Chương 51: Moving pieces

Everything spiraled out of Blicks control. Seriously. He was panicking because he had lost control of the spiral. He was exhausted trying to force the drops closer and closer while maintaining the spin. In his tired state he had lost control of a single drop that pushed outside of the tight circle he had held together for so long and when it broke free he focused on it which allowed one on the opposite side of the ring of drops to wobble away.

He grit his teeth in both frustration and fatigue at losing ground as all the drops pushed a little farther from the central drop. By the time he had them all back to the place he had them before he was absolutely angry. He was beginning to understand why the humans thought this task impossible. After hours of constant focus he decided to stop and try a different idea after a long break. When he finally settled the drops back down where they were not moving he opened his eyes.

It was nearly dark out and his stomach growled he looked down to see his two companions roasting some meat over a fire and climbed down.

"How did it go?" Paris asked with a concerned expression. Blick just shook his head to signal it didn't work. And she nodded a couple of times before holding out a skewered piece of meat.

"It's been a while since I ate one of these fish" Blick said as he sat down to share the meal.

"Three teams. I want the first to set up a beachhead and the other two focused on scouting the nearby area for any intelligent life. We know the other side is rocky terrain like this area, but we don't know how close the locals will be. We do not start a fight people." Hesties makes eye contact with several people from the group. Planning and negotiating took far too long with six entire kingdoms jostling for a place in the new world.

He was already getting pissed off by the two kingdoms who clearly intended to conquer and strip mine anything they could. He would not be going across this gate because of the other kingdoms protests that he didn't represent them and would clearly be in control. Politics was a pain.

"You are only authorized to use force to save your own life or those of your teammates. Am I understood?" He received a round of nods as the three teams formed up into their respective groups. Beachhead team lead the way as the group entered the gate and left the extremely nervous lord behind. Julie rested a hand on his broad shoulder and reminded him "You have to allow others the opportunity to lead. None of those people are young arrogant soldiers."

Hesties let out a deep sigh and shook his head breaking eye contact with the portal to look at his lovely Julie.

"How you became my voice of reason with all these powerful figures around is beyond me." He made the joke with a wink.

"Oh I think I k have something they don't." She responds with a slight smile. He quirks an eyebrow "and what's that?" In response she puts a hand around the back of his neck and pulls herself up into his arms for a kiss. When they release each other she reminds him.

"We need to gather our teams at the other gate. They will need some road crews and loggers to start cutting a path. The last contact I had with Versale did not go well. I think I'm being pushed out. I'm acting above my station by making decisions. They will not stand for it very much longer. I would prepare for conflict on that front. I don't know what changed but they seem to think you are maneuvering to take control of the entire area. After so many people have been lost in those woods.

They are about to point fingers." He scrunches his eyes in concentration.

"How many have they lost?" She begins walking back to their shared tent while continuing.

"They claim to have lost the entire company that chanced the grey beast after it killed the captain and fled. Some of the nobles think your men let the grey creature go after the attack and hunted down their scattered forces." He raises his eyebrows at that.

"They haven't found that whole company?" Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

"Not a single person." She confirms"The last report I had was our 3 person team went after him. Surely they will bring him in soon and clear all this up. He was only around a drop strength when he left our forces from the reports. I don't understand what the goal is but it is strange that the elite didn't find him and bring him back within the first two nights." He thinks for a while before adding.

"We will post a notice to all towns and villages to report anyone matching his description. Hopefully we can get a team out to capture him and solve all this hostility." She looks over her shoulder at him before bringing up a good point.

"Even if you hand over the grey creature they won't believe their army disappeared because of one new creature." And Hesties throws his hands up "We don't know what happened to them though. I'll order a team to go track the army down. There has to be a trail with what was it? Around 50 people running through the woods? Surely they left a trail."

"Captain Fitz, we have word from the capital." The messenger relays to the relaxed captain. It had been rather peach for a while after the chaos went down. The elite team was enough to clear out the nearby beasts on the other side of the gate and the Versale forces never came back to cause more issues.

"Yeah what is it?". The messenger clears his throat before saying.

"They are requesting him send an elite with some scouts that can track to locate the Versale forces. Apparently they have all disappeared and the Versale kingdom is calling it an act of war."

"Fucking shit it never ends. Remind me to retire when I return home. Alright I'll organize it."

The scout team with a single elite did not return. Three days later the team that came back through the camps main entrance was Dax and Paris. Everyone noticed when a team of three solid layer cultivators returned without a member. The camp was in a rumor mill uproar. When the two said nothing to anyone and went straight to the captains tent with two large hide scrolls in their arms the soldiers had questions. And when too many people have questions someone inevitably starts answering them without information.

By the time Fitz had received the report and walked out of his tent he could hear the gossip.

"The beast took a captain then beat a team alone!"

"How strong is it already?"

"The Versale army must have been killed off by it too!" Fitz smacked a hand over his face and went to find a communication scroll.

"Give me two men to cross the gate and tell the elite unit to come back here. We will need them soon I fear. Everyone start building traps along the wall." Fitz was stressed and planning for an attack by beasts he wasn't sure he could win against. With some questions answered he knew there would be so many people who didn't believe it. This situation could easily start a war when it was some new threat that nobody understood yet. He had to send a team to the capital with those maps.

And that would mean a weaker base.

"Give me all the sergeants in my tent in ten minutes." He yelled out. It was time to prepare this base for war and stage exit plans for the survivors.