We continued taking the main road to the North. Unlike our trip to Blackshire, the trip from it was made easier and faster by the fact we had a well-maintained road clear of obstructions to travel down. I appreciated that as it meant I got to let loose and really push the limits of my suit.

I was dying to know what Eric had discovered, or realised, but when people took off unexpectedly at high speed, I usually assumed they were either running from something incredibly dangerous, or running to something fantastic.

As we ran I traded intel with Larsen, checking our observations and discussing what we’d been learning. We also complained

When we stopped after the third hour to rest briefly, I made my way over to Eric with more than a little irritation.

“What was all the hurry about back there? You took off like a rocket.” My eyes narrowed.

“The mercenary company he’s travelling with is known for being one of the best money can buy. The longer we give them, the further away they’ll get. We have some time because there’s likely a large number of them travelling together, but they’re blooded, experienced men.”

“So we’re on a time limit, what else is new? Why run off like that?”

“We can’t let him escape! I know you don’t grasp the situation very well but there’s no telling what he’ll do if we lose him, or what might happen if we don’t get some answers. We can’t afford to waste time.”

I shrugged. “I didn’t mean to make light of things, but we already knew we had to hurry. Running off like a bat out of hell isn’t going to help, especially if you don’t explain the situation to us first.”

“I thought we had more time.” Eric said, chagrined. “If he has the ability to hire the best on a whim, we may very well have the timing of the attack wrong. Nowhere did it say that he had these kinds of resources. We must find Davian.

“You know, this information would’ve been nice to know earlier.” I stared flatly at him.

“Apologies, I was… overzealous.” He admitted, sheepishly.

“That’s one word for it." I frowned. "Just, try to keep us in the loop, okay? I don't like being given the mushroom treatment.”

"Mushroom treatment?"

"Being kept in the dark, not being told things." I explained.

“Indeed.” Eric sighed, nodding. “I will endeavour to do so going forward."

"Thanks." I took a quick look around, the trees were quiet, but internally my mind was anything but.

"I dread to think of what resources he has at his disposal or how far ahead he is." Eric commented. " I believe we’re catching up to him though, and outpacing him.”

“Do you think he knows we’re coming?” Larsen asked.

“Not us specifically, but I believe he is expecting someone to come after him, yes. He’d be a fool not to. I’d be more concerned about the mercenaries he’s travelling with, however. If they’re on his side things will be difficult. Even if they’re not, I expect things will still be difficult. It's the way of these things.” The mage said.

“How many are there? You seemed quite worried, took off without a warning. Oh, before I forget, what was all that about with that Markus fellow? You two seemed ready to brawl.”

Eric grunted, dismissing my question as he turned away to watch the sun drop lower in the sky. “I’ll tell you later, perhaps. It’s nothing that pertains to the task at hand, just some… personal issues, I think. For now, concern yourself with the matter at hand. I’ve had dealings with mercenaries before and I keep myself apprised of any notable outfits. This Dragonclaw Legion is-“

“Pretentious? They sound it.” Larsen interrupted.

“I was going to say they’re ruthless and skilled. If Davian is travelling with them as a paying customer, then he’s bought some of the best sellswords money can buy. They travel fast and will be tough to take down. Down to a man, none of them have any less than six years of battle experience and they have a fair few mages among them. Worst of all, they have few qualms about right and wrong. Their moral compass is but a golden coin.”

“What about their numbers?” I repeated myself.

“That... is potentially an issue. Last I checked they had just shy of three hundred in their ranks.”

“Three hundred?” I asked incredulously.

“Fortunately, I doubt all of them are going to be escorting Davian. It is more likely we’ll be dealing with half their number.”

“Still… that’s a lot to deal with.”

“I’m not too worried. They haven’t met Zira yet.” Larsen patted her rifle. “Tell me something. How can he afford to hire them? He’s nothing special right?”

“That, is the question on my mind.” Eric admitted. “I haven’t the barest essence of an idea. He isn’t a citizen, so the best we have is rumour and second-hand information, but if he can hire the Dragonclaw then we may have a serious problem.”

“How so?” I asked.

“If he has coin, it will expedite the attack and when it comes it will be more difficult to stop. You’d be surprised at the number and calibre of men you can recruit with coin, even for .”

“We know he’s been seen in the same circles as other mercenaries, cutthroats and thieves. It isn’t inconceivable that he’d try to assassinate someone of great importance.”

“What, like the King?”

“Perhaps. Or Lilith. I would not lead nearly so well and it would be a major blow to morale.” Eric grimaced.

“Well, nothing to do but find the man and ask him what he’s planning.” Larsen said. “How hard could it be?”

“Potentially, very hard.” Eric replied, expression darkening as he began brooding.

“This place makes me paranoid.” I muttered. It felt like there was someone watching me.

“Indeed.” Eric said sourly, casting his gaze around with undisguised disdain. “I will take the lead again. We are close, believe. Close enough that it is possible that Davian or someone else sensed that explosion. Be on your guard, both of you.” Eric said, throwing himself into a sprint.

He was noticeably slower than before, Eric, that is, but then I suppose being blown up will do that to a person. He still had his horse, as it had been quite a distance away when Eric was hit by the explosion. Even so, he wasn’t quite as fast. I chalked that up to taking an IED to the face. Maybe it messed with his magic.

I had a mountain of notes and analysis programs running running in the background by the time Eric slowed. While I still had a lot of questions, I was saving most of them for when we weren’t in the field.

Most of my attention was taken up by the high-level briefing I was putting together for when we returned to the city. Spectroscopic analysis of the armour in use by Markus, EM readings and a mountain of other raw intel pertaining to social structures, culture and psychology. Most of what I’d seen was already in there, but there was a lot more that my suit had picked up on its own that it was now feeding into the briefing.

Eric had kept his pace with us and didn’t seem to be that fatigued. I guessed magic counted for a lot. My stimulants did too, I suppose; I wasn’t even the least bit tired. I’d been awake for at least fourteen hours by now and while I would be crashing hard at some point in the near future I felt great.

I strongly suspected I’d be well over the line of abusing them to deal with the current crisis and stay awake throughout. What I really wanted was a few days of solid rest and to sleep in an actual bed, but I doubted we’d have the time for such luxuries anytime soon. Larsen couldn’t have been faring much better. I hoped we didn’t exhaust ourselves before we got the job done. An overdose on stimulants would be a hell of a way to die when we had far more dangerous threats looking to punch our lights out.

It had long since become night, the darkness seemingly not bothering any of us. Eric I assumed had some magic to help him see, where Larsen and I had an array of sensors. It was early morning, by my system clock, perfect for an ambush. Though I hoped to be the ambusher, this time.

The land around us was not as featureless and deserted as the rest of the wilderness we’d been through on our way here. Rain lashed at us, the land had become one giant mud pit, with the low-visibility and a variety of rocks and uneven terrain making things slow-going. Wild forests covered the landscape. We couldn’t run flat-out through the dense vegetation, but it was either that or running through the mud. I preferred a little more concealment so we avoided the open ground. Eric seemed to be handling things well so far, though certainly with less comfort than someone in fully sealed and climate-controlled battle armour.

He slowed his horse from its enhanced sprint and held his hand up, stopping just inside the treeline before a large clearing. Larsen and I took time to decelerate behind him, mindful not to slide and lose our footing in the soft terrain. I assumed there was some kind of magic at play there. There was no way a horse could run as fast as we were without breaking something vital.

Eric wandered off to the left of the road into an area of seemingly no importance. I set my suit to analysing the area around Eric. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t find much. The mud and rain had washed away any visible signs of habitation.

“Were they here?” I called out, as Eric dismounted.

He held up a hand as if to ward me off, his other one glowed a pale blue, illuminating the space around him. A low rumble began to rise in volume and pitch. Soon a shrill, keening wail filled the air around us.

Eric crouched down to brush the dirt with his glowing hand. I looked at Larsen.

“Should we be concerned about that?” She asked, looking over at Eric.

I shrugged, watching from a safe distance. “Probably. He told us to stay back, didn’t he?”

My right hand strayed to my rifle, its weight a constant comfort to me.

A thunderous boom rent the air as fire erupted from where Eric had been standing, blasting the area with heat, light and sound.

“The fuck was that?” Larsen yelled.

Slipping into a low stance, I raked the horizon with my augmented vision. My suit didn’t alert me to anything except the explosion though, but I didn’t want to leave things to chance. Hard lessons . Some type of IED, was my guess. My suit agreed.

”I don’t know!” I yelled. “Eric? You good? Answer me, damn it!”

No answer. I growled, eyes darting around as I approached. Suddenly, Eric popped into focus, highlighted in green. He was alive, but flat on the ground, groaning. I didn’t see any damage, which was a little surprising. I assumed he’d shielded himself somehow.

I swept the muzzle of my rifle across the horizon again. Still nothing. I ran over to him and gripped a handful of his clothing to pull him to his feet.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Get up! Get up!” I growled, dragging him along with me.

“Larsen, down the road, let’s go.” I said, gripping my rifle with one hand and dragging our guide by the other.

I made my way down the road with the muzzle of my gun sweeping my surroundings and a staggering mage in my wake. I wanted to get away from the area in case there was an ambush coming or someone had it zeroed for a follow-up attack. Old habits died hard. I hadn’t seen evidence of anything resembling a mortar or over-the-horizon weapons system, but for all I knew they had something better and it would drop on our heads if we remained stationary.

“See anything?” I asked.

“Negative.” Larsen said.

We made our way down the road in tense silence for several minutes but when nothing further threatened us I figured we were probably in the clear.

“I think we’re good.” Larsen said.

“Agreed. Just a mine, I think. Keep an eye out, though. Eric, you alright?”

“Some fucking mine, that fire was impressive.” Larsen said.

Eric gave me a weak smile, looking like the life had been sucked from his bones. He was clearly drained, but he seemed to be uninjured from what I could see. I ran a quick bioscan and ‘extreme fatigue’ floated in the air next to him. As if I couldn’t see that for myself.

“I’ve been better.” He groaned, looking as if a weight was crushing him.

I scowled. “What the hell were you doing? And what’s wrong with you?”

“Trying to figure out what that strange magic field was. And uh, I’m quite exhausted, my magic’s going to be unreliable for a while.”

“Brilliant.” I said flatly. “What magic field were you looking for? Did you think you’d trigger a potential IED by running up to it and what, marking it with a big ‘X’?” I asked incredulously.

“IED?” He asked.

“Improvised explosive device.” I supplied, still scowling.

“It was a trap. I was prepared for it, it just took a lot out of me.” Eric shrugged wearily, rather unconcerned for a man who’d just been blown up.

“Yeah, we saw that. I don’t know about you, but where we’re from we try not to deal with explosives by blowing them up in our faces.” Larsen said, holding in laughter.

“Is there any reason to stay here? Or are we going to get back to tracking?” I asked. I scanned the horizon, making use of both my suit and eyeball mark one. I really didn’t like it when things exploded next to me and only silence followed. It made me restless, and it was damned unnerving.

“I’d say we’re definitely on the right track. Davian must have set that up for us. We’re close.” Eric said, spurring his horse on again.

We kept a relatively languid pace, slowing as dawn broke over the horizon. We had been close, relatively speaking. Nearly an hour and a half passed and Eric slowed, coming to a stop in the open plains under the moonlight.

The land was sodden with rain and I was sure if I’d taken my helmet off I’d have smelled it. It was dark, wet and utterly quiet, empty of anything that walked on two legs or four, as far as the eye could see. Somehow, that didn’t make me feel any better. It didn’t feel like the nature I knew, it felt like I was a stranger in my own empty home. The quiet wasn’t a comfort. It felt like an omen.

“We’re here.” Eric said, gesturing to the expanse around us.

“As in… these mercs are nearby?” I asked, keeping the nerves from my voice.

I’m still not sure why I was so nervous all of a sudden. I’d love to claim some kind of prophetic or precognitive abilities, but I think I was just a little freaked out after all the shit we’d been through. I don’t want to admit it, but for the first time in a long time, the dark actually scared me. There weren’t drunken teenagers waiting for me in darkened alleys, but monsters and magic behind each hill and buried in every blade of grass.

Being a stranger in a strange land sounded romantic and mysterious in the movies and songs, but really, when you’d been told that monsters exist and that it wasn’t safe outside the city walls, it just sucked.

“Yes, and where the Dragonclaw are, Davian will also be. You cannot feel it, obviously, but the land here is bland to my senses. There is… something there, though. Something magical.” Eric pointed down the road.

“I don’t see anything.” Larsen said.

I scanned in that direction. Mid-wave thermal, low-light, not much. There was however, a higher than expected thermal bloom.

“Use your thermals. They can’t hide their heat, it seems.”

“Huh.” Larsen said. “I see what you mean. Nothing on passives though.”

“I think magic gives off heat. We’d have to do some testing but best lead with thermals and infrared from now on.”

“Wilco.” She said.

There was a thermal bloom in the distance. Normally it would’ve been easy to spot with nothing to hide it behind, but it seemed like hiding from visual detection with magic made their heat problem even worse. Thermals showed a conspicuously massive thermal bloom. It was four, maybe four and a half kilometres away.

“It is likely they have erected defenses or some kind of alarm. If we approach any closer we must be ready to act.” Eric said.

I nodded. I had to start thinking of these people as a peer-level enemy, not a backwater bunch of knights and peasants, even if they were also that.

“Understood.” I replied. “Larsen, thoughts?”

“We don’t have too many options. No fire support or cover. I’d say how we proceed is up to Eric.”

“Fire support? I can give you fire, I don’t-“

“Nevermind that. Fire support is a military term, where we’re from. It refers to supporting friendly forces by lobbing explosives or other weapons from behind cover or over the horizon.”

Eric grimaced. “From the sounds of it, I would very much like to have some of this ‘fire support’ for the battle ahead.”

“You and me both." I said dryly. "What do you have for us, exactly?” I asked.

“I can shield you from attack, or do my best to conceal you. Without a greater idea of numbers, I’m not sure how effective I will be with either course of action. Regardless of what I do, I am also not so sure I should accompany you right away.”

“You’re… deserting?” Larsen said disbelievingly. “We’re not fighting this battle for you while you sit back and relax.”

Eric shook his head. “You misunderstand. If I get too close my Gift will be little different to a bonfire, easily detected. Many mages can sense the presence of others with power, including a vague direction and distance. They may not be able to sense the heat of magic the way you can, but they will sense my magic. I could cloak all of us, but it would not be perfect and it would be risky. The moment I got too close they would sense me. It would be different if we were in a more crowded environment, but there’s little more than grass out here. No noise, no heat, nothing to hide my presence in. I am not strong enough to hide us out here.”

“I guess that makes sense. You’re the one who knows your magic the best.” I allowed. I filed all that away with the rest of the information I'd been getting. The briefing, whenever we held it, would be quite a long one, I suspected. “What else did you have in mind? I assume we’re doing this quietly from the sounds of things.”

“At least at first, yes.” Eric confirmed.

Larsen stretched, yawning a bit as she did so. “I gotta tell you, I’m looking forward to being on the right side of an ambush for once.”

I cracked a smile. “Can’t blame you there. What else can you do, Eric? I assume not just camouflage and shields?”

“Fire, lightning, water to a lesser extent. I assume you have a point to asking?”

“Can you do light? Or fire similar to the trap we encountered?”

“I can. Light is the easier of the two, however.”

“Can you create fire and light, a distraction on the far side of their camp?”

“I was going to suggest something similar.” He gave me a small smile. “Doing that without alerting them that you’re going to attack from this direction is doable, but it will take time. I will need to circle around to the far side first, they have no doubt carved runes to warn them if an enemy approaches. I cannot get close enough to stay on this side of the camp.”

I gave him a thumbs-up. “Throw up some light in the sky and see if you can set fire to their camp and cause some chaos over there. We’ll wait for your distraction and then attack. Agreed?”

“Very well.” Eric said.

I jerked my head off into the distance. “Get moving then. We don’t have a lot of time.”

Wordlessly, he bounded into the distance, taking a circuitous route to avoid detection.

“Alright, Larsen- Uh, Larsen?”

She was stiff as steel, looking off into the distance.

I would like to say it was some kind of sinking dread or an irritating sense of familiarity that gave me some advance warning, but really, I think I was just expecting a series of constant attacks at this point. I wasn’t quite sure what we had done this time to be so obvious, but I suppose we weren’t exactly stealthy crouching in the open moonlight.

“Wait one.” She whispered.

“Incoming!” She barked.

She raised her rifle and fired, throwing herself to one side an instant after.

“How many?” I asked, dropping into a crouch. I pulled the trigger and rounds ripped through the air, chasing after my targets.

“Eric! Get back here!” I bellowed.

The reports of our rifles boomed. What looked like dozens, or maybe hundreds of ripples and splashes in the mud and murky water. My suit highlighted the splashing in a violent red. An estimated hundred plus contacts. We probably didn’t have enough bullets for that. I saturated their angle of approach with a liberal spray of bullets, but the mud continued to churn and puddles continued to ripple.

“We can’t hold them!” Larsen said. “Withdraw! Withdraw!”

“Negative! Eric’s still out there! Hold position!”

I pushed forward, seeking some kind of cover. I threw myself against a large rock that sat a ways away from the road. Twisting around the hard surface I raised my muzzle and loosed a grenade. A large explosion followed. I stuffed another into the breech.

“They’re almost on top of us!” I yelled, peeking out from behind cover to fire my second grenade.

“I see that!”

“Hold them back!” I yelled before I hosed down the enemy line.

The steady thunder of our rifles overlapped and intensified like a deadly symphony: of thunder. Where before we’d fired in bursts, now we held our triggers down. I didn’t see clean outlines of my enemy, not like when we’d landed, but instead a distorted thermal bloom. The visuals of the disturbed water did help to pinpoint the precise locations of the enemy, but the heavy rain made that an imprecise method at best.

When I hit something the round blew through the soft flesh and bone and sprayed blood and gore onto the land, mixing with the rain and mud. The rounds we used weren’t much different in size than a fifty cal, meaning the amount of muzzle energy was enormous. Tens of thousands of joules. Overpenetration wasn’t a concern for either of us, it was an expectation.

Like a light being switched on, the enemy cloaking was suddenly gone. I got a clean read on the enemy and a precise head count, tallied up by my suit.

“Count eighty-five and rising!” I reported, my adrenaline spiking. There were so many.

I depressed the trigger and my rifle roared I held it down for a long moment and let the recoil press against my armoured shoulder. I didn’t say it, I didn’t have time to say it, but I knew that what came next was going to be a bitch of a thing to fight. We’d faced maybe a dozen last time and there had been four of us. Our only saving grace this time was that our weapons appeared to be effective, instead of useless.

“What is with this planet? Why do they all keep rushing us?” Larsen bitched.

My rifle clicked as its final magazine ran dry.

“I’m dry!” I cursed, letting my rifle fall away from me. I didn’t have time to retrieve the bayonet I’d left attached to it. I cursed my stupidity. I drew my pistol, firing as fast as I could pull the trigger.

A blur smashed into my hands, driving me back. My pistol vanished and a large spear had appeared stuck into the earth in front of me. That was one way for them to even the odds.

Men with dragon’s claws emblazoned on their armour rushed me from half a dozen metres away, raising sword, spear and axe. I stepped out and around from the spear, raising my dominant arm. I met their charge with the hard edges of my armoured fists, weaving between strikes and stabs.

Small fireball streaked out from behind the mass of mercenaries, then three more, streaking through the gaps in the enemy or arcing over them right towards me.

“Frag out!” I screamed, tossing a grenade as I dived out of the way of the literal incoming fire. More great balls of fire rained down around me and I scrambled to my feet. I had to keep moving.

An explosion ripped through the air, creating an area of carnage in front of me as shrapnel and force ripped through flesh, scoring several kills and incapacitating a few others. The ones out of range of the shrapnel and shockwave continued undeterred. My last grenade had bought me enough time to get to my feet, but they weren’t slowing down even a little bit.

As a man’s long legs propelled him towards me, I intercepted his lateral slash by stepping inside his swing and robbing it of power. A quick strike of my elbow crushed his throat, rendering his windpipe—if not his spine—broken in ways that would soon prove fatal. I continued the motion my elbow had began, spinning around the man to put him against my back.

Two more rushed me at once. I ducked low under their blades, moving away from my last opponent. When I rose up again I backhanded one man’s chin with a casual motion and he stumbled away.

The other man managed to slice my armour’s underlayer, drawing blood. That kind of pissed me off. A vicious straight punch caved his face in, turning it into a bloody mess.

I fought to keep on the periphery of the mass, always circling them, never losing myself in the veritable flood of the enemy. Easier said than done, believe me. Falling back into well-drilled manuevers, I found my rhythm. Deflect the blow off to one side with my armour, then crush his foot and move him into the path of lethal strikes meant for me. Disengage, then advance.

I gripped one man’s spear and pulled, ripping it from his hand entirely with my augmented strength. Surging forward I skewered him and pinned him to ground. Whirling, I backhanded another man and swayed to the side in time for a sword to skip off my shoulder, rocking away from the blow only to come back and smash through his ribs with my fist.

Every movement was smooth and each of my motions flowed from one to the next, borrowing momentum from the last. I kept myself moving, bounding between men with If I stopped even for a moment, they’d pin me down and strike.

Deflect, dodge, smash, disarm, throw, reposition.

Every time I dropped a body, I threw myself clear of those around me. I was, however, acutely aware that my luck couldn’t hold out forever. Even the best martial artist in the world would eventually be dragged down by sheer weight of numbers or plain bad luck, and I was far from holding that lofty title.

As I ducked under a sword thrust, a surge of heat slammed into my back. A sudden shockwave sent me sliding fast and I flipped myself onto my back. My suit screamed at me.

It was practically beating me over the head with a critical damage warning situated behind my shoulder blades. Worse than that though, I was on the ground; the worst place to be in a fight.

I twisted as I slid across the mud and got my feet under me, rising into a crouch as I dug my feet into the mud and stopped my forward momentum. Two men made to tackle me but a handful of quick strikes to their ribs quickly saw them out of the fight. A satisfying crunch sounded out and each man was sent tumbling away with cracked, if not broken bones. I parried a sword strike with the back of my armoured forearms and shoved its owner backwards, stepping into the space the man had occupied. A sudden thought struck me as I picked a new target amidst the chaos. Where the fuck was Eric?