As ordered, the army spent the following day recovering in Papworth. After marching late into the evening, the soldiers required some additional rest. They men received an additional break a mere two days ago, but they deserved another one to sleep off their exhaustion. Rushing into danger unprepared could have disastrous consequences.

  Now that the humans had reached the territories where goblins were openly ravaging villages, everyone had to be on high alert. It was still unclear how many creatures roamed the woods, but the numbers must have been in the thousands.

  While no one collected exact data on the individual outposts and settlements that have been built in the duchy, multiple settlements fell each day. They were often separated by dozens of miles. The goblins had to have deployed multiple hordes operating independently, spread out all over the territory. These attacks must have taken time to prepare too, so their numbers could have been in the double digits.

  With the enemy this close, the risk of a major battle coming soon was clear. The commanders used this opportunity to reorganize their forces.

  Unfortunately the army was far too large to bring everybody together in one place. Around twenty thousand men had left Amesbury, and by now their forces had ballooned to thirty. The rest of the kingdoms knights arrived late, but joined the stream of caravans following after the advance groups. At least they helped to defend the delicate supply lines.

  Over the last week, small groups continued to pour in, catching up whenever the troops stopped to rest. The columns had extended to accommodate these new soldiers, but they still had to be split into three separate prongs to remain effective.

  Travelling through an unexplored forest with such a massive force was simply impossible. The men would get in each other’s way and packing up the camp each morning would take far too long. However, the separate groups were brought closer together for safety.

  They now operated at a distance of around ten to fifteen miles apart from each other. Roughly six hours of trekking over rough, heavily wooded terrain. If one of the prongs discovered an enemy force, they could stop and request assistance from the others before engaging. If the goblins advanced in turn, they soldiers would only need to stall for a day before help arrived. They could spend this time digging in, or retreating. With fast scouts and messengers filling in the gaps between the formations, communication was still possible.

  Such a wide formation also provided security. No one knew what the goblins had prepared, but it would be impossible to cut off every avenue of escape from the humans. Even if the goblins hid a large force in reserve that could sneak behind one of the prongs, they’d need to cover nearly thirty miles of space to prevent all escapes.

  As soon as Varre’s scouts discovered that the creatures blocked off just a single army, the others could react. They could retreat, blocking the jaws of the trap from snapping shut, and even surround the goblins in turn.

  While the main force at Papworth rested, the other two prongs repositioned themselves. They were yet to meet any enemies, but this peace would not last for long. They had to be ready. The king meanwhile, could focus on investigating the goblin leader’s strange disappearance.

  Luckily, the army contained the best magical experts in all of Logres. Court Mage Elvira, along with her two assistants, gathered up all of their equipment and proceeded towards the cave. They’d be joined by Archmage Kadmos, along with his cadre of guild wizards. Even Zarkon was curious enough to tag along.

  Varre had to agree with the old healer and decided to witness the investigation for himself. His presence was also a convenient excuse to bring most of the Royal Guards for protection. If the goblins left some sort of trap behind, there were no men better suited to deal with it.

  When the team set out into the woods, the king discovered that Sophia would assist as well. She was the Elves’ most prominent magician and had a lot of knowledge about the goblins. She had experienced a few battles against them back in her homeland, but she had even more second hand experience.

  She was the leader of her people now. At least of those who managed to escape to Logres. She had spent months alongside them, helping them cope with their defeat and talking about their trials and tribulations. She had an excellent overview of the way the goblins operated.

  “I’ve never seen one for myself, but I have heard of such commanders before,” Sophia explained as the group trekked through the forest, “the people who experienced major sieges said that the hordes are led by strange shamans, wearing skulls and wielding staffs like that.”

  Unfortunately she had not seen the goblin leader in person. She stayed behind with the rest of the Elves, on foot, traveling with the infantry. Still, Varre was certain by now that this shaman was an important leader in the enemy army. It was the first one he’d seen so far, but the creature had several thousand soldiers under his direct command and threw them away without a second thought.

  “Could he be a wizard of some kind?” the king asked, “he was using that staff after all.”

  Not every mage needed to use such tools. In fact, many of Logres’ wizards did not. But a few used them for support when casting their spells. As Elvira had once told him, combat magic was deeply personal and every one had their own way of dealing with it. Some preferred to use tools, while others opted for hands alone.

  “I am not sure,” Sophia admitted, “none of the shamans seemed to contribute much in combat. They stayed back. However, I know they are more resilient when it comes to our charms. Their mental defenses are stronger.”

  “What about other types of spells?” Varre asked, “you must have tried something besides hypnosis, right?”

  “Our magic is different from yours,” the elf explained, “we try to direct people and work alongside natural forces. Not senselessly push against them.”

  Elvira seemed to take offense to that. “You can’t argue we aren’t effective. Our spells crushed two thousand goblins within minutes.”

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  “You’re right,” Sophia smiled, “I cannot. In fact, I think we could learn a thing or two from you. But this is not what we focus on during our schooling.”

  Varre raised an eyebrow. “Are your wizards uninterested in fighting?”

  “It’s not that,” the elf shook her head, “we’re just more mindful of the damage. Your spells may destroy armies, but what will happen when you’re not fighting goblins, but humans like you? You’ll be killing people that may become your friends someday.”

  “Most of us just don’t think like that,” Elvira countered, “why would I want to be friends with someone who’s trying to kill me?”

  “Violence only begets more violence,” Sophia frowned, “it’s a shame, but I cannot blame you for the mistakes of your ancestors. However, you should give peace a chance once the war is over.”

  “Even if you were right once, you know that our spells are useful against enemies that cannot be negotiated with,” the Court Mage noted, “they’re necessary.”

  The elf sighed. “Perhaps you are right. Perhaps it was my people who were mistaken in the end. But it changes little now. The truth is, we never focused on magic that hurts. That sapling has already grown and we have to live with the consequences.”

  “Then what did you focus on?” the king asked.

  “Charms are our main way of fighting,” Sophia explained, “we can win a battle and disarm the enemy without any bloodshed. We ensure that the conquered area remains healthy and productive afterwards, rather than wait decades for the people and nature to recover.”

  Varre brought a hand to his chin. “Won’t these conquered people hate you? It’s a nice sentiment, but if they think they lost unfairly, they will rebel.”

  “If they lost once, they’d just lose again,” the elf smiled, “what’s the point?”

  “Aren’t your own people losing against the goblins right now?” Jury remarked.

  That clearly stung. Sophia opened her mouth as if to answer, but then remained silent and lowered her gaze to the ground beneath her horse.

  Elvira glared at her assistant, and the girl quickly tried to recover, “I didn’t mean it like that! I’m sorry!”

  Perry rushed to help her sister. “The war is not over yet! You’re still fighting! You can still turn things around. And you’ve got us to help you now,” she tried to smile encouragingly.

  “You’re right,” the elf replied, though her expression was still deeply saddened.

  The Court Mage tried to change the subject. “What about other forms of magic? I know you’re an excellent healer.”

  “Not excellent enough,” Sophia mumbled.

  The mood had lowered, but before anyone else could attempt to cheer her up, the group had arrived at the cave. A few men were already waiting on the site. Several Royal Guards had gone ahead to secure the area, but most were regular horsemen.

  Scouts had already carefully explored the forest in the vicinity. The elves helped them comb through the woods, so there was no risk of an ambush. Still, with strange magics at work, it was best to be thorough.

  The research team dismounted and spread out around the small cave. The terrain here was rugged, so small hills, gulleys and canyons were common. This grotto was cut into the wall of one of these steeper inclines, perhaps originally dug out by some animal. Now, it was empty. Only pools of dried blood remained where the wolf riders were slain by the knights during their pursuit.

  Inside, the den was more spacious. There were a few rocks spread out over the floor, but there weren’t any major crevices or stalagmites that one could use as cover. It was unlikely that the goblin shaman could have hid in here effectively.

  Even if he managed to turn fully invisible, he’d run the risk of someone walking into him by accident. He’d need to keep moving, avoiding the knights walking through the area. A risky prospect to base an escape plan around. Even if the guards weren’t running over every piece of stone with a fine toothed comb, the goblin was too confident in his choice of action.

  The mages got to work quickly. Perry and Jury unpacked the tools they brought with them and began to hand them out to their more experienced peers. Most of the guild wizards didn’t bring too much equipment on this campaign, but the Court Mage had to be ready to perform complicated research anywhere.

  Everyone received a different device. Elvira picked up a large pair of goggles and put them over her head, looking at the cave through colored lenses. Zarkon picked up a strange wand and began dragging it along the grotto’s walls. A few others received sophisticated torches, or telescopes. One mage even received a tool that he attached to his nose.

  Kadmos though, was the first to have discovered something. “Over here!” he called out, removing a golden monocle from his face, “take a look!”

  The wizards all rushed over to the back of the cave and crowded around him.

  The archmage put the monocle back on and closed the other eye. “look at this,” he waved his finger through empty space, “there was a great release of aura right here.”

  Zarkon brought his wand closer and the tip began to change color. “Yes, still a couple hundred merlins, of residuals.”

  Elvira flipped a few levers on her goggles and the lenses changed color. “Considering the time, we’re probably talking about multiple kilomerlins here?”

  Varre had absolutely no idea how any of the devices worked, but the mages all began to examine the evidence discovered and excitedly discussed the measurements. Apparently, the results were fascinating.

  “There is absolutely no way that a single goblin could have generated phenomena on such a scale,” Kadmos said with a wild smile.

  “I concur,” a witch holding a wide brimmed hat beneath her arm nodded, “it must have been aided by an exceptionally powerful human mage. Dare I say Langognean? Ha! As if those fools could have done this. Maybe a Miroti.”

  “How do you know it was a human,” the king asked stepping forward into the crowd to get a look at the evidence himself. Without any specialized tool, the wall looked exactly the same as every other bit of stone to him.

  “I suppose it could have been an elf,” the witch shrugged, giving Sophia a look, “but I doubt it, your majesty. I’ve seen her people at work. They wouldn’t collaborate with such a hated enemy.”

  The elf woman shot back a weak smile, but it was clear that Perry’s words still kept her down.

  “And you’re absolutely certain that the goblin couldn’t have done it alone?” Varre insisted.

  The archmage nodded. “If these creatures had magic this powerful, they wouldn’t have let us slaughter them by the hundreds. We’d have seen their spells on the battlefield already. No, their strength always lay in their numbers and cruelty, not sophisticated mystical arts.”

  “They could increase their capacity with Adriatic crystals,” Perry suggested and immediately shirked back on herself. The highest ranked experts in the entire realm all turned to her and considered her words for a moment.

  Zarkon shot her an angry look instead. “Even if so, they wouldn’t be able to control it such amounts of aura. They’d need…” he paused and examined the wall with his wand one more time, “what’s the width on the aurasphere again?”

  “Six feet,” one of the wizards replied, then squinted at the strange orb he held in his arm, “wait… this is strange. Why is the reading this consistent? The needle should be vibrating.”

  “They must have used an artifact to control the spell!” Kadmos realized and pushed everyone aside to examine the sphere for himself, “but such accuracy is impossible. Especially for a goblin. Where’d they get something like this?”

  All of the mages rushed closer to take a look for themselves. All whispered excitedly, occasionally returning to the wall to check something else with one of the other tools.

  Varre instead pulled Elvira off to the side. “So? What does all of this mean?”

  She grinned back at him with eyes shining with excitement. “Maybe your theory wasn’t so off after all, your majesty. That shaman definitely used a powerful spell here. Strong enough to teleport something,” she put on the goggles again to check one more, just to be sure the others weren’t mistaken, “and with the residual aura so stable… maybe even himself!”

  Now, the enemy will have to focus on defense.

  Now I can use the term freely! Woohoo!

  Calling him leader, or 'that probably important goblin guy' was getting slightly tedious...