Lilly held true to her word and stayed with Chent the fish vendor until the very end. Which, perhaps mercifully, was less than a minute.

By then the troops were nearly upon her, filling up City Center and cutting down every single person they came across. It made her want to retch in disgust.

And it made her want to fight. To save these poor, helpless people.

But she knew that was a hopeless proposition. They had relied on the Godknight, and, for better or worse, relied on him still. The situation would change once he got here, but not until then.

If he got here, she thought, shrouded in an air of hopelessness. She had sensed something off about him, might have been the only one who had. Or maybe others had and been unwilling to admit it. Her father? Had he been so defensive because he knew something was wrong? And could something have actually happened to the Godknight after he flew off? What if he never returned?

There was no time for questions, but Lilly had never been able to stop asking them anyway. She was frustrated, hated feeling so helpless. And now she was on the run, with a lifetime spent in Safehaven possibly her only advantage. She managed to stay a few steps in front of the incoming soldiers and duck down an alleyway. She ran close to the walls, trying to keep to the shadows as much as she could. The steadily falling rain cut down visibility, but not by much. They’d find her eventually. Or “get to her” eventually. When it was her turn. In due time. For now they had plenty of victims to butcher.

With no Godknight to run to, there were only two places it made sense to head towards—outside of escaping the city entirely, a possibility she hadn’t yet considered. The first safe place was Peacekeeper headquarters, and if not there, then Elder Hall. On the one hand, the Peacekeepers might—might—be able to put up a fight, one she’d love to take part in. But on the other, there was her father.

Their relationship was tense. He was tough on her, had planned out her entire life. Now that she had reached adulthood his expectations had only grown, while his patience had waned. Still, he was all that she had. Aeonics were known to strike almost business-like deals with a member of the opposite gender in order to procure a child; their lives were so long that mating for life could be challenging. Lilly didn’t know her mother, and it had never mattered to her. That was just the way it worked.

So there really was no decision. Elder Hall was closer anyway, and a just few beats north. The troops seemed to be flooding in from the west and from the south. Maybe she could get to the Hall before they did.

She twisted out of one alleyway back out into the open. Civilians swarmed the road, but she saw no troops chasing after them, which gave her hope. If she was quick, maybe she could drag her father out the back way. She took another shortcut down yet another alley, one she knew well. She passed on old covered alcove, too small for an adult to hide in, but a perfect place for a child playing hide and seek.

She had hidden there every time, and they had never found her.

She ran past the alcove with only the vaguest feelings of nostalgia and loss, emerging across the road from Elder Hall in full sprint—before skidding to a quick halt, her feet slipping on the wet stone. She nearly went down, her reflexes quick enough to shoot a hand out and brace herself against the entry to Verdant Vial, the apothecary next to the alley.

Elder Hall was overrun with soldiers. By the looks of it, they had just started to enter. But they did so with practiced ease and impressive organization. She heard very little in the way of orders being barked out and guessed they were using psychics for that.

Whoever they were, they knew what they doing. Had probably done this before, out there in the big wide scary world she was forbidden to know anything about. Further, they appeared to have targeted Elder Hall specifically, suggesting they somehow knew the lay of the land pretty well.

Lilly leaned back against the wall and cursed. How was she ever going to get past them? And if her father was in there…

She couldn’t worry about the ‘what ifs’ right now. Maybe there was still time. She could circle around the building and go in the way she had planned on going out, possibly avoid the soldiers long enough to find her father.

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Without sparing another moment to consider any other options, she pushed away from the wall to head for Elder Hall.

Just as she had started back into a run, a hand shot out of nowhere and grabbed her by the arm. Lilly was yanked backwards and again almost fell down. She’d had never had any sort of fight training, such a thing being unheard of in safe and sound Brightholme. But she did have youth and instincts. She pulled her arm free and spun around to face the armored soldier she was expecting to find, with a blade extended and ready to slash her throat wide open.

Instead, she found a familiar face, pale and panicked.

“Windham?” Lilly threw her arms around him and nearly jumped into his arms. “Thank Goddess!” She pulled quickly away and pointed towards Elder Hall. “Come on. We have to get to my father. If we swing around—”

“Lilly, stop,” Windham said sternly, a tone he’d never used with her before. It did stop her. “There’s no time,” he told her hurriedly. “No chance. You’ll get cut down before you even see your father’s face. If he’s in there, he’s dead. You can’t help him.”

“Wow,” she said. “Not being very subtle there, chief.”

“I’m sorry. But it’s true. And you know it.”

She gritted her teeth, looked back at the steadily streaming mass of soldiers moving into and around the Hall. Within a few seconds her back entrance was going to be filled. He was right. There was no time.

“I can’t just leave him, Wind,” she said, almost pleadingly. “He’s all I have.”

“You have me.”

“Windham, I—”

He shook his head frantically. “It doesn’t matter. The longer we stand here talking, the less chance we have to get out of the city.”

“Out of the city? We can’t leave the city! We have to help these people!”

“There’s no helping them, Lilly.”

“How can you say that?”

He spread his arms out towards the chaos in the streets. She noticed for the first time the pack slung over his shoulder, which probably meant troops had already hit Willowfield.

“Windham,” she said softly. “Your grandmother?”

He looked momentarily confused. “What? No, that doesn’t matter either, Lilly. We have to go.”

She grimaced and ducked her head, pushing her sopping wet braids away from her face. Leaving still felt impossible… Not only leaving, but leaving her father. Leaving her people.

“Look, maybe the Godknight will be able to stop them,” Windham said, trying to placate her.

“Then we should wait,” she snapped at him.

“No, that’s why we should go. He’s their only chance.”

“Their?” she asked, her ire towards Windham rising to a fever pitch. “These are your people too, Windham.”

“Lilly…” He paused, cradling his head in one hand while sweeping his palm across his forehead. “We can't do this right now.”

Windham looked at her with mounting despair. He grabbed her by the arms, looking like he might be about to try to shake some sense into her.

“I have a way out of the city,” he declared. “But the window is closing. They're advancing—soon they'll be swarming every corner. We need to leave. Now.”

Lilly pulled away and scowled at him. His argument was maddening… but she knew he was right. Knowing that didn’t make her feel any better, though. And another truth haunted her: if she left, it would be a decision she would question for the rest of her life.

“Lilly.” Windham was calm now, at least on the surface. She met his eyes as he said, “You have to trust me.”

Trust him? Why were those words making her neck and arms break out in gooseflesh? Or was that just the cold rain…

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden pain down her spine. For an instant, her world went dark and she actually, literally saw stars buzzing around her head. She did go down this time, that decision being made for her.

She was on her hands and knees now, the pain still radiating up and down her back. It hurt, but was bearable. But she had to get up. Fast. Whatever had hit her—

The pain suddenly made sense, its source obvious. A small group of soldiers were standing over her, their metal fists extended menacingly. One of them extended a blade, identical to the one she had seen so many fall by, and he took a step towards her...