“We should have plenty of soldiers,” Erik muttered as he ruffled through the papers on his desk. “If the general keeps true to his words.”

“Let us hope so.” Waryk replied, looking up from the maps that he and Sunset were looking at, the two had been busy identifying possible defensive strategies to employ depending on which camp would be attacked, a task he was much suited for, as his illiteracy would not do him any favours. “I did a rough count at the last battle and I believe that there were a few hundred orcs on the last raid.” He looked down at the maps again and frowned. “Small wonder we were so quickly overrun.”

Noticeably, Captain Langston, the commanding officer of this operation, was not present. Not that that was any surprise to Sunset. In his place was Sergeant Jadrien, who helped Orys assist Captain Erik with the logistics of the operations.

“We should be good,” the redheaded sergeant reported, “most of the knights are on standby, and soldiers are already filtering in from the nearby camps and militia.” He looked at the assembled captains, “for all intents and purposes, it would look like the they are reinforcing Durnholde. That will keep the Horde in the dark of our true tactics.”

“Let us hope that they stay none the wiser then,” Orys muttered, idly scratching his growing moustache, “the greenskins are starting to feel like the ones my pa used to tell me about, not the ragtag mobs that we were used to fighting. Not to mention,” he casts sideway glance at Sunset, “they have a mage with them too.”

“Not a mage,” Sunset replied, eyes not leaving the map nor the mana crystal that was glowing in her hand. “The bolt of lightning at the time had no hint of the arcane in it.” Her eyes glowed as she recalled the magical attack that had split her pillar of fire. “Nor was it like the fel magic that the orcs used to employ.” She added, idly recalling the first time she had encountered an orc warlock. The magic in the lightning bolt had none of the wrongness, none of the corrupting influence that had been present in the battle that time.

No, the magic that had been employed was different. It had felt more…

Natural.

“If that is the case…” Erik spoke, “then we should keep Lady Shimmer in reserve.” He gave no time for Sunset to protest as he continued, “it is clear that the orcs know of you and will have prepared for your appearance. As such, you will have to stay back at the camp when we arrive with a small escort.” As Sunset tried once again to protest that statement, the knight captain stared her down. “That will be an order, milady. You will stay in the camp after you have brought the soldiers in and lend what magical support you can. But otherwise, you must keep yourself safe, either to bring in more reinforcements or to get our people out if things go badly.”

“Yes sir,” Sunset muttered sullenly, looking and sounding like her age for a brief moment.

“Good,” Erik nodded satisfied as he put the documents away and moved over to the map table in the War Room, looking at the others in the room, he continued, “now, as we have been told, Lady Shimmer can bring in about two hundred knights in one teleportation. As such, I believe that we should split the soldiers into clear divisions with their own distinct orders in case we could not be present to direct them.” The others nodded, seeing the wisdom in such a decision. Their army had very few commanders, as such, it would be better for the troops to act with clear orders in mind that could be overridden as needed.

“We shall have the army split into three groups. The first one should comprise of the mounted knights, we will strike the orc lines while they are surprised and quickly retreat back into the safety of the camp.” Erik made a motion where he caught his own punching fist. “That should buy us enough time for the second group to fortify the camp and wait for the reinforcements to join us before we march out against the orcs en masse.” He then folded his arms, “this way, we can bring the fight to the orcs and retreat back into the camp wherever necessary to regroup.”

Murmurs of approval rose from those assembled here, even from Sunset. It was a sound plan, keeping the orcs away from the encampment where the fighting would be the most chaotic should it happen there and bringing the fight to them, which would take the initiative away from the orcs and make it harder for them to strike at the camp.

“I shall lead the first company of mounted knights while Captain Waryk shall lead the second company on foot.” He looked at his fellow captain, who nodded in agreement. “We will follow Sunset through the portal first where Captain Waryk will take command of the camp while I move against the orcs, there, he will assess the situation and send Lady Shimmer back for reinforcements when needed.” He turned to Orys, “you will accompany me and escort our young mage, keep her safe, understood?”

“Yes sir!” Orys snapped a quick salute while Sunset tried her best to suppress an eye roll at that statement.

“Am I to presume that Captain Langston will be leading the reinforcements?” Sergeant Jadrien asked. At Erik’s nod, the man nodded, “aye, I’d let him know.”

Hopefully he would be competent enough to at least follow the plan. Sunset thought but wisely kept those words to herself. As much as she disliked that man, he was still a captain of Durnholde and many knights and soldiers took their orders from him. Outside of petty moves, Sunset knew that she should not do anything drastic.

Yet.

A sudden knock on the door drew everyone’s attention and the door was swung open to reveal Taretha standing there, a tray of snacks and refreshments in her hands,

“Ah, lady Foxton,” Erik grinned, “come in, come in. We have just finished our meeting, your timing could not be any better!”

“Ah, thank goodness,” Taretha smiled back, “I was worried that I would be interrupting.”

The good captain laughed and beckoned the young lady to lay the food on the table. One by one, the assembled officers muttered their thanks as they helped themselves to the food, chatting with Taretha as they ate. All except Sunset, who stared as subtly as she could at the woman from time to time.

She hides it well. Sunset noted. Looking at Taretha now, being the ray of sunshine that she was, one would never had guessed that underneath those sleeves and clothes were bruises that had been ‘gifted’ to her by the master of the keep. But even with all that going on, Sunset had to admire that spirit. From what she had heard, the girl had been Blackmoore’s mistress for years.

To have endured this sort of treatment for so long, one could only wonder how unbreakable her will was.

It was a pity, really, for such a person to be stifled so by the incompetent general Aedelas Blackmoore.

It was two days later, late into the night when Sunset felt one of the many alarms that she had set up days before flare up on her arcane senses. She had been lying in bed, resting after a full day's work of preparation when it had happened.

The orcs are attacking. Immediately, she sat up and with a snap of her fingers, her robes flew towards her which she quickly wore over the tunic and pants that she had donned. With another quickly muttered spellword, she saw her world being enveloped in a bright purple glow which faded to reveal the barracks before her, with many knights looking at her with shocked expressions. Quickly, she sought out the one that she was looking for.

"Orys!" She yelled, catching the man's attention, who sat up from his bunk and looked at her, his attention given wholly to her and the urgency of her tone. "The orcs are on the move!"

Eyes widening, the young man gave a nod, quickly barking out orders to his comrades, telling them to spread the word to the garrison and most importantly to find the other officers and gather them in the great hall. Satisfied with the results, Sunset turned, knowing that she was no longer needed here and quickly moved towards the agreed upon meeting point.

There in the great hall of the keep, she waited by the massive teleportation circle she had drawn on the ground with her staff of power in hand, watching as knights and footmen alike filed into the hall in neat orderly lines. Thankfully, she did not need to wait long, as the officers themselves began arriving.

Captain Erik was the first one to arrive, the massive man riding his steed into the hall. The captain did not speak, just offered Sunset a quick nod to acknowledge her presence before taking his place by her side. Afterwards, the other captains and sergeants showed up in quick succession, with Captain Langston and Sergeant Jadrien joining them last. The two had been conversing as they entered the hall, though Sunset could tell that it was a heated of argument of some sort. Sensing the discourse in the air as well, Captain Erik moved the meet the duo, steering his steed forward, with the rest of the group following after him.

"What is the matter?" Erik asked as he approached, catching the attention of the two men. Unsurprisingly, Captain Langston looked slightly abashed before reverting his pompous self, gesturing at the sergeant to explain whatever it was that they were discussing to his fellow captain. More worrying, however, was the fact the Sergeant Jadrien not only looked downright angry, but also very apologetic as he began his report.

"I'm sorry sir, but there seems to be a big problem that just came up." He gave a sideways look at Langston, "we will be missing at about two-thirds of our forces tonight."

"What?" Sunset exclaimed as Waryk and Orys echoed her words. To his credit, Erik maintained his composure and merely gave a smoldering stare at Captain Langston, who Sunset was pretty sure was responsible for whatever the sergeant was going to tell them.

"May I ask why?" Sunset could hear Erik's teeth clenching in anger from where she stood.

"Captain Langston had deployed them to scout the area around Durnholde," the sergeant reported, "and it would be a while before they could return."

"Of course I did." Langston protested, apparently unaware of the growing disapproval from the group. "As the commanding officer of this operation, I too have to make sure that the area around Durnholde is free from the greenskins! What if their attack on the internment camp is just a distraction? This place will be defenseless!"

It took all of Sunset's self-control to not incinerate the blabbering fool where he stood. Which was a wise choice, as Captain Erik swiftly took control of the situation.

"Enough!" He spat, the tone in his voice shutting his fellow captain down. Turning his gaze to the sergeant, Erik asked, "can you send out messengers? Get the troops back to here in time?"

"I had already sent out messengers, milord." The sergeant replied to which Sunset nodded in approval, at least some people have more sense. "Some of them just left and we should be able to get them back in under an hour."

"Good, then we shall stick to the plan. Wait here and prepare the forces, once Magus Shimmer comes back for you, you shall join us at the camp. The rest of us shall move out now." With that said, Captain Erik steered his steed around, moving to return to the teleportation circle.

"Wait!"

What now? Sunset groaned inwardly as Langston moved to stand before Captain Erik.

"I regret to inform you of this now, but I am making changes to the battle plan." This time, Sunset made to move a hand up, a spell at the ready but held the action back when Orys placed a restraining hand on her arm, shaking his head as if to tell her that whatever it was that she was planning to do, it was not worth it.

Yet. Sunset promised to herself.

"What changes are you making on the eve of battle?" Erik asked, incredulous to what he was hearing.

"As the commanding officer of this operation, it would not be right for me to not be part of the advance force." Langston sniffed, "as such, I shall join you."

"Then who will lead the second company of soldiers?" Erik asked.

"I will," Captain Waryk volunteered, stepping forward. As Erik turned to face him, the other captain gave his reasons, "with the troops coming in late, I believe that I will be better suited to organize them to prepare for the second teleportation trip. Captain Langston can take my place to command the infantry in the first wave, I believe that he would be better suited to the role than to organize groups of returning troops."

The hidden jab at Langston was unnoticed by the man himself, but Sunset could appreciate the candor.

"Very well." Captain Erik acquiesced, "let us move to the teleportation circle then." Kicking his steed gently, he directed it forward, with Captain Langston scrabbling to keep up behind him.

As Sunset moved to follow, she could not help but notice a familiar face amongst the castle staff that had come to see the army depart. Giving the other girl a wave, Sunset moved to join the army,

"Are you ready, Magus Shimmer?" Captain Erik asked, the aggravating Captain Langston by his side. As Sunset nodded, he turned to Orys who was standing beside her. "Orys! Pick two of the knights, you are to act as our mage's escort. Make sure that no harm comes to her, she's our only way to bring in more troops and also our only way out!"

"Yes sir!" Orys saluted, giving Sunset lopsided grin as she turned to look at him. "I'll die before I let an orc get to her, sir!"

“I’d be holding you to that, Sergeant.” Sunset remarked, before a playful thought occurred to her, “if an orc gets to me, I’ll take it that you’ll owe me one?”

“You can count on me to keep that from happening, milady.” Orys chuckled. “Unless you decide to go find one without us.”

“Now, if you are quite finished,” Erik remarked dryly, interjecting before Sunset could reply, “perhaps we can get a move on?”

Sunset gave a nod to both men and began channeling the mana into her body. Feeling the familiar warmth flood her very self, she opened her eyes and gave the Captain a nod, indicating that she was good to cast the spell when ready.

A nod in reply was all that was needed.

As Sunset released the mana into the circle below, a massive light filled the Great Hall and when it faded, the army of the Alliance was gone.

Author's Note

Now this chapter was a pain in the ass to write, especially since this was formerly part of a single big chapter that was over 15000 words long that I decided to split into 4 chapters but could not find the time to get around to doing.

Anyways, big showdown incoming next chapter! Hope you guys enjoyed this one and are looking forward to the next!