The mages spent a couple hours investigating every single square inch of the cave. With the fascinating revelations they uncovered, they wanted to be absolutely sure that every single reading was properly recorded, double checked, and verified with all of their available equipment. They scribbled on every available piece of parchment. So much, that a couple scouts had to head back to the camp and bring back more to fill their voracious need for paper.

  Once they were satisfied, though even then most were longingly sighing as they looked back at the grotto, the group returned to the rest of the army. The soldiers were resting after the long march, but that didn’t mean they were sitting idle. Many were hard at work.

  Duke Jan had decided to turn Papworth into another fortified outpost that could house a team of guards. With plenty of available manpower, the troops cut down trees from the nearby forest and got to work on the construction.

  The entire settlement would be surrounded by a tall palisade, together with several watchtowers. Now that even more of the woodland was felled, enemies would be easier to spot, while crossing over open ground. The defenders would have more time to prepare.

  The walls could easily accommodate the existing village, giving the people plenty of room to grow. Traveling caravans could find sufficient room to safely stop for the night. With time, the garrison of soldiers could also construct additional buildings and housing to ensure comfort.

  The small bridge crossing the stream was widened and reinforced. Now, two wagons could pass by each other at the same time. It was overkill for the locals, but with the stream as tiny as it was, the job was easy. The thousands of men already present at Papworth could enjoy the benefits when they marched out tomorrow. It would also come in handy once the hopefully victorious army returned back home.

  The mages rushed past the hordes of soldiers laboring all over the village and rushed into the manor. They had important matters to discuss. They were so eager to begin, that they didn’t even wait for lunch before starting.

  “I know that some of you believe we’re dealing with teleportation,” Kadmos began, “but I still find it unlikely. No one, not even the best of our wizards ever managed to achieve such a feat. I don’t believe a goblin would be the first.”

  “What about Master Patrizio?” one of the guild mages asked, “he teleported himself!”

  “There were no witnesses and his claims were never verified,” another one protested, “that man was a hack!”

  “Take that back! I won’t let your foul mouth besmirch the good name of Master Patrizio!” the first one stood up.

  “Gentlemen, please!” the archmage raised his arm to silence them, “save this for later. We are in the presence of his majesty here. Have some respect.”

  The two wizards, clearly embarrassed, mumbled apologies and sat back down.

  “The truth of the matter is that no other mage was ever proven to successfully teleport a living being,” Kadmos said, “this is a field reserved for madmen alone.”

  “Perhaps goblins have less qualms about ethical boundaries,” Elvira shrugged, “they’ve lost thousands of soldiers in the last skirmishes and didn’t seem to mind.”

  “Perhaps,” the archmage admitted, “but before we go rushing for the most extreme hypothesis, let’s focus on other options. Any other ideas for the spells that could have been cast out there?”

  “What about invisibility?” Perry asked.

  “At these magnitudes of aura?” Zarkon scoffed, “impossible. Unless that shaman was trying to obscure an entire regiment.”

  The girl grimaced after such a strong reaction, but her sister rushed to defend her. “Well, we know he disappeared somehow. What about decreasing his size? The smaller he got, the more aura he’d need, right?”

  “We would have picked up the changes on the auraspec,” Elvira countered, though far gentler than the old healer, “the magician was standing in the same spot for the entire duration of the casting. And his size was constant too.”

  The others suggested further options, but every possibility was quickly dismissed. There was no damage from combat spells visible, nor targets that could have been affected. No reason for the shaman to attempt strange and complicated rituals in his limited time. Soon, the mages were forced to admit that teleportation seemed like the most likely choice.

  “So what does this mean for us?” Varre asked, “is that goblin able to appear wherever he wants?”

  “No,” Elvira shook her head, “I don’t know how he’s doing it, but teleportation is quite limited.”

  “Indeed,” Kadmos continued, “it requires diligent preparation. To maximize success, one must familiarize themselves with the target area ahead of time. Then, it needs to be properly marked with magic, to guide the transmission. A rather difficult process, at the best of times. You can’t just send things wherever you wish.”

  “It can be made easier with a second wizard supporting the transmission at the targeted site,” Jury noted.

  “Oh? And what do you know about it?” the archmage smirked, “seems like we’ve got a real expert on our hands.”

  Perry grabbed her sister’s arm. “She’s an assistant to one of the best healers in all of Logres. We’ve learned a thing or two by now.”

  Everyone turned to Zarkon. The old man looked a little dismayed at all of this attention, but his pride won out over annoyance in the end. “Indeed, I’ve dabbled in the field and may have shared some things with my assistants.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Kadmos crossed his arms. “A healer dabbling with teleportation?” he chuckled, “what’s next? A communicator regenerating lost limbs?” he glanced at his guild members, encouraging them to join in the heckling.

  “Some of us aren’t constrained by your rigid rules, archmage,” Zarkon said, appearing as pompous as possible, “a real polymath studies whichever fields happen to interest him, not just what others allow him to.”

  Kadmos was about to respond with another insult, when Elvira decided to stop them. “Please, let’s stick to the facts. What can you tell us about the art of teleportation, Zarkon? Do you think we’re at risk?”

  The old healer cleared his throat. He was stalling for time, clearly trying to come up with a wise-sounding answer. “Well, I suppose I can share something considering the difficult circumstances. Right. Yes, while it certainly looks like the spell cast back at the cave was conducted in a rush, it still must have taken preparation ahead of time.”

  The archmage raised an eyebrow. “And what makes you say that?”

  “The measurements,” Zarkon explained as he dug around the pile of parchments listing the recorded data. Finally, he found what he was looking for and placed it in the center of the table, “take a look at this. The massive output of aura hid most of the effects, but you can tell that some of these residuals are a little older. Roughly by a day.”

  Kadmos frowned. “Ah yes, it is rather hard to spot, isn’t it? The lightning in that cave was a little poor too.”

  The healer slowly regained his confidence. “I’m not surprised that a less meticulous researcher would have missed it. But the truth is, the shaman prepared the cave ahead of time.”

  “Makes sense,” Jury agreed, “the goblin was running away and yet he headed straight for a wall with no exits.”

  “He had very limited time,” her sister continued, “and yet he knew exactly where to go and what to do.”

  “And since he had an entire day to prepare everything in advance, everything was going according to his plan,” Varre finished for them, “I see now. But I still don’t understand the why.”

  “I’m afraid you’ll have to discuss their tactics with your generals,” Zarkon replied, “but what I can tell you is that we aren’t at risk of a goblin army popping up in the middle of your bedroom, your majesty.”

  “Hmm, yes. As long as we do a proper sweep of the area, we would be able to spot if the goblins had arranged for teleportation ahead of time,” Kadmos noted, “adequate work, Zarkon. For a non-guild member.”

  Before they could break out into yet another argument, Elvira clapped her hands. “Excellent, then why don’t we begin right now? Girls, grab the goggles please and check the entire manor for aura residuals.”

  “But the goblins never captured the village,” Jury complained, throwing her hands in the air, “we won’t find anything!”

  “Now, now, better safe than sorry,” the Court Mage insisted, “and the same for the others. Let’s make sure the village is clear of any strange phenomena.”

  The prospect of stumbling upon another discovery was enticing enough that the wizards happily moved into action. They spread out across all of Papworth, checking every prominent spot with their assortment of tools. More importantly, Zarkon got completely separated from Kadmos, ensuring that the two men wouldn’t get into another fight.

  “So what do you think?” the king asked, once he was alone with Elvira, “they wasted thousands of soldiers, failed to take the village or any captives, and even showed off the fact that they can teleport. Why did they do all this?”

  She stared back at him for a second, then sighed. “I have absolutely no idea.”

  After a short meal, Varre decided to meet with the rest of his commanders. They needed to be informed of these new revelations. The goblins were able to teleport, though many of the details were still theoretical.

  Such magic took huge amounts of aura, especially if one wanted to transport large amounts of goods. Since no one had ever tried to teleport living beings before, they had to simply assume that the same rules applied here. The shaman may have been able to transport himself, along with his mount, but could he transport more? And if so, how many?

  Just in case, Hakon tightened the security around the monarch, ensuring that at least four Royal Guards would be watching his tent or bedroom through the night. In the worst case scenario, even if the goblins managed to teleport an entire horde straight into the royal quarters, these knights should take out more enemies than could physically fit inside of a single chamber. The mages would also carefully inspect the vicinity of the royal quarters every night, but the risk would always remain at the back of everyone’s mind.

  “How are the soldiers doing,” Varre asked once the safety was assured, “are we ready to move out?”

  “We will be by tomorrow,” Jan confirmed, “but we need to decide on our direction. We have reached the enemy territory by now. The areas where they operate as they wish. Now, we have to find and destroy their actual forces.”

  “What do you suggest?” the king gestured towards the commander.

  “Well, we could take things slow. Stretch our forces into a long line and surround the entire affected territory,” the duke began marking the positions on the map, “then slowly advance, making sure that every inch is cleared of enemy forces. Once we encounter a larger army, we gather back together and assault them from multiple directions.”

  “And what if they break through our thin ranks at a single point and then destroy one of our wings?” Varre moved the pieces around to represent that.

  “Just like your majesty’s defeated Clement!” Gregory realized.

  “That is the major risk,” Jan agreed, “instead, we could stick closer together, moving Northwards in several groups and then meet the enemy in a major battle.”

  The king peered over the map, trying to imagine it. “And what are the downsides of this plan?”

  “Well,” the duke shrugged, “the enemy can simply avoid us and head East, or West to continue their looting. We’d be forced to chase after them, while they ravage our countryside with abandon.”

  Varre slowly nodded. “That could be a problem. But the army would be safer.”

  “Thousands of knights are harder to replace than a few burned villages,” Jan chuckled grimly, “but there’s another reason why I’d lead a strong attack directly North. As you know, we’ve spread out scouts all over the duchy and get constant reports of enemy activity. We know where they are and what settlements they are attacking.

  “But yesterday, everything was quiet. The scouts saw nothing. There were wolf riders scouring the woods, as always, and they got into some scuffles, but not a single village burned.

  “Now, that could have been a coincidence. The goblins have many hordes operating independently and conducting their own operations. Maybe they attacked places we didn’t even know about. Or they were all busy preparing for their next assault. But today has been much the same. Nothing but silence.”

  “That is good,” Gregory looked out of the window, “but it’s only the evening. They might attack during the night again.”

  “They might, but I have a hunch they’ve got bigger fish to worry about,” the duke smirked.

  “Us,” Varre realized.

  “Exactly,” Jan grinned, “they know we’re here. In fact, they’ve probably led us here ourselves. Now that we’re this close to the heart of their territory, they are bringing their forces back to defend. We just have to keep going and we’ll get to face them head on. No chasing required. No more looting. Just the confrontation.”

  “But why?” the count asked, “they’re raiders! They’re rampaging around an enemy duchy and burning villages for supplies. If they flee Westwards, they’d only be shortening their supply lines.”

  “Maybe not,” the king slowly said, “they could have attacked us from the West, advancing directly from Gomera Forest, but they didn’t. Instead, they walked through miles of heavy woodland, only to end up in the hills. And then began their invasion by destroying Northport. There’s must be a reason for that.”

  Jan moved the piece representing the main goblin horde to the settlement. “And I’m willing to bet they want to defend that reason. If we head straight for it, we’ll find them sooner or later.”

  There are still plenty of questions. Can the shaman only teleport himself (and his mount) or can he bring more people? And is it enough people to be useful in war?

  No one knows for sure.