Chapter 9: ‘Patient’ Watch
Nunemund, 4th day, 217th known year.
The next morning, Draego got up early to check up on Stephanie.
“I’m fine.” Stephanie said with a smile. “It was just some backache to begin with. I’m much better now that I’ve had some rest.”
“I see.” Draego nodded impassively at her response. “Once you’re alright, I’ll expect you to play a big role in taking over the fort.”
“Yes, sir!” Stephanie said with a mock salute. However, Draego could hear the slight shakiness in her voice.
“Inform the others to grab bows and arrows and gather at the West Gate, once they wake up.” Draego added further. Stephanie gave him a quizzical look, but nodded. Draego then went downstairs, grabbed a quick breakfast and told the guards about to take the next shift to beware of enemy attackers later in the morning.
Then, he snuck out of Gerud. Even the guards watching over the walls had no idea someone flit past them, much less the enemy lookouts all the way into the woods. Draego moved silently and stealthily. Draego covered himself in mana to imitate the image of the fields below him, stuck close to the ground and moved into the forest.
He immediately spotted a squadron of around eight soldiers on watch. They were playing cards. Well, six of them were, while two sat away from the rest of the group, watching the village walls. Perfect. Draego thought to himself. He drew his sword and walked over to the group of six. He hid behind a tree merely two meters from the group as they focused on the cards.
As far as they were concerned the attack could only come from the village, and they were far enough from it for the two sentries to warn them if anyone left. To top it off, they had been on duty throughout the night. They were stressed out and wanted a break from this war march.
Draego didn’t let this hole in their defense slide. He waited for a moment, and slowly positioned himself to be ready to fight them off whenever. He closed his eyes and confirmed his own position and that of the eight warriors by the sounds they were making. Then, he leapt into action. He first stabbed the nearest soldier through the heart, killing him instantly.
The other soldiers looked up from their cards in mild confusion and boredom, just to see their friend slumping, a red liquid flowing freely through a hole in his chest. Before they could gather themselves and retaliate, Draego’s sword danced and cut through the necks of four others. One of the other two went pale and stiffened, unable to speak due to fear.
Not missing this chance, Draego slashed down the other one before he could make any noise. The man staggered to his feet, only to fall back as Draego’s blade took his life. Finally, he rushed towards the two sentries, and killed them in two swift strikes. All of this took place silently, without any noise beyond the muffled sound of falling bodies.
He ventured deeper into the forest and found the new enemy camp. With a glance, he estimated the size of the force here to be around sixty. Draego knew he could expect archers and mages here as well, albeit in lower numbers. He took a deep breath before gathering the mana in his body.
Time to create chaos. He thought to himself as he let out a net of mana to search for mages.
~ X ~
In the village, just then, Cessa finally arrived at the inn where Draego was staying. She looked around leisurely, but was unable to find Draego or his companions. Cessa turned to the soldier tending to the inn, who coincidentally was the girl she had met yesterday, Trisha.
“Ah, Trisha!” She called out to her.
Trisha, who had been reading a book, looked up and then gave an elegant salute.
“My lady.” She said.
“Any idea where Draego is?” Cessa asked.
“No, my lady,” Trisha replied. “But Commander Draego did ask his men to assemble at the West Gate with bows and arrows… And asked the morning shift to be prepared for a wave of attackers.”
Cessa frowned and looked around. The only other soldier was the guy who had introduced the two yesterday, Tristan.
“Both of you, grab your bow and some arrows and meet me on the West wall as quickly as you can.” She replied. She had already suited herself in her armor, ready to go for reconnaissance with Draego. “And bring me my bow too.”
“Yes ma’am!” The two replied in a chorus and rushed up the stairs of the inn. She left the inn with due haste. She rushed directly to the West wall and immediately searched for any kids. She found a group of four on one end of the walls, armed with bows and arrows, ready to fight. However, she couldn’t see any sign of Draego anywhere.
She walked up to them. Having met her before, the others got up and bowed to her.
“Your ladyship.” A boy gave her a light greeting. Cessa nodded with a frustrated look on her face.
“Where is your commander?” she asked, already having an idea as to what he must be doing. As expected, the boy pointed at the forest. Cessa gazed at the forest edge with resignation. She let out a dismayed sigh when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry, my lady.” A girl said evenly. “Commander Draego is far stronger than you believe. He has not been defeated till date and I doubt he ever will be.”
Cessa gave a wry smile. Then, she frowned. She felt as though she had heard those words before, not too long ago.
“I am not really worried, though.” She replied. “I’m just sad he didn’t wait for-”
“CONTACT!!” A fierce yell resounded throughout the wall cutting her short.
“Speak of the devil.” Another girl said with a grin. “To battle stations!”
The five immediately took up the bows and lined themselves on the wall. At this moment, the two soldiers from the inn also arrived, alongside an entire squad, armed with bows and arrows, carrying Cessa’s own bow with them. Cessa ignored them and walked unconcernedly towards the edge of the wall.
She glanced over and saw Draego. Over thirty soldiers appeared one after the other from the forest. Among them were several archers. However, Draego ducked and weaved, easily dodging the arrows whenever they were fired at him. He glanced back, seeing most of the soldiers had crossed the forest and were charging at him.
He looked at the village walls and stopped mid way from the walls, well within the range of the archers on the walls, but far enough away for the enemy soldiers to not be able to shoot the ones atop the walls. He raised his unsheathed blade. Both, his own soldiers as well as those on the wall knew the meaning of that action.
Arrows whistled towards him as he stood still. His body waved slightly, narrowly avoiding each of the arrows aimed at him. Then, as the soldiers reached the true range of the walls, his sword dropped. The soldiers following him let loose, aiming for the enemy soldiers who had just entered their range.
The Chase soldiers operated the ballistas and let loose at the archers who thought they were safe, just a little beyond the range of the archers atop the walls. The arrows and bolts dug into the soldiers, leaving them routed. Immediately, most of them turned to run away. At the same time, Draego moved into action.
His figure seemed to blur as he moved from one target to another, slicing them down with minimal movement. Soon enough, a score or so bodies littered on the outside of the West wall. The archers, having dealt with the attackers, quickly scanned around them for injured allies, and depleted quivers.
The reason for the pursuit was in Draego’s free hand. He was carrying the military insignia of a captain. He had ambushed and slain the captain, making a show of it at the camp to lure the rest towards the wall. This trick wouldn’t work again and again, but he didn’t need it to. There were only so many troops around them, and by whittling them down, he could eventually create an opening to seize the fort with.
Draego made a quick count of the bodies lying on the ground. twenty four. Not bad. Including the ones who were supposed to be on the lookout, there were over thirty dead again today. Losing over a fifth of one’s army in a couple of days was by no means something to celebrate. Especially when the enemy’s losses were practically negligible in comparison.
A squad of soldiers emerged from the West gate, alongside the four members of the Dragonhand Mercenary Group. Accompanying them was Cessa.
“You killed the captain?” She asked Draego. Draego nodded.
“He was asleep.” Draego replied. “They traveled through the night. Security was lax. As I predicted.”
Cessa blinked as she looked at Draego.
“You seem like a man of few words today, huh?” Cessa asked. Draego shrugged.
“I consider myself a talkative person.” He replied. Cessa let out a short laugh.
“You don’t match your personality.” She said. Draego blinked upon hearing those words. I feel like I’ve heard that before…
Unbeknownst to the two, they had already started speaking casually with each other, abandoning their current relationship as superior and subordinate. Also unbeknownst to them, Stephanie and the other Dragonhand mercenaries had also started doing so.
“I’ll gather my squads.” Cessa said. “If the enemy’s Amateur mage is dead, and the platoon itself has lost a third of their men, they’re just easy pickings for our elite squad.”
Draego gave a cursory look to his surroundings. The soldiers had finished stripping off armor and collecting weapons from the dead bodies. Of course, personal valuables and currencies had also been taken, but those would not be reported to the commanders and get pocketed instead.
There was a tacit understanding that commanders were not to ask for personal valuables, other than maybe some exceptional specimens, and that soldiers were not to try and pocket weapons and armor. Draego glanced at Cessa and turned to return to Gerud.
“No, let’s rest for now.” He said after a brief moment. Cessa frowned, not understanding his intentions.
“Mana depletion.” He said impassively. Cessa broke into laughter. Of course, since he pulled off such a ridiculous stunt, he used up a ridiculous amount of mana too. Draego walked over to the wall, and sat down right there, his back resting on the wall. His sword was held in its sheath one hand, to his left. His right hand rested over his knee and his posture was erect.
Cessa followed him, wondering what he was doing. However, in just a few moments, his breathing became deep and regular. He had apparently already fallen asleep. Seeing him like this, Cessa couldn’t help but break into a fit of giggles. She took a look around her, watching her soldiers quibble playfully about the loot they had gathered.
Their morale was high. They had won successive battles one after another as of late. The casualties too were extremely light, at just around twenty light injuries. In fact, it seemed traveling was more dangerous than the enemy, since more than half of those cases too, were shoe-bites and cuts due to the string of the bow.
Cessa turned her gaze back to Draego. The fifteen year old had a lean build, just a bit more muscular than her own. Sitting like this, with no armor on him, he made for such a defenseless figure. Yet, he already had a personal kill count of close to fifty enemy soldiers and had caused the death of another fifty indirectly.
He had taken down two Amateur mages. Well, technically he had fought one to a stalemate and assassinated the other in his sleep, but the fact that he was responsible for the death of two didn’t change. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he had single handedly turned the tables during the course of this small war.
Cessa could still remember the anxiety she was faced with that night, when she ordered her soldiers to retreat from the fort to Gerud. And she would probably never forget the frustration and despair of being able to do nothing but watch as her people slowly ran out of food and starved. That was when he came along.
A blaze that lit the night, and from the explosion, a string of wagons carrying essential supplies. It was just an ordinary fireball spell. Yet, it brightened her eyes like no spell she had ever seen used before. Since then, the battle kept turning in their favor. A platoon splitting their forces too thin, or relying too much on inadequately rested lookouts.
She knelt in front of him, gazing at his peacefully sleeping face as her soldiers dragged finally started dragging their loot back into the village. This time, the loot was just armor and weapons, and not food and other supplies they’d need. However, it was still a decent haul which would help alleviate the damage from the war. Cessa smiled as she saw Draego take deep breaths.
“Thank you. Really.” She said softly. At the same time, a net of mana spread out with Draego at the center. Sensing it, Cessa stiffened for a moment, taken aback. Then, she relaxed, just as the mana threads split several times before becoming lighter than the mana in the atmosphere. Then, the thousands of threads returned to Draego.
Another smile coated Cessa’s face as she got up. She had yet to gather the forces to strike at the enemy camp. Although the enemy had been struck back once, breaking their morale, it would be a tough battle. Especially if they didn’t prepare well beforehand. However, just as she was about to leave, Draego opened his mouth.
“You’re welcome.” He said.
Cessa, hearing his words, blushed as she turned to look back at him. Draego looked at her, with an impassive face as usual, and a trace of mischievousness in his clear red eyes.
“I-I’ll go get the soldiers ready.” Cessa said, still blushing, as she turned around and entered Gerud once again.
Draego looked at the demon noble with an impassive face, even as he expanded his mana pool. Now her hair, horns and face are all red. Draego thought to himself teasingly. Cessa had always covered her torso with platemail armor, so Draego couldn’t tell if she didn’t have wings or if she just kept them retracted.
Wings were usually a symbol of nobility, so he expected her to have a pair. At the same time, he was curious as to what they looked like. As far as he could tell, most demons had leathery wings, although some, like Harpies, had proper feathered wings. Likewise, some Suras had such wings too. That said, he didn’t even know Cessa’s race.
Draego quietly leaned back on the wall and closed his eyes, spreading out his mana net again to replenish his strained mana pool. As the threads of mana kept wrapping around the atmospheric mana and bringing it to him, he got goosebumps. His entire body tingled and he felt a refreshing chill run down his back.
Ever since he became a Class 6, his body’s natural physical abilities had skyrocketed. He could move faster, strike harder, listen closer than before. To test these senses, he wanted to cause a small ruckus in the enemy camp. However, he brought out results he himself didn’t expect. Now, as his mana finished recovering, he started another test.
He created another net of mana, and let it spread, however only in front of him, towards the West. The net spread as it covered the area between Gerud’s walls and the forest, and then started expanding well into the forest. Soon, he felt movement from the net as he realized his net had reached the enemy camp.
He noticed an absurdly large number of presences. Almost twice, if not greater, of the number that there should be. Finally, he found traces of mana on several people. It’s a counter-ambush. He realized. Luckily, the mages were Novices like him. They created their own nets as a countermeasure, but they weren’t Draego’s opponents.
Draego easily snapped off several dozens of mana threads as he reeled back his net, not allowing it to expand any further. Then, he got up and headed back into Gerud. He could feel his mana pool settling down and could tell he’d now have a bit of spare mana past his twelfth spell too. He was well into the sixth class for a Novice mage.
Once he entered the village, the first people he saw were his squad members. The four of them were gathered near the wall. As soon as they saw Draego, they rose and approached him.
“Are we going to attack the enemy camp, now?” One of the girls asked. Draego shook his head.
“That’s the plan, but not if I can help it.” He replied.
“May I know why, sir? Wouldn’t now be the perfect time since we just routed a large part of their forces?” A boy inquired further. Draego nodded.
“I spread my mana net in that direction and felt at least a hundred or so men.” Draego replied impassively. “One of the other camps probably merged with the one that was stationed here. Or, perhaps, there was another camp that was sent to reinforce that side of the village.”
“You two,” He pointed at the girls with his fingers. “Go and ask Stephanie how she is now. Ask her to report to her ladyship’s office if she can. If she can’t, inform me of it over there.”
“As for you two,” Draego turned to the boys. “Go and relay the information I just gave you to her ladyship, and tell her I request a change in our attack plans. All of you can just rest at the inn once you’re done.”
“Yes sir!” The four Dragonhand mercenaries raced off down the streets.
Draego himself started walking towards Cessa’s office. He felt that was the most likely place for her to go to after being informed of the change in plans. He would wait for both Cessa and Stephanie there.