Kapitel 46: Not Even A Scout

Chapter 46.

01. The squad, Drank water and were leaning over panting, Reskeme was in a sorry state, he had disliked all the hiking the first time, this time they were taking routes specifically to lose the enemy warriors. They had passed streams and tried not to get wet on the way here, Now every time they would climb in the stream follow it for sometimes an hour and continue on their trek running back towards safety. Every time the Darva lost their trail the squad would hear howling from multiple enemies, they would redouble their efforts and try another tactic of hiking through cold creeks or in one case they travelled into the valley and followed a river walking in the water for a couple of hours.

02. For hours they followed the river back towards friendly lines, The Darva seemed to always be on their trail, something about trying to track things in the water was hard for them. The group heard another howl in the direction downriver towards the human territory, they crossed the river at a narrow point swimming the raging current and finally reaching the other side, Reskeme shivered and noticed his familiar shake of the water as Carley led the now cold and exhausted group in the trees to wait for the Darva ahead to pass.

03. Just like the first group the Darva had 5 soldiers, 3 warriors and 2 scouts ran upriver howling, one scout stopped to smell the air where they had crossed but a warrior growled at the younger scout to follow. The group collectively held their breaths until the squad of Darva rounded the bend heading towards the howling of the enemy behind. The now shaking group started back on their journey to human-controlled lands, They led a chase of pissed off Darva that continually were somehow ahead of them trying to cut them off. Reskeme and his group were lucky that they Had illusions as it seemed the eyesight of the Darva wasn't as good as humans at noticing detail.

04. The most nerve-wracking minute of Reskemes whole week happened when a squad of 10 warriors had surrounded them, The warriors hadn't seen them but they had been following a trail. Reskeme hadn't spared his mana he had cast two layers on everyone, the first layer changed the colour of their cloaks, the second layer made it seem more branch-like. This resulted in the group hiding in a big thing of bushes as Darva warriors walked around them clearly pissed that they couldn't find the humans. The sheer amount of channelling required to cast two layers of mana for three people was half of his total mana. Reskeme was pretty sure Carley and dusty knew something was odd about him.

05. Dusty had given him a look and Carley had questions in her eyes as well, they didn't say anything due to current circumstances. Reskeme knew they had figured it out after She had ordered him to hold off illusions until they needed them for moments like this one. The Darva warriors were accompanied by two scouts that seemed frantic, They had clearly seen the humans and pointed the warriors here. The warriors were not pleased that the scouts had given them the wrong directions, One warrior growled low and deep causing both scouts to lay their tails in submission, they were so terrified they even lay on the ground to show their subservience to the much stronger warriors.

06. The warriors appeared to be happy the scouts were shown their place. The odd exchange ended when a drawn-out howl in the distance tore through the fading light of the day. The group excitedly ran with tails in the air, running back the way Reskeme and his group had come. The scouts quickly followed, Reskeme and his squad left their hiding spot and quickly ran toward the opposite direction. The group was exhausted from running and hiding the entire day, The scary part of this endeavour was in order to return to human lands they would need to travel through the night as well.

07. Carley led them at first but soon wasn't able to navigate the forest in the darkness, Reskeme approached and Said," I can see pretty well in the dark" His suspicions were affirmed when she Whispered, "What are you?" Her pent up anxiety was clearly making her frustrated. Reskeme Whispered "we can talk about it when we get back now isn't the time." He could see dusty touching his sword hilt at Carley's question, When Reskeme didn't respond with anger Dusty grudgingly moved his hand away from the weapon. Reskeme looked at His familiar that had been quietly following them, the two were clearly wondering what his familiar was based on odd looks they had given the strange dog over the day.

08. Reskeme led the party occasionally stopping and listening to the sounds of howling,his group kept hearing the noise of a squads running through the trees. The Darva was still upset at the killing of even lowly scouts and were planning on taking it out on the humans. Reskeme and his group walked deep into the night, they noticed that the groups of Darva were no longer hunting them they seemed to be running past and heading in the same general direction. After hours of travel and 10 such cases where a Darva squad ran past them, Reskeme and his group crested a hill and climbed up the side of one of the mountains trying to find a good place to overlook what was happening.

09. A plume of smoke drifted into the night sky with flashing red lights, Reskeme watched with his group as explosions of fire and bright flashes lit the night sky. Reskeme turned to Carley and Asked what is doing that?" His voice was shaky and exhausted. Carley tiredly said," that's some of our mages battling an enemy mage. From this distance, the flashes of fire were punctuated by the occasional rumbling. Carley said," Get some rest, with this kind of excitement no wonder all those squads were running to the fort, the enemy mages must be retaliating for us killing the scouts."

10. An exhausted group woke hours later, Reskeme was sure no one of them actually got a good night of sleep. He had been woken many times by howling both close and far, the occasional rumbling in the distance didn't help either. The group gathered their things, Reskeme cast his illusions even though at this point it was pretty much useless. With all the rest his mana had at least returned in full. The squad waited until Carley was sure the Squad of patrols had left the gates, The Darva would be retreating now that the humans could fight effectively. They climbed back down only taking half the time it had taken to climb. Reskeme wasn't looking forward to his awkward conversations when they arrived back at the fortress.

11. Reskeme had suggested they take the direct route to the fort, Carley had immediately shot down the idea, She had stated the retreating Darva could run right into them. Now that he thought of it, It was definitely a good idea to taking the long route. With building anxiety and slowly dawning realization there was nothing he could do about the outcome. His familiar followed along by his side, unlike the front of the mission, dusty was behind him and Carley was in front. He assumed this was to make sure he couldn't run.

12. Reskeme wouldn't have been sure where to go even if he wanted to run. Reskeme decided to see if he could lie or convince his way out of the new problem. The group passed through the trees much too quickly arriving after Reskeme had recast his spells again. The tired and dirty group passed through a burned and ravaged field in front of the fort. Carley made sure to yell as they left the trees so that the touchy archers wouldn't shoot at them. She had guessed correctly that everyone on the wall was a little too happy to shoot at anything after last night. Reskeme was certain her idea had been right, in the open field random arrows were just randomly scattered about stuck in stumps for no reason he could tell.

13. Reskeme had tried to talk to them outside the walls but he was only hushed as they were still in danger until behind the walls. Reskeme walked around a crater larger than a cart that was burnt into the ground, He was terrified of what kind of magic could have caused that much damage. Judging by the damage on one of the walls the enemy mage had returned fire with equal power. One whole wall was heavily damaged from fire and earth, Reskeme could see craters around the walls and wondered how terrifying it would be to have those attacks directed at him. judging by the corpses of 3 Darvan warriors he passed the damage was enough to tear him to pieces, the large bodies were scattered everywhere in a spray of blood and fur, Reskeme almost vomited at the site and especially the smell of burnt hair.

14. Carley was staring at the damage as well and if her expression was anything to judge by she looked more respectful as well. The gates opened with audible screeching, The squad entered the gates passing soldiers that were wounded with varying levels of burns. Some soldiers had bandages and were laying on blankets unmoving while others were simply singed and trying to work through the discomfort. The squad approached the commander's big building and stopped, the commander wasn't in his building, he was awake and directing people to various tasks. The smile on his face was massive when he noticed the group of three tired scouts walking to him. The commander said in an excited tone," oh good you made it back how surprising, I was sure you were definitely dead after last night's raid."

15. Carley choked and presented the report she had put in a protective case, Reskeme had wondered if the scroll had been damaged, he was now realizing that Carley was much more prepared than he gave her credit for. The commander read over the scroll for a few moments and gently shut the case, He happily stated," very well done, You three are our first successful group to return with every member. You three will remain a team and continue your missions." Carley was opening her mouth to say something when the commander glared menacingly at her He said," I'm much too busy for frivolous chatter, if it's not something extremely important to the army then take it to that snooty master mage that damned Kellar he loves fixing frivolous things."

16. Reskeme was both happily surprised and even more certain he was screwed. His familiar had no such anxiety and followed the group as they left the commander and walked around the fort looking for the brightly coloured mage. A very exhausted looking master mage was laying on his couch in a Plain tent. The man had probably just laid down, Kellar was very upset at the interruption of his sleep, he walked out of the tent with singed robes while covered in dirt and dust. The man's robes were torn and mangled.

Carley asked "where are all the other mages that were fighting last night," Kellar said," other mages?, What do you mean, It was just me holding off those damned pups." Reskemes jaw dropped, which mirrored the incredulous Carley's expression. Kellar said," if they would have brought another mage I wouldn't have been done for, I wouldn't have been able to hold off any more than the three journeymen mages off at once." The thought of one person holding off that kind of firepower was simply shocking. Kellar looked at all their expressions, He said," don't give me that look, I'm guessing only one was mid-ranked journeymen and two of them were apprentices probably high ranking based on their attacks, I'm a high ranking master mage. The disgruntled mage snapped," well what did you wake me up for!? Carley pushed Reskeme with a firm push and Whispered so only the mage could hear," this boy here is clearly a monster hiding under illusions, we have seen him when he finally ran out of mana."