The following morning, Davon left the group’s tent to find the thin layer of snow had grown by a few feet. Snow was still falling, but more lightly than the day before.

  Well, at least it I’ll be able to see my targets, he thought wearily. The cold didn’t bother him, thanks to his Revenant abilities, but he was already exhausted at the thought of fighting in the snow.

  He started to wonder what would happen if the Crimson Reavers summoned another firestorm, but buried the thought immediately. The Vanguard would simply shut the enemy’s attempt down… or die trying.

  Kai pushed out of the tent behind Davon with a yawn.

  “What a day for combat, eh?” the young warrior mumbled, stretching the sleep away.

  “Indeed.” Davon stared grimly at the snow. “Let’s hope the fight ends quickly.”

  Just as Davon finished his sentence, the gathering bell rang through the camp, calling all Revenants to the command tent.

  Lyla emerged a moment later, and the trio walked together to the center of camp. Grant and Emma were standing just outside the command tent with a massive group of Revenants already gathered around them. Once the whole force was assembled, Grant clapped his hands to draw everyone’s attention.

  “Brothers and sisters in arms!” he shouted. “Our scouts report that the Crimson Reavers have consolidated their outpost forces into one mass, standing between us and the city. Today, there will be no complicated plans. No, today is the day we show them our raw strength!”

  Grant raised his fist to the sky as he spoke, provoking cheers from the gathered Revenants. “We will hit them with the simplest of strategies. A direct clash!”

  Another round of cheers erupted from the crowd, but Davon didn’t join them. His thoughts kept wandering to the ongoing snowfall. What if it turned into a blizzard? While Davon was growing ever more confident in his ability to hit his marks, he wasn’t certain he could hit something without being able to see it.

  Emma quieted the cheers with a single raised hand. “Now gather at the camp entrance,” she ordered the crowd. “We will launch our assault soon.”

  The gathered Revenants dispersed into smaller groups and surged towards the encampment’s entrance, the trio among them.

  It was then that a nagging uncertainty gripped the back of Davon’s mind. There was something foreign about the sensation, as if it came from a source that wasn’t him.

  Confused, Davon looked over his shoulder. He saw nothing out of the ordinary. The next moment, as quickly as it had appeared, the feeling vanished.

  Briefly, Davon considered mentioning this to his companions, but decided against it. The moment had been so fleeting. It also seemed like a bad idea to draw focus away from the upcoming battle.

  This decision was solidified by the sound of Crimson Reaver war horns echoing in the distance, followed closely by roars and guttural shouting.

  “Sounds like they’re ready for us,” Davon remarked, unable to keep exhaustion from slipping into his voice.

  “It sounds like they think they’re ready for us,” Kai retorted. “Can’t wait to prove them wrong.”

  Davon waited for Lyla to interject, but no witty response came. He glanced over at his companion. Her usually neutral expression was gone, replaced by a look of dejection.

  He nudged her shoulder gently. “You alright?”

  Startled, she looked up, managing a faint smile. “Yeah, just…” Then her mask crumbled, and she sighed. “This resurrection hit me pretty hard, to be honest. But I don’t want to talk about it now. We’ll have time for that after the battle.”

  Davon nodded, giving her arm an encouraging pat.

  The trio fell in line with the other Revenants and continued through the camp’s entrance. In the distance, Davon could make out a massive line of Crimson Reaver soldiers. The sight sent memories of the Walden’s Hold siege through his mind.

  A surge of anger crashed into Davon.

  Gripping his bow, he found himself wondering how his new upgrade would manifest. Then he cast the thought aside. What mattered was that today would be a day of vengeance. Together, he and his Reliquary would make the enemy pay.

  Before long, most of the Vanguard were gathered in front of their encampment. Davon spotted Grant pushing through the crowd, his great sword proudly displayed on his back.

  “Into formation!” Grant shouted. “Infantry, three lines, front and flanks! Mages, square formation in the center! Archers take the rear!”

  Grant’s orders sent the gathered crowd into a flurry of organized motion. Exchanging a solemn nod, the trio split to take their respective positions: Kai up front with the infantry, Lyla with the mages in the center, and Davon at the rear.

  Out of habit, Davon grabbed his bow and tested the string. To his surprise, when the ethereal bowstring formed between his fingers, it seemed to glow more brightly than usual. He pulled the bowstring back. The arrow that formed between his fingers was brighter also, crackling with more energy than he was used to. Impressed, Davon relaxed the bowstring slowly, allowing the energy to fizzle out.

  As the Revenants fell into formation, the Crimson Reavers sounded their war horn once again. Davon scanned the enemy ranks. He couldn't make out much from his position at the Vanguard’s rear, but he could see war beasts assembling behind the closest line of foes.

  “Forward march!” Grant bellowed.

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  The Vanguard obeyed, trudging through the snow with their weapons at the ready.

  Growing anticipation filled Davon’s mind in waves, awakening the familiar itch for revenge. Both sensations intensified steadily as the two armies drew closer and closer together.

  The Vanguard’s path led between two Crimson Reaver outposts. When they were roughly a few hundred feet away from these enemy camps, Grant raised his arm and called for a halt. The formation stopped marching while Grant spoke with someone in the front.

  In the blink of an eye, two Revenants wearing Green Tracker cloaks split off from the formation, one towards each outpost. Uneasy silence fell across the Vanguard as they waited.

  Meanwhile, Davon watched the Crimson Reaver army draw steadily closer. He couldn’t see any trace of the Duelists or their mounts, but he knew damn well they would show up sooner or later.

  It was only a minute before the Green Trackers returned to the formation, shouting their all-clears. But rather than ordering the Vanguard to move forward, Grant raised his arm again.

  “Hold!” he commanded. “Archers, fire at will!”

  Davon raised his bow eagerly. Arrows whizzed through the air around him as he calculated the trajectory of his shot. Invoking the Scattershot rune, he fired, managing to track his arrow’s path despite the ongoing snowfall.

  The Crimson Reavers had halted, their front line forming a shield wall. Davon watched as his arrow splintered just before reaching the enemy line. It showered the Crimson Reavers in deadly projectiles, opening a gap in their wall.

  Davon stared at his bow in wonder. Unlike the previous siege, his missile was able to pierce through the Crimson Reaver’s shields.

  The Boneshaper was right, he thought with a grim smile of satisfaction. Drake bones make for a special upgrade.

  Davon wasn’t the only one pulling power from his Reliquary. Shortly after his scattershot landed, the Crimson Reavers were bombarded with various enchanted arrows. One pierced the chest of a war beast and detonated a second later, sending chunks of grey meat and bone scattering across the battlefield. Another ignited as it was about to land, enveloping a section of the shield wall in a brief blaze and slowing the enemy’s advance.

  The rain of arrows continued, but the Crimson Reavers kept pushing forward. They seemed to rely on their sheer numbers to fill the gaps left behind by their dead comrades.

  Davon took time to pick his shots, aiming for the war beasts as they moved into his range. He realized quickly that he didn’t need to worry about the weather. His heightened Revenant senses allowed him to see his targets just as keenly as on a clear day.

  Settling into the archer's rhythm, he sent arrow after arrow at the mass of enemies in front of him. Missiles struck the creatures in their legs, bellies, and arms, sinking through their armor. When Davon alone brought down his fourth war beast, he took note of the fact that only a few remained.

  Dead before the clash even began, he thought.

  “Archers, hold fire!” Grant commanded, bringing the hail of arrows to an end. Davon realized why a moment later when a volley of missiles erupted from behind Crimson Reaver lines. “Mages, raise barrier!”

  Golden light illuminated the atmosphere. The sound of arrows tapping against the barrier broke the silence like raindrops on a quiet night. Davon watched the enemy ranks readjust their formation, noting with another grim smile that their numbers were already thinned.

  Then he heard the thumping of massive feet, followed instantly by the sharp noise of cracking glass. A pit formed in Davon’s stomach.

  The barrier was splintering.

  He looked to his left just in time to see five massive creatures pull away from the cracked barrier. These beasts were smaller than the one ridden by the Duelist captain, but no less terrifying. A Duelist sat upon the back of each creature. Looking to the other side of the Vanguard formation, Davon saw another five mounted Duelists, preparing to push against the barrier once again.

  “Infantry, circle formation!” Grant commanded.

  The Vanguard infantry quickly positioned themselves defensively around the archers and mages. Both the archer and mage formations clumped together, safe behind their brothers and sisters in arms, for the moment.

  Then the Duelists’ mounts struck the barrier again, and it collapsed.

  Davon cursed under his breath. He didn’t have the space to raise his bow. Detaching the weapon into twin blades, he waited for his moment.

  The Duelists spurred their mounts onward and crashed into the group of Revenants from both sides, the beasts tearing through the front lines with terrifying speed. The Revenants retaliated instantly. Working in groups, they surrounded each of the beasts and cornered them.

  Davon spotted Grant in one of these kill-circles. The old Revenant raised his weapon and brought it down with a roar, decapitating a Duelist’s mount in one powerful blow. Following the momentum created by his dying mount, the Duelist slid down, arm outstretched towards Grant.

  In a split second, Davon recognized the Duelist was trying to pull Grant into an arena and take him out of the fight. He reflexively invoked his Shadow-step rune, putting himself between Grant and the Duelist.

  The world around Davon turned to chaos, but he quickly regained his senses when he realized he was in the Duelist’s arena.

  “Insolent fool!” The Duelist growled at Davon, brandishing his blade. “Now, you will d-”

  Davon didn’t wait for the Crimson Reaver to finish his sentence. He invoked both his Shadow-step and Sharpness runes simultaneously, appearing beside the Duelist with his blades glowing. His connection with his Reliquary strained noticeably under the exertion. Ignoring the tension, Davon unleashed his fury with a cross-cut aimed at the Duelist’s mid-section.

  The world blurred around Davon once again as the Duelist’s body fell to the ground in two pieces. When he reoriented himself, Davon found that he was outside the Vanguard formation. He looked over just in time to watch as the final Duelist was dismounted.

  But Davon didn’t allow himself to celebrate. There was a significant gap in the Vanguard’s infantry, and Revenant bodies lay scattered around the dying beasts. Davon spotted more than one Duelist still active. To add to their problems, the approaching line of Crimson Reaver soldiers had almost reached them.

  Davon reattached his blades with a pained sigh and invoked his Scattershot rune. For a split second, the nagging feeling he’d felt before the battle returned to Davon. It was like a voice in the back of his head, whispering a warning:

  Don’t push.

  Davon ignored it.

  As a hail of arrows erupted again from the Crimson Reaver lines, Davon loosed a shot in retaliation. And then another, and another, and another, on and on and on in a relentless, lethal rhythm.

  The threads of connection between Davon and his Reliquary screamed in pain as his arms erupted with pale blue light. Davon was too consumed by the archer’s tempo to notice. He simply continued barraging the enemy’s archer formation, smiling in satisfaction at the growing pile of Crimson Reaver bodies on the field.

  A war horn resounded in the distance. The line of Crimson Reavers began to fall back.

  Davon winced in pain as he lowered his bow. His connection with his Reliquary felt ragged and worn, but he pushed the agony aside and returned his attention to the Vanguard ranks. The Duelists had killed several Revenants, most likely by abducting them into their private arenas. But now Davon watched the last few Duelists fall, one by one, helpless against the combined might of the Vanguard.

  “Hold your ground!” Grant commanded. The remaining Revenants instantly reformed their ranks. “We hold here until the area is fortified!”

  Davon watched the enemy fall back. Barely able to focus through the rising pain, he spotted a massive beast, stalking far behind the other Crimson Reavers. Atop it sat the Duelist captain he had fought previously, plume dancing in the wind, watching the Vanguard from a distance.

  Davon tried to raise his bow, but his arms remained slack at his side. He glanced down to see intense blue light shining from the exposed skin on his arms. There was a pattern in the light, almost like a spiderweb of cracks across his skin.

  A chill ran down his spine. His head snapped up, eyes searching for the Duelist captain, but she was gone.

  Though battered and broken, the Vanguard had managed to claim a victory.