Chapter 2: Taking Stock and Intruders

The Legate

*****

The Legate frowned down at the table below him, a rough map of their surroundings lying atop it. The map itself remained true to the reports he had first received however a few new discoveries had been made today, meaning that the information before him was outdated. And so to better organise his thoughts until a more accurate map was made or acquired he had drawn two circles on the new points of interest.

First, the rangers had discovered a navigable pass to the west of the camp through the imposing mountain range with another fort guarding it, still not getting close to it much like the first fort. Second, and most peculiarly, a small cabin was built in the woods to the north, only a few kilometres north of them. So far none of the rangers had seen anyone exit the cabin but they could tell that there were people in there if the lights and flickering shadows of movement behind the windows were any indications. Just to make sure there were no surprises he assigned a single ranger to keep watch and report back immediately if he saw something.

A group of rangers had also successfully managed to stay in the forest without being spotted while they followed the road along which the original fort was placed, the road seemingly only being a small detour that led into a much larger and more cared for stone highway with a lot of traffic. Of course at that point, the stone road led away from the forest itself, meaning that they couldn't follow.

His gaze then switched over to a second map, this one being of the layout of the camp itself, obviously being much more detailed then the previous one. The legion had been here for about a week now, the last legionnaires coming through as night fell on the first day. For the last few days the sappers had been expanding the clearing, using the cut down trees to construct temporary defenses such as wooden spikes to be placed along the main approach as well as spaced out palisades in a few important positions around the camp such as the food and weapon supply. The reason for spacing them out was that while they had received a good amount of wood from the deforestation, it wasn't enough to completely shield the camp. To combat this, trenches had also been dug around the camp, leaving only a few paths clear of them for their own horses to get through.

The legion was now fully entrenched, and hopefully hidden, as while the sappers had tried their best to keep quiet, it was very likely that at least one person would have heard the commotion and it would only be a matter of time before people began to investigate their position. And it would be quite difficult to hide as not only did 5000 troops take up a lot of space, but after counting all the supplies such as weapons, food, and horses, then that required space increased exponentially.

As such he had stationed the entire ranger platoon, who numbered a total of 300, to guard and watch the perimeter, particularly in the direction of the forts and cabin. Any person who approached, no matter if they were a civilian or soldier were to be captured. If there was too many to realistically capture then the primary goal was to warn the rest of the legion.

Now that they had secured their position, the next move was to plan their invasion and conquest of this place. And while the Legate was confident in the abilities of his soldiers he wasn't going to go in swords blazing without a very good reason.

Then there was the problem of what their first move would be. The fact that there were two forts on either side of them meant a litany of problems for the conquest. Because if they both were manned and equipped by the same nation then that meant that they would almost certainly move to aid the other fort being attacked, whether by smoke from battle, not getting a messenger on time, or simply because they could see it, as one ranger described the mountain pass the second fort guarded being at a decently high elevation.

However, considering the lack of roads or forms of transport between the forts, it meant one of two things.

Either A. The region in which they had arrived was a relatively peaceful and as such lacked proper military infrastructure, meaning that there was also a possibility of the fort itself being underequipped. This however, also came with the disadvantage of likely being within enemy territory.

Or B. The forts belonged to two opposing nations, which obviously meant a lack of roads between the two. If he had to guess the mountain fort was more to keep an eye on things and stop any large army from passing through that pass while the first fort was for actively guarding the roads. This reality had the disadvantage of both forts likely being well equipped and maintained.

What he needed right now, was information on the political and military landscape of this region, information with which he lacked a source. His eyes flicked to the first map and the circle he had drawn on the rough location of the cabin that had been spotted in the woods. His head ran through the benefits and consequences of either contacting or capturing the cabin's denizen.

After all, no one would make a home in a forest that people appeared to avoid like the plague without good reason. Honestly he was surprised that this was the only structure in their proximity that was located in the forest. He had even tasked a few rangers to scout further into the forest in search of any other structure yet they had always come back empty handed.

Not a single hunting shack, fishing post, or even a campsite within 20km of the camp. It just didn't make sense, the rangers had spotted no monsters, and there was a thriving amount of wildlife which the Legion had been hunting for more food.

The Legate was half expecting the cabin to be home to a curse or witch, hence his hesitation.

His thoughts were interrupted as a ranger burst through the flaps of his tent, a serious look in his barely visible eyes.

"Sir, we captured three people that were approaching the camp. Civilians by the look of them. The rest of the patrol is bringing them back now."

The Legate nodded as the ranger finished explaining the situation, "Excellent, lead the way soldier."

*****

Meralith Keaden - Whitetail Expedition, Marshlands Archeological Company

5 minutes before capture...

*****

"Stop complaining Hudson, we should be getting close." Meralith scolded the young human following closely behind.

Hudson had a light brown mess of hair covering the top of his tanned head, almost matching his eyes exactly. He wore a simple white tunic, marred by marks of use such as dirt marks and small tears. Over the tunic was a dark red cloak to defend against the elements, which extended all the way down to cover his green pants which adorned a brown belt. The cloak itself had a pin stuck above his right breast that depicted a sickly green coloured map, making it clear what company he worked for.

Meralith herself wore a long sleeved green jacket with a hood to be pulled up over it. Her pants were a light ashen gray, the belt being jet black with a golden buckle with a dagger attached to it. She wore a pair of brown gloves which busied themselves with slightly adjusting the pin which matched Hudson's in both what it was and its location. Her blond hair tied back into a ponytail which reached down to her shoulders, easily revealing her pointed ears.

Meralith spun around to look at the nervous Hudson, who was glancing nervously at the forest around, with her deep blue eyes.

She spoke as she walked backwards, "Look, we just have to get to the location and confirm whether or not the information we got was legit." She said, trying to soothe the worried man, "We're getting paid almost double of what we would usually get for a damned excavation."

Hudson never looked her in the eyes as he continued to watch the forest, lightly touching the hilt of dagger on his side, "There's a reason people avoid Whitetail Meralith. No one knows why, but no one sure as hell wants to find out." He explained.

Meralith scoffed at her coworker, "Those are just a bunch of rumours some peasants started because they saw a shadow look at them wrong." She dismissed, before raising an eyebrow at the man, "I didn't think you were one to believe in fairytales. I'm not sure how you, a Gailen kid of all people would believe that Whitetail was haunted."

Hudson huffed in indignation, "Oh yeah, well how come not one person has tried to cut down the forest? There isn't a single bit of civilisation in the entire forest!" He pointed out.

Meralith shrugged, "Well, maybe no one could be bothered. Also, considering the state of Coldon right now I don't think they could if they wanted to." A sneer came to her face as she remembered the villages she had passed through, "Honestly I'm kind of hoping the Icarae invade again, just so that this sham of a Kingdom gets destroyed."

Hudson sighed as he nodded in agreement, "I wouldn't get your hopes up, the Icarae haven't come down from the north for about a century now." He tilted his head in thought for a moment, "Although, there have been-"

Hudson cut off as he froze, eyes widening as he tightened his grip on his dagger. Confused, Meralith stopped her backwards walk and turned around, her expression soon mirroring Hudson's.

Standing in front of them was a man in a green cloak, a mask covering the bottom half of his face and the pulled up hood obscuring the rest of it. His bow was drawn back fully with an arrow knocked and pointed directly at Meralith, shifting his cloak to reveal the leather armour and pair of daggers beneath.

Meralith's hand drifted to her own dagger. The man, noticing this, jerked his head to the right. Cautiously she turned to her left, keeping one eye on the still silent man. Her eyes widened more as another man was positioned there, almost identical to the first man. Looking to her right revealed another, and the soft feeling of Hudson's back on her own confirmed her suspicions. They were surrounded.

"Just rumours huh?" Hudson whispered to her, his eyes glancing at all the people in his field of view, "I got four on my side."

"This doesn't count, they're just normal bandits, nothing we haven't dealt with before. Four as well." She whispered back. Her eyes immediately locked onto the first one who was now slowly stepping forward, bow still drawn. Slowly, she shifted her hand off her dagger and instead into the pouch strapped on the back of her belt, the apparent leader not noticing this slight shift of movement.

Her hands closed around the small glass vial, a swirling light grey substance moving shifting inside it as she brought it out of the pouch slightly while keeping her movements to a minimum. The leader was now approaching faster, now only a couple metres away. Squeezing with all her might she shattered the vial causing a large grey cloud to burst and consume everyone.

"RUN NOW!" She yelled, feeling the weight on her back disappear as she sprinted in the direction of the leader. Brushing past the coughing figure obscured by the cloud and into the forest beyond.

"Stop them!" She heard someone shout, likely the leader.

Emerging from the cloud she ducked between the trees, ears listening for the whistle of an arrow yet finding none. Sparing a glance behind she saw three of the bandits chasing after her, bows surprisingly not drawn.

Her eyes widened at what it implied. They wanted her in good condition. Feeling a new burst of energy she looked back forward, no longer ducking in and out of the trees. A sharp whistle sounded from one of the bandits behind her yet she didn't bother to look back.

Something large impacted with her side, knocking her off her feet and pushing her onto the ground, knocking the breath out of her lungs. Not being able to grab the dagger at her side due to it being pinned beneath her she struggled as much as she could. Punching, elbowing, and kicking the cloaked man above her several times with wild abandon before she was successfully pinned.

Vision still swimming she blinked a couple times to clear it, noticing that she had been pressed onto her stomach the man having grabbed her arms with his hands and pinned them behind her back while pressing his knee onto both of her legs.

Multiple sets footsteps signaled the arrival of the others, draining all the hope out of her. She could only hope that Hudson had managed to get away and could warn someone. Although, considering that there had been a bandit waiting for her here then it was also plausible that he was captured too.

The bandits were talking above her yet she just tuned it out, trying her best to get her mind off of what they would do to her. She felt a rope bind her wrists together behind her back before being followed by more chatter. Bandits, especially in Coldon, were known to be particularly cruel to female captives

She felt herself being pulled to her feet and turned around to face them. She had a dull look as she glanced between all of them, not willing to give them the satisfaction of kicking and screaming when it was useless.

The masked man in front of her, and presumably the one that tackled her waved his hand in front of her eyes in confusion.

"Uh, I think I broke her." He said, looking back at the others who had gathered around, their bows now hanging on their shoulders.

"Don't matter if she's broke, you know our orders." A surprisingly female voice grunted out, causing Meralith to look at the one who spoke. Sure enough the bandit definitely had a feminine figure, however that was the only thing that even hinted at her being a woman.

...Perhaps she was safe after all? She blinked as she looked over all the gathered people. Sure enough they all wore the same outfit, and had the same weapons. These people were too organised to be bandits, too well equipped.

Her eyes widened as one of them turned around to speak with another, revealing a hollow white diamond which in turn housed another hollow white diamond. These weren't bandits. She gulped as she looked at the one holding her by the shoulders.

These were soldiers.