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Likewise, there were High Men, sometimes called Eagle-Men, and other humanoids.

And, what we were counting on, monsters.

Viper Hounds, Tree Scorpions, Skull Lurkers... anything that ate people was suddenly our unwilling ally. But we needed to know where those allies were, and the best paths to lead our enemies near them.

For their part, the enemies were being smart. They had scouts of their own, and made use of them. So it boiled down, for those first two days, into a contest of mobility and knowledge of the land.

And then, the smoke columns were spotted near Whitehill, and our knights mounted up to ride that way.

“Traitors and assholes!” Gyrfalcon raged.

“Obedient.” Lady Uma said. “They’re to harass the supply lines and rear guard of the army, and avoid pitched battle.”

I blinked. It was daring, yes, leaving us eighteen on our own. Hansa, and other wounded, were currently within the walls of Whitehill.

.....

“What are we to do, then?” Gyrfalcon asked.

Uma scratched the base of her horn, looked at me. “How many are following us?”

“Three hundred, that I can verify. It’s a mix of spearmen and archers.”

“All hobgoblin?” she asked.

“There are a few ape-things in the ranks, but they seem to be supply bearers rather than soldiers.” I said. “They have a few goblins mixed in with their scouts, but none among their archers.”

She ground her hoof back and forth. “How did they get so many trained troops in such a short time? Okay, I need you to scout Bone Lake.”

Bone lake is that kidney shaped thing on your maps. In the early spring, it was swollen with rainfall. During the summer, it shrank, usually freezing over in late fall. Wherever the water touched, it bleached color and poisoned life, giving it a white bonelike bowl.

“If we just leave the enemy to the lake, some fool or other will try drinking from it.” I said.

“If we just leave them the lake,” she countered, “they’ll know something’s up. So since we can’t afford to become pinned down, we need to know when their forward element reaches any hill near the lake.”

I smacked my lips. The logic was sound, and the duty clearly mine. Although I wasn’t the ultimate stalker of the woods, I had rank 6 in both Concealed Movement and Move Silently.

Against city folk, I actually was just a shadow silently moving through the woods. Against goblin scouts? The best ally I had was the bright, bright sunlight.

At night... I had to get creative, but more on that later.

I was three eighths of the way around when things went wrong. Oh, I wasn’t seen; things just went wrong.

It is impossible to hide large numbers of men, no matter how disciplined. The noise, the stench, the feel of sweat on the air... troops give themselves away. So when I had a chance to look over a ridge to the west, I did so.

Five, ten, fifteen... roughly twenty squad flags, each followed by roughly ten soldiers, then another rank of flags, and more that I could hear behind them.

So, six hundred, and likely more. Why were they all here? Surely, they weren’t trying to cut us off from... but they didn’t know Bone Lake was naturally poisoned. To them, it was a spot of blue where two rivers merged.

I scratched my jawline. They... they were coming to hold the lake, while their fellows besieged Whitehill. Deprived of water, there would be limited places we could go.

I hastened back the way I had come.

It wasn’t a bad plan, it just depended on the Bone Lake and the Pale River that flowed from it into the Muck being normal water.

I wondered, briefly, whether they knew about the Muck Hydra being able to spit streams of the alkaline water with great accuracy. If not, they were in for a nasty surprise.

I had to go clockwise around the lake; their scouts were already on the west bank, and proceeding northward toward me.

Likewise, I had to stop twice, once curled around the base of a rock, and once among the tree roots, due to scouts already on the east side of the lake. It was insane... except, as I pointed out, that they were acting on incomplete knowledge.

As we were, as all armies through history have done.

When I left the area, the entire northern curve of the lake was occupied by tents, with more soldiers spreading out to either side. I revised my estimate up to eight hundred soldiers, and made good time back to our camp.

“Only eight hundred?” Uma asked. “I’m offended. You should be, too.”

“How is it that they didn’t catch you, if they had forces on both flanks, as you say?” Gyrfalcon asked.

Uma pointed at me. “This one, when he isn’t talking, makes about as much noise as a fart. Less, if you choose the wrong fart to compare him to. He’s no good in battle, but there are some things you can count on from him, like an honest report.”

“I saw eight hundred infantry.” I said, “but there could be more. I didn’t see the lizard riders from yesterday, or their supply train.”

“They’ll have THAT inside walls before our knights even return.” Gyrfalcon said.

“They aren’t returning.” Uma said.

“They WHAT?” he squeaked.

“Their job is to distract the enemy main force.” Uma said. “I thought I was clear on that this morning.”

He tugged at one of his horns, as though worried it had come loose. “But that makes no sense. It leaves us exposed. Even thirty of their cavalry can pin us down until their eight hundred soldiers can surround us.”

“Which is why we aren’t staying here.” Uma explained. “One of us can run for two hours straight without fatiguing, or so I’m told.”

Yeah, I didn’t have a single rank of Danger Sense, and it was still going off.

I sighed. “Where am I most needed?”

“We need you on the west side of Bone Lake.” Uma said. “We’re going to be heading to the walls of Whitehill.”

I rubbed my eyes. “That’s... the exact opposite of what I thought we were doing here.”

“We were supposed to be distracting half their army, not some tiny spit force. Still...” she pointed a thumb at Gyrfalcon, “the young one is right. We can’t fight eight hundred with what we have here. We need them distracted.”

“Distracted... how?” I asked

She snorted, and rolled her eyes. “YOU are going to let them see you.” she said. “And although acting is a Charima skill, you’re going to pretend that you just glitched a stealth check.”

“I’m sorry. I’m going to what?” I asked.

“Ah.” said Gyrfalcon, “And then he runs southeast.”

“Luring his pursuers away from us.” Uma said.

“And toward the Muck Hydra?” I asked.

Uma blinked. “If there truly is such a monster.” Then her face scrunched up. “Is there?”

“So far as I know, it’s a real creature.” I said.

She checked the bottom of her left hoof, scratched at one edge of it. “If you live, make your way to the southern gate of Whitehill.”

“This is...”

“These are my orders.” Uma said. “You delivered me a series of dud husband-slaves, you get to do dangerous stuff to redeem yourself.”

“And this dangerous action redeems me in your eyes?” I asked.

She scoffed. “Do you know me as such a manner of pushover?”

“So how many of these...” I started.

“Until. I. Agree.” she said. “Oh, and pick up what metal you can from any of them you manage to kill. The empire has a shortage of military grade steel.”

“Getting shiny metal from any hydra is a risky proposition.” I said.

“Then don’t let all of them die to the hydra.” Gyrfalcon said. “Grow some horns and kill a few of them yourself.”

Uma waved her agreement with his words. “You have your orders. Guess when you move out?”

I sighed, flexed my toes, and set my feet upon the ground. “You mean this to start now, before I can figure out how to survive.”

“Nonsense.” she said. “I intend to start this movement now, and give you the entire time it takes you to get back to Bone Lake to think of ways to survive, to cast about what magic or bits of toolcraft you can summon. Go ahead, tell me you haven’t survived worse odds with less preparation. It will be funny.”

“I literally cannot lie to you.” I said. “Will the south gate be opened for me, or will I have to climb the walls?”

“Do I look like one of my classes is Oracle?” she asked. “Should I know the future?”

I squinted. She DID know tactics, and had some idea how to get her own forces into the city. But not all truths need to be spoken, and I was in enough hot water without pushing her.

So I flexed my neck, my hips, stretched out both legs.

“How do you DO that without breaking something?” Gyrfalcon asked.

“Because I’m flexible?” I asked.

“What you are not,” Uma said, “is moving into position. Stop dawdling and get into action. Gyr, call the troops to order. We move out now.”

And they moved out west, and I moved out north of that. I was tempted to activate a Transformation... but I wasn’t sure at first that there were no enemy scouts who wouldn’t find me in ten or twenty minutes.

Still, if they were THAT close, then they’d already seen what we were up to. So I made a few System queries. There had to be SOMETHING I could afford to help me survive.

And there was; I did an update on Wood Stalker, the hunter ability that gave me stealth in woodlands. Turns out that my native skill level had expanded beyond the ability’s maximum. Sell it back for half points, buy the update. Meh. There just HAD to be a better way.

[To unlock System calculator...]

I would need to spend a day or two of the siege just going through my System. There were probably dozens of points sequestered in unlikely places. I needed to find them, and find a use for them.

It wasn’t as if... as if I could change the world...

.....

Except that was EXACTLY what magic did. Okay, maybe it didn’t summon unicorns that fired rainbow death rays from their eyes or horn or with just a swish of their tail. I called the force of Nature to my eyes, and made certain there was no trace of any unicorn, however mortal, nearby. Ask me again someday, I may tell you of what a unicorn truly is.

But there were no such fey animals anywhere in that grove of trees; the closest was a family of Awakened moles. I breathed a sigh of relief.

In fact the closest creature was... I rolled forward and to my right.

the lizard sent, its jaws closing where the base of my skull had been.

Don’t ask me what they were doing there, that far from goblin lands. To this day, I don’t know. They thanked me for the warning of an approaching army, and settled back into their daily routine. I’ve heard the lizard riders burned them out, but have no proof either way.

I would later learn that even that estimate was low, but I’m getting ahead of myself.