The Astral Rift? Pah! Old Hat! Let's Try Something More Exciting1430

~ "Sorry, we tried to save them, but..."

At the Winter Wolf positions in Baphomet Canyon, Colonel Fraser had just come through the tunnels. His armor was still caked with blood, but he didn't go to rest right away. Instead, he solemnly handed the battered, folded Winter Wolf banner to Colonel Duke, who was guarding the position.

Duke had already felt a sense of foreboding when he saw the Plantagenet soldiers bringing the banner back.

After hearing Fraser's account, the colonel—who had Baldwin's deep trust—shook his head. He stared at the banner and said hoarsely:

"So the entire army in Shadowvale... What about Basomiyan? Is he dead too?"

"Colonel Basomiyan isn't dead, but I doubt you could say he's alive, either."

Fraser lowered his voice.

"More than one officer saw Colonel Basomiyan fighting bravely at the position during our retreat. A gnoll ambush arrow brought him down, but the vampires saved him—with their own version of 'rescue.'

"Also, a Nord force from Ice Bay was carrying out a special mission. They should still be alive, but their evacuation route wasn't this way."

"Fuck!"

Colonel Duke swore viciously.

It was the worst possible news.

Even worse than the vanguard being wiped out in a kobold tunneling ambush. It was hard to imagine how devastated the hot-tempered, devout Basomiyan would be when he discovered he had become a vampire. And when Duke saw that all the troops besides the Winter Wolf vanguard had withdrawn from the valley, he couldn't help entertaining a dark suspicion he shouldn't have.

Perhaps they had used his vanguard as...

No!

This wasn't the time to dwell on that.

The rational Colonel Duke pushed the dark thought from his mind. He looked past Fraser toward the distance, where a steady stream of soldiers was emerging from a tunnel