Tucker adjusted the mesh over his cloak and rolled his shoulder. It had been hours since they had left the dwarven stronghold, and the foliage he attached to his cloak weighed his body down. Even with the brief rest they had at the stronghold, it wasn’t nearly enough to keep him at peak performance, but given the circumstances, it was understandable. He glanced at Alex, who was hardly noticeable as he crouched beside a bush.

  “Stay close.” Alex pushed the leaves to the side, revealing a long brick road that stretched beyond the horizon. “We’ll need to follow this road from a distance to get to Everfall. If we’re lucky, this will be enough to keep us hidden.”

  “Do we have any ideas what’s up ahead?”

  Alex looked over his shoulder at Tucker, his appearance blending smoothly with the woodlands as dense natural textures covered his body. “Besides the usual, nothing new that I see.”

  Tucker moved beside Alex as they examined the terrain. Beyond the tall trees and overgrown vegetation, a vast field of tall grass stretched out before them. After they crossed the hills, the city of Everfall would be before them. He held out his hand as a gust of wind swirled within his palms. Soon, Gale emerged from the clump of spirit essence and flapped its wings. It glared at Tucker and pecked him several times out of annoyance before taking off into the sky.

  “Do you think we’ll make it in time?” Tucker asked, rubbing the sore spot on his hand.

  “Knowing Owl, most likely. He’s a tricky one to track unless you’ve worked with him before.” Alex gestured for Tucker to follow as they walked through the forest. “For now, we’ll move along the treeline and use it as cover while collecting information.”

  “Wait.” Tucker stared at the sky and stopped for a moment.

  The surrounding wind grew fierce and chaotic as he focused on a creature approaching their direction. Its wings sliced through the air with each powerful swing. Sending gusts of wind downward and propelling itself forward. It was the first time he saw one in person, but he knew what it was from the sharp talon claws and glistening aqua scales.

  “There’s a wyvern coming in our direction.”

  Alex clicked his tongue. “Stay low and in the forest’s shadow. We’ll let it pass before moving. We don’t want that thing to notice us.”

  The rookie knelt down beneath the tree’s shade and kept his head down. He could feel the wind caress his face as the shadow soared above them, nearly pulling his hood off as he grabbed onto the seams. As the beast passed, the leaves on the nearby trees began to sway and shake. Once the coast was clear, Tucker raised his head and stood up. “We’ll need to move fast before that wyvern circles back.”

  “Agreed.”

  Alex scanned the surroundings. There wasn’t a soul in sight, but something didn’t feel right about the situation. As they made their way through the forest, they reached the lush rolling hills before the city. Vast overgrown vegetation took over the area, reaching beyond the landscape. Rising and falling in smooth waves like ones you would normally see on the coast. Yet even though this should have been the last stretch, reality often differed from expectations.

  In front of the two were hundreds of tents lined up row by row. Countless guards were stationed at the perimeter of the encampment, patrolling the outside, and from afar, they could see many more in the hills scouting the terrain. There had to be several thousand soldiers resting in those tents, with their commander in the grand tent in the center.

  “Stay low. We don’t want them to see our silhouettes on the hill,” Alex muttered, following the patrols as they made their way through the plains.

  Tucker laid flat on the hill beside Alex. “Shit… what do we do?”

  “We can’t afford to kill any of them. It’ll only draw attention.” Alex gazed at the soldiers. “We’ll have to sneak around and pray to god that they don’t discover us.”

  “Wait, but shouldn’t we do something about the encampment?”

  “Just because we got lucky once on our home turf doesn’t mean we’ll get lucky again.” Alex moved back before standing. “If we even try to fuck with those guys, forget about rescuing Owl. We wouldn’t even be able to save ourselves.”

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  “Fair enough.” Tucker took a step back and slowly crept along the bushes. “How do we plan to get past them?”

  The old man examined the encampment and the landscape. Because of the terrain, it seemed like the General who was managing the army mainly created patrols along the outer perimeters. Creating a line of guards that carefully secured the area, yet in the center beyond their initial line of patrols, there was a drastic decrease in patrols.

  “Follow me. We’ll have to sneak by them.” Alex used the hill as cover while sliding down the side.

  “And how are we going to do that?” Tucker asked.

  “You’ll see.”

  “You know, I don’t know why, but I don’t like the sound of that.” Tucker followed closely behind Alex as they made their way towards the hill. He nervously looked at Alex and proned on the ground.

  They had walked around the general direction of the encampment where the patrols were heaviest and took a slight detour to the side. Yet Tucker couldn’t help but feel his heart beat wildly in his chest. As he laid down on his stomach, the hair on the back of his neck stood up.

  “Keep your head down, and don’t make a noise. If needed, make small movements at a time to get out of their way,” Alex quietly instructed.

  “What—?”

  “Shh.”

  Tucker remained still, not daring to move a single muscle as the sound of leaves being brushed aside drew closer. The sound of footsteps crushing the blades of grass vividly entered his ears. He kept his head down and moved his eyes upwards. Gazing at the guards that came into view with their weapons drawn. The fluttering noise of the Empire’s banners entered his ears as they approached and with it a sense of dread.

  “I don’t get why we’re stationed out here when the other armies are pushing towards the Kingdom,” one soldier said.

  “Just shut up and keep moving. The job is easy and pays well, so why the fuck are you complaining?” Another criticized.

  “Well, if we want to quickly rack up merits, then obviously we want to be where all the fightings at,” the soldier replied.

  Tucker held his breath as one guard walked past him. He felt the ground quake under their steps as his entire body froze, watching as bits of dirt were kicked aside. The muffled noise of their armor plates shifting, combined with the metallic scrapping sound of their boots, meant that they were practically right above him. Yet he didn’t dare to move. His eyes moved to Alex, who was carefully crawling out of the way of the guards. The seasoned veteran was using every opportunity to inch out of their way and despite the cold sweat dripping down Tucker’s face. He knew he needed to do the same.

  It was beyond risky, but there wasn't a choice. He bitterly cursed in his head while hugging the ground. His knees and elbows dug into the dirt as he cautiously crawled out of the soldier’s path. But before he could fully move out of the way, the sound of their footsteps stopped. Tucker paused as his eyes trembled. His heart fiercely hammering in his chest.

  They found us.

  The sinking realization hit him like a punch to the gut—they were caught. He screwed up, and there was only one way out of this situation now. They had to deal with these soldiers and move on, but the chances of Alex noticing were slim. He was too far away. If they wanted to keep their advantage and swiftly kill the patrol, it would have to be now.

  But before he could act, a sudden shift in the wind stopped him. The breeze swelled into a chaotic gust once more and Tucker’s eyes widened as he realized the familiar sensation. A chill crept through his spine despite the warm spring air. He tightly held onto his mesh and kept his head as close to the ground as possible. The wind roared as a thunderous current erupted through the area. Ripping the leaves off the nearby trees once more as a shadow blocked out the sun for a brief moment.

  “Fucking wyvern bastards. Flying so low just to fuck with us. They always do that shit,” the soldier cursed.

  “Who cares? The breeze is refreshing, and we should be glad they’re on our side,” another replied.

  “Whatever, let’s just keep going and finish this stupid patrol!”

  The soldiers bickered amongst each other as they continued walking down the hill. Once they were far enough from the duo, Alex gestured for Tucker to follow while crawling to the top. After confirming that there was no one nearby, they quickly descended to the other side.

  He crouched and let out a sigh of relief. “Thank god we got through that. I thought we were fucked.”

  “Yeah, that was far too close, even for my liking,” Alex muttered.

  Tucker wiped the sweat from his forehead, leaving behind a dirt smudge. “Should I have Gale scout up ahead?”

  “No. Knowing the Empire, they probably have spirit contractors now as well. They would easily detect your companion and expose our cover. Just have Gale watch from afar.” Alex gazed at the narrow ditch that was before them. “We’re going to follow this to the end. It’ll give us enough cover to slip past the rest of the patrols.”

  Tucker slid down the side, brushing aside the tall grass on the slope and landing on the dirt and loose pebbles scattered beneath his feet. He gazed at Gale, who seemed to notice him, and then made a circle with his index finger. Once his spirit understood the gesture, it immediately took off and disappeared from their sight.

  “How far do we have to go?” Tucker asked.

  “Probably an hour or two at our current pace. The terrains changed, but I have a general idea of where we are.” Alex peered over the slope between the tall grass before ducking back down. “There’s three more groups heading the way we came. We’ll need to move fast.”

  Tucker nodded in response. There wasn’t much room for discussion; right now, they were only moments away from Everfall. One patrol after another, they carefully maneuvered through the tall grass and hid in the shadow of the trenches. Seeing Alex’s leadership once more, he felt a sense of admiration and understood why everyone in the Order held him in high regard. It was unbelievable how smoothly things were going, and after witnessing it firsthand, Tucker knew that before he could be a ranger, there were other skills he needed to master.

  My goals this year are the following:

  - Write 500k words

  - Live a healthier life.

  - Build a backlog to launch Patreon

  - Read more books.

  - Perhaps fight a kangaroo (or befriend?).

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