After a few more minutes, the group broke up, and one of the teachers came over with a note in his hand.
“You are with the new arrivals from the church, right? Commander Karl and his team?” The aging mage asked.
“That’s right. What can we do for you?” Karl replied.
“We have an update for you. The second Commander for your team has been selected, and a bunk has been prepared for you in the male dorm tents.” He explained.
“Is it acceptable to set up my own outside the camp? I sleep better that way, and I’ll be close enough to hear mission orders.” Karl asked.
“That is fine. If you prefer an individual tent, they are set up behind the line, you can pick a spot and set up. But the Commander who is assigned to the second half of your mission team has just arrived, and he seems somewhat perturbed, so perhaps you could help set his mind at ease?”
“Of course. Where might he be?” Karl replied.
The teacher gestured for Karl to follow him, and they walked through the camp to the bus parking area, where a familiar looking mage in his mid-twenties was having a smoke. He wore an officer’s uniform with a Colonel’s bird shaped badge on it, but Karl didn’t recall meeting many Colonels in his time, other than Valerie.
They were one of those ranks who got stuck either in an office or leading a very large group of soldiers, so they would be in a back line Command Station, not anywhere near Karl.
He looked up and gave them a rueful smile, which seemed odd to Karl. He didn’t recall this man having anything to be apologetic for.
But then, he realized who he was. That was the silent General from the meeting that sent them to take on the Royal Rank Frost Giant. If Karl recalled right, the man was a fairly accomplished mage, which would be useful in the team to keep Jimmy and Ali off primary defensive duties.
The teacher introduced them. “Commander Karl, this is Colonel Wilkes. Colonel Wilkes, this is Commander Karl and his team. The four Ascended members you will be partnered with will be here shortly. Your teams will be working together for the next few missions.”
Karl walked over and shook the man’s hand. “It seems we have some catching up to do, General.”
Wilkes nodded and took a drag off his cigarette, the smell startling Karl, who had gotten used to Doug’s being distinctly not tobacco.
“Indeed we do. Is there somewhere private?”
“Just over here behind the bus parking is as good as it gets, I’m afraid. But I’ll take the abridged version if it’s necessary.” Karl suggested.
They walked away from the last of the crowd, and Colonel Wilkes took a seat on a crate of food supplies.
“Where do I start? The obvious, I suppose. I have been relieved of my Command and demoted to Colonel, then sent to the front lines. The same is true for General Jormundson, the warrior. General Orland is under arrest, but they likely won’t demote him, just hold him until the trial.” The Colonel began.
“Wait, back up. They arrested General Orland for sending us on a fool’s mission?” Karl asked.
“No, General Milton threw a fit about General Orland’s disrespect in telling you two to go outside for a duel, and General Orland accidentally killed him. It just happened so fast, Milton drew his blade, and before we knew it, he was dead. I don’t think that Orland even realized what he was doing, it was just a reflex.”
Karl shook his head. “What a clusterfuck.”
Colonel Wilkes used the stub of his last one to light another cigarette. “Tell me about it. There was only one High Priest left in the camp, and he couldn’t cast resurrection. Then, the rest of us spent an entire week in the tender loving care of the Holy Inquisition, who didn’t believe that we hadn’t conspired to get a ranking Elite killed, and now here I am.”
“Well, welcome to the Hill Giant border, I guess. I, personally, don’t hold any sort of grudge. It was a mess, but the hospital counsellor told me that I need to learn to not take those things personally, as it’s bad for my mental well-being.
We all recognize that it was a messed up situation, but I already met with Overlord Drake, and he informed me that you didn’t know about the other group who had been sent and went missing when you sent us, so that makes the bad intel, and the fact that the location of the Royal Rank Frost Giant was off by over forty kilometres a bit more understandable.”
Colonel Wilkes looked startled. “The fight wasn’t at the cave?”
Karl shook his head. “No, they ambushed us where they hit the other group. They used the bodies as bait and buried an ambush team under the rocks and snow to wait for us to stumble on them. Being Frost Giants, even Thermal Vision didn’t spot them under the snow. We had already located the cave, using Hawk to scout, but we were going to rest overnight and hit it in the morning.”
Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Mick and the others from the second team, so Karl shook Colonel Wilkes’ hand and gestured toward the trees.
“If you need me, I will be in a spider silk fort just outside camp. But I will see you at breakfast.”
“Understood, Commander. I look forward to working with you.”
Karl led his group away, so the Colonel could get acquainted with his new team. The extra mage would be a good counterpart for the team, but Karl realized that he didn’t know what the Colonel’s specialty was. He had forgotten to ask.
Karl led his team out of the camp, getting many strange looks from the guards along the road. They were going the wrong way for a mission, and past where the tents were set up in a clearing. Tree roots made for lumpy beds, so nobody set up that close to the forest.
Then Karl led the team right into the forest, headed for a big tree where Rae could build her fort, but not so far in that they couldn’t see the camp. That part was important, so they could see who was coming toward them, and react to any major movements on the line that would signal an attack.
[That’s a good one. Let’s use that one.] Rae announced as she left her space and skittered up a tree to begin her work.
She connected five different trees today, going all out with her fort, while everyone on the ground wondered what sort of mansion Rae thought that they needed for their home base here on the Hill Giant lines.
It was enough that even with the silk blended to match the tree coloration, it still brought over teachers, who were wondering what was going on.
Karl waved to them, and a few understood, but they were even more curious, as they understood what was happening, but they had never seen it in action before. Commander Rank spider silk could stop even skill enhanced arrows if it was layered, and they had made such a large fort that they had to be planning to spend some time here.
The line was unlikely to move, but they had made a fort larger than the fifty-person dorm tents for a five-person team.
[It’s a masterpiece. They’re going to love it, and I even decorated a little.] Rae announced when she was finished.
That got Karl’s interest, and he motioned for the team to go up while he spoke with the teachers.
“It makes Rae happy to get to try out new designs for her forts everywhere that she goes. She says this one is a masterpiece, and it’s not interfering with anyone else, so I didn’t see any reason to stop her.” Karl explained to the group that had come to see what they were doing.
“Can we enter? Or is it a personal thing to her?” One of the warrior instructors asked.
“That should be fine. She likes it when people praise her hard work.” Karl agreed.
The teachers went up next, and Karl laughed as he heard the gasps and laughter of them discovering what Rae meant by a masterpiece.
He climbed up the ladder, and looked around what appeared to be their new sitting room, as Rae had made a half dozen hanging chairs to swing in, and found that she had decorated the tree with necklaces of gems and bits of bone stolen from the dead Frost Giants.
It had a very shamanistic vibe to it, and the magical gems glittered in the twilight under the tree branches.
That led into a kitchen area, where Lotus was already hard at work building counter space with [Plant Growth], and then open bedrooms with curtains between hammocks, and one more large open room, which Karl assumed was for guests.
“It’s a whole house, built in the trees in what? Five minutes?” One of the teachers asked.
“With all new beds and swinging chairs. Those are new, we didn’t have those last time.” Lotus added.
“Is this how you live on the front lines?” The warrior instructor asked.
“It is now.”
