Eventually, Stephanie nudged Wolfe’s shoulder, drawing his attention to a low dust cloud to their East.
They were the last unit on the eastern flank of the Morgana Coven lines, and the position had previously been overrun, so Wolfe didn’t have high hopes that these new arrivals were friendly.
More likely, they were monsters attracted to the light of the fires, but to his shock, [Detect Hidden] showed it to be a cavalry unit.
Mounted men on horses, with armour and banners. That didn’t mean they were friendly, just alive and most likely humans or Witches.
“I hate to bring bad news, but we have incoming. Riding horses for some reason and coming in fast.” Wolfe informed the others as they meditated.
They were all exhausted, but Wolfe had most of his mana back now, so they could at least mount a defence if it was a group of bandits.
As they got closer, Reiko’s smile brightened. “That’s the banner of the Sylvan Coven. Their capital city is southeast of where we are now. They must have come to help when they saw the smoke from the fight.”
When they were close enough for a detailed inspection, Wolfe realized that there were no mounted men, per se. The entire force was female and dressed in matching uniforms that he suspected were created by standardized armour amulets.
“This is politics, so you’re up, Reiko. They’ll likely be nicer to a Coven leader’s daughter than a random demon they’ve never met before.” Mary insisted, volunteering their ranking member for the job.
ƥαṇdαηθνε|
The army slowed as they reached the scattered bodies of the undead and dismounted to walk their mounts so they could spear all the intact bodies through the head with their swords.
A woman in her early twenties wearing ornate armour, actual physical armour with many defensive spells engraved into it, came forward to greet them from the middle of the pack.
“Morgana Coven? Where is your army, and why did they leave only students behind? In fact, why are there students here at all? I can still sense the Academy wards on you.” She asked.
“We are the army. Everyone else was dead or gone when we arrived here. The defence force drafted three-fifths of the academy students for the front lines. We were supposed to be deployed at a fully staffed camp, so they didn’t send Guardians with us.” Reiko explained.
“And you are?” The leader of the cavalry force asked.
“Reiko Morgan, youngest daughter of Council Leader Morgan. This is my team and their Familiars.”
The Woman frowned but nodded. “I am Lieutenant Priya, well-met student Morgan. I see you all formed a power-sharing agreement with the Demon. Impressive foresight, if you ask me, and not a bad call if you’re trying to survive. Is there a way through the trenches? It’s getting late, and nobody moves at night out here in the Frozen Wastes.”
“To the south at the road. We have some supplies if you need them.” Reiko offered.
“Rice and Beans? I’ll pass. When did the antler beasts die?”
“Two days back. They are all frozen solid now, but the undead didn’t get near them.” Wolfe informed them.
“We will clean up as much as we can before the weather gets warm again. How much of the old camp is still there, and how many did you lose in this battle?” Lieutenant Priya asked.
“Most of the tents are still there under the snow, just flattened, and there was a damaged bus with food, but we patched the roof when we arrived.
We didn’t lose anyone today. There seriously wasn’t anyone here when we arrived. The bus just dropped us off, and we assumed that they were in hiding or something.
The bus came under attack when it entered the trees that the antlered beasts came from, though, so I’m not sure if anyone even knows we need reinforcements.” Reiko explained patiently.
“I see. We will radio back to the main line and see what they want to do. For the next few days, we will run patrols from this location if you don’t object, young miss camp Commander.”
It was clear that answering to the authority of this group of freshmen students amused the professional soldier, but she wasn’t causing trouble. At least, not yet, so Reiko just waved a welcoming hand toward the demolished clearing and let the soldiers spread out to do their thing.
The first rider to enter the camp made a fast loop of the perimeter and threw down spears at regular intervals. Once they made a full ring, the few actual Witches in the Sylvan Coven force activated them, blanketing the area in a protective ward.
“It prevents most things from detecting us and repels undead. The barrier isn’t perfect, but it makes the camp a lot safer. We can give you a military spellbook if you want to learn the basic spells.” The Lieutenant offered.
“We would appreciate it. One semester at the academy didn’t really cover much of anything except not dying on our first day.” Reiko chuckled.
“Are things that bad in Morgana Coven?” She asked, looking at Wolfe. Common logic dictated that demons can’t lie, so he was the right person to ask.
“I have no idea. Everything seemed normal, and we went on a resource mission after exams, only to be collected early by the defence force for the draft. Three-fifths of all students were sent.”
“Why so many? Did they really need tens of thousands of extra Guardians to hold the line?” Lieutenant Priya asked.
“Tens of thousands? They only sent four per Witch, plus some reserves. Not like your force with fifty to every Witch. Beth here is the only one our team got, and she was grabbed during a police raid the morning before the draft.”
With every word, the soldiers around them got more confused. Witches could buff and armour a hundred or more soldiers each, and they were valuable Nobles. Sending them alone made no sense.
“I need to have a long conversation with both our lines. Do you have a bunker?” She asked.
“It is where we are staying. Follow me, please.” Wolfe agreed.
The Lieutenant and her Sergeants followed the group back to the bunker, letting Cassie lower the barrier at the last moment and show them in before hiding the entrance again. The Witches could find it easily enough, but there was no need to advertise it to anything else that might be watching.
“Very nice. Comfortable, well defended, well provisioned. But where are the radio, the battle plans, and the enchanted map of troop positions? No, don’t answer that. This was clearly an abandoned location, and the Morgana Coven didn’t tell us they were pulling back from the flanks, so nothing was left for you to find.”
The Sylvan Coven officer seemed to be even more upset and frustrated with the situation than Wolfe, and his group were. This flank was the closest to their city, and the Morgana Coven had pulled back, leaving a huge gap in the line without informing them at all.
When you added the fact that they were sending so many witches to the line, with so few soldiers, it was clear that something was very, very wrong with the Morgana Coven military, but she decided not to inform the students of that just yet.
Soon enough, she would know what game they were playing, and then the higher-ups could deal with it before it caused a major breach and got villages overrun.