by Zack Finley
The ambush was developing nicely. Two of the three raiding bands were already in position. Most of those waiting, including the leaders, hoped the third band would be too late to take part in the ambush.
I was tempted to have the caravan slow down to give that third group time to arrive. I didn't want to give them a chance to escape.
Before I could discuss it with Lt. Brik, grumbling from the ambush site indicated the third band had arrived.
The last band was on our right, band number one to our left and band number two was split between the two. Band number two had the most archers, so this made some tactical sense.
The bands had a variety of melee gear with quite a few wearing king’s guard armor, either from the garrison armory or removed from dead king’s guards.
We were happy to sense the raider leadership and basas had assembled away from the front lines. This allowed us to target those on the front line who posed the greatest risk to our group with heavier ordinance without risking our other objective.
Brik had five men slip away from the caravan and position themselves near the rear of the leaders, ready to keep the basas from escaping. He instructed all of his men to cover their eyes and stay under cover until our initial strike was over. We didn't want to risk his men in a friendly fire incident.
Our battle plan involved a combined series of preset actions by both of Argon and I designed to launch by a single preset trigger word. This was our most complicated battle series yet.
The first layer set up simultaneous stuns of the basas pulling our carriages plus the three raider leadership groups.
The second layer involved conjuring a foot-deep pool of lava sized to flood the marauders on the ground and a series of tornadoes targeting the archers perched above.
The third layer created two large lights to flare extremely bright for 20 seconds to rob the raiders of their night vision and then reduce their brightness enough to illuminate the area. We argued about whether two lights were enough, so Argon planned to launch two more lights if needed.
Our next focus was to kill or stun anyone trying to leave the area. Brik's team would then capture the basas and take any survivors into custody.
We didn't wait for them to spring their trap. Argon released the code word, and all hell broke loose.
I could not detect any delay between the three phases.
Even though I knew what was going to happen there was a big difference between the simple plan and the actual ferocity of execution. It felt like the apocalypse. I opened my eyes too soon and was momentarily blinded by the glare. That didn’t stop the horrific screams as the lava did its worst. The scent of burning flesh added to the assault on all my senses. That these marauders deserved death meant little in the face of the screams. An errant arrow striking nearby reminded me we still had enemies before us.
Argon demonstrated she maintained her situational awareness, launching rock missiles at the few archers who remained battle worthy.
When some of the archers she stoned fell into the molten lava, I decided the heat had served its purpose and pulled the heat out of it. That didn't stop the screaming, but it was no longer starting new fires.
I slid into her dance and took over killing the rest of the archers and a few of the other raiders that had dodged the lava. I then methodically put the marauders trapped by the solidified lava out of their misery. It was a relief when the last scream was silenced.
Argon took a team of shocked king’s guard and had them gather up the raider leaders for interrogation.
The fear in Lt. Brik's eyes when he looked at me was troublesome.
But no one questioned us anymore when we spoke of the two of us liberating the slave camps without backup.
When the king’s guard was in position, I banished the solidified lava, freeing those trapped by it. The guard systematically executed the few raiders left alive.
The raider leadership wasn't so lucky. I transported two of those Argon believed were the most difficult to Iona in Klee for further questioning. Argon thought they might have a rudimentary geas and could potentially provide insight into the plot.
When I returned from the transport Argon had already peeled the remaining leadership of their mental barriers. Their prior deeds and the raw sewer of their minds made me wish the lava could have burned them to death a hundred times.
We learned a bit more about the start of the conspiracy but not a lot more about the camps. We'd captured nearly enough basas to provide mounts for Lt. Brik’s entire troop. With two more raider groups still at large, he summarily executed the rest of the raiders, before heading toward a rendezvous with the manor detachment. Once Brik's group reinforced the manor detachment, Olive with a scout would ride toward an uncharted slave camp. Whether she would go to the farthest camp or a closer one depended on Gera's progress.
If Brik's company got into trouble, he would contact us, and we would contact Olive. She'd then port back to the closest location. I reminded Brik he needed to have basas standing by wherever they chose so she could arrive where needed with the least delay.
I decided we really needed to develop radios that could be used by mage and mundane alike. Another project added to my list.
Gera provided teleport locations for two camps and was on his way to the third one by the time Argon and I prepared to leave the ambush site.
We spent a moment of quiet time, checking magic levels and discussing plans for a new round of battle. I was concerned about her force and mind magic levels. All that stunning and interrogating came with a cost. My magic levels looked like they do most mornings, no noticeable depletion. Argon's elemental magics looked untouched, but her force and mind magics had dropped lower than she liked.
While we had pulled pictures of each raider camp from their leader's brain, it wasn't clear how that would relate to what we would see.
We agreed she would still integrate and coordinate our magic, but would use my force or mind magic as needed.
We only had a few hours of darkness left.
The 'port location for the first camp was a 15-minute hike from the actual camp. There was a minimum of 150 people there. Argon patiently waited for me to separate the guards from the slaves. I knew she wanted to jump in, but we had six camps to liberate.
The raiders kept the slaves in a shallow valley with the guards surrounding them on the high ground. The guards had crossbows and used slaves for target practice whenever they got bored. Each slave had a metal ring around his or her ankle linked by chain to the next slave forming a string of about a dozen slaves. A large block of stone enclosed the last link's iron ring.
We had learned the camp guards fed and watered the slaves every day at noon when the raiders and the camp guards were both available to ensure order.
I finally identified three guards who were awake and six who were asleep. Two of the sleepers had rudimentary mind talismans. We decided not to have Argon cross check to save her magic.
Rock blasts for all of them. I quickly scanned the guards, and none seemed smart enough or informed enough to be worth taking alive. They confirmed the guard count at nine. Some of the atrocities they'd already committed made it easy to condemn them without mercy.
We settled on baseball-sized rocks hitting them center mass. That would give us the biggest target in case one moved at the last second.
We configured the nine-shot salvo.
Each of us was responsible for the follow-up strike on our designated targets should it be needed.
Whump.
The targets were down, and I confirmed with a mind scan that they were now dead.
I contacted Olive, and she provided a teleport location for four of her men. She confirmed she was ready to leave as soon as Brik's team arrived.
The guards going down woke several slaves, but it was so dark along the ridges, it was unlikely the slaves could see what happened. Argon sent up a low hanging flare, to light up the camp and began talking with several of the captives.
; I brought Olive's four men to Argon's location. We told them their main duties were to free the slaves from their chains, arm them in case any of the raiders came back, and take care of them until they were relieved.
The guards seemed willing and sympathetic to the plight of the captives but out of their depth.
"Talk with the captives; have them help. You are rescuing them; you are not their captors. Find out who the leaders are, help them help themselves. Let them handle finding food and distributing water. Arm those who are willing to help you provide security for the group. I'll come back for two of you when we have the next camp liberated,” I told the older king’s guard, placing him in charge.
I sent two more flares into the air over the miserable valley, hoping that would provide enough light to get the rescue underway.
I 'ported with Argon to our new location.
I com-carded Valso to have a minimum of six armed men ready to transport to the remaining camps. I told him the slaves needed help immediately, and Lt. Brik and his team were in pursuit of more than 40-armed marauders.
Valso wasn't happy, but he agreed to have the men standing by. I could understand how he felt; he just didn't have the trained men he needed to even handle problems in Augun, much less the outlying regions. He also knew many of the problems his crews were handling in Augun couldn't compare to the murder and slavery still going on in the interior. I knew he would scrounge up help for us.
The second camp was similar to the first one. More of the guards were awake, likely because it was closer to dawn. Only one of them had a mind block amulet, and he sure wasted his money on that trash.
The narrowness of the ravine packed the slaves closer together than in the last camp. A large block of stone anchored each string of 12 chained slaves.
Three of the guards were still asleep, and three had their crossbows at hand monitoring the slaves. Three others were huddled around a small campfire poking at the coals urging their chee to brew.
I decided to drop a slab on those three and reluctantly agreed to hit the sleepers with one rock each. Argon wanted to target the three guards standing watch.
It was a clean sweep. Argon's targets went down with very little sound.
It was a good thing I targeted the sleepers at center mass because one of them chose that millisecond to stretch, so the shot missed the X ring. He still died instantly; it just wasn't as elegant as I planned.
The slab took out the three guys waiting for their chee. The sound of the falling slab woke up most of the slaves. It was still too dark for them to see what had happened but it was time to get the king’s guard on the job. I sent a pair of flares up, and Argon went to let the slaves know what was happening. She'd send me a new location to bring the two king's guard to.
I went back to camp one. Things were just starting to get moving. The four king's guard pulled and dragged the raider's gear used to break the chains holding the captives together toward the slave pens with the captives shouting encouragement. I realized the captives couldn't help because the large rock at the end of their chain kept them from moving far.
I banished the 12 rocks keeping the ex-slaves from helping. Once freed, there was a mad scramble to help the king's guard. The guard set up the chain breaking operation where they stood.
"Banish the stones restraining the slave strings," I notified Argon. "Urge them to work together and set up a chain breaking station. I'll be there with two men, as soon as I can pry them out of here."
I knew none of the guards wanted to leave this group of captives.
"I need two of you to go to camp two," I told the king's guard. "This camp is starting to pull together, but we have five more camps just like this one. Camp two has no king's guard, and we have to get to the rest of the camps before the slavers kill their captives."
Several of the captives urged the guard to help free the next camp, promising they'd do what was necessary to free their fellows.
Two king's guard agreed to go with me. We teleported to camp two.
Argon was already banishing the chains from strings of captives, freeing them to help their fellows. "It only drains my earth magic a little," she sent. "And it makes them so happy."
We left the two king’s guard to do what they could with the slaves. We encouraged them to arm everyone they could, just in case some of the raiders were still about. They were good lads and were resolved to do their best.
Olive told us she and a scout were riding hard for slave camp five. The combined detachment of king's men had wiped out the fourth raider group. She said some of Lt. Brik's men had grievous wounds and hoped we could help them. Olive supplied the last teleport site she had for Brik.
I com-carded him and told him to either have his wounded at the teleport site or provide two fresh basas to take us to them.
Brik's most injured soldier had a large belly wound. The troop's medic had done what he could to staunch the bleeding, but if we didn't intervene right away, he was dead. The moment Argon saw him she triggered the "heal them" spell. I monitored her to see how much it drained her flesh magic and was glad to see she could likely trigger this nearly 10 times before her pool started to get low enough to be worrisome.
I monitored the trooper, and the spell had stabilized him. I could see most of the internal bleeding had stopped. While he was no longer likely to die in the next few minutes, several internal organs needed a bit more encouragement to ensure his survival. I did what I could to boost his chances but we had hundreds of slaves depending on us and daylight was fast approaching.
I felt bad we only had time to give the rest of the injured general healing boosts, but time was running out.
I hoped we hadn't sacrificed a group of slaves to save one man. Argon reminded me we knew the man would die if we didn't help. The possible death of any slaves due to the delay was pure speculation.
She was right; we did the right thing. It would have been a different call if we had just as solid information about the death of slaves as we did for our soldier.
Now it was our job to make sure we still felt we made the right decision at the end of this very long day.
We 'ported to the third camp just as dawn broke over the horizon. When he'd transmitted this location, Gera expected to be at the fourth camp within an hour. He warned his basas were tiring and the increased visibility might force them to cling to difficult terrain to avoid being spotted.
I asked him to remain near camp four with his scout until we got there. They should hide somewhere with a view of the teleport location. We didn't expect to need their help with the actual assault on the camp, but he could help keep the scout alive until we got there. After a moment's consideration, he agreed.
No one slept at slave camp number three. They were all up at dawn. We had 10 slavers in this camp. One had been too drunk to go on the nighttime raid.
The slave master enjoyed having the drunken raider assigned to him. He forced the drunk to carry his crossbow at the ready and walk back and forth on the ridge above the slave pit.
The slave master picked a random captive in the pit as a designated target. The drunk had to shoot that slave with a bolt every time he passed his post. If the shot missed, the slave master splayed the drunk across the back with a vicious whip. The targeted slave had been dead for hours and those chained to him had several bolts sticking out of them.
I could tell they were near death.
We targeted all the slavers with rock balls. We expected to miss one or two and already had following shots configured. All of the targets went down. We chose to send a second gift to two of them. The slave master got no easy relief from his gut shot. It still only took him 10 minutes to die.
I left Argon on the ridge and slid down into the pit to help the wounded slaves. They stayed as far away from me as they could get. I needed time to concentrate on keeping the two wounded slaves alive. They didn't have any major bleeders; they were just out of blood from having it seep out of them. All I could do was to hit them with a
massive healing blast. I tried to get them to drink some of my water, but they were too far out of it.
I messaged Alba asking what more I could do, and she urged me to bring them to the hospital. The hospital would replenish their blood supply and remove the crossbow bolts. I didn’t hesitate, banishing their chains and teleporting them to the Klee hospital.
The hospital staff had gurneys with IVs ready for my patients. As soon as Alba took charge of them, I messaged Argon that I was picking up help in Augun. Bidding a hearty thanks to Alba and her staff, I was off to Augun, unwilling to leave my partner alone any longer than necessary.
I gathered up the six waiting men. We got cozy, and I brought them all directly to the new teleport site Argon had designated in camp three. This was the largest single teleport I had ever done.
Argon had already briefed the captives and banished the stones anchoring the slave chains. She was still banishing individual chains when we arrived at the camp.
With six king's guard and a bunch of freed captives to help, they quickly set up a chain breaking operation.
Gera and his scout were still at least half an hour from the teleport site near camp number five.
Argon knew how tired and angry I was, she reminded me that tired people made mistakes and led me to a shaded mossy bank. We pulled off our crossbows and loosened our gear before resting against the bank.
She pulled me against her chest and began softly stroking me. I swear I was purring. I began to relax and rest lightly. I was still angry, but the emotion was no longer driving out caution.
We knew the interlude wasn't going to last, but we would live in its moment while it did.
I surfaced, refreshed and oddly at peace, to hear Argon messaging with Gera. We finally had a new teleport location.
As I geared up, I noticed that Argon was squatting on the moss we just got off of and was peeing.
It wasn't too surprising; we all need to do it. It just seemed an odd place. I normally chose a tree.
