Yann scrambled to turn himself over and searched everywhere for another Darkling coming in to kill him. He took a second before his mind cleared enough to see the assembled Watchmen and townsfolk driving the Darklings back into the Coil.

Five wizards from Middleborough joined together to reestablish the barricade. The Darklings slithered away and vanished into the Dark Layers.

Yann’s father went over to the wizards and exchanged a few words with them before he went down the line checking the Watchmen.

Yann sank onto the ground gasping for breath. His whole body hurt and his head pounded. He didn’t trust himself to stand up.

He shut his eyes and commanded his heart to keep still. He didn’t want to face the Darklings like that again, but he would have to eventually.

They’d only been getting stronger and attacking Middleborough in greater numbers these last few years. They would always come back until they swallowed the town.

Some hint of movement nearby made him stiffen and his eyes snapped open. He froze when he saw the girl standing over him. Her dark eyes measured his battered body and the gore and ooze covering him all over. He could just imagine what he looked like.

She wore a black cloak over a random collection of patched clothing belted around her waist. Lengths of battered rope tied strips of cloth around her shoes and calves.

At this close range, he also saw that she carried a tattered leather bag over her shoulder. The strap crossed her chest under her cloak so the bag hung on her hip.

She leaned on her staff and skewered Yann with dark, unfeeling eyes. She jutted her chin at him. “You did well…..for an imp.”

He relaxed back on the ground, but he didn’t dare to take his eyes off her. Something about her made him want to guard himself against her. “I’m not an imp,” he growled. “I’m a Watchman.”

“Watchmen are imps. You have no magic.”

“So what?” He scanned the town to distract himself from her intense stare.

The wizards who came out to help defend Middleborough and reestablish the barricade headed back into their houses.

Yann’s father, Yvan, went from Watchman to Watchman giving orders and assigning them to new posts even though the Darklings weren’t here anymore.

Yann heaved himself onto his elbow to push himself up. He would have liked to stand up and face his father on his feet. The pain in his ribs stopped him from going anywhere.

Before he could move, the girl shot out her staff, jammed the tip into his sternum, and forced him down onto his back. He tried to resist, but his strength failed him.

She pinned him and a surge of magic rushed into him from the end of her weapon. Her magic flooded his body and knit his bones back together.

The pain subsided and he wilted, groaning. “Thank you!”

“Keep still,” she snapped. “You’re no good to anyone the way you are.”

He would have liked to argue back, but he couldn’t do anything against a magic-user as strong as she was.

She was right. He was an imp. He had no magic. He wasn’t good for much besides losing his life defending an unknown town like Middleborough.

“Where did you learn to fight like that?” the girl asked. “You handled your glaive very well.”

He shut his eyes so he wouldn’t see her staring at him. “I only know what I learned on the Watch. I’m not very good.”

“You nearly killed that Darkling. I’ve never seen an imp come so close to killing one of them. Not even Wesh can do that and his magic is stronger than mine.”

He dared to open his eyes, but she wasn’t looking at him anymore. She surveyed the town with a critical gaze.

She was more beautiful than he first realized, but she had a hard, unforgiving air that told him to watch his step around her.

Her dark hair and eyes gave her a haunted look and she never slackened her grip on her staff. Heaven only knew what she could do with that thing.

The tall wizard that Yann had seen fighting outside came over to the girl. He wore a knee-length grey tunic with a large, decorative gold cross embroidered on the chest.

He wore his shoulder-length grey hair combed straight back from his face. A curved handlebar mustache covered his upper lip and surrounded his mouth to point down to the ground.

“Are you hurt, Eliska?” he asked the girl. “We lost Ines.”

“And Ramon,” she added. “I wonder how many wizards this town has.”

“I think I saw ten just now.” The wizard squinted toward the houses, taverns, and buildings lining Middleborough’s main street. Light flooded the night from dozens of windows.

The light left the slumped houses in darkness. Barely enough light made it to the wall for the Watchmen to see.

The tall wizard had scraggly grey hair and an unkempt beard, but his ice-blue eyes flashed with hidden fire.

Another wizard in a matching grey tunic came over to join them. Yann didn’t see any other newcomers inside the barricade. These three must be the only survivors.

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This wizard was a younger man with a burly build. He carried no weapons at all, but magic kept fizzing and sparking from his fingers when he glared around the town.

“You have a bad burn on your shoulder, Mael,” the girl told him. “Let Wesh heal it for you.”

The tall old wizard moved over to Mael’s shoulder. Wesh raised his hand to Mael’s wound, but Mael rounded on him snarling and smacked Wesh’s hand away.

“Don’t touch me!” Mael snapped.

Wesh raised both hands in surrender. “All right, all right. I wasn’t going to hurt you.”

Mael gritted his teeth and grimaced. “Later. It hurts too much.”

Wesh happened to notice Yann lying there. “Is the boy hurt?”

“He was,” Eliska replied. “I healed him. He just needs to rest. He’s exhausted.”

“You did very well, boy,” Wesh told him. “I have never seen an imp come as close to killing one of the Darklings.”

Eliska sneered down at Yann. “I already told him that, but he didn’t believe me. Maybe he’ll listen to you.”

Yann didn’t like them talking about him like a specimen under a magnifying glass, but Wesh took a step closer and extended his hand. “Come. You’re strong enough to stand up now.”

Yann held out his hand to accept the wizard’s help, but at that moment, another glaive flashed between them. The shaft knocked Wesh’s hand down and the Watch Commander stepped between them. “Do not touch my son!” Yvan snapped.

Wesh spun around fast. Mael and Eliska both moved closer to Wesh to defend him.

“We were trying to help the boy,” Wesh explained. “Eliska healed his injuries. He’s fine now, thanks to her.”

“You’re all under arrest for breaching our barricade,” Yvan announced and five more Watchmen moved in to back him up.

“We defended your town, you idiot imp Watchman!” Mael snarled. “You would all be dead now if not for us. You saw that yourselves. You watched our people die while you remained safely behind the barricade and let us fight the Darklings for you.”

Mael’s broad shoulders stiffened even more. The magic flashing from his fingertips built to a steady crackle.

Wesh laid a hand on Mael’s arm to stop him, and this time, Mael didn’t lash out.

“We came here to defend your town,” Wesh told Yvan. “We did everything we could to stop the Darklings from breaching your barricade, but there were too many of them. You saw that for yourself. You have no reason to arrest us.”

Yvan raised his eyebrows. He barely came up to the wizards’ chin, but Yvan didn’t back off. “You came here on purpose, did you? So you knew about this attack? How am I to know you didn’t plan this? Maybe you used the incursion to get inside the barricade when you couldn’t manage it on your own.”

“Listen to me, Commander……” Wesh began.

“This is stupid,” Eliska muttered. “We never should have helped them. We should have let them die. The world would be a better place without them.”

Yann couldn’t listen to this. He clambered to his feet and hustled over to his father. “He’s right, Father. They held the Darklings off three times before they breached the barricade. At least four of their party lost their lives out there. I saw it all from my post before you got there.”

Yvan completely ignored him. “We have laws in this town. I have no choice but to arrest you while I investigate the matter. If I find out you didn’t trespass, I’ll release you. Until then, please come with me.”

He waved toward a nearby building. It was just another house that had been converted into the Black Watch’s headquarters.

The Watchmen lived upstairs. The basement served as the Middleborough jail on those rare occasions when the Watch had to arrest someone.

“You’re making a mistake, Commander,” Wesh insisted. “We can help you defend your town. The Darklings will come back for you. We’re the only people who can help you defeat them.”

“No one can defeat them,” Eliska growled under her breath.

“You can,” Yann countered. “How did you do it? How did you destroy them like that?”

“That’s neither here nor there,” Yvan interrupted. “Come with me, please. Don’t make us use force.”

Three more Watchmen appeared behind Rien and Omer. All the others came armed.

They confronted the three strangers in such a menacing stance that the standoff threatened to explode into another battle.

It wouldn’t be a battle, though. These three wizards could flatten the Watch in seconds, but they didn’t.

Wesh elbowed Mael. “Go with them and cooperate with their investigation. It’s the only way to make them listen.”

“To hell with that,” Eliska snapped. “I am not going to jail because some imp is too stupid to listen to reason.”

“Watch your mouth, girl!” Rien fired back. “You’ll go where we tell you to go and you’ll like it.”

Wesh turned to Eliska. “Go with them. Please. They’ll hear what we have to say and then they’ll release us.”

“I’ll release us,” she snarled. “There isn’t a man in this town who can hold me against my will.”

“We’ll see about that,” Rien replied.

“Don’t resist,” Wesh told the girl. “Cooperate with them—for now. If things turn against us, I’ll let you know.”

She snorted, but she didn’t say anything. Yvan waved toward the house again. Neither Mael nor Eliska moved until Wesh physically shoved them forward.

The Watchmen guarded the party on their way to the house. Eliska and Mael kept glaring at the Watchmen as menacingly as the Watchmen glared at them, but Wesh’s influence prevented the confrontation from disintegrating into another fight.

Yvan stopped outside the house and pulled up the storm doors leading into the basement. The Watchmen gathered in a semi-circle to surround the strangers. Eliska turned backward and brandished her staff at them to hold them off.

Yvan went downstairs first followed by Wesh and then Mael. Eliska went last. She never turned her back on the Watchmen.

Yann stood off to one side and watched the strangers out of sight. He didn’t threaten them and he didn’t help to guard them.

He didn’t understand why his father would put these people under arrest at all, but Yann wasn’t Watch Commander.

Yvan was solely responsible for the safety of everyone in Middleborough. He ran the Watch his own way. Yann was his most junior subordinate and not in any position to question his Commander’s decisions.

Yann could well imagine the scene going on downstairs. Eliska alone could blow this house to smithereens. She could probably level the whole town if she wanted to. Locking her up would be the worst idea ever.

Yann didn’t say that out loud—not yet. He waited until his father came out alone, closed the storm doors, and faced the other Watchmen.

Yvan gave them their orders and the Watch dispersed before he came over to Yann.

“Are you hurt, son?” Yvan asked.

“Not anymore. That girl healed me.”

“You did very well in the battle. I’m proud of you.”

Yann glanced toward the house and lowered his voice so no one else would hear him. “Was it really necessary to arrest them? That girl destroyed four Darklings. We should be trying to recruit her, but she’ll never help us now. She hates you for doing this to her.”

“We can’t recruit her, son. She’s a magic-user. We’re imps.”

“You know what I mean. This town is on its last legs. We need all the help we can get.”

Yvan shook his head. “If we don’t keep the laws, we won’t have a town worth saving. You’re too young to understand this, but you will in time.”

“I’m not too young to recognize an ally when I see her. All three of them risked their lives and lost their comrades defending us. How could you turn them against us like this?”

Yvan turned away with another shake of his head. “Go change your clothes and clean yourself up. Then you can go back on watch at the same post. You did well to raise the alarm when you did. Keep your eyes open for any Darklings coming back.”

He walked off and left Yann standing there fuming. What was the point of keeping his eyes open when the Watch lacked the firepower to fight the Darklings at all?

Did his father really plan to keep the only three wizards capable of fighting the Darklings locked up in a basement while the Watch went down trying to hold this town? Yann couldn’t think of a more ill-conceived plan.

End of Chapter 2.