Asset Secured

Volk watched as the enemy firemage walked over to sergeant Kaces Uncousious form and was about to stab down when the man was struck in the chest by 2 arrows killing him on the spot, "Finally reinforcements have arrived". he muttered as the other people looked at the arrows in the dead man's chest before taking off into the forest, following their leader.

Hazel was knocked out by a pommel strike that was made before the group disappeared so she couldn't cause any issues with the retreat, Volk was wounded and exhausted after the fight and mana expenditure he had used, while Kace was face down on the ground from where the explosion had knocked him out.

Two Rangers rapidly approached the group, as soon as they got within range they check both downed bodies for signs of life, and seeing that they were nominal went over to the Volk "They got the boy?" the smaller of the 2 asked?

Volk looked at the man in embarrassment, "yes, they got the boy and I was forced to tell them everything we know about the boy." Volk looked ashamed at giving the enemy any info but he thought Hazel's life was in danger, he had been played like a fiddle and he knew it!

The man who spoke before just patted Volks shoulder "Its okay Sergeant, it looks like Bruni wasn't the only target tonight, we aren't having any luck contacting any of your fellow Sergeants in the forest, right now we must assume most if not all trainees and sergeants are dead or will soon be, Commander Harriot is organizing the entire Ranger compliment to find missing persons.

Volk hearing this stared at the man in horror, an entire generation of mages lost in one fell swoop! This is a mighty blow against the kingdom, a lot of noble sons and daughters were in this year's trainee program! the kingdom would have a lot of explaining to do and a lot of nobles to appease if there was any hope at winning this was, many nobles might withdraw from the war after this failure.

A few miles into the woods the group who had taken Bruni were making good time through the forest as they caught up to the leader that still had the boy over his shoulder, "Where is Halvok?" the large man asked seeing only four others join him.

Amerela explained what had happened as they sped onwards "reinforcements finally arrived and two rangers put arrows into him as he was going to finish off the wounded Sergeant, he died instantly so we left him." she said

"hmm unfortunate, but well worth it" the man laughed out before continuing "we need to find the other hunter teams and leave before Commander Harriot sends the entire army to comb this forest, have we received any mana messages from the captain in command of this operation?" he asked

"yes sir, we are to regroup at Fallen Rock Tower, looks like we killed most of the sparks in the night, so our original mission is complete. We are to make haste for the border as fast as possible before Commander Harriot can trap us.

The group headed for a small pass in the mountains that lead to the south lands. That was where Fallen Rock Tower was. The group arrived at a picket line some distance away from the Tower before being allowed to enter the area.

The large man dropped my unconscious body off with a few mages who put a collar on my neck before securing my hands behind my back and throwing me into a wooden cage. Then he went to report his successful mission to his captain.

I slowly came too with a massive headache that pounded In time with my heartbeat. I opened my eyes slowly and was confused by where I was and what was going on. "What's this on my neck?" I managed to croak out.

laughter sounded out quietly as a man stepped into my vision "you are now in the hands of The Order boy. The thing around your neck is a special collar that was made to cut off a mage from his mana source, you can still feel the mana in you but you won't be able to use it," the man laughed again seeing the disbelief in my face

Another man stepped up to the wooden bars of my cage "We know who you are Bruni and we know that you can use vast quantities of mana so we had to have some extra insurance towards your good behaviour," the man said before stepping to the side once again.

How did I get captured? Are the others okay or are they dead!? these were some of the questions going through my head as panic started to take over my mind completely, I was so screwed!

Seeing the camp was rather large with well over 200 people in it and multiple tents set up I asked: "Why go through all this for me, I'm not that special am I?"

The man still in front of the cage barked out a laugh "Nay lad you aren't, we came here originally to cripple the future magical prospects of your kingdom, someone might have informed us a few months ago about the location of where basic training was taken place and we felt obliged to take advantage of it" the man laughed again before standing up once again.

Now it made sense, I was just a bonus to a mission that was already underway. "What's to become of me," I asked.

"Lady Dark wished to speak to you personally when we arrive back in the Empire of Slate, I hear she wants to personally..... thank you for killing her son," the man said ominously.

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