The Heroes of The Elemental Academies Book 3 The Tides of War

Chapter 19 Listening to the Wind

Rylee
"You three go assist in the construction of the second medical tent," Rylee ordered. The battle had been much harder on the agents than she had anticipated.

"Lady Rylee, do you want us to chase that red one?" Charles asked as he walked up beside her. She glanced over at him and noticed the solemn look on his face. They had both seen the fight just now. Even with the display of quickness shown by Seth, the demon had looked unperturbed, amused even.

"No, we need to tend to the wounded." She was thankful that Charles had made it through the fight. His armor was covered in small dings and there was a cut down the side of his face, but other than that he looked fine.

"I'm glad you are okay Charles," She stated. She hoped he didn't hear the brief softness in her voice.

She glanced over at him and caught his smirk before it could rapidly disappear from his face.

"Of course Lady Rylee I'm quite hard to kill." She ignored his comment and turned to head in the direction she saw Seth run to after the fight had ended.

She arrived at where Seth's group was resting most of which were leaning on their sword Seth himself was bleeding from a wound on his left arm but he didn't seem to notice. Aisha was the first to notice her arrival. Aisha stood as straight as she could as if preparing to salute but she quickly waved this off.

"No need for formal stuff right now we are all exhausted." She scanned the group only seeing minor cuts and bruises. It was a small blessing. But it wasn't one she was going to get to enjoy. In the immediate area she spotted to dead agents eyes glazed and blood still leaking into the grass. Without saying another word she walked over to the closest one. It was a face she recognized. She had scouted this young man herself she reached down to close the eyelids of the young man. The pit in her stomach widened as she saw many more of the recruits she had just gathered laying about on the field of battle. I sigh escaped her. She felt a hand on her shoulder but she already knew who it was. Seth looked at her his eyebrows scrunched together in a cute expression of worry. She shook her head, now was not the time to be thinking about such things. They had work to do.

It took them about two hours to clear the battlefield and organize a cart to take the bodies back to the academy. But after that they got everyone together and were moving again trying to get as far into the Land of Durindal as they could before nightfall. Rylee constantly looked for a place they could set up their permanent base.

The sun had almost set when they found a small cove with a small river running next to it. It was incredibly well hidden. Rylee, Charles and Seth scanned the area but Rylee felt something was pulling her to this place. On the right and back side a cliff towered over the area, and on the left across a small crystal clear river thick trees blocked her eyesight from further exploration. There was only one way out of the cove. Rylee wheeled her horse to a stop at the top of the cliff overlooking the area.

"This is it," She stated aloud. She couldn't explain it but an invisible force was pulling her towards the place. She very much believed in her instincts as they had saved her multiple times but this was different. Something soft and quiet spoke in her mind, but she heard it more like a loudly than a roaring lion.

"This is it, you'll be safe here," the voice said. Then all at once the voice and the feeling disappeared. She felt their eyes on her even before she looked.

"What!? Why Rylee!?" Seth protested in his usual over the top fashion. "You know this is a terrible strategic spot right? No clear line of sight not even the high ground. Sure it has clean water which is a plus but other than being hidden it has nothing." Charles cleared his throat.

"Milady you know I hate to agree with the boy, but in this instance I believe he may be right."

"See I told... Hey!! What's that supposed to mean." Rylee didn't say anything at first and continued to scan the area until she was sure.

Then she turned. "I know your misgivings but you also know I wouldn't do anything to intentionally harm our contingent, I got a feeling about this place... Just trust me." Seth went to step forward but Charles put his arm out blocking him. He stared at her long enough for her to become uncomfortable. She shifted uncomfortably under his piercing gaze but matched him with a stare of her own.

Finally he relented looking away from her. "I'm sure she would do nothing to harm us. Besides she's in charge let's trust her." Seth looked like he still wanted to say something but he ultimately turned away mumbling something about needing a watch tower. Rylee turned back to face the clearing that they were going to be staying at.

"Charles let everyone know that we are here and have the builders guild come to me for assignments. We've got a fortress to construct."

SETH

The ground groaned as a pillar of compacted stone was extended from it at an angle. It conjoined seamlessly with the wall of quartz that was already sticking out of the ground. Seth stepped back wiping his brow as he did. They had spent most of the afternoon putting up walls around the base. They originally weren't going to use any special material but it seemed this place had a larger deposit of a quartz like material. The walls were going up at a faster rate than expected. The sun had long ago been hidden by the sea of trees but now the purple hues in the sky were replacing the orange and red signifying that night was falling.

He turned to the members of his squad that were laboring beside him. They had all replaced their armor with a plain white t shirt and jogging pants. It was standard casual wear for most agents as wearing things like pants tended to restrict their movement far too much. Seth himself had opted to wear a light blue polo and black jogging shorts his had a darker blue light jacket thrown over it. The only reason he had different clothes was because he had brought his own clothes with him.

His squad had been extraordinarily quiet since the battle with the demons. Which made sense because they it had been their first real battle where they had seen so many other agents die. They had seen other agents get injured during skirmishes but never die outright. Aisha and Justin were resting with their hands on their knees. Since they weren't Earth agents they had to dig the trenches and latrines. It wasn't a pleasant job but since portable toilets weren't a thing when you marched to war it was necessary. He could see the exhaustion in their eyes.
Karta's eyebrows were scrunched together as if he were deep in thought. Every once in a while he would curse under his breath just loud enough that Seth was able to hear him.
Seth leaned on the wall he had just created. Many thought came to him. He couldn't just leave them be. They had been through something almost no one from their age in the normal world would ever even have to think about. But did he even have the right to talk to them? He wasn't spent therapist. He didn't know what he could say that would help them. Seth absentmindedly toed a rock at his feet rolling around and around in his thought. Finally he made a decision, he stood up and looked to the rest of the group. " Alright that's enough work," he announced. Aisha cocked her head to the side confusion darkening her already dark skin.
"What do you mean we haven't been told to stop yet." He sighed and shooed away her protest. "This was something he needed to do for them," he decided.
"Come follow me all of you! We are going for a walk."