-Callen-

  -just before Callia's escape-

  I had spent most of today assembling my new battlewagon. From Callia’s last update it sounded like she intended to scope out the situation first. Which I thought was ideal since all the town's knights were out securing the town against local threats that had been put off with the imminent attack.

  If it took a day, Sir Torulf would return from scouting the town's perimeter. If it took 3 or 4 days, Sir Fullart would be back with the majority of the guards. With that in mind, I laid down, preparing to call it a day, but Callia had reached out to me. For some reason I couldn't understand why they gave her a guided tour! Callia took the matter into her own hands, intending to stop the abuse of civilians, and that meant I needed to get there to back her up tonight.

  Reesia barely needed a word to understand why I was waking her up, but Nixie was dragged with us. I made sure to store her trap maker toolkit in my void space. The gate guards saw us coming and opened the gate without questioning why. I was a little confused until I noticed him saluting Reesia. I suppose opening the gate for your boss when it looks like a rush makes sense for a gate guard.

  We made it outside town, and with practiced ease I pulled out the battlewagon from the void. We loaded up, and I took off racing down the road. The battlewagon started reaching speeds exceeding Callia’s run speed. Which sounds a lot less impressive than it was. I checked in with Callia and confirmed my estimated arrival time.

  Trying to navigate down the road was hard enough, but when it came time to alter our course into the woods, Detail Eye couldn’t keep up when I could barely see. That’s when my right eye adjusts, just like after its color changed when I bonded with Nightshade. My right eye started to see mana in the darkness. I couldn’t see the ground, but the path ahead was illuminated like I had thermal vision but for living beings. Nixie was absolutely terrified with her eyes wide, desperately trying to see whatever it was that I was using to navigate the forest. Reesia had decided to cover Nixie’s mouth to stop her from screaming as we narrowly weaved through a tight path.

  Finally I could see the clearing ahead. The faint glow of trees that still held mana but were no longer alive, and the silhouettes of men on patrol. I didn’t even have to speak before I spotted Callia sneak up on the overwatch. The men guarding the gates faded just like the wooden walls, and moments later Callia confirmed her clearance of the guards.

  I pulled up the battlewagon, and Nixie hopped off with her trap tools. I went to work cutting a secret exit in the wall for us to lead the civilians out while the obvious main gate became Nixie’s new playground. Just as I completed cutting a secret exit, Callia reached out to me again. The jig was up, and someone had caught on. We needed to get the civilians clear.

  Callia was in the main caves buying us time, but there was no way it would be enough for us to escape with civilians in tow.

  “Reesia, there’s trouble. You and Nixie take the battlewagon and escape when Callia gets here. I’m going to secretly evacuate the civilians.” Reesia nods and begins to move away, but I grab her. “Be careful, please.”

  “I will, and don’t get caught, ok?” Reesia and I embrace briefly before splitting up. I reach the captive cells without issue and find Guward sprawled unconscious just before the door with the keys in hand. Treating him barely takes a moment, and he smiles widely seeing me.

  “Callen! It’s good to see you!” Looking around, he seems to realize we are still in danger and gets serious. “What’s the plan?” I use the key to open the door, and inside I’m confronted with a number of men, a mix of camp followers from the baron’s army and people who had stayed behind to treat the injured.

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  “Guward, start treating the worst of them. I'm going to make a new exit.” I could feel the pressure Sis was under trying to buy time. There was no way to safely remove these people from the encampment within the time we had, but that doesn’t mean I can’t hide them inside the encampment.

  I pull out a couple of landmines and scatter them outside the entry haphazardly. Every second was going to count in what came next. I pulled out my Stone Shape wand and immediately began carving out a tunnel while dumping every chunk into my space. I could feel fatigue mounting as I began to reach the limits of my mana.

  I kept careful track of Sis’s condition while digging. The echoing roar of a berserker was signal enough that time was up. The civilians didn’t need any further prompting when I told them to move into the tunnel. As the cave emptied I tossed out a bunch of other simple traps like caltrops. Then I sealed the tunnel with stone in my void space. Using the rest of my spare mana to seal the seams and make the entry match the rest of the cave.

  I flopped down onto the stone and controlled my breathing as I let my mana trickle back. I switched my attention over to my sister. I couldn’t see what was happening, but it was clear that the battlewagon wasn’t enough to discourage pursuit. I didn’t have much mana, but that’s exactly why I designed my battery.

  Through the muffling of the stone I could hear the screams of Nixie and my traps at work. I wouldn’t get a better chance than now to tunnel out. I went to the far end and let Guward know my plan.

  “Callia needs me, so I’m heading out. Keep everyone down here as long as you can. If the air gets thin, knock down the wall into the prison cave. I left traps so they are unlikely to investigate deeply. I’ll be back as soon as I can. It’ll be easier to evacuate everyone without you being under watch.” I pull out a stash of emergency food and water. Then I use mana to cut an exit from the cave on the opposite side of the hill from the entry.

  I peer out and can clearly see a considerable amount of chaos. Bandits seem to be gathering at the entrance to the main cave, hesitant to explore further. I seal the tunnel behind me and pull out my helicopter. Starting it up is obvious to everyone nearby, and some of the archers start taking shots, but it’s too little too late. Once I have some altitude, I leave a parting gift and drop one of the catapult’s leftover explosive logs.

  I don’t see the effect of my parting gift as I’m heading off to Sis. I can feel the desperate struggle. I’m still way too far out, but that doesn’t stop me. I feel her relief, but moments later she slips unconscious. Flying desperately through the night, I finally reach Callia, and looking below, I can see the mana of five people. Three seem unconscious, lying together, and the fourth is much bigger and slumped on the ground dead. The fifth is standing nearby but seems to be looking up towards me.

  I bring the helicopter down, running over to my sisters. Checking them reveals nothing I can’t treat. The bystander seems content to stand by while I treat them. I sigh in relief and turn to greet the girl. The look in her eye as she shifted between me and my sisters set me on edge with its predatory gleam.

  Bob's Ghost

  Bob wasn’t quite sure why he became a bandit. It was more of a going-with-the-flow type situation. When the Baron died and everything went to crap, he followed the others when they ran for it. Joining bandits wouldn’t have been something he put on a career survey of what he wants to become, but when all his friends seemed excited by the prospect, he really couldn’t argue. If he did, what if they abandoned him in the forest?

  No, Bob was fine going through the motions trying to fade into the background. Maybe someday he would get a chance to leave, but for now he just intentionally missed when whipping at his neighbors. Seriously, did nobody else understand how crazy this whole mess was? For now, he accepted that sometimes going with the flow was just the safest option.

  Then the old captain Odric busted into the sleeping quarters, and everything went to hell. Odric was stabbed in the eye, and everyone was flipping out. Some psycho killer who was covered in ragged clothes and soaked in so much blood it covered more than the clothes. The boss just had to have the stupid idea of splitting everyone into groups to alert the others.

  The silence was deafening as Rick, Terry, Corin, and Bob shuffled through the dark cave. Bob wasn’t sure what it was, but he looked up on instinct and saw it. There was no way to convince Bob that the pale ghost wearing rags and dripping blood hanging from the ceiling staring straight at him was human. He fell over pointing but barely had time to scream when it dropped down. Bob didn’t see how, but when Rick’s head flew over the crowd and into him, he knew he was so screwed.

  He scrambled free before any of the others could and ran with everything he had. He heard it running down the others behind him. Just when he felt it breathing down his neck. Inevitable doom moments away, the light of others began to shine from down the corridor. He collapsed into the middle of the group, babbling in fear and helplessness.

  The moment Bob left the cave, he ran to one of the camp's incomplete walls and into the forest. He swore he would never consider stepping even a single foot outside of the first town he reached ever again. Memories of the ghost would haunt him for years to come.