Serial
38: Foxhunt
January
12th, 33 S.D. 08:25 Talimer Forest, Sventa
The sun had barely risen within the past two hours as WOLFWIND moved into the Talimer Forest. Tracking their way through snow and frost, they trotted along on horseback. Behind them, their companions from the Special Operations Corps followed, roughly 80 soldiers in all. Range Lead Aslo rode beside the four of them as well. They were by no means a large force, but they were certainly an effective one. As trees more and more appeared, their unit breached the forest’s perimeter. Although the land was their own, it remained a combat zone waiting for battle. Henron operatives no doubt resided somewhere just ahead. Even as the tension among them grew by the moment, Yega seemed intent on striking up a conversation.
“I tell you, Losha, that horse of yours is a beauty, a true specimen,” he said, all smiles as he glanced over the white stallion she rode. “He is simply amazing.”
“Sa, are you on about that again?” Losha turned to him and gave him a knowing look, cocking her eyebrow.
“Well, who could help themselves? Just look at the fellow. The fine mane. The groomed hooves. The way he handles so easily, so accurately. He is nothing short of noble. And that rare color! Shrieks, Losha. It was one thing to blow up their arsenal and send that Koter guy down the river, but to steal one of the best horses in the land? Top stuff.”
Losha had donned her Wolf of War pelt again, something she hadn’t done since the battle of Lake Lada. Even with it on, her frown was obvious as she shook her head.
“Koter jumped; I never touched him. But if you say this horse is that wonderful, alright. He saved my life; that makes him great enough.” She reached forward and stroked the side of the horse’s face, and in kind the creature grunted softly as its tail swished.
“Of course a farmhand would know all about horses,” Faima muttered. “Your attraction to that thing is... unnerving.”
“Sa! I just know good animals when I see them. But he has a name you know; he is not some machine,” Yega retorted.
“Oh?” Tami asked. “How do you know its name? Did it tell you or something?”
Yega grumbled for a bit at the overall lack of enthusiasm or seriousness the subject was gathering. “N-no, no one can talk to horses. Do not be stupid! It had its name etched on its horseshoe.”
“Really?” Tami wondered. “Hmph, who knew...”
“The practice is pretty common actually. It helps breeders quickly know which horse is which whenever new horses come in or if they go to a new location with unfamiliar horses. It also helps pin down lost horses since the footprints will practically tell you who it is.”
“Sounds better than branding,” Tami remarked.
“Nobody brands horses... Anyway, Losha’s horse is called Izel.”
“Sounds pure,” Losha said, nothing the root of the name in Asten, “zel”. It generally meant blank or new and unsurprisingly had become associated with the color white.
“And another thing, as far as I can tell, Izel is a true, purebred Galister. They are known and admired throughout the Continent for their majestic combination of power, grace, and strength!” Yega exclaimed.
“Please keep your horse hard-ons to yourself,” Faima said flatly as she turned her head. “I can see how you could get attached to them, staring at their asses all day in a barn, but focus on the mission for a change.
“You all just fail to comprehend how simply marvelous a find Losha has in her hands,” Yega scowled.
Losha, however, laughed lightly. “Do not worry Yega; if anyone appreciates Izel, it is me. We will look out for each other.”
Aslo refrained from this lively conversation; his concerns remained with their approaching task. They journeyed deeper into the woods, creeping along slowly. Rushing into the situation, despite how severe things seemed, would only work against them. Every member of the group thoroughly swept their eyes across the landscape as the trees thickened around them. No clear indication of the enemy stood among even the barest branch, and as far as they could tell the forest appeared isolated and unoccupied.
“Ver Holvate,” Aslo spoke up after some time. “We see nothing yet of the Henron. I duly recommend we advance towards our former base in the forest’s heart. The enemy may yet maintain a presence there. It would be a starting point to scout for their forces.”
“There is no need for honorifics,” Losha said. “Just Losha will do.”
“Very well then.”
“There is also no need to do reconnaissance. I can easily detect their presence myself, even from afar.”
“With serialization you mean?” Aslo asked.
“In a way. Essentially, everyone leaks minute amounts of seras at set intervals. Serialists can detect these leaks; we call them seras frequencies. Using that, I can determine how close people are, whether they are in groups, and approximately how large those groups are.”
“Amazing,” he said.
“That is how she was able to warn us about the Henron before the battle of Lake Lada. Even when the enemy was masked by snowfall,” Faima said.
“And if I remember correctly,” Tami began. “That is why you punched her in the face...”
“Go chug a dick, Tami,” Faima swore. “I... I apologized.”
“Really?” Tami grinned. “I had no idea you had it in you.” She simply glared at her comrade while Aslo further inquired about Losha’s abilities.
“Can you sense anyone right now?”
“Sa, I can feel several groups of seras frequencies to the southeast,” she said, pointing around to their right.
“So they are indeed here...” Aslo whispered. “That swings pretty far from the former outpost we used to hold there. I guess we will not find them there after all. Can you see how strong their numbers are, Losha?”
“Sa, yet this is what I do not understand; there are not many.”
“An estimate, perhaps?”
“Right,” Losha said, looking down for a moment as her soul noted the various incoming frequencies. Counting all of these different signals did not actually involve serialization, rather Losha had to rely on an acquired perception of how many she felt at any given moment. The whole act remained a guess at best given how unrefined the method was. Nevertheless, its results seemed accurate enough until a certain point, and only that mattered for their purposes.
“I can say they have a total of 100 to 150 soldiers.”
Aslo’s face worked itself up, twisting into confusion. “So little? Can you be sure? What about farther east or north?”
“No,” Losha shook her head. “That is what I can tell for at least 15 kilometers in any direction ahead, below, or above us. Nothing else registers even faintly, excluding our own seras frequencies and those at Lake Lada.”
“Hold on a moment,” Aslo said as he pulled the reins of his horse. WOLFWIND walked slightly ahead before circling back to him.
“What is it?” Losha asked.
“This is not right. Not your estimate, but the situation itself. If what you say is indeed the case, then Henron has scarcely a handful of squads stationed here.”
“To be fair,” Tami said. “So did we, until recently at least. Maybe Henron could not spare soldiers to secure the forest as well.”
“No,” Losha said. “Aslo is correct. I do not see how this makes sense either. If the small amount of Henron here are all they have sent, it seems like a terrible waste of an opportunity. Taking the forest for themselves is as high a priority as any for their army. Why then leave it so poorly guarded? Against any larger force, they would simply be eliminated once Sventa strikes back.”
“Do you suppose they got trapped on this side?” Yega asked. “I mean, what if one of their snow-bridges failed or something, stranding a small group on this side of the Sholat River? They might be waiting for reinforcements.”
“If that is the case, now would be an excellent time to clear them out, while they are cut from support. We could also prevent any further crossings of the river,” Aslo said.
“Regardless of all of that, we have our orders,” Losha spoke as she turned Izel around and faced the woods. “We will take care of whatever Henron are in the Talimer Forest. Whatever reason why they really came here, we shall know soon enough.”
Barely 30 minutes thereafter, as they began to delve into the very heart of the sprawling, dormant forest, Losha and her companions realized that much more was amiss than they’d ever imagined. They saw it around them in the very air before their eyes.
“Bah, what is this... mist?” Faima mumbled angrily as she fanned away the white haze that had started to surround the area.
“Is it smoke?” Tami asked, sticking his hand to the side as if to touch it.
“It does not smell like it,” Yega shook his head. “It smells nothing like Bulmon. That man could smoke. This smells like...”
“Nothing,” Losha said. “It has no scent, or at least it is quite subtle. I do not think it is smoke though.” She glanced up at the height of the forest, peering through the curtain of fog. Though obscured, the glare of an angled sun broke through, if vaguely. “It look vaporous; light is refracting overhead from the sun.”
“Refactory-what?” Yega asked.
“Think of it like a cloud; light bounces all around the particles of water, making the source difficult to see,” Losha explained. “Like a lantern during heavy fog.”
“Oh... I see,” he replied, looking up at the faded sun as well.
“This greatly concerns me,” Aslo said, clearing his throat. “It is the middle of winter; it is no season for fog. Although the Talimer Forest does get particularly foggy in late March if the snow rapidly melts, this sort of phenomenon is frankly unprecedented.”
“Be on guard, everyone,” Losha said. They all nodded and proceeded slowly.
“How close are we to them?” Aslo wondered.
“Barely a kilometer and a half,” Losha replied. “And it appears they are moving towards us no less.”
Aslo narrowed his eyes. “That is no coincidence; it cannot be.”
“Agreed. Look up ahead. Visibility is poor; you cannot see far beyond the trees with all of this mist floating around. They only began mobilizing minutes ago. I doubt their movements and the arrival of this strange cover are unrelated. I do not like the signs of what I see.”
“Damn,” Faima cursed as she looked all around them.
The fog gradually increased in density as they further journeyed into the forest. To them it were as if the world had shrunk as the limits of their sight grew shorter and shorter. Seemingly all existence restricted itself to their lonely little sphere, and everything outside of these impenetrable clouds remained unknown. Even seeing the rest of their group proved a challenge. In spreading out too far, they lost contact with some of their furthest members. Yet as they all clung together, they provided an easy target for ambush, however they could scarcely afford to separate then. Nearly as thick as the film before them, tensions rose. Though Losha had assured them that the Henron were not yet near, her unit’s stress become almost palatable.
“Shrieks, this is one spooky mission,” Yega said. “I can barely see the sky anymore, and something is really bothering my nose.” He furiously wiped his wet, itchy nostrils, but his sniffling carried on nonetheless.
“Suck it up,” Tami smiled. “Literally,” he added, much to Yega’s lack of amusement.
“Hold ranks, everyone!” Aslo called back to the rest of the Special Operations Corps.”
“I see nothing. I hear nothing. I like nothing about this,” Faima said as she unholstered her revolver. Some of the others unsheathed their blades as well, and a number of sharpshoots chambered rounds into their guns.
“About 900 meters now, slightly north of us,” Losha announced. “I hate to sound vainglorious, but why not send me on ahead by myself? I have learned a series that can help me see even in these conditions. If it is simply a few hundred Henron, I can subdue them in short order. This fog puts us at a great combat disadvantage. There is no need to jeopardize yourselves.”
“Again with the soloist routine?” Tami asked wryly. “Remember how well that went? Last time?”
“Sa. I lived, and Henron’s attack on the third division was ruined. Koter is nowhere near us. I think I will be just fine. If I did encounter any issues, I can always raise a flare, like at Lake Lada. Even you would be able to see it despite the fog.”
Aslo shook his head. “I am not in favor of such a plan, but I cannot reason that approaching like we are is any better. If we all stormed in at once, it would be chaotic. If Losha first attacked, drawing their attention, we could follow shortly thereafter and provide immediate support. But debating like this is somewhat beside the point. You, Losha, can do whatever you see fit, since we have little power to interfere.”
Losha frowned for a bit, unaware that such an impression followed her, although her actions up until this point had done little to counter it. “Do not think me so brash or reckless. You all will tail after me as I ambush them, according to Aslo’s suggestion.”
“How will we know where to go?” Aslo asked. “Even just pacing ahead a few meters, and your image begins to fade.”
“Follow this,” Losha instructed. She held her fist out, upturned yet closed. As she unraveled her fingers, she serialized a bright ball of light in her palm. The vibrant, blue sphere hovered before them, slightly moving up and down in long intervals.
“I can control it remotely, probably up to a full kilometer. I shall go forward, and when the time is right...” She suddenly changed the color of the orb to green. “Now, if something should happen to me...” Finally, its hue quickly shifted red. “All you have to do is come after this and I will guide you to my position.”
“Alright,” Aslo nodded, marveling at how flexible and ingenious serialization allowed their operation to be. “We shall prepare ourselves immediately.”
“Try not to get your hopes up, Range Lead,” Tami winked. “Losha will be done before we even get there. Honestly, some girls steal all of the fun.”
Losha and Izel turned around; her head bowed low to her chest. “If only war were merely a game. The motives for it are certainly childish enough.” She whipped her head up swiftly and snapped the reins. Before anyone could respond to her, she had already galloped into the murky depths ahead.
She found herself lost to the world, as if suddenly transported to a place all its own. The dream she’d had last month briefly flashed in her mind, but she blocked it out as best as she could through ignorance. As they clipped along the forest floor, trees and brush and snow banks all seemingly sprang up just moments before she could avoid them. Still, she and Izel dashed forward, together dodging these obstacles as they weaved in and out of the way. As the woods rushed at them and by them, they soon approached within 500 meters of the Henron.
Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw something large on the move. She dismissed it as simple apprehension of the mind. Her field of vision barely extended more than a few measly meters. Losha reasoned that she couldn’t possibly have seen anything through the fog. Furthermore, she did not recognize any seras frequencies especially close to her. For a moment, it felt as if the air here was slightly warmer than before, but again Losha dismissed it as an error on her part. Losha rode on for a short time, however, Izel began tossing his head every now and then, like he had a tick or some such.
“What is it?” Losha asked, slowing down a bit yet continuing to push ahead all the same. Though her steed could grant her no answer, an answer came to her eventually, by other means. To her left, she saw a massive, black form. It stood well within her range of sight rather than her peripherals, yet somehow the figure was meters away, inside the shrouding fog. It were as if its dark presence were strong enough to pierce even the deepest mist.
As her heart suddenly worked up, her head turned quickly. The black thing zipped away as soon as she properly laid her eyes upon it. Tearing away from the scene with inexplicable speed, it raced ahead, darting erratically left and right. Losha whirled her head forward as she tried to keep track of this mysterious entity. Rapidly, shifting back and forth, moving closer then farther away then near again, the black, indistinct shape flew about until it seemingly stopped directly in front of them. For a time, they didn’t appear to advance upon the curious shadow; perhaps it moved along as fast as they did?
With neither notice nor forewarning, however, this black object spontaneously surged back at them, all at once blazing towards their position head-on. Before Losha could even react, the dark enigma had already jumped at them. A split-second prior to their collision, the shadow morphed into something: the warped image of a human face. Its features distorted, the face opened its mouth far greater than conceivably possible, in agony, terror, and rage. Right as it was about to hit them, Losha raised her arms up as if that could defend herself. The face smashed into them, but they passed through as if it had been nothing at all. As it went by them, a single, ringing cry ripped through the forest, reverberating into the fog.
While Losha but grunted and steeled herself against this supernatural matter, Izel remained completely bewildered by the event. He flung himself, neighed wildly, and jerked with little control or restraint. Losha fought with the reins, but her struggle proved futile. Whatever they had just seen, it had sent Izel into a rampant frenzy. While he abandoned their course and veered astray, he only minimally managed to maneuver safely through the woods.
“Izel! Shh! Shh! Hold!” she commanded, but ultimately to no avail. Out of the clouds, a small patch of bushes appeared, through which Izel charged without heed. However, one of his legs became entangled, causing him to fall. With a great whine of distress, he collapsed. In an instant, the motion hurled Losha over sideways as they slid. Dislodged from her saddle, flung into the air, she was poised to crash into the snow on her right side. Quickly however, she serialized a slim force-field of kinetic energy around her body. The series managed to sustain most of the impact’s damage, but the inertia of the accident pulled her along the ground. To make things worse, the land sloped down steeply just a few meters later.
Over ice, rock, and root, she tumbled down the hill, spinning and launching upwards several times. Had she not protected herself as she did, Losha believed she would have seriously broken one of her limbs, or worse. The barrier she generated was not especially thick or strong, so she still felt as if a mob had kicked her when at last she reached even earth once again. She spent but a moment gaining her equilibrium before carefully standing up. Though she could not see that far, she glanced up the incline anyway. Some distance now separated her from Izel, and she had no idea where he was, given that he had no seras frequency.
“Shrieks,” she sighed, shaking the snow off of herself. She could have easily used speed-steps to work her way back up, but something down here grabbed her attention. Looking down at her feet, she saw that the grass sat open and uncovered. In fact, as she turned around, the whole forest floor before her had shed all signs of the season. Just as well, Losha definitely felt warmer. By her guess, it was at least 8 degrees Celsius or more. Putting aside her horse for the time, she walked forward into the strange landscape that seemed so far from winter. Every step she took released a tiny squishing sound as water seeped around her feet. Temporarily, the fog grew incredibly strong, almost suffocatingly. Even a meter was asking too much to see clearly, but just as this happened, the mists cleared and thinned out. Suddenly, she could see fairly well to an extent, at least better than previously.
From all appearances, she seemed to have stumbled into a clearing of a sort. Pace by pace, she made her way to the center where a voice stopped her. It was a woman’s tone, hushed, unintelligible. Losha spun around, checking her circle but in the end finding nothing. She frowned to herself. No seras frequency pinged nearby either. Shaking her head, Losha was right about to proceed when the voice cried out again, this time from right beneath her. She took but a single glance down before she hurriedly speed-stepped back once.
Clawing their way through the soil but not disturbing it in the least, as if immaterial, a pair of hands reached up. Their fingers curled over one another tightly, as if to grab her. Shortly thereafter, the hands pulled a bodily apparition forth from the ground. Once free of this tomb, the figure slowly floated up. Twitching and trembling, a dark, long-haired woman feverishly jittered about. She had a thick strap over her eyes with a buckle near the middle. Her mouth moved rapidly as words of scant meaning escaped her lips. Rambling syllables filled the air as her head craned back, and back, and back, as if it would snap. As she leaned her head out to the side in wonder, Losha had no idea what was going on, but she changed her stance as if to fight. Then, in a blink, the woman seized up, and all her limbs dropped loosely. She held out both hands to the side before she spoke.
“Losha!” she echoed loudly. “I have seen this day before. Sa, so clearly. That is my gift.” She raised her head upwards as if looking towards the sky. “To see the future!” Losha said nothing and only stared. The woman tilted her head down to the left and right, gradually sweeping the area.
“Sa, just as I was shown. I knew you would come, at this exact moment, standing on that very spot. More importantly, I have long envisioned this encounter between us, this approaching battle. There is but one thing left to see,” she said as she pulled out a small, almost pistol-like crossbow, seemingly from nowhere. “I am Range Lead Suvla Teni Henron, or as they better know me, the Olta Fox.”
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