In the second half of the day, Sania and I took to the air to scout though we didn’t move from above our budding army below. We mainly wanted to use the altitude to scan the horizon for trouble and signs of Justices troops.

After about an hour into the skies, our efforts paid off as both Sania and I saw the glinting sunlight. The obvious assumption was reflections from either armor or weapons.

I let those below know we’d spotted activity but to keep up the pace for now.

“They are definitely soldiers, though not in great numbers.” Sania said after a minute or two of intense scrutiny. I tried to make out what she was seeing to give her that impression from the distant shapes.

“Believe it or not,” she continued. “I think they're actually scouts. It doesn't speak well of justice that they send out scouts in uncovered armor.”

“They just think they’re that great they could do whatever the fuck they want,” I replied still channelling a lot of bitterness.

We kept on our current course for another hour. The opposing scouts kept their distance though it was clear they were watching us.

“I think we’re close. That dark spot looks like it could be the fort and many people.

“Okay, let’s get the others to stop and we go and check it out.”

“What about surprise paladin portal attacks?”

“We go together, but I'll keep an eye out for incoming portals,” I replied. “If I activate my Singularity sight it should make it easier to spot their portals and respond with manipulation.

She nodded agreement.

“Okay, I’ll let everyone know to slow right down while we go see what we can see.” I said, before communicating with Galota, Danivra and Grigor.

We moved high and we moved fast. The fort as Sania had rightly predicted emerged into being and with Singularity active I could see the condensed Nuema within everyone surrounding the walls and there were a lot more than we expected. I could only guess, but I suspected upward of six thousand troops.

“That’s way more than four thousand,” Sania said. “They must have brought more if they knew you were coming. Come on, let’s head back.”

“We turned just at the right time for me to catch the beginnings of a portal. The energy silver rather than gray to my Singularity vision.

I pushed at the Neuma of the portal this time in an instinctual move, rather than the surrounding energy as I had previously. It worked a charm, and the portal disappeared like smoke in the wind.

Amazed at how effective it was, I barely had time to rue the lack of a teacher. Trial and error was risky, but it was working for me at the minute. I pushed on three more portals with the Singularity power causing them to vanish.

When the last of the three portals disappeared, two arms up to the elbows had just emerged through. They now dropped to the ground, alone. Parted cleanly from the rest of their body that was either somewhere outside of the fort or far off in Delosha. I couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, that was handy!” I shouted over to Sania, as we flew off back to our army.

Unsurprisingly, she didn’t laugh, and no more portals appeared in the sky.

We dropped in front of the army, where Danivra walked alongside Grigor and Galota.

“We saw the fort, Cragside,” I said, as I touched down. “There’s a lot more of them than we were led to believe, and I’m going to be honest here. I've never actually broken a siege before. Nor have we been this outnumbered. So, any ideas how we approach this? Apart from a hit and hope.”

“If we're so outnumbered enough that you don’t think we can just go in and attack immediately, then we’ll need to look at setting up a battle camp that we can defend,” Danivra said. “From there, we can plan as we gather information. In an ideal world, it would be best to be able to coordinate with those in the fort.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do,” I said. “I'm probably only a few hours away from being able to use my power again. I can go in the fort and have a word. You didn’t forget I could do that now did you Danivra?” I said with a little friendly chiding. In truth, I had only thought about it when she’s mentioned coordinating with them. Danivra was many things, but sensitive was not one of them.

“I had, yes. “But that would be a perfect solution.”

“It will be if I know what to tell them. What’s our plan?”

“Until we know the numbers of those within the Fort, their composition, thinking then we can't plan. This most likely will not be the rapid turnaround we would have hoped for.”

“I doubt Wind of the Wild will be happy with this delay,” Sania said.

“We can’t make any better of the situation,” Danivra replied. “The expectation we could move quickly was based on the numbers Wind of the Wild gave us.”

“True. He’ll understand,” I said to Sania then looked to Danivra. “So, basically, I need to speak to them and come back here to plan first?”

“If they have a good amount of people fit and ready to fight. Then, by all means, plan an attack with them, Lord Clive. Until you can travel, I suggest we get to work on that defensive camp. Somewhere defensible. Preferably with a water source nearby. Perhaps a rocky area, or wooded, so we can make some basic fortifications against any ground troops that come our way.

I’ve already seen all of those things,” Sania said. “There’s a gorge a few miles North of this position. I wasn't looking specifically for it, so I don’t know how good it would be. But it has steep sides and while I wouldn't exactly call it forested within the gorge, there are definitely trees. I can only assume it was water that cut the formation out.”

“Where the hell was that?” I asked. “I didn’t see any bloody gorges!”

“Understandable as you were looking for portals,” Sania said, covering for my ineptitude. “I’m sure you would have noticed it otherwise. As I did teach you to always keep an eye out for resources you might need, even if you don’t need them immediately.”

“You did?” I asked, not remembering that conversation at all.

“Before we entered Knuntang. When I trained you to hunt.”

“Ah, of course,” I lied. All I could remember from that time was constantly shitting myself and smashing rabbits with a hammer.

“Well, it sounds perfect,” Danivra clapped.

Sania and I remained on the ground, at the head of the pack, Sania leading the way and me pretending to. We could feel the presence of Justice watching us in the distance, and for a while I thought they were going to leave us completely unmolested.

Then the attack came. Over a hundred paladins appeared in the skies above us. As we all broke into action, I noticed none of them were the high levelled ones that hunted me across Delosha. But they were all above level fifty and they each hammered us with a number of blasts each. I sent up a quick fire, dark and an ethereal blast at the same time. Two solid hits stuck home, but only one Paladin fell from the sky. Meanwhile, a hail of arrows went up from our Fensalfar, but only the five from Far Reach stuck their targets. The bows of the Fensalfar that had joined us from Rattayak, were just not up to the task.

Once they had spent their energy on us, they disappeared back through their portals just as quickly as they came.

You Killed a level 63 Paladin for 630 experience point.

I swiped the notification away and turned to check on our people. Luckily, everyone had been on high alert and while we did have injured, for the most part everyone was okay.

The Paladins had mainly targeted our goblins where their powers could have maximum effect. Luckily, they had been using the Nanooks as their rides and subsequently their shields as all hell broke loose.

We made it to the gorge without any more trouble, and it was exactly as Sania had described. I personally wondered about the logic of putting ourselves in the ground where Justices forces could overwhelm us from above, but my more knowledgeable friends seem very happy with the discovery, so I kept my thoughts to myself.

As we reached the bottom of the gorge, I had to admit, the forest actually did give us a lot of cover from above, and there was a healthy-looking stream.

Danivra conducted the camp like a conductor, because while everyone here could make a camp, none were experienced with what Sania had planned.

Directing the Nanooks to carve out deep gouges with their paw s into the side of the steep gorge wall before long there was a solid overhang for us to camp within. She spat her webbing across the top edge of the excavation which held any areas of crumbling rock and soil together.

A few props were cut, and wedged at intervals along the stretch and only then did the Fensalfar build up their smokeless fires. The Nystiobek raided the stream for fish, while the Wultr romped mile along the gorge in each direction, hunting down any and all food they could find. Everyone else, foraged. Again, I had to hand it to the Goblins. They seemed to find every berry, nut and edible root… and some not so edible roots, in the area. As the food piled high and everyone partook in the modest feast, there was a clear problem. We had totally raped the valley of anything to eat at least five miles from our camp in one night.

In the gorge , night seemed to fall quicker. I’d been keeping an eye on my Protectorate menu for the approaching reset and when it came felt a little nervous.

“Be careful,” Sania said, looking me in my eyes. I don’t like you going alone.”

“I know. I wish I could teleport with you. Hell with a bunch of you guys. Maybe one day, huh?”

“Be prepared for the worst,” Danivra said, seriously.

“Of course,” I replied with a wry grin for her. “Have you seen my life?”

“I know. But be ready to jump straight back immediately. I know it’s unlikely, but Justice could have already taken Cragside and we just don’t know yet. You could be jumping into the centre of their camp.

Sania’s face dropped at her words.

“Perhaps this is unwise, “Grigor said. Queen Danivra is correct.

“While I hadn’t considered that possibility, I promise I will jump back immediately. I got these guys. Trust me.”

They nodded grudgingly. They didn’t have much choice in the matter as without further ado I focused on my Protectorate followed the line of power into Cragside. And I was there

The first thing I saw to my relief was Dokalfar and what without doubt were Drengalfar.

The second thing I saw was barrage of purple blasts, arrows, thrown spears and someone jumping off the castle wall and smashing me with a hammer, which I only just got my right arm up to deflect.

I was taking punishment, and it was unpleasant but survivable.

I managed to defend a lot of the attacks with my arm, and I was about to port out of there and leave the bastards, when I came to my senses. Of course, this is how they would react to a twelve-foot half demon suddenly appearing within their town. It would be stupid of them not to.

I just had to find a way to get them to listen to me. I floated up around ten feet away from the physical abuse, and had to deal merely with the bronze and purple energy attacks, arrows, and hurled items from the forts residents.

Far above me, I could see the shimmer of whatever shield these guys had up to defend against Justice, but beyond that I could also see a couple of Paladins looking down at us wondering what was going on. I wasn’t sure if my power would make it through the shield from this side, but after screaming for them to stop and that I was a friend, I sent up a ball of dark power. I didn’t want to use Ethereal and give way to Justice that I was inside the fort already. I missed, but after the fourth in quick succession with each attack forcing the paladins to move. The attacks on me subsided for the most part.

Once they had stopped completely, I lowered warily back to the floor. The Drengalfar surrounded me most holding a short spear with an extra-long blade, and a shield.

I held my hands up in the air showing I meant no harm. “I’m here to help. Believe it or not.”

“Why would a half demon help us here? Destruction is just as much a threat to our lands as Justice.” An emaciated but clearly once well build Elf asked. He had a scraggly beard that probably matched my own for general scruffiness and his armour though tightened, seemed too big for him. He must have been at least 6’5, which was huge compared to most of the elves I’d seen, though I obviously still towered above him. I looked over his identifier:

Melandrac Yestoris: Level 67 Rinmont. Squad Commander. Derengala (Drengalfar II)

“Look, Commander. I'm not a demon, so don’t worry about that. I’m here to help and if you want to survive this hell hole we need to talk.”

Then talk, he said pushing his spear closer to me.

I shook my head. “About ten mile outside of these walls I have over a thousand troops. Many are very powerful. If we can co-ordinate an attack with you, we might be able to clear Justice.”

“Why do you care what happens to us? Who are you and where have you come from? And how did you bypass our shield? There should be no way you could get through.”

“Ah, well I managed that because this is the North, and I am the protector of the North. My enemies are Destruction and Justice. And the enemies of my enemies are my friends.”

“You should also know that I have Dokalfar and Fensalfar in my number.”

As he muttered to those around him, a Dark elf stepped into the front line:

Loric: level 62 Dokalfera (Dokalfar II)

“How many are you with?” he asked with startling intensity.

“Eleven.”

The intensity immediately dropped from his face. “Some is better than none, but for the number we have lost, it is a drop in the ocean. Thankyou from at least taking them in.

“Yeah, it’s all I could bring north. There's another 600 in Far Reach. Our town just outside of Kalabri.”

“Six hundred is a better number,” he smiled sadly. “But I doubt we will ever break free from this grave. You best save your people and go home if you can.”

“Look, Loric. You almost have me convinced to toddle off mate. But… Queen Danivra will not be happy with me if I desert you. So you're gonna have to man the fuck off and talk with me properly so we can plan how to get you the fuck out of here.”

“Queen Danivra?” he stammered.

“Yeah, she’s out there waiting for me to return with a plan on how to get you all outta here.”