Octavius reached the top of the path and looked around with a practiced eye. Eight guards, each carrying a blunt weapon and a shield, stood sentinel at the top of the cliff. Stepping past them, he got a good look at the busy camp.

People rushed back and forth, trying to finish whatever tasks they had been assigned as quickly as they could. One group of five struggled futilely against the gusting wind to set up an animal skin pavilion. Farther from the edge, teams worked quickly to hack down trees and to clear the nearby group of anything that would impede sight-lines.

He scanned the crowd for any of the doctors present. Only half of the people who had joined the Sanctuary had become warriors, with only a few hundred of those surviving so far into the tutorial. Even then, he knew that there was at least one medical doctor that had joined the expedition.

Even though he had only met the man once, he spotted Doctor Wu. The man was well into his life and stood a measly five foot six. He had a clean-shaven face and short black hair, despite the conditions in the tutorial.

Octavius hurried past a dozen men that were using various tools to trim the branches off of a log. Once they were done, they would dig a hole and place it inside along with the others to form the frame of the wall that would surround the camp.

The doctor was helping direct a small crew of men that were working together to fell a thick tree that grew irregularly into the sky. Octavius approached the man, followed by the silent members of his party. Turning to face him, the man’s eyes fell on the limp form in his arms. Hurrying over to them, the shorter man spoke.

“Put him down, gently!” he ordered in a tone the brooked no argument, “What happened?”

They looked down at the unconscious form of the man. Even though the health potion had healed the melted skin that had covered the man, it hadn’t regrown his eyes for hair. Octavius answered the doctor’s question.

“This is, or I guess was, one of the thrall’s slaves,” he said, “They sent him over the burning fire to send us a message. He was the only one I was able to get to. I already gave him a health potion, but I figure you might be able to help him more.”

The doctor nodded as he knelt over the man and checked first for a pulse, then for breath. “Well,” Doctor Wu said, “He’s definitely still alive, but probably won’t wake up for a good while. From what we can tell, people with severe injuries don’t wake up right away after a health potion is administered because of something the brain does. The duration of unconsciousness varies from person to person and from the cause of the injuries. You said he was burned alive?”

Octavius nodded at the man as he pulled a trauma kit from his belt. The soldier was surprised to see that it was his own trauma kit that he sold for potions. It appeared to have been used extensively but still held a decent amount of supplies. The doctor continued speaking as he pulled bandages from his belt and began to wrap them around the unconscious man’s eye sockets.

“Injuries like that are usually the worst. The more traumatic the injury, the longer the time unconscious,” he explained, “With this man, he could regain his consciousness in anywhere from six to twenty-four hours. I don’t know how the health potion went about healing him, but I don’t want his eye sockets to become infected. That could turn nasty quickly.”

Octavius nodded. According to the information the doctor had given when he introduced himself, the man was a pediatrician, not a trauma surgeon. Still, he trusted the man’s medical knowledge above his own.

“Is there any way to wake him up sooner?” he asked, “He might have some intel on the inside of the Landing and what the thralls are doing.”

The doctor shook his head. “No,” he said, “Or at least not that we know of. Even then, I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t remember much of the time right before he was injured. The body tends to seal off the memories of serious injuries, along with the adrenaline, making them not remember details well in the first place.”

Octavius cursed softly; he needed that information as quickly as possible. If the thralls were to make good on their threat, they would start executing more of their human slaves within the hour. “Ok,” he said softly, “Where should we bring him to rest until he wakes up?”

The doctor turned to a large man that was working his way around the tree trunk with a stone axe. “Makesh!” he called out, “Lead this group to the rest area.”

The large man handed the axe off to another man and walked over. “Alright,” he said gruffly, “Follow me.”

Octavius scooped up the unconscious man’s body and hurried to follow Makesh’s large back.

“Do you think he really knows anything important?” Caster asked, “I can’t see them telling their slaves their plans.”

Octavius shook his head as he responded. “When they captured me, they told me plenty,” he admitted, “Even though they didn’t just monologue about their plans to conquer the human race, they weren’t exactly practicing very good operational security.”

The younger mage nodded and sighed deeply. “Would you mind if I borrowed your spear for a few hours tonight?” he asked, “I can’t train mana manipulation with the ring and still have enough mana to be ready for any attacks.”

The operator considered his teammate’s request for a moment, then nodded. “Alright,” he agreed, “But only while you are with me, just in case I need it.”

The young mage managed to avoid beaming brightly at the news, though that was likely more due to the somber mood that covered the developing camp. After that, it barely took them thirty seconds for the large man that led them to come to a stop. “The rest area is just over there,” he said, pointing at a cleared area with two small fires.

There were half a dozen wooden crates that surrounded the fire, each likely containing food or water. He set the recently burned man’s slumped form onto the ground and leaned it against the box that was farthest from the fires.

“Jean, Bill,” he addressed the two members of his team, “Can you two watch over him for the next few hours? If he hasn’t woken up by then, I’ll send someone else to take over.”

Jean nodded and walked over to the side of the fire closer to the cliff. “Alright,” she said succinctly. Bill merely sat next to her in silence, his eyes fixed on the unconscious middle-aged man.

Turning to the rest of his team that had followed him until that point, he gave a simple order. “Find something helpful to do,” he said, “I’m going to go talk to Robert. We’ll meet back here in three hours, alright?”

The chorus of affirmative responses that followed was brief. Turning toward one side of the small camp, he jogged over to the command area. There, a large tree trunk had been split lengthwise. Rocks and mounds of dirt were piled up to brace it in place.

Robert and two other men were gathered around the makeshift table. They sat so that they could reach it without discomfort. As he approached, he was able to see the rough map he had made nailed to its uneven surface.

The three Captains of the Guard, Robert, Adom, and Micheal, looked up at him as he approached and took a seat without a word.

“The runners said that everything had gone as planned,” Robert commented, “But give us some specifics, please.”

Octavius nodded and briefly described the events of the siege thus far. He informed them of how they had mostly encountered rogues, with a few mages and stone shapers thrown in, as well as their complete lack of casualties. He finished with an explanation of the burnt slave that he had left to rest by the fire.

“Everything seems to be going well, and that’s making me antsy,” he concluded.

“How so?” Micheal asked. Micheal was a man in his late thirties. He was a police lieutenant before the tutorial, and had taken over the position of Captain of the Eastern Guard from James.

Octavius thought for a moment before he responded. “So far, what we’ve seen from them implies that they aren’t the most capable bunch. Even their highest level member seems to not be able to get much done. Still, I would’ve expected them to try to break the siege more,” he explained, “I mean, a mass assault might not have defeated us, but it would’ve been worth the try. Beyond that, we haven’t seen the elite thralls nor Kzedr. Kzedr could probably break the siege on its own if we were caught unprepared.”

Robert grunted softly. “I agree that it seems strange that they haven’t done anything major yet,” he said slowly, “But from what we have seen, Kzedr doesn’t like doing anything that could even be considered slightly risky. I don’t know how he reached level 39, and the top of the Emergence ranked, but that is neither here nor there. What matters is that he wouldn’t try to physically break the siege if he thought there was some other way.”

“The ultimatum,” Adom interjected, “He likely thinks that we will surrender out of compassion for the humans they have captive.”

Before he even finished, Micheal was shaking his head. “So far, they seem to have a rather poor understanding of human psychology,” he said, “But I don’t think that they could be so far off. They have to know that we wouldn’t let them enslave every human in the Sanctuary like that.”

“I’m not so sure,” Robert said in a whisper that barely carried over the wind, “From what we’ve seen, human and thrall psychology are extremely similar. It is only the finer points where we differ. I can’t exactly see the thrall leaders, like Kzedr, sacrificing themselves for others. Humans are a tribal species, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to prey on our innate compassion. They just didn’t think of the rest of the equation.”

Octavius spoke into the silence that followed. “While some part of their lack of major action is due to the ultimatum,” he allowed, “But I don’t think that’s all of it. I am getting a feeling that they’re planning something else.”

Robert looked up at the low sun where it hung just above the horizon to the west. The man’s calloused fingers played with a simple gold band as he exhaled heavily. “Then I guess we’ll just have to be prepared for anything,” he said, “The preliminary defenses should be complete before sundown, and the fortifications will be within two days.”

Octavius grunted softly as he sat down in front of the fire. Although he didn’t have any stiffness in his knees, it was more of a reflex than anything else. The rest of his party were arrayed closely around the small fire in a semicircle. Other groups were around their own fires that were spread out over a hundred feet of the cliff’s edge.

Only half of the members of the attacking force were off duty. The other half patrolled both the edge of the cliff and the border of the camp. Three dozen members of the group were guarding the entrance to the thrall’s cave far below.

The people around the fires spoke in soft tones that were barely audible above the howling wind that only seemed to pick up as the hours passed. Some slept on the hard ground, all wishing for tents to protect them from the wind. Animal skins were relatively light, but only a few had brought tents. Even those few found them worthless with the wind blowing as quickly as it was.

Octavius looked at his group. Bill, Raj, and Toby were asleep. Caster was holding the gentle glow of his Soulsilver sear, still practicing to get the mana manipulation skill. Finn stared into the flames with a blank expression. The only members of the group that wasn’t present were the marines, but Octavius spotted them patrolling in the darkness of the edge of the camp.

“Thank you,” he said softly to Finn, “For saving me, I mean.”

The younger man looked up from the fire and shook himself back to complete consciousness. “You already said that before we left,” he said, confused.

“No,” Octavius shook his head, “I thanked everyone. Now, I am thanking you. Marcus told me how you demanded to be allowed to come find me. You almost definitely saved my life.”

The young man flushed slightly in the fire’s dull orange glow. “Oh, well, I guess it just seemed right. I mean, you saved me before,” he stammered.

Octavius nodded to the man and let the conversation drop. He had made his thanks known; there was no need to make the situation awkward. The two of them idly studied the campsite around them. As his eyes fell on the still unconscious man from earlier, his mind went back to the reports he had heard.

The thralls seemed to have made true on their promise to kill slaves if they didn’t capitulate. Although none of the guards had seen the thralls clearly, every three hours, the same events would happen. First, the thralls would march through the thick black smoke that was forced down the tunnel by the wind. Next, they would shout something unintelligible over the roar of the fire and wind. Finally, there would be faint movement and screams of pain on the other side of the fire.

Octavius couldn’t be sure that they were really killing humans. In fact, he doubted they would find out any time soon. Any human remains in the fire would be burnt to a crisp as time passed. Still, that didn’t make hearing about it any easier. He longed to charge into the underground complex and slaughter the gray-skinned aliens.

He was drawn from his dark thoughts by Finn, who was smiling slightly at him. “Did I ever tell you about what happened when I first came to the Sanctuary?” he asked.

Octavius shook his head. “No,” he said, “I don’t believe you have.”

The younger man’s smile grew as he began to gesture with his hands. “Alright, you’ll love it!” he said before beginning the story, “So I had heard of the Sanctuary from one of the hunters who traveled through where I was. When the tutorial started, I was all alone. I guess I was lucky that I found a small group of people to join early on.

“Anyways, the hunter comes and tells us all about the Sanctuary. The other didn’t want to go, so I decided to head out all by myself. It was only a day-long trip, and I figured I could make it.”

Octavius cringed slightly at that, but the young man forged on. “So the first few hours aren’t bad. I’m just following the sun to the east, right? Eventually, I start to run out of water. So I’m there, leaning against a tree, thinking to myself, ‘Where can I find some water?’ Eventually, I decide that I just need to keep going.

“I walked for hours. By that point, I was only level 3, so my stats weren’t very high at all. After a while, I heard running water. I don’t even stop, just turn around and start running toward it. So I find the water and dunk my face in. I must’ve downed two or three liters without taking a break. After I’m done, I refill my water skin and start east again. I’m sure you can guess, but I got a massive cramp in my side.

“So, the sun begins to set, and I’m hobbling along trying to get my side to stop hurting. I know I’m getting close, but I don’t know how close. Suddenly, this black and white blur falls from a tree in front of me. I just stop and stare at this level 7 skunk like an idiot. It’s eyeing me, trying to figure out if I’m a threat, and I decide to try to scare it off.”

At that point, Finn was holding back laughter, and Octavius was grimacing silently.

“I reach back and swing my club at it,” the younger man mimed the action as he spoke, “The thing just jumps to the side and sprays me. I don’t know if you’ve ever been sprayed by a skunk before, but I don’t recommend it. It runs off into the forests, and I’m left there smelling like the Hulk’s outhouse.

“I decided that the smell had to mostly be on my clothes, right? So I take them off and continue to the Sanctuary as quickly as possible. Soon, I start hearing growling and fighting. At that point, I was exhausted, my side hurt, my feet hurt, and pretty much everything else as well. I figure that fighting means people, so I start to follow the sound.

“I come out of the forest to find a group of three people. One of them is built like a linebacker,” he gestured to Toby asleep on the ground, “and the others aren’t far off. The three of them are staring at me like I’m mad.

“Apparently, they had been surrounded by a pack of wolves on their way to the Sanctuary. They thought they were done for when suddenly all the wolves turned and ran away from something. The three of them were expecting some great beast. Instead, I come stumbling out of the trees naked as the day I was born while walking and smelling like a zombie.

“One of the guys actually tried to attack me before he realized I was human! Thirty seconds later, a team of hunters from the Sanctuary burst into the clearing, ready for a fight. The looks on their faces!”

Tears were streaming down the younger man’s face as he finished the story. Octavius himself was cracking up. It was hard to think of the deadly young man as anything less than competent, but most of the people there hadn’t even been in a street fight before the tutorial. Still, hearing about the process that Finn went through to reach the Sanctuary drew him from his morose introspection. He didn't know whether Finn told the story after noticing his mood but was thankful nonetheless.

All too soon, their laughter was interrupted by the unconscious man groaning and scrambling to his feet. The man flailed about wildly in the darkness of his blindness.