Dawn

Dawn crashed through a thicket and then down a small ravine. Behind her, she could hear the yelling of their pursuers as the lumbering boars plowed through the underbrush.

"Come back here, doggy doggy," someone yelled.

Frostsheen jumped halfway down the ravine before continuing her sprint.

"Don't stop, but stay closely together," she yelled at them as Cobble joined them from the side.

Dawn did just that. They had tried to sneak their way out, but the boarkin had keen noses and found them quickly. At first, they had had no problems evading them, but enemy augmenters had soon joined the chase.

A whistling noise made Dawn dash behind a tree. Not a second too early, as bark and pieces of the wood beneath exploded from the impact site. More stones came flying from enemy slings, boring into the ground, trees, and everything else.

Dawn rushed out of her hiding place the moment she felt like the barrage was over and nearly got tagged by a stone lagging behind its kin.

"Past that scorched tree and up the ravine," Frostsheen yelled and took the lead. The huntress was significantly faster than her two young accomplices, who in turn were more nimble than the heavy-set boars.

If it were just a straight-up chase, then the wolves would have little doubt that they could slip away, but new enemies had appeared to their sides multiple times, forcing them to divert course, allowing their immediate pursuers to close the gap once more.

Frostsheen reached the top of the ravine first, just to curse and bank right.

A figure appeared on the ridge of the ravine and yelled while whirling his sling," Run you mutts, RUN!"

He was laughing loudly as he stood there and watched Cobble and Dawn follow their leader.

Did they draw us in? Why are there so many of them around when there were so few before? Dawn thought frantically while trying to make out where they were even going. She had lost her sense of direction a while ago. Nothing seemed familiar to her, so her only choice was to hope that Frostsheen knew where she was going and not just running around randomly.

"They are closing in," Dawn yelled while listening to the cracking of wood and crunching of leaves.

"We are too far from the border!" Frostsheen growled back. "We need to lose them, or we will be running in zig zags until we drop from exhaustion."

"We should fight! I won't die gasping for air and unable to move!" Dawn replied fiercely.

"Don't be an idiot," Frostsheen snapped.

Dawn held her immediate response back and focused on running.

"I can slow them down," Cobble suddenly interjected. He was faring the worst of the three of them.

"We are not leaving you behind!" Dawn objected.

"Why would I stay behind? I am not suicidal," Cobble huffed and somehow managed a sly smile. Dawn nearly didn't catch it while jumping over an especially inconveniently placed fallen tree.

"What's the plan?" Frostsheen asked.

"That part you probably won't like," Cobble said with a crooked grin.

A couple of minutes later, Dawn was lying in the stream they had followed on their way into the boar's territory. It was freezing, and the only thing that kept her from death was her mana burning high.

This plan is crazy, Dawn thought while peering up the shore. It dropped down a little, and in summer, it would have been a great hiding spot with a lot of vegetation, but right now, there was only the snow and a sheet of ice that covered a part of the stream to prevent anyone from seeing her in the water

Frostsheen hid closer to the shore to blend into the snow with her white cloak and fur, while Cobble did the exact opposite. His fur was dark, so he kept as far away from the ice and snow as possible. Dawn only hoped that he wouldn't freeze or drown before he could do his part of the plan.

Dawn breathed slowly and fired her mana a little more. There is no way they won't find us. They just have to follow our trail, and when they lose it here, they will easily see the mana we are burning.

She had told the others what she thought of the plan, but Frostsheen had chosen to believe in Cobble's abilities and then invoked her authority when Dawn had protested.

"Without trust in the wolf hunting at your side, the pack is nothing," the huntress had snapped at her before shoving her in the direction of the river mid-run.

Those thoughts and memories slipped through her nerves when the first boarkin crashed through the treeline and came to a halt close to the shore.

"Their trail ends here," one of them said.

"I can't catch their scent after this point either," another added.

"They might have jumped in the stream?" the first one suggested.

"No, prints are going downstream."

"You idiot, there are also prints coming from upstream. Where do you think the wolves came from?"

They continued to bicker among themselves, but Dawn concentrated on the low mumbling from behind her. She couldn't turn around to see Cobble cast his magic.

The touch of his mana was cold when it went past Dawn; death always was. She couldn't see the mana that went up to infect the boars. The curse would be doomed to fail if one could pick them up so easily. They just had to hope that Cobble was subtle enough that the boarkin warriors wouldn't notice either.

Cobble wasn't done, though, and a few moments later, a quiet voice came from downstream. It was barely audible but also strangely easy to pick out.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

One of the boars roared and turned toward the sound. "They aren't trying to go back anymore. They are trying to reach the great river!"

"I told you that the prints downstream are it!"

"They allied with the humans," another one added, enraged. "They are trying to escape through the kingdom!"

The boarkin began running downriver while blowing a horn.

Dawn didn't move for another minute until Frostsheen rose from the snow. "Let's go," she said simply and began wading through the water to the other side of the stream.

"I can't believe that worked," Dawn said quietly.

"Make them anxious and impatient and then give them an obvious clue to grab onto," Cobble replied with a grin.

"We need to move fast now. They will soon realize that we are not going downstream, and we will have to put a lot of distance between us and them by then," Frostsheen told them while pulling a shivering Cobble up the stream bank.

Their clothing was soaked and heavy. They took them off and squeezed out all the water they were able to before putting them back on.

"I wish I had brought a change of clothes," Cobble complained.

"Stoke your spirit, young ones," Frostsheen instructed them, and Dawn let her mana burn brightly. The cold got pushed back, and her limbs began to move more easily. Cobble didn't look so great, but they had no choice; they had to run.

Roorgen

Roorgen stood next to a stream. It was four meters across and barely deep enough to fully submerge yourself anywhere but the middle. He could still smell the faint smell of the dogs that his men had stirred up in the forest. It was barely conceivable in the cold air if you didn't follow their exact path, but it did end here.

"Where are they?" Roorgen asked one of the boarkin waiting around.

The boarkin stepped forward. He looked small next to his chieftain. "We are not sure, boss. A unit said it followed them downstream toward the great river, and many followed, but they failed to find a sign of them. We couldn't find any sign of them in the forest either."

"What about across the stream?" Roorgen asked while studying the water.

"They would have left marks in the snow if they had jumped over, but we found nothing."

Roorgen thought about that for a while. He knew the wolves, their prideful ways, but despite their pride, they never hesitated to flee or employ sneaky tactics.

"They wouldn't jump. Too obvious. No. They waded through the water," he announced.

"The water? That's a good way to freeze to death," the boar replied while studying the other side of the stream. "Should we follow them?"

"No," Roorgen said and turned away from the water. "They don't matter. Call our men back. It is time to march."

Geron

Rows and rows of tents rose in the land between Reen and its outer defenses. The camp showed the typical red and black of House Rowan, but more would be added soon.

It was a joint winter maneuver of the southern duchy, with every county adding some of its troops to the spectacle. Some had already reached them, the smaller camp a kilometer to the west of the Reen Army Camp, showing the colors of House Wallsten and some of the smaller nobles.

Geron didn't pay the rising tents any attention, though, and rather stared into the distance.

"Everything alright, Lord Commander?" Samuel asked from beside him. The young lord had unsurprisingly achieved the mana-blade level about two months ago and had joined the ranks of House Rowan's knights, but he had still insisted on remaining as Geron's adjutant.

"Yes, don't mind me," Geron said while tearing his gaze away from the horizon toward the gathered.

This maneuver was the first major test for the new Reen army and had drawn a lot of attention from their neighbors, evident through Theden Wallsten's presence, even though his troops would follow in the next days, and the announced visit from Lord Grim.

Theden had joined their effort early on his father's command, and Lord Grim probably would have too if he weren't so busy cleaning up his own county and mimicking the mountain clearing effort that Reen had done years ago.

"The speed at which your units can construct and tear down their camp is quite impressive," Theden noted while watching the camp. "They shame my own, I am a little disappointed to say."

"Don't be, milord," Geron replied. "It is all about logistics and training. If this maneuver proves the superiority of the new systems, then I am sure Praanen's armies will quickly catch up."

"If it were my decision, we would have immediately started on that," Theden nodded.

"It is easier to justify the amount of costs and outraged people of the advantage such a reform will produce if someone else has already proven the effect," Samuel said absentmindedly. The young knight was scribbling in a small notebook while watching their troops' busy activities.

"They are doing quite well with the weight, don't you think?" Irem Stanes noted. The former commander of the city watch of Reen had been moved out of that position to become one of the two generals of the new Reen Army. The other one was High Castellan Pluke, who held the overall military command of the Emall forces, and was too busy in Emall to attend this affair.

Geron himself had taken on the title Lord Commander of the Army, a title that he had protested against due to not being nobility and not really wanting to be indicated to be. His protests had fallen on deaf ears, and Michael had finally convinced him that the 'Lord' only meant that he was a person of higher authority rather than a noble.

"They do indeed. I am still a little on the fence about having each soldier carry so many supplies, but I guess we will see how battle-ready they will still be at the end of each march," Theden said.

The army had marched around the city for a couple of hours before they were allowed to set up camp.

Geron nodded in agreement. Speed of deployment was one of the most important aspects that their new doctrines focused on, only trumped by logistics. One bottleneck in that goal had been the baggage train of supplies and camp equipment.

They would get around supply wagons; a man simply couldn't carry arms, armor, and enough supplies for a campaign, but they could reduce the number of wagons. The soldiers were mainly packing around gear needed for camp construction with their own. This had the unexpected effect that camp construction and deconstruction went a lot faster without having to unpack and repack the wagons with the needed supplies every time.

This had then led the military engineers, Michael, Solon, and Samuel, to focus on the entire process of camp construction to make it as efficient as possible, while at the same time improving the overall quality of the nighttime camps and how much every single soldier would have to carry with him.

This maneuver would be the first large-scale test for that as well.

"You will have to relay our thanks to Duke Wallsten for providing such a large host, Lord Theden," Geron addressed the heir of House Wallsten.

House Wallsten's two hundred men would be joined by a hundred men out of Grent and the house guards of many of the remaining southern noble houses as a comparison army. They would move separately, camp separately, and engage in maneuvers against each other to see how a typical feudal army, comprising hosts from different Houses, would compare with the centralized military of Reen.

This entire endeavor would be quite expensive, but Michael had been happy to oblige when Samuel and Geron had come up with the idea.

"I will. But this isn't completely selfless. In the spirit of what young Samuel has said, it is easier to push reforms when you can show the effectiveness to your own people," Theden replied.

The lords and military officers began discussing various details of the previous march and the structure of the camp while Geron's mind began to drift off again. His gaze turned away from the army and eastward. Their scouting reports from their north-eastern border worried him. The Boarclan had been unusually active close to the Fimbra, but they never crossed it or even lingered too long.

"Commander?" Samuel asked in a hushed voice while the rest continued their discussion.

"Something feels wrong, Samuel. I have a feeling that something is happening," Geron replied without turning. "Like we are missing something."

Samuel followed his gaze eastward. "What do you wish to do?"

Geron considered for a moment. There really wasn't much danger in the east right now. Their maneuver would be held in the northern parts of the county, which meant that if something happened at the border, they would have not one but two armies at the ready to respond. Looking at it logically, there was very little to be concerned about, but still, for some reason, he was.

"Send a message along the eastern border and down to the trading post to increase patrols for the next month. It is probably nothing but my paranoia, but it serves to be careful," he finally said.

His adjutant nodded and quickly wrote down an order before leaving the gathering. Geron stayed and tried to find the source of his unease without much success.

"What is going on over there?" he mumbled to himself.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.