It was nearly thirty days later when Krarrnic walked into the cottage and said, “The spirit I left with Corvus just reported in, he has gone to pick up the Hunter from the Winter Court. But there is one piece of good news, Toixnae does not accompany them. She is busy with some task and will only come if needed, I also get the impression Harran does not like her too well.”

Over the last twenty days or so the population of the farm had exploded, the dorms were packed to capacity and a tent city had sprung up like mushrooms after rain. The Fae who’d come here knew they would never return to their old lives again, even if they survived Harran’s hunt. Live or die they were now committed to the rebellion. If anyone noticed their absence at their original worksites they could blame it on Harran, he’d slaughtered entire communities before.

Elsilai, Schektar and Olid, the elderly farmer from Demenses, had joined the rebel council, giving their groups a voice in it.

Elsilai said, “How long before he starts hunting?”

Krarrnic grunted and said, “With the speed of Corvus’ teleports and the distance the spirit had to travel, he already is and his mount flies. Not surprising that a Fae Chanar called the Hunter rides a Nightmare of the Wild Hunt. Inconvenient, but not surprising.”

Olid said, “Schektar, we need to get our groups ready. It won’t be very long before he finds the bait Corvus will have pointed him toward and heads here.”

She grinned, “Sure thing old man. Betcha I can beat you to the wall.”

“Possibly but my group will always outrun yours, that brother of yours for all his strength is a bit slow isn’t he?”

Her face clouded and she said, “Yes…”

Standing up and turning away to hide his grin he said, “I’ll be waiting for you at the wall…”

Krarrnic said, “Not to put a damper on your fun but I will want to talk to them, many we stand with today will not live to see the sun set and I will not have any of them go into the darkness without knowing we value them and what they sacrifice for us. Too many unquiet spirits are those slain with no regard or care from their leaders.”

Olid said, “You can speak to us if you wish Shaman but we all know, every last one of us is a volunteer and expects to die, we face one of the Fae Chanar. We know.

Schektar said, “The old man is speaking truth, we have trained as though we are already dead and died the day we started training. There is not a one of us who has not made their peace with death, we know we will not live. But we take this chance to strike at those who have oppressed us and lied to us for longer than our history extends, freely offering our lives so that future generations can live as masters of their own destiny.”

Krarrnic said, “A noble goal, but I have laid far too many spirits of those who died struggling against the Fae to rest. So I would still prefer to speak to the runners. I will rest more easily if all who run have their spirit selves marked so the guides may find them easily and I will not have to lay them to rest forcefully, after.”

Schektar rolled her eyes as Olid nodded, they both left the cottage and soon raised voices could be heard outside.

A short while later Krarrnic stood with around thirty pairs of eyes focused on him in the bright morning sun.

Assuming the Mantle of the Shaman he said, “Today many of you will die, but your deaths will not be in vain. You will die striking the first real blow of the Rebellion when Harran the Hunter loses his life. A High Fae Chanar has never fallen to the Fae races and his death will send a clear message to them, they are not invulnerable, they are not invincible, they can and will lose their lives trying to repress the will and power of the Fae races. Give this spirit your names, once the Rebellion is won they will be engraved on a monument of remembrance. You will never be forgotten!”

As the Fae cheered Krarrnic made one of his spirits visible and had it hover nearby, the Fae surged forward around the spirit and he walked over to where Olid and Schektar stood.

He quietly said, “I am surprised so many of these worksites Fae are willing to die. Your race is not known for their altruistic nature, I would find it much more in keeping for them to force others to die for them.”

Schektar shrugged and said, “Some have been, the grand game has been played quite viciously over the last few tendays and some of the Fae here are likely not willingly so. They’ve been forced due to various reasons. But most are here for the same reason I am, the same reason my brothers are and the same reason Olid is, we have all lost people we cared for deeply to the Fae Chanar’s disregard for any lives but their own.”

Krarrnic said, “Hmm, well we should get moving it appears my spirit has all the names memorised now and Harran is moving this way. Extremely quickly, my spirits tell me.”

Olid circled his hand in the air and shouted, “Form up! We leave as soon as you are.”

Each of the Fae had three wax stoppered bamboo vials hanging from their chests or belts, two contained potions which would increase their endurance at the cost of severe pain and the third contained a concoction which would numb all pain for a half day or so.

When taken together they were quite toxic but the poisoning wouldn’t have any great effect for a couple of days at least and any who survived to feel it would probably be glad they could.

As the Fae set off, Krarrnic used the Mantle to borrow invisibility and ran alongside the Fae, they had to get to the wall quickly and prepare the ambush.

They’d reached the half-way point and just taken the first endurance potion and the pain killer when Krarrnic saw one of the Fae stumble and fall, a black fletched arrow buried between his shoulder blades.

Sharpening his vision through the Mantle he quickly looked around to try and spot whoever had fired that arrow. Eventually he saw him, a tiny dot high in the sky and he was drawing his bow back again. With an evil hiss the arrow flew and made another Fae stumble but he kept running, the arrow bobbing gently where it was stuck through his shoulder.

Harran had fallen for the plan, Corvus and Olid had left clues leading away from the worksites and left camps along the way that told a tale of a mad scramble to run away and Harran had followed them like the good little bloodhound he was.

Harran fired again and this time the Fae fell, chest pierced right through and bright arterial blood staining the ground.

Another arrow and another Fae fell.

Krarrnic had to do something, at this rate they’d all be down before they even reached the wall.

Studying Harran and his mount Krarrnic suddenly smiled, a hard, humourless, evil looking grin. His mount was a roiling cloud of thick mist in which random parts of the Hunt horse could be seen, a flash of hoof here, a lash of it’s tail there, a glimpse of it’s shoulder in the shifting mist but one part was always visible the horses skull that topped it. It was also a spirit, a very strong spirit true but not one beyond his ability to banish.

It was the work of moments to send it back to the spiritrealm.

Even from so far away Krarrnic heard the surprised screech as the Hunter fell from the sky, it was too much to expect that he’d be injured by the fall because all Fae Chanar had shields that were nearly impenetrable.

Cloaking himself in invisibility again he ran up to where Olid and Schektar were running, redfaced, panting, and sweating heavily.

He said, “I banished the Hunter’s horse and he is now on foot quite a way behind us, I have no doubt he will catch up but we can only hope it is once we are closer to the wall. That horse was much faster than expected.”

Neither of the Fae had breath enough to talk but they both nodded in acknowledgement and ran on.

They took the second potion at the 3 of the way there mark and kept running flat out, Krarrnic thought they may actually make it without the Hunter catching up. But then a Fae at the rear of the group staggered as an arrow tore through his arm,

Looking back Krarrnic saw the Hunter racing across the terrain, a huge black bow with an evil aura to it held in front of him as he drew again. He shouted, “Scatter! Harran is behind us!”

The Fae started abruptly changing direction and speed, doing their best to make themselves as hard as possible to hit. It did little good because still the arrows flew and when they hit, they killed. Unless that particular Fae’s shield could hold up to the hammering blows of the arrow’s impacts and there were not many that could. They were farmers and herdriders not soldiers, they’d had barely a third of a season of training and that mostly running.

But they were enough and they had lasted long enough, up ahead the void of the writhing wall could be seen.

What Krarrnic could also see was Harran’s predatory grin when the running Fae slowed as they approached it. It all came down to this fight, right now. If they took him out the Rebellion and Corvus himself would remain undiscovered, if not Corvus would be exposed and would have to fight.

Krarrnic moved away under his invisibility as the half-dozen Fae that were left spread out along the rim of the writhing wall.

Harran stopped and with narrowed eyes silently watched them. Then he said, “You are not acting like prey, you are not cowering and begging for your lives. Hm-hm-hm, what do you have that gives you this hope?”

Dropping the bow, which disappeared through a jagged dark tear in reality he drew a long thin rapier and a large viciously hook-pointed dagger from other darkly glowing tears. Both weapons glowed with enchantments, one of which was surely a shield breaking charm.

He moved sideways along the line of Fae, stalking like a great cat with a fixed grin on his face and intent eyes. Watching for the first to flinch.

Turning he stalked back the other way.

Schektar glanced sideways at Olid and the rest of the Fae, she grinned widely and lit in the golden glow of Order. Shouting, “Do you want to live forever?” in a blurred streak she ran toward the Hunter.

Who grinned widely and stepping aside, ran her through.

With a scream of loss and pain, Leipall blasted him with a jet of high pressure water. Their other brother Gybzon had fallen a long way back.

Harran’s green shield flickered under the assault and he frowned as other attacks hit him, bolts of lightning from a Fae covered in a shield of hazy looking air, beams of darkness from another covered in stony armour and beams of bright white light from the last in a golden shield.

Olid made no attack, his green and blue shield staying around him as he watched and waited for whatever the Hunter did next.

A roiling cloud of darkness quickly spread along the edge of the cliff hiding everyone from sight, there was a piercing shriek in the darkness, then another, and another. Then a long pause followed by a soft thud, a strangled grunt and a much louder thud which shook the ground.

The darkness vanished as if it had never been.

Harran was wrapped in the coils of a monstrous snake, struggling mightily, the rest of the Fae were on the ground, crimson blood staining the grass under them.

The snake stiffened then disappeared leaving a naked Olid with a hand clamped to a deep slice that showed ribs from his armpit to his hip as Harran jumped backwards dagger dripping with blood. The Hunter’s rapier lay beside Leipall and in a few flickering steps he ran over and scooping it up turned back to Olid as blue light played over the gory wound in his side, closing it and not even leaving a scar.

Thorny vines burst from the ground around Olid’s feet wrapping him tightly and pinning his arms to his torso.

Harran rushed forward rapier out but sidestepped and looped around as Olid swelled up into the beastial pig headed form of a Boarn, a race noted for the strength of their arm and the thickness of their hide.

The vines tore like paper around the much larger body and Olid turned to face the Hunter who slashed at him with the rapier. He jerked sideways out of the way of the slash and took the dagger, hard into the same side that had been slashed earlier.

The dagger only scored a shallow bloody cut along his flank.

Olid charged at Harran with a burst of speed the Hunter was clearly not expecting from the chunky Boarn form and knocked him backward, gaining another, deeper, cut across his thigh as Harran’s shield flickered and broke because of the force of the charge.

A thigh thick jet of water slammed into the shield-less Hunter breaking bones and driving him backward another few steps… right up to the edge of the chasm.

Green light lit his body and the twisted broken bones of his arm reset themselves, but he’d been distracted just long enough, Olid wasted no time and not a single motion charging him again.

He took the rapier straight through the heart but he also took the Hunter with him as he threw himself into the ravine.

Harran screamed all the way down but Olid made not a sound, either he was already dead but more likely given Boarn toughness he’d suspected it would come to this and had made his peace with it long ago.

Leipall dragged himself to his feet, blood soaking his shirt and his pants on his left side, then faint glimmers of blue light sealed the wounds. They weren't healed, he wasn’t a good enough mage for that but he wouldn’t die from blood loss either.

Krarrnic walked up next to him as he gazed into the chasm and said, “The first blow has been struck, there is no turning back now. One of their own has fallen. Is the cost worth it? I cannot say but we must honour the fallen for their choice and push forward to the day all Fae are free.”

Leipall said, “That doesn’t give me back my sister or my brother.”

“No it doesn’t and there will be a lot more lost brothers and sisters before this is done. That is no comfort but there is none to be had in this grim task. Just loss.”