Hugo peeked over the edge of the branch to see what had triggered his ward. He saw someone riding an aphid, slowly heading away from the tree. It was too dark to see who. A glance back showed that it must have been Parisa. He wanted to call her a jerk, but she couldn’t get in trouble for triggering a ward she didn’t know about. It was Hugo’s own fault he was awake right now. Although, what was she doing? Was there a monster out there that she wanted to kill without waking her companions?

She just kept riding though, silently picking her way through the forest. If Hugo hadn’t set his ward he wouldn’t have woken up at all. They all had bows too. If there were monsters out there, she should have just shot from her post in the tree. He didn’t know what was going on, but something about this felt off.

Glancing back at the huntmaster, Hugo made a decision. Better to be safe than sorry.

“Hey Ramin,” Hugo softly said, “Parisa just left us. Something is wrong.”

The huntmaster was standing on his bedroll in a moment. A weapon appeared in his hands and he scanned the tree for threats. Eventually he seemed to fully wake up and said, “What’s going on?”

“Parisa took an aphid and headed that way,” Hugo said and pointed, “I didn’t hear her go, I only saw because I needed to pee.”

Ramin stared the way he pointed for a while before coming to a decision. “Grab your weapons, leave everything else,” he said and stuffed his bag into his bedroll.

Hugo swore internally as he stuffed his own bag into his bedroll. They were setting it up to look like they were still sleeping. The huntmaster must have assumed that Parisa was betraying them. He had thought that she was loyal, but it seemed like the huntmaster was the only one he could count on. That sucked. He had liked the warrior woman.

Also, he didn’t want to die because of her betrayal.

They couldn’t take the aphids with them, they were visible from the ground so they would have to stay to sell the illusion. The huntmaster seemed to have no trouble climbing down the tree, but it was very difficult for Hugo. His weapons kept banging against his legs, and the cracks in the bark were only big enough to slide his fingers in. If he didn’t have the increased strength and dexterity from being soulmarked, there is now way he could make it down without falling.

Eventually, they were on the ground. Ramin led them a few hundred feet away, and they scaled an oak tree that had a good vantage point. They settled in to watch the tree they had just left. Hugo wondered if they were here to ambush the traitors, or if Ramin was holding out hope that this was a misunderstanding. He had trained her for years and chose her for this mission. He might not want to believe he had been wrong about her. If she returned alone, Hugo bet that Ramin would walk out to her to ask what had happened.

She didn’t return alone.

Twenty minutes after they had gone up the tree, the warrior woman returned with four other riese. It looked like the four new riese had been riding a walking tree. They were wearing the uniforms of the royal guard. They jumped off and suddenly Hugo couldn’t tell their tree from the natural ones standing nearby.

The five of them had a brief conversation that involved some pointing at the tree. It looked like Parisa was trying to convince them of something, but she failed. Two of them drew their bows and launched something high into the air. It wasn’t arrows, they glowed slightly and slowly arced through the air. Both projectiles landed on the bedrolls, bursting into flames.

The explosion sent huge gouts of flame into the air and spread in a wide circle. The initial explosion had also caught both aphids in the blast and one of them fell to the ground. The sticky flames lit a fire in a wide circle below. The fire lit up the night sky. Two shots had definitely been overkill. They really wanted to make sure Hugo was dead.

“Aim for the archers. Two quick shots, then we move,” Ramin whispered.

Hugo shivered. He knew it had to be done, but he didn’t like killing people. He shouldered his improved crossbow and sighted down the stock. It was powerful enough now that he would be able to easily reach the riese although they were five hundred feet away. He had incorporated the geared bow design into his own. He also used the osage orange wood to give it even more spring. He took a big breath and fired, using the handle on top to quickly cock and fire two more times in less than a second. Hugo dropped to the lower branches as he heard Ramin fire and work his magic.

Now that hundreds of arrows were flying through the air at the traitors, the huntmaster joined him on the ground. They both hid behind the tree trunk and peeked out as the shots hit.

Hugo’s first shot hit the archer in the torso, exploding on contact. Nothing but red mist was left. The next two bolts hit the ground in front of the other archer, but were just as effective. The explosions were created with Hugo’s mithril/titanium mix. It shredded the man’s lower half.

Shortly after Hugo’s shots landed, a rain of arrows fell onto the traitors. Parisa must have heard it coming, but she was too slow to react. One moment she was looking up, the next she was a pincushion on the ground. One of the guards manifested a suit of blue armor. A barrier mage. The remaining royal guard had been standing near a tree, and its branches bent to cover him. The arrows still shredded the tree, a pair of them making it through to hit the woman below. She fell to the ground screaming in pain. After a few moments, the arrows embedded in her melted away.

“Stay away from the trees,” Ramin whispered, “The wood sculptor survived. I will take her. You take the soulmarked.”

Assuming that the woman near the tree was the wood sculptor, Hugo turned towards the barrier mage. The man was helpfully lighting up his position with his glowing blue armor. Hugo ran to the left to get a better bead on him, trying to be quiet as he ran.

As he ran to the side, the barrier mage was running in their direction. He didn’t seem to know where they were, but he knew the general direction. Hugo ducked behind a bush and drew a bead on the guard. He fired and was pleased to see the explosion hit him center mass. It knocked the man off his feet, but didn’t get through his mana armor.

Before the man could get up, Hugo loosed two more bolts at him. That was the last of the bolts he had loaded. He reached into his quiver and loaded six more. This time he chose the bolts that had been inscribed with pierce. He waited until the dust cleared.

He shouldn’t have waited.

Not only had the mage survived, he wasn’t even there anymore. A stationary shield had been left there as a distraction. Hugo instinctively rolled to the side, expecting an attack. The barrier mage hadn’t attacked yet, but the roll made him notice the man walking on air far above. The glowing blue man dropped to the ground, a spear forming below him and pointed directly at Hugo.

Almost reflexively, Hugo shot a crossbow bolt up at the man. The runes on the bolt allowed it to pass right through the several layers of mana and it stabbed into the man’s upper thigh. Hugo didn’t have time for another shot before the spear of mana hit him in the left pauldron. The strike spun him around and made him lose his crossbow, but didn’t pierce his defense. All of his armor was wood with titanium backing and a durability rune. A barrier mage falling on him didn’t have a chance of making it through.

It still hurt though. Hugo was just barely able to recover in time to see a huge sword of mana coming his way. He put both hands up and pushed mana into them. The sword instantly came to a stop, and the mage awkwardly stumbled. The impetus runes in his gauntlets had stolen his inertia.

Hugo went on the offense while the man was off balance. He created a small tube of mana, wrapped around the bolt sticking out of the man’s leg. Then he yanked on it.

A scream of pain poured out of the mage. Hugo wiggled the bolt and yanked it out. The wound started gushing blood. Hugo darted forward, drawing a dagger from his waist. As he ran, he pushed mana into the weapon. The barrier mage was reeling from the leg wound and held up an armored forearm to stop Hugo.

Hugo’s dagger pierced through the mana and wooden armor and stabbed into his forearm. The other arm came up and punched Hugo in his stomach. His armor was strong enough to take the hit, but Hugo still got flung away, landing on his back a few feet away.

As soon as he landed, an enormous blue ax came straight down at him. Hugo created his strongest barrier above himself, angled so that it deflected the strike instead of taking it head on. He knew this guy was stronger than he was.

From his position on the ground, Hugo pointed his right arm at the man. With a flick of his wrist, he fired the single bolt he had in the bracer. It was a last ditch effort he was glad to have created. The mithril bolt shot forward and hit the man directly in his chest. He looked down at it, surprised. He crumpled to the ground, lifeless.

Hugo grunted and rolled to his feet. He was going to have a pair of bruises from that fight. He grabbed his crossbow and looked around for Ramin. The man was still locked in combat with the wood sculptor. They were standing in the middle of a clearing, battling in melee. The huntmaster only had a small metal dagger, but the wood sculptor had a huge wooden claymore. She wasn’t very skilled with it.

Ramin would have easily overpowered her, if it wasn’t for the trees surrounding them. She constantly shot branches forward, stabbing at the man at just the right moment to make him dodge. Ramin was able to redirect some of the branches at the last moment by doubling them and making the two branches appear on either side of himself. Still, it seemed like she was more skilled with the magic than he was. It was a close fight, but it looked like Ramin might lose.

“Give me a shot!” Hugo yelled across the way. He had the crossbow lined up, but didn’t want to risk hitting him in the dim firelight.

The huntmaster didn’t even look back at Hugo, he dived to the side and rolled across the ground. Hugo took the shot. His inscribed bolt easily pierced her thick wooden armor and dug deep into her side. The next shot hit her in the chest. She seemed surprised to be dying, and stared at Hugo as she fell to her knees.

Something knocked Hugo on his face and pinned him down. He had been standing too close to her, the tree behind him had grown a spear and stabbed him in the back.