Before the orc army could reach the gnoll camp, Austin and the others quickly moved to change their position. The orcs would be there any moment, and they needed to be ready. Once the initial chaos broke, Austin figured that the gnolls would try to secure their prisoners. As they moved into position, Sean kept his birds in their positions. Not only was it a risk to move them, but keeping them in position gave him a myriad of advantages. He could continue to use them to look over the camp, and he could use them to attack from their point.

  “You can still see through them?” Austin asked Sean in a whisper as he noticed that one of his eyes was closed.

  “Yes, it’s very difficult, but I can do it,” Sean nodded. “The problem with splitting my concentration like this is that there will always be one thing that I am not entirely focusing on. Right now, looking through them is more like seeing out of the corner of my eye.”

  “Wow, that’s incredible,” Austin said in astonishment. “The rest of us can mostly just fight with our techniques, but you have so many other things you can do.”

  “Yeah, but I have to focus my efforts on this technique. I don’t get the chance to focus on fighting like the rest of you,” Sean said.

  “It’s still amazing. We don’t only need fighters,” Austin said.

  “Well, uh, thanks,” Sean replied as if he did not know how to take the compliment.

  As the group neared the edge of the camp, they heard a thunderous outburst. Battlecries from orcs and gnolls sounded throughout the camp. As the battle started, Sean opened his closed eye and formed a sword out of water in his hand. Silver armor formed around Austin’s body as the rest of the group drew their weapons.

  “Maya and I will hold off any attackers. The rest of you work on getting the prisoners out,” Austin ordered the group. “If we work quickly, then we can succeed.”

  The group nodded at Austin’s direction and sprinted towards the camp. Most of the gnolls had been distracted by the attack from the orcs. The group was able to make it to the hut that Sean described. Red and purple roots grew from the ground and twisted together into a rough dome shape. Many of the buildings were shaped in a similar way, but Sean was able to direct the group to the correct building. It was much larger than the others, so it could fit all the prisoners the gnolls took.

  As they stopped at the entrance, Austin motioned his hand towards the hole in the dome. “Go, go, maybe we can get everyone before the gnolls return.”

  Joe, Josh, and Sean quickly filed into the dome and started to work on cutting through the rope. Some of the children started to make noise, which was quickly followed by the group gently shushing them. As they worked, Austin and Maya stood at attention and watched the rest of the camp.

  “Stay here,” Sean whispered to a child as he cut through ropes. “Once everyone is free, we will make a run for it.”

  Josh freed Elliot, and the boy instantly hugged him. “Uncle Josh!”

  Josh quickly placed his finger on Elliot’s mouth and whispered. “We need to be quiet. We don’t want to attract the bad guys.”

  “Uncle Josh,” Elliot barely whispered in response.

  “A little better, now sit tight for me, please,” Josh said as he ruffled Elliot’s hair.

  It did not take much longer for the group to free the prisoners. Joe peeked his head out of the building and said. “I think we are ready.”

  Austin nodded in recognition and said. “You three guide them through the forest. We will keep watch for a few minutes after you leave, and then follow.”

  Joe nodded and relayed the information to Josh and Sean. Austin and Maya moved from the hole in the building and allowed the prisoners to walk past them. Elliot saw the pair and tried to run to Maya, but was quickly stopped by Josh. Josh rubbed the boy’s back as he tried to explain the situation.

  The last of the group to emerge from the building was Ava. Her eyes were bloodshot, and Austin assumed she was crying. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I should have done better to protect them.”

  “I know you did your best,” Maya said with a comforting smile. “Everything will be okay now. You just need to get out.”

  Ava nodded and followed Maya’s orders. She knew that she did not have time to argue with Maya. They had to get out of the gnoll camp as quickly as possible. Austin and Maya watched as the group exited from the side of the camp. Joe led the group while Josh stayed in the middle and Sean followed behind.

  “Just get back to us soon,” Sean said to Maya and Austin as he walked away.

  “We will, I promise,” Austin nodded.

  Austin watched as the group disappeared into the forest. It did not take long for the group to become out of sight. Austin let out a sigh of relief. Now, all they had to do was wait to make sure everything was safe. Then he realized, Drugos had no way of knowing that everyone was safe.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “Go with Sean and the others,” Austin turned to Maya as he prepared to sprint towards the battle. “I need to let Drugos know the situation.”

  “You’re just gonna rush in there?” Maya asked. “You’ll be surrounded.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Austin said. “You need to make sure everyone else is okay. I’ll inform Drugos and hold them off.”

  “Promise me you won’t push yourself,” Maya said as she grabbed Austin’s face.

  Austin let the armor around his face break apart, and he grabbed Maya’s face in response. Austin pressed his lips against Maya’s before he pulled away. “I promise.”

  As the two pulled away, Maya turned to the forest and ran in the direction of the rest of the group. Austin watched for a moment before he turned to look at the battle. Austin kicked off into a sprint towards the battle. Silver light rose up the side of his face until his helmet formed once more.

  Austin ran into the melee, but ignored the fighting. Instead, he looked for Drugos as he ran. His priority was letting Drugos know that everyone was safe. Gnolls began to notice him, and some tried to swipe at him with their claws. Their attempts at attacks proved unsuccessful as he sent Essence through his leg armor to send himself out of the way. He refused to let himself get dragged into a fight.

  With each burst of Essence, Austin landed on his feet and looked around the battlefield for Drugos. Amongst the melee, it was hard for him to find Drugos. Various techniques exploded around the area. Combined with the corrupted attacks from the gnolls, the battlefield was a mess of various colors and effects.

  “That’s one of the humans!” One of the gnolls yelled out as they noticed Austin. “He can’t be the only one! Others are probably here too!”

  “Someone check on the prisoners!” Another gnoll yelled out.

  Austin raised his hand in the air, and blue lightning crackled around it in tiny sparks. Then, with a quick gesture, lightning bolts came down at the edge of the battle. The attack brushed against some of the gnolls as they jumped backward. Austin was shocked to feel a little drained from the move. He has never summoned that many lightning bolts at once.

  “Sorry, I can’t let you guys go,” Austin said as he sand formed around his arms in streams.

  The gnolls turned towards Austin with crazed expressions and dashed towards him. Apparently, his move was enough to force their attention. He was satisfied with that. He could not let the gnolls pursue everyone else.

  Streams of sand flowed from Austin in a quick rhythm. He realized that his techniques were not good for fighting multiple opponents, but his treasure from Regulus was perfect for it. Each time a gnoll almost got close, they were thrown to the ground by a powerful current of sand. The sand could not do as much damage as his personal techniques, but he did not need to do that level of damage. He could use the sand to control the battlefield at his will.

  Austin started to gather more sand into his streams as he continued fighting. While the lightning drained him some, he spent most of his training with sand. He had better control of the sand and did not have to summon it like he did lightning. He could use the ground to increase the size of his streams. Soon, his streams grew larger and allowed Austin to hit more than one gnoll with an attack.

  As gnolls stumbled to the ground, Austin called all of his sand above himself. The sand flowed together into a giant ball that swirled around itself. Then he quickly threw his hand downward, and the ball exploded into a wave of sand that sent gnolls flying away.

  “I knew that was you when I saw the lightning!” Drugos yelled as he ran towards Austin. He jumped over fallen gnolls as he sprinted.

  “There you are!” Austin smiled in relief underneath his helmet. “I’ve been looking for you.”

  “Decided to take a detour and fight?” Drugos chuckled as he reached Austin.

  “Not exactly, they tried to get away, and well, I got a little carried away,” Austin shrugged. “But more importantly, we were able to free everyone they captured. You can have everyone retreat.”

  Drugos’s shoulders slumped for a moment in relief, and Austin could swear he saw water at the edge of his eyes. Then he smiled broadly. “Thank you so much. I was so worried, but I don’t want to retreat. I want to make them pay for what they did.”

  “I figured you would say that,” Austin replied as he gripped Drugos’s shoulder. “I agree with you. I want to make them pay. At least have everyone else retreat to lessen the casualties.”

  “I’m fine with that,” Drugos nodded before he grabbed a nearby orc. “Tell everyone to retreat. Once they are gone, let them know that the prisoners were freed.”

  “What about you?” The orc asked.

  “I am going to stay here and hold them off. I’ll be behind you later,” Drugos said.

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” The orc had a concerned expression.

  “I’m not sure if it is, but I’m your chief. Follow my orders,” Drugos responded with a more domineering tone.

  “Fine, I’ll do as you ask,” the orc nodded before he ran through the battle. His voice could be heard over the noise of the battle, yelling the order to retreat.

  “That leaves us,” Drugos turned towards Austin as he readied his axe. Flames started to spike to life at the edge of his axe.

  “Yes, it does,” Austin smiled beneath his helmet. “Try to keep up with me.”

  “I was about to say the same thing to you,” Drugos smiled as he turned his back to Austin.

  Bone-like spikes started to grow from Drugos’s arms and legs. The spikes continued to grow until they covered his arms in bone-colored armor. At the same time, his tusks started to grow larger, and another smaller pair grew beside them. The armor around his free arm continued to grow until a larger spike protruded forward from his forearm.

  Drugos then kicked off towards a gnoll. The spike stabbed into the gnoll’s chest. Another gnoll tried to jump at him, but he quickly swung with his flame-covered axe. The axe moved in an arc of orange colored flames and cut the attacking gnoll in two.

  While Drugos started his attack, Austin did the same. It was time to get some actual payback. A sword formed in one of his hands as he directed sand with the other. The sand slammed into gnolls and toppled them to the ground. Then Austin quickly followed up by finishing them off by stabbing downward into them with his sword.