The air was heavy with anticipation as we stood in formation outside the barracks. Now outfitted in our shiny golden armor, I noticed with an internal groan that mine was different. Apart from Brin's it was of obviously higher quality. Cleaner lines, finer rune-work, better made. I suspected it was due to my Warrior Mage status, but it made me feel exposed.

"Forward march," Brin barked.

As one, we set off at a steady, orderly march across the gravel paths leading to the front of the palace. As we arrived, so did the other two Cohorts joining us. They looked identical in both number and formation. We all merged together in front of the palace. Warden Anso, Lieutenant Polvar, and a Level 34 mage I didn't recognize stood waiting.

She wasn't the daughter of the Prime. I suspected her omission was intentional, and it didn't fill me with confidence about how dangerous this was going to be.

"Welcome back, soldiers of House Garazal. Today we will be facing an ancient threat. A threat we beat once before. A threat we will beat again, with teamwork, skill, and determination."

He paused, and like clockwork, a cheer went up. It had the feeling of being rehearsed, but that was no surprise.

"When we go through, we will be joining other Union forces. The rest of today will be spent getting our bearings, running a few drills, and preparing for battle. As a recognized Field Marshal of the Union Combined Protection Force, I will be in joint command with Marshal Olein of The Cradle. Their forces will be far more diverse than ours. I implore you to remember that when we go out today, we are Union, not Archon."

There was an awkward silence at that. Warden Anso didn't look surprised, but for me it lowered my already rock bottom opinion on these people. That grown adults needed to be reminded not to be ignorant bastards was depressing.

"We will be going via Salor," Anso continued. "The Salorian Hunters have already shored up the defensive perimeter around the portal, but as the Xeo attacks have grown in strength they have had to pull back."

He turned and spoke to the mage, who began waving glowing hands.

A portal formed and the world itself seemed to hold its breath. The stillness was crushed with a bark of "FORWARD!"

Then we were off.

We entered a somber portal room that reminded me very much of the Unalaran one I'd first entered after being caught. At the other end of the hall was a portal upon a dais with a ramp built up to it.

The soldiers who had already entered were marching straight through the hall and into the next portal.

That felt like a risk. I didn't know how tough the Xeo were, but if they managed to get the jump on everyone, they could be through to Garazal's palace in a heartbeat. Straight to the center of the Union.

I would have almost certainly established a staging post here before carrying on. But who was I but a despised squire?

My heart was in my mouth as my turn to march through the next portal came, but no amount of fear would change the course of events now.

I stepped through, ignored the slight lurch, and cast my eyes on the harsh terrain of Marnis Twelve.

It reminded me of the Scottish Highlands. Rugged mountains and steep valleys as far as the eye could see.

We were about a quarter of the way up the side of a mountain, on a natural shelf that looked as though it had been worked on a long time ago to provide a rough kind of fort. The outer limit of the shelf had low walls, banked up with soil to provide easy access for the defenders. I couldn't see yet, but I imagined there was a severe drop on the other side of those walls.

Hundreds of Salorians stood atop the perimeter, looking out on the harsh land beyond and despite the solid position, my fear deepened. No one in their right mind would choose to fight in terrain like this if they didn't have to.

Sure, it would be alien to the Xeo as well, but from everything I knew of Archon forces and tactics—which mainly consisted of charging in and blinding the enemy with gold armor and lots of bright magic—I had a bad feeling about this.

We were the first soldiers here, which didn't surprise me, seeing as Warden Anso was the joint leader of the mission. Though I supposed we'd be calling him Marshal Anso for however long this took.

We were herded away from the portal to make way for more soldiers to come through. Polvar led us over while Anso spoke to the Salorians.

After a brief back and forth, he shouted over. "Lieutenant Polvar. Can we get guards on this wall, please?"

Polvar saluted. "Right away, Marshal." Then, turning back to our three Cohorts he barked out: "8th Cohort! First watch. 4th, you're on Night watch and 5th, you take the morning. Things might change, but until further orders, that's your rotation. Understand?"

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"Yes, sir," the three sergeants of each Cohort shouted out.

I heard the muttering begin around me. Cursing that we pulled night duty.

Brin turned to us, obviously just as unhappy, and pointed to a clear spot at the back of the clearing against the mountain wall we were backed up against. "Sleeping rolls and blankets only. You need to be ready to act if we're attacked, but otherwise, try and get some sleep before duty."

I followed the group, heading off to our designated spot to try and sleep—in the middle of the day, on a rocky mountain, in hostile territory with more Union forces coming through.

Positioning myself on the edge of the group, which wasn't difficult given my current popularity, I pulled out my infantry supply rod. It opened out into a massive canvas bag. I spotted the bedroll easily and pulled it out, then checked what everyone else was doing. They'd taken the commander at his word and were already laying out bedrolls.

After that was done, each and every one of them pulled out their lances and set about connecting the three parts. I inspected the lance and found each part had a thick screw section. I copied the move, happy to have a good long-range weapon ready to fight with. Magic was nice, but I still felt safer with a pointy stick.

The men started to settle down after that, chatting amongst themselves in small groups, but many were lying down and closing their eyes. They might be a bunch of arseholes, but they were clearly seasoned soldiers no matter my dislike of them.

I sat on my bag, knowing I should sleep but wanting to watch the Union troops arrive.

I had to wait as more Cohorts of golden-armored soldiers from other Archon houses marched in first. I wondered if I'd see anyone I knew from the academy. Then I laughed that off. I was pretty sure, apart from my benevolent owner, none of the other students would be sent to a deathtrap in their first military placement.

Soon the area between us and the portal had filled with bodies, and I could no longer see people coming through. I checked on the rest of the Fourth and found most of them were asleep now, or at least resting with eyes closed.

Spotting an accessible ledge behind us on the mountain wall, I snuck off to sit up there.

A voice called to me. Mean and bitter.

"Squire Henshaw. What do you think you're doing?"

It was Brin. He wasn't sleeping or even attempting to. I just hadn't noticed him before I made my move.

I looked back, considered ignoring him, but that would make me look petulant to others who didn't know the full story.

"Need to piss," I replied, then pointed to the crevasse near the ledge I was heading to. I'd already seen a number of others relieve themselves there.

His face contorted in frustration, but he couldn't argue. It was a reasonable answer.

"Hurry up and then get to sleep."

Like you could command someone to sleep.

I headed to the narrow crevasse first, pretending to piss because I figured the bastard's eyes were still on me. Then I actually pissed—because, go figure, I did need one after all. After that, I glanced back down to Brin. Seeing he was distracted, I jumped up onto the ledge and quickly found a spot out of his line of sight.

It was a risk that could land me in more trouble, but I figured it was worth getting an idea of the army I was part of, seeing as though I wasn't part of the Fourth. I had to look after myself and I wanted to know everything I could about the disposition of our troops. It might well save my life at some point.

I sat for an hour taking a moment to switch out some of the rods from the mage rod to my warrior rod. I didn't want to get caught with it, but I wanted a helping hand if the Xeo came.

I took out a couple of Flame and Water Blast amplifiers, as well as two of the Sheild enchantment rods, and then Marshal Olein came through the portal. A thick-armed Velorian, though I couldn't see his identifier. It could only have been him, as Warden Anso approached and they shook hands. I could feel the strain from where I stood.

The next group to come through made my breath catch. I didn't know why. It was stupid really. I didn't have a history of hero worship, and I didn't really know much about Aazi Stormfront. But when he stepped through the portal the whole camp went abuzz. There was no mistaking him, either. He had the same red skin and squat build as Ellaazi, but that was where the similarities ended. He was twice as muscular. Height was hard to make out, but where Ellaazi was the same height as Ressa, Aazi was a head taller than the Velorian Marshal. I guessed he was around six foot tall.

He had a bald head, a jet-black beard, and fists like hammers. Every movement crackled with purpose and soldiers nearby straightened instinctively as he strode past them toward the two Marshals.

He walked up to them like he owned the place, spitting out a glob of phlegm as he scanned Anso without deference, then began talking.

I quickly threw the attack and defense enchantments into my Infantry Rod and closed them both up, before darting off across the side of the mountain again. I was desperate to get a closer look. He was a Warrior Mage from a frowned-upon race who demanded respect wherever he went. He'd carved out a name for himself. A legend across the entire Union. If there was anyone to aspire to in the whole Union, it was Ellaazi's dad.

I moved higher, hidden by an outcropping but was so preoccupied with trying not to be seen, I almost fell into a much wider crevasse. Peering in I saw it went deep into the mountain side and that child in me wanted to explore. Thankfully the man in me acknowledged exploring cave on alien worlds was a dumb idea, so I carried on.

Picking my way back down the rough mountain side, I slid back into the camp without anyone noticing me. After all. Who was looking at a mountain wall when Ellaazi Stormfront had just showed up.

From there I weaved through the armored bodies of Grunir, Velorians and a surprising number of Unalarans until I was finally close enough to bring up the Stormfront's identifier.

I knew he was powerful, but Ellaazi had never mentioned his level, and when I read it, I shook my head and had to read it a second time. As it finally sunk in, I shuddered:

Name: Aazi Stormfront Title: General, 21st Division, UCPF. Grand Tournament Champion. Father. (Nyvren only) Level: 63 Class: Warrior/Mage

Poor Ellaazi, having to share her dad with the whole of the Nyvren race.

Once I'd fully absorbed the reality of the man, seeing his Level and the aura he carried, I suddenly felt a thousand times better about this whole mission and slipped back the way I'd come to settle down before duty.

I returned to my sleeping bag without being spotted, and settled in as best as I could, dressed in full plate armor. No matter how light and maneuverable they'd made it, it was not designed for sleeping in.

I hid the Mage rod in the folds of my sleeping bag rather than risk being caught with it, and content with what I'd transferred into my Infantry Rod and then I closed my eyes, safe in the knowledge that we had real power with us.

I began to doze and I would have made it to sleep. If not for the earsplitting shriek that tore through the air, echoed off the mountain and set my heart to racing. Whatever made that sound wasn't far away, and it wasn't alone.

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