“There are priestesses at the west entrance, and priests at the east,” the black haired scout reported, everyone securely hidden behind a massive tree.

  Sigurd and Enno sat on the same bench, and if it wasn’t for Sigurd’s lighter skin tone, Velmira might have mistook the two as brothers by the faces they made.

  “Why separate the men from the women?” Sigurd asked.

  “My thoughts as well,” Enno nodded, scratching his chin.

  “Is there anyone on this team that has [appraisal]?” Sigurd asked.

  Enno shook his head. “No, that’s a [diplomat]’s skill.”

  “I have it, received it from the queen, but it’s still only level 1,” Vel said.

  “Rank 1?” Enno asked.

  Vel nodded.

  “That’s not going to be of any use, but it is one of the easier skills to max out. You should start using it frequently anyways,” Enno explained.

  He didn’t even ask how I had the skill, Velmira thought. However, the queen seemed to have known what a [dark avenger] was, probably due to the prior [dark seer]. Just how much more did they know about her class than she did?

  “I’m inclined to think it’s a red herring, asking us to choose the women over the men by way of sheer muscle. Even a woman of the same class and skill of a man is still going to be weaker. Unless they’re spellcasters,” Enno said.

  As they went on, considering the options, Vel furrowed her brow, frowning. Oma is here, she thought, and if Oma was present, then likely so too were the priestesses from the temple. Could it be that I might know these women? she wondered. She wouldn’t need an [appraisal] skill then.

  Taking a step to move through the brambles and around towards the west side of the temple, Vel said, “I would like to see the priestesses.”

  Sigurd stood, Enno following as his [spear masters] took up posts around her again. “What is it?” Sigurd asked.

  “I think they might be women that Oma brought,” Vel said. It took some time, moving at this distance, to round from their northern post to a more northwestern one.

  Getting low, Vel pushed through the underbrush, needing to get closer to get a better look at the two priestesses that idled at closed stone doors.

  [Feather Foot level 10]

  One was a brunette, and the other a redhead. She didn’t recognize the redhead, but that brunette, she knew her. Mandy, one of the healers.

  Vel closed her eyes for a moment, feeling a hand on her shoulder. If they went for this side, and Mandy fought back, or at least healed the enemy that did fight back, they couldn’t leave her awake, at the very least. Most likely, one of the knights would target her. Yet . . . she’s between me and Edard, Vel thought, remembering her resolve from the night before. She had to do this.

  Looking at the hand on her shoulder, she followed it until she saw Amalia crouched behind. Her eyes were firm, yet her expression soft. Vel looked back to the others, Enno looking nervous at her position from where she was, yet Sigurd confident in contrast. He was probably proud of her for something, she was sure.

  Turning around, Vel followed Amalia back to the rest of the group.

  “We’ll follow you, wherever you choose,” Sigurd said.

  “I hate it when you force me to be a leader,” Velmira replied, but took a deep breath. “But I need it,” she said, facing the men before her. Didn’t leaders, in moments like these, give some sort of speech? That’s what Edard said, and he probably would have wanted a speech. Vel, however, didn’t have damn time for speeches. So instead, she said this, “We’ll attack the women.”

  Looking over her shoulder, she noted that there was no one on the corners, not like they had concluded would have happened earlier. It was enough to give her a feeling that something else was afoot.

  “Something is going to surprise us. No one is on the corners of the temple. All that I know is that the brunette is a healer,” she said, looking back at them and giving as much confidence as she could. It was hard to shove out her naivety and timidity, things that had, up until this point, always just been a part of her. Rather, she was raised to be that way. Now, she needed to reject that. Though, she still felt young, and largely inexperienced, which was why she looked between Sigurd and Enno, almost pleadingly.

  “It is strange to station a healer with one other woman here,” Enno started. “It’s likely that the other woman is a spellcaster because of this. We’ll start with a quick attack to remove her from battle. Sigurd, can you do that with an arrow?”

  “Yes sir,” Sigurd answered, pulling his bow from his back.

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  “From there, we’ll proceed. Wait for my word to emerge.”

  The knights nodded, and Vel did so too in thanks.

  Sigurd pushed forward, quiet as a mouse, Vel following with the others behind him. Enno held a hand up with signals that Vel didn’t quite understand, but watching the knights, she learned that his hand parallel to his head meant to move forward. A fist stopped the group, and a wave signaled them to turn.

  There was the softest sounds of shifting as the [spear masters] readied themselves. They moved to be entirely in front of Vel, Amalia, and Aden, leaving only two behind them this time. Ten spearmen, plus Enno, were prepared to pounce. Two scouts maintained their positions on the north and south side of the building, something Enno had required of them earlier. Should the priests move, they had horns to signal with.

  Velmira held her breath, looked towards where Sigurd stood a distance away, propped up out of the brambles with his bow drawn. She looked towards the priestesses, pushing back the part of her that was sorry for this attack.

  She didn’t hear a sound when she saw the arrow fly, the twittering of birds and the gentle breeze far too loud. Yet, time seemed to slow, arrow condemning━

  It lodged into something invisible.

  [Skill gained: Mirage]

  [0.5 Magic added]

  A guttural cry sounded, half of the arrow visible and floating in midair while the other half had vanished! The two priestesses yelped, and together, they opened the temple doors, rushing inside and closing them behind them.

  Two horns sounded. The air before the temple shimmered as illusions began to drop, revealing knights of Retribution, wearing steel armor. A dozen of them, at least. The one with an arrow lodged in his arrow dropped to a knee, while a man beside him pointed at Sigurd.

  “There!”

  Vel’s gaze shot towards Sigurd, who pulled more arrows from his quiver ducked low, finding a spot to hide. She held back her gasp as an arrow flew past his head, covering her mouth with her hands. A knight from behind Vel pulled her into a low crouch, shielding her with the brambles. Shifting slightly, Enno holding a hand out to her to stay absolutely still, Vel found a spot to see past leaves towards the Retribution knights.

  Two of them with swords were charging out towards Sigurd.

  Enno pointed to four of his men, then made several motions. They turned, and each ran past Vel, further into the woods. She turned, watching as they rounded in Sigurd’s direction, though two of them went further out.

  “If we can get them to come into the woods like this,” Enno whispered, “then we can pick them off.”

  Vel gasped, as a sword protruded from his chest, a mirage shimmering off it. A [spear master] beside Enno was much quicker to react than she was, lunging his spear into an invisible man’s head. The man choked, becoming visible, as did three other enemy knights nearby. One landed another stab into a [spear master]’s chest, taking the opportunity to do so as the mirage faded.

  Vel staggered back as he ripped his sword free with a grunt and a scowl.

  “Good for nothing [illusionist]!” he growled, expertly batting away a spear with his hand and stabbing at a second spearman. The two behind Vel grabbed her shoulders, dragging her back, while the eight that remained in front of her took on the attackers.

  Scrambling to get her feet beneath her, Vel ripped her shoulders free from the two men on either side of her. She slid a dagger from a sheath on her belt, and then raised it to throw. However, with the [spear masters] engaged with the enemy, there was no clear opening that didn’t have her worried about hitting one of her own allies.

  With wide eyes, she shifted her gaze from the battle to Aden, who hovered over Enno’s body. His brow was dripping with sweat as, miraculously, he brought the man from the brink of death. Enno looked as flabbergasted as Vel felt, but not nearly as frustrated.

  Aden, on the other hand, turned to the other [spear masters], but they’d died already. Gone. Pushing aside the guilty feeling, Vel pushed past her protectors, stepping in Sigurd’s direction. The enemies who had gone after him were running in her direction.

  “Run! Scatter! Get her majesty out of here!” Enno ordered.

  “No,” Vel responded.

  There were only four of them approaching, the spearmen dealing with the others. And they were stupid enough to put Sigurd behind them, wherever he had gone.

  Amalia’s voice picked up beside her, the notes resonating past Vel’s ears, and if she didn’t know better, she would have said the very trees let her voice by, branches moving and leaves bristling as a blast threw the knights back.

  Jumping in their direction, Vel flew through the air. A combination of [spry jump], [rock throw] and [feather fall] carried her.

  [Spry Jump level 4]

  It. Was. Terrifying. She winced as a branch scratched her cheek, but kept her eyes on a knight that was pushing himself back up to his feet. She’d need to land her dagger in his face or in a joint to deal any damage, the rest of him covered in armor. Just before landing, Vel did just that.

  Chucking her dagger, she watched it fly, flipping through the air until the pommel smacked into the guy’s nose.

  [Dagger Throw level 32]

  That hadn’t been quite what she was expecting, but it did enough to buffet the knight. When she landed in front of him, she pulled a second dagger from her belt and took one small leap forward.

  [Spry Jump level 5]

  Landing on top of him, she shoved her dagger towards his face, grunting when he stopped it, his eyes wide. He held her wrist with a gauntleted hand, his strength apparent as he pushed against her. His other hand grabbed at a secondary weapon at his waist, and Vel threw her free hand against his face. She felt the heat leave his body as fire flew from her palm to his face. He howled, spasming just before her Dagger finally slid into his eye.

  As she ripped it out, she heard a thud beside her, grabbing a throwing dagger with her off-hand. A knight with an arrow through his neck laid beside her. She didn’t dare look at his face, not when she heard the metallic steps of the man approaching from her other side.

  A song stretched in the space between them, throwing the approaching man back to give Vel time to push herself up to her feet. An arrow whistled towards him as he scrambled up, Sigurd’s aim terrifying as it too pierced the man’s neck. She watched him, eyes hard and heart racing as she gazed into those grey eyes. She wished an arrow to the neck was quick, but instead, it was gruesome, the man choking as he fell to the ground.

  That left one. One of four left, and . . .

  Vel turned, searching. Where is he? she thought. Glancing in the direction of the [spear masters] and Enno. They had scattered, and Amalia was running towards Vel. There was no sight of Aden.

  “Velmira!” she called, practically singing it, her voice carrying the name past trees and thick underbrush. “Run!”

  “Vel!” Sigurd bellowed, an arrow nocked as he emerged from his hiding place on the other side of her. He released the arrow, which flew straight at her.