A flaming arrow landed less than ten feet away from the cabin’s door. Dozens of soldiers ran around the outpost arming themselves and trying to dodge projectiles. The palisades shook under their attack, one stake broke off and bolts of Essence flew through. Unlike a fortress where there would be ample room for the defenders to return arrows and spells from, the palisades had small window-like gaps in between that were hounded with arrows and spells, forcing away any would-be defender. There were some steps and half-complete structures that allowed soldiers to peak over the wooden stakes but no one climbed them. The soldiers that did had arrows pierce their shoulders.

Me’dun and Belen rushed to organize the soldiers while Alexandra stayed close at his side. Some tents caught fire and their inhabitants scrambled out, sometimes with flames clinging onto their clothes.

As he watched the carnage unfold, he wondered about Teal. How come Teal didn’t see this coming? Was her detection barrier not up? But why? She’d been so cautious the entire time.

“Where are you going,” Alexandra asked.

Kieran dashed through the outpost dodging the rain of arrows and spells, “To that,” he said, pointing at the broken part of the palisades. Since it opened up, the arrows had come in waves focused around a certain area. They were using it to determine their positions.

Conjuring a moving barrier was difficult and took too much Essence. Instead, he created them a set distance away, taking them down once he got there, and then made new ones. The creation of barriers continued all the way until he was at the opening where he set up one more. It blocked the gap but barriers were transparent. Even if they couldn’t shoot through it any longer, they could still use it to pinpoint locations.

He channeled Essence into his hands. Dark shadows enveloped his fingertips and stretched out, filling in the gap in the wall and impeding their vision. The manipulation of his Essence, his Flow, took more out of him than two casts of the bolt spell did. Sweat ran down his face as he concentrated on maintaining both the barrier and his Flow.

Concentrated attacks smashed into his barrier. He switched his focus into pouring more Essence into it, reforming and strengthening it. He muttered a curse under his breath at Alexandra who stood idly by.

Teal, who he hadn’t seen since they arrived, ran to them. She took over the barrier while he focused on controlling his Flow. Through a small gap in his Essence and the transparent golden hue of the barrier, he noticed the green cloaked man with his vaear bow drawn back with a nocked arrow.

The air tore apart. The grass, bushes, and trees around the bowman shook violently as the arrow flew. It pierced the barrier and cut through his Essence. Everything slowed. He activated Raah and saw the arrowhead covered in the same Essence that surrounded the bow. It would go through his head.

A hand, both small yet undeniably scarred and strong, reached out for the arrow. Alexandra grabbed it by its shaft and snapped it in half. It was a replay of last night’s events. She flung the tip back at the bowman. He dodged and fired three more arrows in succession. The first broke the barrier, the tip shattering along with it, and the other two flew straight through. Alexandra caught them both and returned them with just as much power.

Kieran managed to seal up the opening and ducked behind one an unbroken part of the palisades. Teal knelt beside him. The rain of arrows continued for a while and he remade his shadow blocker whenever they attempted to break it. There was a whistle. After a few more minutes, the attack stopped. Those in the outpost waited and listened.

Nothing. Nothing except for the screams and wails of the wounded.

By the time night came, Me’dun reported ten wounded and two dead. It wasn’t so bad considering how unprepared they were but any more of these and their dreams of taking down the fortress would never come true. Precious time to prepare was lost as they tended to the wounded, repaired the breaches, and set up new shelters. How did the place become such a big mess?

“Teal,” Kieran said.

She was sitting on the steps to the wooden cabin. The darkness made her more difficult to spot but her white clothes, now muddied at the edges, and her blue hair helped. “Y-Yes, Young Master? What is it?”

“I need you to keep your detection barrier up until you go to sleep. We can’t have another surprise like earlier.” He looked around the outpost. Most of the lights were in the infirmary tents while the rest were from the fires made to cook dinner. None of the light came from the watchmen.

“Y-Yes, Young Master.” Teal sat down to concentrate. Air swirled around her, ruffling her clothes and swaying her hair. He could feel the Flow of her Essence condensing.

“I do not believe Teal’s range extends that far. I think it is best she focuses on monitoring one area while we have a guard stand watch in the others,” Alexandra said.

“What about when we stayed at the Loftus Manor then?”

Alexandra’s eyes narrowed and he flinched. He shouldn’t have mentioned that. “The Loftus Manor is large, however, Teal’s barrier was placed around the building and its nearest entrances only. This outpost is twice its size.”

Before he could respond, Teal said, “I-I can do it. It’s alright.”

“Good,” Kieran said. The air swirling around Teal dispersed. After activating Raah, he saw her barrier expand like a bubble around them. It grew fainter the further it went.

When he turned around, Me’dun, Belen, and Felmur were there. Once again, Me’dun’s eyes seemed to be questioning him. He ignored it as a trick of the light. It was dark after all.

Me’dun spoke. “Your Highness, we cannot allow these attacks to continue.”

“Agreed,” said Felmur. “I have something to tell you that might aid in our assault on the fortress.” Kieran signaled for him to go on. “The Tidal Valley is named so because of the cavern systems filled with water and the Essence inside that causes the water to move. The men that attack us do not leave through the front gate. They leave through the caverns when the waters shift.”

Now this was some useful stuff.

“What do you mean?” asked Belen. “Are you saying the humans can control the Flow of the water?”

Felmur shook his head. “No. I may be wrong but when we tried tracking them this morning, we split off into two groups. One followed their tracks toward the fortress while the other went deeper into the woods. We found signs of a camp.”

Kieran snapped his fingers, “If they could control the cavern’s water then they wouldn’t need a camp. They’d just go back to the fortress.”

With the amount of forces they mustered to attack the outpost earlier in the day, they could have set up another ambush and stopped them from delivering the supplies. The reason why they didn’t, even after losing half their men, was because they couldn’t. Their ticket into the fortress without opening the gates wasn’t something they controlled.

“Yes,” Felmur said. “That’s what we thought. They erased their tracks well once they left the woods but we searched and may have found the place where they sneak out from.”

Felmur explained where the entrance was and his estimates of how many people they could bring through without being noticed.

“But wouldn’t they have it guarded?” Belen asked.

Me’dun nodded, “Yes. It would also not do us well were we to accidentally run into our attackers there. At least a few would no doubt escape and inform the others, sealing away our best chance of taking the fortress without a siege or frontal assault.”

A siege was impossible. They had no access to the enemy’s supply lines and had no siege engines. Most of their troops were tired and worn from the constant attacks so making something like a catapult or a siege tower was out of the question. A frontal assault was the same as suicide.

“Then should we ambush them?” Kieran suggested.

Pressed against the trees and hidden in the bushes, a group consisting of around twenty people waited with their weapons drawn. They laid in the woods with the outpost still in sight. The sun started its descent below the horizon and their heartbeats quickened. Attacks seemed to happen during sunset. Any minute now and a new one could begin.

Alexandra, Felmur, and Teal were part of the ambush team and were positioned around him. Inside the outpost, Me’dun and Belen led the rest of the forces. The plan had been suggested two days ago but yesterday’s ambush failed since no one came. Ideas for traps by the cavern’s entrance were shot down by Felmur. The cavern was rather small. They wouldn’t fit more than six people inside without getting noticed and, after examining some of the cavern’s missed tracks, it seemed like one person would always move first as a scout.

They were already prepared for that kind of ambush, but would they be prepared for this kind?

The moment came when they heard a whistle. The attack started from the sides and made its way to the front. A couple of the enemy climbed the trees for vantage and shot over the palisades.

Felmur signaled for the group to wait. The assault two days ago seemed much harsher. He had come out in the middle of it, once it reached its peak. Right now, they were maneuvering into position, only harassing until they could.

A person in a brown cloak ran ahead of the others in their direction. His head swiveled around as he scanned the woods. They obscured themselves, forgoing their vision on him in order to increase the plan’s success.

Felmur nocked an arrow and the other soldiers tightened their grip around their weapons. The moment they saw him, he’d be gone. It was all a matter of what would come first, his scream or his death.

Sounds of crunching sticks and rustled foliage stopped inches away from their hiding places. They held their breaths. Nobody moved as the scout placed two fingers in his mouth and whistled. A moment of silence and then someone whistled back. A sudden chorus of yelling inside the outpost alerted them that the attack was now in full sing.

They had to wait. Wait just a little longer.

Me’dun threw the gates open and cast a barrier around them. Volleys of arrows and spells crashed down on the golden dome, shattering it. More barriers were created and reconstructed as the soldiers poured out. From the perspective of the enemy it looked like a desperate attempt at a counterattack.

“Now,” Kieran said. They rushed out all at once. Felmur’s arrow pierced the skull of the scout. A soldier rammed his spear through another. Tails curled around attackers’ legs and pulled them off their feet; they were mauled by claws. Kieran blasted one with a bolt and left him to be finished off by someone else. He kept his eyes away from the soon to be corpses. They had to keep pushing.

Alerted by the sounds of their fallen, the enemy redirected their attention. Troops that came through the outpost’s gate were given room to breathe and they spread themselves out like a net. The attackers’ numbers dwindled by the second. A whistle rang out. Survivors began retreating into the woods.

Kieran sent soldiers after them. Before telling them of the plan, he noticed some hadn’t been using their gifts. He assumed it was because of his royal status and gave them permission, although it shouldn’t have been needed as they were in war.

They threw aside their weapons and chased them down, claws, horns, tails, their gifts in full display. Green Cloak, their leader, loosened an arrow. The person next to Kieran fell as a wooden shaft protruded from his chest. Green Cloak turned and ran.

“Get him!” Kieran yelled.

While running for his life, he unleashed arrow after arrow to slow his pursuers. More troops were lost in the chase than the entirety of the battle. Alexandra caught any that might hit him, so Green Cloak focused on other targets.

The chase continued until Green Cloak leapt off a rocky hill. Branches broke his fall and he kept running. Felmur quickly changed directions. They would try and cut him off by the caverns. Teal along with a few of the soldiers had to rest and were left behind.

“Can’t you just grab him for us?” Kieran asked through breaths.

“No.” Alexandra effortlessly ran by his side.

He clicked his tongue.

Fucking ridiculous...

At the outskirts of the woods, from where he stood, a natural gap between the mountain range showed. Peering through the trees, he saw the outline of the fortress. Its gate was large enough to be visible despite the distance and the stone walls looked a hundred times stronger than the crumbling palisades of the outpost.

A blur of black and green caught his eye. Green Cloak zipped through the woods with masterful skill, jumping over stones, ducking under large branches, and weaving through trees all the while clutching at his side. His movement looked supernatural like an imitation of Alexandra’s.

He ran out of the heavy wooded area and into an extension of the mountainside. It was the cavern. They were hot on his tail but at the last moment, before they could enter, he shot an arrow at the ceiling of the cave. The impact resounded in their ears and shook the ground. Rocks fell one after another.

Their way into the fortress had been cut off.