Rather than word of incoming Wilds, however, what they said was rather unexpected.

"Airs.h.i.+ps to the south!" they said.

"Wha…?" George blinked. "Whose?"

"Uh…" there was a quick discussion and a reply. "Ours."

"Ours?" George stared blankly.

"It's the school Sky Fortresses." Joshu explained. "They seem to be heading our way."

"They're coming?" George brightened. "How long until they arrive?"

"Uh… at this rate… probably later tonight?" Joshu guessed grumpily. He always seemed unusually grumpy these days. George rather wondered why.

"What of the Wilds?" Markus questioned.

"Best guess? Twenty minutes." Joshu grumped.

The comms crystal buzzed.

"George here."

"Hey, George. How's the Beast Wave today?" Remian asked.

George felt oddly annoyed at hearing his voice. "You're calling for a report, now? They're just twenty minutes away!"

"What's coming up and how do you plan to handle it?" Remian asked.

"They're a ma.s.s of fast runners. We'll just shoot them down with crossbows and stave them off with pole-arms. Standard pike and shot, and the Pit will catch whatever it will catch."

"That sounds straightforward enough." Remian agreed. "Need any advice? Everyone cooperating with you properly?"

"Everything's fine, Remian." George sighed. "We're okay."

"Let me know how things went afterwards. Tell me everything."

"Markus is scratching his left b.u.t.tock, and Max is drawing smiley faces in the dirt with his javelin."

"What?" Three voices chorused at the same time. Five more spluttered.

"You said to tell you everything." George mentioned innocently.

On the other side of the crystal, George heard Mindy laugh. Just that laugh was worth the trouble he was going to get into.

"What about you guys?" George asked. "How are things going?"

"Good. We sold all the cargo, and we're on our way back. We're actually about to stop by Fal'Herim for a quick resupply before heading back." Remian answered.

"You're coming back?" George blinked. "I thought you guys were going to trade from port to port for goodness knows how long."

"I did, too." Remian confessed. "But then we realized that we had a lot of cargo that needed selling back at Kara'Goth and lots of profit to be made buying it from there and selling it elsewhere."

"You know you're basically buying from yourself, right?"

"More like, Mindy's buying from you. I'm just… going to sit back and watch. With popcorn."

"I don't own KarGoth. You do. In fact, I just bought back Charlie's ten percent for you. You can thank me later."

"You did what? Oh, no… poor Charlie." Mindy gasped. "George, you just robbed him of a huge payday."

"What? What are you talking about?" George asked. "I mean… the new mines aren't included in these shares, you know? I paid Chalie a good six million lir for his shares. That's a year's worth of income at the rate we've been going."

"But, George… our revenue just went through the roof! You'll have to see it to believe it!" Mindy said. "The prices out there are just… crazy!"

"Prices of metal everywhere are rising, George. There's talk of war, and it sounds big." Remian explained. "We're raising the selling price of our Fire Copper at KarGoth as well. I'm thinking maybe 60,000 lir a ton, smelted bars."

"That's a 20% price hike. Are you sure?"

"Oh, yes, I'm sure. I'm absolutely sure."

"Mindy's still buying from us, isn't she?"

"And she'll be paying full price, gladly." Mindy cut in. "Trust me. Looking at the profit we'll make selling it elsewhere, n.o.body has any right to complain."

"Defend KarGoth well, George. Don't spare any costs. That mine's value is going up, fast." Remian said.

"It's already invaluable, Remian. It's where we live, now." George threw in.

"That, too."

"George! They're almost here!" Joshu shouted. "Ballistae! Ready!"

"Remian, Mindy, the Wilds are here. I gotta go." George said apologetically.

"Wait. Why are you, exactly, going? Shouldn't you be overseeing the battle from someplace safe and high up? Like the Sky Fortress?"

"No, I'm down at the front lines leading the charge today."

"What?! WHY?" Mindy blurted. "That doesn't make any sense!"

"It's something I wanted for myself. To be here, shoulder-to-shoulder…"

"You're already there?!"

"Yep. And I'm sorry, but I can't leave my troops and run off to safety by myself."

"George, think about it!" Mindy yelped. "You don't have to…"

"I'll call you guys back later." George ended the call.

The Wilds were coming. The smoke bombs were going off, and a light fog was clouding up the air. George raised his glaive, waving it to left and right in a prearranged signal. The pikemen formed up lines to either side of him.

"In range!" Joshu shouted. "Ballistae, open fire!"

Snaps sounded from above, and slivers of light darted down at the incoming Wilds.

"Brace pikes!" Max barked.

"Ho!" Filling in the gap between Kara's front gate and the Pit, the line of pikemen took a knee, bracing their pole-arms against the ground, tips pointed at the incoming shapes in the fog.

George stood behind the double line of pikes and tower s.h.i.+elds, hefting one of his new javelins and wincing at the weight. Had they always been this heavy? Song Chen's lighter javelins now seemed even more attractive.

"Range!" George called up.

"Forty meters!" Joshu barked. "Crossbows, fire at will!""

"Pikes! What is your mission?" Markus bellowed.

"Hold the line!"

"What is your stance?"

"Hold the line!"

"How do we achieve victory?"

"Hold the line!"

"Let none pa.s.s!" Markus roared as the Wilds burst out of the fog. "Hold the line!"

"HO!" the heavily armored pikemen roared in reply as five Tier 3 stags leapt out from the smoke.

George threw a javelin. The suit boosted his throwing power; there was a lurch, and then a strained feeling in his arm while the javelin poked into a nearing stag and got stuck to its chest. How much damage did it do? Did it help at all? George had no idea.

There was a resounding crash, and then another as antlers and pikes collided. Huge bodies the size of elephants staggered, a dozen pikes flat out broke, while in two places, the line buckled and actually stumbled back a few steps. George let out a wordless yell as he charged, glaive swinging down at the nearer of the two trouble spots.

The blade of his glaive hammered down on the antlers of the Tier 3 stag that was about to break through. At the impact, George felt like he'd almost torn his arms off, exosuit or no exosuit, but the results were tangible. The stag stopped, stumbled, and then stared at him angrily.

George couldn't help smiling in return.

Looking even angrier at his smile, the stag lowered its antlers and advanced again. George slammed his glaive down once more, but this time his blow lacked the weight and momentum of his charge. His weapon locked against the stag's antlers, but it started to push back against George and the s.h.i.+eld line.

Steel streaked down from above. A spear fired from a ballista atop the hill slammed into the rear of the stag. It was a risky shot, since the target was practically toe-to-toe with their own people, and George himself wasn't that far away… but considering that the target was the size of an elephant and that the bolt was a Tier 3 spear fired from a Tier 4 ballista with height advantages and relatively close range by an experienced shooter… George had no complaints about the shot.

Still the stag raised its head angrily.

George hopped back a foot, aimed his glaive, and lunged. Using it like a spear now, he stabbed his weapon's blade lower, aiming below the stag's upraised head, going straight for the throat.

The stag noticed, and lowered its antlers again…

Instead of piercing the throat, George's glaive ended up hitting the hard skull of the stag, almost glancing off…

George braced, focusing his strength on the tip of the glaive. "Pierce through!"

He threw in his full weight and strength into the thrust, now trying to pierce directly through the skull of the stag straight into the brain. But the stag twisted its head; George's thrust slipped sideways, and then George himself was stumbling forward, almost into those antlers…