Five days remained.

  Our camp was growing faster than ever, with volunteers pouring in from the Tundras, but the flow of recruits from the southern Goldmarch seemed to have dried up. By Arzak and Zoi’s counts, we had broken the thousand mark with our total number of soldiers, but of course it was still far from enough. With our hard deadline approaching fast, even this rate of growth wouldn’t get us there. It was something that was growing harder and harder to ignore.

  It all came to a head when the camp was attacked in the night.

  We’d been so focused on the potential of an attack from the north, that we failed to pay close enough attention to the forest. In hindsight, we should have known; we knew that great power drew creatures from the darkness. And what greater power was there—what greater power had there ever been—than the power drawn by the towers?

  Our camp had not been the greybacks’ destination. They had been travelling north, to Auricia and the towers, and it had only been coincidence that they had come across us on their journey. The number of monsters attacking Auricia at that very moment would have been far greater, but that was little comfort when we lost so many so close to the inevitable battle.

  For what it’s worth, our camp’s organisation had kept the number of losses to a minimum, and that was thanks to Arzak and Zoi’s endless attention to detail. Despite the scouts being focused on the north, they had reported the greybacks approaching with good time. We’d been able to muster our defences, to stand in formation—good practice for the battle to come—and to test our mettle.

  The bad news was that greybacks were powerful, powerful beasts. We had been preparing to fight two specific types of enemies: the legions of Goldmarch soldiers, and the soldiers of corruption. We had not been prepared to fight a half-dozen seven-legged creatures that can pivot their limbs at will, that can open their mouths anywhere they wish on their large thoraxes, and that can release venom that acts as a potent hallucinogenic drug.

  Our army fought well, and I thought that if we’d been prepared for it, we could have slain these beasts with minimal casualties. The reality of the situation, however, was that we hadn’t prepared. We’d lost a few dozen soldiers. And morale was low—the truth of the battle to come was starting to hit people.

  ‘We lost a fair few in the night,’ Zoi said.

  We were in the privacy of our command tent; none of us would have said this kind of thing aloud where someone else might hear it. In camps like these, such thoughts could spread like forest fire.

  ‘Do we know who?’ I asked.

  ‘Goldmarchers, mostly.’

  Arzak nodded thoughtfully. ‘Mm. Tundrans seen war recently. They knew what they getting into. Much harder to scare. But Goldmarchers? They used to comfort. They used to riches. Not used to seeing friends die.’

  It was a bit of a generalisation on Arzak’s part, but a pretty fair one. ‘OK. It’s a setback, but we’ll have to make do. We’ve still got more recruits trickling in, and—’

  ‘If I may say…’ Turell cut in, raising his hand hesitantly. I nodded for him to continue. ‘Situations such as these are more than just unfortunate occasions from which we simply move on. They are the symptom of something greater, and ignoring such a symptom would be to make the same mistake as many of my ancestors.

  ‘Soldiers flee on occasion, that is true, but not in such numbers. And, may I remind you, these recruits are volunteers; they have only join our camp because they truly believe in our cause. Soldiers may forsake payment to protect their own lives, but true believers? They do not rattle so easily. That so many fled means that we have a true morale problem on our hands. To ignore it would be to perpetuate it. If we do nothing, then farmore will leave tonight; I would bet a great fortune upon it.’

  The tent went quiet once more, as it often did when its inhabitants were in deep consideration. My mind moved more slowly these days, being that I was operating on so little sleep—and the frigid air didn’t do much to help. Were the others in this tent struggling in the same way? I hadn’t paid any attention to their own sleep habits, beyond Val’s, who I was making sure was getting sufficient rest.

  ‘I am inclined to agree,’ Corminar said, nodding to Turell. ‘We should redirect our camp’s thoughts from ones of death and defeat to one of victory.’

  ‘You’re saying we ride now?’ Val asked. ‘Cos I think that’s one way to ensure we all die.’ I noticed her hand on her belly.

  ‘Of course not,’ the elf replied. ‘We must do battle, yes, but against an enemy that we know we can defeat.’

  Arzak’s eyes lit up at this; it was nice to know that they could still do that.

  ‘Arzak?’ I prompted her. ‘You have an idea.’

  She nodded. ‘Mm. We kill two rockrats with one axe.’

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘We have morale problem, yes. We also have recruitment problem.’ She turned to Zoi. ‘How many more recruit from Goldmarch yesterday?’

  The tiefling riffled through a small stack of papers. ‘Twenty-four.’

  ‘And day before?’

  ‘Thirty.’

  ‘And day before that?’ Arzak asked.

  ‘Where are you going with this?’ I cut in, before we got a full day-by-day recount of our recruitment from the south.

  ‘It going down,’ the orc said. ‘Running out of people to recruit, of people who can convince. So maybe we be convincing. Maybe we help them. I find where monsters attack, and we kill monsters. We help people. We show people we heroes, and we give soldiers a win.’

  The body language of those in the tent stirred; we all sensed that this was a good idea. But they waited for me to speak. I nodded to Arzak. ‘Do it. Put out some feelers through the scouts, and through your network. Find us somewhere we can help.’

  * * *

  I kept a close eye on the sun’s low position in the winter sky. We did not have time to waste, not at the moment, and yet I knew it would take time for Arzak to work her metaphorical magicks. Until then, I could only twiddle my thumbs and watch as our soldiers’ trainings continued.

  Though Corminar had been resistant to the idea of training others at first, he’d fallen into this role nicely. He was actually a good teacher, when he wanted to be, and those who were training in Archery were coming along quickly. Of course, there was only so much they could level up in so short a time, but anything could be make-or-break in the battle to come.

  Lore, similarly, was training soldiers in the way of the greatsword. He was just the opposite to Corminar—he’d been enthusiastic to share what he knew with others, but teaching was a little outside his skillset. He wasn’t bad at it, by any means, but he didn’t show the same natural talent as Corminar. Lore often struggled to explain concepts, unable to put into words knowledge that he possessed in body and movement alone.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  I spotted Val emerging from our shared tent, apparently unable to sleep, so I strolled over to her side. ‘Everything OK?’

  ‘Everything is fine, yeah. Was just looking for you. It’s cold in there.’

  ‘Is this a ploy to get me to get some sleep?’ I asked.

  Val shrugged. ‘There’s nothing else for you to do right now. Why don’t you? You’ll be better for rest.’

  ‘What’ll the camp say if they see me sleeping?’

  ‘I dunno, probably “Oh, oops, I’m in the wrong tent.” They’re not gonna see you, Styk, and even if they did, they’ll just think your human. Like most of them.’

  I sighed. ‘Maybe now is as good a time as any.’

  Val took me by the hand and led us back towards the tent. ‘If it makes you feel any better, you can pretend you’re doing this for your pregnant wife. I really do need the warmth.’

  We settled into a tent that wasn’t really big enough for two people, and Val slotted into my arms in the usual way that we’d fallen into. She fell asleep nearly immediately, which was unlike her, whereas I just couldn’t seem to slip away from consciousness. There was still so much we needed to do. Maybe I couldn’t actively do anything right then, but I could have been planning. I could have been looking for another source of recruits, or opening up more distant portals through the Gentle Tundras, or even just helping to train those who’d joined our cause. There would never be an end to the list of tasks that needed doing, and though some might have embraced that, I couldn’t. I needed to feel us working through it at all times, because anything could prove to be the difference between success and defeat in the battle to come.

  Not that, with our low number, we stood practically any chance.

  I furrowed my brow as that thought forced its way through; I’d been doing well to fool myself about my chances of success until then. Maybe the greyback attack hadn’t just affected the rest of the camp’s morale. Maybe it had affected its leadership’s, too.

  My line of thought was interrupted by a growing disturbance in the camp outside. In my rush to see to it, to help out in some way and to quash any further spread of fear, I released Val clumsily, and woke her in the process. We emerged from the tent into the low light of the sporadic torches, and I looked around for sign of trouble.

  Not far away, perhaps only two or three rows of tents to our left, a huge figure loomed over soldiers that were cowering away from it. Only a small handful of our camp seemed to recognise the creature for what—or rather who—he was.

  ‘It’s all good, everyone!’ Val shouted to the camp. ‘It’s OK! He’s a friend, not a foe.’ To lend credibility to her words, she stood next to the recent arrival and patted him affectionately on his furry back. ‘This human man is called Reginald. Don’t be afraid of his…’ She paused, letting the sentence hang in the air for a moment. ‘...height. He’s on our side.’

  The bear smiled and waved his paw enthusiastically at our fellow soldiers. The fear that had been exacerbated by Reginald’s sudden arrival was softened some, but it was far from gone entirely. We needed others to react to him in the same way as Val. I looked around the camp, searching for a familiar face, and ended up catching Zoi’s eyes. I poked my head up to grab her attention, then waved her over.

  She approached with both eyes on the bear.

  ‘Zoi, you’ve met Reginald, haven’t you?’ I didn’t wait for the tiefling to reply before whisking my wife away and out of earshot.

  She blinked up at me, expectantly.

  ‘Val, find something for him to do. Let’s not scare the soldiers any more than we have to.’

  My wife frowned, but ultimately nodded her agreement. ‘So, buddy,’ she said, clapping Reginald on the back once more. ‘You wanna help out? We need the strongest of us to gather more firewood…’ She led him towards the edge of camp—and the old trees of this dense forest.

  Before I could turn away, Zoi grabbed me by the arm. ‘I was looking for you, actually. I was just with Arzak.’

  ‘Oh? You two still getting along?’ If Zoi hadn’t been around, I wasn’t sure that we’d still have Arzak with us. Her companionship had done a lot for the orc, to keep her going and focused on the task before us.

  ‘What? Oh! Yes. I…’ The tiefling shook her head. ‘This isn’t about that. She was looking for you. I think she might have found our quest.’