I screamed for all I was worth.

I couldn’t move. The men holding me were too strong. I was on my knees. There was nothing else I could do.

“Scream.” Mouse grinned. "No one is going to come for you.”

The iron fence groaned as it fell down. Mei walked over the fence, her cowl was still up.

“Let her go.”

“Who do you think you are?” Mouse demanded.

“They’re PKs!” I shouted. "He’s not the Shaman!”

“Kill them!” Mouse yelled

Mei shoved both of her hands up her sleeves. There was a thud and the ground settled just an inch.

The guards looked at each other. They didn’t know what she had done.

Mouse slashed sideways with the dagger. He had barely moved when there was another thud and everyone in the yard except Mei hit the ground.

I would’ve been happy, except I landed on my back. The arrow pushed through my shoulder and pulled another scream out of me.

Mei ran up to the closest guard. She stabbed him in the throat. With her left hand she smacked the gem in the hilt of her dagger. The gem flashed red and the color drained into the guard.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The red hued guard picked up his sword and charged at the closest guard. The regular guard wasn’t fast enough and lost an arm before he lost his head.

Mei bent down next to me. "We have to leave.”

I winced as she helped me to my feet. The other guards were starting to get up. Her zombie was moving fast and had their attention, but it wasn’t going to last very long.

“Forget that thing!” Mouse yelled from the pool. Somehow he had landed in it. "Kill the witch and it’ll die!”

Mei let go of me to touch her right arm. She traced a line of fire behind us. The flames shot seven feet in the air and ate three arrows.

I managed to make it to the fallen gate before she caught up to me.

“That’ll hold them off.” She nodded down the street. "We have to get out of the city.”

“Why?” I was able to get up to a jog. The arrow was still in my shoulder, but I knew we’d get caught if we stopped to remove it.

“The only way that he could’ve replaced the Shaman was if he killed all the town guards.”

“All of them?” I looked at the four guards beside the gate.

Mei let go of me and ran ahead. She pulled up her sleeves. Over half of her runes were gone. Mostly the black ones were missing, but there were no brown or red ones.

She traced her fingers over the black runes that were left. The guards glowed in a black aura. They dropped their weapons and fell to their knees. Their screams of agony sent a wave of cold down my nerves.

I ran out the gate behind Mei. "What did you do to them?”

“Fear spell.” She answered. "I made them see their greatest fear.”

“That’s…” My voice trailed off,

“Necessary.” Mei said. "I didn’t have time to kill them all.”

For some reason that comforted me and made me really appreciate that she was on my side.