Anuis Eltarianal considered herself hard to surprise. She had not lived as long as some elves, but long enough to gain varied experiences. So, she did not consider it a surprise, not quite, when Sir Owin and his group of reinforcements appeared just in time, crossing the mountains and southern lands in a matter of days if not hours, but she certainly took note of it.

  The Hive’s winged drones still proved a formidable tactical advantage. She had not previously been sure that they would allow any substantial number of fighters across the mountains, but clearly they had. Not that Owin Castaway’s group was particularly large, but he had more men than were left in her party.

  Sorting out matters of command would have to wait until he awoke, of course. She presumed he would wish to be in charge, and most of those present would back him. That would be fine. Anuis might be considered an ally by the Hive Queen and Empress, but that was at least as much on the strength of a personal relationship as political ties. Besides, she knew Sir Owin, although a Delver, would be more than capable.

  The Delvers had certainly surprised her in the last few years, anyway. At least it was a pleasant surprise.

  They’d sent their message and there was nothing immediately urgent to do. She expected the knight would take some hours to rest, and so slept for a few hours herself. She spent most of the remaining time trying to integrate the disparate remnants of Tim’s expedition with his new troops. Most of them went to sleep right away as well, clearly tired from their taxing journey. Well, if anyone had intended to try a military action right away, it would clearly have been doomed to failure. Anuis contented herself with making sure their camp was secure and their scouts alert.

  She sat on a stacked bedroll at the edge of the camp when Sir Owin finally awoke. He sat up with a groan, rubbing his eyes briefly, before looking squarely at her. “What news?”

  “No major movements from the hostile company,” she answered. “Our scouts are still watching. We’ve had no word from Lord Tim, either, although I’d expect to hear from him soon, one way or another.”

  Owin nodded. “Hopefully,” he murmured, getting up. “What are your plans, Commander?”

  “I was mainly waiting for reinforcements,” she said, a bit sardonically. “Further actions would depend on their strength, and orders. I was going to keep observing the newcomers, but remain ready to move further out if necessary.”

  He cocked his head. “I suppose you don’t care for the base?”

  “Because it’s not for my people, you mean?” She frowned. “I appreciate the trust Tim showed me by putting me in charge, and I intend to fulfill it by acting as he would wish. Of course you are right in that my role here and our people’s alliance is, let’s say, a little ambiguous for now, but Ariedel is still allied to the Starlit Hive. I realize how important this is to them and I’m ready to support them.”

  “Of course,” he dipped his head. “I wasn’t trying to question your honor, Commander Eltarianal, I apologize if I gave that impression.”

  “Think nothing of it,” she reassured him. It wasn’t a question of honor for her so much as duty, but she could admit that she hardly minded this duty. She liked Tim and this little adventure was a nice, exciting change of pace, on the whole. More importantly, she was aware that her presence and participation here was a tangible sign of the Elvish Free State’s goodwill, for an alliance with the Empress. Negotiations between the Empire and Ariedel were still ongoing, but she was sure it would result in a very close alliance, if not an outright membership in the Empire. This meant she was required to perform well here.

  "Now that you are awake, it is time to decide how to handle the situation, however,” she continued. “Do you want to press the attack?”

  Owin hesitated, furrowing his brows. “We still don’t know much about these people, correct? Attacking blindly doesn’t seem smart. We should at least wait until we’ve heard back from Tim, or know he isn’t going to be able to send a message. In the meantime, what say you we focus on scouting and finding out what they are doing in there? Perhaps send in a few of my men skilled with infiltration?”

  Anuis tried not to smile and nodded. “That strikes me as wise,” she said. “Who did you have in mind? What are their Skills? Would any of them be able to pretend to be a local?”

  For the next few minutes, they discussed various options and hashed out several plans. Unfortunately, the answer to her last question was apparently ‘probably not, if they are asked any questions’. There were humans among their troops who could pass for southerners visually, but they would not know much of what their supposed comrades might ask them, and if the enemy had any reason to be suspicious, such a ruse would quickly fall apart.

  Still, Owin decided to proceed with the idea of at least sending a few scouts and spies, and Anuis agreed. If they were discovered, it would be unfortunate, but they were also planning to move camp, and she would rather fight their enemies out in the open here instead of trying to retake the base directly. She might not be sure of their skills, but she was confident of those of her people and Owin’s, and in a chaotic, spread-out fight they would have an advantage. They still had the mobility advantage, anyhow.

  “Perhaps we should try to lure them out anyway, even if our scouting isn’t discovered,” Dustin suggested. Anuis agreed with the sentiment.

  They sent their best infiltrators to gather more information on their opponents, then returned to planning. While she remained focused on the task at hand, Anuis also took note of the other speakers and their mindset. Owin was obviously still adjusting to operating in a military capacity, although this mission in particular was hardly typical and probably more reminiscent of his days as a Delver commander. She had few qualms about him, despite everything. He had a good head on his shoulders. The others also lacked experience, but they had enough of it to be better than she’d feared. Her own party members mostly kept quiet and let her talk, which Anuis counted as a blessing.

  The Hive drones were, as always, the most disciplined. They didn’t seem to mind that none of them was currently in the highest command position. Several of them had already been sent out as scouts, using their - compared to humans' - enhanced senses of hearing, vision and smell. Anuis privately marked them all as high-value assets and knew she would need to try to keep all of them alive if a fight broke out. It was an annoying constraint on a tactical level and might strike others as unfair, but such was the way of things. She did not want to be responsible for Empress Regina losing any more children, on a personal or political level.

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  They quickly hashed out a few plans, including some contingencies, and accounted for ways of sending messages. Then it was time to move camp. She knew any other sites their scouts had found wouldn’t be as good as this one, but her instincts warned against staying in one spot for too long and they’d already spent some time here. And it really wasn’t big enough for the whole force, anyway.

  Instead, they crept through the shade of sparse trees to a position a little farther out from the base, so as to hide better. There were two connected clearings in a small forest, easily hidden from the outside, and offering a bit more room. Several of their soldiers with appropriate Abilities had already set to preparing it for the camp and drawing up the greenery around it to hide it better. Anuis could have contributed, but decided to preserve her strength and instead focused on managing the troops and planning. She would rather ensure they kept enough scouts in a proper pattern to facilitate easy communications between them.

  Which was fortunate, when they finally received the report she had been waiting for.

  “They appear to be looking for something,” one of the scouts, a human named Marcus, said. “They have been moving through the base in patrol patterns, but I have the impression they are looking for more than intruders. There was heavier traffic in some interior areas you would expect to be less guarded.”

  Anuis frowned. That was interesting. “Any hint as to what?” Owin asked.

  “No, Sir Owin. None of us found anything,” another scout replied.

  “Did you manage to confirm their numbers?” Anuis asked.

  “As we estimated,” Alvol said. “Fifty-one humans, eight golems. A unit of fifty plus their commander, I would guess, and the golems as additional muscle.”

  “Did you see the golem artificer we encountered among the group?” Anuis pressed.

  “No, Commander. Not that I saw.” He glanced at the other scouts, who shook their heads.

  “There was no one with the name you gave,” Lauris said.

  Anuis nodded, then looked at Owin. He was frowning thoughtfully.

  However, whatever he was about to say was interrupted by one of his soldiers rushing up to them. “Sir, Commander,” he panted, “the perimeter scouts sent word, there’s a single traveler approaching our location. Apparently, it’s a dark elf.”

  That relaxed some of the tension she felt. “Nucme,” she said, “Tim must have sent him as a messenger.”

  Owin glanced at her and nodded. “Please pass the word to show him here, discreetly, provided it is him.”

  The soldier ran off again and they settled down to wait. Anuis dismissed the other scouts to get some rest and then occupied her fingers with repairing the fletching of one of her arrows.

  They didn’t have to wait long until the familiar dark elf stepped into the clearing, looking exhausted. He immediately headed for her and Owin, clearly unsurprised to see the reinforcements. Anuis assumed Tim had sent him because he would attract notice in Iliucin or other cities in the south, but he would also have to rely on magic to move very fast.

  She restrained her curiosity until he had set down and been handed a waterskin. Then she glanced at Owin, who was examining the dark elf with an assessing gaze. “What news do you bring?” she asked.

  Nucme set down the waterskin and straightened up, looking like he was considering saluting but thinking better of it. From the way his ears were laid slightly back, she could tell he was not only tired, but tense and probably concerned. “We were received with honor and ceremony in Iliucin,” he reported. “Thaumaturge Zephyr was already there, having come by magical means, and made initial contact while waiting for us. The high council immediately granted us an audience, and were quite respectful of Tim — who is, in fact, ‘Prince Tim’ now. Apparently the Empress named him and a few others princes and princesses of the Empire.”

  Anuis couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. “That would be Princes and Princesses Max, Tim, Mia and Tia, I assume?”

  “I think so, yes,” Nucme confirmed. He and Owin both looked at her for a moment, and she caught a few of the others glances’ as well.

  Anuis declined to comment. Few seemed to remember that she was one of the first people who had ever met the Hive Queen (in this life) and her first drones; back when there were only the four of them. She knew they were in a category of their own in some ways, it seemed inevitable based on what they had experienced and seen together. But there were more relevant things to speak about.

  “The city welcomed you, then. Did they seem eager for an alliance?”

  Nucme shrugged slightly. “It seemed like it at first, but they didn’t want to commit, Prince Tim told me. And they may be putting on a show to mislead us. Tirias did some scouting, and found some concerning indications.” He briefly explained about empty barracks but full storehouses of uniforms and weapons.

  “So, he thinks Iliucin is behind this?” Owin asked, clasping his hands behind his back.

  Nucme nodded. “It’s at least a strong possibility, Sir Owin. And it seems likely there is more going on in this region as well. Have you found any indications that would support this theory?”

  Owin looked at Anuis, who shook her head. “Not quite,” she responded. “It seems plausible, though. If we consider travel times for a group of soldiers this size, especially if they took a circuitous route, the length of time it took them to show up might indicate they came from Iliucin rather than Iliyan. That is purely speculative, however. Do you have any notion what they might be searching for here?”

  “Searching?” the dark mage frowned. “No, not that I know of, Commander.”

  “I assume the prince has a plan?” Owin asked.

  “He does,” Nucme smiled. “I am not the only messenger he sent. For now, though, your part will be the most difficult, and he is asking another task of us, if you’re able.”

  “He has orders for us, then?”

  “Yes. There are several priorities and objectives. We need a detailed description of their outfits and weapons and an assessment of whether we can replicate them convincingly. Scouting out their movement patterns would be good, too, but I assume you’ve already done most of that? Most importantly, he told me to ask for an honest assessment; do you think you can fake an engagement with this group convincingly without risking death or capture?”

  Owin blinked and glanced at Anuis, who frowned thoughtfully. She felt she was starting to get an idea of Tim’s plan. “We should be able to,” she replied after Owin remained silent for a moment. “Is there a specific objective?”

  “Primarily, if at all possible, we are to focus on capturing one of their golems, as intact as possible. Ideally, without letting on that this is our goal.”

  “Secondary objectives?” she pressed.

  “Taking a prisoner to question, finding proof of their actual affiliation, and finding any information on their larger operations in this area,” he replied.

  “That’s quite the list,” Owin mused. “I can see why he wanted an evaluation first.” He glanced at the others, then nodded. “We will do our best to fulfill his objectives.”

  Anuis echoed the nod, agreeing with him. Trying to meet all these objectives would make the battle riskier than ‘fake engagement’ implied, but she was still confident in their ability to meet this challenge. And all of them were obviously valuable goals.

  “Do we have a timeframe?” Dustin asked.

  “He didn’t set a specific time, but we need to be done by tomorrow night at the latest.”

  That was fine; lingering here without engaging would only increase the risk of discovery, anyway. Not to mention their supply situation. “My instinct is to choose a night attack shortly before dawn,” Anuis mused, “but we may need to adjust based on other considerations.”

  “No, I agree,” Owin replied. “Let’s talk through the information we have already and get down to the details.”

  Anuis smiled. It had been quite a while since she’d been part of an operation like this; false-flag attacks weren’t much of an option when most of her time had been spent primarily fighting humans as an elven ranger. This would prove interesting, if not quite what she’d have expected for their first proper battle in the southern lands.

  She did enjoy a challenge.