There was a glow in the air, enchanted weapons and armour shedding soft light, helping to banish the darkness. The various factions had formed up – the Iristari into marching formation, travel-kits neatly packed for ease of carrying, Ophalissia and her followers in a looser group, the townsfolk trying to emulate the Iristari but a long way from managing proper formation. Amidst the Sethans was Janaxia on her floating platform, the darkness now partially hidden beneath a red and green rug, making it look a little less ominous.

Stathis pulled herself up onto Mavrosa, settling into the saddle, before pulling her blade out, letting it ignite with sunlight, pushing back the darkness. Should she try and be rousing? Not that she had any idea of what they would be fighting out there, but they would starve if they stayed here, and if this darkness had spread far, then it was likely that everything had gone to shit in a lot of ways.

‘I can’t promise you wealth or glory.’ Not that “wealth” would be needed – if they took their magical gear, that would set them up with a comfortable retirement. ‘But there’s a world out there that needs someone to help it. To protect the defenceless and give succour to those in need of aid! To bring light to the darkness, and be a shield against all harm!’ She made Mavrosa rise up, paws kicking the air, shedding light over the churned-up and destroyed fields.

‘A light in the dark!’ It was reassuring to get an answering cry back, the noise making the darkness less oppressive, an act of rebellion against the creeping chill in the air. The Sethans yelled something as well, before Janaxia gestured, her outfit changing to something more martial, all sleek black metal, although rather more close-fitting than was practical, bright red gems catching the sunlight Stathis was shedding. On her forehead there was a sapphire, catching and refracting blue light into a bright spray, dappling over the troops.

‘Anyone we meet, if they want to help, we let them – there’s other Sethan forces out there, villages that will be trying to protect themselves, the armies of other nations and all sorts of other things. We’re not conquering anyone, just helping them to hold things together, and to fight back undead and other creatures. Whatever happens, we fight to protect, not to conquer.’ She braced herself for a mental comment from Janaxia, but nothing came.

She couldn’t think of anything else to say, so made Mavrosa rear up again, before her hooves hit the floor and she started walking forward in what seemed a slightly anti-climactic progress. Behind her started the regular stamp of feet, hitting the ground in rhythm. As a military force, they were still small, and missing anything like a logistics corps, heavy infantry and cavalry and other major factors, but for dealing with anything that wasn’t an organised enemy, this should be ample.

Very rousing. The very image of the victorious leader! Although is there not a larger Iristari force nearby? Will you be claiming them first?

Having Janaxia talk to her without being able to respond was somewhat annoying, and she couldn’t easily drop back without messing up the whole formation. Instead she kept her eyes ahead of herself, focusing to create a mote of light just ahead, moving as she moved, to illuminate the surrounding forest. It might draw attention, but with this number of people, it seemed unlikely that anything would trouble them.

Semari dropped out of a tree and walked over, Parth close behind.

‘Nice. Very, like, big-boss in charge and all that shit. So, does this mean I’m, like, a second lieutenant or captain-at-arms or something? I think I should have some fancy rank.’

‘You’re sounding like Janaxia! And no, you don’t need a rank. I don’t think letting you command anyone else is really a good idea, do you?’

‘Meh, you’re probably right. Be nice if there was anyone here that was an actual challenge though! They’re all really weak.’

‘They’re soldiers, strength in numbers is more what they’re here for. And with this amount, we should be able to do something.’

Parth stepped forward, her body now wrapped in a cuirass of copper-green scalemail, softly whispering as she moved, the scent of moss and leaf-mold coming from her. She’d claimed it from the treasure-hoard, looking very satisfied, before immediately spending an entire day meditating with it, the metal slowly changing shape until it was a perfect fit.

‘The speartip of sunlight. To pierce the heart of darkness.’

‘Wait, I thought the heart of darkness was, like, Janaxia? I think you can get special toys if you want to give her a good…’

Stathis cut her off. ‘Is there anything ahead? In this light, scouting is going to be a pain, but I’d rather not blunder into an elemental or a pack of ghosts.’

Parth nodded. ‘Other Iristari. Negotiation wise.’

‘Hey, just just abandoned me last time! Don’t get bloody flying off again. Took me ages to get back through the woods.’

‘Don’t worry, I won’t do that this time. I imagine this amount of soldiers will help them see sense, and I doubt they want to fight.’

Parth’s eyes gleamed amber. ‘Spoken like a leader.’

‘Thanks, I think? You got any elven communities nearby you can hit up for reinforcements? We’re going to need all the help we can get, and scouts and archers would be helpful.’

‘The wood shall aid the light.’

‘I’ll take that as a yes? Thanks. And they can help themselves to the extra equipment. I noticed a few things that looked quite elfy, so if they’re ancient heirlooms or something, you may as well take them back now, before someone else claims them. Kinnevar probably stole them or something back when he took them.’

‘Ancient treasures, returned to rightful homes.’

‘And Semari – stop trying to win people’s equipment of them. You don’t need it, there’s no-one to sell it to, and it doesn’t really achieve anything. If you want to gamble, find something else to bet on. That doesn’t mess up all the formations!’

‘Fine, captain no-fun! Guess I’ll have to find something else to do. Maybe Vrintar’s up for something?’

‘Shouldn’t you be resting? You took a hell of a beating.’

‘I’m tough, I’ll be fine. Although next time we fight something like that, I’m going to leave it to you! Getting zapped bloody hurts, and then some big bastard kept beating the shit out of me. Lucky you’re all, like, glowy. Woulda been really bad otherwise.’

‘Well, as long as we don’t have to teleport you with lightning to buy time for me to fly back, then it shouldn’t happen again. Which I’m hoping is specific enough that it was a one-time thing!’

‘Bloody better be. Didn’t see you getting damn near killed.’

‘Hey, there’s plenty of armour if you want some. You could do with some actual protection.’

‘Nah, found these.’ She raised her arms, showing off bright metal bracers, rings of steel on her forearms, red swirls somehow moving around inside of the metal. ‘Hakara says they make, like, a protective aura or something. So less being stabbed for me!’

‘That’s good. Actual armour would probably still be better, but if you don’t want to wear any, I’m not going to force you. How far ahead are the other Iristari?’

The loud, brassy thrum of a horn sounded out, coming from somewhere ahead, out of sight.

‘Is that them? Couldn’t you have given me more warning?’

Parth shrugged and snickered, looking entirely at ease as she strolled along, Semari leaping up into a tree and vanishing from sight. Stathis sighed and sheathed her sword, not wanting to take any chances that might provoke a fight. She looked back over her shoulder, at the Iristari forces following her and raised her hand, giving a message signal, and an answering horn-bellow sounded back.

It took several more exchanges, each sound getting closer and closer, before they were able to meet, the horn-sound finally coming back without being blocked by anything. Stathis let Mavrosa trot forward, feeling reassured by the troops at her back, as she heard the tromping of more feet sounding out, along with the clanks and rattles of armour.

They started to appear from the shadows, a few of them carrying enchanted lanterns that emitted a steady white glow.

Stathis raised her arms, making it clear that she wasn’t wielding a weapon, hoping that Janaxia would stay at the back during this. Their leader was on foot, surrounded by other soldiers in a standard guard formation, Stathis slowly approaching, wondering if she should dismount before deciding to stay atop Mavrosa in case something went wrong.

The commander looked up at her, as she tried to appear confident and in charge. ‘How are we going to do this? It will be easier without a fight, we’ll all on the same side. Oh, we defeated the vampires, so you don’t need to worry about them.’

‘I should try and arrest you.’

‘Let’s stick a pin in that, maybe? If we meet up again with a bigger force, then we can talk about it, but it would be a waste of time for us to fight. Plus I’ve got some of your guys with me. There’s been some losses, unfortunately, but most managed to survive. There was a whole horde of undead. How have you been doing?’

He blinked, hand resting on his sword, before he responded. ‘We managed to scout out the nearby area, but there have been frequent undead attacks, making it hard to establish a true perimeter. That is scarcely your concern though, is it? I should be taken you under arrest!’

‘I don’t want to be a dick about this, but, bluntly, you can’t. You might be able to try, but we’ve already established that I can just leave, and I’ve got forces of my own. And some of yours as well – you might want to debrief them first. So even trying is going to end badly for you, but there’s no reason to fight, so let’s not? We don’t really have the time to be dicking around with negotiations, and there’s a lot of places that need help, so you do the job you were sent to do, I’ll help, and then, when we connect with a larger force, we can sort everything out then.’

His hand was tensing, fingers whitening around the grip before he forced himself to relax, although didn’t do a very good job of it, his jaw still so tight it looked like it could crack rock. ‘You should not be setting terms!’

‘Well, this isn’t really a negotiation. You’ve got a bunch of soldiers and were sent out to try and keep things calm before larger forces were sent as needed. I also have a bunch of soldiers, and quite a few irregulars, but we happen to be armed with a load of magical gear, and I’ve also got at least three spell-casters and other powerful individuals. And, most importantly, we don’t actually have any reason to fight, do we? I’ve killed a bunch of vampires as well as that massive armoured guy, so I think that proves that I’m not on their side – you can ask your men that, if you want to check. I’m not asking for a surrender or anything, just that we work together.’

The Iristari contingent was moving up behind her, saluting the two of them. His gaze broke away from hers, towards one of the soldiers.

‘Report!’

‘Yes, Captain Torius. We were scouting the woods when the armoured figure assaulted us. Colonel Stathis defended us against him, before escorting us back to the local settlement. There, we aided the locals with their defence, before coming under heavy attack while Colonel Stathis moved to secure a cache of materiel. While the assault was heavy, we were saved by the intervention of one of Stathis’ colleagues, who arrived wreathed in lightning, moving faster than the eye could follow, and held off their strongest attacker before she could return. And then… she dropped from the sky with the force of the heavens! You must have seen it, like a star crashing to earth.’ The solder’s tone was starting to get awkwardly rapturous as he continued. ‘It was like a battle from the stories! With her sword blazing like the sun, she slew the armoured titan, puncturing through their armour with unmatched strength.’

Stathis shifted in her saddle awkwardly. ‘Yeah, the enemy made a feint and we fell for it, so we had to travel back by unconventional means. It was a hard fight, but we managed to pull through, somehow. With everyone working together – a medusa helped to defeat the vampires, while the Sethans aided the defence efforts.’

‘And then Colonel Stathis recovered an ancient cache, with vast amounts of magical weaponry.’ He drew his sword, the blade shimmering faintly.

‘To be clear, I’m willing to share, but you’re not requisitioning them. There’s enough for everybody though, as well as a range of utility equipment. Maybe something to take the load off your clerics – they must be exhausted from having to conjure up food and water for days on end!’ She tried to smile at him to break the tension, but he just stared at the magical weapon in open disbelief. ‘Might come in handy if there’s ghosts or elementals or something that’s not entirely physical. Armour as well – I figure we’re going to need every advantage we can get, especially if there’s more necromancers around, right? So, are we going to work together, or are we going to have a stupid, pointless battle that’s a waste of time?’

He grabbed the weapon from the hands of the soldier, swinging it through the air and feeling the supernatural lightness of it, then examining the edge, sighting down the blade.

‘How many of these do you have?’

‘I don’t know, I’ve not counted. A few hundred at least? We’re trying to work through them and check that none of them are cursed, but it takes a while for each one, and there’s lots of them. I think they’re prioritising the amulets and rods and things, as they’re more likely to do strange stuff? If you have any casters that can help, it would be appreciated. So can we stop pretending this might turn into a fight and move out to help someone that needs it? And everyone can upgrade their gear?’

He gave the sword another swing, before turning it around and handing it back. ‘You have… hundreds of these?’

‘At least. And other weapons, and armour, and some weird crap that’s probably got some obscure niche uses, as long as it doesn’t explode or anything first. I’m hoping for something that can conjure up somewhere nice to sleep, or some better food. I’m not going to try and command you directly, but we should work together – and anyone we find, we try and help them. There’s going to be other Sethan soldiers, bandits, small villages and a lot of weird stuff out here. So if we all work together, we’ll be a far stronger force.’

‘You present a… forceful argument.’

‘Well, this isn’t really a negotiation. Sorry for the bluntness, but everything is shit right now, so we need to try and do what we can to help. I don’t know what else is out there, or how long we might be stuck out here, but we need to do what we can to try and make things less shit. So, you with me?’ She swung her leg over Mavrosa, dismounting in a jangling of armour, before extending her hand. ‘I’ve no idea how this will end up. I can’t promise you glory or wealth, only good gear and a shitload of work. If we join up with the main forces, I’ll try and make sure I get you a promotion, as you’ll probably deserve it. Although I’ll need to explain things to Mother first, which might get… awkward. So, we going to do this?’

He paused, before reaching out and grasping her hand, giving her a firm handshake. ‘We’ll work with you. But you are not in command of my men!’

‘Understood. I’m hoping we won’t have any pitched battles. And I’ll see about getting weapons for your men, that’ll make everyone more useful. And, uh… one more thing. Janaxia’s with me. I know she looks eldritch, but don’t arrest her, she’s just a bit strange. And she’s got some Sethans with her, so I’m trusting your men to not start anything. They’re a bit odd, but not demon-worshippers or anything, at least as far as I know.’ A look of concern flashed over his face, Stathis trying to set him at ease. ‘They’re good irregular troops. Oh, and there’s a group of locals led by a medusa. Just don’t pull her hood down and you should be fine though.’

‘Is there anything else you need to tell me?’

‘No, I think that covers most things. At least to start with.’

He turned away, issuing orders to his men, as the Iristari contingent re-joined the rest of the group. Stathis turned back around.

‘Everyone! We’re working together! Let’s get moving!’

It wasn’t the best of battlecries, but everyone started to move, the sounds of tromping footsteps filling the air.