By sundown, Rockflower sent another counter-raiding party, numbering twenty-one braves. It was smaller than last time, consisting of a Green Bit group led by Chief Bess, Deborah, Marseille, Raja, the entire Foxfire Guild, and me. Rockflower couldn’t afford to send more ever since half of the guilds left town. Our goal was to stop the warheads from flying. As much as possible, we would free the prisoners if we had a chance. We would then high-tail back home afterward and wait for reinforcements to arrive. I was astounded that my friends volunteered for this dangerous quest since they were still newcomers. After crossing the river with the Green Bits’ canoes, we pressed on with haste. “So, I want to make things clear,” Brock began. “This Ares’s Brave guy wanted to start another World War. He would then sit back and let the big shots fight each other. And when this is over, the Eagles pick off what’s left of them, gather a bigger army, and then head back to Ever

We resumed our journey to Hammerhorn, but in a lengthy detour for several hours. It was slow, though we kept ourselves hidden in the undergrowth at a stealthy pace. We had to be covert when sneaking into the underground base to avoid their patrols. The first patrol we found was a sign that we had arrived. Owing to the Green Bits’ reconnaissance earlier, we managed to bypass several patrolmen until we reached the river. From our left, the hill-fort was in that direction. Chief Bess turned all the Green Bits into crocodiles and panthers. They swam to the other side of the river before dispersing into the trees to check for patrols. We waited for a moment until they came back and wagged their tails. “It’s clear.” Chief Bess signaled Raja to transform into his giant form and grabbed everyone except me, Marseille, and Deborah. Deborah summoned an eight-spoked wheel that hovered in the air. She and Marseille hopped on and flew across. I threw Raja and his p

“See, my lords,” we could hear Aurelius talking to the Storm Brothers from a distance, “I told you they would take this exit.” Masaru grunted in acknowledgment. Everyone from our side was exchanging each other’s worrisome stares. The Blood Eagles’ shield wall stretched about a third of the clearing in a crescent formation; with their weapons aimed at the hole, our escape would be difficult. Aurelius turned his attention back to us at the hole, still hiding inside the underground airfield. “I know you’re in there, Anne. Would you mind if you can come out and talk like old friends we once were?” Several brow-raising glares fell on the chief. “You two know each other?” Wilt asked. “Unfortunately, yes,” she answered out loud. “Oh, don’t be like that, my dear,” Aurelius exclaimed. “We haven’t seen each other since the peace signing in War’s End —” “Where are the warheads?” She cut him off. “Anne, please,” Aurelius coaxed. “O

“It’s Cutler.” Miranda recognized the person who tackled Raja. However, the enemy commander wasn’t human. Standing two and a half meters tall, he was a half-man half-lion, dressed like a Pharaoh and armed with a pair of long bronze knives. “We’d just split up a minute ago,” he cackled behind his feral smile. “Who would’ve thought that I’d be the one who finds you first.” Back on his feet, Raja dashed toward him, with shields and spears appearing in his hands. However, Cutler dodged all his thrusts, as well as Chief Bess’s arrows flying toward him with such godly speed and grace that he got a chance to bite Raja’s fifth arm. He yelped in pain, though he managed to smack the enemy commander with one of his shields, stumbling him several yards before hiding behind a tree to avoid the arrows. “Sloppy as usual, Raja,” Cutler taunted. “Still in your first-stage form? It’s a waste that your god chose your pampered hide.” Raja bared his gritting teeth at him.

“By the gods,” Zeki gasped. It was an airfield, the same one back in Hammerhorn. From both sides of the strip, there were also rows of winged warheads, hundreds of them. Mrs. Smith told us they had shown Raja, Wilt, and Marseille this place after the Eagles’ first raid. The airfield was once an important base from the last Great War. Only the Green Bits, Aurelius, and Mayflower’s oldest members knew about it. The Guildmaster of Green Bit revealed this secret to the Mayflowers after they settled Rockflower. The two guilds were hoping to keep it as leverage against anyone who threatened the Sleeping King Forest. “Does King Martel have something to do with Heaven One?” I asked. “No, no, no,” Chief Bess said in her late king’s defense. “That was all Aurelius’s idea. The airfield back in Hammerhorn was new to us. We don’t even know how he managed to acquire those warheads and how their airfield came to be. We were as surprised as everyone.” “He was