The wall in front of me, however, doesn’t look very mighty at all. In fact, it looks like it’s on the verge of collapsing. There’s huge cracks big enough that I could probably stick my entire head into covering the eight foot tall stone wall from top to bottom and across 50 yards in length. A single swing from a hammer or a pickaxe will bring this wall crumbling to the ground. It’s exactly like how Uda described.

After a bit of coercion from me, Uda spilled pretty much everything he knew about the weakness in the citadel’s wall. Apparently, the Vipers captured one of The Fold’s men and after a bit of coercion from them, he spilled everything he knew. Funny how that works sometimes. The Fold brother they caught told them about the heavily damaged section of stone wall on the eastern side of the citadel. Not only that, but he let slip that the Savior’s magic isn’t as powerful as it was when he was younger and he couldn’t repair the citadel’s walls anymore. Well, even if the Savior’s powers have waned over the years, that doesn’t mean he won’t be putting up one hell of a fight when I confront him.

With that information from the brother, Uda and his buddies were sent here to check out the walls and confirm what they heard. While another squad of Vipers were running interference for them at the front gate, Uda’s team somehow got over the ten foot tall log wall at this spot and saw the cracks in the stone wall on the other side. Unfortunately for them, they were then swarmed by The Fold’s hunting parties and beaten into submission, eventually landing themselves at the bottom of The Pit. The Vipers have sent more teams to this location since then but The Fold has drastically upped their patrols and guards at this specific location, lest another incident were to occur. This place is probably where most of the 60 casualties we’ve had over the last two weeks happened. But if someone were to help them confirm the wall’s weakness, the Vipers’ leader likely wouldn’t let such an opportunity pass him by.

With such an increase in guard presence here, the only reason I was able to get this close and get such a good look at the wall is because Brother Yoel, who is supposed to be guarding this area right now, has had severe stomach issues the past week and he should be shitting his brains out at the moment. Sadly for him, Red Mane Needles are an extremely common fungus in this region and I happened to find a cluster of them about a week ago when his stomach issues first began. What a coincidence. After seeing the cracks firsthand, I don’t linger any longer and shut the sliding panel on my brightstone in a box, killing its already dimming light. Most consumer grade brightstones only last about three months before losing their shine and I bought this one back in Ocean’s Rest in preparation for the trip back to Midriver. If I waited any longer, I’d need to bring a torch with me instead which would be riskier. I had to come tonight.

I briskly make my way back to my shack, slowing down around Gavin’s place in case I woke him up. As I stepped through my shack’s doorway, about to breathe a sigh of relief, I heard a voice from the darkest corner of my shack asking, “Where were you just now?”

My breathing quickens and I can feel my heart jump as I dart my widened eyes over to that dark corner. I don’t even need to see who it is to know who’s there because I’ve gotten quite familiar with this voice over the past two weeks, following his orders every single day. Gavin has caught me with my pants down and if I can’t think of something believable right this moment, all my plans, everything I’ve done these last two weeks will be for naught and I’ll die in this hellhole. Think, quickly, but carefully.

Smiling at him, I laugh, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“I would actually. Because depending on your answer, I might put you down right here and now.” The sound of a blade leaving its sheath fills my tiny shack and echoes in my ears as I wince at the sharp howl. It’s time to put on the performance of a lifetime.

Grimacing at the barely visible shadow in the corner of my shack wielding a sword whose blade reflects the torchlight from outside, I put on the most disgusting scowl I can muster and click my tongue angrily, growling with venomous hostility, “Tch. Alright, you fucking caught me. Are you fucking happy now? Are you going to fucking tell her or are you going to make me, like the cunt you are?”

Gavin’s shadow is silent for a moment and I can picture the confused look on his face. After a moment of thought, he asks, “... Who are you talking about?”

“Who the fuck else? Sister Bella obviously.”

“... What are you talking about?”

“The fuck are you talking about? Isn’t that what this whole stupid shit is about? You found out I was sneaking into Sister Bella’s room every other night to watch her sleep and now you want to out me, right? Well go fucking ahead, I don’t fucking care.”

“... Sister Bella? You’ve been sneaking into her room every night?”

“Not every night, but yeah, have you seen her rack? I mean…” At this point, I try to look stunned as if I just had a horrifying realization, widening my eyes and clenching my jaw. I make sure my quickened breaths are audible and my heaving chest is obvious as I gulp down my saliva, trying to make it as animated as possible. “I… what, uhh, what did you think I was doing? I might have been doing that instead. I don’t know, my memory’s kind of hazy and I’ve been feeling kind of stressed with all these fights with the Vipers we’ve been having.”

When he doesn’t respond, I try to sound desperate as I plead with him, “Look, let’s just forget everything that happened here tonight, alright? Sister Bella doesn’t need to know anything. I haven’t touched her or did anything except watch her sleep.”

Instead of responding, Gavin contemplated to himself for a few moments before putting his sword back in its sheath and leaving without a word. I don’t know if he bought it or not but that was honestly the best I could come up with. I couldn’t say anything too dumb like I was out for a walk because it doesn’t make any sense why I would be out that late. Not only that but no one saw me the whole time I was out because I made sure I kept out of people’s line of sight. If I said I went to grab a late night snack, Gavin could easily find out whether I was really there or not. But Sister Bella is the only person he could ask about my whereabouts and she won’t be able to tell him anything because she was asleep.

Well, hopefully anyways. If she was still awake for some reason… Regardless, I need to expedite some things now. Since Gavin wasn’t watching me like a hawk anymore, I really thought I was in the clear but apparently he fooled me into believing that. Fuck, things are starting to crumble down and there’s no way I can build them back up. This is going to turn into a race against time and my life hinges on whether I’m quick enough or not.

…

The next two days pass uneventfully as The Fold’s leadership solidify their plans to set up an ambush. It’s honestly a really good idea from them because if I were the Vipers, I wouldn’t be expecting anything like this. All of our previous encounters with them, the constant losses and our inability to significantly damage them have actually worked in our favor and painted us as easy targets. But in the end it’ll wholly depend on how many people the Vipers bring with them on the day in question.

For the past two days, all Gavin had us do was scout around for the perfect location to set up the ambush. Near the end of the second day, we found it. It’s a small valley towards the southwest of the citadel about one or two hours away on horseback. There’s two heavily forested areas on both sides of the valley which is fantastic for hiding troops in and gives them the high ground when the fighting starts. The valley itself is pretty narrow and only five or six horses could run through it side by side. It’s a flawless ambush spot.

I told Gavin we could even make wooden anti-cavalry spiked barricades beforehand and place them inside the valley, having whoever was stationed down there drag them over and set them up once our runners cleared them. Bertrand taught me how to make simple barricades because he said you never know when you need to fight against mounted enemies especially while traveling. His direct words were, “It’s always better to know something you don’t need to than to need something you don’t know.” Gavin already made up his mind about the spot but he still wanted to obsess over every minor detail because this ambush could turn the tides of the war in their favor.

While he was doing that, it gave me the time to explore around the valley and plan how I was going to fuck over The Fold at the same time. Gavin still hadn’t mentioned a word about Sister Bella to me which I’m not sure is a good or bad thing for me. Maybe it’s good because that might mean he didn’t manage to figure anything out from talking with her. Spotting something interesting growing on the side of a half rotten tree log, I have Genuine stop a few steps away from it and I hop off his back.

Crouching down, I take a moment to inspect the cluster of pitch black mushroom caps before carefully checking the red gills underneath and making sure the shade of red looks correct. Well fuck me sideways, they’re Doom Shrooms. There’s at least a dozen stalks here alone and it looks like there’s even more clusters growing under the log. A single stalk went for an entire gold coin at the herbal store back in Ocean’s Rest Riane brought me to. Unable to contain my excitement at incorporating these mushrooms into my plan, I quickly take out a knife and start harvesting them right at their base.

As I’m working on the last cluster, I can hear someone walking up from behind me, their shadow enveloping me and my mushrooms. Turning my head slightly to glance back, I can see Gavin standing there, smiling. That doesn't look good. Gavin smiling hasn’t been a good thing for me in weeks.

Seeing me acknowledge him, he asks, “What are you picking there?”

Turning back to my harvesting, I casually reply, “Just grabbing some Bruised Wood Caps. They’re pretty tasty and some even consider them a delicacy in certain places.”

“Really? That’s very interesting. Why don’t you go ahead and eat one then? Right now.”

My hands freeze around the cluster of Doom Shrooms. Looking back at him, I realize that even though his lips are smiling, his eyes are cold like the dead of winter. I guess he doesn’t really believe me regarding the whole Sister Bella thing. Smiling back at him, I respond, “Well, these mushrooms are normally cooked first before they can be eaten like most types of mushrooms as I’m sure you’re aware.”

Gavin looks straight into my eyes with that creepy fake smile still on his face and frigidly replies, “Eat it. Now.”

Seeing how he won’t be taking, “no,” for an answer, I can only finish harvesting the cluster before slicing off one individual stalk. Rubbing the stalk between my fingers, I turn it around a few times before looking back at Gavin once more and see him smiling at me silently. Looking around, I notice a few more members of The Fold standing around, checking out the commotion. Even Eldon’s here watching me with a pair of mirthful eyes, taking joy in my torment. With no other choice, I stuff the stalk into my mouth and chew a few times before swallowing.