Chapter 285: The Heroes Go Forth

“A double dungeon, that’s some bloody rotten fortune!” Cedric said as the group rushed to the centre of camp.

Alex quickly glanced at him. “Double dungeon?”

“Aye, two o’ them right on top of each other! The bloody monsters from each dungeon start workin’ together in all sorts o’ nasty ways! They get harder to predict: lots o’ surprises nobody needs.”

“And more surprises from the enemy, means more dead allies,” Hart said.

Alex exchanged a look with Isolde.

He was praying to The Traveller that his friends’ team wasn’t the one that had found the dungeons. But if it was, he wanted to get to them without wasting any time.

The expedition members gathered in front of the command tent like a mustering army while Professor Jules hovered ten feet above them. She had the look of a general calling her army to war as she clutched a message in her left hand, while conjuring the illusion of a map with her right: the large map could be seen by everyone gathered, even from the back of the crowd.

Alex made his way to the front as wizards and familiars parted when they saw Claygon and the Heroes approaching. All eyes were on the three newcomers.

“What’re they going to do?” One of Professor Jules’ grad students whispered to another who was near Alex.

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

Alex could barely think about the Heroes, his mind was on his friends.

“Come on…come on…” he muttered, watching the map closely as a cold sweat crept over his skin. He chewed his lower lip.

Professor Jules waved a hand. “Two of our surveying teams discovered the dungeons. They were well hidden in the south of Greymoor.”

“Which teams found them?” someone asked.

Alex held his breath.

“Teams eight and five,” Professor Jules said.

Alex and Isolde gasped at the same time.

Those were Alex and Tyris’ teams.

“Shit,” he swore out loud, drawing Cedric’s attention.

“What’s the matter? Is that-”

“What’s the status of the teams?” Alex interrupted, desperate for information. “Are they in a fight? Are they-”

“The message states that they have not engaged the dungeons as of yet,” Jules said. “They are currently on standby. And remember, they are capable combatants, Mr. Roth, do try to keep yourself together. Clear heads are needed.”

He flushed red. “Right.”

Professor Jules gave him a small sympathetic smile before she moved on. “We have to assemble a team immediately to reinforce teams five and eight. Some of our other surveyor-teams have been advised to converge on the dungeons’ locations for added support. Once everyone is assembled there, then the investigation can commence and—if the odds look favourable—our goal will be to destroy the two dungeons concurrently. This is an unexpected find, but handling the element of surprise is what many of you train for, so prepare yourselves as we must move quickly. I will need several volunteers to join the reinforceme-”

Alex and Isolde’s hands shot up as one.

“-ah yes, Mr. Roth, Lady von Anmut, of course you would be the first to volunteer. And…oh?”

She was looking past Alex, and directly at the three Heroes.

Cedric and Hart had their hands raised, and Drestra’s joined theirs a blink later.

“Well, if’n you got room in this ‘strike team-” Cedric said.

He twirled his spear then set it on his shoulder.

“-why don’t we tear these bloody dungeons down together? We’re supposed to be workin’ in partnership, aye? Be bloody bad way to start if’n we jus’ sit here while your people fight our fight.”

Relief rushed through Alex.

The Heroes’ strength and experience with dungeons would be more than welcomed. A little part of him was even thinking that if they saw his skill with magic and in combat: it could only help to throw them off his scent. But, what mattered most right now, was his friends. The Heroes specialised in tearing dungeons apart, so having them along should mean a quicker end to the Ravener’s monsters they’d be facing, and a better chance for his friends and everyone else involved.

“If you are volunteering, then I will welcome your aid, Professor Jules said. “Anyone else?”

Several more hands were raised, then Jules organised everyone quickly and efficiently, assigning several Watchers of Roal to the team.

“Combat isn’t my greatest strength, and I confess that freely. Afterall, not everyone can be Baelin,” she smiled, seemingly trying to take some of the tension from the air. “So I shall remain here. If questions arise, then Watcher Shaw will be in charge. I expect you all to work collaboratively.”

There was a low, harsh sound from somewhere in the crowd, like someone snorted but tried to muffle it. Hart Redfletcher was turning away from Jules, an unreadable expression on his face. Few people caught it.

“Everyone, get your equipment ready,” Jules said. “Pay close attention to your leader, it’s time to fly.”

###

The hills of Greymoor rushed past as the reinforcements flew through the sky. Cool air nipped at them through their cloaks and the scent of rotting bog drifted high in the air.

Steel-grey clouds hid the sun, casting everything it touched in a grim light, and the group was quiet as they moved along. Alex flew between Isolde and Claygon, with the golem flying upright—his lower arms were crossed behind his back—as Alex had directed him to do in the Barrens of Kravernus.

His upper arms and palms pointed straight forward, the fire-gems ready to blast incoming attackers the moment they were needed. It was a good tactical body position to have Claygon assume. Plus, he looked really, really intimidating.

Isolde’s expression was bleak as she nervously thumbed the dagger on her belt. The flying Watchers were the picture of self-assurance, with the stern Watcher Shaw moving with speed at the head of the group.

Then, there were the Heroes…

Despite Cedric’s earlier bravado and the fact that they didn’t hesitate to join the fight, a surprising tension had slipped into them. When Alex and his friends were set to go into battle, they were always cautious and watchful for enemies, but they’d only stop talking to each other when they approached an opponent. Before the time came for quiet, they’d be coversing: discussing plans or tactics, exchanging information, and encouraging one another.

Each battle saw their camaraderie and trust in each other grow. Each fight they fought together showed them how to support each other, and they’d taken that knowledge with them into subsequent battles.

But he wasn’t seeing that with the Heroes. Instead of camaraderie, it was like he was watching three people who shared nothing in common. It felt like he was looking at people who were complete strangers to one another. Maybe even three strangers who didn’t particularly like each other.

He studied their body language carefully, trying to pick up on cues, both subtle and not so subtle. Cedric’s face looked relaxed, but there was a tension in his shoulders as he flew toward the dungeons. His eyes scanned their surroundings constantly, but he also kept glancing back at the other two Heroes like he was reassuring himself they were still in the formation.

It almost looked like he was keeping an eye on them more than the folks he’d just met. He didn’t even seem to be showing as much concern about the potential for enemies to be lurking in the hills below.

‘I know you’re supposed to be the leader,’ Alex thought. ‘But…the point of having strong allies is to not have to constantly look after them. I mean…they should be able to handle themselves.’

He took a look at the Champion.

‘Hart’s body language still looks chaotic: it still feels like he has scores of people packed inside all working together,’ Alex thought.

His face though, it looked absolutely elated with an excitement that Alex had seen in Grimloch…a lot. The Champion looked like he was almost salivating thinking about the fight they were heading toward.

That wasn't really surprising, from what Alex had already observed about him.

But there was more to his body language now: a characteristic both he and Cedric shared. They looked uncomfortable flying, like they weren’t used to it. It wasn’t that they were struggling to manoeuvre—the spell made flight easy to control—but there was an awkwardness in the way they held themselves.

They kept looking down like they were confirming that the ground wasn’t getting closer, or that they weren’t about to plummet into it. The pair reminded Alex of the first time he and his little family had boarded Lucia’s sky-gondola back when they’d first arrived in Generasi: flying was something scary, dangerous and seemed almost impossible at the time.

Hart and Cedric looked like that now.

‘But that’s strange…’ Alex thought. ‘It doesn’t look like they’re used to flying, but Drestra cast flight magic on herself before we left. She looked comfortable with it: which means they’ve had access to flight magic for a while. And Cedric can use magic, because he has the Mark of the Chosen…so she could have taught him the flight spell. So why aren’t they used to flying? Why wouldn’t she have cast it on them in a  battle? And actually…”

His eyes narrowed, remembering their final preparations before leaving camp.

‘…she didn’t even offer to cast flight or any other spells over them…neither did Cedric. There was almost no cooperation there. What the hell was going on with the three of them?’

Baelin would not have been pleased.

One of the most important things Alex had learned in the Art of the Wizard in Combat was the importance of teamwork: wizards were dangerous on their own, but they were even deadlier when they were working together as a unit. Even warriors without mana got a hell of a lot more dangerous with a wizard’s enhancement magic boosting their abilities.

He’d seen that time and time again.

Why weren’t they putting enhancement spells on Hart?

‘They didn’t even discuss a plan, or the battle they were heading into. They didn’t encourage each other either,’ he thought. ‘But…why wouldn’t they be cooperating? Are they just stupid?’

He shook his head.

‘No, I don’t think that’s it. They didn’t seem particularly dumb when we were talking. So then…’

His mind turned to Minervus, someone who hadn’t shown any comraderie in combat situations…or in other parts of his life, from what Alex could tell. Trust was an issue there: he and any teammates he worked with didn’t show a lot of trust in each other, and so when it was time for battle, things tended to fall apart.

In combat, having trust in one’s allies was key.

That’s why Alex’s group hadn’t wanted to add anyone they hadn’t fought alongside before to their team for the Grand Battle: trust and cohesion would have been lost.

‘But why is there this lack of trust with the Heroes?’ he wondered. ‘They’ve been fighting together for over a year, what’s been going on?’

He looked at Drestra, examining her body language, searching for clues. It struck him how different hers was from Hart’s and Cedric’s: her posture was straight and smooth, her eyes pointed forward confidently. She was clearly someone used to flying. If anything, she looked a bit more confident in the air than the experienced wizards around her did.

‘Maybe she learned flight magic early on,’ Alex thought. ‘Or…maybe something's not quite what it looks to be. But…there’s definitely something going on there.’

Drestra’s body language was odd. Very odd. Alex had studied the body language of a lot of humanoids so far, but he’d never seen another person move like her. The difference was subtle. Quite subtle. He probably wouldn’t have noticed anything without having spent so much time using the Mark to observe folk: but, it was like her movements…stuttered.

One moment she’d be moving normally, then—for a split-second—there’d be an instant of near complete stillness. Then she’d move again like nothing happened.

‘Wait, that’s familiar,’ he thought. ‘I’ve seen that before. Was it Grimloch? No. Nua-Oge? No. Lagor? Kyba-’

His mind froze.

No, it was Harmless. Drestra moved like a crocodile: smooth motions broken by moments of predatory stillness. Alex remembered her eyes. Reptile’s eyes.

Wait…was she human? Another humanoid race? Or…was she something else? He thought back to a spell Professor Hak had talked about: Warp Flesh. How it changed the flesh. The mana vampires came back to him: how they would shift their form to blend in with their prey.

Shapeshifting. A powerful magic.

Was she some sort of shapeshifter? Or was she just from a race Alex had never encountered before? What was-

“Look alive!” Watcher Shaw barked from the front of the group. “We’re getting near the location! Protective spells and enhancement spells up! The teams weren’t supposed to engage the enemy, but things could have changed. We don’t know what we’re flying into.”

Alex pulled his attention away from Drestra, making sure to cast his defensive spells, conjure six Wizard’s Hands and two forceballs, slowly and carefully, in full view of the other Heroes. He wanted them to see him using spellcraft. Next, he drank a sensory enhancement potion and an enhanced agility one. He kept his haste potion for when they encountered a threat, then he summoned a pair of Aervespertillos, and two fire elemental beetle swarms.

Suddenly, Hart called out. “Fire column ahead! Something’s happening!”

Alex peered in the direction Hart pointed.

Ahead and to the right, a bright orange spray was shooting into the sky like a fountain. He’d recognise Vesuvius’ eruption anywhere. His jaw clenched.

“Let’s go!” Watcher Shaw roared, increasing speed.

Alex shot after him, pulling into line with Isolde and Claygon…and Cedric, Hart and Drestra. For the first time in this cycle, the Chosen, the Champion, the Sage, and finally the Fool, flew into battle together.