The next thing to alert me were the lights, torches were spread among the group, as Numen and I lay against the grass, watching them pass at a distance. Our night vision would suffer for this, but on the bright (hmm, pun.) side their night vision would be too poor for them to notice us.

Waiting for all of them to pass took several minutes, it seemed a group of roughly twenty to thirty. Definitely more than enough to ambush a caravan or just a few farmer’s carts. Their voices overlapped, diffusing into an indistinct hum.

For now they were too many, even with traps we’d need the others to be able to fend them off. So we lay in the grass, as the last of their torches faded into the distance. The day grew brighter, and we made swift progress, the marks in the trail much easier to follow. Should ask her to teach me, might be useful. I thought to myself.

We stopped at the edge of a manmade clearing, tree stumps dotting the earth from its edges inwards. There was a fort in the centre, walls made from logs bound together as some people stood behind them on raised platforms, looking bored and restless. It was closed by a simple gate, made seemingly for ease of use rather than sturdiness.

Numen gestured for me to circle it counter-clockwise, while she circled it in the opposite way. The walls were bound well, climbing would be difficult. The real problem would have been the approach, if the guards had been stationed all around the perimeter. For some reason though, there were only two guards forming less than a sixth of the way in the half circle that I made. No other exits anywhere I could see, the only exit and entrance apparent was the main gate. Easy for them to defend. I thought to myself. But only if they actually guarded the rest of the wall.

I was contemplating scaling the wall when I finally finished circling the fort, arriving where Numen laid waiting. “You saw the lack of guards?” Numen asked and I nodded in return. “I wonder why they’re not there.” I looked to the walls, thinking.

“I’ll climb it, you stay here and if I shout, return to Lrash.” I said, dashing silently across the field. I made a loop with a length of the armour, tossing it up and catching onto the pointed section of the log above. I pulled myself up, my boots didn’t provide enough purchase, the grooves of the sole as far apart as they were. As I reached the top, soft sobbing became distinct. Once I reached the top the source became clear to me.

In war, people are thrust into life or death situations constantly, the frustration builds up. Unless you have strong discipline or a strong moral core, an army tends to devolve into chaos after capturing their objectives, leading to looting, pillage, burning, death and rape. I acknowledged only the looting, the death in Alida’s world, here I had no such luxury, and they no excuse.

I took in the layout, remaining dispassionate, part of me would have liked to go in, there couldn’t be more than ten people within, and as scattered as they were I could kill half of them before the others took notice. That wouldn’t let us surprise the rest though. I thought, searing the layout into my memory, I pushed off, then made the loop come apart. “Let’s go.” I said once I returned to Numen.

“What did you see?” She asked. I didn’t answer immediately, tracing out the layout on the back of my gauntlet, leaning against the tree. I focused, where I touched, I changed it to white. I didn’t need it myself, thanks to Page my memory was flawless, keeping both my best and worst in amber.

“Things I hate.” I replied. “Things they have no reason to perform. Let’s. Go.” I said, then sighed. Would I enjoy killing them? I wondered. I hope not. Numen said nothing, then nodded and led the way. She left several markings as we made our way, erasing our tracks periodically, I learned from her as we went, she taught me the basics of tracking while I helped her erase the tracks, where we weren’t in danger from being spotted. She also helped point out how she found creatures, and how we ought to avoid them, all handy tricks, though more local to this side of this planet.

We found Sel easily enough, she waited for us outside the inn, when she saw us she passed us some flatbread. I swallowed it, only just realizing that I had yet to take anything for the morning. “So you found them?” Sel asked, smiling as we scarfed the bread down. “You can tell me about the plan later, a friend of mine wants to see you guys.” She said, dragging us off.

“This is Jeff.” She said. “He’s a Grathian Priest.” The man greeted us with a smile. He was wearing a long tunic, not much different from the rest of the people in the village. Perhaps he was recognized purely by reputation? It wouldn’t be a stretch in a village at least.

“It’s splendid to finally meet you.” He said, reaching to shake our hands. He took my hand with both of his own and shook hard, I winced at the sudden jerking motion. Numen herself abstained, instead asking the question that was on my mind.

“What is it?” She asked, her tone even and professional.

“Well I was hoping to get your accounts of the gnoll battle. I’m also a writer, my hobby is both historical records and historical fiction.” He said. “I’ve had Sel and the others talk about it, I was hoping you wouldn’t mind either?” He said the last word with some trepidation. Numen stared at him, then turned to me. I shrugged.

“I don’t mind, but only after I’ve made my preparations for tomorrow.” I said. “I want to make sure we don’t miss anyone tomorrow.” He nodded, turning to Numen.

“The same.” She replied. “Good day.”

[That was barely polite.] Page remarked. True enough. I said. But then, when she came to Soren I don’t think they were all too keen on her either.

Sel brought us to find Frejr and Qent. Frejr we found at a blacksmith, having her sword looked at. Now that I thought about it, I’d never seen her armour get maintained by an armourer. The scratches, nicks, all seemed to disappear gradually. Magic I guess, runes. She looked up to us. Then gave a sidelong glance to the blacksmith. “Evening, pick up.” He said waving her off.

Qent apparently was inside a mage building. The Tower it seemed, had quite a few outposts in different places, it just happened that one was here, in Lrash, influencing the choice for them to be here instead of where Rince. The guard saw us, nodding to Frejr as we entered. Someone went to fetch him, apparently we weren’t allowed to where they trained, secrets I guess.

We borrowed Sel’s room, where she had a table for her own planning of things. I recreated the drawing I’d made with chalk on the board she had. My gauntlet laid down beside the board as I copied the internals. I marked down each structure to the best of my knowledge, mess hall, sleeping area, prison, kitchen. It was good that everyone here was literate, and in a common language too.

“The guards get distracted.” I said, voice even and dispassionate. “That there are a few at the front suggests that it’s an image they maintain so they won’t get reprimanded by someone who goes out for the raids.” My finger drifted to the prison. “They gather here, they’ll be easy to execute, and we’ll have plenty of time to prepare a surprise for the others and free the captives while we’re at it.”

“You mean they’re raping the prisoners.” Frejr said bluntly. I gave a stiff nod.

“Bastards.” Sel snarled.

“We need traps to deal with returning group.” I said. “More than likely they’ll notice something being wrong if the sentries aren’t up. So we need a plan to either lure them in or force them into the clearing.”

“I could wear their armour…” Qent said. “You could remodel your armour to look like theirs I guess?” I cocked my head, then nodded. Yes, I could do that indeed.

“They will probably think that the others have deserted their position.” Frejr said. “I and Sel will wait out of sight, Numen should find a vantage point.”

“We’ll set some traps here and here.” I said, pointing to a point slightly further inside the fort. “Qent, earthen barricade then join the fight?” I asked, turning to him.

“Good idea. You’re going down there to fight them?” He asked.

“Yes.” I said, tapping on the area just before the traps. “At this point they’re choked by the walls of the kitchen and the walls of the fort, we’ll cut them down.” I affirmed.

I spent some time working with wood and nails, fashioning many pieces for the punji bear traps I’d be setting up. I also reworked my armour, the end result didn’t cover as much as I’d like, the joints were exposed, and my throat was exposed. It reminded me of what I fought with while in Alida’s world, sans helmet. Why the hell don’t they have bloody helmets? I thought worriedly.

[I believe the reason is the same one as to why they choose to seek pleasure over security.] Page said. [A lack of discipline.]

I scowled irritably, wrapping a piece of the cloth armour around my face like a bandana to hide it. I’d bring another for Qent, and get the extra packed with me just in case I needed it. I brought a single vial of the health potion, nestling it with some more of the armour. By the time we were done it was almost night, Sel told Jeff he’d have to wait till we came back.

When we arrived, the enemies had just begun to filter out. Once they were out of sight, the guards descended from the outer perimeter, leaving only four at the gate. I scaled the back, pulling Numen and Sel up with me. Frejr’s heavy plate armour didn’t leave her with enough grip to scale it, and Qent’s magic was too flashy, we’d be the ones to clear the way.

I snuck towards the prison, moving quickly, a few of the inmates had already noticed me, and I didn’t think they’d stay quiet enough for me to take my time. As I put my hand over the first man, an arrow thudded into the woman by my left, and I sunk my dagger into his heart. The others in the prison scrambled up, too slow, as Sel smashed into them like a tempest.

Her strikes were of barely contained rage, her cuts deeper and stronger than they should be. “Stay here while we kill the others.” I told the prisoners, as one tried to rise. “We’ll send you home.” Numen loosed a few more arrows as I climbed the watchtowers to the right of the gate.

The man realized the attack too late, I jammed my dagger into the back of his skull. He jerked, then went still. The others finally got it, but three more soldiers didn’t do anything but expend Sel’s rage. The other two watchtower guards fell to arrows, the last one loosed an arrow at me before he died, which simply slid harmlessly off my armour.

We stuffed the corpses in the prison, bringing out the others and dressing them with the clothes of our enemies. Numen would send them to Lrash while I and Frejr prepared the traps, she could help me with the digging. Qent would stand at the top of the watchtower, if they came back I hoped a single sentry would allay their suspicions. Let’s get the surprise laid out.