The Storm King Chapter 147: A Clearer Picture

The motivation Alix worked up after speaking with Leon didn’t last long. The two were assigned to a tower that lacked a third-tier mage, and the resulting guard duty that lasted for hours without doing anything else instilled a boredom that killed just about all excitent and motivation.

When they had arrived, the squad that had been in the tower to begin with didn’t seem particularly thrilled about having them around—or at least, the squad leader didn’t appreciate Leon’s presence. He seed to think that Leon wanted to take over his unit and deprive him of command. Things only beca less tense when, after a few barbed comnts, Leon assured the squad leader that he wasn’t intending to usurp authority. He was only there to guard against higher tiered Valen who might try to attack the tower.

But, even though tensions were lowered, Leon and Alix still weren’t quite welco in the tower. The other ten soldiers barely even looked at them, leaving them to their own devices. On the one hand, this led to the aforentioned boredom, but on the other hand, Leon quite enjoyed the treatnt. Alix, however, wasn’t used to being treated so coldly.

Noticing her discomfort with the situation, Leon suggested, “Why don’t we pass the ti with so training?” Most of the floors of the tower weren’t being used, as there just weren’t enough soldiers manning the wall. This would give the two plenty of space and privacy for training.

“Sure!” Alix said. With nothing else to do, she jumped at the chance to do anything that would take her mind off the previous day’s events, which were creeping back into her mind.

They spent an hour or so doing so more light sparring, then Leon taught Alix the sa breathing techniques that he taught Charles on the way to the Knight Academy over a year before.

Through a combination of ditation and sparring, the day passed quickly; before they knew it, the sun was beginning to set. Leon was starting to think that he liked teaching, as he’d barely noticed the passing of ti. Alix, too, didn’t keep track of the ti as she was far too ecstatic at how full of magic power she felt from ditation. In fact, it wasn’t until Alix’s stomach growled that they glanced out of the nearest window and noticed the reddening sky.

“Ti to get so food?” Leon suggested. He, being a third-tier mage, was a little more resistant to hunger than the first-tier Alix, but he was a man who enjoyed his food. He hated missing als.

“Absolutely,” Alix replied.

The food for the tower guards is brought to the ground floor every day. There weren’t enough people in the fort to allow the guards to leave for long. Most of the tower guards slept in tents right next to their towers, in fact.

Leon and Alix walked down the stairs to the ground floor to get sothing to eat, but just as Leon was about to grab a piece of bread, one of the fourth-tier soldiers stuck his head through the door of the tower, looked around, then said, “Ursus! There’s a eting in the commander’s cabin! All third-tier mages are to attend!”

Leon automatically nodded before looking back at the food with a look of dejection. He wasn’t missing much, just so bread and dried at, but he still wanted a few minutes to eat. The fourth-tier soldier wasn’t leaving, though, so Leon could only grab a piece of bread and leave.

“Hopefully, this shouldn’t take too long,” Leon said to Alix on the way out of the door. She couldn’t help but frown as she was left in the tower.

“What’s this about?” Leon asked the fourth-tier soldier on the way to Jean’s cabin.

“Don’t know,” the soldier responded. “I’d guess sothing about scouting the Valeman position. They seem to still be assembling their forces, so we have so ti to get a good idea of how many of them are out there, and maybe plan so kind of delaying action.”

“Hmm,” Leon humd in acknowledgent. He had a few more questions, but he held his tongue for after the eting.

All thirty officers of Fort 127—including Leon—cramd themselves into Jean’s cabin just as they had the night before. Leon and the fourth-tier soldier with him were actually the last to arrive, so the eting began as soon as they took a seat.

“Well,” Jean began, “I think we all know what our current situation is, so let’s try and make this quick. We have an unknown number of Valen outside of our wall, though we know that number is likely over ten thousand.” Several of the knights around the table grimaced at that number, especially considering that their own battalion was only five hundred strong. Five hundred, to man two miles of wall.

Jean continued, “Fortunately, Dion returned just half an hour ago with good news: he visited the castles of the five barons within twenty miles, and we should be getting two or three hundred n early tomorrow morning. Any more reinforcents, though, will depend on when Count Whitefield or the Consul of the North arrive, which may be a week or two. That’s how long we’re going to have to hold this wall, to keep these Valen from sacking half the Northern Territories.

“Which brings us to what we’re going to need to do tonight. I want eight volunteers to scout the Valen positions. We need to know what we’re up against.” Jean paused, waiting for volunteers. The other three fourth-tier mages apart from him imdiately raised their hands, and Jean nodded in appreciation. Four third-tier mages then raised their hands in rapid succession, but no more.

After waiting a mont, Jean said, “I want at least one more,” and cast his gaze around the table.

During that second pause, Leon noticed several of the other knights surreptitiously glare at him.

[Hmm, seems like you have so enemies,] Xaphan remarked.

[Maybe not enemies,] Leon responded, [but certainly not friends. I guess they think that a Valeman should be the one to go out into the pass, but they’re all anointed knights, so they can’t just rudely demand that I volunteer.]

“I’ll go,” Leon said out loud.

“Then we have our eight,” Jean said. “Assemble at the doors at sundown. I’ll want you all back in less than three hours, as the Valen might try to attack us tonight. If they do, they’ll probably do so at midnight, so everyone else, get so rest and make sure your units are ready for battle then!”

Jean rose from his chair, signaling the end of the eting, and the knights around the table began to get up and make their way to the door of the cabin.

[Why did you volunteer?] Xaphan asked. [I an, it’s noble and all, but I’d rather you didn’t get yourself, and by extension, killed by doing sothing foolish and reckless.]

[I’m sure I would’ve been volunteered if I’d waited any longer. Best to get it over with,] Leon replied. [Besides, might win so goodwill.]

[With the way those asshats were staring at you, you could probably save their children from a burning building and they’d still hate you,] Xaphan said.

Leon couldn’t deny what the demon said, so he remained quiet as he walked back to his assigned tower.

—

Soon enough, the appointed ti ca for the scouts to assemble at the doors of the wall. Jean t the eight of them there, and he said, “Don’t take undue risk! We need every one of you to make it back! So focus on returning alive, even if you don’t bring back any valuable information!”

The volunteers nodded in acknowledgent, and then made for the wall. They only t at the doors, they wouldn’t leave through them as the Valen were likely keeping an eye on them. Or at least, it was better to assu that they were, even if none of the knights truly thought the Valen had the discipline and organization to do such a thing.

All eight scouts would investigate their own separate areas of the pass, focusing on the largest clusters of campfires they could see from the top of the wall. Leon chose the biggest cluster of campfires, about half a mile from the doors of the wall.

[You made a bold choice,] Xaphan said as Leon jumped down from the wall to the north side of the pass. As the scouts were all third or fourth-tier, they could jump down easily, as well as back up when they returned, so what Leon did wasn’t anything particularly special.

[I have the best chance to successfully scout out that area, and the better this scouting mission goes, the better chances we’ll have to live through this,] Leon responded.

[Are you talking about that ring?] Xaphan asked excitedly.

[I am, indeed,] Leon replied with a smile. He’d finished figuring out how to use the invisibility ring he had taken from the assassins who ca for him on the galley, but he hadn’t had a good chance to use it yet—or at least, not a chance that wouldn’t have left a squadmate on their own.

But, now that he was on his own, he could use the ring with impunity, without any fear of revealing another of the cards up his sleeve, as he had with Xaphan’s fla. Alix hadn’t followed up with the latter, so it seed like his secret was safe on that front, at least for the mont, but he still didn’t want to so openly display his capabilities.

Leon sprinted across the open field on the north side of the wall and vanished into the trees. He then hid himself behind a large bush and waited to see if any Valen that might have seen him would show up. When no one ca, he smiled and rubbed the erald ring on his right index finger.

[First ti actually using this thing, let’s see how well it works,] Leon said to Xaphan with anticipation.

[You know,] Xaphan replied, [I’ve always wanted so kind of piece of gear with an invisibility enchantnt, but I never managed to acquire one. So, this ought to be enlightening…]

Leon channeled his magic power into the ring, activating the enchantnt. It took a few seconds, but light began to bend around him, obscuring his body with a black lightless veil, then making him completely transparent.

[Holy shit…] Leon muttered when he looked down and saw nothing; his body had completely vanished!

[Ok, that’s pretty damned cool,] Xaphan appreciatively.

[It really is,] Leon responded with a smile, though no one could see it. [Ti to get to work…]

Leon darted out from his hiding place and silently made his way through the forest. He moved boldly, not even stopping when Valen appeared in front of him. He passed by three fairly sizeable Valeman camps, each with more than five hundred n within, and when he reached his destination, he felt a strange confidence that he never had before. The ring made him feel almost omnipotent.

But, Leon quickly quashed those feeling by rembering so of the limitations the ring had, like imdiately dispelling the effect if he ca into contact with anything else magical—such as another mage. If Leon so much as bumped into soone else, the invisibility effect would fail and it would take no less than five minutes for him to reactivate it, during which he would probably be killed. So with that in mind, Leon took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, then entered the main camp.

There were tents almost beyond counting, though Leon tried. His efforts weren’t helped with the Valen’s haphazard thod of building the camp, with no organization whatsoever; tents weren’t arranged in a grid pattern, as the Legion did, rather every Valeman would set himself up wherever he saw fit.

Leon carefully made his way through the camp, ignoring most of the Valen but making sure to count every third-tier mage he saw. None of them saw any sign of Leon among them.

After about five minutes, Leon felt his mana supply starting to run low, so he turned back. However, as he was doing so, he noticed a group of tents in the distance. They were near the center of the main camp, but no other Valen set up their tents near this little sub-camp, forming a small uninhabited ring around it.

Leon could see several of the n in the sub-camp sitting and chatting around an enormous campfire, and every one of them had an aura that he couldn’t see through, indicating their strength. These were Hakon Fire-Beard’s thanes, and if they were around, then Hakon himself wouldn’t be too far.

Leon’s hand found its way to the hilt of his sword and he started to slowly edge forward, closer to the thane’s camp. However, as he grew close, another man walked out of a tent. Seeing him, Leon froze.

This man was gigantic, over eight feet tall, though his hunchback was so severe that he was reduced to a re six and a half feet. The proportions of his body were all off, with an inhumanely muscled upper body, arms that were long enough to reach past his knees, and legs that seed far too skinny to hold up his massive fra. His skin was white enough that it almost glowed in the moonlight, but most of it was obscured by thick black fur-like hair that covered his exposed back, chest, and arms. His eyes burned blood red, and his face was elongated like the snout of an animal.

‘A werewolf.’ Leon recognized the misshapen body from his lessons in the Knight Academy. At that mont, he didn’t wonder why the man was there, or why he was tolerated within the Valeman camp, but he didn’t think that his ring of invisibility would help him much if he got closer; he suspected the werewolf would be able to sll him without any trouble.

Leon took a quick glance at the werewolf’s aura, and when he saw that it was at least of the fourth-tier, Leon turned around and made to leave the Valeman camp without hesitation. When he reached the edge of the camp and plunged back into the dark forest, he allowed the invisibility effect to dissolve, and he leaned against a tree, panting from panic at seeing the werewolf and exhaustion from using so much magic power.

After a few minutes of quiet recovery, Leon hurriedly began sneaking back to the fort. There wasn’t anything else he could learn from the Valeman camp that he thought was more important than bringing back word of a fourth-tier werewolf in the enemy ranks.