Raquel nodded, seemingly remembering the incident.

  He moved back in his chair, arms dropping onto his lap. “He has a point, Haydon. You did seem rather desperate,” he used the man’s own words against him, “to leave the fort. Why is that? Care to explain?”

  Haydon’s eyes narrowed, shooting to Hector. The man practically cursed him without words. Though that mattered not. It wasn’t as if it was Hector’s fault that he’d abandoned people for an egg.

  “I want the truth.” Raquel’s tone dropped, noting Haydon’s reaction.

  The man turned toward the Flamelight heir and stammered. “My lord, you’ve got to believe me. Once you’d given us the mission, we went in with the best of intentions.”

  “So you admit you abandoned them?”

  “No.” Haydon turned to his companions briefly, seeking support. “We abandoned no one. Yes, the mission went awry, and we had to make a tough choice. A choice to secure the egg. The mission. The points.”

  “And so you put those above people.”

  “It’s not that we put them above people, my lord—”

  Raquel raised a brow, as if asking whether the man thought him stupid. He shifted forward, chair creaking. Haydon took a step back.

  “My lord, all I mean is simply that in such a tense situation, we’d lost sight of the other mercenary groups and were at a crossroads. We could either be overrun ourselves or force a situation where the bugs would lose us as a target.”

  “So you sacrificed us.” Meribel cracked her knuckles, a look of indignation taking over as she stepped forward.

  Hector gave her a look. The woman met it with some trepidation. After all, they still believed him to be a Core Formation elder. She pulled back a little, though she mumbled something under her breath.

  Haydon, obviously not acknowledging her, continued. “And in such a situation, I was not to know that doing so would put them at risk. Everything else transpired afterwards. We brought the egg back to you. We thought them lost. And we hoped to leave.”

  “You hoped to sacrifice others to gain points.” Raquel pushed off the table, coming to his feet. “You gave up your fellows for simple monetary gain.”

  “No!”

  “Yes!”

  Haydon stammered.

  “Wymon!” Raquel’s voice cracked through the room.

  The door opened. From the other side, the lieutenant from earlier, also a Phoenix Company member, entered, red robes swaying with each step. While his hand rested on the hilt of one of the two mana armament daggers tied to his waist, Hector noted the man’s hands, which bore sagging burn wounds he remembered from the hilda festival. Beyond that, his bearing spoke of discipline. Respectful. Controlled. The usual twitching of his hands was gone.

  “My lord, how may I be of service?”

  “Take these three and watch them.”

  “But, sir.” Wymon’s tone remained respectful, though firm. “While I will not stand against you, I fear that with the insects on the horizon, my efforts should be elsewhere.”

  Hector had to agree. And even upon meeting Wymon’s gaze briefly, there was no cowardice there; he spoke a fact, and he knew it. He truly felt it was his duty to fight, not stand behind the walls watching prisoners.

  Raquel sighed. “Then bring them to some men you trust. Watch over them. We’ll mete out justice later.”

  Though some part of Hector doubted that.

  Not that he believed Raquel would simply let this go—quite the opposite. He didn’t doubt that the man would try to carry out the punishment. But whether that would happen within the trial realm remained a mystery. After all, they had to bring these men back to Sanctuary.

  And once there, nothing stopped any Blackbridge Company member from summoning a door and entering a room they owned, ultimately leaving when Raquel couldn’t find them. There were too many ways to slip away. Most involved slipping away during transit; these weren’t newbies after all.

  It was a pickle.

  Seeing no complaints, Raquel rubbed his brow. “Take them now then.”

  Wymon nodded, stepping forward. Haydon stammered, looking between his two companions, but seemingly gave up under Raquel’s reproachful glare.

  As Wymon began leading the group away, a shaken individual burst through the door.

  “My lord! My lord!” The man’s chest heaved as he gasped out the words. “From the tree line—there’s a horde. The largest we’ve seen so far.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The bugs. They’re coming.”

  Raquel’s face paled. Hector’s gaze immediately shot to the corner where the egg sat on the pedestal. The large crystal-like object glinted in the soft mana stone light.

  “They’re after the egg, sir,” Hector said as his thoughts on the matter became more certain. It wouldn’t make sense for creatures this smart to keep wasting lives otherwise. That was if they didn’t just really hate humans. “I think it’s best you give it back.”

  “But the quest—” Haydon started.

  Somehow, the man still hadn’t figured out that any chance he had of using the points gained from this would be slim to none.

  “And what would we do with this egg?” Raquel’s voice cut through. “Though I disagree with Haydon here, I don’t see a way to just simply hand it back. There’s no guarantee they’ll leave us alone even if we do.”

  Raquel’s line of thinking was correct. But Hector had seen how smart these bugs were. They wanted the egg. Perhaps they were intelligent enough to give respite once they’d secured it. Enough time for the fort to evacuate. Though Hector doubted that would stave them off long. Just enough breathing room to flee.

  Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

  “Sir, if you will trust me with it, I can guarantee we’ll at least have a window of opportunity to escape.”

  The messenger spoke up again. “My lord, we don’t have long. Please—if we could have your aid on the battlements. We need to make plans.”

  “All right.” Raquel’s gaze turned to Hector. “I’m going to trust you on this.”

  —- —- —- —-

  Hector’s boots slapped against stone as they tore through the fort’s hallways. Injured sprawled along the walls—some groaning, clutching wounds, others silent and still. Too still. The scent of blood and sweat hung thick in the enclosed space.

  Squads rushed past in the opposite direction, weapons drawn, faces grim. All of them were heading towards the wall.

  Under his arm, Hector clutched the egg. Its crystallised surface pressed against his ribs, the shell warm and pulsing with rhythmic throbs that seemed to quicken as they moved closer to the fortifications and thus the horde. Like a heartbeat. Or a beacon.

  His jaw tightened.

  “So what’s the plan exactly?” Lincoln’s voice cut through the chaos, the confusion unmistakable. He kept pace beside Hector, spear gripped tight, probably wondering why they’d even volunteered for this role.

  “I just need to get the egg to the hive.” Hector took a corner hard, shoulder brushing stone. “Once there, I think they should return to their nest. That should buy us enough time to escape.”

  “Or they’ll just kill us all outright once they have the egg, anyway.” Jodie’s tone was flat and matter-of-fact.

  The girl clearly didn’t believe in the plan. And why would she? So far, to them, these insects had seemed relentless in their assaults, attacking and killing in what appeared to be a mindless frenzy. The massacre in the field just outside the Shade Forest had been a good example of what they could do.

  But if these things were indeed as smart as Hector thought, and he believed they were, something specific had to be happening with this hive, or they were thinking in a direction he couldn’t even fathom.

  “It’ll be fine.” The words came out more confidently than he felt.

  He turned another corner and stepped into the open air.

  Chaos greeted them.

  Shouts echoed across the courtyard. Waves of men yelled for reinforcements, with someone even screaming about arrows. There was the unmistakable clash of steel on stone as weapons were distributed. Further down, boots thundered up the stairs to the battlements.

  Brick ran past, clutching a handful of talismans, making his way toward the wall. The boy’s face was pale but set with determination.

  Something in Hector’s chest tightened. It was admirable; Brick was fighting even now, after everything he’d been through in that hive...

  Hector followed, boots finding the stairs.

  “These people might be stupid for even trying to fight,” Lincoln muttered behind him. “They should figure out a way to get out through where the horde is weakest. Even if the bugs circle the fort, there has to be a weak point in the horde.”

  “That would be foolhardy,” Hector said as they climbed. “The bugs may have already accounted for that plan.”

  They summited the wall.

  Hector’s breath caught.

  On the horizon, a massive beetle-like insect towered slightly over the tree line. Probably the one they’d fought earlier.

  Its carapace gleamed darkly in the fading light, segments shifting as it moved with slow, shaking steps. At its feet, loads of large ants surged forward in seething masses. And between them—those mantis-like creatures, stalking toward the fort with bladed forearms raised.

  The sheer number of them...

  Dread settled in Hector’s gut like a stone.

  “I don’t see exactly how you’re going to get that to the hive without getting yourself killed.” Jodie stepped up beside him, eyes fixed on the approaching horde. “They might not even notice it and kill you anyway.”

  Then she slapped a hand onto his shoulder. “But I’ll be right there beside you when you go do it.” A spark of unabashed excitement gleemed with her eyes. She was smiling under that mask. “I can’t let you die if there’s something I can do after all.”

  Hector simply rolled his eyes, adjusting his own mask.

  That was a good point, though. How did he get the egg to the hive without them tearing him limb from limb? Because even attempting it seemed suicidal.

  “We could soften them up a bit,” Lincoln said, slamming the butt of his spear onto the stone. Behind them, a group of mercenaries ran past, sparing them a glance before continuing. Probably wondering how they could stand so casually while everyone else was on high alert.

  “Do you want to use [Blazing Arsenal] against them?”

  “I mean, mine’s fully on cooldown.” Jodie glanced at Hector.

  He reached for the familiar heat at the back of his mind. The talent responded—available again. Enough time had passed. He could cast another five.

  “I think we should hold off on that, though. We definitely need to clear the path, but—”

  A shout erupted behind them.

  Screaming. Panicked voices rising above the general chaos.

  “We’ve been infiltrated!”

  Hector spun.

  In a small building jutting from the side of the fort walls—the medical wing—doors exploded outward. Splinters flew. Several large worm-like insects barreled through the wreckage, bodies thick as a man’s torso, segmented and glistening. They whipped into people, crushing those too slow to dodge. Mercenaries scattered, weapons raised.

  That was where the survivors lay recovering.

  Hector’s mind raced. How had the bugs done this without them noticing? Those worms were massive, and anyone should have spotted them instantly. And they’d made no contact with any bugs during their travel back through the hive. The only creatures they’d seen when moving back to the fort were ants.

  Did they have the capability of turning into worms hiding inside people?

  His stomach turned at the thought.

  “It probably happened before.” Jodie crouched beside him, watching the creatures wreak havoc below. “During the initial attack, maybe. Or in the hive itself, but it was definitely before we found them.”

  One mercenary’s sword slammed into a worm’s tail. The creature began writhing on the floor, body contorting. Before it could reassert itself, the man slammed his foot down onto its skull, and with a wet crunch, the worm went still.

  Brutal. But effective.

  These things didn’t seem too hard to kill. So why send them to infiltrate? What was the bugs’ angle here?

  “Do you think we should leave them to it?” Lincoln’s voice came from behind.

  Something itched at the back of Hector’s mind. A warning he couldn’t quite articulate. Deal with this problem now, or it would catch them later. But the horde was also closing in. If they hit the wall before Hector could return the egg, this would all be pointless.

  His jaw clenched as the only viable option lay itself bare in his thoughts. Lincoln couldn’t do this, whilst he’d been getting better. Telltale signs that he might break were still there. Shifting eyes and a slight back step, unnoticeable to most but clear as day to Hector. After all, he’d grown up with the boy.

  “Jodie.” He turned to face her. “I’m going to ask you to stay here.”

  Her eyes narrowed behind the mask. “What? Are you insane? How the heck are you going to fight out there by yourself?” Her gaze flicked to Lincoln, scorn entering her tone. “You can’t be thinking of relying on him, are you?”

  Lincoln’s head tilted. “What the heck is that supposed to mean? I’m actually quite dependable. Haven’t you noticed?”

  “What, your little mud wall’s going to hold them off?” She gestured toward the approaching horde. “He needs someone who can actually fight.”

  Hector raised a hand, stopping them both. “Jodie, if my guess is right, the bugs have something else planned. I need you to stay here and watch over the fort. Lincoln and I will go out there and figure something out.” He met her eyes. “Trust me.”

  Jodie blinked. The fight drained from her posture. She nodded slowly. “All right. I’m going to sort everything here. And as soon as I’m sure everything’s okay, I’ll be right there.”

  Before Hector could correct her—before he could explain that she needed to stay regardless—she leapt off the wall. Her body dropped, hitting the mud below in a crouch. Then she was racing toward where the worms had emerged, claws already extending.

  Hector shook his head. Sighed.

  “All right then.” He turned to Lincoln. “You ready?”