“We can’t leave him behind.” Andy stated matter-of-factly for the thirteenth time. 

“I am not suggesting we abandon Barnacle. I am merely suggesting that we do not need to bring him on a journey so arduous.” Gustave sent. He was still circling overhead, his silhouette casting long arcs against the darkening sky. The birds and creatures alive in the Nexus were a cacophony of noises and screeching. 

Andy started at Gustave, the red of his horn slowly overtaking the green. Then, as if it hadn’t happened at all Andy sent a positivity and a smile. “Like, I said. We cannot leave him behind. Georgina is getting us a jug and the supplies I requested so that I can attach and detach it to myself before she heads off to go do her ‘calming people down’ thing.”

Light in the clearing had shifted from gold to the deep warm orange that preceded full dark. Moths had begun their nightly journey to Andy’s horn, orbiting the now multicolored glow in slow, lazy spirals. He let them. They were drawn to the light, or the warmth or the magic, or whatever instinct told a moth that the glowing thing in a field was worth investigating.

Andy sat there in the silence taking in the calm of the night. He let himself, for a brief stupid moment, enjoy it. Then the moths left. The orbit around his horn slowly thinned as one by one the moths drifted into the deeper dark remembering they had somewhere else to be.

[HOSTILE ENERGY DETECTED]

“Guys I just got a notification that there is a hostile.”

“Investigating.” came Gustave’s response as he ascended far enough into the cloudline to avoid being seen. 

Auri too was already moving, sticking to the shadows of the Life Nexus. Andy stayed where he was, attempting to dim his horn and activating his [CAMOUFLAGE]. The Nexus beside him had gone eerily silent. The absence of sound was almost more overwhelming.

“Movement.” He sent, “From the north west.”

A long pause. Long enough that Andy started to wonder if something had happened.

“Formation,” Gustave sent. “Tight. Synchronized footfalls. Seems militaristic. All wearing the exact same uniforms.”

Andy immediately went back to his conversation with Georgina. The human lord could take it back given the manner of how you convinced him to sign away his land. 

“Andrew.” Gustave’s impression had lost its usual tight discipline. “The centermost figure.”

A pause longer than the first.

“Gustave, what about the center figure?”

“I cannot describe it.”

Andy’s horn went discordant before his mind caught up. A wrong note mixed in with the usual low humming. 

Auri split into twelve equal foxes and moved off into the darkness.  

“I’ll check it out,” she sent followed shortly by, “Seven of them, the two outer figures on the left and right are all carrying bows.”

The figures came into view. As Gustave said, seven of them, all robed and all moving as one collective unit. His truth sense picked up unwavering dedication to their cause. They believed full-heartedly in whatever mission they were on.

“I am here,” the frontmost human called into the clearing, “to make a deal with Lady Auriana.” 

“Lady Auriana is not currently accepting visitors,” Andy sent back, projecting the impression at the torchbearer. He hoped that it carried the right amount of authoritative courtesy. “We appreciate the trip you’ve made. The hour is late. Perhaps a visit could be arranged through the appropriate channels.”

“I do not require an appointment.” The torchbearer's response landed with a perfect emotionless cadence of a person reading from a script.

He reached with his truth sense. The conviction behind the words was full. They were here with a purpose and that purpose had to be fulfilled.

“Could you tell me,” Andy continued to keep a genial authoritative tone to his messages, “what kind of deal you’re looking to make. That way I know what to bring to the conversation.”

“The deal is between myself and Lady Auriana. I am told she is the owner of this land, is she not?”

“She is, but on the off chance there’s something we can do to  avoid wasting any more of your time, a counter-offer. A different appointment? A nice trade. You see, Lady Auriana is very busy.”

“My time is not wasted.”

Andy felt Auri’s impression against the edge of his awareness. She’d sent an image of the seven humans. They’d stopped walking and stood. Four bowmen, the torchbearer at the front, there was a more concealed figure in the center. One who was carrying a staff, and on the tip of the staff was a spiralled glowing horn.

The torchbearer stood still waiting patiently. Andy decided to try one last thing. 

“I am not Lady Auriana, but I am a close partner of hers and any deal involving her, involves me, therefore I would like to know with whom I am speaking before I agree to any commitments. Could you please tell me your name?”

“No,” The torchbearer stated. “Send Auriana out to negotiate or we will be coming in.”

Truthsense indicated that he meant it full-heartedly.

“He means it,” Andy sent to his party. “There is no version of this guy who will leave without seeing you.”

“Agreed.” Auri and Andy sent in unison. 

Andy sent the impression of a long slow exhale. (Which he could actually do, but it was far less dramatic if he was the only one who could hear it.) “Threesome on me.” Andy projected at his party. “Non-lethal only. Aim for the ugly stick.”

Andy reached down through the soles of his hooves down into the green fertile earth, only made more fertile by the Life Nexus next door. He asked the ground for vines. The ground responded. Twelve clean green ropes of organic muscle tore free and streamed toward the torchbearer in a wide arc.

Gustave dropped two windblades over the formation. They continued to pick up speed and whistled as they neared their target.

Auri’s psychic beam was built and released. A thin purple line of psychic energy that looked far more unassuming than it was. (Which made sense for Auri if he really thought about it.)

All three attacks crossed the boundary of the staff’s field at roughly the same time. Andy felt his vines fall to the ground uselessly as if they were a puppet and their strings had been cut. He felt every cell of every vine forget what it was doing and then all twelve died. The dying ran backwards. It started at the edge of the vine and worked its way back through the earth and up into Andy. 

He staggered. He felt the life magic begin draining from him. Hard. 

[LIFE MAGIC DRAINING. 1%...2%]

Andy cut off his connection to the vines. Gustave’s windblades hit the field milliseconds after Andy’s vines. Auri’s beam destroyed

Gustave’s impression was sent with his usual precision, “My blades, Andrew. They were unmade.”

“My psychic beam was absorbed as well.” Auri added.

Andy looked at the staff. The horn at the end had brightened. Green, purple and white swirled from within.

“Oh. That’s bad.” 

Andy reached again. Another twelve, thicker vines pulled from ground. Gustave launched five full sized wind blades. Each one stopped at the invisible boundary. The vines died, the staff once again used that vine as a straw to begin taking Andy’s life magic.

[LIFE MAGIC DRAINING. 3%...5%]

“Fine, we can play it this way,” Torchbearer called.

“Let’s go cloudy with a chance of horn.”

Storm clouds began rolling into the clear dark blue sky darkening the night even further.  The humans continued walking unfazed. Wind gusts began picking up speed as thunder rumbled overhead. The torch in the leader's hand didn’t so much as flicker in the wind. 

Gustave called down a cyclone between the humans and the party. It howled and tore at the grass. The humans kept walking. Archers on both sides drew arrows. 

“They’re not backing down Andrew. I know we agreed to non lethal attacks. Perhaps we should scale the intensity slightly?” Gustave projected to his party.

“Agreed.” sent Auri

“Okay,” Andy said “Push it up a notch.”

Gustave pushed more wind into his cyclone. Rain came down in sheets, lighting streaked across the sky lighting up the clearing and the treeline. The cyclone increased in speed until it became a full blown tornado. Winds screamed only drowned out by the thunder clapping. 

Auri began channeling another psychic blast, allowing it to build and gain power before releasing it. 

Still the humans marched forward, completely without hesitation. As they got within a few body lengths of the tornado, it dissipated entirely. Andy watched in horror as Auri released her psychic blast. The center human in one fluid motion held their staff forward. The tornado and psychic blast both pulled into the staff.

The tip of the staff glowed brighter.

The human lowered the staff. “Oh,” Andy sent. “Oh. That’s bad. The staff ate your tornado.”

“I noticed Andrew, I was the one making the tornado.”

“Incoming. Move.”

The archers loosed. The warning from Gustave reached Auri and Andy a fraction of a second before impact. Andy threw himself sideways. An arrow struck the ground where he’d been standing. The grass around it immediately blackened and died. Andy’s horn confirmed the ambient life magic had been drained from the area in a moment.

“Okay. That’s very bad.”

More arrows flew. Gustave folded his wings and dropped from the clouds like a stone. He became a blur of wind, lightning cracked at his wingtips. He swept low over the formation, talons extended toward the staff wielder. 

A bowman stepped forward. The moment Gustave crossed through the invisible barrier surrounding the humans (what now was clearly a magic dampening zone) the winds around him simply ceased to exist. The sudden loss of lift nearly sent him tumbling into the dirt. He beat his wings frantically only barely managing to keep himself airborne. 

Arrows flashed upwards toward him, he banked and the arrow missed by millimeters. “Correction,” Gustave projected. “The ugly stick is very much the problem.”

The humans advanced. Step. Step. Step. They’d reached the clearing now. Every shift they made protected their staff wielder. Then without warning they abruptly stopped.

“Enough,” the torchbearer said without a hint of exertion. “We are here to see the land owner.”

Auri stepped out of the shadows in her human form. She bore an expression of irritation and distaste. “You are not welcome here. Lord Fergus and his men are banned from my land. Leave now.”

“We are not Lord Fergus’ men.”