"What in the 11 hells happened here?" Sonya said the moment they were on the other side and saw the scene unfolding. They all quickly walked out of a small building and as they followed their mentors they realized themselves to be in a small fort. Bregane was the one who led the entire group and he didn't stop for anything.
Ulma worriedly looked around at all the injured people being moved around and stopped in her tracks. "I haveto help them!" She yelled which caused Bregane to stop temporarily. Sarmah looked at him and nodded, Samuel gave Ulma an understanding nod as well.
The group continued without Sarmah and Ulma as they walked further into the fort where things were a complete mess. More wounded and debris all around, a few loose fires were also going on although the dangerous ones were being put out.
Now it was Ericas turn to stop as she didn't hesitate to leave her group and start walking around helping with whatever she could, she was a jack of all trades after all. Putting out fires, helping move injured or applying basic healing. Tere'he quickly patted on Bregane for him to keep going as she went to help her.
Which left only Bregane and Teric along with their students Samuel and Sonya. "Guess it will be a two man mission huh!" Teric said while snapping his fingers, this was the first time anyone could see him drop the facade of perfection. "Yes, I didn't think it was this bad to be honest!" Bregane replied as they came around a set of stairs.
They had walked further into the fort and eventually found themselves walking inside a small war room, where several men and women were discussing plans. "Whats the situation?" Bregane shouted the moment he came inside, he was in his formal battle attire and carried some authority with him.
Samuel could see spite or scorn from a few of their faces, but most of them seemed relieved. "Thank the gods! We had no idea how much longer we can hold out! We have lost way too many men and even mages!" The closest one spoke up.
"I could see that, now tell me where is Lord Bern?" Bregane looked at all the people in front of him and they all looked worriedly at one another. The one in the front swallowed hard before speaking up. "I am afraid Lord Bern has fallen in combat with the enemy! Lord Iveric who is second in command is gravely injured and is currently being treated... we don't know if he is going to make it sir!" The man looked down, dejected and worried.
Morale seemed to be at an all time low. "It won't be a two man mission Teric, We are going with the law of survival for this one, since things are this bad! Quickly go find Sarmah and Tere and inform them of the situation. Tell them that you and I will complete the mission with our students, and tell Sarmah she has command of the fort!"
Bregane left no room to argue and Teric quickly ran off to deliver the news. "You can't just take command of the fort!" One of the older men said his voice filled with spite as he almost spat it out. "I didn't say I was taking command of the fort, I am a state mage and I could very well take command of the fort if the mission depended on it... but you should be happy that my colleague will be taking command of the fort in my absence on my mission that you all should be slightly aware of at least!" Bregane angrily tapped his foot and sighed.
"In case you are wondering, her full name is - Sarmah Trillas, Mage Colonel of the state... and the last time I checked, the highest among you hold the rank of lieutenants!" Bregane couldn't help but snort in disapproval.
The wait didn't last much longer than minutes as Sarmah came speed walking with Teric with a grave look upon her face. "I am assuming command of the fort!" She shouted out like a military commander would. "I want all important reports debriefed right away and I want all news updated!"
"Bregane, you have your mission, I will take charge here - so do not waste more time!" The usual battle crazy dragonkin warrior was giving out commands like a sane competent officer as she gave Bregane the go ahead with a nod.
Bregane quickly turned around with a nod and motioned for the other three to follow. "Alright, the other four will be staying here to help out, the fort will need them. As you heard, from hereby forward the survival rule is in place, which means that you as students will take an active role to help us in the mission because the mission depends on it."
Bregane finally stopped by an empty small room that looked like an armory and he quickly took out what he needed and lay out a few maps on the table. "Now I will quickly debrief you! So you better listen up... because we don't have time for any shit right now!" Bregane took a deep breath and put a hand on Samuel and Sonyas shoulders.
"The two of you will be supporting me and Teric, follow our orders and don't do anything stupid."
"Now as you probably have been wondering, our mission." Bregane started pointing at the map where the fort was located. "We are here, Calvin Fort, we are high up in the northeastern front. Several weeks ago we received a warning from The Kingdom of Rookia that several incursions had occured along their borders. They had suffered from raids from some kind of goblin horde."
"The goblin horde was eventually pushed down south by Rookian forces, but that has made them funnel here to this fort. This large horde has a warleader, we were sent here to take him out and help deal with the horde remains. We were supposed to have days of planning... alas it seems that the horde aggressively charged here and have been besieging this place non stop."
"The horde is currently trapped between Rejuan forces and Rookian forces, our two forces are going to smash them together, but it seems that we need to deal with the warleader now. Otherwise this fort might fall and many of the coastline villages along the way will pay the price."
"That is why, we are going to eliminate the warleader, and by now Sarmah has probably contacted our forces enroute to pick up the pace and be prepared to make an attack within hours, combined with the Rookians. We will only have one shot at killing the warleader and if we fail then our forces will take a much larger hit."
"No matter what, our combined forces will win, but why risk the lives of many men when you can kill a horde leader and cripple their ability to make on the spot decisions!" Bregane smiled as he started marking out where the enemy would most likely be and where they would be going.
"So all in all, our job is simple, together we will sneak in and take out the leader... and get the hell out of there alive! Like I said, I and Teric will deal with the leader while its your job to support us. Because the four of us are all thats going in now!" Bregane sighed.
"So we are going into a really dangerous camp, filled with things that would want to kill us... while we haveto navigate using all the passes and terrain to our advantage, and then also get back out alive if we succeed?" Sonya asked with a trace of annoyance in her sigh.
"Well, let's do it then!" Samuel nodded and smiled which caused everyone to wonder at his enthusiasm. He had been pretty quiet the whole time, not questioning anything. Just listening and here he stood as if he had not listened at all to the dangers of the mission. Ready to go in and do what needed to be done.
Bregane shook his head, his apprentice was crazy. But also filled them with inspiration seeing his stupid look that seemed to be saying it would be no problem at all.