Ascendant

The guy in charge of the ninth outpost was a reed thin man who was sweating entirely too much for the still cool spring weather. His uniform seemed to hang off his shoulders instead of fitting him, and his hands shook as he listened to Adriarc speak.

“We’ll be overrun,” he said. “There are only fifty soldiers at this outpost. The ghouls alone would be a problem, but with three wights directing them, the only way I see any of us making it out alive is by retreating now.”

“You can’t retreat!” Larian objected. “Your job is to fight ghouls. This is literally what you’re here for.”

“We don’t have an artillery squad stationed here, and I’d want twice the infantry to even consider holding a defensive position long term. Unless the three of you are hiding some skills you’d like to share, I don’t see that we have much choice.”

Both Adriarc and Larian turned to look at Nym at the same time. He blinked and took a step back. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re the endless bag of mysteries and surprises,” Larian said. “If there was ever a time to whip something out, it’d be now.”

“I don’t know any artillery spells,” Nym said. “Even if I did, how would I do the ritual by myself?”

“How should I know? Every time I turn around, you’re doing something else you shouldn’t be able to? Why are you holding out on us now?”

“I’m not holding out on you,” Nym said, getting heated. “If I had some sort of spell to kill a couple hundred ghouls at once, I’d use it!”

“No one thinks you’re a secret archmage in disguise,” Adriarc cut in. “We can’t just abandon the outpost, but Captain Lygan is correct. Reinforcements are needed to hold this outpost. Nym, if you flew as fast as possible, how quickly can you get back to forward command?”

“Ten minutes?”

The captain let out a low whistle. “Either you’re lying, or you’re about to be my new best friend.”

He started scribbling on a scrap of paper, rolled it up, and shoved it into Nym’s hands. “You get this to Mage-Commander Feldstal. We need a full squad of artillery mages. Not three or four mages. A full squad. Nothing else is going to get here fast enough to make a difference. If anyone tries to stop you, you tell them we’ve got a Code Triple White and shove past them.”

Captain Lygan ripped one of the badges off his uniform, uncaring of the torn fabric left behind. “Take this with you. It should get you through most of the security. Now go, as fast as you can. Delays are going to cost lives.”

“Yes, sir.”

Nym didn’t even bother to fly back out of the building. Instead, he scried through a wall to confirm it led to the outside, then reached out with earth shaping and tore a hole through it. Hardened air lifted him up from the ground, and he shot off into the open sky.

Nym flew faster than he ever had before, even faster than when that giant bird had attacked his friends. A month of constant use of his magic since then had honed his abilities even further. He’d said ten minutes, but he made it in seven.

He had some concerns about talking to a man named Mage-Commander Feldstal. The odds that he wasn’t about to meet Analia’s father were effectively zero. The question in Nym’s mind was whether he knew what had been happening back in his home in Abilanth. As much as he’d rather sidestep the issue completely, he didn’t think there was much of a choice. Maybe he’d get lucky and an underling would take the message out of his hands, sparing him a face-to-face meeting.

Nym landed in front of the first soldier he saw on the wall and gasped out, “Emergency message from the ninth outpost for Mage-Commander Feldstal. Code Triple White. Where do I go?”

“Triple white?” the soldier blanched. She pointed at the tower next to the main command center. “Go to that building there.”

“Thanks,” Nym said. He took a deep breath and launched himself back into the air into something that looked more like an extended leap than true flying. He landed at the front door in front of another startled soldier and held up the message and Captain’s badge. “Emergency message for Mage-Commander Feldstal. Code Triple White.”

The soldier recovered quickly and snapped out, “Come with me.”

He was led into the tower, which was structured as a hollow central core with rooms leading off from it. There were no stairs, meaning nobody got past the ground level who couldn’t fly. The outside was covered with large windows, easily big enough for an adult to jump out of. The soldier flew up into the air forty or so feet with Nym following, and opened a door set into the wall. They stepped into a room dominated by a large table with five chairs on either side of it. Mages filled all of them, and as one they turned to look at Nym and the soldier.

“Emergency, sirs. Code Triple White.”

“Another one?” one of the mages at the table snapped. “Something has changed. That’s the fourth one this week. Where at?”

“Ninth outpost,” Nym supplied. He ran forward to the table and passed off Captain Lygan’s message and badge. The mage read it quickly and passed it down the table to the woman sitting next to him. It made its way around in moments, and the mages started discussing.

“We could recall artillery squad four,” one offered.

“They’re on a rest cycle for another six hours. If we pull them back into an active combat situation, we’d be lucky to get half strength out of them. They won’t be able to stop a triple white that’s already in progress. Maybe if they had an hour or so to prepare.”

“We don’t have anything else in the area that can respond in time,” the first mage countered. “Half strength is better than nothing.”

Nym fell back to the soldier he’d followed and whispered, “Which one is Mage-Commander Feldstal?”

He’d been expecting someone who looked like Bardin, except older, maybe with a thinner head of hair or some wrinkles. None of the mages seated at the table really matched that expectation. Plus he kind of thought someone with a rank like Mage-Commander would just tell people what to do instead of arguing about the best course of action.

The soldier shook his head and whispered back, “He’s not here right now. They’ve got him overseeing some project and he’s gone with that a lot.”

“Oh,” Nym said, strangely both relieved and disappointed at the same time. Once the soldier mentioned it, he thought he recalled Bildar saying something about that. “Um… what do I do now? Are we just waiting for them to make a decision or…?”

“I would suggest getting some food and taking a break. You look dead on your feet,” the soldier said. “Unless you’ve got somewhere you need to report back to.”

“I thought I’d be going back to the outpost to help my team hold it against the outbreak. We were supposed to be doing a sweep of the area when we found the ghouls massing.”

“Freelancer, huh? You’re kind of young, aren’t you?”

“That’s what everyone says.”

“Hey, you two! What are you doing still standing here? Get out already!” one of the mages yelled at them.

“I was supposed to tell you that Captain Lygan said to-”

“Out!” the mage bellowed.

“Yes, sir!” the soldier snapped a salute and stepped backwards through the door into the air. Nym awkwardly saluted too and followed him out. He closed the door behind him and the pair stood in the air outside the room.

“Like I was saying,” the soldier continued like he hadn’t just gotten scolded, “You look like you need to hit the mess hall before you do anything else. How much arcana have you used today?”

“I don’t really keep track,” Nym said. “No one ever really told me how to measure it.”

“Get some food in you, take a few minutes to pull yourself together, and go help extract your team.”

 “I… yeah. Thanks.”

Nym left the tower behind and slowly made his way over to the mess hall. The soldier was correct in that he had pushed himself hard already today, but he worried that if he wasted time eating, by the time he made it back, it would be too late to help the duo he’d teamed up with.

It wasn’t that he felt any sort of obligation to Adriarc or Larian specifically. The man had been a decent sort, but his sister-in-law was thoroughly unpleasant. Working with them had been a chore, and they’d barely even started the job before stumbling across the disaster. But he had agreed to work with them, and Larian had trouble carrying a second person in her flight. They probably did need help.

Plus, he wasn’t actually sure if he was done with the job. They were supposed to sweep the area and kill ghouls. Was it that much different killing ghouls from the wall of the outpost? He really could use that payday. That wasn’t even considering the soldiers manning the outpost. Captain Lygan had made it seem like they would struggle on their own. Surely an extra mage would help them hold the line until reinforcements arrived.

He decided to push the decision until he got back to the outpost. Best case, he’d help Adriarc and Larian finish up the job and get paid. Worst case, he’d help them get clear. He thought about that for a second, and shook his head. He hoped the worst case was only that he was transporting some people.

* * *

The fighting had already started by the time Nym got back. The outpost walls were manned on every side, with the highest concentration repelling ghouls off the north and west walls. The soldiers were paired off, one wielding some type of spear with a crossbar to pin a ghoul, and the other holding a large axe to dismember it. There were two mages stationed with the defending soldiers, and from them Nym got his first true look at magical combat.

The one in the center of the north wall had nine blades floating around her in a circle, sword-like but with no cross-guards on them. He could see an aura of arcana around her with small tendrils connected to each blade. As a new wave of ghouls swarmed the walls, scrambling and clawing at the stone to scale it, she leaned over the wall and sent the blades flashing down to hack off limbs or decapitate her enemies.

On the west wall, a man stood between six barrels, each filled with water. As ghouls attacked, he sent water out like spears, impaling the undead and funneling more and more water into their bodies until they exploded outward. Then the water returned to the barrel to wait for the next ghoul.

There were three more mages working together over a ritual circle in the central courtyard. The spell was building up power, but slowly, so slow that whatever they were attempting, Nym wasn’t sure they’d finish it before the outpost was overrun. There were multiple spots where ghouls had reached the top of the walls in numbers and were starting to carve their way through soldiers.

If they needed time, Nym could help with that. He ripped up a chunk of earth from the ground and sent it hurtling towards a pack of ghouls forcing soldiers backwards to the point where they were in danger of falling off the back of the wall into the courtyard. Two of the ghouls were thrown backwards out of the outpost.

The earth rose up into a Nym-sized golem, which promptly leaped to the defense of the soldiers while Nym pulled up another chunk of earth. A second golem joined in the melee with a hefty supply of dirt for them to draw on to regenerate from.

One front bolstered for the moment, Nym floated over the courtyard and looked for Adriarc or Larain. Neither were on the wall, from what he could see. He looked out into the woods, wondering if they’d continued the job without him. They hadn’t wanted a third to begin with, so he wouldn’t be surprised.

Below, more ghouls poured out from under the trees to join their comrades in attacking the outpost.