CHAPTER 61: ICE AND GUNPOWDER

That night, Marcus filled a bag with the bombs Sara had made, not knowing how to use them properly. He grabbed the long metal pipe she'd turned into some kind of gun, stuffed his pockets with iron beads, and left with Tom and Sergeant Harwick to hunt General Koroth.

When they reached the caravan spot, the people forced to pull the cargo were sleeping on the grass beside their horses and wagons. Poor people, Marcus thought. Forced by Lord Varek to do this job, and he's sendin' them to their deaths.

Koroth must have brought at least twenty men with him into enemy territory, Marcus realized. Bold move, but it showed how confident he was in Varek's protection.

A few yards away from the huge caravan, four tents were carefully placed. Two dark figures stood watch in the moonlight.

"Koroth must be in there," Sergeant Harwick whispered.

"How are we gonna attack?" Tom asked.

"Tom and I attack him directly. Alex, take the rest of the group. Marcus, deal with his goons. Tom, take this sword. You're gonna need it."

"No thanks, Sergeant. I've developed other things." Tom showed his fists, the tips turnin' to stone as he smiled.

"First, let's sneak up and take out as many as possible before they notice us," Harwick said.

Marcus's heart was pounding. This was different from watching or observing. He was in a medieval operation against a dark mage's general. He tried to calm himself. It would be different from the caravan attack when they were comin' to Drakmoor. And it was different from when he watched the last operation where everyone got caught without doin' anything.

Sergeant Harwick and Tom went to one side. Soldier Alex pulled the remaining soldiers, and Marcus went to the other side.

When they got near the guards, Tom gestured for Alex to move. At the same time, both attacked. Even though Tom took down his opponent quickly, Alex's swing was stopped by the guard's quick reflexes.

The guard immediately yelled, "Raid! Wake up everyone!"

Sergeant Harwick cursed. "Everyone, don't let anyone get away! We need every one of them to save our Commander and Lord Hammond. TO ARMS!" He drew his sword and ran toward the soldiers emerging from the tents.

Marcus took a deep breath, still tryin' to calm himself. He picked up a couple of grenade-lookin' things. "I wonder if she made the self-detonating mechanisms work, like I drew," he muttered, turnin' the mechanism and throwing one toward the tents.

It did nothing.

General Koroth finally emerged from a tent, lookin' like a villain from the books. Tall, slender, snake-like. He looked both surprised and angry.

"That Varek can't control his pests. Now I have to deal with these vermin," Koroth said coldly.

Marcus threw another grenade, hopin' this one would work. He saw one of Koroth's soldiers runnin' toward him. Soldier Alex intercepted and bashed the man with his shield.

"I can't save you from the battlefield while you—"

"BOOM!"

The bomb explosion stopped everyone. The tent area was destroyed, and a couple of Koroth's archers were on the ground, groanin'.

"I guess I can save you after all," Alex said, standing in front of Marcus and shoutin' orders to his soldiers.

Marcus calculated where to throw his two remaining grenades. He also looked toward Tom to see how they were handlin' General Koroth.

Koroth was steaming. Not with anger, but pumping dry steam from his body. The battlefield turned blurry. His icy copies started emerging from the dry steam. Tom and Sergeant Harwick were fightin' the copies, but cutting them was useless. Each time they attacked a copy, Koroth would appear from nowhere, stab with ice where he could reach, then disappear.

Marcus saw they couldn't handle him. He took out the nail bomb Sara had crafted.

"Sergeant! Tom! Cover yourselves. This will hurt you too!" He threw the nail bomb into the middle of the steamy area.

After the bomb exploded, nails flew everywhere, hittin' and turnin' Koroth's copies to dry steam. Tom and Sergeant Harwick screamed in agony too.

General Koroth was hit with maybe ten nails and bleeding. "You little SHIT!" He was fuming with anger and gathered his ice magic to create multiple icy projectiles turnin' toward Marcus.

I hope this works, Marcus thought. He dropped his bomb bag and drew his makeshift shotgun.

Tom jumped toward General Koroth, who turned his hand to send a third of his projectiles at Tom.

Before General Koroth sent his ice bullets to Marcus, Marcus pointed his shotgun at General Koroth and pulled the crude trigger.

BAM!

Everything went blurry.