It hadn’t been anyone’s fault.

Alternatively, it was all their faults for a failure of imagination. The battles they’d been fighting had been strategic. The puppeteer of the monsters pulling back their resources when it became clear the balance between the damage they could do and what they’d lose was too high.

It had lulled them all into a false security that their enemy cared about the monsters, that they wouldn’t waste them.

Ratface looked at the broken wagon and dying horse and realised they’d been played. The final charge of the monsters had been costly, but it had worked. Deer had sprinted in with rats clinging to their fur, flying bugs swooped out of the air, and even a few dregs of city gators rushed in. Ratface had readied herself for a fight, but they only fought her as much as they needed to get past her. She was able to cut down plenty by virtue of not really needing to defend herself.

Albert and Abigail were devastating, anything that got too close to them died. They could only deal with things that got close though; the rest of the monsters used the barrier of flesh to rush past them. Tiffany’s vines pulled down more and more but there was too many for her to deal with, and eventually they overwhelmed her. Isabelle took one look at the situation and scooped up the girl. She jumped off the wagon a moment before one of the deer broke through and smashed into it. It then slashed deep into the horse’s belly. The horse reared up and slammed its hooves into the monster. The deer died but the horse stumbled to the floor.

At the end, the swarm was dead, but their goal had been accomplished.

Ratface ran to the wagon and looked through their bags. She sighed in relief as she found Halmir asleep in hers. He looked battered but nothing seemed broken. He still didn’t wake up but that had been true for most of their escape. They’d had to save most the monster meat for the rest of them to keep going. Halmir still woke up to eat when he sniffed the meat, but it was like he was sleepwalking.

She picked him up and found an intact health potion next to him. She looked to the horse and hesitated.

She shouldn’t bother. It’s not like the horse would be able to help them. The sacrifice the potion took to heal it would leave it barely able to walk let alone run.

Yet it had carried them this far. It hadn’t flinched in the face of monsters and had gone down swinging.

She hurried over to the horse and poured some on the wound and the rest down its throat. She didn’t know if it would be enough. The gash in its stomach looked like someone had tried to butcher it while it was still alive.

The stomach started to stitch itself together before her eyes and the horse’s breath became more even. Eventually it had enough strength to stand up.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

One look at it confirmed her theory it couldn’t help them. Its legs were shaking, and it had bags under its eyes. She hadn’t even known that could happen to horses.

She looked over to the others. No one had stopped her, and it seemed no one could bring themselves to criticise her choice.

Abigail was eyeing the wagon and how far they needed to go.

“We can make it if we run,” she said. She didn’t wait for an answer before she did just that. The two mages were slowest, and Abigail scooped up Tiffany while Isabelle grabbed onto her back.

She was still the fastest even with the two extra weights. Ratface guessed some of it must be the armour helping her, but a lot of it seemed to just be she was used to running. Her stride was long and measured and her feet always seemed to fall on easy footholds propelling her forward.

Albert and Ratface ran behind her with considerably less grace. Ratface could at least sheathe her weapons without it affecting her stride, but Albert was stuck awkwardly holding his spear. He’d be faster without it, but Ratface wasn’t stupid enough to suggest it. One look at his eyes told her how that would go.

They kept running. Ratface was so tired that all she could focus on was keeping one step ahead of the other. Her lungs ached and she could feel her heart beating. It was like a drum matching her mad run.

She nearly collapsed when they finally stopped. Her brain reminded her of the situation she was in, and she stood up. She leant on a tree while she gulped down air to get her brain running enough to see.

She wished she hadn’t.

The forest around them had been clearing until it verged onto being a plain, she’d been too busy running to really notice how the terrain was changing.

The area in front of them was cleared completely. It looked like someone had cut a huge line through the area until there was about a one hundred and fifty meter clearing between the last of the forest trees and what lay beyond.

It wasn’t difficult to tell that what she could see was the Redwood. The trees and plants colour explained the name. They looked like they were burning from the inside, flashes of red and yellow light peeking through their bark.

Even the grass was red, they looked like a sea of embers on the ground. Only their little blades revealing it to be anything else. Ratface could understand Albert and Tiffany’s fear now.

It wasn’t what scared Ratface though; a fear so great that her legs collapsed underneath her as she kneeled.

The thing before her was something scarier than even the rogue had been. A potent mixture of hate, fear, and awe warred in her brain as she stared at the lone figure between her and sanctuary.

The elf spared her a glance and nodded at her kneeling form. It expected it as its due. It turned back to face Abigail and Isabelle who’d placed themselves in front of the children. Ratface remembered to breathe as the elf’s ire moved away from her to settle on someone else.

It was perfect, as all its people were perfect. Daylight pooled around the elf. In its green clothing, it was like a keeper of the forest. They were the interlopers it had come to remove.

The only thing marring its face was the faint twist of annoyance cutting through it like a gash.

Ratface spared a glance at the Redwood. They’d been so close to safety but they might as well have not run at all.

The elf’s eyes burned as it stared at Abigail. It seemed the look of annoyance was for her.

Abigail stood in front of them all, defying the creature.

She’d drawn her sword and placed it in front of her. Her face was set in a grim line as she stared at the elf.

Yet she did not shake, her eyes didn’t betray fear. She met its eyes, face grim, but calm.

Her sword was burning blue.