Campfires

"I'm here," Nood's grumpy voice indicated that he was standing three meters away from them on a high rock, "can I get off now?"

"Yeah, get down," Rashid teased him, smiling.

"You're going to regret this," Nood threatened him, and deftly jumped down from the stone.

Then with a nonchalant look, he walked up to Rashid and, throwing him over his shoulder, dragged him somewhere beyond his reach. You could still hear Rashid shouting that he was ticklish for a while, but then his voice died down.

Liam and Pittsu sat in front of a glistening skein of netting. Marshall took a stick and lifted the net into the air, it was lighter than nothing. Marshall reached out and touched the fibers.

"I feel the heat," he said.

"What do you think? Will it work?" the marshal asked.

"I think it takes a lot of energy to create a net, and then it still takes strength to move all those people to the rock. Plus, someone, most likely me, will be opening the portal."

"We should divide up the duties, let Rashid, when he returns, explain how to make the net, and we'll give it a try."

"But that's the last resort," Liam clarified, "after all, the army is our main hope.

The marshal made no reply.

"Shall we go and find out the exact number of men?" Liam suggested, not one to stand idly by.

"Let's go," the marshal said reluctantly.

He was still frowning with thoughts of Ronu's mysterious disappearance. As he followed Liam, he noticed that there were many wounds, hence the need for well-organized transportation.

Liam walked around the camp and talked to people. He stopped and listened at length to their complaints and requests.

Many asked him to know something about their loved ones. It was unbearable, Liam could barely keep it together, and once again the marshal had to take him under his elbow and lead him away from another tragedy.

"You are incorrigible, why do you take other people's problems so personally?" The marshal got angry.

"And why are you so indifferent," countered Liam, tired of his reproaches.

"Really?" Pittsu looked at him with a cold expression.

"Sometimes it seems that way," Liam said cautiously.

"Do I need to remind you of the time I babysat your apprentice? Or how you called me out in the middle of the night for a little fight by the lake, and here I am?"

For a moment he realized he was laying the blame on Liam and only making things worse.

"Yeah, you're the hero, and I'm just the troublemaker," Liam turned away and quickened his pace.

The marshal stopped and stared tiredly at Liam's back until he was out of sight. Turning back, he walked back to where he and the students had separated.

He was getting pretty tired of chasing the Head, and sitting apart from everyone else on a flat rock, the Marshal closed his eyes, trying to get some rest.

Nood and Rashid joined him after a while. It was a deep night when a monstrous sound was heard above their heads. The campfires had not been put out, and the monsters found their shelter.

The first to be caught were those who had fallen asleep near the fire. Marshall rushed into the thick of it and managed to nail the vile creature to the ground with his long, sharp sword, but the other monster violently slashed his claws across his unprotected shoulder.

Blood splattered and the monsters went on a rampage, screaming and shrieking throughout the valley. Their voices echoed off the stone walls and drew the attention of others.

The disciples came to their aid, but it was too late: the mercilessly embittered beasts were crawling into their shelter from everywhere.

"Liam!!!" shouted the marshal.

"Pittsu?!" he heard from the other side of the camp.

"Start making net! There is no time!"

"And you?!" shouted Liam already quite close.

"I'll hold out as long as I can!" The marshal gathered his strength and continued to fight off the monsters.

Liam teamed up with Rashid and Nood drew the pattern several times and in a couple of moments were already holding a huge golden net in their hands.

People were already clinging to it from all sides, so it was crowded and they had to ask everyone to step back a few steps.

So with the net ready, it was not difficult for them to start moving people. In the first dispatch was Nood, who was dissatisfied with his lot.

"You must protect the people on the rock, we will not enter the portal until everyone is assembled," Mentor ordered him.

"I understand, I'll do it," he shifted his gaze to Rashid, cocking his chin to show him not to falter.

People crowded chaotically around the Head and his disciples. Panic and the proximity of death made them unrestrained and uncontrollable.

Liam manually separated about sixty people and cast a huge net over them, working with Rashid.

The men lifted their heads for a moment to look at the unusual golden artifact and immediately the empty net fell to the ground. Liam climbed onto the rock and tried to see how Pittsu was doing, but the darkness made it difficult.

"Are you holding on?" he shouted in the marshal's direction while Rashid sorted the men.

"Hurry up," was the marshal's stifled reply.

The second parcel had been dispatched and there were only two dozen survivors of the night's attack left, so Liam hurried Pittsu to join him. But the marshal refused.

Liam didn't hesitate to shove Rashid into the crowd and, throwing a net over them, ferried them over the cliff.

Alone with Pittsu against the inexhaustible stream of monsters, Liam still wondered if he had done the right thing. He drew his sword and lunged at the monster closest to the marshal's back.

Cutting through the air, his sword struck exactly where its head and torso joined, and before the monster could even twitch, it dropped dead. Liam stood with his back to Pittsu and struck furiously. He seemed to put all his hatred and anger into the attack.

The marshal, on the other hand, was slowly losing his edge. His torn shoulder hurt and bled terribly. He shifted his sword to his other hand and fought back the enemy for a while longer, but his vision began to blur.

Liam felt a jolt in his back: Pittsu was settling back against him. Liam went into a frenzy. He chopped left and right like a madman. After buying them some time, he turned to the marshal and picked him up.

"This is not good," he thought, "at this rate, we will soon be finished." Frantically thinking, he searched for a way out and finally saw a glittering net ten meters away.

Liam hoisted the marshal on his shoulders and began to fight his way to salvation. The going was tough, Liam lost count of how many times he missed a hit or the little bloodsucker got into him.

The disgusting, toothy miscreants scurried about, looking for something to eat, and adding fuel to the fire with their attacks.

Liam dropped to his knees and plunged his sword into the rocky ground, leaning on the hilt. With unimaginable effort, he stood up and attempted to pierce the particularly pesky monster with its many eyes.

But Liam's strength failed him, and he missed. The foe cheered, sinking its teeth into the man's arm. Liam whimpered in pain and frustration. He did not fear death, but feeling a responsibility to the marshal, he had to bring him home.

Right now, however, the disgusting creature decided to take a bite out of him. He gathered all his strength and pounded it into the nearest eye with his fist.

The move worked, and the monster, howling, retreated. By this time many of the creatures were prowling the rocks, finding human corpses and dragging them away, so the situation around the living people was a little better.

Not counting the monster that bit Liam, there were two other indecisive specimens of surrealism wandering around.

Liam noticed that his furious scream terrified them, and he used this technique for as long as he had air in his lungs.

Slowly he reached the golden net and hurriedly climbed inside with the marshal. The creatures that rushed after him furiously clung to the golden net and tore it to shreds, while the Head and the Marshal on his back found themselves on a rock, where they were impatiently awaited.

"Master!" rushed Liam the anxious disciples, "Are you hurt?"

"A little," said Liam, lowering the marshal to the ground, "he is much worse. He fought bravely until he was unconscious."

The students tore strips of cloth from their robes and bandaged Liam and Pittsu's wounds. Fearful people crowded around them, panic increasingly gripping them. Liam looked with his eyes for the man in charge of the camp, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Is he dead?" flashed through his mind.

Without his influence, people were no longer holding their own, and more and more disgruntled voices were heard on all sides. Liam tried to talk to people, but his voice was hoarse and completely unlistenable.

"Absurd, and what do we do now?" he thought, standing in front of an almost enraged crowd.

"Mmm," the marshal groaned beside him, and Liam rushed over to him.

"Can you hear me? Pittsu, come to your senses!" Liam tapped his cheeks lightly, trying to bring him to his senses.

"How much longer are we going to stand here?!" Everyone heard disgruntled voices.

"Right!" The others echoed.

"We're so defenseless, there's nowhere to hide!" the murmurs grew.

"Please, please," said Rashid, pleading with the people, "be quiet!"

"Who are you to tell us what to do?"

"It was your people who came here and made this mess! We heard you talking to the main man..."

The voices grew louder and louder, and soon people were closing in on Liam and his friends. Unable to speak to them, he drew his bloody sword and held it up. At the sight of this gesture, people were wary of speaking too vehemently.

While Liam held the sword aloft, Nood approached him and asked if he could open the portal. Liam reluctantly nodded. With his sword, he squeezed into the center of the platform and used quite a bit of his strength to force the portal open.

As soon as the men saw the spiraling glow in the air, they rushed in without a second thought. Squeezing and pushing Liam to the periphery, people entered the portal and disappeared.

All the Head prayed for at that moment was that the passage would lead to the Academy and not somewhere else... Liam didn't dare think of another option.

Pretty quickly the rocky ground emptied, leaving only the Marshal and the Head, and his students.

"We cannot leave now," Liam said faintly.

"But, Master, you are wounded and..."

Liam held up his hand, asking the students not to be indignant.

"I want to try to save this planet. After all, it is someone's home."

The students looked at the teacher in amazement and wanted to be mature enough to talk the Head out of such a dangerous decision.

But, as unluck would have it, the only one who could influence him was unconscious and badly injured. How much longer could they hold out here?

Still, reverence for the Master and trust in his authority overcame the dissonance in their souls. They obediently bowed their heads, awaiting Liam's orders.

The man turned to the portal and closed it. The mysterious glow vanished, and only a fierce wind blew ash and smoke across the valley.

"We must find a place to sleep. We must all regain our strength."

The Head's words evoked a sigh of relief. They descended the cliff and after searching the perimeter, they found an inconspicuous cave, the entrance to which was very narrow at first, and then gradually widened to be as high as a man's height.

Having carefully lowered the marshal, they climbed into this shelter and for a short time, there was rest. As soon as they touched the ground with their heads they immediately fell asleep.

After a while, they happened to wake up, for there was some movement near the cave.

Nood cautiously climbed out and watched as a whole herd of monsters, like puppets, walked through the valley without noticing anything.

As they climbed the cliff, they disappeared into a newly opened portal.