~ Chapter 6 ~
"Very well then. Let's start with the Redeemer scouts," Tantalus began. "The Redeemers have been searching for me ever since I left, but it wasn't until a few months ago that they finally made their way north."
"Do they know of your plans?" Morgan asked.
Tantalus shrugged. "Probably. Even if none of my former allies were quite as obsessive as I am when it comes to history, they almost certainly know that Extinction was defeated in these parts. Now that they have discovered my general whereabouts too, it's a simple, logical step to assume that I am here because of Extinction," Tantalus admitted. "However… truthfully, my intentions probably mean very little to them. It's rather cliché, I admit, but the Redeemers don't accept resignations."
"And yet, you claim that their scouts are no threat to you," Soren reminded.
"I have been careful, and even now they can't be entirely certain that I am here," Tantalus answered, smiling proudly. "Even if they were somehow able to find me out here, I can elude them easily enough. But that would leave them free to claim Extinction's essence for themselves."
"Which means Extinction would fall under their control instead," Priam said thoughtfully.
"Maybe," Tantalus said noncommittally. "It depends on whether there is a place in their plans for another dire eidolon. If not, they may simply prefer to hold onto the essence and prevent Extinction from returning."
"If they succeed, their armies will be nigh unstoppable," Soren summarized. "Very well. We will find these Redeemer scouts and defeat them, and in doing so, buy you more time for your search."
Tantalus nodded approvingly, before walking over to a nearby shelf and rummaging through a stack of old parchment. He returned to the table, and carefully unrolled what looked to be a roughly sketched map of the surrounding region. "The Redeemers ventured into the forest once already, descending upon a trading encampment and a small village," he explained, gesturing first at a marker near the southeast border, then at another marker to the west.
"So that's why Wilderness's Edge was deserted," Lionel realized. "The Redeemers must have scared off any visitors."
"They likely did more than scare them off," Tantalus said grimly, still indicating the small village on the map. "Silent Grove was utterly destroyed. The Redeemers are brutally efficient in cleaning up after themselves."
Lionel looked pained by the notion. "Why would the Redeemers care about Silent Grove? It's a small village in the middle of nowhere, practically. Self-sustaining and practically isolated from the rest of the world, as I remember it."
"Who knows?" Tantalus said with a shrug. "But the village was razed to the ground. Being isolated only works to the Redeemers' advantage; word of Silent Grove's fate won't reach Melior or Nevassa for quite some time."
"Did the Redeemers remain in the sacked village?" Soren asked, pushing the briefing forward.
"No," Tantalus said, shaking his head. "There are signs of a minor skirmish in Wilderness's Edge, probably fought by the merchants in Wilderness's Edge, or survivors from Silent Grove, perhaps. I missed the battle, but the Redeemers must have won the day, for I spotted them leaving the forest and traveling south, returning to their base of operations."
"In the Serenes Forest? Or all the way south in Begnion?" Soren asked, frowning.
"In what used to be Serenes Forest," Lionel guessed. "The northern part of the Serenes Forest was destroyed by Extinction centuries ago. Though technically, the land still belongs to Phoenicis, it is now populated mostly by Crimean and Begnion commoners.
"Correct. The Redeemers have a small fortress city to the east of Tergum. They call their home the Divine Citadel," Tantalus confirmed. "But not all of the Redeemers left; a group of their scouts remain in this region, and have established a small camp just south of the forest."
"Are they the ones responsible for sacking the forest village? Silent Grove?" Priam asked, his voice taking on an uncharacteristically hard edge.
"I don't believe so," Tantalus said somberly, shaking his head. "But what I do know is that Silent Grove isn't the first village to become… collateral damage. Even if the Redeemers at the camp aren't the raiders who attacked this particular village, I am certain they have partaken in their own share of death and destruction."
"Ever since Port Toha was destroyed, the Redeemers have grown brash and bloody handed. They do their best to hide any evidence of their passing, but the lack of a trail is proof enough, in a fashion," Lionel agreed.
Tantalus nodded. "The port where I met Soren, Priam, and Morgan is a perfect example of this. When the villagers first reported seeing eidolons in the area, I already suspected that the Redeemers had at last found their way to this region. A few days later, a few Redeemer soldiers passed through the port, which was attacked less than a week later," he said grimly.
"They tried to destroy the port entirely just because the villagers spotted a few of their soldiers and eidolons?" Morgan asked, aghast. Priam looked similarly disgusted.
"I told you. It is their way," Tantalus said bitterly. "It's half the reason I want their scouts eliminated. It's not hard to imagine the atrocities they'd commit in trying to find me, if left unchecked."
"How many of their soldiers are at their encampment?" Soren asked coolly. He alone seemed entirely unaffected by Tantalus's grim stories.
"It looked to be a single raiding party, which is typically twenty soldiers," Tantalus said. "Not all of the Redeemers are spirit charmers; their common soldiers are usually armed with ordinary steel weapons, although they do boast a few mages within their ranks."
"If they're ordinary soldiers, then that means we won't have to contend with any eidolons," Priam mused.
"Not necessarily," Tantalus corrected. "A spirit charmer is often sent to accompany the raiding parties. Occasionally, one of the Lodestars would be present, too."
"Lodestars?" Morgan asked, bewildered.
"A leadership title," Tantalus answered. "Every Lodestar is a spirit charmer, naturally. After my desertion, four Lodestars remained: Charon, Relic, Medea, and Harmony."
"Tell us more about them," Soren instructed. "It's bad enough that we will be outnumbered at least five-to-one. If we're going to carry out this attack successfully, we need every advantage we can get, and that includes being properly informed."
"Of course," Tantalus agreed. "Relic is rather old, and only rarely ventures into the field. When he does, he prefers to operate from the sidelines. Still, he is a gifted spell caster, armed with a rather unique weapon that I designed for him years ago. He can harness the elements easily, and employ them in both offensive and defensive manners. If you must fight him, you will want to catch him off guard, which is not an easy feat, admittedly," he began.
"Oh good. I've always enjoyed dueling other mages," Soren said sardonically. Morgan laughed uneasily, remembering her own encounters with enemy spell casters.
"Then you'd love to meet Medea," Tantalus said, chuckling slightly. "She's perhaps the most bitter, cruel, and vindictive person I've ever had the misfortune of meeting. Despite her egotism and sadism, she is also incredibly skilled with light magic. Unlike Relic, she's quite direct, willingly placing herself in the center of any raid and relishing the savagery. I think, alone of the Lodestars, Medea actually enjoys 'erasing' the trails the Redeemers inevitably leave behind."
Priam muttered something indecipherable, and Morgan winced sympathetically, reading his expression easily enough. She hesitated, then rested a comforting hand gently on Priam's shoulder, who looked up at her in surprise. Upon seeing her reassuring, confident smile, Priam relaxed visibly, though his expression made his distaste towards the Redeemers quite clear.
Tantalus took no note of the silent exchange. "Then there's Harmony. Compared to Relic and Medea, she's positively mild. She's clever enough, I suppose. All spirit charmers are reasonably gifted with magic, thanks to their pact of spirit protection, but Harmony prefers using a sword most of the time. She's aloof and rather cold. Doesn't really take pride in her work like Medea or Relic, but that doesn't stop her from carrying out her orders," Tantalus continued.
"I see," Soren said thoughtfully. "And what about Charon?"
A shadow crossed Tantalus's expression. "Ambitious and ruthless are the first descriptions that come to mind. Unfortunately, he's also incredibly powerful. His control of magical energies is so complete that he can invoke anima magic without needing a tome or any other magical device. He's never seen without his personal great sword, a massive weapon which he is capable of wielding singlehandedly. If you happen to come across him, just run and hope to escape his notice entirely."
"Good enough," Soren said, abruptly rising to his feet. "Anything else we should know before we set out?"
"Right now?" Morgan asked, startled.
"The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can find your friend and head home," Soren reminded. He turned back to Tantalus. "Well, Tantalus?"
"Just one last thing," Tantalus replied. "The Redeemers control phantoms as well as eidolons. Most of their phantoms take the form of suits of armor. Be wary of them, for they are far stronger than common soldiers."
"Duly noted," Soren said with a curt nod. With that, he strode purposefully toward the cave entrance without checking to see if his companions were following.
After exchanging confused looks with one another, Morgan, Priam, and Lionel all grabbed their belongings and started after their companion. Tantalus politely accompanied them to the entrance of the cave, where they found that Soren had slowed his pace just enough for them to catch up.
"I guess we'll see you later, then," Morgan said to Tantalus hesitantly. "Thank you."
"Thank you," Tantalus corrected, smiling genially. "And good luck."
Morgan had expected Tantalus's phantom to lead them back to the forest paths, but when they exited the cave, the phantom was nowhere in sight. Before she could voice her concerns, however, Soren set off deliberately, without a word. It soon became apparent that Soren had memorized the twisting and winding route the phantom had led them down the night before.
Once Morgan was certain that Soren had the issue of navigation comfortably settled, she turned her attention to Priam, who was still oddly tense. He seemed to be lost in his thoughts, and judging from his expression, his thoughts must have been quite unpleasant. Morgan wavered indecisively for several seconds before finally deciding that if Priam's strange behavior jeopardized their cover, then her questioning it could hardly make matters worse. "Is something wrong, Priam?" she asked quietly.
Priam fidgeted uncomfortably. "Not exactly," he said, keeping his voice equally low, as he glanced at Soren uncomfortably. Satisfied that Soren was too far to overhear, he continued. "But it's always disturbing to be reminded of just how cruel some people are."
Morgan shrugged. It wasn't a pleasant notion, but it was one she had come to terms with long ago. "Some of them don't mean to be. They're so caught up in their own lives, hopes, and dreams, that they lose sight of the world around them," she said in a sagely manner.
"And others just don't care to see it," Priam added, his expression hardening. As he spoke, he rested his hand comfortably on Ragnell's hilt. "They value power but dismiss the responsibility that accompanies it, at the expense of others."
"You know, you'd make a good Shepherd," Morgan said, with an approving nod.
"What does valuing human decency have to do with tending to sheep?" Priam asked, curiously.
"I don't mean an actual shepherd," Morgan corrected quickly.
"Ah, you were referring to Ylisse's Shepherds," Priam realized. "Perhaps. When I was much younger, I often heard of the prince's exploits along the roads of Ylisse. According to the stories, he started fighting alongside his knights when he was barely more than a teenager. I often wondered if one day I'd seek a course leading away from Azure Pyre, and find myself fighting beside him."
Morgan shrugged. "Uncle Chrom is pretty much stuck in Ylisstol these days, now that he's the exalt. I don't think he's been in a real fight since our battle against the fell dragon."
"You said your friend, Lucina, leads the Shepherds now, right?" Priam remembered. "I imagine our exalt found himself a worthy successor."
Morgan smiled sheepishly. She had done her best to explain her convoluted, time-travel and amnesia riddled background during their voyage, but as far as Priam and Soren knew, the only other person who had come back in time was her sister, Severa. "Actually… Lucina is Uncle Chrom's daughter," Morgan explained. "Future daughter, anyways. This world's Lucina is only six."
"More time-traveling shenanigans?" Priam asked with a faint smile.
"Time-travel?" Lionel echoed, confused. Morgan and Priam both flinched; without noticing, they had both stopped whispering a while ago.
Again, Priam glanced nervously ahead toward where Soren was still striding purposefully, leading the way through the forest. It seemed as if he was hesitant to share his thoughts with his mentor. Morgan, who was now well accustomed to Soren's derisive attitude toward idealism, couldn't really fault Priam for his reluctance.
At the same time, she felt Priam really had nothing to worry about. Either Soren wasn't listening at all, or more likely, the aloof mage was deliberately ignoring their conversation. She turned to Lionel, who was still looking at her, wearing a bemused expression. "Yeah. I don't understand it all myself, to be honest. But in our homeland, things went terribly wrong, and our goddess ended up sending several people back in time."
"Several? You only mentioned your sister before," Priam said. "How many of you were sent back?"
"Well… supposedly, she sent eleven of us back in time," Morgan admitted. "But that doesn't include me, since I also supposedly died in their timeline before they could send anyone back. And of the other eleven, I've only met seven… maybe eight."
Morgan's answer only added to Priam's confusion. "What do you mean you supposedly died?" he asked.
"And how could you have met maybe eight of them?" Lionel added.
"I've been introduced to seven of them," Morgan clarified. "But I've also met a young man who seems to know Lucina and Severa, even though I've never seen them talking. He looks and acts a lot like one of the retired Shepherds; I bet he's really her son."
"And what about the whole dying thing?" Priam asked again.
Morgan shrugged. "No one really knows for sure. But they all thought I was dead, until they found me in this timeline without my memories. We kind of put it behind us once we realized we were probably never going to find a real answer."
Lionel laughed. "And I thought my mother's stories sounded outlandish," he said.
"You don't believe me?" Morgan asked, feigning a wounded expression. In truth, so much of her own past was wrapped in mystery that sometimes, even she had a hard time trying to reconcile what she knew. It was both intriguing and infuriating at the same time.
"Oh I do," Lionel reassured. "Tellius has its own bizarre happenings. I've heard of cursed contracts used to murder royal families and threaten entire kingdoms, and the goddess turning nearly every living creature to stone. And of course, the story of the herons is not one easily forgotten."
"What story?" Morgan asked curiously, for the stories of the Radiant Hero she had read mentioned very little about the herons.
Lionel's expression darkened significantly. "The Serenes Forest was once the home of the heron Laguz, and a healthy kingdom in its own right. Long ago, before I was even born, Begnion's apostle tried to reveal to her people that she was, in fact, branded. She was assassinated by her own senators, who then blamed the act upon the herons, despite the herons' pacifistic reputation."
"And people believed them?" Morgan asked, horrified, as Priam grimaced, already familiar with the story.
Lionel nodded grimly. "Begnion invaded Serenes Forest and murdered every heron they could find. Only a handful of the herons survived."
Morgan shuddered, remembering Micaiah's words to Soren back in the armory, about how only three of the heron tribe remained. It was hard to envision an entire peaceful race being driven to the brink of extinction by a single malicious rumor.
"So, you've lost your memories?" Lionel asked, changing the subject.
"Yeah. When I woke up in this timeline, all I remembered is that I was hunting for treasure with my father in forgotten ruins," Morgan said. "I didn't even remember all that much about myself. I guess I was pretty lucky after all, since my father happened to be there."
"I bet that was a shock for him," Priam said, laughing. "How old were you in this timeline?"
"I wasn't even born yet," Morgan laughed. "My sister didn't warn him that he and Mom had another daughter, but he still caught on pretty quickly."
Just then, they stepped into a clearing. With a jolt, Morgan realized they were nowhere near the campsite where the phantom had initially accosted them. "Is this… Wilderness's Edge?" she asked, surprised.
"Yes," Soren replied nonchalantly, before continuing south.
"Wait, Soren. The camp we are searching for is on the other side of the river," Lionel reminded.
"I know," Soren said brusquely. "Tantalus's map indicated there was a bridge south of here. It's a shorter route then traipsing along the northern route, and around Silent Grove.
"Good call," Morgan said, although she couldn't help but be slightly annoyed that Soren had not bothered to share his plan with anyone else.
A ghost of a smile crossed Soren's lips, and Morgan realized she hadn't hid her irritation as well as she had hoped. Still, Soren said nothing more on the matter, and they continued on south along the riverbank.
They came to the bridge later that afternoon. They were clear of the forest, but there were still several trees scattered here and there, and as they neared their destination, at Soren's insistence, they slowed their pace and kept themselves hidden as best they could.
Tantalus hadn't been sure of the exact location, but his estimate proved fairly accurate, and they came across the quiet camp just as evening was beginning to give way to night. Carefully concealed in a nearby copse of trees, Soren and Morgan watched the soldiers in black armor parade back and forth, chatting and enjoying their evening meal. Behind them, Priam was lost in the throes of meditation. Lionel had set off on his own, promising to keep out of sight as he scouted out the surrounding area.
After several hours, the Redeemers seemed to be retiring for the night, and Morgan began to grow impatient. "Soren, what's the plan now?" she asked.
"Well, what did you learn?" Soren prompted.
Morgan frowned, caught off-guard by the question. When they first settled in the copse they were hiding in, Soren had begun his observation routine immediately, without a word of explanation. Similarly, Priam, who obviously trusted in his mentor's ability to sum up a scenario, simple found a comfortable spot for himself and settled into a meditative pose. Morgan had given her own role in this little adventure some thought before deciding that redundancy couldn't hurt if the alternative was doing nothing, but she hadn't imagined that Soren would be interested. "Well… there's sixteen of them that I could see. They're all armored," she began. She glanced at Soren hesitantly.
Soren only nodded slightly, and indicated for her to continue.
"At least five of them were carrying swords. Their armor seems to be lighter, too. Four more were wearing the same armor but didn't have weapons visible, which means they likely also prefer to use swords, but see no need to carry their weapon at all times," Morgan reasoned, growing more confident as she spoke. "The rest were wearing heavier armor. I saw four carrying axes, but there were also three warhorses nearby. Mounted fighters tend to prefer lances to axes. I would guess that several of the soldiers wearing heavier armor use lances, and three of them are trained to fight from horseback."
"What about their leader?" Soren urged.
"I didn't see any apparent leader," Morgan admitted. "But from what I know, very few fighters are vigilant enough to willingly spend their entire day clad in armor if they can help it. Either their leader is among the soldiers, but doesn't stand out, or their leader instructed them to remain ready for action. If it's the latter, he commands their respect rather convincingly."
"Or fear," Soren agreed. "Anything else noteworthy?"
"I saw a suit of light armor propped against one of the wagons," Morgan said, after a moment's thought. She peered at the camp, and could still barely make out its form under the faint light of the stars above. "You can still see it if you look carefully. I think it's one of the phantoms that Tantalus warned us about; there's no reason for an extra suit of armor to be lying around if the soldiers are all fully armored, especially not out in the open instead of with their personal belongings."
Soren nodded. "What else?" he prompted, in a leading tone.
Morgan only barely kept herself from blurting her thoughts aloud. What else? How much else could Soren have expected her to learn from watching the camp from afar for a few hours? There was an awkward pause as Morgan stared absentmindedly at the camp, wondering what Soren was hinting at. Finally, after several tense seconds, she gave in. "That's all," she admitted, bracing herself for a lecture.
"Not bad," Soren said distantly. Morgan stared at him expectantly, but he remained silent, testing her patience rather severely.
"Well?" Morgan prompted, trying to keep her irritation from showing.
"Well what?" Soren asked.
"What else did you learn?" Morgan asked impatiently.
"I think you summed it all up pretty nicely," Soren said with a shrug. "There's a few soldiers less than what we were expecting. They have some cavalry, but not much, and nothing else out of the ordinary. Their leader is either currently away, or not very distinguishable. Probably the former."
"That's it?" Morgan asked with a frown. "You didn't learn anything else?"
"Nope," Soren said in an off-hand manner.
"Then what were you expecting me to say?" Morgan demanded.
"I wasn't 'expecting' you to say anything," Soren answered. "I just wanted to see how your observations compared to mine, and was curious as to whether you noticed anything that I missed. As it turns out, our conclusions were more or less the same."
Morgan only stared at him, dumbfounded.
"I wasn't aware that I was supposed to be administering a test of some sort," Soren said dryly. "And I was under the impression that I would be the last person you would ever want for a mentor," he added.
"Well… I…" Morgan stammered, thoroughly flummoxed.
"Relax, Morgan. He's just messing with you," Priam said quietly.
Morgan spun around, startled, for she hadn't even noticed that Priam had been paying her and Soren any attention. Priam's eyes were still closed, but the young warrior was smiling faintly. "He is?" Morgan asked, turning back to Soren for confirmation. "How do you know?"
"Because he's probably just as bored as we are, and his verbal quips speed the passage of time," Priam said.
"Time flows at a constant rate regardless of your state of action… or inaction," Soren said, rolling his eyes.
"I see what you mean," Morgan said, amused.
Soren groaned. "If you two are quite finished discussing the possibility of me being overcome by ennui, I believe we have a visitor," he said.
Morgan instinctively reached for her tome and looked around wildly, before noticing that Soren didn't seem alarmed in the slightest. "Soren?" she whispered. Soren said nothing, but a voice from the side of the copse allayed her fears.
"I'm back," Lionel said quietly, as he carefully stepped around the bushes. "Sorry to take so long. They have four soldiers keeping watch, and they seemed pretty restless. I had to wait for them to settle down a bit before slipping back out."
"Fine. What did you find?" Soren asked.
Lionel frowned. "I couldn't get an accurate count from my position, but there's definitely at least a dozen soldiers in the camp," he said. "There were many more tents than that, and it seems like this encampment is large enough to host at least twenty people, but it sounds like some of them are away right now."
"That makes our task a little bit easier," Soren said. "Although perhaps we should wait for them to return so that we might achieve a more complete victory."
Lionel shook his head immediately. "That's the bad news. The leader of this raiding party is among those currently away, and I overheard one of the soldiers referring to him as 'Lord Charon'."
"Charon," Morgan repeated hollowly, remembering Tantalus's dire warnings.
"Then I guess our timing is fortuitous," Priam said, trying to sound optimistic. Morgan thought she could hear a subtle undertone of disappointment in his voice, and grimaced, realizing that Priam probably hadn't been discouraged by Tantalus's description of Charon. He had probably been secretly hoping to face the Redeemers' mysterious leader head on.
"It seems so," Soren agreed. "The bulk of the soldiers are still here, but without their leader, it should be a far easier battle."
"I don't think it's that simple," Morgan put in, as she thought of another possibility. Soren looked at her, raising an eyebrow, and gestured for her to continue. "Why would Charon bring a raiding party with him, then leave most of them idle?"
"Smaller forces tend to move more quickly than larger ones," Priam guessed.
This raiding party isn't very large to begin with," Morgan countered. "And if he truly needed such a small and agile force, then there would be no reason to bring the rest of the raiding party in the first place."
"Unless he's using this encampment as a temporary base of some sort," Soren said slowly.
"Right," Morgan agreed. "I think Charon has some sort of magical transportation. Remember the warp powder I used to get to Azure Pyre, and that we used to reach Bright Crest?"
"Some way for him and a few scouts to move around quickly, but too limited to move his entire force," Soren said thoughtfully. "You might be right."
"So what does it all mean?" Priam asked impatiently, feeling slightly lost.
"It means Charon and the other soldiers could show up any minute," Soren explained.
"And it means Charon's probably trying to narrow down where Tantalus is, but hasn't found him quite yet," Morgan added. "He has to know Tantalus has phantoms of his own, which is part of the reason he has these soldiers and phantoms waiting nearby. The Redeemers may have eidolons waiting in the area, too."
Lionel stared at the quiet camp uneasily. "Should we back off and reconsider, then?" he asked.
"No," Soren said decisively. "If Morgan is right, then reinforcements are always going to post a threat. But for now, we hold every advantage we could hope for. We just have to carry out this attack as swiftly and efficiently as possible."
"And make sure we keep a course open for a quick retreat if needed," Morgan added. Her eyes brightened suddenly. "What if we can keep them from reaching their horses? It will weaken their mounted fighters, and we might be able to use them to escape if needed," she suggested.
"Maybe. Lionel, do you think you can sketch the layout of the encampment for us?" Soren asked.
Lionel nodded and grabbed a long branch lying nearby, found a clear patch of dirt, and began drawing his map, while verbally outlining the sentry positioning and patrol routes that he had observed. Before long, a plan began to take shape.
It was a fairly warm night, which made sitting by the campfire rather uncomfortable for the fully-armored soldiers. There were no complaints though, for each and every one of them knew that a little bit of discomfort would be the least of their problems if Lord Charon were to discover an unguarded encampment upon his return. The loyal Redeemers compromised by keeping their weapons in sight, even if not at hand, and by making frequent patrols throughout the campsite, as much to escape the heat of the flames as to keep up the pretense of vigilance.
But it was only a pretense, for the nearest inhabited village was over fifty miles away. They were at least ten miles from the nearest well-traveled road, and the phantoms they had encountered never strayed beyond the perimeter of the Snowflake Forest. That left boredom as their greatest enemy.
Or so they thought.
Three of the sentries remained by the campfire, two of them fully absorbed in a story being told by the third. None of them paid their fourth companion much heed when he stepped away, until a muffled crash alerted them that something could be amiss.
That was all the warning they had before Priam leapt into their midst. Ragnell arced through the air, releasing a devastating wave of force that blasted one soldier off the log he had been sitting on, shattering his ribs and stealing his breath.
One of the remaining soldiers yelped in fear as he scrambled for his sword. His companion managed to keep her wits about her, and grabbed her axe. "Attack!" she cried out, hoping to alert their sleeping comrades as she swept her axe forward defensively.
Ragnell caught her axe beneath the blade, and with a mighty twist, Priam cast the axe aside before bringing his sword down upon its disarmed wielder's head, crushing through her helmet and creasing her skull.
The last soldier had managed to retrieve his weapon, but in his state of panic, his attack was desperate and poorly aimed. Priam stepped away easily enough, and a second wave of force burst forth, throwing the soldier off his feet and nearly severing his arm. The soldier's agonized howls were silenced a moment later when Ragnell bored through his plate armor and found his heart.
Even as Priam finished disposing of the three sentries, the encampment seemed to burst into flickering and dancing flames. After many mishaps relating to her love of fire magic, Morgan knew all too well how flammable cloth tents could be. As soon as Priam had drawn the sentries' attention, Morgan fired off a series of carefully placed fireballs. The nearly silent camp was suddenly enveloped in a panicked uproar, punctuated by cries and screams loud enough to drown out the hungry crackling noise of the magical wildfire.
A blur of motion caught her attention, and Morgan spun in time to see a soldier burst forth from his tent. The man was only partially armored, but carried a long lance in a comfortable grip. Morgan loosed another fireball at him reflexively, as she reached for her sword. The lancer dodged her attack easily enough, but the spell had had its desired effect anyways, buying Morgan enough time to draw her own weapon. Eternity turned the lance's keen edge enough for Morgan to roll aside. As the lancer stepped back, searching for even footing after his first missed attack, Morgan lifted her tome once more.
With a gasp, the lancer swung his shield up, and braced his lance behind it defensively. He held the pose for several seconds, waiting for the killing flames to break against his shield, but when nothing happened, he lowered his guard, confused.
And then the fireball Morgan had lobbed high into the air came crashing down upon him, falling precisely between his helm and outstretched shield, burning his arms. The soldier howled in pain as his shield slipped from his grasp, and a second incendiary blast sent him tumbling silently to the ground.
A second soldier rushed Morgan from behind, seeing only a small, seemingly defensively mage. But Morgan hadn't been caught unaware, and spun to face him. As soon as she saw the soldier's heavy plate armor, she remembered Soren's description of her new light tome, and brought Thani forward instead.
Generally speaking, warriors clad in heavy metal armor were already extremely susceptible to magic, but Thani proved to be even stronger than Morgan had expected. When the spire of light faded away, the fallen soldier lay perfectly still, his armor shattered in several places.
Morgan lowered her tome and began searching around for her allies, forcing herself not to spare the dead soldier any further thought. The burning tents had served their purpose quite well, for she immediately spotted five dead Redeemers, each lying only a few feet from their tents. In their panic, none of them had had time to retrieve their armor, and some hadn't even collected their weapons. Each of them had been cleanly felled by a single, carefully placed arrow, though the Daein prince was still nowhere to be seen.
The young tactician then thought to check on Soren, who was supposed to be standing guard over the warhorses. A flurry of movement from one of the nearby supply carts changed her mind, as the suit of armor she and Soren had spotted earlier came to life.
"Soren will just have to take care of himself," Morgan muttered, as she turned to face the phantom.
"Mage! Take him!" one soldier cried, as he advanced upon the dark-robed man standing before him. The Redeemer brandished his lance menacingly as he closed in, though he remained wary.
Beside him, his partner advanced, equally confident with his sword held easily at his side. No Redeemer was unused to battling spell casters. Despite their quarry's comfortable stance, the mage appeared too young to have any real experience with battle.
Naturally, Soren was unalarmed by their confident, measured approach. He shot them a rather bored look, but just before the lancer could strike, Soren spun away in a graceful pirouette, firing off his spells as he went. Soren had predicted the lancer's evasive roll perfectly, and the first wind spell caught him mid-roll, throwing him into the air and the heavy lance aside. A second spell flung the man into the nearest tent, just as another soldier was emerging. Both soldiers toppled to the ground in an undignified heap.
The speed and precision of the obviously rehearsed motion caught the remaining Redeemer swordsman off guard, but the swordsman was too disciplined to hesitate, and instead rushed forward to punish the apparent opening. But again, Soren moved too fast, easily sidestepping the thrust and forcing the swordsman back with a quick spell.
Instead of retreating, as most mages would have, Soren then surprisingly advanced towards the soldier instead, further surprising his opponent. Soren swept his right arm, still holding his tome, back, and instead brandished a staff held in his left hand. The soldier stumbled away with a confused yelp, his gaze fixated on the head of the staff, unsure of the staff's nature.
Soren closed his eyes as he invoked the torch staff for a mere fraction of a second. His eyes then flickered open as the sudden flash of light faded away. The blinded swordsman cried out in pain, and flailed wildly in hopes of offering some semblance of defense. A razor sharp gust of wind shredded through his armor, putting an end to his futile efforts.
Without looking, Soren sent another blast of wind at the unfortunate lancer he had thrown aside earlier, who had only just untangled himself from the other soldier he had crashed into. The powerful spell finished both soldiers, as Soren turned toward the last clump of tents which he had toppled earlier with a powerful gust.
The last three soldiers managed to free themselves from the tangled mess, and immediately focused their attention on Soren, their nearest visible opponent. But before any of the three could advance, or do anything else, Soren easily blasted one aside, just as Priam barreled toward them.
Priam's intended target instinctively turned to face him, and the Redeemer's steel sword came up just in time to catch Ragnell's gleaming golden edge. The weaker weapon seemed to fold under the weight of Priam's strike, and a moment later, the steel sword gave a loud snap as it broke in two, and Ragnell plowed on through.
The last soldier, wanting no part of any battle against the dangerous swordsman standing before him, or the mysterious wind mage, turned and fled. But he only managed to get about five steps away before Lionel intercepted him, jumping out from behind one of the collapsed tents. The hapless Redeemer saw only a dark blur as the prince slammed into him and cleanly drove a dagger into his exposed throat.
Satisfied that the rout was complete, Soren surveyed the ravaged camp imperiously, inwardly surprised at how unprepared the soldiers had been. "Priam, Lionel, where's the phantom?" he demanded.
Before either of the two men could say a word, a cry for help from the far side of the encampment answered his question.
"Morgan!" Priam cried out in alarm, sprinting back toward where he had last seen their missing companion.