Fairy forest

-Taban Pov -

The sorcerers are getting ready to move shortly, the forest is only half a day's ride away, they chose this village because any closer than the fairies would have found them.

I looked at my army as they took down the camp and prepared for battle, I walked toward one unit called the Scouters, they usually ride ahead and then stay in the back during the battle.

"I have a task for your unit," I said to the leader Batu

"Anything General Khan," he said with a heavy layer of respect

"I want your squad to branch off during the battle and start setting up burn areas," I replied with my emotionless tone

He looked puzzled but still replied, "yes General,"

Burn areas are places in battle I set up to set fire to, usually, they are used as a distraction or a means to cut off escape routes. They are rarely set by Scouters usually bowmen set them up.

"Good, wait for the usual signal before you light them," I said as I began to walk off

I started to pack my stead and put on my armor for war, I didn't leave with this armor I guess Father wanted me to struggle on my journey, I gathered this armor by taking pieces that fit me off of my enemy's corpses, their blood still stains it to this day.

It looks kind of funny and off-putting but, once you learn of how I gathered it the armor shines in a new light. I made sure I had several bows and quivers of arrows tied to the side of my stead and then got on. I grabbed a spear and began to wait for Hai's sect, Ezra and Amun were beside me.

I have a specific reason on why I want the scouts to burn the forest, in taking lessons when I was still young on sorcerers and sorceresses I learned a fair amount about how their magic works, and I know that them settling in a nature-rich environment like the forest will increase their strength but not for a while after they stayed there.

Knowing this the most logical conclusion I can make on how they will betray me is someone high in the sect will perform a binding ritual that will bind their whole sect to the forest, this method will grant them strength in the shortest amount of time. I have talked to some of my father's sorcerers and they mentioned before that when performing a binding spell the link will be the strongest right after the spell is performed.

For instance, if someone bound themselves to a tree then right after the spell was performed if someone were to cut off a tree branch the sorcerer would be injured, this is also why sorcerers are very protective of what they bind themselves to. It usually takes a while for the bind to settle and those negative effects will then become more manageable.

Now, not all sorcerers can perform this type of spell, the power the spell needs is too high for the majority of sorcerers, but if Hai's sect uses the magic in the forest to aid them, then they could bind themselves to the forest making the sect immortal as long as the forest stands, not to mention their magic will grow to levels never seen before in these lands. Now everything must also be balanced so the consequences of them doing this are not seen yet but, I can guess that there would be a massive drawback.

After all, if this was easy why wouldn't every powerful sorcerer do it?

-Hai pov -

"Han, where is Hao?" I asked a nervous Han

"H-e tried to attack Taban when he entered the village, they killed him," Han replied unable to meet my eyes

"What," I hissed back at him

"I'm sorry Patriarch," he said sadly

"Sorry? SORRY DOESN'T CUT IT!" I yelled grabbing his face

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU HAVE DONE LETTING HIM ATTEMPT TO LEAVE THE VILLAGE!" I roared enraged at Hans's impudence

"Y-yes Patriarch, I'm sorry," he replied weakly I could see tears building in his eyes

Suddenly I let him go and a small smile graced my lips, "hahaha! Nevermind we will just use your other son to complete the spell," I told him in a kind tone

He visibly paled, "no no you can't use him! He is the only family I have left!" Han shouted at me

My expression fell, "you dare question me, Han?" I replied coldly

Han froze in fear, "no master," he said in a low voice and began to leave

-narrator pov -

Hai missed the look of pure hatred and loathing marring Han's face, Han began to think seriously about what he wanted to do, about who he should really be allying with.

Looking off into the distance Han decided on his next course of action.

His lineage will not be ending so soon. His family was a founder of the sect, to do a binding ritual of this magnitude and strength every founding family of the sect will need to sacrifice one of their own.

Hai is not sacrificing one of his sons but instead forcing others to sacrifice theirs. Instead, Hai is planning to sacrifice someone that is not of his direct lineage. He will be sacrificing someone who has been accepted into the sect by blood, Hai's blood to be exact, so even though it won't be a child of his, Hai's blood still runs in the sacrifice's veins.

'It has to be a direct descendent!' Hai told them long ago, now just everyone else has to give up a family member.

It enraged Han. Han is a coward.

A coward with nothing to lose.

A coward that already made a pact with Taban.

A coward who is finally taking a chance.

-Taban pov -

I saw thirty horses in the distance as they approached I could see Hai and his sect were on top of them.

Turning to Amun and Ezra I said, "be careful around them,"

Both nodded in acceptance.

Hai approached and said with an easy smile, "it is time to set off,"

I nodded and replied, "don't fall behind,"

We rode in silence, tension was high and everyone could tell something was about to happen.

Hai had this infuriating smile on his face as he rode next to me, his whole demeanor was oozing confidence and arrogance. It made me think lower of him, he isn't even strong enough to deal with this forest by himself and he still acts like this.

Disgusting. That's what it was.

During the journey, we made no stops and rode as fast as we could without tiring out our steads, I notice the wolf unit was migrating closer to Ezra who is farthest away from the sect. It made sense to me, Wolf's have a sense that lets them feel if someone is distrustful.

Funnily enough, Hai and his sect have no idea that I have a pack of highly trained werewolves, and that is an advantage I won't give up.

I turned to Hai and said, "we will set up camp as soon as the forest is in sight, then we will go over the strategy," my tone left no room for arguments

He nodded and replied, "that's what I was thinking General!" his tone was too excited for this kind of battle

Amun gave me a look and nodded his head.

My army and I already went over our strategy, Amun has heard of fairies before and knows how to beat them but, I want to see what Hai has planned for his sect during battle.

Soon we stopped as we approached a huge forest, it was honestly a beautiful sight there was one tree bigger than the rest it was a beautiful pink color, and the rest of the forest looked like an emerald paradise.

We set up a small camp, the soldiers made a big tent to have a war meeting, Amun, Ezra, Hai, and I were standing inside looking over a magical map that Hai had it looked like a miniature version of the forest, trees seemed to come out of it. Sorcerers sure are an asset to have.

"I propose we set fire to the forest to draw the fairies out on even grounds," Ezra said with a small smirk knowing that Hai would rather die than let his precious forest get burnt

"NO!" Hai yelled I'm distress

"Eh? Why not?" Ezra asked with a confused expression

"The forest is magical! My sect needs it! Why do you think we want to fight the fairies in the first place! Don't you understand that you barbarian!" he spoke feverishly

I grabbed hai's shoulder and applied a heavy amount of force and spoke dangerously cold, "don't speak to my commanders like they are peasants,"

He turned to me eyes wide and quickly said, "sorry sorry I was just alarmed haha, I apologize,"

I nodded and let go of his arm, he adjusted his shoulder a little before saying, "there aren't many fairies inside of the forest, my sect can lure some closer to the edge of the forest but, we would still have to go inside to battle the rest,"

I nodded my head that's what we expected anyway. We strategized for a whole before breaking off to prepare.

I gazed at the forest specifically the large tree in the center, I can feel it that is where I will find what I seek.

-end-

The binding spell is a real spell, I hope I explained it easily enough. I never understood why witches/ warlocks never bound themselves to something to keep them immortal. Like a vampire, a tree, etc. It won't be used a lot in this ff.