The wind howled in the night, and the silver glow of the moon fell upon the hundreds of human warriors. Many had been pulled from sleep not minutes before and now stood ready to face any coming assault. Eyes scanned the dark trees and the path that led down to the thrall’s underground complex.

In the middle of the formation of guards, Octavius stood with Robert and Adom. Now that they knew that the thralls already had created another exit to their base, much had changed.

“I’m not sure,” Adom rescinded to Octavius, shaking his head, “Either they already had a secret exit, or they could create one within hours. Both options bode poorly for this siege.”

The other two were silent as they tried to think up a plan. By definition, a siege involved cutting a defending force off from any resources. If the thralls could get out so easily, they could get all the food they could ever need, not to mention that they could go around the human force to attack the Sanctuary.

“This might not be all bad,” Robert said slowly, “If they now have two exits, it means that we have two entrances.”

Octavius was already shaking his head before the guard captain even finished the sentence. “That doesn’t change the fact that they have the stone shapers,” he commented, “They’re really what is making this assault so dangerous for us. I bet that they probably sealed the new entrance off as soon as they finished using it. Why keep it open for us to find?”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Robert said, “Sealing it off would take time and mana from a stone shaper. They’d have to have one on standby for whenever they need to open or close it. Even if it is sealed off, it won’t be very sturdy. That would be too inefficient.”

“Either way,” Adom added, “We would still have to deal with them as soon as we got inside. Trying to deal with stone shapers while in an underground base wouldn’t end well. What we have going for us is that they are trapped. Without that, our chances of winning are incredibly poor.”

“Alright, I agreed with you on that point,” Robert acknowledged, “But we can still fight them. So far, their counter to us was them threatening to execute slaves. They aren’t exactly the best planners. This attack was the first thing that they did that worked, and they only killed seven of us.”

“This attack was well planned and well-executed, thought,” Octavius interjected, “They were able to kill seven of us easily, and we wouldn’t have been able to even kill one without my shadow sense spell. If they just killed a few of us with impunity every night, our morale would crumble, and we’d break within the week.”

Robert nodded, “These were the elite, though. They seem to be largely separate from the rest of the group. I don’t think they are in charge.”

Octavius fell silent at that. He agreed with Robert’s point, but who was in charge didn’t matter much. The only way to counter the thrall’s night-time raid would be to place the guards inside the firelight, thus ruining their night vision, not that it seemed to do them much good.

“You said that you were able to catch which direction they left?” Robert asked.

“Yeah,” the soldier replied, “But only that they were moving east. What are you thinking?”

The pale skin around Robert’s eye crinkled as he grinned, “I’m thinking that we can send a small strike team down it to take out the stone shapers.”

Octavius blinked owlishly. “How would the team even know where to find the stone shapers?” he inquired.

“We can draw them out with an all-out assault at the main entrance,” the blonde man responded.

“I don’t know about that,” Adom said after a moment of silence, “It’ll be dangerous, and if anything goes wrong, we could be completely decimated.”

Octavius thought for a moment before he spoke again. “What if we just make them think that we are attacking?” he asked, “That would draw their attention to the main entrance and allow a small group to sneak in undetected. From there, they could do anything from assassinating the stone shapers to freeing the slaves.”

The other two nodded thoughtfully at that. “It could work,” Adom said, “But how would we convince them that we were going to attack?”

“We can work that out later,” Robert interjected, “What we need to do is find the new entrance. Everything else is predicated on that.”

Octavius nodded to the guard captain. “I’ll go with my team at first light,” he said, “You’ll have to replace our spots on the guard rotation down below, but we’ll find it if anyone can.”

“Alright,” Robert said, “Go ahead; I’m going to start making a new set of patrol routes so that we can avoid another attack like this.”

The two guard captains split off, and Octavius looked up and down the formation. The tense atmosphere had faded when the expected attack failed to arrive. People spoke to those around them in soft whispers, and the barked orders of the various lieutenants became more sporadic.

He glanced over toward where his group's campfire burned uncaringly, and his eyes found the bodies of the guards that had died during the attack. They had been lined up on their backs, facing the open sky.

A shaky exhale escaped him as his eyes fell on the two guards that he had failed to save. He’d only been a split-second too late, and they’d paid for it. Various thoughts crossed his mind as he closed his eyes.

He wondered if they would’ve lived if he had put more points into agility rather than the other stats but banished the thoughts from his mind. What’s done is done, and he couldn’t bring them back to life. No, he’d just have to do better in the future. With a final glance at the young teen that still knelt beside the body of the first man, he withdrew his eyes and walked back toward his own campsite after collecting all of the thrall’s gear.

He reached it to find Dominic idly sitting by, unseeing eye sockets pointed directly at the low fire. The man perked up at his approaching footsteps.

“Ah, could whoever’s there please let me know what’s going on?” he asked with a mildly annoyed tone.

Octavius winced slightly. It was clear that they’d all just run off to face the threat, leaving Dominic to sit there with no idea as to what happened.

“Sorry about that,” he said, “A few thralls attacked, but we forced them away.”

“Oh,” was all the man said in response, and Octavius looked toward the backs of his team members in the nearby formation.

“Marcus!” he called out, “Get the others and bring them over here.”

He received an affirmative response as the marine stepped out of the formation, the two men on either side of him stepping in to fill in the vacated space. Five minutes later, the full party was assembled before him.

“Alright,” he said, “That was the thrall elites. We think it was a hit and run attack, but we aren’t entirely sure yet.”

Those that had seen him carrying the thrall’s corpse nodded along while the others processed the new information.

“If it was a hit and run,” Leo said, “That means they have another exit.”

Octavius nodded to the younger marine, “That’s exactly what we were thinking. I was able to find out a general direction for it to be in, so we’re going to set out to find it at daybreak.”

The various members of the group all had different reactions to the news, but Bill was the one that Octavius was watching. The old woodsman would be the most instrumental in finding the entrance if it was hidden. He was set at ease when the man grinned to himself, clearly liking the idea of a challenge that played to his own strengths rather than just combat.

“Get some sleep now,” he continued, “They’re going to break up the formation as soon as they make a new patrol route, then set up the rotations. It’s already late, and I want all of you sharp tomorrow when I wake you up before sunrise.”

That got a few grumbles from the assembled group, but it was more for show. They would’ve still woken up early to train before their guard shifts the next day.

“What about me?” Dominic asked as the party dispersed around the fire, “I feel like I haven’t eaten anything for days.”

Nodding in understanding, Octavius stood to retrieve a bowl of soup for the man. With a quick “I’ll be right back,” he moved down the line of fires and toward the largest bonfire in the camp. A dozen pots and pans simmered away, filled with leafy greens, chunks of meat, and rich broth. Even having gone unattended during the attack, the soup was still in perfectly fine condition.

Octavius grabbed a wooden bowl from the stack and ladled a few scoops of soup into it. Returning to the fire, he passed it to Dominic.

“Here,” he said as he gently pressed it into the blind man’s hands, “It’s soup. Be careful, it’s hot. Once you’re done, you can fall asleep here; I’m going to bed now.”

The man’s brows twitched. “Aren’t you going to ask me more questions?” he asked.

“Not right now,” the soldier replied, “Try to think of anything important, and we’ll talk tomorrow.”

With that, he laid down on an animal skin he had set out for that specific purpose. He rolled over to that his back was to the powerful wind and stared into the flames. Settling his head against his pack, he fell asleep to the howling of the wind and the sounds of the awakened camp.

Octavius’s eye snapped open to the dull glow of the fire’s dying embers. The moon was hidden behind either the trees or the stone outcropping to the west. He grimaced and checked the time of the tutorial clock. Groaning, he rolled over and scrambled to his feet. It was already four in the morning.

A blast of wind jolted him awake as his eyes scanned the empty plains that stretched to the distant horizon. Once upon a time, he would’ve immediately rolled over and fallen back asleep. Now, however, he had been in the army for years and the tutorial after that. His experience in getting up early everyday overcame any such discomfort.

He stretched and looked around the camp. Silently, he thanked whatever forces ruled the new magical world they lived in for the lack of follow up attacks that night. Fires still burned along the borders with blazing intensity. He could just make out the backs of stationary sentries behind each fire. That’s a good idea, he commented to himself.

With the guards stationary on the other side of the fires, they would be able to retain their night vision and still be within the safety the light provided. The only downside would be that it would be much more difficult for them to remain vigilant. Hours of standing still and peering into the same dark trees tended to dull even the senses of the most experienced sentries.

Looking around, he picked out the dark forms of his own party members curled up on the ground. A high constitution and vitality might prevent them from being put in danger by the wind or hard ground, but didn’t exactly make for the best comfort.

He crouched and scooped up his SoulSilver spear from where it laid against him as he had slept. Moving quietly, as to not disturb the sleeping guards or the sentries, he walked toward the cliff's edge. His hand gently tossed the spear, and he caught it so that it was pointed toward the ground.

With a gentle motion, he pushed the razor-sharp blade into the packed ground. He didn’t know what the limits of the blade’s durability were, but he did know that it could stand up to packed dirt just fine.

With his spear secured against the elements, he started to warm up. A dozen minutes later, he had completed a handful of bodyweight exercises. His ridiculous strength made it almost impossible to challenge himself in such a manner, but it at least got his blood pumping a little bit. Once his muscles were warm, he stretched and retrieved his spear.

After the tutorial clock marked the time as 0500, he walked back to the low embers of the fire. He stretched briefly and set the spear down. Just because he was in the middle of a siege didn’t mean that he could slack off on his training. He was facing opponents who had used melee weapons in real combat their entire lives, and he most definitely hadn’t.

Once he was ready, he moved slowly around the circle, gently shaking each one to consciousness. The groans of the team members he had already awoken chorused in the wind as he crouched over Bill.

“I’m awake! I’m awake!” the old man grumbled, swatting Octavius’s hands away and pulling himself to his feet.

By then, the noise and movement had woken the remaining three members of the group up. They pulled themselves to their feet and stood silently, careful not to cause too much of a disturbance.

“What’s the plan?” Jean asked softly while running her fingers through her tangled hair.

Octavius waved the group close and spoke just over the roar of the wind. “We’re going to get breakfast and prepare ourselves before setting out once the sun crosses the horizon.”

Every eye in the group pitched upward to take in the pink glow that engulfed the eastern sky. Although the sun itself had yet to make an appearance, it would soon do so. The group moved quickly and efficiently as they prepared.

They each grabbed some of the soup from the night before, even though it had boiled down to a thick stew. Each ate sparingly and chased the food down with a few gulps of water from their animal skins.

Once they finished eating, they began to ready their weapons and gear. Every single one of them had slept in their armor, so it didn’t take them much time at all. Octavius took the opportunity to hand out the gear that he had looted from the thrall elite.

Beyond that, he gave the long blade to Toby. Although it wouldn’t be the most effective in the hands of the massive young man, he was the only member of the group that only used a blunt weapon.

Jean received one of the small poisoned blades with an altogether unsettling smile. Octavius merely shook his head ruefully at the reaction of the only female member of his team and gave the other to Bill. He knew that Bill was the weakest of the bunch when it came to head on head combat, and hoped to give the older man an advantage with the poisoned knife.

With a final once over, he declared that they were set to go. Each was armed, armored, and well supplied with water and a day’s worth of food. The camp was beginning to wake up around them as guards replaced the sentries that had been watching over them throughout the early morning.

Octavius walked over to a fresh sentry that he recognized and tapped the man on his shoulder.

“Jabir!” he smiled at the man, “We’re heading out to try to find where last night’s attack came from. Can you join our party so that someone here will know if any of us are injured or killed?”

The Arab man nodded jovially. “Yes, yes,” he said before suddenly growing deadly serious, “You find it, and we’ll all go kill them, yes? They killed Saʽid last night.”

Octavius nodded solemnly to the older man. He had neither known that information, nor indeed Saʽid himself very well, but he understood the sentiment. They hadn’t really decided what to do about the thralls if they won, but he doubted that it would end with forgiveness. Some things just aren’t easily forgiven, and this small group of thralls was directly responsible for the death and enslavement of hundreds of humans, along with thousands of more indirect murders through increasing the Emergence’s difficulty with their mere presence.

Once Jabir’s name and status bars appeared at the side of his vision, he nodded a final time to the man and led his team into the woods. The golden glow of the morning sun peeked through the bright green canopy that swayed in the wind above them and cast long shadows along the forest floor.