Fantasy The Witch Hunt (Lenaara x TucanSam)

[TucanSam]

Ellis followed silently, his mind too preoccupied with thoughts to make small talk. Not that it would have been appropriate anyway. The situation was... not great. From what Irene had told him Nathan was likely in bad shape, if he was alive at all. Not too long ago he had witnessed the effects of the men in blacks... efforts to persuade people. They were precise. Effective. Brutal. There weren't too many people that would be able to come back from that unscathed, no matter what their training or background was. If, and it was a big if, they were able to get get Nathan back there was no way of telling who he would be. Ellis doubted he'd be unchanged. Hopefully he would be able to come back somewhat.

Taking off his armor he pulled a brown woolen cloak out of his travel bag, draping it over his shoulders and his head to hide as much of his identity as he could. There was little chance that the guards would recognize him but you never could be too safe. He'd run into more than a handful of those men in the field and there was no telling where they were stationed now.

"I can get you something basic along with something to cover your head. In the morning cold it won't be that odd. Other than that, I have no ideas for how to get in". He took the money from her, sliding it into a pocket on his belt. "Getting in is likely to be the easy part anyway. I don't need to point out to you that we are likely going to have to fight our way out. Depending on how badly Nathan is....damaged.. he likely won't be walking out on his own. Beyond getting in, do you have any ideas for that?"

 

[Lenaara]

TucanSam


I shook my head once. “No.” The word felt heavy on my lips and I knew it was the wrong answer. “I need to know the situation in the city first.”

The walls of Escus remained dark, grey and sleek with the rain that had just begun to fall from the sky. The morning matched my mood perfectly. There was no warmth, no sun, and the dark and pregnant with rain and thunder clouds blocked out the bright blue of the sky. A steady trickle of drops fell on our heads through the many holes in the caved in roof of the abandoned guard tower.

I knelt down to the floor and moved several mouldering floorboards to the side. “Go,” I told Ellis as I put my spear into the created niche and began to place the boards back into their respective slots. “There is little time left. We have to get into the city before the rain stops.”

After Ellis left, I spent a good five minutes looking out the narrow window at Colben. Beyond it was Escus, encased in a wall that did not suit the stricken by poverty area. There was nothing to protect. No riches nor nobles nor army. This part of Riverside had been so neglected over the years that crime was an everyday occurrence, and death and illness just a part of everyone’s lives. The river was far too narrow to navigate boats for trade, and fish was scarce and small. Most of the land was the swamp that was ever growing, swallowing more fertile fields with each passing year.

Even this far from the city I could smell the rot and decay. Crinkling my nose, I raised the hood of Nathan’s cloak to cover my head. I still hated the damn thing. It dragged heavily behind me when I walked and snatched on everything on the ground. Rocks, twigs, clumps of dirt. It was far too long for me, too.

And yet I kept it as a reminder as well as something of Nathan’s to keep. He was just my charge, a man who paid me money for protection. I didn’t even like the guy. He was far too arrogant and narrow minded and a poor choice of company. But it was I who led him to the black-clad man in Escus. It was I who failed to see a spy in Armoun. Whatever was happening to him there, beyond the wall, was a consequence of my actions.

Nathan may already be dead.

And, if it were me…I’d want someone to keep something of mine to show that I lived once and they remembered me.

Cloak wrapped tightly around me, I set off into the rain and headed to the wall. I gave the main gate a wide berth and went west where the wall was still uneven. None of the men working on the wall gave me any suspicious looks but some, who were overseeing the construction, told me to go look for coin and food somewhere else. I must’ve looked like a beggar to them, dirty and drenched from the rain. Scrapes and bruises covered my face and hands from when I rode through the forest and my hair was in a disarray, pulled from the braid that was as dirty as my clothes, with leaves and dry grasses clinging onto every part of my body. I hadn’t even noticed and when I did, I didn’t care.

In a way, my sickly pallor and dishevelled look had given me camouflage. I was not the only one circling the wall, looking for cracks and opening and doors to enter the city. There were others, men and women and children. Most were carrying the symbol of the Church made from wood or straw. They wanted to get into the city and were let in through a narrow gate that the workers used for a fee.

Yes, getting into the city was going to be easy. Getting out? I still did not know. It depended on Nathan’s health and on how we were to save him. I memorized all the little doorways in the walls that workers used and watched them on my way back to the tower. When I returned, I had some semblance of a plan but nothing concrete. There was no map I could use to write down all the entrances into the city so I took a piece of parchment and charcoal and sat down on the floor of the tower to draw a crude circle of the wall and all its doors and gates. Once done, it lay in front of me and I stared at it while my hands were braiding hay into a symbol of the sun. I watched a woman do that in front of her children while they waited their turn to get through the back gate.

 

[TucanSam]

"Well," Ellis threw the pack of clothes he had secured onto the floor of the tower. "There's ... really only bad news." A deep sigh heaved in his chest as he leaned against the wall, sliding down it until he was seated on the floor. Muscles he didn't know he still had ached, a dull pulsing pain that radiated up his body. Sharp needles prickled at the back of his head as a headache threatened to ruin the rest of his night. Or make it crappier at least.

"The clothes were cheap enough. I guess that'a a silver lining. The number of men inside is not one though. I counted ten, fifteen of them at least." His hand slowly rolled through his hair, pushing the thin grey locks out of his face. Ellis had found himself doing his best to be sneaky, something he was never good at. If any of the men had recognized him as he skulked around they didn't show it but that had done nothing to calm his nerves. Suspicion and fear had sapped all of the energy from his body. Espionage was not for him; he'd much rather have just gone in sword swinging.

He was likely to get the chance soon anyway though. "If you can get us in that still leaves us in a pretty tough spot. Their amor isn't as well made as it looks, but it's good enough to stop a blade. Their weapons are fine enough and they have at least some semblance of training. None of the men from the town itself are much of a threat, but we knew that already".

Another sigh. Elena might have thought he could be some help here, but what exactly he was supposed to do was beyond him. Fighting monsters was one thing, fighting men was another and while he was sure that he could handle one or two... fifteen was a bit much. If his men were here maybe they could work something out. Two of them, and possibly an inured man following? There wasn't much point.

The look on Irene's face since the moment they had met up seemed to confirm she felt the same, and was struggling against that idea. Suicidal, pointless. So why was she going though with this?

"It's not too late to turn back, you know." Ellis glanced over at Irene. "You don't owe Nathan anything. You're just a hired guard. You don't have to die for him."

 

[Lenaara]

TucanSam


I breathed a sigh of relief when Ellis returned and uncurled my hand from the hilt of a dagger I unsheathed the moment I heard footsteps nearing the guard tower. To say I was cautious and alert was an understatement. Thoughts of Nathan had pushed aside all concern I had for Ellis’s safety. Only when my companion slid down to the floor, tired, did I feel sympathy. Reaching for the bag of clothes he’d brought, I sheathed the dagger in one motion and then patted Ellis on the shoulder in silent gratitude.

The clothes I borrowed from Ellenia were shoved into my travel pack after I changed. Nudity did not bother me in the slightest and Ellis seemed to be enough of a gentleman to look away when I undressed, not that it mattered to me if he was watching me. It was cold and the homespun clothes he bought did little to ward off the cold, so I wrapped Nathan’s cloak tight around me and shoved the few stray strands of hair into the scarf around my head.

“You are here too, aren’t you?” I lifted my eyes to Ellis’s as I knelt on the floor in front of him and spread the parchment with the map I drew between us. “He already owes you his life. Your men saved us from the ozcu. Neither of us have to die for him. Yet, here we are.”

Leaning back, I let out a heavy sigh and brought a knee to my chest to rest an arm over it. “Truthfully, up until now, I did not let myself think too much. It was easier. I knew what I had to do, so I did it. I led Nathan into the city to save the girl I failed to protect. To rescue him felt the right thing to do. Now?” I shrugged. “It still feels right. There is no turning back. I’ve made my choice.”

The rain had dwindled from a downpour to a drizzle, and though it couldn’t be several hours past dawn, the sky was as murky as full dark. Lightning flashed and the tower was bright with white ominous light. Thunder boomed somewhere in the distance and the ground almost shook with its force, so loud it was.

I did not look at Ellis when I spoke. “If I die, it will not be for Nathan. All this?” I lifted a hand to gesture at the map and our supplies on the floor. “This is for my benefit. I am here to ease my conscience.”

Confessing my selfishness did not ease the pressure I felt on my shoulders and chest. It remained, heavier than before, and I closed my eyes and breathed in and held my breath for a long, silent moment interrupted only by the sound of droplets falling on the floor. Then, I opened my eyes and pointed to the map.

“There are many doors in the wall. Small and narrow and hidden. I watched the workers seal two of them. This,” I tapped on the bold line, longer and thicker than the rest, “is the back gate. I think it’s another the workers use. They let in the commoners who follow the Church into the city for coin. That is our way in.” Reaching behind me, I took one of the two symbols of the sun I’ve woven and handed one to Ellis. It was crude and damp but otherwise perfect for the task. “The way out is more complicated. Most of the entrances are crowded. It is best we get Nathan out at nightfall and use one of the doors, whichever is the nearest. There are abandoned carriages outside of the back gate. We can keep our horses at the stables at Colben. While one gets Nathan out, the other will ready the horse and prepare a carriage.” I sat back and raised my eyes to Ellis’s.

“We cannot fight our way through this. Mountain knows how many men are guarding the gate, the doors, and Nathan. I want to get him out by tomorrow but I know it will be impossible. We need to see the situation in the city first and prepare.” I rolled the parchment, put it into my travel pack, and went to take my spear from under the floor boards. “No matter how suicidal this is, I will stay. You don’t have to. Neither one of us is cut out for this. The plans I make…they are made on the spot. I am not Ellenia. You shouldn’t follow me, Ellis.”

I rose to my feet, a spear in one hand and travel pack in the other, and looked at Ellis with a slight frown creasing my features. I wanted to apologize for agreeing to take him with me and for telling him of what happened, but couldn’t find the words. I needed his help as much as I needed someone else to share the burden of Nathan’s fate. It was selfish of me and I hated myself for wanting Ellis to stay.

“Why are you here?”

 

[TucanSam]

"You shouldn't look up to Ellenia so much, you know," Ellis rose from his seat, brushing the dust off of his clothes and adjusting the clothing around his face. "You're not like her. For whatever that means to you". Irene was a strange one, doing things simply because they felt like the right thing to do. As if her moral compass was the only thing worth following and any logic was better left at the roadside. Ellenia was the stark opposite, doing what was either judicially right or perceived to be, consequences be damned. Her agreeing to help Irene at all was so out of character for her that Ellis was still having some trouble believing it. Whether that meant there was a silver lining to her personality buried somewhere deep down he wasn't sure. Ellis wouldn't be willing to bet on that though.

"Like it or not, and believe me I don't think I do, I'm here. Ellenia wanted me here, likely as a way to get rid of me, and it's not in me to simply walk away. Though I don't plan on dying either so.... we'll see how it goes. Take it step by step." He turned towards the door, pausing in the threshold before looking back. "I ask myself every day why I am where I am. I'll let you know if I ever figure that out, huh?"

~~~~~~

They walked mostly in silence for the trip up to the wall, neither having much to say that hadn't already been said. Dark skies had turned to a slightly less dark grey, but the skies themselves seemed to mirror their mood as they approached one of the doors that Irene had pointed out beforehand. Sigils of the sun fixed upon their chest, it was only a matter of a bit of coin to get past the "guards" and into the city. Ellis couldn't help but laugh as they marched past the simple stone walls and into the city proper. If Ellenia or any of the people above her gave a damn it would have been far too simple to march a band of assassins in here to solve the problem of the church once and for all. Two or three guards dressed in black milled around the walls, the others guarding the gates and doors consisting of militia.

Dressed in their simple cloaks and garb they had been paid almost no attention. Hell the people who took their coin hadn't even asked them for their names. It had been criminally easy, but it wouldn't stay that way for long. No, the task of getting in had never been the problem. Even if they had recognized Irene, Ellis had a sneaking suspicion nothing would happen. Behind their crude stone barricades the people inside seemed to feel invincible, backed up by the fact that they had been given free reign to do whatever they wanted to in the surrounding areas for months on end now. Complacent. Cocky. Primed for a fall from grace. Ellis almost had the idea of deviating from the plan, just to see if he could accomplish that. There was no time though. Not today at least.

"So," He pulled the two of them to the side, sandwiching them between a simple wood hut and the cold stone of the wall. The shadow of the hut blocked out what little morning light managed to penetrate the clouds; they were basically in complete dark even though dawn was well upon them now. "Whats the next step? Do you have any idea where he is even being held?"

 

[Lenaara]

TucanSam


The way towards the city felt like a dream, in which I was a spectator not participant. A wave of dispassion washed over me and I felt detached from the world. I followed Ellis hunched under the rain, Nathan’s cloak pulled tight around me to ward off the cold, and spoke only when I had to. My spear was in my hand, its tip wrapped tightly in cloth. No one questioned why I was carrying a weapon and when we stepped into the city, I realized they simply did not care.

The scenery that opened before Ellis and I was enough to bring me back to reality. The memories of this city and its state, the stench of rot and the darkness that lingered above the wall, none of it could prepare me for what I saw when the line in front of us dispersed into the narrow streets that wound through the city like an intricate maze.

Houses were tall and narrow and dark with rain and mould. Roads were made of cobblestone or dirt and water mixed with trash was trickling under our feet as we walked. Stench of decay was overpowering. The deeper we went in, the harder it was to breathe. It was suffocating, being surrounded by buildings that looked like they were about to crumble, and people that were far too pale and thin. Many still slept on the ground, while some were sitting at every corner, hands outstretched to the sky, begging for money.

Noises saturated the air. I could hear people yelling above us, their voices carried by the wind from the broken or completely missing windows. I could hear loud crying and muted whispers of prayers. I could smell the sweat and dirt of the homeless that lined the streets, either sleeping or dead. I watched it all and did nothing, because there wasn’t anything to be done.

Unlike Ellis, I knew why I was here. Every day, no matter where I was and whom I was working for, I knew what I wanted. I had one desire and it was to live a life that when ended, an echo of myself was left behind. Many wanted the same, I was sure. No one wants to be forgotten, erased from existence as if they never lived. Unlike others, however, my options were severely limited.

In the minutes of silence that stretched on as Ellis and I walked, I surveyed the area and memorized the turns and twists of streets to know the way back to the gate. In the years of my absence, Escus has grown exponentially. It was never this crowded and the houses I remembered were short with large gaps between.

When we stopped by one of the few remaining short hovels by the wall, I looked up at Ellis and wondered what he thought of me. Perhaps he thought me some hero or a naïve woman who thought the world was a kind and welcoming place. I wasn’t someone worthy of being sung about by bards and the world was too complex to claim it was good or evil.

Neither was I the one to look to for a plan.

“Some,” I answered and stepped to the side to have a better view of the rooftops. They obscured whatever light managed to penetrate the dark clouds. Somewhere beyond the mouldering houses and death, was Nathan. The thought that we were so close pushed all exhaustion out of my mind. “The girl said she was held in a place by the tallest building in the city. Last time I was here, there was none of this.” I raised an arm to gesture at the narrow streets and shabby buildings. “I do not know which is the tallest. However,” I paused to watch the street, namely the shadowy parts of it. There were many children here, as dirty as the rest of the city, running around barefoot in the rain. “It will not be hard to find Nathan. The ones who have him in captivity are dressed in black and purple armour. It is of good quality and they are trained soldiers. Not at all like the militia we’ve encountered so far.”

Among the homeless and the common folk that wore sun-shaped symbols on their person, there were many guards. Perhaps too many. They did not look trained and their weapons, if they carried any, were dull and rusty with age.

“We have until nightfall to prepare. We must find the place where Nathan is held. Until we know how many guard him and how far it is from the wall, there is little to plan for.” I adjusted the scarf around my head, pulling the cloth over my forehead to hide my face in shadows. “Let’s split up and meet here before the evening. And…” I laid a hand on his arm and met his eyes, “be safe.” I do not need another life on my conscience.

 

[TucanSam]

My head snapped to the side as I tried my best to gather my wits. How long had I been confined to this room? No windows lined the walls and little light if any had crept from underneath the door. A small bookcase barren of books, a broken stool in the corner and a bed with a thing mattress on it were all the decoration this room had been given. There was no way to tell what time it was or what day of the week it had grown into, but one thing was clear; this was the end.

I took a shuddering breathe, m body shaking with the effort as my lungs did their best to inflate. Casual, cordial conversation had soon turned to brutish, violent beatings when the Order of Brimstone had realized I would not be giving into their demands. They had grown too impatient in their chase for me over the last few months, too eager to get on with what it was they were here to accomplish. I'd stolen the girl from them, killed their men and eluded them whenever they had gotten close. They had no more time for my bullshit.

Clothing was the first thing they had taken from me, replacing my already meager dressings with rough and dirty rags. MY name was next as they ceased to refer to me as Nathan, instead giving me nicknames to degrade me or simply calling me obscene insults when they needed my attention. Then they took food, and water. When none of those were able to break my spirit they resorted to lashings with a whip, the breaking of fingers and toes. It must have gone on for only a few days, but for all I knew it could have been months. Then they came for my hope, and I felt myself breaking.

The girl and Irene were dead. When they first told me, of course I didn't believe them. They had more than enough reason to lie to me about that. But Irene didn't come that next day, or the next. A deadline had been set, but never had I considered she would take so long to come and get me. I'd thought she was better than that, smarter than the men here. Doubt began to creep in. Were they really dead? Had something happened after the handoff? Irene wasn't likely to go down easily, but she'd never had to deal with these people the way I had.

It was then that I began to crumble, to break, even before they took my left arm the same as they did my right. Blood still dripped slowly down my hand, plopping onto the stone floor with an audible, echoing noise. Several teeth were missing from my mouth, my nose had been broken and twisted into an odd shape. One side of my face had lost it's ability to see and I wasn't entirely sure if I was missing an eye or if it had just swollen shut. There was no real way to check; they'd broken both of my hands after I'd attempted suicide.

I'd made the promise to Irene to wait for the deadline to pass before attempting it but, if she was dead, it didn't really matter anymore did it? As I became more and more convinced that both Irene and Amelia had perished at the hands of these men my mind turned to dark corners. I needed to die, if possible. To deprive these men of any sort of accomplishment they might gain. My options were limited. No part of my body seemed to work correctly anymore, and they'd resorted to force feeding me when I had initially tried to starve myself.

The corners of the room seemed to grow closer as I sat there, unable to move or speak. A thick black mist had covered the floor, obscuring it from view. Soon the walls followed it, and then the ceiling. I was left alone in complete darkness, total black. Another deep, body wracking breath. I knew what was coming, had been preparing for it. I just didn't think it was going to be this soon.

"Hello there, Nathan."

Every corner of the room had disappeared, leaving only a black void that seemed to stretch on endlessly. From every direction of this infinite emptiness a soft, booming voice echoed at me. I turned my broken, twisted face from side to side as if doing so would allow me to find the source of the noise. The voice only chuckled, a soothing musical sound.

"It's a shame what they've done to you. Man can be so savage, can't they?"

My mouth moved but any noise I emitted was swallowed into the dark. Cold air blew against my face gently, soothing the aches and pains that covered my body. In this space, this gentle, quiet black I could feel myself relaxing. Comfortable. Safe. I hated it immediately.

"So.." Smoke swirled in the distance, refusing to take any specific shape. "After all this time, you've come to me. An inevitability, but strange timing nonetheless. Have you finally given up then?"

I shook my head gently, the tissue and broken bones not screaming with the effort nearly as much as they had only moments before.

"Thought so. You're not the type to give up entirely. Even so, you are here. Why?"

Again sound refused to leave my lips as I tried to speak, but in this place the voice seemed to be able to understand me fully regardless. Cold crept up my spine at the implications, of my intentions and thoughts being known already. Whether they were reading my mind or simply guessing I did not know, but my stomach grew sick with the thought.

"You're willing to give up then. You seek a deal." Again the voice laughed, it's soft musical voice growing deeper and sinister near the end of the sound. "Interesting. Though I wonder exactly what it is you have to bargain with. You're a broken man, Nathan. You're arms have been taken, your eye has been blinded. What can you offer me?"

Slowly I straightened myself, all pain from my body having seemingly disappeared into the void. "Anything you want," I spoke, this time my voice coming out in an even, smooth tone that had not been possible for several days.

"And what is it you want from me?"

"To kill them all."

A pause, stretching on for seconds that felt like minutes. This voice, this creature of the dark... I knew what it was. Knew who it was. It was what the Order of Brimstone, my pursuers and now captors, worshipped. It was what they sought, the deity that promised them power and glory. The reason they killed, the reason they existed. Slowly, steadily they had been driving me towards it this entire time, breaking my body and mind to make me malleable, susceptible to its charm and promises. So far it had worked, but I no longer cared.

"Kill the all, these bastards who have captured me and taken so much. Burn them to the ground, and I'll do whatever you want."

Another pause as the creature considered my proposal. It was weak, all things considered. My mind was already too far gone, my will sapped and my ability to resist non-existant. There was no reason for it to accept or make a bargain. Yet I knew it would want to. Having someone willingly give themselves up was far more appealing than taking them when they were broken down. Everything I knew of this entity made them out to be selfish and prideful. They wanted to win, to gain submission. They wanted followers who had given up because they saw no other choice, not because they had been beaten into submission.

"Very well then," The voice was now a gravely, deep baritone that shook everything around me. Smoke coiled itself around my body, attaching to my skin like an octopus' suckers until nearly every inch of me was covered. Pain that had been masked and hidden surged back into my body and I let out a squeal as it did. All pretense was gone now; you didn't have to woo over someone who was willing to make a deal.

"We are agreed. I will do as you please and then... you will do as I please".

 

[Lenaara]

TucanSam



The evening came quickly. Last rays of pale sunlight played along the glass of the clock nested in one of the tall arches decorating the front wall of the cathedral. I watched the hands of the clock vanish under the pale blue light that gradually turned to orange and then to bloody red. Though I could not hear the seconds tick away, the sound was quite vivid in my mind. It echoed in the silence, bouncing off the distant thoughts of the plan that I devised on the go while searching the city for Nathan.

Shadows played along the cathedral walls, dancing along the intricate stone craftsmanship. It was both beautiful and terrifying, bright with the dying rays of sunlight and dark with ominous shadows hiding under the arches. The empty square stretching in front of the cathedral was bare and in the smooth stone I could see several large dark spots where Cleansing Pyres used to stand. Not even rain could wash away the soot burnt into the stone.

A silence fell over the city as I watched sitting under the eaves of a house across the square. The cries and shouts from the windows above hushed down as the night approached. The guards patrolling the area were fewer in number, probably changing shifts. I could hear a pair walking down the alley some distance away, their footsteps heavy with exhaustion.

Once the sun slipped behind the uneven rooftops and the wall, the city was drenched in shadows. Lanterns were lit and the windows cast pools of soft light onto the damp cobblestones. It had not rained again since morning but it still stunk of mouldering thatch and wood. It did not bother me as it did before. Shouting began anew from the direction of the main street some blocks away. The noise made me wonder if the half-drunk mercenaries I’d hired from one of the taverns did not drink themselves into a stupor yet. Then, I wondered if they were sober enough to abandon the job I’d given them altogether.

It was at that moment that I realized I did not care if those men I paid and supplied ran off with my coin. In fact, I did not care about a single thing. The cold of the damp ground seeping through Nathan’s cloak on which I sat did not bother me. Neither did the pounding headache behind my eyes. The few hours of fitful sleep were not enough to prepare me for the night and when I woke up, shivering for I slept on the ground, resting against the wall as I was now, I felt restless with worry. I woke up earlier than expected and sat motionless, watching the cathedral and the guards patrolling the streets. A dark presence lingered in my mind, a feeling of wrongness that I could not ignore, and I did not dare sleep more in fear that it was going to haunt my nightmares. I blamed the unease plaguing my thoughts on the worry for Nathan and the rescue attempt later tonight.

None of this mattered, in any case. I had a job to do. When I got to my feet, I wondered for a moment if it was alright for me to feel this emptiness. Shouldn’t I be feeling excited to finally save Nathan? Or at least experience some sense of heroism? I felt nothing but dread. This was no heroic moment and neither was it something to be restless about. If all went well, I was bound to find a man tortured both mentally and physically. I was not sure if I was prepared to face him and lie that Amelia was dead.

There was no moon in the sky to light the streets. Only the lanterns here and there guided me towards the back of the cathedral, where I stood still pressed against a wall of a building that could be the priests’ dormitory. I could hear voices inside but paid them no mind. Instead, I watched the rooftops to the right, where I’d spotted the stables hours earlier.

Hours ago, when I met Ellis as we’d agreed, I did not tell him of the mercenaries I hired. I didn’t think he’d approve and couldn’t let him do the task I gave the mercenaries instead. He was told what he needed to know – that I found Nathan’s captors and will get him out. Ellis had to find a horse and carriage and wait for us until dawn. If I did not show up before first light, he was to leave.

Smoke started to rise above the rooftops. Moments later, a bell rang through the night and someone shouted to bring water. Horses screamed as the stables were set ablaze, fire spreading quickly over the oil drenched hay.

The guards stationed at the front door of the building I was watching left first. They ran past the alley where I was hiding and headed for the stables, hands on the hilts of their swords, and the moment they were out of sight I turned on my heel and ran around the corner to the other side to watch the side entrance. Only one guard was stationed there and he glanced in the direction of the stables with confusion written across his face. I brought a hand to my lips, about to whistle to get his attention, when wood snapped in the distance and something large came crumbling down. Horses shrieked. The guard drew his sword and ran for the stables. When he was gone, I stepped out of the protective shadows of the alley and went for the side entrance.

Dirt stained my clothes and skin dark and Nathan’s cloak was wrapped around my shoulders tightly to give me some freedom of movement. The cloth wrapped around my spear was gone and its blade gleamed in the lantern light as I adjusted my hold on the weapon and spared a hand to open the door just enough to slip inside the building.

While waiting outside the cathedral, I watched the people enter and leave. Staff and scholars, judging from their clothes, mostly, and some guards. I did not know how many were inside the building nor how many stood guard. The street urchins that I paid in exchange information told me little and claimed they did not see anyone in the windows that resembled Nathan. Either he was being held below or in a room with no windows.

I quickly went through the hallway that opened into a wide room with a grand staircase in the middle. It resembled a library. It must have been used as some governing office once, by scholars not too different from the ones I watched working here during the day. The ground floor was empty but I could hear voices coming from the above. In the distance horses shrieked and men shouted. I kept to the shadows in the poorly lit room and hid behind a cabinet when thundering footsteps alerted me to someone coming from the back. I sat there, hunched and motionless, with a pounding heart and tense limbs. My spear was wedged between me and the cabinet, angled awkwardly to hide it full length in the shadows. When the guard passed me, I watched him round the corner towards the main entrance.

There was no visible passage that led to the basement. I did not know where to go nor how much time I had left before the guards returned or how many remained inside. The guards who came running to check on the stables came from the back of the building, so I went there first. There was a narrow staircase to the second floor in the corner and its twin was located across the room, that one leading to the lower levels. With careful and silent steps, I went there and descended, willing myself to remain patient when my mind screamed that I should hurry.

The stone walls trapped the cold that permeated the air. The staircase opened into a long hallway lined with doors, most of which were open. It was empty. For a moment I stood there, listening, but when no sounds came from any of the cells or from further down the hallway, I started to walk. Midway, footsteps thudded above my head and armour rattled as a guard quickly descended the stairs behind me. Before he could see me, I stepped into the closest open cell and pressed myself against the wall by the door that I took care not to touch.

The guard outside marched down the hallway, his footsteps and voice booming in the silence, “Some drunks set the stables on fire.”

My arms were raised, holding the spear parallel to the ground with the blunt end facing the open doorway. When the guard stepped in front of the door, his helmet and armour darker than the shadows around him, I thrust the spear forward with every ounce of strength I had and the blunt end of my spear connected with the guard’s black helmet. A deafening ring of metal against metal bounced off the walls of the basement and with a crash the guard went down on the floor. My ears rang and the spear’s shaft still vibrated in my hands.

I ducked back into the cell when someone called out, “Frederick?!” and steel whispered against leather as a sword was drawn.

The second guard was more cautious than the first, though I could hear his heavy footsteps clearly. He uttered a violent oath at the sight of his partner in a heap on the dungeon floor. I did not know if Frederick was still alive; the force of the hit could’ve killed him instantly. I stood still, waiting, as the guard neared his partner, knelt beside him and cursed again. When he got up, I heard him step over his fallen partner and head for the stairs.

Before he took more than a step, I raised my spear and hit the floor once. The guard paused mid-step and dirt crunched under his boot as he turned and, with slight hesitation, went for my cell. My spear was raised as much as the limited space permitted me as I hid behind the door, which was nudged slowly open by the guard’s sword. He stepped inside and I kicked the door, back pressed against the wall to give myself more leverage.

It smashed against him on creaking hinges and bounced off. The guard staggered, raised his sword in defence and did not let go of his weapon even as my spear came down on his arm to knock it aside. I twisted the spear to snake around his arm, slipped behind him, and pulled. The armour creaked and even as his arm was twisted into an awkward angle, the guard did not drop his weapon. He took the spear just under the tip with his free hand, pulled to make me lose my footing, and stepped back to crush me into a wall.

I had to abandon my spear to not hit the stone. I ducked away and in one motion removed the dagger from my belt and created some distance between myself and the guard. He unceremoniously dropped my spear, kicked it aside, and lunged at me, sword raised.

Only a body’s length separated us. He crossed it in a heartbeat and I closed the distance between us further as I jumped forward, landed on a knee and plunged the dagger between the plating of his armour. In that moment hot pain flashed through my other arm, which was brought up defensively to stop the sword with the meat of my shoulder before it sliced my neck. The guard’s blood started to drip from my hand that still held the dagger. My own slid down my back in warm rivulets.

I could not see his eyes for they were hidden but could hear his breaths, ragged and uneven and gurgling. When he fell against me lifeless, I hissed in pain as the sword dug deeper into the muscle until it came free and cluttered to the floor. I pushed aside the guard, picked up my spear and left the cell.

Adrenaline still pumped through my veins as I crossed the hallway to where the men were stationed and tried the handle of the door they had been guarding. It was locked. Inwardly I cursed the men to be buried under the Mountain and beelined for the limp bodies of the guards to search for a key. One had a circle of keys on his belt and it was by some divine luck that I guessed the right one first try.

The lock clicked and the door opened on well-oiled hinges. My gaze fell onto the empty bed, then the broken stool and the floor. Then, I saw him and all worries, all thoughts and panic fled my mind and I crossed the short distance between us in wide strides and nearly fell on my knees in front of Nathan. He was alive and injured, badly. The rags he wore now were bloody, as were his face and hands and arms. Chained to the wall, his hands were bent and broken and as I went through the keys to find the one to unlock the manacles, I watched the blood drip down from his left hand, the only arm he could still use. Bile rose at the back of my throat as I surveyed the rest of the damage done to my charge. A broken nose, a swollen eye. Dried blood around his mouth and the thinness of his body. It’s only been four days. I didn’t let myself think what would’ve happened to him had I not found him within a week.

The manacles fell to the floor and I shrugged off Nathan’s cloak to wrap around him instead. It was torn and bloody where the guard’s sword struck me. I took the spear in one hand and wrapped an arm around Nathan with the other to help him up. There wasn’t much time left before the guards returned from dealing with the fire. Down in the basement I couldn’t hear what was happening outside.

My throat was tight and thoughts raced in my mind as I struggled to come up with a way to escape. “Is there another way out of here?” I asked and inwardly winced at how harsh I sounded. I did this to him.

This is my doing.

I may as well have been the one that beat him bloody and broken him.

 

[TucanSam]

“No,” my mouth struggled to form the words as I was helped up from the ground. Light filtered in from the door, shining against my good eye and making me wince at the exposure. Nothing about this was right. With a grunt I tried to pull myself back from the arm, trying to deny what it was that was happening. Fuzzy shapes and figures had begun to appear near the edges of my damaged eye, the one I was sure I was blind in. Aches and pains in my muscles and joints began to dull and fade into the back of my mind and the bleeding from the cut above my eye had begun to stop. Irene was alive. None of this was right.


“You’re supposed to be dead,” My hand grasped against her side feebly, the cloth slipping through my broken fingers before I was able to grasp some of it. With a huff I pushed her forcefully away from me, my body slumping immediately to the ground with a loud thud. “Why aren’t you dead?”


Tears began to stream from my eyes before I could stop them. Once they’d started I didn’t even try, burying my head in my hands as sobs began to wrack my body. I knew what was happening, what had happened. They’d broke me. Lied to me. And I’d made a terrible decision. Already my body was beginning to knit itself slowly back together, proof of the terrible deal I had made. Nothing I had belonged solely to me anymore, and there was no going back. I didn’t know what to do. A sense of helplessness gripped me.


“You shouldn’t be here. Why are you here?”


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


They broke him.

No, a voice in my mind protested with a mocking sneer. You broke him.

Frozen in horror, I watched Nathan fall to the ground. There was blood on my clothes where he’d touched me. Blood was on the floor, on the wall and the manacles. It was on the cloak that I wrapped around him, unsure now what good it was supposed to do to him. All the bruises and cuts and broken bones made my stomach roll uncomfortably in disgust but I couldn’t look away from the sobbing figure that what once was a strong man.

Just as Nathan was broken by the torture and the news of my and the child’s demise, his sobs broke me.

Defeated, I sank to my knees in front of my charge and clenched my hands into fists on my lap. Anguish was written across my features and I was drowning in guilt. It was hard to breathe, the words I could not say were stuck in my throat, choking me. I couldn’t tell Nathan that Amelia was alive and safe, that she was with a man who would raise her if both Nathan and I died tonight. It would have given Nathan hope, a reason to survive the night, but I, ashamed of not trusting him with the truth, could not say a word of Amelia’s whereabouts in case this suicidal rescue attempt had failed. To tell Nathan was to risk Amelia’s and Rael’s lives. I couldn’t bring myself to do it, even if it meant seeing Nathan suffer.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath that did not calm me. Without quite understanding why, I reached for Nathan’s broken hands with my shaking fingers. I lay a hand over his, gently and afraid to hurt him further, and leaned in so he could hear me whisper words that repeated in my mind over and over.

“I am sorry,” I told him, my throat so tight I could barely keep my voice from breaking. “I am so sorry.”

I could not, would not lie to him. The guilt was evident and I intended Nathan to make of it what he willed. It was cruel. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath that did not calm me and said with as much steel as I could muster, “Get up. We have to leave.”

Even as I moved closer and shifted to the side to wrap an arm around Nathan to help him up, my hold on him stronger than before, my heart wept. My words were harsh, my movements forceful. It had to be done, I told myself and hauled Nathan to his feet. He needed me to be steady and composed if we were to see Amelia again.

It was for the best, wasn’t it?

But no matter how much I tried to convince myself, I didn’t believe me yet.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


“Get up. We have to leave.”


A sharp breath left my chest as she hoisted me to my feet, half from pain and half from suddenly understanding what was about to happen. I’d made a bargain, given myself up to a force beyond my control. When I had thought there was nothing left to live for I’d struck a deal. My part had already been paid up, and the way my wound were beginning to very slowly heal themselves meant that the other half of the deal was beginning to pay up as well. Kill them all.


Gritting my teeth I followed Irene out of the room, half walking and half stumbling through the hallway. I had no idea in what form that death was coming but a sick crawling sensation on the back of my neck assured me it was indeed coming. Whether Irene would be spared that fate I had no idea, but we didn’t have the luxury of finding out.


“There,” my voice came out in a croak as we made our way through the hallway. Wooden doors lined the walls to our left and right and every few feet a torch jutted out of the wall, chasing away some of the shadows. It was just enough light to make out the end of the hallway, a dead end with a small, simple wooden door.


“Beyond that is a tunnel that leads to the church. The priests use it to visit their captives in secret, away from the prying eyes of the public.” I coughed gently, half out of necessity and half out of trying to bury the statement in noise as fast as possible. I knew well enough why details about places I had never been were popping into my head; the deal was useless if I did not make it out alive. Explaining that to Irene would be far more difficult and I had no desire to try.


“After that… I hope you have a plan.” A crack of thunder echoed loud enough for us to hear it all the way down here and I winced inwardly at the noise. Dirt and dust fell gently from the roof above us, shook free as if the building itself had been struck. I had no idea what that was, but I did know this. “We need to get the fuck out of here”.

 

[Lenaara]

TucanSam

The basement gave me the chills. Whatever happened here had left its mark. Though I could not touch the walls, I knew deep inside that they were as cold as ice. The air was stale and the back of my mouth tasted of metal from the scent of blood. I began to notice these details more vividly now that Nathan was pressed to my side, alive and breathing albeit with difficulty, and the panicked thoughts that I wouldn’t be able to reach him in time had vanished. Fragments of a plan filled my thoughts instead in attempt to mask the awareness that I was underground.

We progressed through the hallway clumsily. I leaned my weight on the spear and helped Nathan walk, half-dragging him with me out of necessity to get out of this place, out of the underground tunnels and into the city that was just as dangerous. When we stopped at the door I eyed the torches and glanced back to Nathan. He couldn’t carry my spear, not with his broken hands, let alone a torch. I could only hope that sconces lit the tunnel beyond the door.

Voices rang in alarm somewhere above us and thundering footsteps followed, further rocking the ceiling. Several keys went into the lock before I picked the right one and the door opened. Soft light pushed back the shadows at the entrance, firelight flickering over the harshly carved stone. Hesitant to leave a source of light behind us, I glanced at the torches but abandoned the idea when the ceiling shook again and pelted us with dust.

I hummed in response to Nathan’s question. “Lets get out of here,” I said without looking at him, took my spear and stepped into the tunnel. The door closed behind us, shutting off the light except for the thin line of yellow between the floor and the door.

Deprived of sight, our bodies adjusted to the loss of one sense by amplifying the others. I could hear the way my spear bumped against the floor of the walls, its metal tip clinging softly in the ringing silence. I’d adjusted my weapon to have it hover just above the ground and moved it in an arc. If there was a wall in front of us, or a staircase, we wouldn’t walk into it. It seemed like a good idea and it worked. Seconds passed by in silence. We proceeded through the tunnel, quiet, blinded and tense. It felt like the tunnel would never end.

When the spear’s tip struck a wall, I nearly jumped out of my skin. Metal rang through the tunnel loudly, my spear shook and the blade grated against stone. I stopped for a moment, wincing from the noise, and almost sank to the floor.

Fear gripped me. It took away the ability to breathe evenly and think properly. I felt the pressure of the world above us – the weight of the house, the streets, the cathedral. All that stone and architecture and people. Each time the ground shook, I foolishly looked up with widened eyes and prayed to the Mountain and the God above it to make the tunnel end. The darkness was suffocating. Though I couldn’t see the walls, I felt them, and knew deep inside that the ceiling couldn’t hold the grand structures above ground for long. Each shake threatened to break the fragile stone and bury us alive and in my mind, I started to imagine cracks in the ceiling, which grew longer and wider with each passing moment.

I had to force myself to take deep, steady breaths, and gripped Nathan’s side to steady myself and my shaking fingers. Darkness hid the other signs that I was terrified and I was grateful for it. Nathan couldn’t see how tightly I clenched my jaw or how I shut my eyes closed so tightly it hurt each time dust and rubble pelted our shoulders after a shake.

My hands were clammy; I turned the spear in my hand often and the spear tip rattled in its metal clasps. Soon I started to run out of air. My breaths became faster, close to hyperventilating. I stomped down the panic by quickening my steps. I wanted out.

But the tunnel did not end. An eternity must have passed already. The thought that we were lost, stuck underground without any light or food or a way to find our way back had nearly broken me. I’d stopped using my spear to guide us and instead kept a hand on the wall. It’s cold, damp stone was strangely comforting.

When we found the door I thought it was a mirage at first. The line of light was so frail, so thin, it took my mind a moment to register the exit. I pressed my ear to the door first, searching for signs of someone waiting on the other side. Satisfied that it was safe, I reached for the keys. They rattled on the metal circle and nearly slipped out of my shaking grasp when I tried to open the lock. On my fourth attempt the latch inside the lock moved and I pushed the door open as slowly as I could.

The light was blinding, and I waited for our eyes to adjust to the change before proceeding. I didn’t bother locking the door nor shutting it. The cathedral’s weight was pressing on me from all sides, less now that we left the stale air and the darkness of the tunnel behind us, but still present. I paused only out of necessity when we were about to round a corner or open a door, listening and waiting, even as swallowed down the building panic.

Something was wrong. At first I disregarded it, attributing my unease to my claustrophobia, but even as we stepped onto the ground floor of the cathedral I felt it.

The great hall was empty. To run across the nave was too risky, and while I trusted the mercenaries I’d hired to keep the guards occupied, I didn’t expect the Church adherents to help with the situation at the stables. It was the middle of the night, the cathedral was expected to be empty, but I couldn’t shake off the feeling of wrongness that continued to buzz through me. The screams outside couldn’t belong to the guards who went to put out the fire at the stables.

We used the side entrance I’d seen the adherents use earlier. It was closed and I had to break the lock, creating unnecessary noise that was drowned out by the shouting outside. Something was happening closer to the wall, but the tall houses obscured the view. It didn’t matter so long as it didn’t interfere with rescuing Nathan. I pushed the distracting noises to the back of my mind, deciding to deal with whatever was happening when the time came, and started for the streets, out of sight of any guards were still on patrol duty.

 

[TucanSam]

My gaze lifted to the sky as the first patters of rain began to hit the ground, striking against my cheeks gently as thunder and lighting cracked across the sky. Night had fallen, dark and deep and with it came all the terrors that hid in the shadows. Maybe I was waxing poetic there, but it sure felt as if every nightmare possible was converging on this one spot. Shadows danced ominously at the edge of my vision, lightning lit up scenes of fire and chaos in the distance. Screams echoed around us, punctuated by the deep booming of stone falling to the ground. This was wrong. All of it.

A loud screech bore down on us from above, its shrill voice like metal against a stone. Dark wings cast a shadow as it swooped ahead of us, grabbing a man by the shoulders and lifting him into the air. He struggled for a bit, screaming and thrashing before the creature released him. Blood landed a few feet from us as he hit he ground, exploding into little more than a lump of flesh. My body recoiled as I reached out to grip Irene's shirt, steadying myself against the bile growing in the back of my throat. Blood poured from what was left of the mans eyes, his shoulders torn and shredded like thin paper. What armor he'd been wearing looked as if it was made of thin board, punctured with holes as big as my fist. It was not the gore that made my stomach recoil in disgust though. I'd seen sights like this, worse than this, in the past. War was never pretty and you either learned to cope with the sights and sounds of battle or you left the profession.

No, it was not the death and decay that slowly surrounded us that made the hair on the back of my neck stand tall, that caused my flesh to feel as if spiders were crawling on me. It was the creatures. That thing that was flying, swooping, falling on men. The other six or seven that were flying in the air above us, hidden by the clouds and smoke. It was the paws of wolves from hell running, clawing, slashing into flesh. It was the small creatures that gnawed on flesh, numbering in the dozens. The shadows that grabbed and suffocated men, the trees and foliage that came to life in order to spite mankind around them. Through the chaos, the fire, the screaming and tearing and death and suffering, I could feel them. A presence moved over the city, dark, terrifying. Pleased. The deal had been fulfilled.

"Fuck, fuck," I muttered under my breath as I steadied my feet under me, glancing frantically from side to side, hoping to find some direction that wasn't filled with monsters and men. Blood ran down the streets as we reached them, turning past and through buildings that were burned to ash or broken to rubble. Flashes of iron and steel lit our path as we stumbled, the guardsmen doing their best to defend themselves against this attack. It made no difference. Whenever we passed some soul trying to stand his ground and defend his home it ended the same way it did for those fleeing for their lives. After a few moments my eyes didn't even bother to look at the people we passed; they'd be dead soon enough anyway.

""Where..." we paused near the side of a large house, one of the few left standing. "What is your plan here? The streets are blocked, the stables are burned. How do we get out?"

"You don't," A voice interrupted me, cutting through the noise in a deep booming baritone. Dominic, his face bloodied, his armor dented and his sword blunted from use watched us from across the street. Two men in similar garb stood behind him, their eyes unfocused and tired as they glanced nervously around the area. "At least not alone."

A few choice words filled my head as I pushed myself free of Irene, steadying my back against the wall behind me. Dominic was not a dumb man by any stretch of the imagination. He knew the situation we all were in, the danger of staying still. Their search had not been an easy one by the looks of it, but the blood lust in his eyes belied the exhaustion that covered his features. Whatever creatures he had killed had only made him hungrier for more fighting, damn the consequences.

"This really isn't the time Dominic," My voice was low and ragged. Both of my legs had been mostly spared from damage during the torture, a small gift but a gift nonetheless. That hadn't made running around any easier though, and the rest of my body had vehemently disagreed with the decision to do so. If all three of them attacked us I'd be of no use and Dominic would not enter a fight he was not sure he could win. Whatever threat Irene posed to him he assumed was minimal and I wasn't entirely convinced he was wrong.

"Isn't it?!" His voice came out in a crazed chuckle, his eyes wide and as wild as his appearance. "Seems perfectly fine to me." A loud crash from somewhere in the distance pulled his attention from us for a second and when his gaze returned some semblance of sanity had come back with it. Fear hovered at the corners of his eyes, pushed and held back by sheer force of will. Dominic was not a man to give up easily. "I don't know how or why this is happening, but I recognize his handiwork when I see it. Just what exactly did you give him in return for all of this?"

Both of my eyes narrowed as he spoke. It was no surprise he had figured out what had happened, more or less. I wish he was a little less vocal about it though. "What do you want from us? You've already lost, look around you".

A loud booming laugh that rivaled that of the thunder around us echoed from his chest. "No.. I haven't lost yet," His sword swung lazily at his side as he moved forward, his boots crunching noisily against the rubble on the ground. "I want what I've always wanted, and tonight I will have it. You will not deny me of it Nathan. Not this time."

 

[Lenaara]

TucanSam


There was nowhere to go. No matter where I looked there was carnage. Bodies drowning in rivers of blood were ripped apart by the beings that descended onto the city in large numbers. It was quiet just an hour ago. To see so many dead in such a short time felt surreal. I stared at it all, shocked and lost. The streets were once familiar to me. Now, they were broken and littered with corpses and monstrosities names of which I didn’t know.

Once, I prided myself in knowing of the dangers lurking in the swamp. I encountered some creatures, wounded others but never came close to actually killing one. It was better to avoid contact with them, walk the other way when finding signs of their presence. Ellenia was the only person I knew of that had the ability to kill these creatures. I respected her for that and listened to her advice and never questioned it.

Now, I was lost. There was no way to avoid these creatures. No matter where we turned, which street we took, something was there. The screams of the dead were a constant, buzzing cacophony that bore into my skull.

We paused out of necessity. Nathan was weak and I needed a moment to gather my thoughts. We kept to one direction, heading to a street where Ellis was to wait for us with horse and carriage, but we had to change direction often to avoid running into some monstrosity. One snatched on my ankle and now a hot pain was building there. The scratch worried me. Anything born in the swamp could be poisonous.

Around us fires burned, and the sky was coloured bright red. A crimson sky to match the crimson streets.

I reached for Nathan to let him lean against me. The screams of the dying did not drench out the words yelled at us from across the street. I didn’t know they were directed at us until Nathan replied.

I watched the exchange with well masked impatience. “We have to go,” I told Nathan through clenched teeth. I was sure I’d gone pale, but my breathing was even and while my heart hammered a frantic beat inside my chest, I appeared calm and composed. The last thing we needed was for me to panic or weep or simply crumble in defeat. I wanted nothing more than to get to Ellis and flee this cursed city and it gave me purpose. To escape was to come back to Rael, to normality, where monsters remained in the swamp where they belonged.

Dominic’s theatrics did not impress me, and they weren’t meant to, I suspected. The man was mad. His words made no sense to me and neither did his decision to pursue us when he should’ve be fleeing the city to save his own life and that of his followers. He did not worry me as much as his weapon and backup did. The odds of winning weren’t in my favour, even if the monsters weren’t flying over our heads.

Wounded, exhausted, with an injured and broken man at my side, I wasn’t ready for a fight. I thought seeing the one who’d tortured Nathan was going to make me angry, seethe with rage that could only be sated by taking his life. But I felt nothing, only the urgent need to get Nathan to safety.

I turned and pulled Nathan behind me into the nearest alley. Dominic and his men were right behind us. Neither had an advantage fighting wedged between two walls but at least I could fight them off one at a time if the exit was blocked. Nathan was in front of me and I followed close by, looking over my shoulder to watch for pursuers, and had a hand on Nathan’s shoulder urging him to hurry.

Debris blocked the exit. Broken boards and stone, fragments of what was once a wall and roof. A large winged creature sat perched on what was left of the house just above us. It did not notice us as I slipped past Nathan and started to clear a path just enough for us to squeeze through. When the blockade started to crumble, pushed away by my spear, the creature above us stirred. It moved its great head towards us, opened its wings, and swept down. The rock fell to the ground; I pushed Nathan through the opening and rolled behind him just as the creature landed in the alley. Its claws scraped against stone, sent sparks flying into the air.

The creature was too big for the narrow space. It was stuck, the claws on top of its wings dug into the walls on either side of its body. It turned, shrieked, and started to move towards us. I did not linger long enough for it to free itself.

A courtyard opened before us, filled with smoke from burning wood. Much of it was on fire; wood cracked and snapped, falling to the ground in a fountain of sparks. It was hard to breathe. I pressed a sleeve to my nose as we ran across to get into the open street and lose Dominic in the chaos.

I didn’t know in which part of the city we were in. Ellis was to wait for us by one of the worker entrances in the wall. I marked it on the map for him and memorized the way there from the cathedral, but with the chaos of smoke and screams, I could only hope I was going in the right direction. Half the roads were buried in corpses and debris of broken buildings. I forced myself to remain calm, for both our sakes, but knew deep inside that Ellis wasn’t going to be there. He might be dead already. I hoped not.

We ran for the wall. Monster presence was the heaviest there and many guards tried to block their advance. Those with armour fell as often as those without. There was blood and death. Stench of decay permeated the air. It was terrifying to watch.

I’d seen my fair share of death. But this was completely different. I felt small, insignificant. A small life hurrying towards safety like a mouse. I’ve never fought in a war but knew that it wasn’t like this. This was a bloodbath.

“Listen to me.” I leaned against a wall beside Nathan. We stopped by one of the worker entrances in the wall. It was closed but the area was dark and abandoned, empty of people and monsters. “We have to find Ellis. He should’ve had a horse and carriage ready for us. He could be dead, however.” Fragments of the wall lay all around us, broken off when the creatures attacked most likely. Some parts of the stone was sleek with blood, both human and monster. The memory of the winged creature swooping down towards me flashed in my mind, turned my blood cold. “If I do not make it, head south. Search for Rael. He is an herbalist at Tenby and a good friend. He will help you.”

At that moment I couldn’t look at Nathan. A pang of guilt seized my heart. Nathan still did not know Amelia was alive and I couldn’t tell him. Dominic could still be alive, still searching for Nathan, and I feared that if Nathan remained in the hands of that man any longer he’d break completely. It was for the best that only I knew the child was still alive.

“Come,” I pushed away from the shadows, wrapped an arm around Nathan to help him walk, and started down the path alongside the wall. We had to find the way out of this wretched city.

 

[TucanSam]

"No,"

My hand reached out against the wall, gripping a stone and halting us for a moment. The instructions Irene had given me had gone in one ear and out the other; I had no idea where to go or what to do and certainly didn't know who this Rael guy was or why I would ever search him out. I was safe here, wasn't I? The creatures flying around us, scampering in the shadows. They were there to help me weren't they? Wasn't I the only that called them here? Pain prickled at my temples and I wasn't sure where we were even more. I wanted to sit down, to forget all this and just go to sleep.

"just, stop.." Breath left my body in a ragged wheeze as I fell back against the wall, staring off into the darkness. The area around us was clear for the moment, the creatures distracted with the much larger meals that were out there in the town. "If Ellis is... coming, he can find us here. There's nothing else around. We're safe."

"The fuck you are," a voice shot out from the dark, punctuated by the whirring of wheels and the heavy breathing of horses. "Do you have any idea what the hell is going on out there?"

Fear colored Ellis eyes as he drove the carriage towards us, screeching to a halt a few feet from the wall. Blood smeared across his chest in large dark splotches, dripping down to his legs and covering the seat of the carriage. Wetness covered the necks and hooves of the two horses pulling it, some of it sweat but most of it not. They were tired and beaten, and small cuts and bite marks covered their hinds and legs. How he had managed to get them to run this far was beyond me and, from the look on his face he was just as puzzled as I was.

I gazed up at him with blurry eyes for a moment before my head fell back against the wall, plopping harshly against it with a loud thud. "Jesus," Ellis exclaimed as he jumped down off his seat, the boards creaking as he did. Pieces of wood had been ripped and torn from the body of the carriage and several spokes seemed to have been snapped on a couple of the wheels. He gave it a sideways glance as if he feared it would run away on it's own before walking over towards us.

"Sorry for the wait. It's..." Ellis glanced back at the town, a burning wreck that lit up the night sky. "Not great in there. I don't know what these things are, but they're like nothing I've ever seen before. They.." A loud crack like thunder echoed from the square as a large building toppled, crashing to the ground and sending sparks and dirt flying. Even from this distance I could see the few men standing near it, like ants near the feet of an elephant, being crushed by the falling rubble. Ellis let out another curse, running a hand through his disheveled, matted hair as he tired to calm his breathing.

"I've fought monsters before. Killed several of them. That-" His hand gestured to the town harshly. "That is like nothing I've ever seen. I don't know how long these horses can run after what they've been through, but we need to take advantage of them while we can. Get up, get on board and let's go. Now."

Ellis looked at me with concern in his eyes, as if he expected me to show some gratitude for his appearance, some joy at my rescue. I let that silence linger in the air for a few moments, glancing between him and Irene, then back into the darkness. My chest heaved heavily with laughter, shaking my body and pulling me back up into a straight sitting position. The ridiculousness of the situation. The fear, the anguish. Didn't they understand it? "I told you," My voice squeaked out between guffaws. "We're safe here. There's nothing coming for us. I won't let them."

A puzzled look came over Ellis' face as he regarded me, then Irene. If he was trying to make sense of what was happening it was clear he was failing. Sweat began to trickle down the side of his face as fear crept back into his mind, his breathing picking up once again. "Look, I don't know... what's going on here, or why you two aren't on that damned carriage yet, but we weren't running from those flying things. Nor from the hell hounds." Another building toppled in the distance, thunder following in a loud crash as it fell to the ground. Ellis visibly jumped at the noise, the horses mimicking his reaction with panicked neighing and the stamping of hooves.

"That sound means we need to go, guys. Please." Ellis' voice was little more than a squeaking plea now, all of his bravery lost somewhere back in that town. I gave him a pitying smile.

"It's just the sound of thunder, friend. No need to be scared."

"No," The ground shook as another building toppled in the distance, then another. "That's not thunder." Another shake of the ground, this time much harsher. A few hundred yards away the barn we'd rested at groaned, then exploded outward as something crashed into it. My eyes narrowed as I squinted into the distance. The flurry of movement and activity was still going on in the town, I could feel it. The gnashing of teeth, the tearing of claws. But none of it seemed to approach that area near the barn. Most of it seemed to be avoiding it in fact.

"Oh..." I sighed as my mind caught my body up on what was happening. "So that's not one of mine." Another shake of the ground. My hand reached up to grip for Irene's trying to pull myself clumsily to my feet. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up, the chills running down my spine. The fear on Ellis face suddenly made much more sense, the panicked look in his eyes most likely a mirror of my own expression now. "Maybe we... should get going after all."