[IRP] The First of Many

[Toogee]

Though Paige appreciated Kalin’s efforts to make this a smooth ride, she simply felt they were falling in slow motion, waiting for the inevitable crash that would never come. Her arms remained wrapped around Kalin even after they landed; Kalin had to signal her to let go. Paige took Kalin’s help to dismount; otherwise, she would have landed face first into the ground.

“There is nothing weird about preferring normal walking speed at ground level. We were made to do just that, not soar to our doom at mach speeds.”

As Paige attempted to justify her fears, she took a moment to regain her composure before entering the schoolhouse. They had bigger issues.

Immediately after entering the school, Paige grabbed a piece of chalk and started drawing on the chalk board. Several villagers looked over to see the woman drawing a square with a notch on the side, followed by a dozen x’s outside of the notched side.

“Glass is leading a dozen men outside of this village to do who knows what,” Paige began, getting pretty much everyone’s attention. “They’re probably headed this way. Is there any way to close off the village?”

“We were in the process of building a gate,” the blacksmith replied, “but our carpenter was drafted into the Imperial army some time ago. Not sure when or if he’s coming back.”

“OK, that will need to be guarded,” Paige remarked, drawing two circles at the notch. “Are there any other ways out?”

“There’s a broken part of the fence in the north back corner. We can use that to escape.”

“Only as a last resort,” Paige commented. “Running would only give the bandits full access to the village, giving them enough supplies to go after another. We could use that broken fence to sneak some fighters around the corner and ambush the group.”

Paige drew another notch in the upper back corner along with more circles around that area. She drew an arrow circling around the village and behind the group of x’s.

“I read this maneuver in an old tactics manual, but I am no tactician, nor have I ever gone into battle. I could use some help in improving on this.”