The convoy moved through the pitch-black road, the only sound the heavy thud of hooves and the creak of wooden wheels. Rycharde rode at the front of the Blackfyre wagons.
"Evered, you take the middle," Rycharde said, and then he turned to Oswyn.
"While you, go to the rear. Make sure you bring your gemlamps. Shadow Walkers are going to be dangerous in the woods. If your beam hovers over a patch of black, shout with mana in your lungs. Also, brief the men-at-arms in your command to bring the torches and light them when you see one. We should use all the oil or any mortar we have. Remember what we did in Irriton."
"Yes," both of them said, and took their places.
Silence persisted through the trees. Only the echoes of hooves and the clack of the oaken wheels of the wagons could be heard. There was apprehension in the merchant group's faces.
After half an hour of riding, they heard the startled neighs of the horses in the front of the convoy.
"Easy. Easy," the carriage driver said.
A sudden thunderous charging could be heard from the left flank of the tree line.
"Felbeasts to the left!" someone roared.
"Don't break. Protect the cargo," the merchant leader commanded.
A felboar ran in front of Rycharde.
And another.
And another.
Shouts from the lead caravan could be heard. "They're spooked. It must be from the felwolves."
Rycharde used his mana to try and reinforce his vision.
"Who fired that arrow?"
"It almost hit the horse. Watch your arows!"
Rycharde slowed his mount to avoid the charging felbeasts. They weren't damaging the wagons, just passing through the gap. Rycharde forced his steed to slow.
More felboars ran past them.
Rycharde fixed his eyes on the direction of the one that asked about the arrow. The two convoys ahead sped up.
"Hold! Slow Down!" the merchants commanded, but their mounts sped up nonetheless, like there was something that they couldn't control.
It was there that Rycharde saw it. An arrow flew from the trees, aimed at a horse's rear. It materialized from the pitch blackness near the trees.
"Arcanist attack!" he yelled.
The Blackfyre caravan stopped and braced themselves.
The two convoys ahead, hearing this, sped up even more, but they didn't catch the word Arcanist due to the distance, they only saw the beasts.
"Beast attack, beast attack! This is a stampede!"
"Avoid the felbeast! Speed up! Avoid getting caught the flow!"
As this was happening, Rycharde shone his gemlamp toward where the blackness was. But it was not there anymore.
"Men, brace yourselves!" Rycharde's voice boomed. He saw the gemlamp lights and the torchlight of the two convoys ahead dim slowly.
More felbeasts had started to block their view.
Rycharde followed the line and saw that the initial beasts that had blocked them started to turn.
"Ready the pitch and oil!" Rycharde screamed. "Use everything! If we have to I saw a Shadow Walker, we will just restock in Damerel!"
"Men, form up!"
"Evered and Oswyn, we need barricades. Try to reroute the stampede. Arcanists may be controlling the beasts! Don't let them encircle us!"
"Shields up!"
The men-at-arms poured the oil and pitch on the ground in front of the wagons and formed a circle around it. Others formed a shield wall with their spears raised.
They used a torch to light the oil, and it ignited.
"Make it as bright as possible so that we can't be ambushed by Shadow Walkers!"
"Form up in the center! Protect the center wagon," Oswyn bellowed.
"Do the same," Evered echoed to his own men from his position.
A circle had formed near the center of the caravan.
The felboar stampede saw the fire and they started to pivot.
Rycharde kept his eyes on the lead felboars.
"Evered. Oswyn. Do you remember the night we were ambushed in Irriton?"
"Aye," Oswyn said, bracing with his halberd.
"Look at that, they are avoiding the flame," Rycharde said, furrowing his brows. "In Irriton the beasts threw themselves at us when they were being controlled by Whisperers. I don't know if this is a cooperation between the Whisperers and Shadow Walkers. This could be just a random felbeast attack that Shadow Walkers captialized on. Those beasts don't seem to be too keen on actually attacking us."
"That, or Irriton's night beast rage somehow makes it easy for the Whispers to control them," Evered nodded.
Rycharde then braced and shouted.
"Hold the line,"
His grip tightening on his war hammer. "Let the fire do the work."
"Oswyn. Evered. Remember what we did in Irriton. The tilted wall," Rycharde bellowed.
"Stop bracing! Split in half!" Rycharde roared.
The shield wall split on command but the horde kept running toward the wagon.
"Now!"
[Earth Wall]
Oswyn and Evered both cast the delayed spell.
Two eight-foot ramps of earth formed a "v" on the flank of the wagon where the creatures were charging. The beasts kept charging but fell to the other side; some kept moving while others tumbled down. The creatures that couldn't move when they fell were stabbed by the men-at-arms. The fire hadn't quite formed a circle yet, but some of the panicked animals started to run aimlessly.
The stampede was turning into an aimless mess. The animals started to dissipate.
An arrow shot forward from the tree line, but Rycharde deflected it. It was aimed at a man-at-arms near the wagon.
"Shadow Walkers on the south! Shadow Walkers on the south!" Evered shouted.
"Maintain formation, don't let it break you. Stay inside the fire," Oswyn commanded. "If you get out of somewhere bright, you get picked off by the Shadow Walkers!"
"What's our plan next, Rycharde?" asked Evered. "Do we maintain position until sun up? That'll be in about two hours."
"Maybe," Rycharde said to Evered, but then he started to shout a command again. "Pick out the weakened beasts and kill the boars. If they are commanded by Whisperers don't let them use the beasts again!"
"This stampede looks like the some form of control is being worked on them," Rycharde said as he was observing the motions of the felboars.
"If we wait till sun up, we have the advantage." Rycharde nodded. "Something is different between this ambush and Anticourt."
"What is it?" Oswyn asked.
"I don't think we are dealing with too many Shadow Walkers here," Rycharde said. "Maybe one or two."
"What makes you say that?" Evered asked.
"In Anticourt they made a shadow wall to hide the others," Rycharde replied. "It looks like they don't have enough men to do that tactic. So far I have only seen one or two arrows."
"Also this is the first time we have seen Whisperers and Shadow Walkers cooperating. We can't assume that this stampede is normal behavior any more. The felwolf prior and this felboar attack seem to be connected. It would be foolish to think so."
Rycharde held his war hammer tight. "Keep using the lamps to scan for the Shadow Walkers. I'm going to do something."
"You're going to go out of the fire ring?" Evered asked.
"I'm going to be bait," Rycharde said shaking his head.
As soon as he said this, a huge root snapped like a whip. The earth rose around the root. Part of the fire had been quenched due to the earth caking on top of the flame. The burning oil in the dirt was thrust away on one part of the circle.
A lone felboar charged toward their position.
"Look out!" Oswyn grabbed Rycharde, who was facing him and Evered. They dropped and rolled outside the line of attack.
A few men-at-arms threw their javelins toward the beast, some connected, but it kept charging anyway.
Another arrow hissed toward Evered through the gap in the fire ring.
Evered had dodged just in time.
"Center line, form up!" Rycharde roared again as he stood.
"What was that?" asked Oswyn.
"Arcanists attack. I've heard of them," Rycharde said, facing the gap. A few felboars started to get inside the flaming ring.
"A type that could control plants instead of animals***—***the Vine Weavers," Rycharde said. He smacked the nearest felboar with his hammer. The boar's skull broke, caving in. A mush of brain matter and blood exploded out.
"What can they do?" Oswyn asked as he ducked from a charge of a felboar.
"I don't know the extent of their magic," Rycharde said, sidestepping again, but using the butt of his warhammer to trip an incoming felboar.
"But, from what I know, it is that they rarely go to battle." Rycharde sidestepped once more, kicked a felboar, and it toppled over.
Oswyn, seeing this, raised his halberd and chopped toward the side. "They have the same tactics as the Whisperers?"
"There are few records. It's from imperial briefings. Lord Blackfyre could know more," Rycharde replied, taking a deep breath. There were no animals nearby.
"The only thing I know for certain: they make plants grow."
"We are dealing with more Arcanists? A coalition at that?" Oswyn looked flabbergasted.
"I'll get more oil," Oswyn said as he dashed toward a supply wagon.
Rycharde nodded. "I'll stay here and try to stop the incoming beasts."
Rycharde bobbed and weaved. Now, not only felboars had come through the gap, but also regular wolves. All of them seemed to be targeting the center wagon.
"Got it," Oswyn said.
"Let's go," Rycharde said to Oswyn. Then he raised his voice. "Evered! Take care of the men here, we are going to close the gap."
[Earth Wall]
Oswyn cast his spell at the gap, and an earthen barrier shot up with incredible speed.
Oswyn closed the distance immediately, but as he neared the wall, a black blob approached him.
Rycharde immediately saw this and cast.
[Fire Ball]
It missed, but something emerged out of the darkness. A mountain lion, twice the normal size of a regular one, bounded out of the shadows.
The dark blot retreated, but with it came an arrow toward Rycharde.
At this distance, an arrow from a trueborn archer could pierce mail. Rycharde rolled away, but the wildcat was too fast. Its paw smashed onto his back, flinging him away.
"Rycharde!" Oswyn gasped.
"Evered!" Oswyn shouted, amplifying his voice with mana. "We need help here! The Shadow Walker is here."
"I'm good. Just secure the cargo! You don't need to come!" Rycharde stood up again.
"What's that?" Oswyn asked, pointing to something that was tied to the wildcat's back. There were three bags on it.
"Stop the wildcat!" Evered roared.
A few men-at-arms formed into position with their shields raised and their spears ready.
Rycharde knew that he had to stop the beast. He had a bad feeling because of the straps the wildcat had.
Rycharde sprinted toward the beast.
[Earth Wall]
An earthen barricade shot up ten meters from where he was.
The beast dodged like the only thing that mattered was the wagon.
The wildcat even leapt over the shields and pounced on the wagon. It just didn't make sense.
[Stone Bullet]
Rycharde aimed his spell at the charging animal. He couldn't use any fire spells for fear of burning the wagon.
The spell hit, but it landed on the right flank. Some soldiers scrambled to pierce its hide.
The animal paid no mind to them, but kept charging at the wagon.
Felboars had started coming in again from the gap.
"Oswyn! Cover me. I'll take care of the beast."
Three hawks circled from the higher tree line. Then, they started to dive.
Evered spotted the animals.
"Shields up! Attack from above!"
But the animals didn't attack the Blackfyre party. Instead, they attacked the beast attacking the wagon.
Some of the soldiers had confused looks.
The hawks attacked the ropes attached to the wildcat.
Evered looked confused for a beat. The hawks kept diving at the beast. The wildcat stood and tried to fight off the animals. Seeing this opportunity, the men-at-arms picked up their weapons and started hacking. More hawks arrived at the scene, but this time they brought rodents, which also attacked the beast, biting it in places.
Evered gasped, "Omniscience above, what is happening?"
Rycharde charged with his warhammer. He leapt at the distracted beast.
Evered snapped out of his stupor and charged at the beast as well.
Rycharde's hammer connected to the wildcat's head. His hammer smashed the beast's right eye, which dazed the creature for a moment.
Evered, who was under the cat, pierced its throat with a well-timed thrust.
Rycharde didn't notice that the ropes tied around the beast had broken. The three satchels fell. They were not sealed; rather, they were tied in such a way that it was just one cloth with the rope tied around the four corners. Once the rope detached, they opened up.
What they contained were seeds.
The seeds touched the ground and suddenly formed roots. As soon as it did this, a trunk sprouted with force. Knotted, thick vines started sprouting into briars. The wagon shot up and broke into two. The force that the wildcat had exerted on the wagon had already damaged it enough. The force of the magical tree growth dealt the final blow.
The men were knocked down from the force of the growth. Some of the displaced earth had dislodged the circle of flame, making the gaps even wider.
"Form up! Form up!" Evered roared.
Rycharde, being near the initial growth, was thrown twenty meters away from the wagon. The felboars that were running mindlessly now suddenly seemed to have better coordination.
Rycharde shook his head, trying to clear it from the shock. From the corner of his eye, he saw a cloaked figure in the trees, hopping from branch to branch closer to them.
So they get better control when they are nearer, he thought.
As Rycharde saw this, he dropped his war hammer and leapt toward the trees where the Whisperer was. He needed to be fast in order to close in on the Whisperer; if he brought the hammer, it would just slow him down.
The Whisperer, noticing him, suddenly had some hawks block his path. They were just regular hawks, but the distraction gave some distance to the Whisperer.
The Whisperer kept hopping from branch to branch. Rycharde keput up but as he leapt, the branch moved.
Fuck.
His foot missed the next branch, but he still had enough range to be able to cast his delayed spell.
[Fire Ball]
As Rycharde fell, the spell zoomed past. It didn't hit cleanly, but it was enough to hit the tail end of the cloak. It burned, and now the Whisperer stopped, trying to put out the fire in his coat tails.
Some of the animals had started to waver again and dispersed back into an unformed mess.
Rycharde could hear Oswyn and Evered's commands.
But he focused on his descent. He had glimpsed someone holding the tree where the branch that he missed was. A blob of darkness engulfed him and tried to snatch him away.
Rycharde wanted to land cleanly, but a felboar slammed into him.
"Ugh."
The felboar traveled back to the wagon with Rycharde in tow.
Rycharde couldn't get down from the beast, but he saw the Whisperer panic.
Oswyn and Evered were left to defend the wagon. They were shouting commands.
"Fire arrows! Loose!" Evered commanded.
With the Whisperer focused on other things, the felboars began to run wildly again.
The boar on which Rycharde had ridden against his will stopped and changed direction abruptly, throwing him off.
A Shadow Walker had snuck between the lines, moving over to the wagon.
Rycharde stumbled, but he still managed to shout.
"Evered! The Press! They are trying to get the press! Defend it!"
Rycharde's side ached, but he still sprinted toward the press.
"Stop the Arcanist!" he roared.
Rycharde kept on running. He made his decision and loaded up a delayed spell he could cast before he got there. He started chanting.
The animals who were not under the influence of the Whisperer kept running everywhere, impeding his advance. He had to dodge, sidestep, and duck.
The black blob had gone to one half of the wagon.
Oswyn and Evered sprinted toward it as well. But because of the briar bloom from before, Rycharde was still the closest to the wagon.
[Flame Blaze]
Rycharde released the spell. The Shadow Walker who neared the chest was incinerated as he screamed in agony.
The chest was not taken.
Rycharde looked back to see that the Whisperer had taken off his cloak, but he still ran away.
They had repelled the ambush.
In the brush beneath the tree a few paces away from the Blackfyre caravan a fox came scampering away from the embers of the battle.
The animals started to scatter.
The fires slowly died down to smoking embers as the adrenaline began to bleed out of the Blackfyre camp. Rycharde leaned heavily on the haft of his warhammer, the scent of burnt fur and scorched earth thick in the air. The men-at-arms maintained a tense watch in the dark.
"Evered, Oswyn," Rycharde called out. His voice was hoarse but steady. He wiped sweat from his brow. "You have completed checking, right? I want to know exactly what that ambush cost us."
Evered jogged over. His gambeson was heavily smeared with mud and boar blood.
"None dead, Captain," Evered reported. "But the men took a beating holding that line. We have broken ribs, deep lacerations from the briars, and a half-dozen shattered shields. At least four of the men-at-arms can't walk on their own and are going to need stretchers rigged to the surviving carts."
Evered looked back. "But they didn't break. We also killed a Shadow Walker. Well, you did, Captain."
Rycharde nodded.
"When we arrive at Damerel, have it written down," Rycharde ordered. "We need to understand what happened here. The Vine Weavers, the arcanists that could use plants, seem to pose a threat. But their attacks look like they need time to set up. The large one, at least."
Rycharde looked toward the large uptorn root that acted as a whip. "First there was the root whip."
"Aye," Evered and Oswyn agreed.
"Second was that briar bloom." Rycharde looked at the treeline again from where he had been chasing the Whisperer. "There was also a third spell, but the arcanist only made me stumble by moving a tree branch when I was chasing the Whisperer. It looked like it didn't take that much mana."
Rycharde turned his gaze back to the ruined wagon. "That briar bloom... it came from those seeds?"
"Yes, it did. I saw it up close," Oswyn said.
"We didn't see anyone who touched them or controlled them," Rycharde said, furrowing his brows in contemplation. "They sprouted as soon as they touched the ground."
Evered and Oswyn exchanged a glance. They were at a loss.
"Maybe they have magic that is akin to delayed casting?" Evered finally suggested.
"Perhaps," Rycharde nodded. He shifted his grip on the warhammer. "We need to understand how Arcanist magic behaves. We are too blind. This operation isn't normal."
Rycharde looked back toward the dark woods.
"From the imperial texts about Arcanists bordering Fulmen, it was said that each Arcanist tribe was on its own. They had their own chiefs and their own society. They didn't meddle with each other, nor did they wage war with a single front. Each had their own structure and customs."
He paused, recalling their previous engagements.
"Even in Irriton, it wasn't obvious that Shadow Walkers and Whisperers were allies. They attacked us separately. The attack in Irriton was mainly targeted at the Demon Hunters. The attack on Anticourt was Terros. They had different intent. But this time they seem to be banding together."
"A united front of Arcanists is dangerous," Evered sighed. "Unless the Imperium rallies the banners. Fulmen will have a tough time handling a united Arcanist front."
Oswyn scanned the trees, gripping his halberd. "With the way they coordinated their attacks here... They seem to have a thorough understanding of each other's abilities. I would even go as far to say they have practiced drills for this."
Oswyn looked back at the road. "But this platoon doesn't seem to have everything in order just yet."
"Agreed," Rycharde nodded. "The dead watchman from the merchants. The slipshod, rushed felwolf attack. It seems that they panicked midway and changed their plan. Regardless, this coalition is dangerous. We don't even know if the only ones cooperating are the Shadow Walkers, the Vine Weavers and the Whisperers. There are more tribes than these three."
The silence sat between the three men for a long moment.
"Anyway, when we get to Damerel we should write this in detail," Rycharde said finally. "Right now, it's hard to understand a few things. We should start understanding how Arcanist magic works. Attacks seem to start being more targeted at key assets rather than trying to gain land."
He looked at his two Knights. "We don't have word of the Rex Imperia rallying for a campaign, so the information about the Arcanists will be limited to what we have on our archives. Right now we don't have enough to act upon but Lord Ezra is having correspondence with the Demon Hunters to know more. The Castle Blackfyre records only know the general abilities, but not the details like range of attack, how many a whisperer can control, what is their equivalent circle tier."
Rycharde sighed. "We would need to be able to at least capture one of the Arcanists. This attack has brought to light a few things. It's hard to know anything right now any message can be intercepted. The wolves that had attacked the messenger in Thrakeld was one. Doubt they can control hawks though they would need to close their distance to an avarium for that."
Rycharde let the silence sit for a beat then broke it. "What of the wagons?"
Oswyn stepped away from the group and approached the thorny, shattered wreckage of the chassis. He began inspecting the cargo.
"Everything is fine save for the main wagon. It is a total loss, though," Oswyn called out.
Oswyn cleared his throat again. "So far, all of the components of the press are intact. This delivery was supposed to be two sets."
"Two ink presses have been accounted for," Oswyn continued, checking the crates. "All the chests for the ink and the resin sheets are intact."
Oswyn stopped moving. "But..."
"Yes?" Rycharde asked.
"We are missing one stencil punch bed."