The morning sun barely crested the ridge, not enough to shake the frost off of roofs as its golden glow settled upon the village. A couple of scouts were present on the perimter, thanks to Marie’s careful planning. I sat, reveling in the quiet and warmth of the coal-burner. Agnes lay curled up directly in front of it, and Kaleh borrowed the bed — now bending toward the center of the frame.

  One small ring sounded throughout the entire village, slicing through the quiet with an ominous warning. It was way too loud against the morning light. It sounded again, quicker, frantic this time as it rattled the windows like a fist.

  I shot to my feet, floor groaning from the motion as I grabbed my things in one clean motion. My boots slipped on, my rapier buckled at my hip, cloak draped over my shoulders.

  “Everyone! Get up! The scouts have spotted something!” I shouted.

  Agnes and Kaleh jolted awake instantly, scrambling into their gear. Marie followed — less so. She was moving on instinct. Eyes half-closed and stumbling as she tried to lift her hood. Her hands missed entirely, letting the cloth fall to her collar, and she didn’t bother trying again. She blinked hard, as if the world wouldn’t stop moving.

  We made our way down the stairs and out of the inn once everyone was armed with the essentials. More bells chimed in from different edges of the town, continuous and frantic. This doesn’t mean a scout saw something minor, it’s a full-scale warning. Fear gathered in my chest as we started toward town square.

  Can Ferhom really survive?

  Villagers burst out of their homes carrying various tools. Rope, mallets, pickaxes, hunting spears. Smoke trailed from chimneys as people abandoned their morning meals. We finally made it to the square, crowd growing by the second.

  Halvin stepped up to meet them. “Come on then! Get going! This is what yesterday was for now, wasn’t it? Medics get to the assigned meeting point. Front line grab your pikes.”

  It put a smile on my face to see Halvin leading by the horns. Some of them moved, but not all. A lot of them turned to face me, still stricken ripe with fear. I closed my eyes, trying to remember that chant...

  “Ferhom lives!” I shouted, throwing my fist toward the sky.

  Their voices rang with a new confidence, “with us!”

  One of Marie’s scouts came down the road in a sprint, covered in dirt and snow.

  “Miss! Large dust plume to the west! Estimate’s at twelve- no fifteen riders!”

  Kaleh split off, gathering at the stake pile with orders. Agnes grabbed as many non-combatants as she could, setting up a triage zone.

  Marie started toward the perimeter, legs dropping under her like she’d stepped into a hole. I grabbed her near instantly.

  “Leonn! Let go of me-”

  “you cant go out there like that. Stay here.”

  She tried her best to protest, voice scraping rougher than steel against stone.

  “I trained them! I can’t sit this out!” The scout looked between us anxiously, unsure whether to run or stay.

  “Marie,” I snapped, low enough that the conversation stayed private.

  “You can barely stand.”

  She opened her mouth again — then stifled whatever fire she was about to throw. She looked up at me, and I saw something I’d never seen. Terror in her eyes.

  She turned sharply toward the scout in front of us, barking out “you all know what to do. Work in groups, stay hidden, don’t try anything unless you know it’ll work.”

  Her gaze returned to me, a veritable fury that I’d stopped her, but she had no strength to defy my wishes.

  The scout sprinted off into the distance carrying her orders. The square churned into motion as pikes met the ground, and the people formed ranks. Rope coils were dragged to various choke-points along the main road. A few people still lingered near me, waiting for reassurance I couldn’t offer twice.

  At the top of the ridge, the dust plume grew into a storm as hooves thundered against the ground.

  Kaleh’s voice rang even louder than the bells.

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  “Pike line! Kneel!"

  "Brace!”

  The first row slammed their shafts into the soil. A couple of them slipped, but their neighbors helped to steady them. Agnes was already shouting as well, arranging everything they’d need close to the well.

  Marie stumbled as she saw about thirteen riders crest the ridge. I moved my hand to steady her, placing it against her mid-back. She glared at me, taking a step outward but not pulling away entirely.

  The Ervyans charged down the main road, and lengths of rope lifted off the ground as the scouts pulled them taut. One rider... no. Two riders were downed. One got up after a moment, clutching their thigh as they leaned on the wall. The other didn’t get up at all, presumably concussed.

  The rest crashed into the wall of pikes. Blood fell to the earth like a thunderstorm, sharp whinnies sounding as the rest came to a halt. Three more horses out of commission, leaving an equal number of Ervyan riders below their full skill.

  Their leader lifted their thoroughly wrapped hand. “Regroup!”

  Dots on their scaled leather gleamed in the morning light, the dark iron beads reflecting just enough to be present. They gathered just outside of the pike wall’s range.

  “Ferhom, you’re all fools! Burn it down!” He commanded.

  The air seemed to shift around the riders as bolts of fire formed above their heads. They soared through the air in an arc, setting a couple houses ablaze. One of the bolts landed near the line, immediately catching on the dry timber and flaring into a wall of black smoke. It rolled over the pikes like a rising tide. A couple miners began breaking formation, covering their mouths and blinking tears away.

  “Gods above! That’s my house!”

  I watched one of the villagers drop their pike and sprint toward a similar column of smoke. A hole had opened in the line, small but just enough. A rider emerged from the blaze, slicing an unaware pikeman across the chest. He continued riding, making his way toward Agnes’ team.

  I held my arm out in front of me, glowing as lines flowed down my arm. An arc of water blasted from my hand, the force slamming directly into the rider’s armor and causing him to fall. The horse whinnied in fear, running off.

  The Ervyan uprighted himself just as I arrived. I pulled my rapier free from its scabbard, presenting the point toward his chest. He charged at me with wild abandon.

  Kaleh appeared just in time, slamming the pommel of his blade into the soldier’s helmet. He flashed a smirk my way, before barking toward the front.

  “Come over here! We need to cover the medical team’s retreat. Groups of three, just like we trained!”

  “Come on. Gather as much bandages as you can carry and let’s regroup at the second checkpoint,” Agnes demanded.

  Another person came in on a make-shift stretcher.

  “Oh! Quickly, I need-” her breath caught as she stared into the eyes of the villager.

  “...he’s gone.”

  The cinders from one blaze landed on another dry-timber house, causing it to burst into flames as well.

  I know what I have to do. I can’t fight like Kaleh, but I can still do something.

  I rushed toward the new blaze. “Come on. Lets put this out,” I urged.

  Bright blue lines stretched across my arms as a spray of water landed at the center. The building still groaned under its own weight, beams blackened and unstable.

  A scream cut through the smoke of the battlefield, coming from down the side road. “Help! Someone! They’re trapped in here!”

  I whipped my head toward the source, A villager — the same one that had sprinted off earlier — was kicking at the door of a burning building. The supports above him were beginning to sag, burned through by the swirling inferno.

  He finally managed to kick the door open as I started down the road at full speed. The beams finally started giving way, shrieking as the weight of the roof became too much to handle.

  “Wait! Don’t go in-”

  The support collapsed on top of the poor man before my words could reach him. A cloud of sparks erupted from the impact, swallowing him. I sped up, dust swirling as something tugged me toward the site.

  I lunged forward, but someone else reached him first. Marie.

  She must have broken from the square, slipping past while I was elsewhere. She was already at the collapsed doorway, knees sinking into the ash as she grasped at the smouldering beam crushing the man. Her voice cracked raw as she screamed for help.

  “HEY! HEY—SOMEONE HELP ME! I CAN—JUST HOLD ON!”

  Even from behind her, I could see the truth. The villager was already gone. His chest didn’t rise, didn’t even twitch. One leg stuck out from beneath at an angle no person could survive.

  “Marie!” I projected.

  She didn’t turn, instead choosing to brace her shoulder against the timber, legs refusing to lift even a finger’s-length. The smoke began to sting my eyes. Sparks rained down from above as another support cracked. She didn’t even notice the flames catching at the hem of her cloak.

  I grabbed her collar, all of my strength trying desperately to pull her away. Tears cut through the layer of ash caking her cheeks.

  “Let go! Leonn let go of me! I can save him! I just... I can still-”

  The roof dropped like a guillotine, fanning more cinders into the air. Heat blasted toward us, nearly melting me entirely. My skin flashed with the scrawl before I could even whisper a command. A sheet of water blasted forward, catching the flames in a violent hiss before they could do any more harm.

  Marie stumbled over, hands catching my shoulders as her legs dropped under her. After a coughing fit, she finally lifted her eyes. They were wavering, shattered, full of a grief she didn’t have words for. Though without words I knew how terrified she was of being helpless.

  Nausea crept up on me. If I’d been a heartbeat slower...

  I forced myself together. This time I’ll stand tall. What’s important is that the building didn’t claim both. But... it should have been neither. Why did this have to happen?

  “I...?” Marie squeaked out, voice splitting before it could form anything coherent. Her hands were quaking as she gathered the fabric of my cloak. I locked eyes with her, shaking my head.

  I just wanted her to understand.

  He wasn’t going to make it.

  It wasn’t your fault.

  You did everything you could.

  There would come a time for us to pray for the fallen, but now’s not it. A horn sounded from atop the ridge, another rider in bright red armor shouted something I couldn’t hear, and the Ervyans began their retreat.