There were many tall trees in the jungle of Iskay Island, but this one was the largest Alcer had found in the area. After he had climbed halfway up, he rested on a branch and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. He wiped the moisture off his brow, although he knew it would just start collecting again.

In the jungle of Iskay Island, water could never be avoided. Even the air itself felt like it would start dripping if he squeezed a bit. Soon, the sweat he had just wiped after his stressful march and slow climb would be replaced by the condensation from the jungle.

Still, he had to do his due diligence and clear his eyes, to improve his chances when the time was ripe, even if only by a little. In this environment, against enemies who were far superior to them, they would need all the help they could get.

When Alcer scanned the trees around him, he found that his spot was well-picked. From here, he had decent sight leading past several other trees in the surroundings, along some gaps in the vegetation where he expected enemies to come from. He had stopped just above the lower edge of the canopy, hidden above a single layer of leaves. Nestled in between two branches, he had a stable position to move and attack from.

Although it was a good spot compared to most others he could have picked, it was still, objectively, terrible. This was the jungle after all. There were no good spots.

Ever since he had first set foot inside it, Alcer had hated the jungle. This place was wet, sticky and infested with bugs. Worst of all, he felt like it was designed to negate all the advantages of Saniya’s armies.

With a frown, he watched his team members down below, the ten men whose lives he was responsible for. After their long march from their camp on the northern beach, Saniya’s fifteenth commando unit had chosen this spot to scout for traces of their enemies today.

Every day, both sides would enter the jungle from different ends of the island, and try to outwit each other in the center. Whoever found the other side first would have a crucial advantage, and could deal critical damage. However, despite their scouting advantages, the fights hadn’t gone well for Saniya’s armies.

Since their guns were useless, they were forced to fight melees against true warriors. Apart from a few clever surprise attacks, none of their battles had gone well, so they had been forced to shrink back to the beach. However, they still had to make sure that their enemies wouldn’t use the cover of the jungle to amass an attacking army right next to their camp, so their general kept sending out commandos like this one, to clear the camp’s periphery and spot for enemy movements near their position.

Now that they had reached their designated spot, Alcer’s men would swarm out and search for any signs of foes in the area. As the captain of their little team, Alcer’s role was to keep an eye on the surroundings and protect his fellows from surprise attacks, while commanding them from his secure position. Luckily, he had been given the tools to do so, a secret weapon that may just turn their luck in this war around.

He grabbed the rifle from his back, and carefully removed the wax paper that was meant to protect the gun from moisture. Once he had folded and stored away the paper, he inspected his weapon first, since he wasn’t quite familiar with the new model yet.

This was a slick rifle that looked much fiercer than his old model, since it was made almost entirely of dulled, black metal. Even the wood for the stock had been replaced with a shiny, dark-red, almost black material that felt smooth like a glazed pot. He assumed that it was some kind of rare stone that had been polished to a shine, or maybe a new form of pottery.

Really, there were far too many new things getting developed in Saniya to keep up with all of them. This was especially true for someone like him, who had spent much of his time away from the city to fight in the kingdom’s wars, too busy furthering his army career over the past few years. Whatever the stock was made from, the new materials came in handy in this new environment that was so inhospitable to them.

The classic Saniya clockmaker’s rifle was made of wood and iron. In the jungle, the wood would have soaked up all the water in the air, bloated and rotted off the frame, while the iron would be attacked by the jungle’s air and corroded into rust. Worse of all, the powder would get wet and useless immediately. This new weapon was specifically designed for these extreme climates, and was meant to be much hardier, or so his instructor had said when they had handed him the weapon.

Of course, he still had to be careful with it, since it was brand new, and army property. The gun’s entire chamber was closed off completely, and the hammer was recessed almost fully into the gun’s barrel when it wasn’t cocked, to protect everything from moisture as much as possible. All black like this, and with its unusual, slick form, it was a strange weapon, unlike any rifle he had ever seen before.

Only Saniya’s special geniuses could create something that would still be useful in this climate, and even exceeded the ordinary clockmaker’s rifles of the army by a good bit. That wasn’t only down to the weapon’s higher accuracy and its special, new loading mechanism that promised faster reloads, but also to the high-quality telescope that was mounted above the barrel and helped Alcer observe his surroundings.

This was a piece of spectacular Saniya glassware, clear like shallow spring water, and represented some of the most secret technology of the city. Although it wasn’t very good for shooting because of the distortion – the physical sights right below it had brought Alcer more success during his tests – it was perfect for his current mission, securing the perimeter and scouting for enemies. If he found any, he could always switch back to the iron sights right below.

As expected, Saniya’s island workshops had created another marvel. In fact, there were rumors that the king himself had been involved in this gun’s design and construction, though similar things were being said about almost anything that was being made in Saniya these days. Even the omnipotent King Corcopaca couldn’t be in that many places at once, could he?

Whether the king was involved or not, it was certainly an impressive piece. Alcer didn’t want to imagine how expensive the weapon was, but he was determined to do its price justice. As he figured out the telescope and became more familiar with the gun’s dimensions, he watched his team do their work in the jungle down below.

The area around him was a kind of clearing, as much of a clearing as could be found in this place. Although the canopy above was still closed and didn’t let any light through, at least they didn’t have to hack their way through the thicket to walk around in this area. The clear and even ground made it a good place to amass troops, and it wasn’t far away from their base camp in the north, so it was considered a prime target of attack for their enemies.

If the Arcavians planned an assault on their camp, places like this would be an important part of their strategy. Thus, the men below walked around the area and searched the floor for signs of human activity, like burnt out fires, or human foot prints.

On their last visit here, Alcer’s team had also set up a few traps for their enemies to trip. If the almost invisible fishing lines had been snapped or moved, it would mean that at least something had come through here. However, the forest was also full of all kinds of animals, so a tripped wire was no guarantee of enemy activity. Thus, they still had to search manually, for more concrete signs.

Slowly, his men spread out in a spiral formation, to cover as much ground as possible. Alcer was just observing Umari, one of his men who was moving east towards one of their old traps, to check on its status. Before he could arrive, Alcer noticed something weird through the magnification of his telescope.

Doesn’t that ground look strange? What’s that reflection? he wondered, a tight feeling in his chest. As Umari moved closer to the spot, the bad hunch intensified. But by then, it was already too late.

“Private Umari, halt!” he shouted, but to no avail. The soldier took the last step forward as he looked back in Alcer’s direction. As a result, he couldn’t see the wire he tripped, and he couldn’t see the bent bamboo pole snap forward towards his shins, but Alcer saw everything. After a blood-curdling scream, all other members of his team had noticed as well.

Umari had collapsed to the ground, his legs now nailed to a bamboo pole with wooden spikes. After a second where the shock overpowered the pain, he started screaming again, looking at his mangled leg in horror.

Although Alcer wanted to jump down and save his soldier straight away, this trap wouldn’t just be here at random. It was right where their old trip wire had been placed, clearly meant for their team to trigger it. This was the sign of human activity they had been looking for, and they weren’t the only ones laying traps.

“Halt! Stay vigilant!” he shouted down to his men who were rushing ahead blindly to save Umari.

At the same time, he pulled out a leather bag lined with more wax paper. Hidden inside was the new ammunition that would fit with his new gun. In shape, they looked like the old paper cartridges he had been using all these years, but they had an expensive, bronze color. During some field experiments, and long before he had been handed the new gun, he had already tested the material inside these bullets.

The higher ups in the army called the stuff inside ‘guncotton’. It didn’t look anything like gunpowder, but it blew up just as well. However, it caused a much cleaner release, and it apparently was more resilient to water, which was why he would become one of the first to test its effects in the field. If they couldn’t use gunpowder in the jungle, they would simply use this stuff instead.

Alcer released the bolt on his new precision rifle, inserted a cartridge and closed the clacking mechanism. That was all it took to prime the weapon, even quicker than the old flintlock designs. By the time he had loaded his gun and looked back up, his flustered men had only just gotten into formation.

Eight of them had huddled together, hidden behind shields, with pikes in their free hands poking out from behind their cover. Since spaces in the jungle were tighter, these new pikes were shorter than the ones they would use in the open field, but they were still far beyond the reach of a warrior’s axe or saber.

When the eight were in formation, one remaining soldier slowly approached his injured comrade who was still screaming and squirming on the ground. He would free him from the nasty trap and then drag him back into the safety of the formation, while the others secured their backs. Meanwhile, Alcer had begun to check the surroundings for any signs of enemy activity with his telescope. His senses felt heightened, almost like people said a warrior would feel.

Something rattled in the tall shrubs, a few leaves rustled around, a stick snapped. Somewhere close by, a bird gave off a strange cry like a human’s death rattle. All the sounds of the jungle were infinitely enhanced in Alcer’s ears. However, these wouldn’t be useful at all. In this noise, he would never identify any enemies. Instead, he focused on his sights.

Unlike Saniya’s troops, who had exchanged their usual uniforms for colors of muddy brown and green to better hide inside the jungle, the mighty warriors of the Verdant Isles still wore what they always did, carrying bright costumes on their backs to show off their might and wealth. As expected, he found a red spot moving up and down behind a batch of leaves some ways away from the trap through his telescope.

Although this enemy was dangerous, he was still far enough away from Alcer’s men that he wouldn’t be an immediate threat. Thus, the captain made the calm decision to turn the ambush on its head, and turn hunter into hunted. Slowly, so as not to attract the warrior’s attention, the commander lowered his eyes down below the telescope, and onto the iron sights.

To get ready for his first bit of combat with the new weapon, Alcer swallowed away the annoying spit that had amassed in his mouth, but he could do nothing about the water that was once again running down his brows and into his eyes. Somehow he blinked away the drops, as his finger firmed around the trigger.

Yet before he could fire, the red spot was gone. Was it a subtle movement in the leaves tha t covered him, had he retreated, or started his attack? There was no time to think. Without another choice, Alcer shouted “Ambush!” to alert his men, before all hell broke loose.