Orders came down from Gandash’s position. The entire column shifted formation, with heavy infantry and heavy cavalry lining up facing the forest. The combat-oriented mages, in other words, the Asgagu, Sinitu, and Buhhu variety, of whom there were seven altogether, were placed at even positions up and down the column.

After routing the smaller group of tiny creatures, morale was good. Xerxes itched to cast Minor Augmentation and wield his longsword against some opponent. Not that he truly wanted it to come to that. It was better not to fight Abhorrent.

Minutes passed.

Someone shouted from the west end of the line. There was a commotion.

A few minutes later, word filtered down. A handful of the small Abhorrent had appeared, some small ones. They were quickly dispatched.

The minutes kept passing until a full hour had gone by.

Gandash had Dasi, one of the two Sinitu mages, cast the High Seer spell Major Alteration, which allowed her to shapeshift for a full hour, and alter her size by half in either direction. She shrank down into the form of a primate with mottled brown fur, then disappeared into the trees to the north.

More time passed.

The troops seemed restless and were fidgeting. Leather creaked. Weapons clanked against shields. More than a few muttered curse words reached Xerxes ears. But all they could do was stand and wait.

With every moment that passed, Xerxes expected an attack.

Dasi returned just as her spell was running out. She jumped out of the trees, heading towards Gandash as she shifted back to her original form.

Five minutes later, word came down the line. The large Abhorrent reported by the scout wasn’t anywhere nearby. They would begin moving again, this time as quickly as possible. Not far down the road was an area that would be more defensible than open terrain. There would be no drums to keep marching pace.

Xerxes’ heart was in his throat, and he had the feeling it was the same with everyone else. He noticed shifting shadows that seemed far more ominous than before. Sounds that seemed unnatural. Overhead, the clouds looked bizarre and misshapen. Worst of all, what seemed to be a complete lack of bird song.

The column weaved through the bends of the forest road. Nothing happened.

As day turned to evening, and the temperature dropped, they arrived at an area where the road passed down a treeless embankment, then proceeded through a boulder-strewn field.

Gandash had them stop there, putting three units of heavy infantry facing the hills they’d just emerged from, with two units of light infantry behind them, and heavy cavalry in reserve. The light cavalry he sent ahead to scout. Everyone else was allowed to rest.

With those tasks out of the way, he called a meeting with the First Lieutenants together with their respective sergeants.

“Do any of you have anything new to report?” he asked.

His question was met with shaking heads.

“I guess that’s good. From what happened so far, I think we’re dealing with yet another random Abhorrent meteor shower. As I mentioned before, they’ve continued to happen over the past several months, although generally with a small number of meteors. As for why these rat things came after us, my guess is that they followed the scouts back.”

“Shouldn’t we at least consider the alternative?” Kishar asked.

Gandash looked at her. “That they’re hunting us?”

Dasi crossed her arms. “It’s not out of the question.”

“It’s not,” Gandash agreed. “And yes, I think we should consider that possibility. They can sense our melam, after all, though not from leagues away. Did Mystic Rabya have you read Surviving a Trip to the Nightmare Cove in your studies?”

Several of the mages nodded, including Xerxes. He remembered the lecture.

“In that case,” Gandash continued, “you’re familiar with the prevailing theory about the distances involved in Abhorrent ability to sense melam.” He rolled out a map and weighed its corners with rocks. “We’re here. Puabi is here. That’s still several days’ journey. Campgrounds are marked in blue. However, I’m not sure the campgrounds are the best location to spend the nights. They’re not exactly designed for defensive purposes. So I want to hole up here for the night.” He indicated a spot on the map before the campground, and short distance from the road.

“There are cliffs all along this area, atop which is extremely rocky terrain. We should be able to find a good place to entrench ourselves with the cliff rising up as a wall behind us. In all the information I was given to prepare for this mission I didn’t see any that winged or flying Abhorrent were part of the invasion, so having a wall to our back seems like a good idea. After all, if we do get attacked by Abhorrent, we couldn’t ever hope to flee them, so I’d rather be able to focus on a single front of battle.

“We’ll stop an hour and a half before we normally do to allow plenty of time to dig in. That’s my plan. Does anyone have any feedback? Criticisms? Suggestions?”

Jad raised his hand. Gandash nodded at him.

“Why not keep going to Tower Plateau? Right here.” He pointed to a spot on the map that was significantly further down the road. “Even growing up in the capital, I heard about the place. There’s this old story about a bunch of traveling merchants who got attacked by a bandit army. Only ten merchants against three hundred bandits, yet the merchants held out for two weeks and killed about fifty bandits.”

Xerxes thought Gandash would strike down Jad’s idea, but to his surprise he took time to think about it.

“I’m aware of Tower Plateau,” Gandash said. “And you’re right, it’s the perfect place to dig in. My concern is that, to get there, we would have to continue for several hours past sunset. Night travel is dangerous enough under normal conditions. If we got ambushed on the road by Abhorrent… we would sustain heavy casualties.” Gandash looked at Jad. “I’m not saying no, I’m just telling you my thoughts.”

Jad looked at the map. “I guess you’re right.”

“Anyone else?” Gandash asked. Nobody said anything. “In that case, we’ll stay here until the scouts return, and then—”

Some shouting from the line of infantry reached their ears, and they looked over.

“Let’s see what’s going on,” Gandash said, and they hurried up the slight slope.