Orland Wilderness, 1726: 0300 hours
Cold, freezing wind whipped across the blasted plains and howled through the large pine trees at the edge of the nearby forest. The sun wouldn’t rise for at least another three hours, giving the small team of mercenaries on the forest’s edge all the time they needed.
The three members stared out from their hiding spots in the underbrush at the small outpost roughly 200 feet away. Looking through her binoculars, the team leader spoke in a hushed tone, “Ok, listen up, somewhere in that outpost are the plans for the Anglorian invasion of Tolin. If the Anglorians take Tolin, then Orland has nowhere left to fall back to.”
Dropping the binoculars from her face, Kalina Jaskowska turned to face her team. She pulled a small bit of twine from her breast pocket and tied the loose strands of her flowing red hair back into a tight ponytail. She looked over to the skinnier man sitting against a large tree, “Roman,” she whispered, moving cautiously through the brush, “you know what you need to do right?”
Roman Zales pushed the thin wire frame glasses back up the bridge of his nose as he nodded, “I do, Commander, once we get within range of the outpost, I need to get us through the outer walls.”
As he spoke, he brought his gauntlet-ed hand up for emphasis. He wore a Pyric Slinger glove, a piece of technology used to harness the power of raw Pyricium energy into devastating attacks. He began making final calibrations as Kalina nodded to him and moved slowly back towards their last team member, Maria Pelka.
Maria was like a ghost to many others within the Orland Partisans. She had an almost unnerving way of moving through the wilderness and sneaking up on any enemy she found. It was whispered around the partisan camp that if you saw Maria, it was only because she let you.
In a wordless look, Kalina nodded to Maria and returned to her spot overseeing the outpost. By the time Kalina looked back, Maria was already gone. She knew her job and Kalina understood there was no use in repeating herself to the master scout. Maria would accomplish the task and the mission would succeed. She hoped.
Moments passed as Kalina and Roman sat in silence, ever watching the distant bobbing lights of the guard patrol’s flashlights.
Suddenly, one light went out. Then another. And another.
There was never any sound, just the sight of the lights flickering out one by one, like the darkness itself had reclaimed the light. Kalina knew there was some truth to that, Maria worked like a specter, an agent of darkness.
As the last light was removed from existence, Kalina turned to Roman, “Now, let’s move.”
The recent snowfall muffled their footfalls as they left the cover of the treeline and made their way across the open ground to the unwatched area of the outpost. The only sounds were the howl of the wind, and the soft crunch of boots moving through the powdered snow.
By the time they reached the outer wall, Maria was already waiting for them, a damp rag held in her hand as she cleaned her handheld blade. It was too dark to make out the color of the damp rag, but both Roman and Kalina knew what had soaked into it.
“Ok,” Kalina whispered as she pointed from Roman to the thin concrete wall, “you’re up, Roman.”
Roman nodded silently as he approached the wall and pressed his metal gauntlet against the concrete surface. The small metallic cylinder at his side began to glow a dull orange as the Pyric energy was channeled into his gauntlet. The concrete around his hand began to heat and glow that same dull orange as the energy poured into the wall.
In a flash, Roman whispered, “NOW!”
Instantaneously, Maria thumbed the small detonator in her hand as across the outpost, a small bag of explosives she had planted earlier in the night exploded at the same time as the concrete wall crumbled in on itself.
“2 minutes!” Kalina ordered to her team, “we’re in and then we’re out!”
The team charged into the outpost, as guards far beyond frantically rushed to the source of the explosion. Screams were heard as the team made their way towards a small prefab building not far from the wall they had breached through.
Alarms bells rang out into the cold night air as the Anglorian soldiers were roused from their beds and began to arm themselves to find the source of the explosions. “What the hell is going on?!” one officer yelled as he emerged from a small tent.
“Explosions at the vehicle depot!” a soldier responded in mid run to the growing fire. Quickly, the officer grabbed a nearby pale and rushed off after the soldier to assist in putting out the fire before it claimed the entire outpost.
One by one, the team made their way to the backside of the prefabricated building and waited. With a series of hand movements, Kalina gave her orders to the team. Maria and Roman nodded and peeled off around each side. Looking above her, Kalina saw a small window, as she stood and peeked inside, she saw a small group of what looked like basic grunts and two officers. They were all scrambling around, trying to deal with the now raging fire and order around units to assist.
With a mighty slam, Kalina rammed the butt of her rifle into the window with a loud smash. Before anyone could react, Kalina lobbed a small metallic orb through the now open window.
With the expert timing of a well trained squad, the orb exploded in a silent flash of bright light, as the three person team erupted from the two other entrances and quickly dispatched the blinded and reeling Anglorians.
Moving quickly, Kalina, Roman, and Maria searched the tables, and desks for any sign of the information they were tasked to find. It was only a few moments later that Roman motioned Kalina and Maria over, “Uh, Commander,” he said softly, “you need to see this…”
Approaching, Kalina looked at the large map of the Orland Kingdom with crudely drawn lines and movements listed all over it. However, it was one line that caught all their eyes.
“Oh no,” Kalina breathed, “their not attacking Tolin from this outpost…”
The map showed a large red line drawn from the opposite side of the large mountain range that Tolin was at the base of. “They’re crossing in through the mountains!”
Maria spoke for the first time, “Tolin won’t know what hit them, they won't be prepared!”
Kalina grabbed the map hastily and shoved the crumbled paper into her knapsack, “Partisan Command needs to see this! Let’s get out of here.”
Moving as one, the team exited the building and began to make their way back to the breach in the wall. However, as they were almost back to the breach a loud voice pierced the night sky, “Intruders! Stop them!”
Immediately, gunfire erupted around them, cutting the group in two. Maria and Kalina had made it to the breach, but Roman was cut off. “Roman! Hurry, we’ll cover you!”
The gunfire peppered against the concrete the team was using for cover as Roman was pinned back behind a small pallet of crates. “No!” Roman yelled back, “get out of here! I’ll hold them off!”
Then, before Kalina could shout another order for Roman to join them, Roman stepped out from behind the crates and raised his metal gauntlet. The Pyric energy flowing through it now had a bright reddish-orange tint to it as from his raised, open palm a column of fire erupted out towards the soldiers. “GO!” he yelled over the roar of the flames.
As she took a step forward to help Roman, Kalina felt herself being pulled back out the breach, “We need to go!” Maria yelled, “It’s what’s best for Tolin.”
Fighting back the will to run to Roman and join the battle, Kalina roared as she fired off a few rounds at the advancing soldiers before turning and running with Maria.
As the two sprinted back across the open plains, the sounds of battle still raged from the outpost, until finally, the pair reach the treeline and the sounds all fell away. Staring back at the outpost, Kalina watched as she saw Roman being dragged out the breach by an Anglorian officer.
“This is for you damn, dirty partisans,” the officer yelled into the silent night air.
He soon kicked Roman to his knees and with a quick flash, shot Roman in the back of the head. Roman’s body crumpled to the ground as the officer continued, “It’s over! Tolin will fall! Anglor will rise again and control all o-”
BLAM!
The round from Maria’s long rifle pierced the officer’s head between his eyes and he slumped to the ground, dead.
The other soldiers eventually rushed the treeline to find them, but by the time the Anglorians reached the forest, the partisans were gone. They had their information and though they may have lost one of their own, they would not lose Tolin. They would push Anglor back out of Orland. They would make them pay.