Having to walk along with armed people walking along directly behind herself was somewhat nerve-wracking, Stathis keeping her ears tuned for any sudden movement or sign of movement. Their footsteps moved over the forest ground, making her wince every time they broke a twig or a tree-root, the snapping wood loud in the quiet air.

From how the branches above occasionally rustled and shed leaves, Semari was keeping up with them, without the soldiers realising it. They didn’t seem to have any objection to Brina walking in front of Stathis either – but they weren’t talking amongst themselves, not giving any clues as to their own affiliation. They could be mercenaries, maybe? Although what they were doing out here was an open question!

‘Still think this is a good idea?’ They were walking fast, Brina having to strain a little to keep up, her short legs ill-suited to a rapid pace, speaking low and hoping they weren’t heard.

‘Fighting them seems risky. And they dealt with those zombies, so at least they’re not working with the vampires. If we have to, then I can always grab you and fly away. Although I have lost track of where we’ve come from. And Semari should be fine to make her own way back.

‘As long as someone knows what we’re doin’, then I guess that’s alright!’

The track they were walking on had once been an animal path, but looked like it had seen heavy use, getting widened and expanded by people walking along it. Through the heavy foliage, Stathis started to make out more background noise, the low thrum of activity, people talking and moving. That must be their camp? How many of them were there?

Stathis caught a glimpse of movement, armour dulled to make it harder to see. Disciplined enough to keep watch, and well-equipped enough to have proper armour? Mercenaries then, and a good group at that. Although no insignia – if they ever fought another group, it would be hard for them to tell each other apart from the foes.

As she walked forward, she got a better look at the wardens – their armour was in good condition, worn and used but not damaged, with a few repairs visible. The rest of their gear looked to be in good repair as well, with a sword and a dagger hanging from their belt.

The sounds of other activity got louder, a large group of people moving about. The track abruptly ended, a wooden barricade blocking their path. It wouldn’t be able to stand up to sustained attack, but would create an obstacle, and could also be moved if those on the other side needed to transport it, or themselves. It was good military planning, for when setting up a camp rather than a long-term fortification.

Wood creaked as the barricade was pulled apart, the sounds getting louder as the block was removed. On the other side was a well-organised military camp, with tents set into neat squares divided by straight tracks, soldiers sat around looking after their gear or talking amongst themselves, a few stretched out and sleeping, between their shifts. Stathis tried to guess their strength – from the size, at least two hundred soldiers.

Brina slowed, stepping close to Stathis. ‘Wasn’t expectin’ this!’

Several other solders approached, moving in close formation, their swords sheathed, but hands resting on hilts, ready to fight. Stathis tried to look peaceful, and glanced upwards – the trees had been cut back to give space for the camp. Good, that should make it easier to fly away if she had to, although Semari wouldn’t be able to get closer without sneaking in.

‘We found these two at the site of the last battle.’

The leader of the new group, at least judging by his slightly shinier helmet, scrutinised Stathis, looking over her armour, then turning to Brina and staring at her.

‘That looks like good armour. Not something I expected to see out here. Where are you from?’ His tone was guarded, but not yet hostile.

‘I was out scouting when I came across the aftermath of your battle. I wasn’t expecting to see such a large group out here.’ What were they eating? This many people would have to be carrying virtually nothing but rations to make any distance, or be running some unfortunate clerics ragged to create enough food, which would be eliminating their capacity to heal, and reducing what they could do about any undead. And the organisation and logistics here were impressive – just keeping this many people together without anyone simply disappearing into the darkness and taking their gear with them was more than could normally be managed.

‘Scouting?’ They all tensed up. ‘You’re leading another force?’

‘No…’ Stathis considered, trying to find the best way of putting it. ‘Not really? I’m the leader of an adventuring group. We ended up in a nearby town, so we’re helping out. We’ve been raising the defences, trying to organise the locals and so forth. It looks like you’ve been fighting the undead as well?’

‘Come with me. Escort them.’

“Escort” was probably better than “guard”, but still not as good as being let go. ‘Where are we going?’

‘The commander. He’ll want to see you. We weren’t expecting any other groups, other than bandits. The maps must be out of date, as no settlements are marked.’

They were led through the camp, soldiers looking at them in surprise – they must not have been expecting to see anyone else? How long had they been here? The grass between the tents looked trodden down and dead, but with this many people moving over it, that wouldn’t take long. None of the tents had been reinforced or extended with local materials, nor were there any other signs of the place turning into a more permanent encampment, so probably not that long?

The commander’s tent was where it should be, in the centre where it could be most easily protected, with an open “outer” pavilion for giving briefings and orders, attached to their personal quarters. More soldiers, probably elite ones, stood on guard, eyes sharp as Stathis approached. Despite the circumstances, Stathis found herself approving of their attitude and this place – it was well-run and tightly disciplined, without any of the camp followers and ill-discipline that some military encampments had.

Under the pavilion, a small brazier shed flickering light. Spread out over the table was a map, broadly sketched in with the surrounding terrain, although lots of areas were still only lightly detailed. Wooden blocks were in place to show the possible locations of enemies, although from the number of them, Stathis hoped they were mostly wrong. The town wasn’t marked – had their scouts not found it yet? From the blocks stacked up here, it looked like four hundred soldiers under command – even if some of them would be smiths and other support and logistics staff, that was an impressive amount of force for the empty wilderness!

A man stepped out, his aide-de-camp holding the tent-flap for him. He was wearing a breastplate, a sword sheathed at his waist. Not full armour then, but something practical to wear just in case combat happened, but with the expectation that others would do most of the fighting.

‘Full harness? Well-made, by the looks of it. And is that an enchanted blade?’ He nodded at her sword. ‘Draw it. Slowly!’

It grated being commanded, but Stathis obeyed, slowly sliding the blade out, holding it across her body.

‘It is, isn’t it? That will come in useful if we have to fight any vampires, ghosts or other creatures that are resistant to more mundane weapons. Now, what is someone in full harness with an enchanted sword doing out here?’

‘I was stranded here with the rest of my group. There’s not really anywhere else to go, especially when it’s so damn hard to see, and there’s undead everywhere. Who are you though, and what’s such a large group doing out here?’

‘I’ll be asking the questions, thank you. So, an adventurer then, I would presume? And a fairly experienced one. Good. You will make a potent addition to our forces.’

‘Hey, what? We’re not joining you!’

‘We are requisitioning all materiel for the war effort. You are clearly aware of the undead issue – this is not something to take lightly. While you will not be forced to join, we will be taking resources to increase our own fighting power. You will be permitted to take a normal blade and a suit of mail from our stocks, but we have greater need of your items than you do.’

Stathis drew her sword back to herself. The way he said it somehow annoyed her even more – not even sounding interested, just a simple statement!

‘No, I’ll be keeping my gear. You don’t have any right or authority to requisition anything.’

‘I do have several hundred soldiers under my command. And, more pointedly, then I have been granted the authority to take whatever is needed in order to fight against the undead. As there is no-one in charge here, then it falls to me to defeat the creatures. While it would be useful to be able to send a request for further soldiers, or communicate with the rest of the army, unfortunately that isn’t currently possible. And so, independent forces simply aren’t useful or relevant, and so their strength should be added to our own. A fairly simple principle, I would think. While your intentions may be good and noble, there is a limited amount that two fighters can achieve. Now, that blade will be useful in particular.’

Brina clicked her fingers, drawing attention to herself. ‘Who’s command you under? You’re not really the top of the pile, are you, so who is? I can’t see mercs heading out here to shake down travellers, so someone’s payin’ you.’

He glanced down at Brina, seeming to notice her properly for the first time. ‘We are the eighth expeditionary force, attached to the fourth legion.’

Stathis reacted with shock. ‘Wait, you’re with the Iristari? And someone actually signed off on the expeditionary forces? Shit, I didn’t things were that bad! That explains why you’ve not got any banners and stuff either. And all the gear stocked up in the warehouses. No wonder you’re trying to get more gear, some of that stuff had been rattling around for decades.’

‘You seem… surprisingly well-informed.’

‘Eugh, I had to read over that protocol several times. All of it! It’s huge. And most of it seemed highly theoretical. How many expeditionary forces got called up? You said you were the eighth? So that’s from over by, what, Brakeston, Greyfalls, that sort of area? And maybe one in ten of you are Iristari proper, the rest are trusted mercenaries, from the Academy, and maybe some reservists?’

His face was colouring, and he managed to control himself from overtly spluttering. ‘You seem very well informed. How did an adventurer come into possession of such knowledge?’

Stathis winced in preparation. ‘I think I’m technically your commander, or at least outrank you.’

His eyebrows raised. ‘You claim some rank?’

‘Yes! Sorry, what’s your name and title?’

‘I am Captain Themat Torius.’

‘I’m pretty sure I outrank a captain. That’s right, isn’t it, Brina?’ Brina was looking pained as well, probably not looking forward to the ensuing squabbles about rank.

‘You would claim to be able to issue orders? Do you have any proof of this authority?’

‘Um, well… Dammit, normally people recognise me. Brina? Haven’t you got anything to prove who you are, at least?’

‘You askin’ me to blow my cover? Fine. Um, give me a sec – I’m going to be pickin’ through my pockets, OK?’ Brina started to pick through her pockets and pouches, rummaging through trinkets, coins and random oddments. ‘There’s this?’ She pulled out a small metal cross, with a red gem in the centre. ‘Might be a bit out of date, I’ve not been able to check in with Dorothea for anything more recent. Uh, if you know her? She might be a bit above your level.’

That made him go even redder, Stathis trying not to wince too obviously. It might have been useful to have Janaxia here, as long as she could be persuaded to be diplomatic and to tone down some of her aesthetics.

‘And this is Stathis. You should recognise the name? Although it’s been a while since she’s been around Per Tolith.’

‘Hey, I went back twice! Although died the first time and was, uh, reclaiming my body the second.’

‘Yeah, and then left without explainin’ anything! Because that didn’t cause a whole shitstorm or anythin’, I’m sure.’

‘I wanted to get my damn body back! It would have been nice to have a better plan, but it was a bit of a rush. Nice to be properly alive again though.’

‘Sure. Right before all kinds of alarms went off and places startin’ to blow up!’

‘You were involved in the raid!?’ He looked about to explode, a hand moving to his sword-hilt, Stathis raising her own hands, trying to look innocent.

‘That was a coincidence! Some of those damn shapeshifters. Have you been briefed on those? That might be all quite confidential and need-to-know. Although there’s a lot about them I don’t really know, other than there they’re right bastards to kill.’

‘That is not something to be spoken of in front of the men!’

‘You might want to set up some basic identification protocols and stuff. They’re cunning bastards, but they don’t steal memories, just appearances. I guess if you’re an expeditionary group, you’ve not been together long, have you? That would make it easier to slip someone in without being noticed.’

His face went a deeper red, Stathis starting to worry if he was going to do himself an injury. ‘I don’t know if you are who you say you are, but if that is true, then there are standing orders for your arrest.’

The other soldiers clattered as they tensed up, the situation suddenly fraught. Brina hadn’t mentioned anything about that!

‘What for?’

Brina spoke. ‘Well, maybe that you died, then showed up in the middle of an attack, and the Commander probably thinks you’re possessed by Janaxia or somethin’. Don’t know if the news of Poratia’s maybe-death is goin’ to have gone far, and she’s not really done much to clear her name, so there’s going to be a lot of people out for her if they get the chance. Makes sense to me.’

Stathis heard swords getting drawn, and grabbed Brina, drawing her close and flaring her wings. Then she jumped, flexing her wings to create a downdraught, managing to propel herself upwards, air blasting around them. She flexed hard, trying to kick up a storm of dirt and grit. A strike knocked against her back, smacking against the armour, making her reel forward. She twisted around, one arm around Brina and swinging with her sword, one of the soldiers jumping back.

‘Grab them!’

Stathis swung her sword again, trying to open up some space, flapping her wings. The air filled with grit, one of them swearing. ‘Sorry! Keep killing undead, and there’s some vampires about, watch out for them. If you can make holy water, then stock up on that!’ She awkwardly blocked another attack. ‘And be careful with the lightning pillars, I don’t know what’s up with them.’

She managed to get airborne, Brina shouting something, one of the attackers staggering backwards, blood bursting from their nose. Another lunged, grabbing hold of her ankle, and she had to kick them off with her other leg, boot smashing into their face. She winced at the impact, hoping that they weren’t too badly injured, but they let go, releasing her, and she was able to propel herself further upwards. The captain was shouting orders, as Stathis moved upwards as fast as she could, hoping that the darkness would be enough to hide her from any stray arrow-shots. Although she couldn’t get too far up before her vision started to swim, without anything to focus on, everything hidden in darkness.

She dropped lower down, Brina held close up against her, until she could see the tops of the trees.

‘They want to arrest me!?’

‘Hey, could be worse, they could want to kill you. You’re probably better off than Janaxia! Although I’m definitely in shit with Dorothea. For running off with you and not telling her about it, if nothing else.’

‘I’ll try and get her to go easy on you.’

‘Hey, I’m more worried about Janaxia!’

‘She’s probably fine with you, just a bit prickly. I think she’s more likely to bitch and grouch than do anything more active.’

‘No, I mean that they probably want her dead. So you might want to keep an eye on her. But, thanks for lookin’ out for more. Shouldn’t you be worried about them?’

‘Better them than more undead! Worst case, I can probably try and negotiate something – hopefully Semari got out OK as well. Any idea which way to go?’

‘I think it’s that way, towards that hill. ’

Stathis swooped downwards again, following Brina’s directions. As they swooped through the still air, a flash of lightning streaked down, almost hitting her. Looking down, she saw it impact with another of the black pillars, illuminating the swirling scrum of combat, undead shambling forward.

‘Shit, we should help! Ready to fight again?’

‘Let’s do this.’

Stathis dropped down, the light from her wings spreading over the trees, some confused birds bursting into song from the sudden brightness. She let Brina go when they were close to the ground, hoping she could take the short drop. The undead were moving in a loose horde, but there was an armoured figure at their front, spikes cutting an ominous shape. Behind them was a hastily-assembled defensive line formed around two fallen trees, metal armour and weapons shining on the other side.