Chương 50: Into the Camp

It was a particularly cold and dark night they'd chosen to raid the camp. It might have been wise for Aaron to wear another layer or a thicker coat, but he stuck with light, long-sleeved clothing to keep him agile and quiet. Giddeon had given him a light chainmail vest to wear underneath. It was tough enough to block an arrow at close range or take a slash from a shortsword, but it would make little difference against a direct puncturing wound, like talons.

Paige, on the other hand, had a well-crafted set of leather armour. The suit fit snug on her body, allowing for maximum agility and minimum noise whilst thick dark brown pads covered all vital areas. The leather was marked and worn, potentially even scorched in places. It was clear that it had seen battle before. Alex was with Giddeon, setting the fires. Whilst Aaron had grown to trust him more, Giddeon was still secretive and guarded. Borderline paranoid, really. Likely because he didn't trust him either.

But not nearly as much as he distrusted Alex. Giddeon probably thought there was a risk of him defecting back to the peacekeepers and alerting them of the plan for a cut of the reward.

"It's been hours, do you think they're okay? Should we go and check if they need help? I can send Cuthbert," Aaron asked quietly. They were about fifty paces away from the camp, crouched in a dense bush amongst the trees. They were difficult to see, but if any of the soldiers had magically enhanced hearing, they might get noticed if they were reckless.

"Just hold tight. He'll do his part," Paige said confidently, "he knows what he's doing. He will take his time to plant the spirits perfectly. We have a few hours until dawn anyway." Aaron nodded, but shuffled impatiently. Every second wasted was a second closer to something bad happening to Tim. Using his time wisely, Aaron inspected the camp ahead. He didn't risk sending Cuthbert up to scout as they had seen him before and would probably suspect a bird flying over. There was a row of tents in front of them.

These looked like the soldiers' quarters where they slept. A few hundred paces over to the left was the entrance to the camp and the main road. There were a few large open tents sheltering tables full of scrolls and books. Also to the left were several large fires with cooking apparatus placed over them; the equivalent of a kitchen for a makeshift camp. Further ahead were the animal cages with various corrupted beasts locked away.

Some Aaron recognised as native species, such as birds, dogs and vermin, however, some were far too mutated and beyond recognition. The jails and Tim's tent were out of the way to the right, which was lucky for Aaron. All he had to do was sneak around the back. It would be easy to go unnoticed, especially with a good distraction. There were several patrols of guards to look out for. They appeared to always work in groups of three.

A dog and their handler, who was likely to be a magic user, if anything like the patrol on the road. The two soldiers with them were heavily armoured in Bronze Hawk-crested metal gear and carried pikes. These were the ones to avoid, but also the ones most likely to be distracted and fight off the frenzied dogs if all went to plan.

"I see fire, do your thing," Paige whispered. Sure enough, several foci of flame flickered in the distance. They were small and difficult to notice, but would surely grow over the next few minutes. Dark smoke was just about visible over them if you looked closely. The slow burn was likely by design to give Giddeon an important few minutes to ride around and join Aaron and Paige from the south. Although they didn't have the luxury of time to wait for him. They had to put their plan into motion quickly.

Aaron filled his aura with anger. It didn't take much work as he had a lot of reasons to be pissed off at a lot of people. It did, however, take quite a strain on his mana. It was usually not particularly strenuous, but he had to work hard to reach camp. At least ten dogs were patrolling with keepers, and there's no way he had the mana or focus to control each one individually. The animals in the cages stirred first. A cacophony of shrieks filled the camp.

The mixture of whistles, screeches and thumping into the wooden bars was eyewatering, like a choir full of angry pigs. A loud alarm went off in the camp. Elementalists who specialised in air magic were known to possess the ability to manipulate air to make or amplify sounds. It was a deep, bellowing horn which Aaron felt in his chest. Guards hurriedly flooded out of the tents. Some went to the cages to secure the creatures whilst others ran towards the fields where the fires were.

The keepers started to struggle with the dogs as they pulled on the leads and snarled. One even jumped and tried to bite an armoured man, but he had the reflexes to duck backwards and backhand the beast with his plate gauntlet. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Nonetheless, it was carnage. Whilst the dogs weren't particularly numerous, they still caused a massive disruption.

Especially when half the camp's forces fled to investigate the fires. It provided a much needed distraction.

"Let's go," Aaron ordered as he ran out of the bush. It was so noisy and chaotic that the need for quietness was completely redundant. Although they still stuck to the shadows and stayed out of sight. Aaron rushed through the overgrown forest to the backs of the tents. Paige followed closely, but her movements were more skilful and deliberate, making far less sound and traversing the area with ease. They stuck close to the backs of the tents and darted between the gaps.

All attention was to the inside of the camp and to the west where the fires were. A Mana Hound nearby was lashing out at the soldiers. A second man lassoed a rope around its neck and pulled it over onto its side. Aaron wasn't even channelling into his aura anymore. A gentle push was enough to drive these beasts into a state of fight or flight. The panicked guards did the rest of the work for him. They continued past twenty or so tents until they reached the makeshift jail.

It was a large hexagonal tent with soldiers stationed outside the front. These men were disciplined and did not leave their post, despite everything that was happening. They each wore heavy armour and held a pike. Paige brought out a knife and tore a vertical line through the back of the tent. It made a loud rip as the blade tugged through it, but the alarm overshadowed it. She held open the flap and gestured for Aaron to go inside. As he did, he saw several man-sized wooden cages around the edge of the room.

He was directly behind an empty one. In fact, most of them were empty. A sleeping dishevelled soldier was slumped over in one. And Tim was across the room to the right. A soldier was sitting in the middle of the room on a chair facing away from him. He was eating a sandwich. Aaron grinned and powered up his Manipulate skill, sensing the meat between the bread. A gust of wind nearly knocked him over from his crouched position, and a dart of silver shot across Aaron's vision.

The knife made a firm thump as it hit the back of the soldier's neck. He fell forward and went limp in his chair, dropping his sandwich to the floor. Aaron looked in shock to see Paige behind him, her arm was still outstretched from the throw. He could barely believe his eyes. He reminded himself of the stakes of the situation. For Aaron, it was kill or lose his brother. But for Paige, she just wanted to get stronger and train. But she probably understood that a mistake here could cost them all their lives.

She definitely didn't look like she was enjoying herself. This was a kill of necessity, Aaron thought.' Do no harm' used to be Aaron's mantra. He believed it to his core. But right now it felt like a distant fantasy. Everything out of the city seemed to challenge his beliefs. No matter how he acted, harm would happen, and all he could do was change the recipient. Right now his brother needed him, and he was not going to draw the line at harming these guards. Paige gave Aaron a wide-eyed blank stare.

Her upper lip was stiff, and she had a focused half-frown.

"Aaron, I had to. He would have…"

"I know, I understand," Aaron interrupted Paige before she could justify herself. There was a sadness to her voice, almost mistakeable for shame. Paige forced out an uncomfortable smile, "Come on, let's get Tim." Paige went first. She squeezed out between two of the cages into the centre of the tent and cut across to Tim on the right of the room. He was crouched in the corner of the cage, holding his knees to his chest. They couldn't make out individual words, but the two guards out the front were talking.

They hadn't noticed the man inside yet. Aaron peered out before crossing over to Tim. The guards were out of sight, sitting just around to the side of the entrance so they couldn't see directly in.

"Tim," Paige whispered. He hadn't looked up from his crouched position. It wasn't clear if he was asleep or cowering in fear.

"Paige?" He replied in a sad, defeated voice.

"Come on, let's get you out of there," she said. Aaron had already retrieved a large keyring from the belt of the dead guard in the centre of the room. It contained at least fifty different keys of varying sizes. He handed it over to Paige, who started working her way through, looking for the right one.

"Aaron, I don't feel right," He groaned.

"I feel angry, and I keep losing control. It's like something takes over and I can't control it."

"Don't worry, Tim, we have a plan," Aaron said confidently. Although "plan" was a loose term. The reality was that they had little idea what to expect in the mine other than monsters and armed guards. All the planning in the world didn't help, because in the chaos the only plan that came to the front of his mind was "fight or die." Tim appeared reassured. He responded with a faint smile. The lock clicked, and Paige pulled the padlock off the door.

The wooden door swung open, and Aaron put his hand out to help his brother. As Tim put his hand out to pull himself out of the cell, Aaron noticed his fingers had changed. They were blackened on the ends, and his nails had thickened and grown into small hooked talons. Aaron stifled his shock and smiled at his brother as he supported him out and to his feet. He didn't want to draw attention to it in case Tim hadn't noticed. And he had noticed, he wanted to mask his concern as best he could.

"How do you feel now, Tim?" Paige asked softly. It reminded Aaron of her kind, caring side, like when they met in the city.

"I'm ok at the moment," Tim said.

"Good. We have a sleeping potion for emergencies. If you feel like you're going to lose control, tell me before it gets too late," Paige said. Tim nodded, with a scared look on his face. They walked across the room to the slit in the tent. The plan was to sneak back out and make their way into the mine through the chaos.

"STOP!" A voice called from the end of the tent. A heavily armoured guard ran in with his pike angled towards them. Another followed shortly after.

"Surrender or die! I won't ask again," he said. Aaron stood sideways on, with his dagger out and pointed towards the peacekeeper. He knew it wouldn't be a fair fight. He had no combat training and was barely armoured. But it was time to test his plan. Fight or die.