Chapter Thirty-Six

**Revenge**

As the raiding party walked west towards the tree line a notification appeared in Jason’s view.

The leader (Vanna) of the player’s party has merged the player’s party as a sub-party of a Non-Player’s party (Trent)

Current Party Members: 13 (Total sub-parties: 1)

Subleader: Vanna

Leader: Trent

Current Boost [passive]: +20% movement speed in wooded terrain from the party's guide; +5% weapon damage when within 10 meters of the party's leader (Trent)

Current Boost [active]: None

Current Commands: Follow Party Leader

Current Formation: None

**Note This: Parties can merge and even have multiple tiers of leadership. All party members receive benefits from their leader and subleader(s).**

Jason closed the messages and looked at Vanna. The woman’s eyes were wide with shock. Vanna looked to the sheriff walking a dozen yards ahead of them in muttered, “how high is his leadership skill.” Vanna shook her head and looked to still be analyzing her own UI. “I can’t even set commands yet and I don’t even have any boost or formation available.”

“What level is your skill?”

“What?” Vanna asked and turned her head towards Jason. She was talking to herself, Jason thought to himself. Vanna looked toward Jason with bewildered eyes, “what did you say? Sorry, I was looking at the party screen, did you get that too? Trent sent me a request and I accepted it for us.”

“Yeah,” Jason said with a weak laugh. It was hard to find any reason to laugh and he was getting anxious for the upcoming altercation, but his friend's antics managed to put a smile on his face. If only for a moment. “What level is your leadership skill?”

“Oh, I think it’s at Beginner V still so I haven’t even seen what abilities are available at tier two yet," Vanna answered.

“Trent probably has a high leadership level, I bet he has an ongoing party with the village guards and militia,” Jason commented.

“And he was in the army too, he led a party then as well,” Vanna added.

Unlike Vanna, Jason was more interested in the party boosts. He tried to look around and pick out who was their scout and eventually assumed it was the militiaman carrying a bow. The man was at the front of the party with Trent. “Come on I want to get to the front with Trent,” Jason said the picked up his pace so he was in talking distance with Trent.

The sheriff noted their approach with a nod but didn’t say anything. He had his eyes focused straight ahead towards the trees.

“Have you thought of a plan yet?” Vanna asked.

Trent slowed his pace enough so that Jason and Vanna could walk in line with him. The bowman was still a couple of yards ahead. Trent nodded his head shakily, “a good leader waits to finalize their plan until they know all the information they can. That being said, there should be hills to the east of Fallows, I’m sure you two know that,” he said accusingly.

Jason didn’t let the comment bother him and answered, “there’s are farmhouse in the hills,” referring to Jeb and his brother’s house. Where this all started, Jason thought. “It's not the best view but you can just see the town from the top of the hill the compound sits on. And… it should be empty,” he finished.

Trent sent a glance at Jason and then relaxed slightly. “We’ll go there then,” he sighed. He nodded his head at the bowman and said, “this is Jax, our scout. He’s a hunter and knows the Finchead part of these woods well so he’s our guide. When we get closer to Fallow do you think you can lead him towards this farmhouse?”

“I think so,” Jason said, he looked to Vanna.

“I’ll help too,” the woman answered. “There should be a glen at some point, from there I think it’s a straight shot north.”

“Alright, hear that Jax.”

“Gotcha captain. I know the place, it’s one of my boundary markers,” the hunter chimed then stopped, the party was just outside of the wood. “Listen up all you,” Jax said loudly. Everyone stopped and looked at the hunter. “My buff only works if you're close to me so don’t fall behind. Otherwise, we will have to wait for you to catch up and lose time, something we don't have a lot of. My buff does not reduce your detectability so if you have any kind of sneak skill…” he looked around accusingly but no one had it in them to take his joke. “Turn it on,” he finished then continued into the trees.

Jason activated sneak and followed after. At first, he began to worry as thirteen people created a lot of noises as they stomped through the woods over broken branches and fallen leaves. Jason assumed most of them didn’t have a sneaking ability. It took a few moments but Jason finally began to notice the boost. When he followed straight behind Jax he was able to keep up with the hunter at a little less than a light jog. Even better, Jax brought them to one of his hunting paths and their speed increased further and the noise the party created was drastically reduced.

Even at this pace, we're still at least two hours away from the farm, Jason thought. When entering the woods he ended up as the second in line behind Jax. He looked back and saw Trent followed by Vanna were behind him with the rest of the party trailing behind them. While Jax was quiet and focused ahead of them all, the rest of the party took the time while they were still far away from their target to talk.

Vanna question Trent on all the aspects of the leadership skill. Jason listened to Trent for over half an hour as the sheriff went over all the various formations he had at his disposal. Most of it was too conceptual for Jason’s nontactical mind to understand so he focused on his thoughts while watching Jax’s back. Occasionally an animal would cross the group's path or they would hear a ruffle in the distance and stop. But they made it to the glen without any problems.

Jason looked at the indent and rocky alcove and remembered huddling there with Vanna and Skippy. It felt like forever ago but Jason knew not even two weeks had passed. “This is it,” Jax called out as the party slowed their pace to wind through the glen without breaking any ankles. “From now on everyone quiet,” he commanded and for the next hour, all they heard was the sound of leaves crinkling softly under light feet.

*****

Despite the early morning chill, the sun was full in the sky and the air began to warm by noon. However, Jason's hands were still cold and he wished he had mittens or gloves but made do with balling them in the folds of his cloak.

Breaking through the tree line and seeing the herders’ compound was like seeing again a nightmare one had long forgotten. Jason stopped where the trees ended and stared as the rest of the party passed him. “It’s all right,” Vanna whispered into Jason’s ear then squeezed his arm.

“Wait you fools,” Trent hissed at the militiamen filing out of the forest. He pointed at one pair to go to the right edge of the compound and another pair to go to the left. Trent nodded at Jax standing next to him and the hunter crouched low and snuck into the compound. Jason held his breath as he watched Jax weave between the building. Every time he went into one of the structures time slowed to a crawl and Jason waited to hear a scream to betray their position. Jason didn’t relax until he saw Jax exit the last building and lift a thumb towards them.

Trent released a sigh then waved the party on. Jax jogged over to them and announced, “no one's here. Doesn’t look like someone’s been here for a few days at least. The hearth is cold and dust is starting to settle on the furniture.”

I wonder where the woman and children went. Jason looked to the barn. They were no signs someone had been beaten to death right outside its doors. Not even the dirt kept the stain of blood.

“What now Trent?” Vanna asked.

“Come on, let's see if we can see the town from the hill,” the sheriff said.

While the nine militiamen combed through the compound, Jason, Vanna, Trent, and Jax tried to look down the hill at the town. As they approached the top they crouched down and crawled. “My gods,” Jax whispered. A crowd of people was teeming throughout the town. They were still too far away to see clearly but it looked like the crowd was focused in one area with its attention on one spot.

“He’s probably still alive,” Trent said with a sigh, “why else would they all still be there.”

“But we don’t know how much time he has left,” Vanna hissed.

“Jax, do you think you can sneak closer and see what going on?” Trent asked.

The hunter answered with a nod and slipped away. The three waited silently each trying to squint their eyes a little hard to see if they could make out any more details. Occasionally, a whoop of cheers would cry out from the direction of the town loud enough for them to hear from their position and Jason’s stomach would churn. Trent’s breathing intensified and when Jason looked over at the sheriff he could see his face was red.

A crunch sounded and Jason turned to see Jax slip down next to them. The hunter’s face revealed nothing. “He’s alive,” Jax whispered, “but it's looking rough. They have him…”

“I don’t want to know,” Trent cut him off. “How can we get him out of there?”

Jax scratched his brow. “It's pretty tight in there, but they're all packed on the main street. Besides rushing straight in there, you’d need to sneak to the opposite side of town. That’s where the crowd is lightest.”

“Damn, if only we didn’t have so many people injured last night we could have rushed in,” Trent groaned.

“We could cause a distraction on this side and send someone around to the other side to grab Byron while we have their attention,” Vanna said.

Trent looked at Jax. “I can’t think of anything better,” the hunter shrugged. “We’d need to time it perfectly though.”

“I think I have an idea,” Trent said with a devilish grin.

*****

The party split into two groups. Jax, Jason, and another militiaman would sneak to the other side of town while Trent, Vanna, and the rest of the militia would create a distraction and start a skirmish if need be. Even though Jason’s sneaking skill was only on the first tier it was still the second highest in the group behind Jax’s. In addition, he was one of the smallest in the group making him the least likely to be detected or noticed. The militiaman went with them to start a signal fire on top of a hill to let the larger party know that Jax and Jason were in position. Trent hadn’t told them what his distraction would be but he said they would know when they saw it.

Jason and Jax dropped the militiaman at the top of the hill and told him to give the sign in five minutes, then they raced down the hill towards Fallows. The streets on this side of town were deserted and they were able to sneak in without any problems. Jaxon led Jason into the backyard of a cottage and then stopped. Jaxon pointed his finger towards the alley between their cottage and its neighbor, “they have him tied to a post on the alley's opening on the other side.” Jason’s eyes went to the alley and a deafening roar sounded from down the opening. “When we get the signal we rush down there, you’ll see him before you get to him. You cut him loose while I hold off anyone who notices us,” he said patting his bow. The hunter had half a dozen arrows clutched in his right hand. Jason nodded and swallowed hard. He tried to creep towards the alley to sneak a peak but Jax pulled him back. Jax shook his head slowly and whispered, “you’ll see soon enough.”

Jason exhaled from his nose then crept back. Jason crouched down and stared at the hills. He couldn’t see the militiaman who would signal the distraction so all he could do was wait. Jason knew there were only seconds until the signal would be raised but as he sat there it felt like hours.

Suddenly the crowd's cheers and laughter began to morph into screams of terror. Jason’s eyes wide but Jax smiled and pushed him forward. They rushed down the alley. As Jax had said Byron was bound to a post on the other side. But before they even made it out of the alley Jason’s attention was already off Byron. All the houses along the opposite side of the town burned furiously and every moment more and more buildings erupted into flames.