by Adam Drake
Mentally, I shrugged. Didn't matter now. Amara had the banner, again. While I...
I looked curiously at my view-screen. Nothing had changed, the blackness remained. Then I noticed the icons still on the edge of my vision. They usually vanished while I was being reborn.
My health indicator was at 2%. Oh, crap. I wasn't dead!
Pushing forward, my avatar lifted her face out of the thick loam of the forest floor. I blinked in confusion at my surroundings. Trees, lots of them, crowded around me like towering guards.
Looking upwards I could see the blue sky high above. The path of my fall was clear from all the snapped branches.
Feeling like an idiot, I stood and brushed myself off.
Then I looked to the map.
Amara appeared within view of my fighting units at the middle. She circled the platform once, but my army were still firmly in control of it. If she landed, she would be swarmed.
Then, as if deciding now was not the time, she flew northward, and her icon eventually vanished as she passed out of view.
My army still fought a protracted war. Units crashed against enemy units. Formations on both sides morphed as the battle situation changed. Amara's army was gaining some ground, but my double block of units kept them back.
Still, it was only a matter of time. Now that she had my banner, she could sit back at her base and funnel a constant stream of trolls south. Eventually, she'd break through or simply wear me down. Then the platform would be hers.
And the game would be over.
Getting angry again, I started to make my way west, the shortest distance out of the forest according to the map.
This terrain was not meant for travel, at all. Most of the way I had to climb up from the cramped forest floor with its huge root system that intertwined to make a living barrier. Carefully, I leapt from branch to branch.
I was mindful of my health. Yeah, I could purposely take a tumble and be back in my base in thirty seconds. But Amara would get Battle Points for it. Even if she didn't directly kill me, her big bird was the one that dropped me. She'd get 100 points, and I wouldn't let her have them.
Before I emerged at the forest's edge I had called on Smoke, who ran up from the base to meet me. When I finally escaped the forest gymnasium he was there, nickering in welcome.
I climbed up into his saddle. “Let's get to the Keep.”
As we headed south, I looked over the perpetual fight in the middle.
My units were smashed up against Amara's units and although she had more cavalry than I, more of my own horsemen were heading north or lined up down both approaches.
Grax still sat back from the main action, guarding the altar. His health had actually increased a little, perhaps to an innate regeneration ability for champions. But he still was not strong enough to move closer and assist. A single volley from an archer unit would do him in.
I was genuinely at a loss as to what do to next. Fight until Amara gained the platform through attrition?
As we arrived at my base, both the defending archer unit and footmen unit had retaken their positions. All their faces were sullen. In their minds, they had failed and lost the banner.
The cavalry unit I had redirected to the base stood by. I simply sent them north again.
“You fought well,” I said to the defending units as I dismounted. “And against difficult odds.”
This only seemed to mollify them slightly.
What else could be said? The banner was gone.
Before entering the Keep I looked northward. Far in the distance were two thread-thin beams of light.
Wonderful.
I also noted my scout had been spotted and killed by archers. Great.
I entered the Keep and sat in the middle of the floor. Above, a Lookout waved at me from the trapdoor and returned to duty.
At least the Lookouts respawn on their own, I thought absentmindedly.
As I watched my health regenerate, I glared at the unit icons on the map. This was not fun. Losing, that is. Worse, the knowledge I was going to lose, regardless, sucked even more.
Amara was in possession of both banners.
I could attempt to fight my way to her base. Even if successful, it could take forever to get there. I'd also have to secure both approaches because while concentrating on one, the other could be a threat to my advancing army's flank.
I looked at the map with its figure-eight formation and the grass plains which funneled units around like circles of death.
The trees were more than just a resource they were an impediment, too. So thickly packed that even a footmen unit could not pass through them.
Suddenly, I was struck with a thought.
I scrutinized the map more closely. Could it work?
Only one way to find out.
With my health bar at 100%, I left the Keep. Outside, I mounted Smoke. To the footmen and archer unit leaders, I said, “Hold fast while I'm gone.”
They snapped a salute. “Yes, Commander!”
Part of me blamed them for letting the banner be taken, but really the blame was all mine. Inexperienced and completely unprepared, I'd let Amara have the upper hand this entire time.
I rode northwest at a hard gallop. By the midway point of the bend I passed units who were waiting in line to get to middle and more were still coming from the base. Crazy.
One giant grindfest.
Maybe I could change that.
As I approached the final northern bend toward the middle, I kept Smoke close to the outer tree line. It was possible an enemy scout was watching me, but I decided to minimize the risk of being seen.
Roughly fifty paces before the turn opened up to the middle clearing, I jumped to the ground and dismissed Smoke.
Several of my units were in line here and everyone gave a wave and a cheer.
I grimaced. So much for keeping a low profile.
Then I slipped into Shadow Form.
Keeping to just within the trees I continued around the bend and headed east.
The mass of units got more dense as everyone crowded toward the platform, the only river crossing.
As I approached the last few trees before the clearing I could hear the ferocious fighting taking place just ahead. Screams of men dying, horses in pain, arrows zinging about, sword and spears clashing.
But there was another sound, just a short distance past the tree line.
Rushing water.
Carefully, I entered the forest at the western edge of the middle – the pinched waist of the map's figure eight.
I climbed over bulging roots and ducked under thick branches. Then the trees opened up to the river which flowed from somewhere deeper in the forest to the west and continued on to the middle platform to the east, just beyond my view.
The river was a good twenty paces across here and looked deep. No one was meant to cross it, such was its design.
No army units, anyway.
Using as much available ground as I could, I ran at the water. At the river's edge, I jumped. I used my Leap ability, which I'd been diligently assigning skill points to over the last few character levels.
These points paid off.
I landed on a massive root on the opposite bank.
Fearing an ambush of some kind, I froze in place, sword at the ready.
The only thing that assaulted me was the sound of the raging river and the cacophony of battle through the trees to the east.
After the count of ten, I moved, quickly and quietly. There was still the possibility of a scout nearby, so stealth was crucial.
Trying to ignore my fighting troops so close by, I headed due north. Something more important needed my immediate attention other than commanding doomed units.
I was going to take Amara's banner.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I cautiously made my way north, navigating the barrier of trees. It was slow going considering the forest was not meant to be traversed, but it made me relatively confident I would not be detected
.
To the east I sometimes caught glimpses of troll units. Enemy units were so bunched up in the middle that they, too, had to line up and wait for their turn.
I kept my focus on the difficult terrain ahead. Jumping from branch to branch, scaling tree trunks, and avoiding impassible clusters of roots took all my concentration.
Soon, I was nearing the final northern turn to Amara's base, according to my map. The trees were even closer together here, and I decided to leave the forest and follow the tree line the rest of the way. As long as I was careful, I would be able to get close.
I changed direction to the east and dropped from a branch.
And landed right next to a troll scout.
I froze in surprise.
The troll scout whirled around, eyes wide with apprehension.
He did not look directly at me, but cast his gaze about trying to find the source of the sound.
Even this close, my Shadow Form was good. The forest was nothing but dark shadows and, as a result, made me fully invisible.
With a dagger in his hand, the scout slowly turned to take in his surroundings. I was only two paces from where he crouched.
Eliminating him would be easy, but then Amara would see the scout's death message and know instantly where I was.
I kept perfectly still and watched nervously as the scout continued to scan the area.
Suddenly, the scout took a step forward, dagger in front of him.
Uh-oh.
The green humanoid's large black eyes darted this way and that.
Great, I had to spook a real nervous one.
He took another step forward and the tip of his dagger nearly touched my vest.
Shadow Form would be lost the moment I engaged in combat, like striking out at the scout, or with physical contact.
Holding my breath I leaned back. I wanted to try to move away but I could not be certain of my footing where I landed.
This close I could see the incredible detail of the troll's features. The pores in his green oily skin, the bristly hair that jutted out of his huge nostrils like pitchforks.
This game was so realistic that even his breath stank like a fetid wind wafting over a slop pile.
For several long agonizing moments the scout stood like this. Eyes scanning, dagger inches from my chest.
Then, the scout relaxed and snorted. He turned away and moved southward, slinking through the trees. Soon, he vanished from view.
I sighed with relief and resumed my own way.
At the tree line, I paused. The plains curved due west from here and continued south to the middle.
A cavalry unit rumbled by, shaking the ground. None of the troll riders glanced in my direction.
Keeping close to the trees I went west until the forest ended at a large clearing.
Amara's base.
It did not look that much different than mine, only she had three of each unit's buildings for quicker training. These were lined up side by side next to her Keep.
The Keep had been upgraded, too. Troll Lookouts with crossbows watched from the tower's crown.
From the top of the keep emanated the golden beam of light indicating the location of a banner. My banner.
Amara was inside with it. But what for? Added protection? Made sense. She could not be assassinated while safely hidden away within the walls of the Keep.
Admittedly, I had hoped to catch Amara unaware and back-stab her causing her to drop my banner. But that pleasure appeared to be denied from me. For now.
This was another tactic I took note of for future use. If you have the banner but can't win, hide.
I scanned the rest of the base and was surprised to see she had a gold mine right next to her Keep. She didn't have to go looking for her gold like I did. Instead, she lucked out and had the gold right at her starting area. I could see workers digging furiously away and bringing buckets of gold out of the mine and dumping the nuggets into a huge iron hopper.
A little further north at the tree line was a quarry. So she had that near her starting point, too.
This explained how she was able to attack me so early in the game. Everything was here to help her get started with minimal delay.
Plant the banner, build the keep, get the first worker unit, build the barracks, train the grunts and rush south.
I tried not to feel annoyed, but failed.
Directly north of the Keep was the skeletal altar. A blue banner fluttered in the wind within the grasp of a skeletal hand.
Slumped next to the altar, large and terrifying, was Yuinnick. The great eagle didn't look to be in good health and its eyes were closed as if sleeping. In fact, its health indicator was less than 10%. I must have inflicted a bleeding wound on the champion causing it to lose so much health.
It was probably slowly regenerating like Grax.
Looking about I noticed no units assigned to guarding the altar, let alone the base.
Everything Amara had was at the middle or on its way there.
As I surveyed Amara's domain, an army unit emerged from each of the buildings having finished their training. They immediately marched or galloped off, some via the southwest passage, the rest the southeast.
Perfect. All the buildings were starting to train again, which meant I had about five minutes.
With a final look around I detached from the tree line and moved toward the altar. As I approached, my eyes danced from Yuinnick, to the Lookouts above, and to the Keep door which was closed.
When I arrived at the altar, I paused. Yuinnick was the closest threat but was oblivious to my presence. It seemed lost in its regeneration process.
The blue banner fluttered in the wind.
The moment I grabbed this, all hell was going to break loose.
Okay, Vee, you can do this, I thought.
I took a deep breath and reached for the banner's wooden handle.
The Keep's door suddenly slammed open.
I froze, hand an inch from the banner.
Amara bolted out of the door and marched in my direction looking angry. In one hand was my banner.
Uh-oh.
Maintaining my Shadow Form, I summoned my sword and tensed for a fight.
But instead of coming at me she went to Yuinnick, who's eyes blinked open at her approach.
“This is taking too long,” Amara said. I couldn't tell if that was directed at the eagle or she was just talking to herself.
She jumped up into the great eagle's saddle.
She's leaving! I thought with jubilation. This would make snatching her banner that much easier.
As Amara settled in, Yuinnick flapped his wings in preparation for take off.
The strong winds it produced caused the banner next to me to flutter wildly.
As the long blue banner whipped in the wind, the end of it curled around to graze my outstretched hand.
At its touch, my Shadow Form shimmered slightly for a moment, like a heat wave in a desert.
Amara happened to be looking in my general direction, and suddenly her head snapped over to look directly at me.
Uh-oh.
The elven woman's eyes widened with alarm. “You!” she screamed.
Time to go!
Without wasting another moment I grabbed the banner and my Shadow Form dropped.
You Have the Enemy Banner!
The next instant I summoned Smoke who appeared beside me.
“You FILTERED!” Amara roared. She screamed at the Lookouts to shoot at me.
As I leapt onto Smoke, a crossbow bolt actually ricocheted off the banner's wooden pole with a loud twang.
I kicked at Smoke's sides and we were off.
Behind me, Amara was shouting filtered obscenities at me, then at Yuinnick for not moving fast enough. But within moments, she had the great eagle champion lifting off in pursuit.
This is nuts, I thought. What I was doing was crazy.
Instead of following the plains in either direction that lead to the middle, I headed stra
ight for the wall of forest directly south.
