Jacob called his men to a halt, and they sank to the damp grass. He lifted his hagstone to his eye and surveyed the land around the small rise they occupied.

Hagstones were a new addition to their equipment. A rock with a hole worn through it by natural means such as river water had the ability to make the invisible visible, and Jacob wondered how the earlier patrols could have observed anything at all without them. Not for the first time he cursed the short-sightedness of those in command.

Scryers brought in after Black learned of their find had located more buried items around the stones with similar markings and potent magic. The mysterious ‘Tommy’ had pronounced them part of a concerted effort by the fae to hold open the breach against the Society’s best efforts to close it, and it was hard to disagree with this assessment. While they hoped that locating, identifying and retrieving these treasures would have decreased their potency, Black (who had set up an office for himself at the site) felt it prudent to step up the patrols.

The increased frequency of patrols ate into the men’s limited relaxation time, and tempers were fraying. Tiredness also played a factor, and it had more than once forced Jacob and Harry to separate two men on the verge of coming to blows over an insignificant misunderstanding. Organisation of the patrol teams was becoming a game of musical chairs to keep apart any individuals who held a grudge against one another. In addition this all lessened the effectiveness of Jacob & Harry’s training, requiring them to do much of it in the field.

“All clear,” he announced, and the men hauled themselves to their feet. “Not far now,” he called over their grumbling, with a cheerfulness he didn’t feel himself. It had been over two weeks of this now, with nothing to show for it, and even he was wondering if his fears of a massed assault were baseless. “Turquoise, you take the lead this time,” he said, handing the hagstone to a well-built man with short-cropped hair.

Turquoise set off without a word, slower than Jacob would have liked. Ah, what the hell he mused, at least if we’re late back we won’t get any more duties tonight. With the evenings getting longer Black and Grey had been finding plenty for the returning patrols to do around the camp, plenty of it just busy-work to keep the men occupied. Someone needed to have a word with Grey; he might convince him to allow more R&R time for the men. He should let Harry do the talking though.

Jacob’s mind wandered as they strolled along, the tiredness in his bones weighing on him. After a few long moments he realised something was amiss. “Hold here a second, lads,” he called and tried to work out what was wrong.

He checked his watch. It showed that it had been over twenty minutes since their last stop, how was that possible? And if it was right, why hadn’t they passed the stream yet? It wasn’t that far from the small rise they’d paused on, he’d seen it when he checked the area. A growing sense of unease built; they could not have crossed it without his realising, with it being in near-flood after the recent rains.

Then he noticed the silence.

Since spring had arrived the alarm calls of nesting birds and rustling noises in the long grass as rabbits bolted for cover had accompanied their patrols. Now something had stilled all the usual sounds of nature. He scanned around himself - not a single creature in sight, as far as he could see. Even the butterflies were missing. Worse than that, he couldn’t make out any of the usual landmarks they navigated by - after so many patrols he could follow the route in his sleep, and…

“Turquoise, check the damn stone!” he called. The burly man lifted the rock to his view and cried out in horror.

“They’re here,” he shouted. “All around us, shit!”

“Form a circle,” Jacob called, “staffs at the ready, gather your power.” The men formed a small ring, their backs toward each other facing down the unseen enemy and Jacob took the hagstone from Turquoise. Squinting through it he saw a half-dozen creatures in front of him, and a glance to either side confirmed more of the same beasts there too.

“Powders!” he called. The men were already digging in their back packs for the small glass bottles they needed, and Jacob thanked the drills he’d insisted on repeating. “Ready?”

A chorus of shouts confirmed that they were.

“Throw!”

The bottles arced through the air, glinting in the late afternoon sun. When they hit the ground, they shattered to release a fine grey powder which hovered in the air despite the light breeze. For a moment everyone held their breath, before the small dust clouds split and darted through the grass with a purpose. Each puff of dust honed in on one of the fae and enveloped it, removing its ability to stay unseen for a short time. A gasp came from behind Jacob at one man’s first sight of a wild fae creature.

“Stay focused,” Jacob warned. “We trained for this, you know what to do. Wait for my signal.” He took heart from the silence of the rest of the men; they were ready. Unaware they were now visible, though irritated by the powder, the creatures stalked towards the circle of men. They were the size of a badger or small dog, but there any resemblance to something he knew ended. Large feet moved through the long grass without disturbing it, scales flashing in the light. As the scales grew up the legs they became larger, forming armoured plates across the beasts’ backs, and along their long sinuous tails, coiling and uncoiling above them as they moved. Their faces were terrible to behold, jet-black eyes peering out from under a thick ridge of bony plates that protected the skull, no visible nose, and a mouth that split the head almost in half. As Jacob waited for his moment, long teeth folded out from somewhere inside their heads, too long for the mouths that contained them, twitching and dripping with inky saliva.

“Wait…” Jacob hissed. One beast threw its head back, mouth open to the sky. Thanking whatever Gods were watching over them at that moment that the powder didn’t allow you to hear the fae also, Jacob watched as the others echoed the silent howl.

Then, as one, the fae broke into a run.

“Now!” Jacob called, and the men let loose a volley of lightning, catching the beasts mid-stride. The first creatures stumbled, a few falling insensible, while the rest charged onwards. “Again!” came Jacob’s cry, and another salvo issued forth.

By now around half of the creatures were lying immobile in the grass, the others halting their assault and circling. Jacob took advantage of the short reprieve to recharge his energies and trusted his Company were doing the same. “Ready fireballs…” he called, then “fire!” It satisfied him to see every man there launch a good-sized globe of flame at the monsters, now few enough to target them all in one strike. Once again several fell to the assault, and the last few turned tail and ran. “Take them down!” Jacob cried and a final burst did just that.

In the encroaching gloom he walked over and kicked the nearest body. It was dead, or at least whatever passed for dead among the fae. He reached into his pack and pulled out a small bottle, inverted it over the creature and shook out a few drops of pearlescent liquid. Where they touched, the creature faded from view, the patches spreading until they covered the whole body and it was invisible once more. He repeated this on each of the bodies bar one, which he ordered Turquoise to carry back to camp for study.

“It stinks!” he protested, before adding a hasty “sir.”

“Well you’d better march quickly then, hadn’t you? I’ll give the stone to Magenta, he’ll keep a better look-out.”

With the fae vanquished, Jacob still had the problem of identifying where they were - no doubt they’d had their steps waylaid by the creatures that had been tailing them. In their tired state it had been a simple matter to lead them astray, even on an open plain. He looked up to see if there were any stars visible, but the sun still lightened the sky too much. Right, he thought, if the brightest spot is there, call that due West, a little South of West given the time of year… So that will be North. Camp should be North-East of us,…

“That way,” he called, pointing an arm. Better confident and wrong than hesitant, he mused.

Magenta led the way, checking every three paces with the hagstone even when it caused him to stumble in the near-darkness. Jacob was just beginning to second-guess himself when the faint lights of the camp’s fires appeared as they crested a hill. The men let out a collective sigh of relief that none of them realised they’d been holding.

They had learned an important lesson, and Jacob was grateful it hadn’t been at greater cost.

“Another pint?” Harry asked, later that night.

“Bloody need one,” Jacob agreed. “Could have been nasty,” he added.

While at the bar, Harry overheard two of the locals chatting. One of the pillars that held up the roof hid him from their view.

“Nah, they’re not soldiers,” one was saying, “we had a bunch down here in the war, and this lot don’t look right.”

“They was airmen, wasn’t they?” The other sounded drunker. “All them balloons and biplanes.”

“Well that’s as maybe, but this lot ain’t that either,” the first declared. “Oh they might march about like soldiers but they don’t have uniforms; no guns, neither. Just walking sticks with pearls and stuff in ‘em.”

“I heard as they’re surveyors,” a third voice piped up, to the amusement of the other two.

“Nah, they’re all up at the ‘enge,” the first laughed. “Been putting ‘em all up nice and square, if you please. Never mind they ain’t been square since the Romans was ‘ere, gotta make ‘em pretty if you’re charging a bob a look.”

The second man piped up again. “This other lot down by here are summat to do with the Fair Folk, you asks me.” The words sent a chill down Harry’s back, and he froze with the two fresh pints in his hands. “Dunno if they’re callin’ ‘em up or puttin’ ‘em down, but they’re part of all them strange things we’re seein’.”

“I don’t know what you’re seein’,” the first voice mocked. “With that damn gut-rot you brew up, I’m amazed you can still see at all!” Laughter greeted this pronouncement.

“Joke all you want, I know what I seen. And them lambs didn’t tear themselves up like that.”

“Foxes, that’s all that was, I told you.”

“Foxes don’t do that to lambs, idiot. I’m telling you it’s the Fair Folk.”

To Harry’s relief, the others didn’t place much stock in this opinion, and the discussion moved to market prices. He retreated to his table before they realised someone had overheard them.

“So there’s been sightings outside the quarantine area?” Jacob mused, after Harry relayed the details of the conversation.

“Sounds like it,” Harry agreed. “Not sure what but they seemed calm so I don’t think we’ve too much to worry about just yet.”

“But attacking livestock, that won’t go unmentioned for too long,” Jacob said.

Harry sighed. “I guess we’d better strengthen the wards and widen the patrols still further. The men won’t like that,” he added.

“Let’s have Grey tell them,” Jacob smiled.