“That’s it. Everyone is either inside the walls or dead.” Priya shouted as the last witches from the East side came running in, dragging their wounded behind them.
Wolfe immediately brought the barrier up all around the walls, granting the camp a level of safety from the incoming artillery shells.
“Since when did monsters and undead use cannons?” Someone shouted at the gathered officers, and Priya shook her head.
“If we were actually under attack by monsters, we would be having a much better day. That, my friends, is the signature howitzer fire of the mundane armies.
They must have herded the monster horde to us, and now that we are tired and low on mana, they have begun their attack. Our barrier will hold for a while, but that just gives them time to get in position.”
Wolfe frowned as he realized that they were effectively trapped here, between the undead and the magic-deficient human army. It was not a great place to be, and Priya’s assessment was right. His barrier wouldn’t hold forever against those artillery shells. If they had been on the attack, it would be different, but at the moment, they were exhausted and pinned down.
“Can we make a run for it when the undead begin to clear out?” An officer from the western camp suggested.
“By then, it will be too late. Their armoured vehicles will be right behind the monster tide, chasing them forward. They won’t give us the chance to escape.” Priya informed them with a grim look.
“Should we save a little and blast a hole in their ranks when they arrive? The lightning arrays should work well on metal vehicles.” Wolfe suggested.
The witches shared a sad look and nodded their heads. “It’s the best way that we have available. They will have the radio signals jammed shortly, and after that, we are on our own.”
“What are their usual terms when they attack? Do they take prisoners, or can we expect to fight to the last?” Cassie asked.
“They love taking prisoners. They’ve even got an injection that can prevent the use of aura, so they can safely keep witches contained. But you won’t love what they do to their prisoners, so our soldiers usually suicide if captured.” The leader of the eastern camp replied with a growl in her voice for the memory.
That didn’t sound promising at all. Wolfe’s mind spun with ways to get everyone away from here without having to fight their way through an unexpected army of tanks and artillery with an unknown level of technology.
“Who here has skill with illusions? I have an idea that just might be crazy enough to work. If we can trick them into thinking we are running and hide the people in the camp, they should send most of their troops past us.
We won’t have to face as many of them, and we could get away for real. I can lower the dome until the shells explode behind the wall and out of sight of their observers. That might be enough to trick them.”
“It’s a better plan than waiting to die.” Priya agreed.
“Should we ask someone with a talent for divination to foresee the outcome?” Someone asked.
“Do you think the odds will even be in the double digits? It’s better to give everyone hope.” Another officer sighed.
Wolfe internally winced at the thought of losing ninety percent of their troops in the effort to escape, but they were too isolated to really fight against an unknown enemy force that had nearly overrun them with just their initial attack tactics.
They didn’t have any more time to plan, though. A line of tanks came over the horizon at the same time that a wave of missiles came into view.
They also didn’t need to make the illusion too convincing because the first shells puffed out thick smoke, obscuring their vision while the mundane army’s heavy artillery advanced.
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The regular soldiers began to run out of the confines of the camp, fighting their way through the undead toward safety.
“Do we try to stop them?” Ella asked as most of their forces fled the barrier.
“No, we go with them. I will stay as rear guard to slow the advance.” Priya insisted.
“I will stay with you. Everyone else needs to get to safety, and I’ll use the link of the Familiar Bond to find you later.” Wolfe demanded.
The girls weren’t leaving. He was going to have to come up with a better excuse than that.
“They are looking for witches. I am not a witch, and I can disguise myself as one of their scouts. The faster you all get to safety, the faster I will find you. Now go before it’s too late.”
He could also use [Fast Travel], which came from the Familiar Bond, to get to them if he could get close enough to get in its range, so even if they hid, he would still be able to get back to them in an emergency. For the moment, it was more important that they actually got away from the advance of the mundane armies and into relative safety.
They weren’t happy about it, but they were leaving. Wolfe lowered the barrier below the walls after the first few missile strikes, letting the rest fly straight past the camp and clear a large swathe of undead for the evacuees, and then poured all the mana he could spare into his ten witches snow camo armour, which amusingly made Stephanie appear to be a huge white ball of fluff.
With luck, it would hold until they were safe, and Wolfe saw [Lightning Arrays] clearing paths for the fleeing army so they didn’t have to slow down and fight. The Servants were among the last to leave, grabbing wounded to carry with them and chasing the retreating group as fast as they could with the additional weight.
“That’s it. Everyone is out of the camp. What more can we do?” Priya asked.
Wolfe patted her on the shoulder and said the last thing she expected. “I have a plan, and I just hope that you can forgive me.”
“Hide your aura as long as you can. This is probably going to hurt.” He instructed and pulled her to a chair in the bunker. Before she could figure out what he was up to, Wolfe tore her uniform open in dozens of spots and tossed a rope on her lap to tie her to the chair.
A witch could get out of a regular rope in seconds, but if the plan worked right, she wouldn’t have to show off her powers at all.
“So I’m the prisoner, but who does that make you?” She asked, wondering how he intended to pull this off.
“I’m the mercenary who has come to rescue you. Don’t worry, I’ve got this, but you need to be roughed up for it to be believable.”
He probably couldn’t bring himself to do to one of his familiars as he did to the lieutenant, but Wolfe found that there was an artistry to the work, and you could create very convincing wounds and swelling with very minimal actual damage.
He finished his display and ran outside, then raised the barrier around the bunker and ducked inside a mostly intact building. The barrier he had erected over the camp had already fallen under the onslaught since nobody was maintaining it, but Wolfe didn’t see many bodies of witches in the rubble with [Detect Hidden], so their ploy seemed to have worked.
Moments later, the gates were breached, and a strange vehicle with a folding ramp on top created a new bridge for the enemy to enter. Once Wolfe spotted them, he changed into armour that looked like ragged civilian clothing and stepped out of the ruined building with his hands raised and empty.
“Don’t shoot. I’m human. I just want to find my sister, and we will leave.” He called out.
“What are you doing in a witch camp, and who is your sister?” A male voice over a loudspeaker responded immediately.
“We are travellers, mercenaries by trade. We were captured by the Witches here when they arrived. My sister is locked up somewhere in the camp, but your artillery damaged my cell, and I managed to get free.”
A man with a scanner in his hand ran up and checked Wolfe, then pricked his side with a metal stick and checked the colour. “Less than one-eighth witch blood and no aura detected. He’s clean.”
That device could be an issue. Priya was from Sylvan and was likely to be a full-blooded witch. Even with her aura hidden, it would tell them that much. He would just have to BS his way through the rescue.