Mud, Blood, and Magic 2 Chapter 1

Preface: I do this because I got caught in writers block for Revenant's Resolve and had a wild hair. The chapters will be uploaded at irregular, unexpected intervals, based purely on my own whims and amount of writers block.

with that being said - enjoy >:)
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“Sir, Baker company just sent a runner!”

Sam scratched his nose and glanced up at the disheveled-looking Sergeant that burst in through the doorway. He vaguely remembered the man and attempted to remember his name as well.

“And… where is he Sergeant Zellin?” Sam asked, rolling his head to the side quizzically.

Sergeant Zellin straightened out, licked his lips once, and extended a hand with a blood-stained letter.

“He… bled out.” Sergeant Zellin gulped and seemed to look everywhere but Sam’s face. “The doctor is working on him now, but…”

“Snipers again?” Sam frowned and let out a barely-audible curse. He knew the answer - the Darabadians had been making his life a living hell as of late, sending small teams of scouts that had no orders other than to cause chaos, and return to the line.

The scouts would creep past the outer line of trenches around Gerra, hide in some obscure nook, and fire at people they believed were important. Sam had even been on the receiving end of a large fire spell hurled his way last week, and it slipped past Kara’s defenses.

“Y-yes, Captain.” Zellin stuttered as Sam snatched the letter from his extended hand.

“We manage to catch ‘em this time?”

“No sir.” Sergeant Zellin shook his head fractionally. “I believe Sergeant Noiesjel or one of his men got a shot off at them from the wall, but they were too far out.”

“Fuck, okay - thank you Sergeant, that’ll be all.” Sam nodded his thanks with a thin-lipped smile and returned to the large table in the center of the room, covered by a large map that had more in common with a tablecloth.

Unfolding the small piece of paper, Sam scowled and moved a small game piece back from one hastily-scrawled line to the other.

“Did someone flee the field again?” Henfri asked in her telltale, constantly-amused tone. Sam glanced over to her and snorted before shaking his head.

The mountain of a Drake-Kin woman sat in a chair that was altogether too small to support her frame, creaking loudly as she shifted her weight. Henfri had her long, prehensile tail tucked through the back of the chair, and one leg folded demurely atop the other as she squinted at the page of a book.

“They fell back to a more advantageous position, Henfri; they didn’t ‘flee’.” Sam tossed the note into a small trash can beside the table. “And besides, shouldn’t you be up on the wall with Thom?”

Henfri glanced up from the page of her book as her tail lifted and curled around her front, resting across her lap to present the large bandage wrapped around it.

“I was wounded in the line of duty,” Henfri practically beamed up at him. “The Sergeant ordered me to return to the city.”

Sam frowned and approached the woman, who set the book down on her lap and smiled confidently up at him. In truth, she watched him from nearly the same height as Sam stood normally. Even sitting down, Henfri still cut an imposing figure.

“Wounded in the line of duty, eh?” Sam clucked his tongue and knelt down in front of Henfri before grabbing her tail with one hand, and the bandage with the other. Gingerly, he peeled it back just enough to take a peek inside.

He didn’t want to hurt her further if she was actually wounded, however - this was Henfri.

Sam wasn’t buying the sob story one bit.

Peeking inside the bandage, he found more or less what he expected; several torn scales, a decent-sized gash, but nothing even close to something that would take her out of the fight.

“Hmm,”  Sam grunted and gave Henfri a nonplussed glare.

“As you can see, my tail has been woefully injured!” Henfri said in a melodramatic wail, flopping back in her chair. “My center of balance, I may never recover! Do you see why Sergeant Noiesjel has removed me from the line?”

“I can see why the Sergeant would send you to the medic for a bandage - we don’t want that getting infected.” Sam stood back up and folded his arms across his chest. “Let me guess, the Sergeant’s orders were something along the lines of: ‘go get that patched up, don’t want you bleeding all over my post.’ Eh?”

“I believe he said ‘wall’, but yes.”

‘Ah, the specialist mafia exists even here. Shamming is just a way of life for them.’ Sam thought with an internal roll of his eyes.

‘I believe they exist everywhere, darling.’ Ellie chimed brightly in his head, a soundless giggle present in her tone. ‘And may I remind you-‘

‘No you may not.’ Sam cut her off firmly, but warmly.

“You know, there may actually be a treatment for what ails me so!” Henfri snapped her fingers and smiled toothily. “I believe human mothers often say that a kiss will fix all injury.”

“Well, I believe that you’re also full of shit. You’ve had a nice two-hour break, Henfri, the men need you and your Procjze on the wall.” Sam nodded towards the door of the small storefront he used as an impromptu command post. “What with Baker falling back, the other lines are going to need cover while they blow the trench connections.”

“There are other rifles and Mages for that work.” Henfri scoffed and waved a dismissive hand, clearly intent on staying in her seat for a while longer. “Besides - the Darabadians have been casting spells far too close to your command post lately! How would you escape if one hit the building and caused it to collapse upon you without your bodyguard here?”

Sam chuckled and rolled his eyes as he set her tail back in her lap with a small degree of care.

“Alright, fuck it ‘Bodyguard’,” Sam stressed the name with a teasing tone as he grabbed his flat-brimmed helmet off the desk. “I’m gonna go check out the situation from the wall myself. And since you’re my bodyguard, then I guess you’re just gonna have to come with me.”

Henfri’s eyes narrowed slightly, both in eyelid and pupil before she chuffed and lifted her tail off her lap.

“Well played.” The Drake-Kin groused playfully as she rose to her feet, towering over Sam.

“Mmm, come on, let’s see what Thom’s got on the wall for us today.” Sam said after slapping the helmet down a smidge too hard on his head with a soft clang. He grabbed his rifle from where it leaned next to his desk and slung it over his shoulder before turning for the door.

Opening it, he found the hemmed-in streets of Gerra as frenetic as ever.

Soldiers hustled to and fro, carrying weapons, ammo, and other supplies to different points around the city, and likely the trench network beyond. Distant gunfire and explosions also sporadically rang out like an ever-present drumbeat, almost rhythmically scoring the movements of the soldiers operating inside of the city.

“Oh! Sam! I was just coming to see you!” the distinctive, almost-scottish accent of Kara rang out over the din of the soldiers boots and shouted orders.

Turning his head in the opposite direction that he was heading, Sam found the Dwarf slowing down from a jog. She looked red-faced and slightly winded as she slowed to a fast walk and braced her hands on her hips.

“What’s up, Kara? Something wrong?” Sam asked with a quirked, inquisitive brow.

“No, good news, actually!” Kara stated with wry grin and a short shake of her head. “Warrant Officer Telum just woke up - it looks like whatever the doctor did actually worked. From her, we can contact high command again!”

“Out-fuckin-standing!” Sam smiled widely and smacked Henfri on her upper arm. “Alright, big girl, change of plans, looks like we’re headed to the clinic.”

With the same hand, he gestured for Kara to lead the way, to which she did - though at a far more sedate pace compared to her earlier run.

Less than twenty minutes later, and they were at the bunker-like building that had been retrofit as a hospital by the company doctors of each respective unit under Sam’s command.

Out front were several lower enlisted with wounds that were most likely superficial, but still needed treatment.

One wore a bandage over one eye, another had a slightly blood-soaked bandage wrapped around a leg, and a third wore his jacket over a bare, bandaged chest. It looked to Sam like the trio were playing a game of dice.

“Oh, shit. ATTE-“

“Nope!” Sam barked with a short chop of his hand, cutting off the soldier’s call to attention short as Kara held the door open for him.

In reply, the soldier let out a stuttering squeak before nervously looked to his compatriots as Sam passed by them at a brisk pace.

Pulling off his helmet more out of instinct than desire, Sam wrapped the strap around the hilt of his long bayonet at his belt and continued inside, pausing for a moment to let Kara lead him to Telum.

“She’s in the recovery ward now,” Kara informed as she stepped past him, pointing to a crossroads in the hallway ahead.

Sam didn’t reply, instead simply following her to a door that she opened without knocking.

A medic was gently daubing a towel onto Telum’s forehead, and as soon as Telum laid eyes on Sam, she attempted to shoo the woman treating her away.

“Leave, I will deal with this, and then you ca-“

“Miss, there are other wounded that need to be tended to, and I don’t have room in my schedule until I check in to-“ the nurse interrupted, before being interrupted by Telum herself.

“Fine then, I have more important matters to attend to. Such as the success of the entire regiment.” Telum shot back, causing the medic to sigh dramatically and step back from the bed. Turning to Sam, she gave him a pointed look before speaking in a tone that the corporal’s stripes on her arms in no way justified.

“Do not let her get out of bed, or even try to sit up any more.” The medic instructed with a deep frown. “She will be good to move around in a few days, but until then, her stitches still need time to heal, particularly the ones inside of her. Am I clear?”

Sam was momentarily taken aback by the direct order from someone so far down the proverbial totem pole, but then realized that she knew far more about medicine than he did, and thus she was in the right.

‘Goddamn, these bars are going to my fucking head.’

“Will do, doc.” Sam nodded deeply once before asking: “Anything else I should know about Ms. Telum here? Things to avoid?”

“Not really.” The Corporal shook her head quickly. “Just make sure she doesn’t move anything but her arms and mouth, and only moves those sparingly. She’ll likely make a fast recovery if she doesn’t undo the work of my superiors.”

“Understood.” Sam smiled thankfully at the woman before she squeezed past him, Kara, and Henfri, shutting the door behind her.

“Captain, it’s good to see you.” Telum gave Sam a brisk nod as he turned back towards her with a bemused grin. “I would salute, but…”

Telum gestured to her bandage-wrapped stomach with an ill-contained smirk.

“Don’t start that shit with me, Telum. I’m here to check in with high command, not to have my ego stroked.” Sam chuckled and moved to sit down in the chair beside her bed. “You got enough juice in you to make a call for me? We haven’t heard shit since we got encircled, and no one seems to know anyone they can call over the mage-gate to get me to higher-ups.

“Kara and Amy even tried to read your stones while you were out, but she couldn’t recognize any of the signatures that weren’t part of this company.”

“Oh, I have more than enough ‘juice’ to open a portal. In fact, I’m overflowing with Mana right now, and if I don’t do something with it, I will go stir crazy.” Telum snorted with a scowl and roll of her eyes. “These doctors wont even let me outside to throw out a couple of spells.”

Sam frowned and looked to Kara with raised brow, unsure of what the woman meant.

“Mages constantly take in Mana, Sam. If we overfill the reservoir, it can lead to feedback issues. Like your ears ringing after a loud noise, but your entire body.” Kara explained with a warm smile. “Usually when we hit that point, we’re just constantly throwing up a low-power spell around us to burn off the excess. Warming up the air around us a degree or two, creating a small breeze, that sort of thing.”

“Huh, okay. Is that why the room you’re in is always warmer?” Sam queried with a thoughtful expression.

“It is.” Kara nodded and then pointedly looked back to Telum.

Getting the point, Sam also turned back to the older woman, who watched Sam and Kara with an almost sad smile.

“What?” Sam asked after a moment of awkward silence.

“You two remind me of myself and Edwin, when we were younger.” Telum snorted once and her gaze fell into what felt like a thousand-yard stare. “There was a time, those years ago when we had such grand adventures…”

For close to ten seconds, nothing further was said as Telum clearly watched a memory no one else was privy to.

Then, she blinked the mist away from her eyes and shook her head, returning to the flat, impassive expression she normally wore.

“Anyway. Yes, high command.” Telum raised a hand and pointed to the far corner of the room. A bag, belt with an array of pouches, and a rather crispy-looking uniform were piled up on a chair there. “My stones are in the back belt pouch. Ms. Coalbelt, if you would tap into this discussion so the Mages at command can learn your signature, and you theirs, that would be optimal.”

Before she had even finished speaking, Henfri was already lumbering over to the pile, returning to the other side of the bed with Telum’s belt in hand. She set it beside Telum before opening a pouch on the back side of it, withdrawing a small cloth bag.

“These are them, yes?” Henfri asked, holding out her hand to the Warrant Officer with a broad, toothy smile.

“Correct,” Telum nodded as she took the proffered stones. Then, she simply upended the bag into her hand and stared pointedly at them. As if her glare had caused the opalescent red rocks to start working out of fear, they began to rattle, then lifted off of her palm in lazy circles.

Slowly, the Mage-Gate stones increased in velocity, bolts of black lightning snapping between the edges of the growing oval until it became a flat, black pane of energy.

Then, the color white flooded into the image from the edge of the oval, and a greyscaled image of an office was displayed before Sam and the trio of women.

“Ah, Ms. Telum!” A deep, resonating voice boomed over the connection from a stocky man with broad beard. “It’s good to know you still breathe. After three weeks without contact, I had feared the worst. What is the situation in Gerra? Does the regiment still stand?”

“Mr. Minehammer, the regiment does still stand. Is General Keyrinnjha present? Myself and the ranking officer need to make… several reports.” Telum answered simply as the man on the other end of the line pursed his lips, then nodded. “Mm, she’s in a meeting currently, but I believe this will take precedent.”

With that, the man of clear Dwarven descent rose to his feet and began to walk with his end of the portal trailing along behind him like a lost puppy. With three solid knocks on a door at the other end of the room, the man opened it to reveal a long meeting table crowded with officers.

“General Keyrinnjha, I have word from High-Chief Warrant Officer Telum, and the Thirteenth Infantry Regiment at Gerra.”

“Ah, that’s wonderful news Mr. Minehammer!” an Elf at the far end of the table smiled broadly from the head of the long table, raising both her hands exuberantly. “Now, if you all will excuse me for a while, our favorite unit needs me.”

A series of grumbles and acknowledgments came from the table as General Keyrinnjha rose to her feet and rounded the table before stepping into the room that Minehammer had come from.

She closed the door behind her with a quiet -snick- and sighed exasperatedly before turning back to the portal.

“Ms. Telum. What the hell happened over there?” the General interrogated sternly, snapping over to the Mage-Gate with a scowl. “I haven’t heard hide nor hair of anyone from the Thirteenth for nearly three weeks! I would’ve thought you overrun were it not for our spies telling me that Gerra, somehow, still stood.

“And even then, we couldn’t be sure if what we were hearing was old information or no-“ The General stopped mid-sentence and seemed to process the image she was seeing through the portal as her face shifted from consternation to concern. “Vera, why are you covered in bandages?”

“A bomb went off in the Colonel’s chambers while we were meeting with the subordinate officers of the Regiment, General. There were… not very many survivors.” Telum answered in a hollow tone, blinking and shaking her head before continuing: “We lost… most of the senior officers in the regiment, along with their magical support. As it stands, the current ranking officer of the regiment stands beside me.

“This is Lieutenant-Captain Volkjel, along with his Mage, Warrant Officer Coalbelt.”

“Vera… I-“

“Respectfully, General, this is not the time to grieve.” Telum shook her head in a snappy way before sucking in through her teeth and reaching a hand to the stitches on her abdomen. “We grieve when the war is over. Coalbelt, I’m passing the spell over to you now. I trust you can handle the Mage-Gate from here?”

“Aye, I can.” Kara waved her hand in a pulling motion and drew the portal nearer to her. “Apologies, General, but I believe Ms. Telum needs her rest. She was caught in the explosion. If you don’t mind, I’m sure there’s a room nearby we can use to coordinate and plan.”

The bedridden Warrant Officer opened her mouth to speak before exhaling and nodding gingerly.

“Alright, General, let me see if I can find us a meeting room or something in this hospital. Maybe a nearby building that isn’t packed with ammo.” Sam offered when Kara glanced pointedly and gestured with her eyes towards the door.

“No need.” General Keyrinnjha waved her hand dismissively as she looked over her shoulder to the meeting room she’d exited. “I will have my Mage make contact in an hour, after my current coordination meeting with the field marshals. If you have somewhere high, somewhere that I can get a decent lay of the land through the Mage-Gate, that would be preferable.”

“Understood, General.” Sam nodded snappily, having just the place to show exactly what they were dealing with here. “I’ll see you soon.”