GRAVESKIES

Chapter 10

The survivors of Wrecks abandoned the tunnels and emerged to the surface a few days later. They established a new encampment close to one of the exits, halfway across the distance to the closest big city. The new camp was in the outliers of the destroyed Eastern region, right on the margin of the first surviving forest.

Ten days after the battle of Wrecks, Storyteller interrupted General Kran as he assigned soldiers to their patrols. "I've been called to report at the Capital," she told him. "I'm leaving the camp for one night. You're in charge of the place. Make sure they listen, and stay safe."

Ten days after the battle of Wrecks, the new Akan settlement was attacked.

Nobody noticed the Rakians land.

Nobody noticed the forest seemed to hold its breath. Nobody noticed the static sizzling in the air. Nobody saw it coming.

Panic struck when the soldiers from Sawyer's patrol came running for help. Strangely, they were rushing deeper into the woods from the opposite direction, away from the camp. They thunderously intersected with Ryujin's— both of their groups had been sent to scavenge the forest for any trace of the enemy. Beyond the stormy blur of worries and plans in her mind and the initial spike of adrenaline, Ryu wondered how had a small squad of Rakians infiltrated past two Akan groups on patrol.

Her team was summoned back with shouts for aid, but as the Akan soldiers ran towards the camp, fighting to keep the enemies from breaking in, Ryu stayed behind. She hadn't seen Sawyer in the brawl. She looked for him and the world seemed to quiet in expectation.

Then the sound of explosions unfurling spanned rapidly over the thick forest, all the way to her ears. Just as she bolted up to run and defend the settlement, Sawyer arrived, saying he'd been separated from the group.

"You won't believe how they snuck in here." His breath was shrill and shallow. "Closer to the camp than our own damn patrols. I noticed them cut towards the camp, and while the others ran, I hid. I wanted to search the direction they'd come from, but... I heard some rustle, some trampling in the woods, and saw beasts taking flight. Beasts like we've never seen before, Ryujin. Rakian beasts, with magic. With bodies of shapes I can't define, backs so broad you can mount them, wings three times the span of yours."

Ryu blinked blearily, struggling to keep up with his awestruck, fearful rambling. "You're saying that the attackers rode magical beasts all the way here?"

"They must have."

"That's..." Ryu paused as her expression was rinsed with surprise. "...the perfect cover-up for a stealth mission. We would've never been able to tell the difference in the dark. We just confused the beasts for spirits in the distance."

Since the group was small and they'd snuck up on the camp rather than attacking, this wouldn't be a battle, but a precise, targeted attack meant to destabilize the Akan army and prove that they were always being watched. But by whom? How could they have found their hideout so swiftly?

The answer was glaring.

Sawyer nodded deeply. "Genius, isn't it?"

"Not yet. Not if we don't let them get away with it."

So they unsheathed their blades and delved into the night.

Ryujin and Sawyer inhaled the spreading fumes even before the night sky tinted red, before the air grew hot and shimmered with tension. When they reached the camp, it already boomed into a disaster.

Rakians had torches. Had Wielders whose blood and flesh sang destruction. Had explosives. And God, did they know how to use them. Because somehow they'd been informed of the exact placements of the provision tents. Bolts of electricity pinpricked through carefully chosen targets, tearing apart the pinnacles that stabilized the Akan forces. Flashes burned sharp and precise, knifing the ink sky, piercing clean through the tents disclosing resources that would've fed the Akan survivors for weeks.