Smoke drifted above the valley, only slowly getting dispersed by the wind that was picking up now. It irritated Tikimaken’s nose and made him cough. Although, to be fair, that might be due to more than simply the smoke.

He didn’t even want to consider what sorts of substances the Hivekind might have used to produce smoke. Luckily, the attack did not seem to have included many mages. He wondered about that briefly, before the situation grabbed his attention again as someone stumbled into him.

He almost shoved the man off, before he recognized Periakin. “So, still alive, my friend?” the other merchant asked with what he recognized as put-on levity.

“And unharmed,” he agreed with a forced smile.

“Alright, that’s enough sitting around!” a shout interrupted them. “Tiki-Rock, get up and look sharp, you’re on watching duty! Peri-kins, the Colonel wants you up ahead, so move it!”

Tikimaken turned and looked at the sergeant, resisted the urge to scowl at him, and reluctantly got moving. He was far more exhausted than he ought to be, already, since the battle had not lasted all that long.

Then again, he was still not used to all this, and it had been exhausting in more than a physical sense. He’d been in combat before, but never on such a scale. And he’d never had to deal with hordes of identical monsters rushing at him, either.

He suppressed a shudder as he thought back to the hive’s fighters. He recognized them, of course - the ones who could talk had called them ‘War Drones’ - but he’d never seen them in combat before. The utter ferocity they’d shown had been bad enough, but if he was honest, what unnerved him even more was the downright eerie coordination, almost synchronization, between them. He wasn’t sure even elites could match it. And they had hardly even seemed to care about their own lives, but fearlessly attacked whoever stood against them, even if he was twenty levels higher. He’d even watched one instance where a drone hadn’t even tried to dodge a warrior’s sword and allowed its companion to deal a fatal strike.

Tikimaken shook his head and reminded himself that at least they were still individually weak, then made himself return his attention to his task. It looked like the division’s advance had been decisively halted for now, but he shouldn’t let his guard down.

It ended up taking even longer than he expected until everything was sorted out and they were ready to move on. The injured had to be taken care of, and some of them prepared for transport back to base, where they could receive more extensive care. Some of their supply vehicles were destroyed, again, and the engineers took a while to rig repairs for a few others. Tikimaken suspected that the soldiers’ loads might get a little heavier again.

Then, finally, with the path cleared and everything in order, though still leaving behind more men than he knew anyone wanted to, they got moving again. He suspected part of that was because the commanders didn’t want to linger in one spot for too long. Were they afraid the enemy would prepare another attack?

Tikimaken trudged back to his usual group, trying to gauge the condition of the army on the way. For men like him, the usual rules were a bit looser, and they had some leeway in forming teams. That meant he spent most of his time with Peri and a few others, most of whom he had known for some time. Once again, he was devoutly grateful that he had already reached as high as he had.

And at least the war was good leveling. He’d felt like he was almost stuck for a while now, but he’d gained a level a few days ago, and he was confident the next one would be coming along soon, too.

They talked a bit as they marched, trying to make jokes and banter to put each other at ease. Maybe it was his imagination, but it seemed more forced than it had been at the beginning of this endeavor. Certainly more sporadic. At least they made the effort, however, and he knew that, all too often, confidence came from putting on a good front, projecting it until you actually felt it. Tikimaken was an old hand at that, too. He wouldn’t have thought about it in those terms a month ago, but he also didn’t want to let the common soldiers see him be nervous or less than confident.

The army slowly wound its way out of the valley and into the lowlands. Well, outsiders probably would not call them lowlands, but they were lower than the mountains, so that counted for him. Tikimaken didn’t even want to think about how long the column would stretch if all of the Confederation’s army was here. Even this part of it was already rather drawn out. That had been one of the reasons the enemy attack had hit them as hard as it did. Luckily, that would hopefully be over now.

“Don’t count on it,” Peri said, shaking his head, as he mentioned his thought. “There are precious few proper roads here, unfortunately. We are still not going to be marching in a wide line. On the other hand, it should be a lot easier to move along the column or form up for battle properly.”

Tikimaken nodded. He couldn’t deny that he was relaxing a little as they got out of the mountains’ shadow. They were still in hilly country, dotted with occasional woods and a few small brooks, but it was much more open terrain.

“At least you know the area,” Erdeken remarked. He adjusted the strap of his weapon, an oversized firearm of some kind, and looked around with a suspicious scowl. Over the last few days, he seemed to have lost much of his usual flippancy.

Tikimaken just shrugged. “I suppose.”

“It also means there are more potential hidden ambush spots here,” Peri added.

Tikimaken gave him a dirty look. “Thank you for that encouraging thought.”

“Seriously, now,” he continued after a short pause. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen any sign of the Hivekind now. Do you reckon they might be easing off? Now that we’ve gotten this far, I mean. Drawing back to build their defenses and sort themselves out?”

“I’m not sure we should be hoping for that,” Erdeken muttered.

Tikimaken could tell from looking at the others that they did hope so, however, and he felt the same way. Well, at least it’s getting dark, so we’ll have to camp soon. He was looking forward to a hot meal, the strategic worries could wait.

“It does strike a fellow as odd, though,” Erdeken continued after a while. His friend’s serious tone still felt out of place to Tikimaken. “What are the chances that the Hivekind would suddenly surface here, of all places?”

There was a moment of silence. “Don’t be an idiot,” he said. “It’s not like we’re the only gnomes in the world. They had to turn up somewhere. We’re just the unlucky fellows on the short end of the stick.”

“Did they, though?” Peri muttered, then shook his head. “I’d still like a word with whichever god put them here, though.”

Erdeken barked a short laugh.

“Don’t be silly,” Tikimaken said, a bit more sharply than he’d intended. He let out a heavy breath and waved his hand apologetically. “Besides, it was probably Deirianon,” he added as an afterthought. Maybe he was more tired than he thought, but he realized he probably shouldn’t have said anything right after he did. He suppressed a grimace.

“What’d you mean?” Erdeken asked, cocking his head.

“Nothing. Just forget it.”

They walked in silence for a short while, before Peri spoke again. “Tiki …”

Tikimaken raised his head and rolled his eyes. “I’m just saying, but …” He glanced at the others. “You boys haven’t heard about that thing about Alianais, then?”

They exchanged a look and shook their heads. “What about the goddess?” Peri asked, sounding a bit cautious.

Tikimaken sighed. “Just something I heard from my contacts, and, well, might be something someone picked up when we met the Hivekind.” He noticed the impatience in their expressions and grunted. “It appears Regina - the Hive Queen - is Alianais’ Champion. Or something.”

They looked at him incredulously. “What?” Peri exclaimed. Then he immediately lowered his tone of voice. “That’s nonsense. Even Alianais — especially Alianais — and none of the gods would do something like that.” He frowned. “Where did you hear that? Did they actually say she was the Goddess of Progress’ Champion?”

“No, I suppose not,” Tikimaken said. He considered for a moment, then shrugged. “She seems to be marked by the goddess. That’s all I could tell you for sure, and I suppose there are plenty of reasons for something like that.”

His answer didn’t appear to set his companions at ease, although Peri’s frown calmed.

They traveled for the next few minutes in silence. For his part, Tikimaken was trying not to think about what they just talked about. He was almost glad for an interruption, although that feeling didn’t last when he realized who called for them.

“Tiki, just the man I was looking for. Peri, you as well.” Commander Serdakeni looked a bit hassled as they moved up to his ‘mobile command post’, which was just a small wagon that most likely carried supplies as well.

“Do you have a job for us, Commander?” Tikimaken asked. He was not in the mood for proper social graces right now.

“Yes, I do. We’re going to be making camp soon. As soon as we are out of this stretch and get to what I’m assured is a better camping area, in fact. But before that, we want to be certain the environment is safe, beyond just our immediate perimeter. So, I’m sending teams out to check on any likely ambush sites and general locations of interest. Tiki, since you’ve traveled through here more than once, you’ll be with Team One. That’ll put your experience to good use. Peri, you’re with Team Three, under Esiaken, you’ll check over the river to the northwest.”

Tikimaken nodded and sketched a salute. He was not exactly happy about this, since his dreams of rest and a good meal would be pushed back quite a bit. But he was not going to argue about that now.

Instead, he went to meet up with his squad, then get to work. He recognized all of the other three, although he didn’t know them personally. They all seemed as tired or grumpy as him, and only exchanged a few nods before they got going.

At least they had a mage who knew the Haste Spell. Judging by the effect, it might even be a more developed version, like Greater Haste. In either case, they sped through the darkening fields around the army’s path, taking advantage of the last of the sunlight. It promised to be a cloudy night, so they had better hurry.

“Wait, there,” he murmured as they gained distance from the campsite. “There’s a game path through here, it should take us through that forest and to the first site.”

He’d seen the maps and they already had a prearranged route, although there was room for some deviation. He wasn’t too sure how much a patrol like this would really matter, although he supposed they could make sure the Hivekind weren’t gathering any large forces in the vicinity.

There was a somewhat secluded spot in the shade of a lone, rocky hill that would function as a good landmark, as well as potentially give cover for fighters. Tikimaken tensed somewhat as they neared, but he couldn’t see any Hivekind on the hill using it as a lookout position. He supposed they didn’t really need to, with their flying drones. And as his party made its way closer, it soon became clear that the hill was just as abandoned as it ought to be.

“Good, now what?” the mage, Tardaken, asked.

“There’s a ford in the river which would probably let wagons pass,” he replied. “This way.”

For the next small eternity, the party moved in an arc around one side of the army’s path and intended campsite, checking out the area and any spots of interest. It wasn’t really a proper scouting job, but what did he know? Then again, he didn’t think any gnome would be very familiar with fighting in wild, open terrain like this.

They diverged from the straightest course several more times to check out features of the terrain or landmarks, or to get across a body of water. Their mage had mana to spare, at least, and refreshed his Spell when needed. They moved a lot more quickly than normal, but Tikimaken still found it exhausting, on more than just a physical level. At first, he tensed up more and more as they approached the next potential ambush position, but then his tension started to fade.

They only found any hint of combat when they were almost back at the camp. Tikimaken exchanged looks with his companions and sped up slightly, ignoring his tiredness. There was a smell of smoke in the air, faint though it may be, it still seemed stronger than what one would get purely from campfires.

“What happened?” he asked tensely.

No one answered, of course.

As they reached the camp itself, Tikimaken split off from the group and went to grab an officer he recognized. “Hey! What happened? Was the camp under attack?”

The captain, Ediakin, looked up, then seemed to hesitate as he recognized Tikimaken. “No, well, not really. The perimeter was hit, but it didn’t seem like it was a heavy attack. They did hit several of the scouting teams as well, though.” He frowned and glanced at the other three. “You were lucky. Some of the others, well …”

Tikimaken sucked in a breath as he realized what Ediakin meant. “Which squads?” he asked. “Who died?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but —“ The captain shrugged and nodded towards an open area in front of the first line of tents, where he now realized they were gathering shapes under blankets.

Tikimaken nodded an absent thanks and hurried on to the spot. Some soldiers looked like they wanted to stop him, but they saw his expression and his level and backed off. He barely paid them any mind. Instead, he scanned the line of bodies laid out.

He peeked under several coverings, and was almost starting to relax, when he lifted the edge of the white blanket off the third form.

Peri’s glassy eyes stared back at him.

Tikimaken gulped and stumbled a step back. Almost automatically, he turned and looked at the dark horizon. He couldn’t even tell what he was feeling right now, or what he was supposed to think.