Olivia POV

  Humanity doesn’t have the well-formed armies that other races on hortus possess, but they have powerful heroes. Instead of recruiting, training and equipping legions of troops, their resources are poured into powerful heroes and adventuring teams cultivating expertise over decades. As a dual mage and heir to a noble house, Olivia has been placed in the adventuring guild from a young age, though she never set foot in one of the guild buildings.

  While she is still under leveled for a noble, she’s a fledgling power with the potential to be one of the stronger magi in the kingdom. Snuffing her light out before it could grow to its full potential would greatly benefit the elven imperium. To prevent her ascension, the elves would use considerable resources. So, when two squads of elven soldiers found Olivia and her squad returning from a dive at a nearby dungeon, they pursued her relentlessly.

  The elves didn’t hesitate in their chase, even as she began moving deep into human territory. Olivia hoped to run into a town that could send out a militia force to quell the intruders, instead she happened upon a small coastal town with defenses made to deter small predators. The elves would have easily run over the town, but with her knights reinforcing the town’s feeble militia, the humans rebuffed the few probing attacks the elves launched.

  The mayor was furious that Olivia brought the elves to their doorstep, but couldn’t move against her directly, since she’s from a noble house. Eventually he snuck off to try to make peace with the elves in secret. He planned to sell out Olivia in exchange for clemency for the town, not that anyone would ever know since his body had been placed in front of the gates in pieces. The scene had done its job, demoralizing the town so a few guards and villagers fled, and the outlook only grew grimmer with each passing day. That was until a lone mage appeared in the middle of the night out of nowhere.

  Most of the militia the town possessed had some rudimentary understanding of combat. They understood where the pointy end of their spears should go, but little else. Against elven soldiers, or any soldier, they are little better than fodder to hold the enemy at bay, until Olivia and her team can intervene.

  She knew little about this traveling mage, but she did know he had defeated an elven warrior in the dead of night before the soldier had killed anyone. She wasn’t dense enough to believe even the guard captain defeated one of the soldiers. Sure, he could probably win against an elf or two with guards at his back, in daylight, in a melee restricted fight, but not in a contest of ranged battle, and certainly not in the pitch black of night.

  This new man sounded competent enough to fight an elf one on one to at least a standstill. If his story was right, she might even be able to use him to thin the elven numbers before dying. A morbid thought, but she couldn’t say the same for any member of the town militia.

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  When the doors shut behind the stranger, Olivia turns to her three knights.

  “What do you think about him?” She asks her teammates in a neutral calculating tone. She is only twenty-two, but she had been adventuring with her knights for years, even if it was in controlled circumstances, and learned to heed their council.

  “It is very convenient.” Benjamin the ranger says. He is always the skeptic of the group, never satisfied with the intentions of anyone aside from her and her father. Her father said his distrust would serve her well, but the constant suspicion graded on her nerves. Like now, when the first ray of luck hits them, he immediately tries to dim it by finding a fault in its motivations. She kept that to herself, knowing that he is right to question a mysterious warrior appearing, that sounds too good to be true.

  Kurt shrugs. “Nothing about our situation is convenient but if he joins the fight, it might make the difference we need.”

  Kurt is in many ways a foil to Benjamen. Benjamen is a large knight who favors leveraging his strength in melee. He is honest, frank, and often brings out the best qualities in others through his gregarious nature. Despite their vastly different outlooks, they are in no way opposites, both men exuded loyalty, honor and a martial proficiency that put them at the top of their knight class.

  Lucian rolls his eyes, “Why are we even discussing this? He killed elves. We need help killing more elves.”

  Of her crew Lucian is the most “free spirited”. His own words but somehow going into a battle rage didn’t quite fit her definition of free spirited. He didn’t focus on politics, leadership or tactics as much as finding the next battle and a good beer afterwards. He would never make as great an advisor as her other two but what he lacked in wit, he made up for in cunning and brutality. He is the best warrior of the three of her knights, a powerful bodyguard and while some might lament his stunted potential for leadership, someone had to follow.

  “What if he is a spy? He said he didn’t kill the elf. The line about wanting to get information from the elf seemed flimsy to me. We have all heard the stories of how their mind mages can corrupt.” Benjamin responds in a tone laced with suspicion.

  “If the elves send spies that kill elves, then maybe a few more spies would do us good.” Kurt chuckles.

  Lucian scoffs before adding, “We may be powerful but taking down over twenty elves is a tall task even for a dual magi and her knights. All the newcomer would need to do is stand to the side and watch the elves roll over this town if he meant us harm. That assassin could have killed half the guards, opened the gate and flooded the city before we ever knew what happened.”

  “I still think we should keep an eye on him,” Benjamin says as he starts pacing back and forth while biting his lip.

  Kurt flips his hands up and shrugs, “It isn’t a bad idea to keep an eye on him, but our focus should be surviving tomorrow. There is no reason to forget today’s problems so we can solve tomorrow’s.”

  “Then it’s settled,” Olivia summarizes, “we will place him on the left flank where the elves will likely try to sneak through while we strike at the elves from the watch tower like yesterday.”

  Benjamen stops pacing, bowing his head in acknowledgement. Kurt folds his arms and does the same. Lucian plays with his dagger, uncaring about the details of the plan. Despite knowing the plan, it does nothing to dispel the gnawing fear of the elven soldiers at their gates.