Fortress Al-Mir

“Gleeful Burg has four primary storehouses and several smaller, secondary storehouses. Two of the main storehouses are within the inner keep walls. Evestani has set up anti-scrying warding within the walls of the keep.” Arkk took a breath, looking around at his assembled team. “Unfortunately, that means it is too risky to teleport inside.”

Arkk had yet to see evidence but Vezta was quite confident that teleportation rituals could be warded against. Generally in such a way that the one trying to teleport would end up more of a mess to clean up than a person. If anyone had access to that kind of magic, it would be an avatar of the Heart of Gold who seemed a little more in tune with the god than either of the other two avatars Arkk had seen.

“The smaller storehouses are already being taken care of. I have lesser servants poised to consume everything within on my signal.”

“That tactic won’t work on the larger storehouses?” Dakka asked, standing at the head of one of the four groups.

Dakka led a team of black-armored orcs. The ones she had been working with and training with the most. Since opening the portal, they had been guarding the other side. Now, he needed them here. Some of the fresher recruits were keeping an eye on the Underworld as Arkk had deemed it slightly less of a hostile posting.

The Protectors were still watching the portal but none had moved within a certain range of it, giving it plenty of space.

Four gorgon joined Dakka’s group, providing long-range support and the ability to petrify anyone too troublesome to deal with directly.

“The larger storehouses are under heavy guard. Lesser servants are weak to the point where one would lose a one-on-one fight against a goblin. Burrowing up from underneath the storehouses might be able to do a bit of damage but they would be discovered and the guard would be doubled. We need to do this in one decisive strike.”

“Question,” Kia said, raising a hand. “While I appreciate the trust you have in our skills…” She paused to motion back to the supply caravan strike team. They were team two in this operation. “I’m not quite sure how we’re going to destroy a warehouse full of food with swords.”

“You won’t,” Arkk said. Reaching under the table he stood in front of, he hefted up a large clay jar. It stood about as high as his knees and weighed as much as a young pig. “Agnete, Zullie, and I whipped this up over the last three days. It is… a bomb, effectively.”

More than one of those watching took a respectful step backward.

“This one is empty,” Arkk said with a small smile. “Real ones contain an alchemical solution known as liquid fire, a ritual array scribed into the walls and lid, and a glowstone to power the array. Do not try to open them,” he said, emphasizing the words as much as possible. A small metal clamp around the rim kept the lid on but it was always best to make sure they knew. “Not unless you can survive an inferno raging around you that most common magics can’t extinguish.”

Despite his assurances that the jar was empty, the entire group looked like they very much wished this little speech was taking place in a much larger room.

“They work by rotating the lid until the arrow notch lines up with the notch in the rim of the jar. At that point, you have five minutes to get away before everything goes up in flames. They cannot be turned off once activated—by design—and they will go off if the jars are cracked or otherwise destroyed. However, they are fairly hardy. You’ll find it hard to accidentally break them. Probably avoid dropping them,” Arkk added.

“Oh good,” Joanne said. She was one of the former members of the Order of the Claymore and the current leader of the third task force. “Try not to drop the bomb while wandering into the stronghold of an army.”

“Ideally, none of you will actively engage in combat of any kind. You sneak in, you plant the jars, and you get back to the teleport points before anyone knows you were there.”

“Ideally,” Joanne said, sounding like she was trying to hold back a more scathing statement. “I was with the Claymores for five years. Spent about seven years before that in various smaller companies. I’ve seen how badly things go to shit in ideal scenarios. So what’s the realistic outcome here?”

Arkk pressed his lips together, looking around the room. Several of the newer recruits behind Joanne nodded their heads. A lot of them weren’t all that happy with the Duke situation. He could almost see their second thoughts about sticking around. Then again, even Dakka was looking a little nervous.

With good reason. An army of nearly ten thousand stood inside Gleeful Burg. If something went wrong…

When something went wrong…

“Realistically, I’m expecting at least two of the storehouses to survive unscathed. Your lives take priority. If you encounter unexpected resistance or even an odd complication that looks difficult to resolve, you are to abort at once and escape to the nearest teleport point.” Arkk turned back to the large map hanging on the wall. One sketched from scrying on the burg. He pointed out the eight violet circles spread across the city. “We’ve identified several possible ingress points, which will also serve as your egress points. Memorize them, please.”

“I gotta question too,” Lexa said, holding her hand in the air. Her fingertips barely made it up to anyone else’s chest. Her group wasn’t so much a group as it was just her and Agnete. A stealth expert and… well, Agnete. They were headed to the deepest, largest storehouse. “You keep saying ‘you’. Are you not coming this time?”

“No. Vesta and I will be staying behind. I was getting to that—”

Joanne clearly didn’t like that. “The strongest spellcaster and the monster aren’t supporting us?”

“I didn’t say that,” Arkk said, holding up a hand to forestall any further complaints. “When you all joined Company Al-Mir, you may recall that you entered into a magical contract. One that allows me to detect when you’re in trouble. I will be using that extensively and actively during this operation. Vezta can scribe a ritual circle as complicated as a teleportation circle in an instant as long as she knows the location. Together, we should be able to reinforce or extract any group that needs help.” He paused, looking around. The explanation mollified most of the worried looks. “Obviously, we cannot be everywhere at once. Try to avoid needing our help if at all possible.

“If you need an escape and cannot get to one of the indicated points,” Arkk said, pointing at the map. “Find a place to hide. We’ll get you out. There are a lot of abandoned or otherwise uninhabited buildings in the burg. If you cannot find a place to hide, we’ll likely ambush whoever has you pinned and fight until you can extract yourselves or find a place to lie low, at which point we go back to the main teleport junction outside the city and reexamine the needs of the situation.”

Arkk clasped his hands behind his back, moving back and forth in front of the groups. “Some of you have a lot of experience in mercenary companies. I respect that. However, if you’re new and haven’t fought with Company Al-Mir before, know that we do things a little differently. Teleportation and scrying,” he said, popping a crystal ball into his hand as he held it out, “change the game. We appear suddenly, hit hard, and get out. Minimal danger to us. Maximum damage to the opponent. This operation is no different.”

“It has been an effective tactic on those supply caravans,” Kia said with a grin. In the three days that Arkk had been planning this operation, her strike team had taken out another two caravans. “Wish we had even one of those back in Raven’s Claw.”

“Uh…” Lexa shifted from foot to foot. “You said you can’t teleport into the keep.”

“Correct,” Arkk said. He looked from Lexa and Agnete to Dakka’s group. “Your two groups won’t have direct support while inside the keep. Dakka, your group will be in charge of storehouse three.” He pointed at the map. “It is right on the keep wall. You will be tunneling up from underneath with a lesser servant, planting the bomb, and then escaping as quickly as you can. Minimal time inside the keep.”

Dakka’s lips curled, baring her tusks. It wasn’t a hostile look directed at Arkk, more of just a reaction to the dangerous assignment. “Understood,” she said.

There was a possibility that the stone of the keep would be warded like that of the Duke’s manor. Arkk hoped not. Otherwise, Dakka’s group would be on a rather short excursion. He didn’t have a backup plan for getting around that kind of warding without Agnete to burn the enchantments away.

“Lexa, Agnete. You two are taking warehouse four. The one deep inside the keep. It’s also the largest storehouse, making it the highest priority target.”

“Just us,” Lexa said with a grimace even as Agnete simply nodded her head.

“You won’t need to carry bombs with Agnete. A small team, especially one with your abilities, is better than sending in a full force. With your magic, Lexa, you’ll be able to slip away a whole lot easier if things go wrong. But yes, you won’t have support for the majority of your part of the operation.”

Lexa twisted her little mouth into a frown before her eyes gleamed. “I want double pay for coming back alive.”

“Double?” Arkk said, tapping a finger on his chin as if thinking it over. “Well, if you insist—”

“I do.”

“I had been considering triple pay for everyone. But I can do double for you instead.”

“Wait… no—”

“Joanne. Your team has warehouse two. It sits right on the river that runs through the burg. Tunneling into it may prove problematic because of that. Not wanting to alert the enemy, I haven’t tested just yet. You’ll either be going in through teleport point one or six, depending on whether or not it can be tunneled into.”

“Can’t your monsters just eat the ground and dump it all into the river?” the mercenary asked.

“I did consider that. The river has a frozen layer of ice covering it, unfortunately, thick enough that unless I tunnel through that, all the stores will just sit on top ready for reclamation. I’ll have better information as we near the operation time, so make plans for either point. Or, if you have better ideas, let me know.” Arkk turned to the last group. “Kia, Claire. Your strike team will be taking warehouse one. Its location isn’t particularly tricky but it is heavily guarded. Expect a fight.”

Arkk took in a breath, looking over the assembled groups. “The scrying team is available to answer questions on enemy forces and city layout if you need more information. Memorize the map and, especially, the teleport points. Come up with plans that suit your teams’ skills. You have until tomorrow evening at sundown.” He paused, sending the crystal ball back to the scrying room. “Come to me if you have more questions. If you think certain people will be useful to your groups and they aren’t required for essential operations elsewhere, come to me with those requests as well.

“With Kia and Claire’s strikes on their supply lines, this should lock the Evestani army in place and keep them from traipsing about the Duchy at will. It will be dangerous. But it will save a whole lot of people.” Especially with Olatt’an and Ilya evacuating nearby villages. “It also buys time. Zullie is working on a solution for the army and a weakened army will be much easier to deal with.”

He looked around one last time, pausing long enough for any additional questions. When nobody spoke up, he nodded his head. “Let’s show these invaders why it was a mistake to set foot into the Duchy.”

Claire drew back her bow, held it for a beat of her heart, and let the string go. The light twang of the bowstring paled in comparison to the gurgling cry of a storehouse guard. The guard next to him turned, opening his mouth to shout. His entire form turned to gray stone, silencing his alarm before it could begin. The momentum of his turn kept the statue moving. It wobbled and fell, shattering against the ground.

Grin spreading across her face, Claire loosed another arrow. It jammed straight through the gap between another man’s hauberk and helmet, puncturing his throat as he turned to see what the commotion was about.

Kia and one of the orcs—Claire hadn’t memorized their names—ambushed another pair of soldiers who stood around the outside of the storehouse on the opposite corner. Their fight was a little noisier, not as smooth as Claire’s, but the orcs had strength to spare. The orc, using a pick-like weapon, jammed it straight through a guard’s helmet while Kia carved a man’s head from his shoulders. Another orc and gorgon were fighting behind Kia. The initial arrow had been their signal to go.

It was… a little disappointing. Their ambush had been too successful. Too easy. Even if someone had shouted, it was entirely probable that nobody would have come to investigate. A massive inferno licked at the clouds on the other side of the burg. One of the other teams had either burned their target or dropped their clay pot.

Either way, with everyone staring off in the distance and soldiers leaving their posts to rush toward it, their job had been disappointing.

The moment that thought crossed Claire’s mind, a massive rumble shook the ground. Another billowing inferno stretched to the sky, this one much closer. Inside the burg’s keep, which probably meant the orc’s team. Theirs was supposed to be the easiest of the four, even if they had to get into the keep to get it done.

Either way, a grin spread across Claire’s face as her ears twitched. She nocked another arrow. One towering inferno at a storehouse was an accident. Two? That was a pattern. People would investigate and…

Claire loosed an arrow just as a pair of boots rounded the corner of the storehouse.

The guard rounding the corner was just a bit taller than she expected. The arrow struck him square in the chest, knocking him back a step but not puncturing through his plate armor. While he stumbled back, another guard stepped around the corner with a crossbow already raised.

The gorgon at her side slithered in front of her, taking the bolt against the metal pauldron on its shoulder. The gorgon reared back and spat a globule of caustic venom. Claire could hear it sizzling through the air before it landed straight on the guard’s helmet. Some of it must have splashed through his eyeholes. He promptly started screeching, dropping his crossbow to claw at his helmet.

Claire eyed the gorgon with mild envy even as she leaned around it, loosing another arrow into the first guard properly this time.

“Incoming!” Kia shouted from behind.

Glancing back, Claire frowned. Two orcs were carrying one of the heavy pots between them as Kia, an orc, and another gorgon defended. Claire loosed an arrow over her partner’s shoulder. It might have grazed her ear but it slammed straight into the eye socket of a man with a golden tabard. Kia didn’t even look back, immediately taking the unexpected opportunity to bring her sword down on a pike before it could hit her orc companion.

“Our sside,” the gorgon next to Claire said, making her whip her head back around.

Three guards had learned from their fallen comrades. They rounded the corner with shields raised. Pikes poked out from between the shields, leveled at Claire and her gorgon. The one in the center lowered his shield just enough to catch a glimpse.

That was enough to turn him to stone. He fell forward, tripping the man on his right as he shattered. The short stumble provided all the opportunity Claire needed to unleash another arrow.

She wanted to ask the gorgon if it could turn the petrified pieces back to normal… just to see what it looked like.

The gorgon slithered after the arrow Claire unleashed, contorting its flexible body around the one steady pike to wrap the guard in a crushing embrace. Metal deformed as the embrace tightened. The guard within tried to scream but quickly focused on just trying to breathe. An endeavor he wasn’t quite successful with. The gorgon released the crumpled armor and broken limbs, letting it clatter to the ground as it returned to Claire’s side.

“We need to go, now!” Kia shouted from the opposite side of the storehouse. “They’re trickling in but we’ll get overwhelmed once more real— No!”

The two orcs who had been carrying the clay pot into the storehouse stepped outside. A soldier at the far end of the street, nowhere close to Kia or Claire, raised his crossbow at the same time. Claire nocked and loosed, but not before the man pulled the trigger. The bolt sailed toward the orcs. One got a shield up and the other dove toward Claire. The bolt careened past both.

Claire’s sharp ears heard the distinct sound of a clay pot shattering inside the warehouse.

Eyes widening, she threw herself to the ground. Heat and fire erupted from the mouth of the warehouse. A shockwave rippled over her, knocking the gorgon back further. The shockwave passed but the air still rushed overhead. The heat felt like being in the same room as that flame witch.

Raising her head, Claire scowled. A constant stream of fire rushed down the streets, igniting homes and houses in its way. She could see people—regular people, not guards or soldiers—fleeing from the buildings. Citizens of Gleeful Burg? Or noncombatants from Evestani?

A child collapsed further down the road, flames licking at the back of his clothes.

Claire didn’t even blink. Arkk would have known about them. He had been the one scrying on the city. If they were civilians, they were just necessary sacrifices to ensure the Evestani army stopped here.

Her attentions were drawn to the orc that had dived out of the way. His back was on fire even as he crawled forward, away from the rushing flames of the storehouse.

“Petrify him,” Claire said as the gorgon got back to its… feet? It didn’t have feet.

The gorgon stared, not arguing. A moment later, the orc stilled. The flames burned a few moments longer, perhaps taking out his gambeson, before they died out as well. There was no way she would be able to carry a stone orc. She doubted the gorgon could either, not even if they worked together. Kia and her part of the team were cut off. Hopefully still alive but on the other side of the flames.

“We need to find our own escape,” Claire said, looking around, remembering the map. “Unpetrify him. He’ll have to walk on his own. If he can’t, we’ll offer the Light’s mercy.”

The gorgon visibly bristled at the idea of killing their own companion. The way it stiffened irritated Claire. She would expect the same in turn. Better than being caught and put through torture to find out what they knew. Snapping her fingers, she caught the gorgon’s attention.

“No time,” she said, waving a hand to the burning warehouse. “If the whole burg didn’t know we were here before, they do now. I bet we have less than two minutes before we’re overwhelmed to the point that not even Arkk can help.”

That Arkk wasn’t here now was somewhat telling. Either someone else needed help more—Kia or maybe one of the other teams—or he thought they could get out on their own. Or he had been taken out while helping someone else.

Whatever the case, that got the gorgon moving. It promptly unpetrified the orc. To the credit of the orc, he didn’t start screaming or otherwise panicking. And he was awake. The gorgon helped him to his feet, looping its lanky body under his shoulders to help support him.

Claire was already walking. There were two egress points close to this storehouse. One was cut off by the wall of flames. Kia would likely head toward that one. Claire wasn’t sure for how long the fire would burn and wasn’t willing to risk sitting around in the hopes that they would die off before the army had them surrounded.

Bow nocked but not drawn, she moved ahead of the two, keeping her eyes and ears on alert for any sign of danger.

All the while, she grinned.

The thrill of being completely surrounded. The uncertainty of their possible escape. The notion that they would be deemed expendable and left behind. This was what she lived for.

Just when she had been thinking those strike missions against supply caravans had been getting boring, Arkk went and threw her into this.

She couldn’t have asked for a better excursion.