Jackal Among Snakes

Orion stepped up a mound of roots, using several separate branches like steps of stairs until he crested the top. He looked out across the vastness of the Bloodwoods, then up, up, and up, at its towering branches far removed from the earth. He turned back and waved, shepherding people onwards.

With the signal given, Argrave’s party advanced fluidly up the mound of roots just after him. The van of the formation was Veidimen bearing large tower shields, though just as many without shields were wrapped around the core so that both front and back were protected. The core was, namely, Argrave and his closest council, with its new additions being Ganbaatar, Moriatran, and Artur. The Veidimen officers, too, were positioned to receive and deliver orders.

As they grew nearer, Orion kept his eyes on the branches high in the sky. Everyone else remained utterly silent in anticipation for his order. Just as their party began to near the first trunk of the redwoods on the edge of the forest, he called out, “Movement!”

Anneliese held her hand up. A rift opened in front of her hand, and from it spilled a silver aura that seemed like a cut in the sky. In truth, it was a mana ripple. The queen completed her A-rank spell. A staff started to crystallize in her hands, spreading out up and down—intricate and elaborate, it looked like it was made of amethyst glass. Eventually, the top of the staff blossomed outwards into a great covering, shielding their entire party. The spell was called [Amaranthine Sunshade]—an A-rank ward. She held the staff and ward up above like a torch, shielding them all as they marched into the Bloodwoods.

It was not one second too late, either. The arrows fired by the wood elves high in their tree came in a unified swell, each arrow released within half a second of the other. With both the power of their bows and the gravity pressing down behind them, the synchronized arrows slammed into her spell with intense power. The spell held firm, though it sounded as though a giant gong had been struck. Anneliese seemed to feel no impact in her arm as the arrows sagged off the [Amaranthine Sunshade] like raindrops. Far up in the branches, numerous deep horns echoed, loud enough it seemed to permeate the entire forest. As they did, Orion sprinted away deeper into the heart of things.

“They blew the horns,” Ganbaatar told Argrave as they bounded over a root. “Every elf in half a mile is obligated by threat of death to join into a Tumen to resist us. More than that, the noise—”

“Is meant to summon every living predator within half a mile should they fail,” finished Argrave. “Just walk.”

The next wave of arrows pounded upon Anneliese’s mobile ward. The magic only chipped slightly from the numerous impacts, shading all those under it very well. The needlelike leaves and sometimes branches of the giant redwood sprinkled down as hordes of wood elves travelled up above to make their formation. Still, their party was able to press onwards for a time.

But then, the obstacle that had stalled King Felipe III’s army revealed itself—though perhaps the term ‘revealed’ was deceptive. Between the trees, hair-thin wires stronger than steel and sharp enough to rend bone and flesh both barely glinted from the faint sunlight pouring through the trees. They were fainter even than spiderwebs, and far deadlier.

Rather than mechanical, the wires were magical. They had three points they were attached to something solid—two to hold them taut, and another between the two to create high tension. When touched, the tension-generating binding would be released, and the wire would spring into action. They could cut a dozen fully armored knights in half in the span of milliseconds.

But they had a fatal failing.

Ganbaatar said, pointing to a spot on the tree as

was repeated by the officers, and the Veidimen morphed to

upside down and snapped. A faint purple light, no more discernable than a fire’s ember, danced from under the sunshade where he’d snapped. It travelled through the air whimsically… yet when it reached its target, it expanded outwards into the pre-completed matrix. A roaring explosion of fire rocked the redwood tree. That was Moriatran’s A-rank ascension: [Spell Storage],

wires still needed tension to be effective. By dislodging only one of three stakes, a wire

difficult. The master enchanter had the least trouble of them all, suspending his body

down upon the ward, too, as spellcasters joined the archers in defense from the treetops. That proved considerably more effective in damaging the amethyst shield… but in reality, it was a bigger boon to them

the wood elves, now. They descended down the trees like rappelers in vast quantities, forming their Tumen—their unit of ten thousand. Their tactics and organization reminded Argrave of the Veidimen’s efficiency, and his next steps fell heavier than the last in light of

raised her left hand up and cast the same spell as in her right hand, [Amaranthine Sunshade]. As it finished, she dispelled the ward, flawlessly transitioning between the two to let not even a single arrow fall upon them. They marched, marched, and

of metal audible even above the din of power pounding over their head. It was a few arrows that struck home at first… then hundreds, thousands. They soon faced

way!”

spellcaster held out both hands to the side. His body came alive with light, and a red mana ripple spread out from his right hand.

bulk of the Tumen, from which many wood elves rappelled down even now. The mana ripples

their formation of archers adapted to the lone juggernaut in their midst. In that moment, Anneliese tilted back the sunshade, revealing the front. As if closing the door behind the prince, Vasilisa finished with a final high-ranking fire spell, filling in the space

move, move!”

a time. The

it ceased. They managed to advance a great distance without receiving any projectiles at all. When their location was finally rediscovered, the assault that came was nothing compared to what

as he saw that, Artur shouted, “Move the ward

looked up. There, a wood elf clung to a tree, a teal mana ripple spread out from his hand. Anneliese moved the sunshade aside, exposing them to the open sky for the first time in a while.

though it spread out slowly enough some wind seeped past and hammered into Anneliese’s [Amaranthine Sunshade]. Her spell chipped

spell’s name—a simple, destructive writhing wind that seemed to come without an end. Seeing his attack was blocked, at the last minute the opponent redirected the spell towards a tree. The wind bore into the trunk, and as it cut

Veidimen didn’t need to be commanded, but nevertheless Argrave gave