[i]I thought so.[/i] Steven thought, letting an arrow fly into the eye of a mercenary. It had been a nagging feeling in the back of his head all morning, and when they arrived at the cave, it only confirmed his suspicions. The wooden walls and the formation proved it. They were expecting the paladins.

The leader’s speech also added some more context. He was associated with the 2 mages from the bandit massacre. Seth and Mimel. The mention of a boss rang true with Steven’s deductions. The mages were part of a semi-large group of some sort, with at least several mages who were very strong, and they seemed to be very rich, somehow. How else could they pay for all of these mercenaries? It was likely that there were more, but judging by the mage’s speech alone, there were at least 4 very powerful mages, the one in front of them included.

The group of mercenaries had split up their forces, the other half coming up from behind, invisible. Thanks to captain Aela, their ruse was discovered, but Steven wondered why there was no recon. Surely it would be more efficient to have shadows investigate the area, enemy numbers and any other information they might have gotten their hands on. Some pre-emptive reconnaissance would have certainly identified the mage, and they might have been better prepared as a result.

Regardless of that, they were in a chaotic fight now. Captain Aela was too busy fighting to give orders, and the paladins were quite outnumbered. To make matters worse, the mage kept enchanting the mercenaries’ weapons, renewing them every time they were burned.

Steven was up against a wall, so to speak, having ranged exchanges with the enemy archers. Right now, he was one of the few archers in the unit. He could support the team only by doing this. Steven ran through locked bodies, running and grabbing the lowest branch of a tree, using his momentum to spin around and land on top of the branch as arrows thudded into the wood where he was seconds before. He quickly drew an arrow and activated arrow of light, spying an archer knocking an arrow in Steven’s direction. Steven shot first and split the archer’s shadow arrow with a sizzle, the arrow flying straight into the archer’s bow. It split through the wood and dove into the heart, instantly killing him.

Steven jumped with 2 arrows in his bow, aimed at an arc as 2 more arrows thudded into the wood behind him. He let loose and the glowing arrows flew upwards and then back down towards unsuspecting victims. The arrows split in mid-air, forming a deadly rain of light arrows thudding into several archers and mercenaries.

[i]This won’t do.[/i] Alex said, launching another arrow of light. This time, it fizzled out and bounced off of the mercenary’s invisible protection. Steven shot again and it hit home before the protection could be reapplied. So far so good, but he was running out of arrows. He had to end this quickly.

Steven ran to another tree, putting several bodies between him and the archers. He deftly climbed the tree, mindful to stay out of sight, and climbed to a high point, looking for the leader. He spotted him a little away from things, casting magic on all of the mercenaries. Steven drew his bow back and aimed upwards, an arrow ready to rain death. He released the bowstring and it flew, splitting again to rain glowing arrows on the mage and his entourage. The invisible barriers popped and fizzled as the arrows landed, and Steven grabbed another arrow and drew back. He released again, firing at the mage’s throat, but it was repelled again by the invisible barrier. Steven went for another arrow, but his hand came up empty. Steven turned his head back in panic and found that he didn’t have any more arrows. He drew his dagger, stabbing it into the bark beside him and using it to slide all the way down the tree as arrows thudded into the wood above him.

Having no more options, he put his bow on his back while he slid down and drew his other dagger, dashing into melee combat. He activated sun’s blessing on his body and weapons and ran in to slash a mercenary already engaged by another paladin. Using the momentum from his sprint, Steven did a small jump and spun, slashing at the back of the mercenary’s neck. The first shot slid off his barrier, but it also negated the barrier as Steven’s other dagger sliced through the man’s nape, ending his life.

Steven ran through the chaotic battlefield leaning forward and low, making passing shots at the mercenaries around him, deactivating their shields. But he had one job to do, and his quarry revealed itself soon. Another archer, wreaking havoc on allied numbers. His back was turned, so Steven jumped onto it, wrapping around the mercenary’s torso with his legs and sinking his knives into his neck in one smooth movement. Sun’s blessing burned away the shield on contact, allowing Steven a clean shot to instantly kill the archer. 

Steven jumped off the dead mercenary and ran out of the fight, careful to not garner attention. A shield bearer rushed into view, intent on engaging Steven, but he wouldn’t get his way. Steven grabbed the top of the towering man’s shield and used it to vault himself above the man, landing on his head and jumping away, into a clear area. He landed into a roll and continued running, making for the outskirts of the battlefield. There was a reason for this. 

Steven thought as he ran, thinking of a way to combat the long range of the archers and also a way to put the mage out of commission. He couldn’t always combat them with Melee, he had to fight range with range. The archers were spread apart, so he couldn’t deal with just dashing around trying to find them all. He swung around a tree again, climbing around it to put it between him and any archers. The problem was, Steven didn’t have any arrows. He thought of going down to retrieve some, but in the heat of things, it would do him more harm than good. But Steven had an idea. His arrow of light coated his arrows in Luminosity, but it was different to Sun’s blessing, which he could also coat his arrows with. It was more flexible, and it was less opaque. It felt more solid than sun’s blessing did, so maybe…

Steven sheathed his daggers and concentrated on his hand, like he did with his arrow of light. A glowing light appeared in his hand, and Steven willed it to form in the shape of an arrow. Behold, the light bent and sharpened to form a new arrow of light. One that didn’t need a solid base. He willed it to change experimentally, and the arrow bent left and right. Just how he wanted it to. [i]Perfect.[/i] Steven thought, drawing his bow. Now to test it. He drew back the bowstring with the arrow on it, experimentally. It moved with the bowstring, which was good. Then, it was time for the moment of truth. Steven carefully jumped onto an adjacent branch and took aim at another archer, drawing back again, and stilled for a moment to set his aim. His arrows usually went straighter with arrow of light on, so he aimed directly for the distant target. He released it and the arrow was flung by the bowstring, flying straight ahead. As it contacted with the mercenary, its size shrunk as the mercenary’s protection was cancelled but sunk into the archer’s chest. The archer bent double in pain and Steven shot another arrow of light, piercing the unfortunate man’s skull. [i]It works.[/i] Steven thought, descending from the tree to dodge some shots. This would change a lot of things.

Steven shot a few more archers in the chaos. He’d done a lot against them and they’d suffered a lot of casualties from Steven’s hand. But it wouldn’t end the battle. Steven shot another 2 arrows at another archer who was killed on impact. There weren't that many archers left now, and the rest were being attacked by other paladins. But there were still quite a number of mercenaries left, which only accentuated the need to kill their leader. One thing that Steven noticed was that the lack of need to draw from his quiver allowed him to fire faster, which was useful. He could also apply his other abilities to it, which was also useful, and he had an idea on how to put these characteristics to use to end the fight.

Steven dashed to yet another tree, climbing near the very top of it and took aim at the mage, once again. But he shifted his aim upwards slightly, and shot. The shot flew straight, but Steven willed it to curve down and split, making a circle of light arrows around the mage. His retinue was startled and fell back, away from the arrows. Their shields went down as they were hit by the glowing arrows.
“I have you now.” Steven whispered to himself.
He quickly spawned two more arrows with more mana than usual and shot with perfect precision. The arrows flew straight into the mage’s arms, and Steven willed the extra mana to bloom into roots of luminosity, shutting down the mage’s use of his arms. He didn't kill the mage, as the battle was winding down around them. They would need his information, if he would give any. And Steven didn't really want to take any more lives today. He could see the mage’s flesh sizzle and he knew it was effective. His magic would be down for now. His retinue was quickly defeated and the paladins surrounded him. It was done. They had won this fight.

--------------------------------

Instead of guarding the mage or exploring the cave, he helped to bury the bodies of the mercenaries. It was an unexpected but welcome request to Steven. He couldn’t guard the mage without feeling guilty now, and he wasn’t really in the mood to look for evidence. He felt like he didn’t really want to kill people, so he buried the bodies as a form of penance.

In fact, he felt bad that he’d mostly shot people who weren’t paying attention to him. He’d shot a lot of people in the back, and the people he’d hit with his knives were already preoccupied with other recruits. So even though he was tired, he buried the bodies, as if in apology for the trouble he’d caused.

He dug a pit for one of the archers and removed an arrow from the dead body’s heart. This was the archer whose bow got broken by Steven’s arrow. Steven took the arrow and put it in his quiver, and then put the body in the put and piled the dirt onto it. Packing it down, he offered a quick prayer and moved on. Steven continued burying the bodies, and he felt lighter after each one. 

The bodies had been buried and Steven stretched, energy drained. He’d used a lot of mana in the battle, as well as a lot of Stamina. He was sure most of the other recruits were drained as well. All in all, it had gone fairly well, considering the situation. The mercenaries had a 2 to 1 advantage as well as a somewhat powerful mage, and the element of surprise. The captain had helped a lot by opening up their formation, as well as fighting 5 people at once. Steven felt like they handled the situation well, as their wounds weren’t too in the end. The fact that the mercenaries were expecting them was bothering Steven, but he was too tired to think about it right now. They would likely rest when they got back to camp.

The group of paladins packed up and went north.

[Steven upgrades arrow of light and attains the ability to form a light arrow without a physical arrow. This new ability takes a bit more mana but flies extremely straight and is more malleable as he doesn't need to worry about breaking the arrow. He can pack more mana in it to add more energy that can be manipulated.]