The rest of the day passed quickly as everyone moved with more urgency and nervous energy. On more than a few occasions, Lanek observed individuals checking a section of wall or a pile of supplies multiple times within the span of a few minutes. He couldn’t really blame them, the looming threat was making him tense as well. Since he had finalized his plans for the coming battle, Lanek had been pacing the inner perimeter of the camp with numerous spheres moving around his body in seemingly complex patterns.

  As much as he knew that he needed to rest, Lanek couldn’t bring himself to stop training. He worked himself to exhaustion as the company around him trained as well, hoping to eke out another few skill levels before the gaunts arrived. They either couldn’t sleep or were betting on those extra levels being the difference between life and death. Eventually, the Garik and Isaac started barking orders at the trainees, forcing them to eat a meal and rest. They would allow no further training this night.

  Makes sense. The gaunts would rip through exhausted warriors, much less inexperienced AND exhausted soldiers. Fucking hell, I need to get to bed. Being drowsy and tired won’t help with my performance either.

  With those thoughts, Lanek forced himself to head toward his bedroll. When he arrived, he found Pharaoh still snoozing away. The poor furball was clearly dealing with the aftermath of draining his mana pool. Lanek gently lifted Pharaoh to the side, doing his best not to awaken him, before crawling into his bedroll. As he stared into the sky, trying to force himself to relax and sleep, he felt Pharaoh scoot back over and snuggle into his side while purring quietly. Lanek listened to the tressym purr for a moment before sleep took him.

  Several hours later, Lanek sprang to his feet in panic, sending a loudly protesting tressym falling to the side. Lanek spun around in panicked confusion, not knowing what had shocked him awake even as he reached for his sword. Seeing no imminent threat, he breathed deeply in an attempt to calm himself when he felt a wave of alarm go through him once more.

  This time, Lanek was fully awake and able to identify the feeling and its source. Sanguineus had reached out to him in warning. The gaunts were coming.

  He could feel Sanguineus’ desire to return. No, we can’t leave Kazuma vulnerable. Protect him until he awakens. Lanek felt Sanguineus’ frustration, but the wolf acquiesced.

  “So, they’re coming?” Pharaoh asked, trotting over to sit next to Lanek.

  “Yes. Sorry about throwing you off like that. Are you rested?” Lanek continued after the cat nodded. “Please go get Liv, Duristor, Garik, and Cithrel.”

  “Shouldn’t we wake everyone up?” Pharaoh asked, cocking his head to one side.

  “Not yet, the gaunts are hours away, let them rest as much as they can.” Pharaoh nodded at the explanation before flying off to wake Liv and the others.

  Max. Lanek sent his thoughts to the demigryph as he reached over and patted his companion. I want you to head out and meet up with Sanguineus and Kazuma. A siege is no place for you and I worry for their safety.

  Max responded with a feeling of comfort and reassurance as he headbutted Lanek gently. After receiving a few scratches, the demigryph shot off into the night. Lanek wasn’t too worried about the demigryph, even at a sprint the distance between the camp and Sanguineus’ position would hardly tire Max out. He was grateful that his soul-bound companions shared his ability to sense the general location of the others that shared that bond.

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  Lanek spent a few minutes getting his thoughts in order before Liv and the others arrived. After a brief discussion, they decided to allow the everyone to sleep until dawn, which would give everyone a little bit of extra sleep. In the worst case scenario, the gaunts would arrive in four hours. That scenario was rather unlikely, however, as it would only take that long for the gaunts to arrive if the forest did not slow them down. In all likelihood, the horde wouldn’t arrive until noon.

  Lanek sat cross-legged atop a shooting platform, his eyes locked to the south, waiting for any sign of the gaunts. Max had let him know a few hours ago that he had made it to Kazuma’s location and met up with his brothers.

  He looked around the encampment, making sure that everyone was in position for quite possibly the twentieth time in the last five minutes. As every other time, everyone was where they were supposed to be. Cithrel stood on a firing platform of his own, flanked by both Athas and Alanah. Kinat, the resident ranger, and his fellow archers were scattered among the remaining four platforms hidden among the trees.

  At the makeshift gate, Liv, Garik, and the rest of Lanek’s orc bodyguards anchored the center of the ranks of frightened rookies. Meanwhile, Duristor and the rest of the dwarves stood in the very front rank, just behind the spiked log. Lanek hadn’t been too sure about putting all of the dwarves in the front line. Sure, Duristor himself was a skilled warrior holding the Phalanx class, but his fellow dwarves hadn’t received combat classes until they began training with Garik as they had been simple craftsmen or laborers before being taken prisoner.

  However, Duristor had insisted on his people taking the vanguard. His argument had been that his people’s natural strength and stamina would allow them to hold the line for much longer than the humans or orcs. It would also help that it would take more damage to knock a dwarf out of the fight than the rest of the races present in the camp.

  Lanek reached down to the sacks arrayed around the platform, once more making sure that he had all of the materials he needed. The bags were filled with a wide variety of materials, including slivers of stone, thorn, and wood. Floating around his body were a number of metal spheres formed from the slivers of metal he had carried for use with his Splintering Dart spell. I need to be careful with Mass Driver, I don’t have many spheres and I don’t know when I’ll be able to get enough metal to make more.

  Suddenly, a loud boom startled Lanek. Looking up, he watched as several streaks of light flew at the encampment, only to explode in mid-air. Son of a bitch, they’re already here. How did they get close enough to attack without warning? The damn things normally can’t stop themselves from shrieking and throwing themselves at their enemies as soon as possible.

  Meanwhile, Cithrel focused on renewing the shield covering the front of the encampment. He couldn’t cover the whole camp, but one side was definitely doable. Calling on his contract with the elemental Plane of Air, he condensed the air above the gates, creating a barrier that caused the explosive spells to trigger on impact. As several more spells slammed into his barrier, Cithrel steeled himself.

  Down at the gate, Liv watched grimly as the lesser gaunts and their melee-focused evolutions charged out of the trees. The gaunts emerged from the trees silently at first, unleashing their shrieks of rage only when they were out in the open. Liv scanned the battlefield, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

  “Aye, girl.” Duristor rumbled from the front rank. “Something is amiss. It is not in their nature to sneak up on their prey.”

  “There is a leader, you think?” Garik asked.

  “Maybe. Or maybe it is the presence of those Evokers.” Duristor replied before shouting for his men to brace for the onslaught. The dwarves hefted their shields and braced themselves against the log barricade. Behind the dwarves, orcs and men angled their spears between the dwarves, using their sturdy allies as protection.

  Just before the first of the gaunts reached the river bank, Kinat barked the order to fire. A poor excuse for a volley flew at the gaunts, the shots fired seconds apart rather than in unison. While the archers in their ranks weren’t experienced or particularly skilled as of yet, they hardly needed to be expert marksman to hit their enemies in such a target-rich environment. The archers focused their fire on the banks of the river, each fallen enemy making it much harder for their fellows to enter the river, much less cross it.

  A shriek of rage erupted from the gaunts as a cloud of small projectiles punched into the crowd stalled at the river crossing. The shrieks quickly took on a note of agony as these projectiles entered their bodies and began spreading and growing within the gaunts, causing many of them to stop their advance due to the pain. Those lucky enough to not be struck by the thorn slivers of Lanek’s Splintering Dart spell instead found themselves rooted in place by the wood darts. Wherever the wood darts struck, vines and roots would spread from the point of impact and anchor to the ground.

  While the rooting effect would not last long, the archers made sure to take full advantage of the suddenly stationary target. Athas and Alanah in particular reaped a prodigious harvest as they fired with unnatural speed.

  Despite the sight of so many gaunts being slaughtered, Lanek did not allow himself to get overconfident. This was merely the cannon fodder, the more evolved and powerful creatures had yet to emerge from the forest. Lanek kept scanning the battlefield, trying to spot the Evokers as they stepped up the pace of their attacks, but they were nowhere to be seen.

  Dammit, where the hell are you bastards? Cithrel can’t keep his shield up forever...