4.The state of things

He led everyone over to the garage. Commander Dakka was already there prepping the truck. It was built for being off road. The maps they had looked at showed there was a wide path that got most of the way to the village, it used to be a highway. Roads outside of cities weren’t really maintained anymore other than the occasional clearing of trees so they were basically just wider swaths through the forest of relatively flat areas. There had been no point in attempting to maintain any roads after the invasion. At first humanity had no magic and cities were basically cut off from each other. Within weeks it had gotten to the point where you could no longer just walk down to the local gas station and put fuel in a vehicle so most of them weren’t in use after a year or two, the parts usually ended up being recycled for something more important. The farming and mining communities that were farther outside the city each tended to have one or two trucks per town for hauling things, and they were for the most part solar powered with battery storage so basically good enough for trips to and from the city with goods or useful for emergencies. By this point most people saw them as an oddity. Technology had been fused with magic for most things and made lives easier, but travelling anywhere but to and from a city was extremely dangerous there just wasn’t any point in moving invention in that direction anymore.

They all climbed into the back of the truck, stowing their gear. Dakka climbed in the cab as did Fred. Dakka would drive and Fred would navigate. Given the trip, it was also helpful for Fred to be up front to use his nature magic to move things out of the way to make the going easier.

Blackclaw looked at the truck and cocked his head to the side. Then laughed and jumped up into the back with the others, taking a seat on the bench next to Rayne. “I’ve heard of these things before but never seen such a conveyance. You humans make some interesting things.” He looked at Rayne “How does this uh…truck work? There is nothing in front to pull it, and nothing behind to push it.”

Rayne thumped on the back of the cab twice, Fred slid open the window in the back so they could talk easier. Commander Dakka started up the truck, hearing Rayne’s tapping as a signal everyone was loaded in with their gear. The truck rumbled to life and pulled out of the garage, starting on its way out of the city.

“The Lore Keepers tell us that before the invasion, nearly everyone had a vehicle like this to themselves. In those times, they ran off of gasoline that was made from oil pumped out of the ground in mass quantities. Obviously after the Fae and the vamps invaded that wasn’t an option anymore. It wasn’t until after your people first talked to us, and later when we were able to develop our own magic that a few of them came into use again. It was called an internal combustion engine. Basically it has a chamber in the engine that continuously has tiny little explosions in it that push pistons that drive the wheels, similar to something pedaled or geared, but slightly more complex. So the gasoline used to be used as the fuel to create these little explosions in the engine. Since that was no longer an option, eventually they got adapted by the Lore Keepers that the right combination of sigils was found and engraved on the engine that it now uses fire and wind magic in order to create the tiny explosions and basically anything organic can be used as a fuel source. If you look in the window there between the Commander and Fred..” Rayne pointed into the cab for Blackclaw who looked fascinated, in the center of the console there was a compartment with a grate on the front that was glowing a faint blue. “In that little compartment we can put near anything in and it slowly gets converted to energy for the magic to run. For example, before we got to the garage considering the distance of our trip, Dakka put probably a piece of wood about the size of my forearm in there. The trip over the next three days out and three days back will only take about a quarter inch off of that piece of wood. There are also black plates on the top of the cabin and the sides of where we’re sitting that you might have seen when you got it in. They take sunlight and convert it to energy as well. MAGUS owns all of the working vehicles because nobody else has any real need for them. Some of the farther out settlements have one for the town’s use, but most people don’t really like them. Its loud and the roads are full of holes which make the trucks buck like a wild horse sometimes. We use them because they are quick and cover more distance than a group of walking humans. We can’t all change into wolves or those bigger wolf shapes your people can take on to run through the woods and since we don’t have a lycanthrope’s endurance even if we did run through the woods all day we’d be exhausted. This way we can get somewhere relatively quickly and still be rested enough to get right to the mission when we get there.”

“Quite interesting. You do realize this conveyance will give away our position for some distance though right?”

“Yeah, but the truck is only to get us close to the village. We’ll still have a couple leagues to go when we stop before we actually get to the village you spoke of. The road doesn’t go that far. Since its wide, we can’t use the game trails that will go off to the village and obviously we can’t drive through the forest, that’s part of why Fred is sitting up front. He will move any errant plants out of the way that he can to make sure we can get as far as we should be able to.”

“So he asks the plants to move?”

“Kinda, at least that’s close to how he explains it. He says that his magic is often more asking then commanding or using like the rest of us. I don’t have a lot of experience with nature magic myself, but I can tell you for sure he’s certainly effective even though he doesn’t like to fight if its not necessary.”

“Yes, Esmerelda gave me a quick overview of your human magic when I first got to the city. Just the basics though and how it is different than our own. I would like to know more about it when we get back. She told me enough to know what your magic was typically capable of. My kind has seen it enough on the battlefield for decades but this is the first time in just as long that humans and a lycanthrope will be fighting in tandem so I wanted to be at least somewhat prepared for what to expect. My tribe hasn’t attacked a human settlement in longer than I’ve been alive so I’ve only heard stories for the most part. When we get back would there be any way to learn more?”

“Perhaps. That’s a little above my pay grade. I can show you the things I know, but other than fire magic, I only have a cursory knowledge of the other paths. I can teach you how we view the basics of how we view magic though. Anything in depth though, you’d have to go through chain of command to have one of the Lore Keepers be a tutor at the discretion of the MAGUS higher ups. But you won’t be able to use our magic. Why the interest?”

“A good warrior is always prepared for any situation. Since your MAGUS approached us in the spirit of cooperation we have always found that a warrior fares better knowing as much as possible about both his enemies as well as his allies. My father has also always stressed that to better understand someone you should see as much of their culture as possible to better understand their motivations. My younger brother, Shadow, does not agree. He would rather we shun your kind and continue the fight in our own way without help against the Fae and the vampires. He does not quite understand that we have lost ground as long as the war has gone on over the centuries. We win a battle here or there, but no true gains. My father had a less than positive reaction when some of your MAGUS members showed up in our village. He remembers when humans first pushed us away and started attacking our village as if we were the monsters that we are all fighting against. So at first he was apprehensive to deal with your kind at all, but he knew that we were slowly losing our foothold even in this plane and we would need allies. At first he kept trying to catch MAGUS members in lies, thinking they were trying to trick us into being vulnerable, but eventually he saw that they saw along the same path that we did. The Fae are winning and we can’t both fight independently and expect any lasting gains. My kind is born in war, we’re forged by battles. We were mitigated to a buffer between your kind and the Fae forces for the most part, but we aren’t the unthinking uncultured beasts some of the humans believe we are.” He glanced at Ryan quickly then looked back. “My father was like I said apprehensive. When he realized that MAGUS was no longer trying to trick us and was offering actual cooperation, he did not believe that humanity was strong enough to help. Regardless of the fact that you’ve still survived, and your ingenuity allows you to work around your physical limitations, he was still hesitant. I never saw him fully committed until he got the report back from our embassy in New New York that asked for me to bring your squad the information I pulled from the satyr.”

“Do you think it was because of it being the first joint mission where we’ll be fighting together? That you will be able to go back to him with first hand knowledge that we are not as weak as some believe? I would think that when the MAGUS agents came out to offer the olive branch so to speak to cooperate, they could have proven themselves.” Rayne asked. He felt as if Blackclaw was hiding something, almost a nervous energy from the werewolf.

“No. The agents that came to us five years ago were very capable in combat. They are part of the reason Shadow wants nothing to do with your kind. One of them beat him in a fair fight. It seems that he holds a grudge being beaten by a “weaker” opponent, at least in his eyes. He doesn’t quite understand that the strength of a warrior is not solely in physical strength, that is just typically how a lycanthrope shows strength. My father was quite impressed by the agents that came to our village. Three of the six of them that underwent our challenge of combat emerged victorious against some of our best warriors. That is saying a lot considering at the time most of the tribe thought humans were mostly weak. The three that won showed great courage, tenacity, and honor. They were accepted as tribe brothers and sisters and given a mark that proved they were to be accepted in the village so long as they wished and were friends of the tribe. Isn’t that right Commander?” he spoke up over the engine, sure that Dakka was listening. Dakka merely nodded. Dakka was not an instructor at the MAGUS academy so Rayne and Ryan hadn’t known him. Fred had been pulled from another squad that had a full time job at a farming community, and Sebastian had been a former guard at headquarters until they had all been pulled under Commander Dakka. They hadn’t known him until they were put together three years ago so nobody ever questioned the tribal tattoo on his neck. They all knew it wasn’t part of his magic sigil, but one of the first things they learned about Dakka was that he was a private man and tended to have a strong stance on fraternizing between commanding officer and agents. It wasn’t that he frowned on it, he just wasn’t in his nature to share intimate details of his life with his squad or typically anyone else for that matter. Blackclaw continued.

Rayne still got the feeling Blackclaw as hiding something or trying to deflect the conversation. He felt he had to know in case it affected the Dragons’ safety in the upcoming mission. “You didn’t answer the question though. Why is it that your father all of a sudden was fully behind this mission if the MAGUS agents five years ago proved themselves that humankind wasn’t weak?”

Blackclaw sighed, which seemed an odd coming from someone so naturally imposing. “I will tell you but you must not be angry. You already know my kind take prophecies seriously, I happened to overhear agent Fred speaking about it when I we were back at the Dragon compound while I was coming down the hall. Werewolf hearing after all. My father was debating on who to send to the city. I had volunteered because I was the one that had gotten the information in the first place and it would go a long way towards relations with our kind and MAGUS if the son of the tribe’s chief were to be sent. He was not so sure that it was me he wanted to send, there were several capable warriors that could have come in my place. I argued with him that I was the best choice, although in truth part of it was selfish. I have been curious about humans for quite some time and have never been inside your city. With my father’s lessons about knowing the culture and ways of enemy and ally alike I wanted to see what you were actually like, not just the couple that I’d met, but where I could observe humans on their own hunting grounds so to speak. Anyway, it didn’t seem like my father was going to budge on this point until he got the report from the embassy. When he opened up the copies of the personnel files MAGUS had given to the embassy to send, his eyes lit up. I was standing nearby, and he looked up at me and declared that I was to be the one to come to the city and join this mission. Agent Rayne I tell you and your squad this in strict confidence. For the first time in my life, I saw hope in my father’s eyes. There is a prophecy of a child born to the leader of a pack under the light of a crescent moon. The prophecy is one of the few the last Seer had that has not yet come true and is running close to fifty years. It was also the first prophecy she had ever had so the legends say it is the one most likely to come true and with the farthest reaching consequences. This child is supposed to change the balance of the world and help us topple the Fae. The child is called the Uraworma, it means Blessed One in the language of the spirits. It is also said the Moon Mother will show her blessing on the child when it is born, and the first ray of moonlight hits the baby, turning its hair and eyes silver, the color of moonlight, and a mark of the crescent moon on the child’s skin. There was a village a little over twenty years ago of the Stormwolf tribe whose pack leader’s mate was having a baby. The village was slaughtered by the Fae that very night and razed to the ground. The warriors from our village arrived too late to help them, but stayed there through the next several days with some of the local shamans. They cleared away what they could and found the bodies of almost all of the known inhabitants. The village’s pack leader was found but his mate was not, and neither was the child that had been born on that dreadful night. We were able to bargain with the spirits in the area once they were settled down and found out the mother had escaped with the baby. They told us that she had been moving straight toward your city, but they lost track of her. Even in the best of times, gaining information from the spirits is often fickle so unfortunately her location had been lost after that. Agent Rayne my father saw in the personnel files sent from MAGUS each of you Dragons’ pictures and then decided that I was to be our tribe’s representative on this mission. Do you understand where this is headed? Do you know who your parents are? What my father thought when he saw your picture, a human with silver hair, silver eyes, and a crescent moon mark around his eye?” he was all serious, making sure the weight of what he was asking was sinking in.

It suddenly now made sense to Rayne why Blackclaw had looked at him so strangely when they met. He knew the werewolves put a lot of stock in prophecies, but he couldn’t actually believe where this was headed. He couldn’t think that someone as level headed as Blackclaw believed in some silly superstitious story. He answered as politely as he could at the moment. He was sure Blackclaw had reacted the way he had when they met because seeing a picture is one thing, but seeing someone in person and getting a measure of them was another. “I’ve had this mark as long as I can remember as I’ve told you before. I don’t know my birth parents. I’m an orphan. Selena Hammer is my mother, she raised me since I was a child and abandoned at the gates late one night. My birth mother apparently died while handing me off to the guards while some Fae monsters hunted her. While that all fits with your father’s theory, the fact is I’m human. I couldn’t have been born to one of your pack leaders. I’ve grown up in the city. I’ve never shapeshifted like your kind and the sigil tattoo took hold. I use human magic, something werewolves cannot do. While I respect your traditions, I can tell you for sure that what your father is hoping for is just a couple of coincidences. Yes, we and the rest of MAGUS are glad for your information and want to finally take the fight to the True Fae, but I’m not some child of prophecy your father thinks I am.” He was angry but he didn’t know why. Rayne felt like someone was trying to put a mantle and more pressure on him. As if keeping a squad of Dragons from being killed wasn’t enough pressure, now someone wanted him to be a hero. Trying to take the choices out of his life.

“Selena Hammer. Will you allow me to meet her when we get back? No accusations, but if what you say is true, I would like to get all of the details of her finding you in order to give a full report to my father so that he can start looking for a werewolf that might be the Uraworma.”

“Look, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I agreed to teach you the basics of our magic, and I’ll honor that agreement, but I don’t think you should be outside of the MAGUS part of the city and the embassy. The neighborhood where she lives is outside of that district, and as you know off limits to non humans currently.” What a strange request he thought

“Very well. I understand your hesitation. You barely know me. Perhaps you may change your mind or decide to at least tell her that I would like to speak with her and allow her to make her own decision after we battle the Fae. I respect your decision either way.” Blackclaw did not look ok with Rayne’s decision currently. His eyes simmered with rage, he was not used to being dismissed so easily. He had to remind himself that these people were not werewolves. While their fighting spirit and pack tactics were similar, they were human. He was not the alpha here like he was with his own pack in his own village.

The rest of the day passed in silence. Rayne took a shift at the wheel, Ryan taking the passenger’s seat so Fred could get a rest. She couldn’t move things out of their way but she had sharp vision that had only enhanced after she got her sigil. She could keep them clear of anything in the path. Rayne was still shaking with anger when he had relieved the Commander at the wheel. By swapping out members behind the wheel and as lookout, they could go continuously and sleep in shifts but still travel throughout the night. It was hard to not see the wide swath the old highway ran through the forest and through the mountains. While the road had crumbled in the last one hundred years, the tunnel that ran through the mountain had not barely deteriorated. There were some spots that the tiles had fallen or cracked, and there was a trickle of a stream on one side of the tunnel but other than that it looked mostly untouched by time. Vehicles no longer used traditional headlights, instead in the cavity they had a metal irregular cone with a crystal set in them that would continuously emit light. The crystals were hooked up to the same magic hybrid engine. The switch for the lights had been replaced by a metal shutter that could be used to filter the light to more focused beams or close out the light altogether.

They swapped out at regular intervals over the course of three days. They made it to the stopping point, the end of the road. It was night time. The Dragons and Blackclaw grabbed their gear and got out of the truck. Once the engine was shut off, the lights went out as well, but Commander Dakka closed the light shutters anyway. The light crystals still had a residual charge so they would stay lit for at least an hour, no sense in giving away their position if something did happen to sneak by the sweepers.

It was a warm summer night, but was starting to cool, summer would be over soon but the weather was already turning cooler like autumn was coming. The moon was a waning crescent, not making the night very bright. It wouldn’t have really mattered anyway, the heavy forest cover darkened their path anyway. To a Dragon or a werewolf the darkness was a minor inconvenience. The magical sigils gave them enhanced vision that allowed them to see in dim light and werewolves by their very nature reflexively shifted their eyes to be able to see at night. They made their way through the forest, checking the stars before they headed in to confirm they were moving in the correct direction.

After an hour of hiking they made it within site of the village. A bonfire was lit in the center of town and figures moving or sitting nearby it. That wasn’t standard protocol. The Dragons slowed down when they got about two hundred yards out and made it a point to be quiet, sneak up on whatever was in the village. As they got closer, Rayne was only about fifty feet from the perimeter when he watched the tall grass five feet to his side shift and a black wolf walk out and into the perimeter of the village. As the wolf walked, it shifted as it walked and Blackclaw turned back into his large human shaped self. He looked back.

“It is clear Agent Rayne. It is just the villagers surrounding the fire. Your other agents are here and on the perimeter.” Then tapped his nose. Rayne didn’t think about the werewolf’s sense of smell was even better than his vision, of course he knew it was ok.

Rayne and the others came out of the forest and walked into the village, into the firelight. A man in his mid-thirties walked up the Commander Dakka, his left fist going to his chest in salute. “Commander Dakka. The surrounding area is clear of Fae troops. We cleared it shortly after we got here. There wasn’t much left after the villagers scoured the woods. You’re clear up through the tunnel. The pack her has helped us since we got here. They are out on patrol with a couple of my team for backup. They say these fae in that were in the area smell like spring, roses, and musk, whatever that combination is supposed to smell like.”

“Thanks agent. We’re going to head out in the morning. It has been a long trip just on the road and I know we have another couple days getting up to the recon point. How far out has your team gone?”

“The old tunnel that goes through the mountain is only about an hour’s walk from here. The construction for the most part is definitely ours from a long time ago, like the one on the road on the way here, but then it gets odd about halfway through. I can’t really explain it other than about halfway through the tunnel on the north wall is another opening. It’s an archway that ramps upward and fairly large across. I’m sure that’s where you’ll be heading, but the tunnel beyond the archway looks like it’s made of solid ice. There is a cold breeze coming out of the tunnel but since we’re only at the end of summer, I can’t really explain it.” the lead agent told Dakka. “on the plus side, these werewolves are a real asset. Glad MAGUS has decided we’re working with them instead of against them. They make great scouts with their sense of smell in the dark, although it is a little terrifying to watch someone your own size all of a sudden turn into a seven-foot tall monster that’s all teeth and claws and fur that can rip through anything.”

“Yeah, it can be disconcerting until you get used to it. It’ll come in time with working with them. We’re going to get some shut eye and head out just before dawn. So unless your orders say otherwise, you are free to go whenever we leave. It’s going to take us at least a day to get up to the recon point a day there likely, and a day back.“ Dakka told the agent from the sweeper team.

“Very good sir. With all due respect. We aren’t due to go back for another couple days. We’ll stay here in the village. Most of us have never interacted with the werewolves before if it wasn’t from across a bloody field. The shaman of the village has been showing us some of their practices. I’m going to keep my team here since we’re learning about our new allies to be able to give a more full report of their capabilities and tactics back at HQ. The more MAGUS knows about who they are and what they can do from their perspective, the better we’ll be able to integrate together when everything hits the fan. Especially if your own mission is successful. Besides, these people are easy enough to get along with. They see things more like a Dragon does than the normal civvies back home. I’ll not keep you from shut eye sir. Everything is secure, we’ll be keeping it that way until you return.”

“Good to hear. I’m sure our superiors will appreciate the forward thinking and any insight into working with the werewolves since that’s the policy.” Dakka nodded to the agent. Blackclaw was standing behind him when he turned around.

“I’ve talked to the village shaman. He’s loaning us a roof for the night. The rest of your squad is already inside. I’ll show you.” Blackclaw led Dakka across the village to a small square building out of the way. Sure enough everyone had stowed their gear where it was easily retrieved and had found a spot on the floors with their bedrolls.

The night passed without incident. Commander Dakka woke up, not surprised to see Rayne already up, getting gear together, and waking everyone else. He was proud of the young man, and it reinforced his decision in his own mind that making Rayne first officer to take over should something happen was the correct decision. He knew he wouldn’t live forever, and he could already see and feel the earth magic seeping in and changing him. It had been the last couple years. It would only be a few more before his body wouldn’t be able to keep up with the younger agents, it was already starting to happen on occasion, especially with his current squad. Perhaps it was time to seriously consider a transfer to one of the outlying villages. He still had some good time in him yet so no sense in considering it today. He got up and felt the slight stiffness he’d been getting used to the last couple months, like his skin and bones wanted to stay in place. They already looked like stone, but the stiffness he felt was only every so often and worked itself out in a couple minutes, just enough for him to be cognizant of its presence.

A testament to their training, and the discipline it took to be a Dragon, the squad was up and ready to go in ten minutes, with everything in its place and only the displacement of some of the dirt floor that marked they had ever been there.

They moved out a couple minutes later. Toward the tunnel and the odd side tunnel the sweeper team’s agent had mentioned. Dawn was just starting by the time they made it through the tunnel to the side tunnel. It was still dark but they could make out the large arch that made up the side tunnel. It was odd as the sweeper agent had noticed. The air in the main tunnel was still warm being summer, but when they got to the side tunnel the temperature suddenly dropped but only within a couple feet of the entrance. There were crystalline protrusions jutting from the arch out into the main tunnel. Just as they reached the entrance, the sun came up over the mountains in the east. The main tunnel lit up and they could see it was similar to the one they had driven through a couple days ago, a relic from pre-invasion construction. As the daylight hit the crystals of the side tunnel though the whole of it lit up. When the light hit the crystals at the entrance it was as if they amplified the light and reflected it back into the side tunnel, making it as bright full daylight. The squad could see after the crystals lit up that they were a white and blue like ice, and the breeze that was coming out of the tunnel actually the occasional flake of snow in it, even though the temperature change didn’t seem to be extreme enough to support snow. The floor of the tunnel confirmed that for there was no snow evident, it only existed in the breeze.

They all looked to the Commander for an explanation on the crystals at least. Dakka put his hand out and down on one of the crystals around the archway. It was cool to the touch, but not freezing. It wasn’t ice, just a blue and white crystal that might have been grown. He pulled his hand back just like touching any other stone. “Seems safe enough. Let’s get moving.”

Sebastian started off ahead of everyone else, the rest giving him a couple moments to get ahead. He was as quiet as a shadow. Nothing really could be done for concealment, the tunnel moved steadily upward. There was the occasional column of crystal, but other than that the tunnel was completely open and the crystals were along all the walls only jutting out a foot or two at random angles and lengths. I looked near like something had just bored through the tunnel they had come from to make a direct path up the mountain. The temperature stayed chilled but not enough to be uncomfortable. They continued to make their way through for about an hour or so before coming up to a large chamber. The far side of the chamber looked like it opened up to the outside. Sebastian looked around, no sign of anything in the chamber. He moved around the edge and got halfway across before he noticed the far side of the chamber did in fact open up to the outside and standing there just outside the archway was a sentry. It was a satyr standing just outside the archway. It looked like it was drawing in the dirt with the butt of the spear it carried. It always struck Sebastian how odd most of the Fae creatures were. Its body was that of a goat from the waist down, its fur brown and greasy. While it was humanoid from the waist up, the fur from its legs continued up its back and joined the mane of hair that grew on its head. Great bone ram horns grew from its head on either side. Its hands had elongated fingers that ended in wicked claws. There had been reports years ago that there were some satyrs that were of a more savage bend, larger and angrier, that poisoned their claws and fought like that instead of with weapons. Nobody had seen those satyrs in a long time and it made Sebastian think about Blackclaw talking about different courts of Fae. As it was, there was enough variation in the Fae soldiers that he didn’t need to worry about any more. Just one sentry wasn’t an issue, especially not when it was looking away and otherwise occupied. He had already cast a slight spell to silence his steps. The problem was with these crystals there was literally no shadows anywhere because the room essentially all glowed with light. He made the short sprint to the archway and buried a dagger into the base of the skull of the satyr while it was distracted. It barely struggled before his blade severed the spinal cord, near instantly killing it. Sebastian confirmed there were no other sentries around. The archway out of the tunnel did lead further up the mountain. There was a single trail with grass growing along it that moved forward and up. One the left side was a steep grade that would basically require climbing and to the right side of the walkway was a sheer cliff that led to the valley below. He removed his dagger from the back of satyr’s skull and tossed the body off the cliff. It bounced several times while it was still within sight and the body looked like a contorted ragdoll before it passed a cliff and dropped out of sight. He turned back through the archway, moved a couple fingers in the right pass over his mouth and whispered. “Clear. There was only one sentry, taken care of.” The spell used the wind to carry his whisper to the Commander who was waiting for the all clear.

Dakka heard Sebastian’s whisper waved everyone else on. They met up with Sebastian just past where he had dispatched the satyr. They checked the map, if they went up the path it would come out on the other side of the small forest across from the supposed Fae stronghold. Climbing straight up from where they were there was a three hundred foot climb but would put them off to the side instead, into the forest at a less conspicuous place so they would opt for that route. Either way when they cleared the ridge, they should be able to see the stronghold. It wasn’t a sheer cliff to the side so they opted to just go up from here, less chance of encountering anything on the way up. Even being exposed on the climb should not pose a problem. Anything coming down the path because of the bend would basically have to be on top of them to be able to see them.

Dakka took some rope out of his pack and tied himself off, Blackclaw was tied to him and then Fred, Sebastian, Rayne, Ryan, and Moose bringing up the rear. Dakka started chanting and rubbed his hands together. They started to glow a soft yellow brown light, then his boots did the same thing. He clapped his hands together as the trigger to finish the spell and started toward the climbing face. As his hands and feet touched the rock it sank in and sloughing out like mud to leave hand and foot holds even the most novice climber could follow. Once his hand or foot was no longer in contact with the rock, it would revert to its normal self just leaving behind the indent to grab. He scaled the face quickly while Ryan and Sebastian watched down the path while they climbed. Everything went very smooth, the cleared the edge of the ridge in barely any time. They were in the forest. The ropes were untied and stowed away again. Looking across the plateau, the forest went on for some time. To the west where the edge of the cliff overlooking the next valley, there was a clearing of the trees. It looked like beyond the clearing was a building of some kind, but there was only one way to find out.

“’It’s time. Sebastian, link us up.” Rayne said.

Sebastian started a chant, running his hands through mystic passes. His voice as the chanting kept going on took on a hissing tone slowly dropping in volume until they stopped altogether. Rather the sound of his voice stopped for a few moments as his words continued through the last couple phrases.

“It is done.” They all heard in Sebastian’s voice. Rayne looked at Blackclaw and held up his hand. The werewolf was about to speak. Rayne’s mouth moved, not a whisper coming out, but all of them could hear his words regardless. “The spell will link us together. It will allow you to communicate in silence to any of us that are nearby. The range is limited, but all you have to do is whisper or form the words in your mind and with your mouth like you’re speaking. The wind carries the words, but the mind picks up on it to ensure silence when its needed. Its simpler than a communicator and quieter.” He explained to the werewolf. No reason to give away all their secrets at one time, what Rayne didn’t tell Blackclaw was that if one focused on a member that was linked you could also hear what was going on around them, even if whatever is said or the surrounding sounds are not meant for whomever was listening. It would let him keep an ear on their new ally so to speak.

“Yes, we have a similar magic ritual, but that involves a spirit carrying a message, not always reliable even if the distance can be greater.”

They started off. Not more than a couple minutes moving through the forest, they had to stop as a patrol of dryads and satyrs moved through the forest. They waited for them to pass and started toward the clearing again. As they moved through the forest, it became apparent that they were certainly in the right place. There were patrols roaming and covering the forest every couple of minutes. It took an hour just to get to the edge of the clearing, but they were avoided all of the patrols.

When they got to the edge of the clearing, the trees stopped but they stopped all the way along the plateau. From where the trees stopped to the edge of the cliff was a castle fortress. The wall stood fifty feet high and created a semicircle around the fortress. There were guard towers on either side of the gate. The walls were covered with vines and flowering plants. Along the top of the wall were stationed lookouts. Humanoid creatures that ranged in skin tone from light to dark green. They wore leather and pelts. Each had a bow and quiver slung across its back, and some kind of melee weapon hung form their belts. Their features were elongated in lupine with tusks jutting out of their lower jaws, orcs. There were only a couple here and there. From inside the walls, they could hear grunting and sounds of exertion. It was rhythmic and mostly in time with one voice calling out then the rest echoing. The agents might not recognize the individual voices, but all of them recognized the sound of combat training.

Inside the wall was a courtyard where the sounds of training were coming from. Beyond the courtyard was a keep that edged up to the cliff and overlooked the valley to the west. They stayed within the forest so the sentries on the walls wouldn’t see them and started moving off toward the cliff in the west. They looked down into the valley several hundred feet down. There was a sheer cliff for some of it before sloping down into the valley. From this vantage they could see that where the castle was sitting on the ledge was actually a section of rock that was hanging over the open valley. Down in the valley even from this distance they could see a wasps’ nest of activity.

Commander Dakka pulled off his pack and pulled out a set of binoculars to get a better look. The rest of the squad watched as his face stiffened. He wasn’t one to show emotion, but over the last couple years they had been working together, the squad had learned the subtle hints and muscle twitches. Something bad was going on down there. Dakka handed over the binoculars to Rayne while Ryan pulled out her own set to give the rest of them an idea of what was going on. Rayne looked through the binoculars and started scanning the valley. He saw hordes of dryads, satyrs, orcs, smaller yellow and brown skinned goblins and other things he couldn’t even name moving around. At first he thought the trees were moving until he realized that the Fae creatures were actually using magic to make catapults out of living trees and in fact there were some giant monstrosities moving around that did actually look like trees, forest walkers they were called.

“Is that what I think it is?” Rayne looked at the Commander.

Dakka sighed ever so slightly “Yeah, looks like Blackclaw’s intel was right. They are coming for us, and soon. That’s the preparations for a marching army. Looks like our job just got harder. We’re going to have to go inside and see if we can find more specific details like when the axe is going to fall on us.”

They were still within the tress, but there was a short run along the edge of the cliff that led up to the keep behind a spot where the wall turned into the keep. The path was only about ten foot wide and led straight to the stone wall of the keep. Any normal invaders wouldn’t normally get this close to the keep nor would that path be wide enough to get anything capable of breaching the wall into so small a space without being rained down on from the wall, but the Dragons were not normal invaders.

Once they got to the short path by the curve of the wall, the overhang of the keep would shield them from prying eyes. The sentries weren’t as attentive as they should be. It seemed to be a common element that most Fae were easily distracted or didn’t focus much on a task for any extended period of time, it just wasn’t in their nature. The orcs and goblins weren’t typical Fae creatures and didn’t have the same lack of attention issues. Luckily for the Dragons, the only sentry within sight was a satyr that looked as often back down into the courtyard as he did outside the walls. For the most part the only thing they could stay focused on was combat.

The squad waited for the sentry to look away and made a break for the path next to the wall. They made it before the sentry looked back and were in the clear. Nothing would see them here unless there were patrols moving around the wall.

Dakka moved forward, starting the same chant he had at the cliff they climbed earlier but in a lower volume. When he brought his hands together he timed it with the rhythmic clashing in the courtyard so they wouldn’t be overheard. He reached toward the wall of the keep down towards the ground. They had noticed earlier that the keep extended below the overhang of the cliff as well so part of it was below the plateau. That section looked as though it had been carved or molded form a single stone rather than the more traditional stone and mortar that was above. While the wall into the keep ahead of them was still stone, Dakka’s shaping spell didn’t work quite as quickly because it wasn’t natural stone. Worked stone was fine for moving and flinging around, but this quiet shaping spell didn’t work quite as fast on it as it did on natural rock formations like the cliff. Still, before it ended he was able to make a hole in the wall large enough for everyone to get through. He signaled them all through.

As they were moving inside, Dakka grabbed Rayne’s arm as he was going through the hole. “You’re in charge for now. Go get what we need. I’m going to give us a distraction if we need it.” he lifted his pack and it was one of the first times Rayne had ever seen the Commander’s face turn up into a great big smile. Rayne nodded and went through into the keep and the darkness while Dakka stayed outside and reached into his bag.

He walked away from the hole he created and started walking around the perimeter of the keep along the narrow path on the outer edge of the overhanging. He walked the whole way around the keep to know the distance he had to work with. Normally earth magic wasn’t subtle, but he’d had years of experience and covert missions that a lot of his repertoire was by this point, however this situation would require some force to do what he planned. As Commander Dakka started back around the keep he listened to the training in the courtyard and the clang of weapons could be heard. While he made his way back to where he had opened the wall for the team, he kneeled down at regular distances. He curled up his hand into a fist, pulled back his arm and listened. As the clash of metal sounded in the courtyard he punched into the ground. The sound would be muffled over the sounds of the courtyard. When he punched the ground however the stone shattered and his fist went into it, creating a rough cylinder about the length of his fist to elbow. When the punch was complete, he opened his hand to scoop out any of the loose rock rubble that was left over. As he pulled his hand out of the empty cylinder his other hand reached into his bag and pulled out a spherical object about the size of a baseball. He held it up and opened a cover on it. under the cover was two dials, he turned one of them five clicks to the right, closed the cover, and dropped the sphere into the cylinder. Then he pushed the leftover rubble in on top of it. once the rubble was on top, he waved his hand over the cylinder in a quick harsh movement and the stone above the sphere closed back up as if the cylinder was never there. He repeated the process over and over again every ten steps or so until he made it back to the hole in the wall. The whole process had taken about an hour, hopefully they will have found something and will be out soon Dakka thought to himself. The last sphere cylinder was ten steps away, no use placing one in front of the hole, that’s where the team would be exiting. With any luck this would be enough to shake the keep down and send the Fae scrambling while they made a getaway.

Satisfied with his work, he looked back down the path toward the forest just in time to see a satyr and a dryad had come around the wall. The dryad loosed an arrow just as Dakka lifted his arm with a fist and a column of stone came up and hit the satyr in the face, snapping its head back and hopefully breaking its neck. The arrow struck Dakka in the chest by his shoulder. Despite his flesh having taken on some of the characteristics of stone, it wasn’t that much harder than normal. He felt the arrow pierce him and the wound burned. He’d gotten careless in his haste to get a little payback. Dakka tried to wave his arms quickly through another pass with another incantation to stop the dryad but suddenly he felt the burn of his wound again then everything started to go dark. The stone seemed to be coming up to meet him and then there was darkness.