I had seconds before Captain Wen got within striking range. Or at least, I thought so. That sword was deceptively long. I glanced around trying to cement in my mind the battlefield, so I wouldn’t have to take my eyes off her during the fight.

Dark sword in the ash — that had to be Edge. Rachel’s arm. The piles of guards and skeletons — hazards. The edge of the roof, closer to the left than right.

Shit, she was close. That had to be good enough.

She swung at me, big overhand. I raised and angled my shield.

Clang!

The energy of the sword, even a glancing blow, was enough to send me back — just a half step — but enough that I was off balance. I threw myself forward, another swing, this time I was ready for it, sliding my shield down the long blade. If I could feel it, then I knew it wasn’t headed for my head. I was just close enough to get a glancing blow on her pauldron.

I hit!

Sparks flew toward her unhelmeted face. She flinched. Yes! Even the Knight of the Word could flinch. I used that moment to spin past her. Stepped over a body, and kicked the Edge of Nothing into the air and over the lip of the roof.

I spun around, and was forced to parry her sword point. Then it swung back around and I parried it again. I paired again, then raised my shield — then parried, then the shield. Each blow taking everything I had to keep the point or edge from doing serious damage to me.

She was fast, and had perfect understanding of her sword’s reach. I was always just too far away to counter-attack.

My eyes flicked to Rachel. She had her hand on the stump where her arm had been. She wasn’t unconscious. Damn she was tough. But I couldn’t get to her.

The sound of fighting meant that Bernie was down at street level still. If she could get back up here, maybe we’d have the second we needed to get Rachel’s arm back on.

We needed to run. But we couldn’t.

I wasn’t ready for her kick. She kicked my shield, throwing it wide. Her sword edge went right for my arm, catching the bottom of the shield, and throwing it off the side of the roof.

“Fuck.”

“You’re damn right,” she said.

Then that sword came swinging around, and I had nothing for it. I threw my body back. The swordpoint scraped across my breastplate, gouging it. It didn’t tear through, but it creased it. I was also tossed back, my feet wheeling to get under me.

I didn’t fall. But that was one hit. I don’t think I could take another.

“I can’t reach you!” I yelled to Rachel.

Another strike from Wen. I let it sail past. My riposte scraped past her gauntlet, sending multicolored sparks up. She shuffled back half a step, and let her sword swing back at me.

“If you can get your arm back in its socket I can heal you!” I said, using both hands to parry her attack.

I saw Rachel grab her detached arm, and place it back on her shoulder. Was she holding it correctly? It looked good enough to me.

“Rachel, I need you!”

Redeemer had been increasing my heals for every consecutive healing spell I cast. I’d cast a lot of healing spells tonight. I could hear the muscles knit back together from here.

“Rachel, I believe in you!”

She stood. I rushed forward. Captain Wen turned and sliced down on Rachel — the same cut she’d used before. Rachel caught the greatsword with her good hand. I saw a pinkie fly through the air.

Now was my chance. I stabbed toward the back of Wen’s head.

Her hand shot back, and she caught my blade.

Rachel had Captain Wen’s sword, and Wen had my sword. I yanked on my weapon but it wouldn’t budge. One handed, Wen yanked on hers. We were at an impasse.

I could see that Captain Wen hadn’t completely stopped my blow. She was missing an ear.

The sound of feet, running feet, came from my right.

Bernadette leapt over the lip of the roof, the Edge of Nothing cocked back for a deadly blow.

Captain Wen let go of the swords she was holding and, juked to the side as Bernie’s blade came down, then punched her out of the air, sending her sprawling across the ash and slamming into the edge of the roof.

Bernadette writhed in pain. Rachel tossed her enemy’s sword end over end, and caught it by the handle. I sliced for Wen’s neck. She threw her head back, just missing it, then stepped back another step to dodge Rachel’s attack as well.

We went on the aggressive, and Captain Wen was forced to bat the blows aside with her vambraces, retreating further and further as she did. Eventually she was at the edge of the roof.

I stepped back, Rachel followed my lead. Captain Wen wasn’t out of the fight yet, but we were both exhausted. I was sucking air, and Rachel was wincing from the immense pain.

“Do you yield?” I asked.

Bernadette stopped right next to me, and leveled Edge at her.

“Should we give her a chance?” she asked.

It was a good question. The chances of her having information worth knowing was high, but her actually folding to interrogation was low. She’d also killed a lot of good people.

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I should probably just kill her.

Captain Wen’s eyebrows raised in surprise exactly as I decided she should die. Apparently, I had a bad poker face.

She pulled a scroll from her belt, and leapt over the side of the roof. I rushed to stop her.

I looked over the side, and was just able to see her lower body as she passed through a dark portal. The portal closed, and with it went any chance we had of killing her.

I heard a body strike the ground behind me. I turned to see Bernadette cradling Rachel.

“Water!” Bernie yelled.

I searched the corpses on the roof. As I did, several of the guards, about three, groaned and moved enough to let me know they were living. Eventually one pointed me to a waterskin on his belt.

I gave him a sip, then swiftly moved to Rachel. She was still conscious, barely, and she took the water okay enough, but I knew that she was going to need to be carried.

I tore my other pant leg into strips while I studied her shoulder. It was a mess. The skin hadn’t fully healed around it, and muscle and tendon were open to the air. It bled freely, but not enough that I was worried she'd exsanguinate before we could find a healer. She’d done a good enough job getting it into place, but it was far from perfect. She’d probably need surgery to get it fully functional.

“Found it!” Bernadette said, holding up her pinky.

I cursed.

“I don’t have any slots left.”

Rachel’s eyes opened just enough to look at the pinky.

“I have,” she started to say. “I have one more left in my amulet.”

“A second chance? Why didn’t you use it?”

“I forgot?”

“Okay, wait till I get it tied on.”

Bernadette produced some needle and thread, and while I know it wasn’t as good as a surgeon would have done, she got the pinky back on while I cleaned the shoulder with Rachel’s dwarven hooch. I wrapped the shoulder and got it in a makeshift sling.

“Alright,” I said, “use the amulet.”

Rachel’s back arched in pain. The muscles knit together. She screamed. Then she sat up, her eyes sharper, more alive. We had her back.

“Thank you for saving me,” she said.

“I had no other choice,” I said.

Her ‘good hand,’ the one not in a sling, patted my shoulder. Bernadette kissed her on the bloody cheek. I’m sure we all looked like hell, but Rachel was worse than I’d ever seen a living person be.

We had to get out of here.

The three living guards worked on consolidating supplies and lining up the bodies in the ash. I helped the best I could. We got some more arrows, and a crossbow for Rachel. She said she could work it one handed but I was skeptical. We agreed that she should only use it as a last resort.

Rachel gave me her belt. As soon as I put it on over my chainmail, I could feel my legs, my chest, my shoulders all swell with explosive energy. I slapped the edge of the roof and sent debris flying. My hand hurt. It didn’t make me invincible, just strong.

I sheathed my sword, Redeemer, and picked up Captain Wen’s blade.

It was an absolutely enormous claymore, well over six feet long. The pommel shone silver, but the crossguard was black iron, along with thin black wire around the grip. The blade was a beautiful pale silver, with jutting sections, parrying hooks, right above the guard. For such a massive blade, darn near eight pounds probably, it looked rather slender and elegant.

I tried it out, and it was well balanced. I wasn’t sure I liked it, but it was probably more useful for me now that I was out of spells.

A loud noise startled me.

Orange balls of fire plumed into the sky all at once, a dozen of them, each explosion half the size of a city block. The fire was full of some kind of jelly that stuck to the buildings and burned bright.

Sabotage.

Man, fuck this city.

I pulled out my slate, and messaged the Saviors of the World group chat.

Breznik: Caleb. We have to leave. City is overrun. Rachel is down. Alive, but down. I’m out of spells. Mark needs to teleport us out.

Caleb didn’t reply right away. I helped one of the guards make a stretcher for Rachel using a cloak and some spears. My slate buzzed.

Caleb: I will not leave my people. You are right. The city has fallen, but they need me to escort them to safety.

Ailmer: Meet me at the clocktower. I leave at the end of the hour. With or without you.

I could see the clocktower from here. It was only seven or eight blocks.

We loaded Rachel on the stretcher, and the two guards carefully carried her down the steps. We followed them, and soon we were all in the streets.

I motioned to the guards that we should take a break. We hid under the eaves from the ash, and drank the rest of our water. A couple of us took turns taking a leak against the side of the building.

Rude, I know, but I didn’t want any of us headed into an alley on our own. I searched for my shield but wasn’t able to find it. After some time, we were ready again.

Bernadette looked at me expectantly. She made her hand into a ‘duck’ and mimed it speaking. Right. I should say something to these guys.

“We’re not out of the woods yet, ya’ll.”

They looked to each other, as if surprised that I was addressing them.

“What’re your names?” I asked.

“Duarte,” said a man with piercing blue eyes and a strange, gaunt face.

“Martim,” said the second man. He was heavyset, but with impressive arms.

“Ivone,” said the last one, a woman surprisingly. She was stocky, but taller than Bernie, with brown hair plastered to her face under her helmet.

“I am glad to meet you,” I said. “Without you, I would have to leave my greatest friend behind. I know you must have family here.”

They all nodded. Martim and Ivone teared up. Duarte just stared ahead.

“If you need to stay here, I would understand. But I ask that you help me get my friend to safety first.”

They all nodded, each in turn.

“Good,” I said. “They would like us to die. But tonight. We will disappoint them. Everyone ready? Good. Let’s go.”

We swiftly moved down the street. Martin and Ivone next to me, and Bernie and Duarte behind. I gripped my sword, and hoped that it would be enough.

We met no resistance. There was also no help either.

Before I could think much of it, before I could wonder where everyone had gone, I heard a voice. I raised my hand.

We stopped. It had come from an alley.

“Yeah, I don’t know where the dude went,” came a woman’s voice. “It’s probably fine. He didn’t know where they were. And I don’t think these ‘so called heroes’ are actually in the city.”

Bernadette nocked an arrow. I popped in my monocle, and raised my new sword.

Coming from the alley was a woman in half plate, walking beside a man in a dark cloak. The woman had dark brown roots, and blonde hair in twin tails on either side of her head. The man seemed pale under his cloak.

The woman read as Helena — level 14, with 146 hp. The man read as Hank — level 11, with 79 hp.

Helena was obviously the bigger threat, but if Bernadette was anything to go by, just because the other one had lower levels and less hit points didn’t make them any less deadly. I also noticed that they just had their first names. That was weird.

Whoever they were, it didn’t look like we were going to get out of this without a fight.

I really didn’t want to fight.