Chapter 81 - Losses

In the end, after a couple of minutes, the mercenaries attacking the entrance of the town decided to retreat. They probably expected that those ten cloaked figures would help them by attacking the garrisoned forces from behind, but nothing happened.

When things got quiet enough, Elius and some of the riders used some ropes to recover the other bodies of that weird group. Naturally, when they heard how difficult it had been to kill them, they didn't believe it, but things changed when they saw the destroyed heads.

"We will take over things from here," Elius said while he watched the soldiers carrying the remaining bodies. "Your squad can rest over there; some tents have been set up for you."

As expected, neither Zaos nor the other kids felt like it was time to rest. Although they have been on edge for almost twenty hours, they still couldn't feel how exhausted their bodies were. That will only be noticed once they relax a little.

"Based on my experience, they won't attack us at night again," Elius said. "Until now, we managed to stop all their strategies, so they will try to surprise us. Usually, that requires an out of the box plan and they won't be able to pull that out without a good night's rest."

After hearing those words, everyone sighed in relief. While Elius saw some unexpected things lately, his reasoning was sound, at least when it comes to the mercenaries. The tents were just big enough for a person to lay down and rest. For some reason, unlike things at the military base, each squad member had a tent for themselves.

While Zaos was looking for a free one, he understood why things were like that. Hear the sound of armor trembling and some whimpering. The recruits still didn't recover from the loss of their friends. It was only natural… each one had a tent for themselves to let the things they were feeling out as much as possible. They couldn't face the enemy properly while they were still mourning.

"Somehow, my sword skills still worked today… but my magic was really the only thing that was truly helpful," Zaos began to ponder when he found an empty tent. "I don't intend to abandon my sword training, but as expected, I need a bigger body to be able to fight properly."

His foundations were already there, but while Zaos wasn't a master of the sword, his body still limited the number of things he could do. In the end, he even considered skipping a night of sleep to meditate and recover his mana, but that wasn't a wise idea.

At the end, when his body cooled down, Zaos didn't even notice that he was quickly falling asleep. It was no surprise since on the previous night, he only slept for a couple of hours. Zaos only and very suddenly opened his eyes when it was already morning. He got up and left his tent, but things were as calm as they could be, and only one hour or two had passed since sunrise.

"I guess we can rest for a while longer…" Zaos said and then sighed once he realized that most of the recruits still were sleeping.

Zaos tried to relax and rest, but in the end, he wasn't the type who would stay in bed for a while after waking up. Since the beginning of his new life, he gets up and then proceeds to do something meaningful once he wakes up.

After cleaning his gear and sharpening his sword, Zaos decided to approach the walls. Still, then he saw Drannor also leaving his tent. His face looked like a mess. He probably only slept for a couple of hours.

"Hey, Zaos…" Drannor said. "You don't look terrible, while I assume that I look terrible."

"Did something happen?" Zaos asked.

"… Two of my squad members died last night," Drannor said while he clenched his fist. "Seeing my friends dying is… there are no words to describe it."

Zaos got lucky. Not only did his whole squad didn't suffer any casualties, but he also kept a certain distance from them, and they also did the same. While they did it for other reasons, that in the end helped the whole squad.

"Putting that aside, I heard that you fought some weird enemies last night," Drannor said. "Can you give me the details?"

"It is hard to explain what happened…" Zaos said when he turned to the side, and he recalled that fight. "I am hoping that Lieutenant Elius will manage to explain what we saw last night. I feel that I am hoping too much, though. Most likely, the enemies in the North developed a few magic tricks and now they are using us because the time has come. They are from a civilization in which their magic is much more advanced. I don't think we will understand their techniques and secrets that fast."

While Zaos and Drannor were walking toward the wall, they found the town's citizens moving around doing the same things they did on the previous day. They had to hurry since things might get messy during the fight, so they could only help in moments like that.

After a couple of minutes, they found Elius sharpening his sword while he was sitting on the border of the walls. That was quite a dangerous spot to sit. Even though Zaos wasn't afraid of heights, he wasn't brave enough to sit there.

"Sir, about those things last night…" Zaos said.

"What are you doing here, recruit Drannor?" Elius frowned. "You should know that in the army, we are trying to keep some secrets from spreading. We can't hide information from those directly involved, but you are not directly involved in this matter."

"I will keep my shut about this, sir," Drannor said. "I just want to know what we are dealing with, unless I obtain that kind of information, I don't think I will be able to fight with the right mindset. I am pissed, sir… pissed at myself for being unable to help my friends and for letting those fuckers do what they want."