Chapter 12 - Part 1

CHAPTER TWELVE – DIPLOMACY, STEEL, STONE, & REVENGE
The 1st of Sypheros, 993 Y.K., about a half-hour past noon in Merylsward

Heavy feet made of stone, metal, and darkwood, given life by a permanent web of magics not understood by those who wielded them, made a steady march across the uninhabited part of town. This area was forest and grass, a section that was untilled and untouched. The people of Merylsward liked to have parks, and respected nature enough to give things their own space even in their town. More to the point, there wasn’t enough population to fill this area between the center of the bowl and the beach.

Close to four hundred warforged marched in three long lines. Speed was of the essence. Their mission was to eradicate every living being in the town, and they had to act before the people could realize that they were there and escape.

One warforged had two red stripes on its upper arms. It marched at the southern end of the line, keeping an eye on the formation, making sure the soldiers were adjusting to the uneven terrain. Another warforged, the leader of the group, had three red stripes, and an elaborate sigil on its chest. He was their captain, unit 7824FB, and he marched in the second row, in the center of the line.

The line approached a tree, and worked its way around it. This was nothing new, for there were many trees that they were avoiding. What was new was that the tree seemed to be growing a new limb.

Warforged were not the most perceptive of creatures, but a few noticed. One of them was their captain. This was likely due to the new limb appearing right as he was passing it.

The limb grew up, spreading out, but then it solidified into a decidedly female shape. Her skin looked like burnished wood, her hair had a pronounced, leafy texture, and her large, almond-shaped eyes caught the glowing mechanical eyes of the warforged.

“You don’t want to keep marching,” she whispered to him. “You want to dig in and take a stand, right over there. They’re coming at you, the powerful ones who killed Herschem the wizard, and militarily it makes more sense to not get caught all spread out without defensive fortifications.”

Then she folded up and disappeared, melting back into the tree.

“What was that unit?” asked one warforged. Of course he kept marching.

“A vision?” another asked. He seemed to always be more of a religious type, and when off duty he liked to follow battle adepts around.

The captain had quite a different reaction. “All units halt!” bellowed 7824FB. It took a moment for the command to ripple through the lines. Many warforged gave their commander quizzical looks.

“They have successfully dissed Herschem,” Captain 7824FB announced. “We see that he no longer rains his magic down. They are coming, and we need to form a defensive formation, not in the open.” He pointed to an outcropping, a wrinkle in the side of the gentle, downward slope that they were following. “All units report to corporals for digging duty and work two defensive formations, patterns alpha-delta!”

If the warforged found it odd that their captain had reversed his earlier commands of march and destroy, they did not say so. Warforged were not taught to question orders, no matter how many times they changed. They were also not taught to recognize fey, particularly the elder fey that did not live in the areas of the world where the bulk of the fighting took place. And even if they had recognized one, the powerful suggestion spell would still have been effective.