Have you found them yet? I ask Sirocco, cursing aloud when she returns with a negative response. The party of samurans we’re hunting are not where we expected them to be based on their prior trajectory. Worse, from the reports I’ve had from those fighting the main force of samurans, that group is moving faster than before. Since losing several of their Warriors, they’ve clearly decided to use magic to help them overcome the obstacles we’ve set in their way: several Pathwalkers are now sending ripples of water, air, and plant magic through the forest ahead of them to reveal and disrupt the traps my people set for them.

  The only consolation is that the action seems to be costing them, but their use of mana potions is keeping them going. The three Pathwalkers might be weakened when it comes to attacking the village after spending so much of themselves now, but apparently Tree-whisperer deems it worth the effort.

  It’s becoming increasingly dangerous for the guerilla attacks too – the Warriors are now prepared for sudden strikes from the trees and many of them have been given quickly-Shaped wooden shields that are enough to fend off the majority of the projectiles sent their way. Worse, they seem to have plenty of health potions so unless the strike manages to kill the samuran outright, they’re usually up on their feet shortly after.

  Upon hearing Shrieks’ report that we’re starting to lose some of our fighters, I tell him to call off the guerilla attacks and retreat to the village with the majority of our forces – the point is to save our people, not send them into a futile meat-grinder.

  At least it seems that they don’t actually have a dedicated healer – not since I’m still holding Healer. That’s another reason for my order to retreat back to the village – both Healers and Tarra are there to provide care while in the forest, the chances of a samuran surviving a wound depends on if they have a healing potion with them or not.

  Still, we’ve only actually lost eleven Unevolved and a single Warrior, while managing to take down eight Warriors and even one of the Pathwalkers from the main forces. The Pathwalker was a lucky combination of her getting whipped up in the air by a trap, and a small party of guerilla fighters fortunately being close enough to be able to take her out before her protective guard managed to encircle her again. Even luckier, from how there was practically a stampede of beasts after she died, she was the Tamer who had been controlling the various creatures I’d seen with the forces.

  It was the gift that kept on giving – though most of the beasts just did their best to escape when whatever hold the Pathwalker had on them broke, some seemed keen to shed some blood on their way out. They didn’t manage to kill any of the invaders before they were killed or driven off, but the effort to fend off unexpected allies turned enemies bled them of more of their strength.

  However, that’s also when we lost our own Warrior – the fury of the other Warriors upon losing one of their precious Pathwalkers and the chaos of the the Tamer’s death had meant that one of my brave fighters had needed to offer himself up as a sacrifice to allow the rest of his party to escape. War truly shows who the heroes among us are.

  Adding those to the three Pathwalkers and seventeen Warriors my group either killed or captured means we’re making good inroads into their forces. Once we’ve mopped up the second smaller group of enemies, we can attack the main force from behind when they’re focussing on the village’s defences.

  But that requires us to take out the second smaller group of samurans first, something that will be rather difficult to do if we can’t find them. Fortunately, now that Noir has been freed up from guarding the prisoners, he’s also flying over the forest to try to find them.

  Without knowing where they are, my party has just headed for where we know they were – that way we should hopefully be closer to them when they’re spotted than we would be if we just stayed still. But I’m wondering whether to go and attack the main force – several of us would be able to get past the defences that are such a threat to the average Warrior or Unevolved; we could make a difference. But that means going back on ourselves and probably moving further away from where the smaller force has gone….

  I curse again. I hate this uncertainty. I’m no general – what am I doing commanding this number of troops? I’ve only just got confident with directing my immediate group of Bound in a battle. This kind of thing which involves fighting in multiple places, trying to make sure the right fighters are in the right place at the right time to combat my enemy’s moves…it’s like playing a version of chess where there are no turns and your opponent can move multiple pieces at once.

  But what choice do I have? I’m the leader of the village – this is my responsibility. I’ve delegated as much as I can by taking the position of strike force leader and giving the main command to Shrieks – he has more experience than I do with commanding samurans in battle. I decide to reach out to him to get his advice on whether I should target the back of the main force until I know where my true targets have gone.

  However, before I can carry that out, Sirocco reaches out to me.

  I’ve found them.

  My focus sharpens. Around me, I feel my group tense, either hearing Sirocco or noticing my own sudden air of concentration.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Where? I ask. Sirocco replies by sending me a picture. I’m far enough away from her that I can’t use her eyes as my own, but close enough for a static picture to make it through. A flash of alarm goes through me as I realise that the second strike force of samurans has definitely not gone anywhere near where we were expecting. From their previous trajectory, I was expecting them to hit the mountainside gate while the main force struck at the valleyside gate. The group which we’ve already taken down were heading in a similar trajectory, only the other side of the village.

  It made strategic sense – separating their force into three to distract us, and then reforming two of the parties to offer equal pressure on both gates. That would force us to defend in two places, and offer double the opportunity for the invaders to break through into the village itself. But that’s not what’s happened.

  The main force is still heading for the valleyside gate, but the second strike force is heading beyond the village. The reason Sirocco and Noir were struggling to find them is because they’re not in the forest anymore – they’re travelling across the clearing where the vine-stranglers used to be. And with a flash of dismay, I realise where they’re heading.

  They’re aiming to hit the den, I tell those around me grimly. Dusty and Catch react with just as much concern. As well they might – all the most vulnerable members have been sent there for protection. We weren’t expecting our enemies to target it. But perhaps we should have – if those two escaped Warriors got through to the red leader’s village in time, they would know that the den is both a place that our people would escape to and a place of value.

  Whether they’re intending on setting up an ambush to take down any who would use the den as a place of refuge, or they realise that it’s populated with those we wish to protect, I don’t know. Either of those are bad news for us.

  Will the Great Predator defend our vulnerable people? Catch asks anxiously.

  Mother agreed to protect the den – and any inside, Lathani chirps, though I can feel the concern within her – for her mother. I shouldn’t share it – Kalanthia is stronger than she was when she was taken down by samurans the day Lathani was captured, and from what I’ve heard, there were more Warriors then, even if there was only one Pathwalker who didn’t take part in the fight. Besides, I know how dangerous Tier threes are, and Kalanthia isn’t a weak one. Not anymore, at least. She should be fine. But that doesn’t stop the nerves from tearing at my insides, especially since even if Kalanthia can survive, what about the rest of them? The elders? The hatchlings? The non-combatants? Caught in a battle between a Tier three and several Pathwalkers, they might easily be the first to fall.

  “We need to move. We can’t assume that Kalanthia can deal with them all by herself without casualties,” I tell everyone urgently. There are no complaints and we set off at the pace of our slowest member – Dusty. At least we’re not terribly off-course. We were expecting them to head for the mountainside gate, so we’re currently not far from that. We have the whole route to the den to cover, but if we hurry, it shouldn’t take too long. The other group aren’t at the vine-stranglers yet, which is a relief.

  When Dusty starts to slow down even more, I fall back to run next to her, putting my hand on her shoulder to feed her some of my stamina. She sends me a wave of gratitude and picks up the pace. We run alongside each other, our legs eating up the metres.

  Dusty, I say through our Bond, deciding that this topic needs to be breached. In that fight back there…you were drowning that Pathwalker with your water, but then…you stopped. Why?

  It’s been bothering me since, especially with the look of shame she sent to me as she did so and her silence on why.

  Dusty is silent for a long moment, but I don’t interrupt. I can sense that she’s not ignoring me; it’s more that she’s getting her thoughts in order – and the courage to speak up.

  I…they might be attacking us, but…she’s my sister, Dusty confesses hesitantly. I could attack her because she was attacking us. But after she stopped, I couldn’t continue.

  I would sigh if I had the breath for it. It’s much as I suspected, though I had hoped wasn’t the case. I wasn’t able to kill the Warriors when they’d surrendered, so how can I expect the samurans to do the same? Especially the Pathwalkers who have a stronger bond with each other even between villages than most samurans.

  In the heat of battle is one thing, and in that I cannot fault any of my companions. More than half the smaller invading force is now dead and removed entirely from the board as a result of their willingness to kill. And the success of the guerilla attacks on the main force have proven that even Warriors and Unevolved can bring themselves to kill a Pathwalker if given the opportunity – if the previous fight on our village hadn’t already. But it’s true that even in the last invasion, the Pathwalkers on both sides suffered the fewest losses, and that’s probably not solely due to luck.

  I understand, I tell Dusty finally. Just as long as you are willing to keep your magic going until they either give up or are unable to keep fighting. Anything other than that puts us at risk. Remember, they came here to attack us, and continued despite my warning of what would happen if they did.

  I understand, Dusty replies, subdued and troubled. I feel for her, I do. But the red leader is definitely at fault here. I don’t want any more of my people to fall than absolutely necessary – already our losses pain me, as few as they are in comparison to our enemies.

  Tamer, Shrieks’ voice cuts through my thoughts.

  I’m listening.

  The main force is approaching the village fence, but Tree-whisperer is nowhere to be seen.

  What? I demand, shock going through me. She’s not with the main force? Then where is she?

  No one has seen her for a while. We thought she was hidden by Warriors with the main force, but now they’re out of the trees, it’s clear that she’s not, Shrieks explains. My eyes widen. I come to the conclusion at the same time as Shrieks says it. She must be with the smaller force.

  here!

  here!

  here!

  here