The watchtower stood thirty feet tall at its highest point. The entrance was lower, at around fifteen feet high and there was neither ladder nor stairs. A small balcony jutted out from beneath the door. Pendragon, having had done this before, crouched and prepared to leap. The wind began rushing down around him creating a whirlwind which spun about his body. A vacuum materialized about his head, characterized by several small pops. Pendragon leaped and soared past the balcony. Landing with a thud, he opened the door.
Surprisingly untouched by the ongoing battle outside, the watchtower had a view beyond imagination. It could overlook the entire city of Rustheim as well as the entire surrounding forest and even to the far of hills of the Lykosian Mountains. In the distance a beautiful waterfall rained on a small outlet several hundred feet below. Nature always seemed so serene and at peace no matter how strongly the turmoil of war and oppression raged on. His thought was interrupted by a stray bullet impacting with the side of the watchtower. Reminded of his task, he threw open the heavy metal door.
“Finally you’re here,” announced the general, “Pendragon, we need you to go with Gryphon One and flank those catapults.”
“Great, where’s the team?”
“They last checked in about a minute ago, they’re by the clearing in the north woods.”
Teleportation was not only difficult magic, but also required several people. When everyone was ready, Pendragon stood in the middle of four people who all cast the same spell all at once. A bright flash encompassed the room and Pendragon had vanished. What you see while teleporting is indescribable; light and darkness all at once and the seeing every color possible. It felt as though you were standing in the middle of a forest fire and then dumped in freezing cold artic water.
After what felt like hours of this drug-like experience, Pendragon awoke next to Maa, the Miwan leader of Gryphon One. She stood at about five feet tall, with cloudy gray fur and a black stripe running the length of her back. Feline features emphasized her stealthy complexion. “I’m glad you came too quickly, you must have done this before,” she said.
“Yeah, but only about three times,” replied Pendragon, “You get pretty used to it after a while, what’s the mission status right now?”
“The catapults are directly to our south about a kilometer away.”
Pendragon stood up a grabbed his rifle. Shaking off his coat, he jumped to the top of a tree to get a better view. From his new perch, he could clearly see three catapults being reloaded with flaming boulders. Although he couldn’t make out bodies amongst the machinery, he estimated there to be about twenty to forty men. It was nothing they couldn’t handle, especially with the rapid firing prototype weapons that a few of his new squad mates had been equipped with. Gryphon squads were well known for being the test subjects of the Lykosian military. It was clear they hadn’t been spotted yet and the mission was quickly underway.