There was a lot more Grimdar this time around. They didn’t come rushing right out at us either. Instead they stayed in the trees.

  “They’re not going to charge, are they?” I asked.

  “No sir,” Parker replied.

  That had always been the biggest flaw in the hit ‘n run plan. We knew the Grimdar could just surround us, wait us out and have so many of their forces crowding the valley that we couldn’t get out. Of course, we had contingencies for that, but nothing we could implement until Nathan and his team were done with the Dungeon.

  I really hoped they could finish it in record time.

  We watched the Grimdar for a while. Their forces just stood there, growling, hooting, making all kinds of noises and just watched us. I figured they thought they were intimidating. It wasn’t working. It wasn’t working on my people. Us Solace folk? We didn’t intimidate easily.

  The time dragged on. Parker made sure we didn’t get lax, all of us ready for anything. The Grimdar on the other hand, they were getting bored. The growling and intimidation tactics had stopped. They’d been stomping, banging weapons on shields or tree trunks. Now they just stood there, watching us.

  I leaned against the cannon, chewing on a bit of jerky. Looking up at the top of the hill, I saw some of the archers switching spots with a fresh shift. Sunie was still up there, sitting cross legged, staff across his knees, looking like he was meditating. Probably was.

  I looked back out at the Grimdar. Some of them were leaning against trees, some even sitting.

  “Now?” I asked Parker.

  “Not yet,” he said. “Let’s give it another couple of hours.”

  I didn’t know how he was keeping track of time, but he was. Or he was just doing a good job of making it look like he knew how much time had passed. Probably had a Time Essence or something.

  “Unless you think now is good,” Parker added.

  I glanced at him sharply.

  “None of that,” I scolded. “You’re the man in charge.”

  “Yessir,” Parker said.

  And so we waited a bit more.

  “Would you like to take a break, Lord Howell,” a soldier asked.

  “Sure,” I replied, letting him take my place at the cannon. “Only for a few though.”

  “Of course, sir.”

  I’d taken the central cannon but was now wondering if that was the better one for me to be at. So I walked over to the right most one. I stood next to the soldier manning it, knowing I was making her nervous, but I’d be out of her hair in minute. I needed to study the view. The cannon had the best shot down the trail. I could see a couple Grimdar standing there, at the edge of the treelines, and beyond them a barricade had been constructed. Nothing that looked that substantial, but looks could be deceiving.

  I moved over to the left one, near the river. Good view up river and into the forest. I walked over to the logs, standing next to Mason who was leaning against one and looking over the pond. There were Grimdar in the woods there as well. It looked like a series of logs had been placed along the shore of the pond.

  “Did they make a bridge?”

  “Looks like it,” Mason answered.

  “Idiots,” I muttered and walked away.

  I stopped in the middle, looking at the three cannons. Which would be the best one for me to use?

  ***

  “Sir,” Parker’s voice called out from where he stood over me.

  I opened my eyes. I hadn’t been sleeping, just resting my eyelids. He was looking out at the Grimdar. I stood up, seeing that they looked even more bored than before.

  “How long has it been now?” I asked.

  “Eight hours,” Parker replied. “It’s time.”

  “Awesome.”

  I clapped him on the armored shoulder and walked over to the right most cannon.

  “Mind if I take over?” I asked the soldier.

  “Not at all, sir,” they said, stepping back.

  I looked up at the top of the hill. The archers, and Sunie, looked alert but they had been looking that way for a couple hours now. I saw that their positioning had shifted. Sunie was more lined up with the middle cannon, two archers to his left facing across the pond but they were trying to make it look like they weren’t concentrating on that area. Not doing a great job of it, but it really didn’t matter. A couple more archers were facing the other side and the rear, keeping an eye on the few Grimdar that were around the backside of the hill.

  Word got passed, Solace soldiers getting into position.

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  “Stage one,” was whispered up and down the lines.

  I shifted at my position, looking down the barrel of the cannon, pointing it right at a brown furred Grimdar with black spots. I fed some Arcanum into the crystal, feeling the energy filling the cannon’s reserves.

  “OPEN FIRE!,” Sergeant Parker yelled out.

  So I did.

  The gatling cannon, along with the other two, opened up. I blew a hole through the barrier surrounding the brown furred Grimdar, cracks appearing across the shimmering field. He fell down, an Essence Crystal appearing. I strafed back and forth, taking out Grimdar after Grimdar.

  We’d caught them by surprise.

  Before the Grimdar had crossed past the treeline, the fire from the cannons never making it past that point. Which was on purpose. The ranged Abilities and arrows got past the edge of the trees, but the Grimdar had taken up position far enough back that the angles were bad. That didn’t matter to the cannons, or the ranged casters we had arrayed along the wall, that hadn’t been there before.

  Most Arcane weapons, there was a trade off between power and range. The shorter the range the stronger the blasts. The bigger the weapon, the more punch it had. The gatling cannons weren’t really that big and we’d managed to fool the Grimdar into thinking they had a shorter range when fully powered.

  That had been a lie.

  The things had a very good range and still packed a punch, as the Grimdar were finding out. Sadly, the trick would only last once. They’d be ready the next time. We had other things in reserve. The Grimdar thought us an unprepared backwater world, they’d find themselves mistaken.

  Grimdar fell, the survivors moving back deeper into the trees. Another fifty feet or so. There were trees in the way, giving them cover.

  “Stage two,” Parker yelled out.

  I fed more power into the Crystal, seeing the other gunners being replaced by fresh reservists. There was a line just waiting to be called up. They’d be needed. This was the part where we really started pushing the cannons.

  The Grimdar deeper into the trees started falling. Even the trees were taking damage, the blasts sending shards of bark and tree into the woods and the Grimdar. I shifted my cannon, pointing it straight down the road and pushed a little more Arcanum into the Crystal, not extending the range but extending the power. I aimed for the middle of the barrier, the Grimdar that had been blocking my view already fallen.

  The barrier was metal of some kind, two interlocking plates that spanned the road. The blasts struck some kind of barrier, which was starting to crack. I pushed more Arcanum into the weapon, the cracks growing bigger. The shield shattered, shards of energy falling to the ground before fully dissipating away. My blasts struck the barrier itself. I could see the metal warping and buckling.

  I kept up the firing, not paying attention to whatever else was happening. The barrier shattered, breaking into a bunch of smaller pieces. The road was clear. That wouldn’t stop the Grimdar from setting up more barriers farther up the road but at least we wouldn’t have to worry about the first one.

  Turning the cannon, I started taking aimed shots, cycling my blasts with break between. I aimed at the Grimdar farther back in the trees, the ones I could see. I’d fire, the cannon making a couple rotations, the Grimdar would fall, and I’d looked for the next target. We knocked a couple trees down. The shots were getting pretty deep into the trees.

  “Hold fire,” Parker shouted.

  We stopped shooting and it took a couple seconds for the bright flashes to dissipate. The valley beyond the clearing looked horrible. Trees had fallen over, some had holes right through the trunk. Grimdar lay everywhere, a bright light over their bodies. It looked like the Grimdar that had ran away had helped themselves to some of the Essence Crystals as they ran.

  Not just invaders but thieves too.

  Not that we wouldn’t have done the same.

  “Are the trees cleared?” Parker yelled out.

  “As far as we can see,” one of the archers from above replied.

  “Stealth team, get out there.”

  One of the walls was moved out of the way. I couldn’t see people running past. They were already using their various Abilities to hide themselves. The wall didn’t get replaced, as we wouldn’t know when they were returning until they were in the middle, but a couple of tanky soldiers stood in the gap.

  A couple minutes later the bright lights of the Essence Crystals started disappearing.

  I watched the woods, searching through the trees for any signs of movements. I could probably figure out a way to detect the Solace soldiers, but I was looking for Grimdar. There had to be a couple of theirs out there, just waiting for us to try and loot the Crystals.

  Sure enough, we heard the sounds of fighting, saw some bright flashes of color and then a growl of pain. Score one for our team. There were some more fighting, and I cursed as there was a definitely human sounding scream.

  I had to fight the urge to rush out there.

  It was a tense couple of minutes.

  “Incoming,” an archer yelled out.

  “Ours or theirs?” Parker asked.

  “Both.”

  Three people burst through the shadowed trees, working their way through the bodies. Two were supporting the third that looked badly hurt. Behind them came charging Grimdar, five of them. The three were moving as fast as they could but it wouldn’t be fast enough.

  The Stealth team had been just three people but I looked back at Parker for confirmation. He nodded. There were no more of our people out there. But those three were in trouble.

  The archers and Sunie didn’t have the range and the Grimdar would be on the soldiers before they got that range.

  Putting a hand on the cannon, I launched myself over it. Landing on the ground, I started running, as fast as I could with all the kinetic boosting applied. My feet left divots in the ground as they impacted, only touching for a second. Long enough to push me ahead.

  I passed by the three soldiers, already launching a sonic blast at the Grimdar.