WM [46] Hold The Guillotine

WM [46] Hold The Guillotine

The muggy darkness of the forest clung to the druid forces like a shroud, the heavy air almost weeping for the sons and daughters of the Forest Father. The trees, ancient and watchful, swayed in mournful silence as if grieving for those who had fallen. Kara’s soldiers’ footsteps, once proud and swift, now dragged against the forest floor in a chorus of defeat.

Morale was shattered. The hundred remaining soldiers marched westward, away from Birchgrove, away from the ruins of their compromised base. The battle had been chaos—an assault by both werewolves and a horde of twisted monsters that had torn through their defenses with brutal efficiency. Forty-six of her soldiers had been claimed by that bloodbath, and sixteen more fell during the desperate retreat. Each death weighed on Kara, even as her hatred for the wendigo, for the war, for the monsters that harried them, twisted her focus into a blade of cold determination.

Of the remaining soldiers Kara, Steffen and Waddell were the only mages left in the detachment; everyone else were wizards. They still had a two day journey ahead of them. The forest was growing darker by the minute as the sun set beyond the canopy. Kara wiped her brow as she led her men to a position they could finally rest.

“We are going to need to stop soon commander,” Steffen's quiet voice interrupted Kara's thoughts, walking beside her with his thin frame and weary eyes hidden behind fogged glasses. “We still have injured who have not had long enough for the prosthetics to fully grow.”

Kara took a few more steps forward without saying a word. There was rage bellowing beneath the surface of her stoic expression. The sense of failure brought up by his words cut her ego at the reminder that her men were wounded because she wasn’t strong enough. It was her weakness that led them to retreat, her poor leadership that allowed them to be found in the first place. She knew Steffen didn’t bring it up to spite her but she had to let her emotions settle before she could speak levelly.

“You are right, Steffen, as always,” Kara said with calm understanding. “Send out the scouts to secure the area.”

Steffen turned to give orders to the soldiers, his voice soft but firm. The men responded to him with silent obedience, grateful for his leadership in these moments of darkness. He might not have been a warrior, but he was the logistical heart of the group—the one who made sure they had supplies, who knew where to find shelter, who thought three steps ahead when the rest of them were just trying to survive.

***

When the scouts returned they brought news of a small clearing a few hundred yards ahead. As the makeshift camp began to take shape, Kara stood at the edge of the clearing, her eyes scanning the darkened woods. Not just for monsters but also for any signs of the skinwalkers they had released or any that escaped the tree during the assault. Not only that but she knew the wendigo were out there, somewhere, hunting them like animals.

At that, Waddell, a hulking figure, walked up beside her. His antlers, large and solid like the rest of him, seemed to brush the low branches of the trees as he moved, his steps heavy but deliberate. Despite his intimidating size and strength he was a kind man with a face that rarely wore a frown. He gave Kara a reassuring nod, his expression a mix of exhaustion and warmth.

“They’re dead because we weren’t ready,” Kara muttered, her voice low but edged with fury.

“It wasn’t something that I think we could have prepared for, Kara,” Waddell said as he looked out over the camp. “We did what we could, and saved who we could.”

“Yeah, and look what it got us. We came here with two hundred men. Now we are barely one hundred strong. We lost Hagan in that fight, now we don’t even have a mage healer. It is going to get worse until we get out of here. If you didn’t put up that rock wall we would have been stuck there until we were overrun.”

“We still have healers and medics, it will just take a bit longer to heal with wizards but don’t count them out,” Waddell said gently. “I know it's been hard Kara, but don’t beat yourself up over everything. We have accomplished more than enough to return home and there isn’t anyone else I trust more to get us there.”

Kara turned to him, her green skin glistening with sweat in the dim moonlight. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do, Waddell.”

Steffen rejoined them, wiping his hands free of dirt on his robes, his glasses slipping slightly down his nose.

“We’re as set as we can be for the night,” Steffen said. “But we can’t stay long. I am sure wendigo reconnaissance and kill squads are searching for us.”

Kara gave a curt nod. “We move at first light. Keep the sentries rotating. No one sleeps through the night. Waddell, I want the ground reinforced. We’ll make a defensive line with your magic.”

Waddell cracked his knuckles and smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “You got it, Commander. I’ll have this place as solid as a fortress.”

As she watched her soldiers settle into uneasy rest, she felt the rage burning inside her like a storm waiting to be unleashed. The wendigo had taken everything from her. She knew as long as she had breath in her body, she would make sure they paid for it—no matter the cost.

***

Tanisha sat on the box seat of her wagon, Bjorn was cuddled up alongside her asleep as he had been for a few hours. The border was only a day's journey away and night was quickly approaching. Tanisha knew it was finally time to assign her UCP that she had obtained the last few days. She opened the screen to assign the points.



Unassigned Cultivation Points Distribution

You have leveled up 8 time(s) before assigning your UCP.

You have 80 UCP

You have felt the venom of your Familiar; it now courses through your veins. Your saliva carries a necrotic venom. As this is a shared natural ability you can not level this ability by any means but through communing with your familiar. This ability is tied to your familiar, should your familiar die or reject your bond you will lose this ability.You have felt the residual heat of your familiar fire and instead of flinching away you embraced it. The heat that burned you now resides within your core. Call upon the power of your familiars fire it now carries a necrotic embrace. As this is a shared natural ability you can not level this ability by any means but through communing with your familiar. This ability is tied to your familiar, should your familiar die or reject your bond you will lose this ability.

It couldn’t be that simple, right? Familiar bonds are built on trust so it must have been the fact that even after being burned she continued to touch him to ensure he was all right. She didn’t care about a few burns, all she cared about was his well being. Was that the key to this odd form of communing the abilities required? Tanisha took a deep breath.

“More to look at later I guess,” Tanisha said to herself.

Tanisha focused on the map in her lap, trying—unsuccessfully—to make sense of their location. Despite both Joha and Adelheid’s attempts to teach her map-reading, the squiggles and numbers still looked like an abstract puzzle, and she thought she was good at puzzles, up until recently. She squinted at one of the mile markers coming up and jabbed a finger at the number on the map.

“Sjau-tíu ok tvær,” she murmured, more to herself than anyone else.

Adelheid popped her head over the roof of Tanisha’s wagon. “Is that how your people write seventy two?”

Tanisha looked up at her. “It’s the old way, yeah. How long are you going to stay up there, by the way?”

“Until we come to a stop, unless you want me to hop down,” Adelheid replied with a casual shrug.

Tanisha sighed, leaning back slightly onto Bjorn’s warm side. “No, you’ve been up there all day. You might as well stay. I think we’ll make camp soon, although Joha’s been pushing for us to keep moving ever since we left the Jackrabbits’ camp. He’s been real jumpy about leaving Yuhia.”

“It's fine by me, do you need help figuring out where we are?” Adelheid asked with a knowing smile.

Tanisha flushed, waving her hand dismissively. “No! I know where we are.”

“Oh, do you?” Adelheid said, her smile widening. “Then go on, point to it. Show me where we are and which way we’re headed.”

Tanisha looked back down at the map. She knew where the mile marker was, so she knew she could do this. She puffed up her chest, feeling an irrational need to defend her very limited cartography skills.

“Here. And we are going that way.” Tanisha pointed proudly.

“Are you sure about that?” Adelheid asked with an amused tone.

“Uh...” Tanisha glanced down at the map. “Yes. Maybe?”

“Mile marker is right but the direction is the exact opposite,” Adelheid said with a chuckle she tried to play off as a cough.

Tanisha’s face turned even redder as she groaned in frustration. “Fine, fine. You win but only because this doesn’t make any sense at all. We are going forward! How is this going to show me forward?”

“Well no one is asking you to lead a convoy anytime soon, that is for sure.” Adelheid said as she jumped down to the box seat, careful not to disturb Bjorn. “Don’t feel bad. You’ve been teaching me all sorts of things about alchemy. You’re not hopeless.”

Tanisha rolled her eyes but couldn’t help smiling. The past few days of traveling together had brought them closer in an unexpected way. They’d found common ground, trading knowledge. Tanisha finally saw what Joha was trying to teach her with mercy. Adelheid was a good person underneath the incident that brought them together in an unfortunate way. Tanisha wouldn’t forget what she had done, the part she played, but she was starting to forgive her as even Bjorn didn’t seem to harbor hatred against her.

“After combat training let's go on another hunt. It might be the last time before we let you go and there is still a lot I need to know about monsters,” Tanisha said.

She couldn’t help but look at Adelheid’s neck. The black necklace that Joha had placed on her as a means to keep her in line was gone. They had dispersed the deadly maya construct before they left the Jackrabbits’ camp as a sign they would trust her to uphold her end of the deal between them and Alaric. She was a prisoner, yes, but not one they would continuously hold the guillotine over.

“Don’t stare like that,” Adelheid said. “My eyes are up here.”

“Sorry-sorry,” Tanisha said bashfully. “But what do you think about going monster hunting tonight?”

“Sounds good to me. But before that we have to survive Joha’s training,” Adelheid said. “You have a couple of healing potions ready, right?”

“Of course.” Tanisha said.