-Callia-

  I arrived at the river some time before Callen. When we evacuated Portten into the tunnels, Callen brought the helicopter out of the city for me. With my role in the operation complete, I withdrew back to the encampment at the bridge. Progress here was much slower than the prior operation. A set of wooden walls around a small clearing. The crafters who hadn’t left were busy stocking up equipment that would be vital in the latter confrontation. Reesia had focused the majority of her efforts on clearing away any hostile animals from our side of the river.

  Luckily Woodside was amenable to our plans and had sent their knights and a reasonable force of soldiers to join us. Sir Eira had insisted on me being brought in with the knights' regiment. While I didn’t have the full force of a proper knight, I wasn’t helpless fighting one, and one of the most vital tasks in battle comes down to the battle of peak combatants. A large number of regular soldiers could bring down a knight by attrition and thus couldn’t be ignored, and that meant knights needed to intervene in the main battle as necessary while also confronting their opposing faction. A useful army forces the enemy knights to take action and to exhaust and expose themselves, giving their knights opportunities to gain an edge.

  We had six knights in our camp. Sir Eira the archer, Sir Torulf the guardian, Sir Gunther the mage, and Sir Fullart the untouchable. From Woodside we had Sir Ella the Axe and Sir Walder the Nimble. Sir Fullart had a general knowledge of everyone that was in Baron Eldraine’s service before he left. The archer who had shot my leg when I entered Portten was likely Sir Rax the Precise, and the lack of any other ranged attacks suggested that they were holding back or the remaining list of potential remnants had dropped from ten to eight. That didn’t mean we were even; it was entirely possible other knights had joined or been temporarily recruited. The hooded figure by the baron’s side, for one, didn’t match the descriptions given of the existing knighthood.

  When evaluating the skill of the townsfolk, Sir Fullart considered the potential impact of me, Callen, Reesia, and even Nixie as sub-knights. We had the skill but just hadn’t grown fully into the power or lacked the direct confrontational skills despite having the impact potential of a knight. I was personally very flattered, but it also meant when push came to shove, we would have the best chance of filling the gap between our forces and the enemy’s.

  I spent the day receiving some last-minute guidance on evaluating the flow of a battle and how to judge when acting was necessary or most advantageous. Callen flew in the day after using his personal glider and didn’t wait at all to take the lead of the fortification construction. He just happened to have gotten access to a rather excessive quantity of stone, and all the workers needed to do was stack the blocks and use his stone fusion wand to make it a seamless construct.

  Soon two large towers, a set of reinforced wooden gates, and a pair of ballista were brought over from the earthkin additions to our walls. Over the course of two days our fortress went from a shabby wooden barrier to a fully shaped castle gatehouse. The only thing missing was traps on either side of the river to deter someone from crossing, but Nixie was far too busy. She had passed around midday and was laying traps for the equally important task of slowing any detached force from invading Woodside while we confronted the army here.

  In the end I was assigned the role of watching the northwestern river with a small team of patrolmen who were familiar with the region. I would have to split my efforts between watching the frontline and intercepting any troops flanking us. However, if a knight acts, I would have to warn the others and support whoever responds in taking the enemy knight down. I may not have pushed trap-making to the same degree as Nixie, but that didn’t mean I couldn't rig some alarms and tripwires. I spent the rest of the day setting up alarms along the waterfront for both sides of the river.

  While taking a break, Callen and I met up for a stat limit check and final distribution before the fighting began.

  Well, at some point our combined stat limit passed the limit of random plants. It was a vaguely amusing discovery, but in the end we still had space to grow for at least a couple months. The camp was getting quieter as an anticipatory tension settled in.

  The beginning of the fifth day was when our scouts finally spotted the enemy. By midday everyone could hear them coming between the shuffling of hundreds of feet and the screams of the unfortunate victims of Nixies' traps. I was a little shocked that the traps were even working. Nixie had been instructed to make them visible enough for our scouts to spot, and there hadn’t been any incidents with the scouts we sent.

  The enemy slowly ambled into view, and I finally realized why so many had fallen victim to the traps. The faces of terrified and miserable merchants, craftsmen, and prostitutes led the front of the enemy forces. Ironically, when they saw our fortifications, some of them began to cry in relief as they realized they wouldn’t be used to check for traps anymore. I wanted to feel bad for them, but they had followed the baron’s army intending to profit from our homes. I rid myself of any guilt over their losses and hoped Nixie would be able to accept the same.

  Before I hadn’t been able to focus on the enemy enough to make a proper count, but now I could estimate their numbers roughly between one and two thousand. The forces in our fortress added up to roughly eight hundred, with a majority coming from Woodside since our town had lost so many. Five men moved forward bearing banners, escorting a chubby man-child. I couldn’t help but look at Sir Fullart, wondering if that man was actually a full-fledged knight. Seeing the grim expression, it likely was. I secretly swore to myself, no more late-night desserts.

  Portten’s March

  Sir Portten emerged from the tunnels after the scout gave the all clear. Somehow despite all odds his town was just saved, but it had been entirely ignored. The Earthkin who had lost their transport had stayed with us, but they clearly intended to march to the aid of Port Town as soon as they could. Sir Portten had spent the time sheltering speaking with the Stone-Foot clan’s leader and learned that the boy who had flown away on the decoy transport was responsible for the plan that had saved the town.

  He watched as his people climbed out from the tunnel and cried in relief. The crisis had been far too close for anyone to comfortably accept. Still, there was work to do. The question of how much to commit to the ambush was something that weighed heavily upon him. On one hand, defeating the enemy was vital, but on the other, if the enemy broke, there would only be one direction they would flee. His town was the only road that led out of the wildlands and back to human territory. If a knight chose to escape and the town didn’t have the means to repel them, it would be a tragedy.

  His town had a total of three knights-level combatants: himself, the Earth-Mage Rorin, and a knight who had resigned from Eldraine's service, Sir Fulk the Blademaster. He wanted to send Rorin, who would prove very valuable, especially in an ambush, but he didn’t want to leave Sir Fulk, who was a newcomer to his town. Still, the man had left Eldraine’s service, and after seeing the kind of man Eldraine was, it worked more as an endorsement for Fulk’s character that he left.

  Regardless of who he chose, he himself would join the deployed soldiers to repay the debt of saving his people. He called forth his captains and assembled all volunteers and town guards. Sir Portten wouldn’t wait long to set off with the best of the best of the army of volunteers, and he left his eldest son and Sir Fulk behind with instructions to deny entry to any who arrive until his or his army's return.

  It wasn’t long into his departure that the holes filled with civilian victims came into sight. He hardened his resolve to see justice through personally. The duke may not care for the common person, but his lord, Sir Grimmark, had been an admirable man. Sometimes it was hard to understand just what kind of nonsense power makes people do.