.

Below the town hall, we found provisions, weapons, and crates of specialty farming equipment and repair parts.

Among the provisions though, we found barrels of grain alcohol.

Aeko knew a handful of offensive spells, even as a healer. One of which was FIRE BLAST. A medium-range spell that would shoot a super-heated ball of fire at a target.

And so our distraction plan was formed.

An hour of silently placing barrels of flammable alcohol and several explosions later the town was lit ablaze.

The remaining Renaultian guards didn’t seem to care that the town was on fire, only that their companions had been killed. They started rounding up the remaining townsfolk—all of them either Renaultian sympathizers or ones who had sold out the prisoners we’d saved.

We escaped during the chaos, slipping through the same breach in the walls we entered.

It was on our way back that we encountered the returning Renaultian forces.

Valiance alerted me to their presence quickly, but they had their own forward scouts. We got surrounded in no time.

Ilphas used a guardian skill, REDIRECTION, to taunt the majority of the attackers into losing focus on us and attacking him instead…

Savael cast a party-wide speed buff on us. She asked me to tell Aisling that they fought like true knights, then rushed in to assist Ilphas.

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I blinked.

I was still lying on my back and must have dosed off while recalling our mission.

Aeko’s head bounded into view above me.

“You have a good rest, leader Mei?”

A loud groan escaped my lips as I scrambled to my feet. My entire body was sore and achy.

“We’re leaving at sundown. Once it’s clear we’ve lost any tails we’ll head straight to the Seeker camp. Prepare yourselves for a rough few days.”

“It’s already sundown, though?” Anherst remarked, still sitting by the boulder-blocked exit.

“Then pack your stuff, I guess. Let’s go.”

I can't wait to hear Julius' voice. Even if he'll probably scold me for losing two knights.