Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

"Hell yeah, that is what I am talking about," Jori said while punching the air.

"Don\'t mind him; he is an idiot," Asche said. "Still, is this wise, Lord Branden? For someone to give you orders that you can\'t refuse… I can only imagine one person."

"Just Branden is fine, it will be troublesome if others realize that you are being too respectful," Branden replied. "Yep, that is right. The king said that I shouldn\'t come. The previous attack that Tristan recovered showed results, but he didn\'t like that I was at risk. Still, I can\'t risk just waiting for things to happen while everyone is risking their lives.

It also would be too much of a pain to rebuild it if too many of them were killed. Just kidding, I can\'t leave the lives of my people in the hands of someone else."

"You really had to joke about that, huh?" Rain asked and then sighed.

"Anyway, time is of the essence. Let\'s go," Branden said.

"Let\'s just hope that we won\'t be punished alongside you for disobeying the king," Rain shrugged.

The others didn\'t look worried in the slightest about that; they were just happy that they were going to do such an honorable job of protecting their leader.

The group began to move, and Branden remained hidden inside the wagon until they left the city. The guards of the gates never checked the carriages of those who worked for the organization. Still, it seemed that it was a good time for them to start… that would be the max level of unluckiness. Still, they didn\'t do that.

"Do you also smell that this is a trap?" Rain asked when they were hundreds of meters away from the capital, and Branden stopped hiding.

"That was my first assumption, but nothing came to mind that could explain the enemy\'s behavior," Branden replied while looking in the distance. "It looks like half of them are returning to their territory, and our Commander assumed that some internal conflict was the cause of that.

Even if it is a trap, Revan assumed that attacking that city when half of those who could fight were far away was the best option."

"I can\'t deny that," Rain said.

"The commander of the royal guards assumed that, but His Majesty was the one to make the final call, right?" Jori asked.

"Indeed, but His Majesty has complete trust in Revan," Branden said.

That didn\'t make much sense since he commanded the first few attempts to take back Tristan. Still, he didn\'t get any results and also lost the three sons of Roswall and Melody… come to think of it, Rain never saw the king, and it seems that no one saw him in eight years as well.

Rumors say that his health is bad, even though he was around his forties and magic could heal most sicknesses or at least decrease their symptoms.

Rain didn\'t recall seeing the queen and their kids either… Since they lived in times of war, it made sense that the king would keep them hidden for their safety, but that sure made the population feel uneasy. Not like they cared about that since they had been doing it for many years already.

"You are close to the higher-ups and the Intel they obtain, right?" Rain asked. "What do you know that few people know?"

"... A while ago, everyone heard that some of the magic people tribes had decided to join the conflicts, right?" Branden asked. "As it turns out, some other people did the same. They were the powerhouses of the enemy\'s country.

They didn\'t do anything until now because they were guarding the other side of their frontiers… since the dragon people are their territory, they need to keep an eye on them, and only the strongest of them can actually make a difference. The dragon people stopped doing suspicious movements near their border, so they are changing their focus to us."

"If they can fight on par with the dragon people, I can imagine how powerful they are," Rain said.

"Saying that they are powerful isn\'t fair for them; their strength is insane," Branden said. "One of them was the person who defeated and tamed two of the wild dragons that invaded our territory eleven years ago.."

The group looked speechless after hearing that… defeating a dragon was quite something. Subjugating one and turning them into a loyal dog was much more difficult. The person able to do that had to show the difference in strength between them to make that possible. Still, considering all the facts, that only made things more difficult to understand.

"I have some potions with me; we can add them to the horse\'s water and make them move at night for a bit longer," Branden said when the sun began to set, and the group began to prepare to camp. "The others are two and half days ahead of us, and their destination is five days away from them, so we need to cover more ground."

"Even if we do that, it is unlikely that we will reach them before they reach the area," Rain said.

"It is fine. They won\'t do anything before setting their camp and readying everything," Branden explained. "The mission might be hasty, but their preparations aren\'t."

Everyone nodded, and they kept moving for a couple of hours at night as well. They were thinking of training with Rain before going to bed, but perhaps they should just focus on improving their magic until the time comes.