Zahria gripped her book tight in one hand and held Daedalus' hand with the other. Together they ran, her teacher almost dragging her behind. They were moving away from the library and moving into a labyrinth of large buildings wherein lived most of the citizenry.

Buildings towered on either side of the road they ran down, which was deserted, she saw now. No soldiers. She did not have much time to think on this, however, for almost immediately doorways opened behind them and footsteps form hundreds of soldiers storming the city filled the air.

Zahria prayed to Namada to give them strength on the battlefield, and to Nasue to bring them happiness and fortune in their home, forever changed as it may be, after the fighting and dying was done. She wanted to keep living, keep learning. To dedicate her life to it as her parents had done.

But now it looked like the scholars would need to be warriors as well. Some she saw, like Gedra, were well suited to it. Zahria knew she never would be, always she would be weak and scared.

She gripped her book ever tighter, her nails digging into the covers, and ran as hard as she could until Daedalus took them to the entrance of one building that looked much like the others.

Inside was a large sitting room near the entryway, and waiting there for him were Gedra and Anedi. Gedra was sharpening one of her swords, and Anedi was smoking a tobacco pipe.

Gedra put down her swords and went to welcome Daedalus with a brief but warm embrace. "The others are here too, in the other room. Everyone's here except for Gerald, Rinoa, handsome and glower. They are working on a surprise for our guests. You saw them arriving shortly after you, the angry fellows with the swords." Zahria gripped her teacher's hand even more tightly.

"Let's go see the others, I want to know what the plan is,"she said, picking up her pace and tugging him in the desired direction. He stumbled and grumbled but went where she bid him go. She led him through the hallway to what looked like a kitchen and adjoining dining room, where the others did indeed wait. The table was crowded with welcome faces.

Among the most welcome was the aged, kind and gentle face of Madgera Creshook. Blind Madge the trueseer had returned. For the first time, Zahria allowed herself to hope.

She found out from Daedalus that there was a spell on the door that would keep them out for a time. She told her teacher she wanted to use this time to practice reading her book.

Daedalus rose from the table he was sitting at and went to sit on the floor by his student. He glanced at the title of the book she was bent over. It was a bestiary for the creatures in the wilds of Crestan.

Daedalus sat with her and together they began to read the book looking over each animal to decide which sections of the book would be useful. Slowly but surely Zahria sounded her way through one word and then another reading in her head.

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As they practiced more and more, loud sounds began to interrupt them every so often as the soldiers arrived and began beating on the door. The spell protecting it would only last so long.

The sound of breaking glass told them that the soldiers would be coming through the windows, men with swords coming to try and kill them. No matter how many times she felt it, Zahria never got used to that feeling.

Zahria selected a passage from the book to use. “With powerful leg muscles, they can run in short bursts up to 70 miles per hour, and drag prey down with razor sharp retractable claws.” It felt strange when the change happened. She never did find a good way to describe the sensation of growing retractable claws, but that is what happened to her hands then. That is to say nothing of her legs.they had grown and become corded with muscle.

She stretched her legs, felt the new muscles flex, and then examined her hands. Instead of finger nails there was now a small sharp black claw tipping each finger. She had a new muscle in her fingertip, and when she flexed it the claws extended. Daedalus looked at his pupil as she admired her work. “ Now you can defend yourself, and more importantly, run away from the fighting.”

The sounds of soldiers breaking their way in was suddenly replaced by the sounds of soldiers screaming and what sounded like many ferocious animals attacking. Zahria covered her ears, and shouted to be heard over the noise. “What’s happening?”

Daedalus smiled. “The plan is working. It's time for us to get out there.” He rushed to the door, flung it open and beckoned for Zahria to follow. From where she was, she could already see pandemonium beyond the doorway. With much trepidation she went to join her teacher.

The scene was pure chaos. The enemy soldiers were in disarray. Everywhere Zahria looked, monstrous creatures from out of the badlands were fighting with tooth and claw, and yet others with strange, primitive weapons of wood and stone. More and more of them were climbing out of windows and down the sides of buildings. Mixed among these, scholars with books, swords, axes and other weapons fought beside the creatures, things which they had feared and hated for so very long.

Daedalus wielded a book concerning inclement weather, bringing down lighting to strike soldiers deeper in the enemies ranks, protected from death by that of their fellows in front of them. Zahria stuck by his side and defended him from soldiers trying desperately to slay him. Fear still gripped the back of her mind, but she locked it away. They were winning. They were going to retake their home.

When it seemed as though victory was all but assured, a great doorway in the sky appeared high above the tumult, and out of this doorway flew Adrius’ fire drake, its rider upon its back. Daedalus looked on at this, and turned to his student, grabbing her by her shoulders. “Run Zahria! Go to the sewers, keep your head down. We will take care of this.”

She wanted to argue, to stay and fight with him, but as the monstrous drake and its rider hurtled towards them, her resolve broke and she did as she was bid. She ran, dodging past soldiers fighting in the streets, but could not resist looking back to see the drake diving towards her friends breathing its fire. A massive tornado summoned by Daedalus diverted the flames, and Zahria tore her eyes away and forced herself to run on.

As she ran, dodging past soldiers and her own side both, jumping over soldiers who tried to tackle or chase her. She came to the horrible realization that the attackers were getting a second wind. The streets through which she ran were covered in bodies, and not all of them were those of the invaders.

After much dodging down back alleys to avoid the million skirmishes taking place everywhere you looked on the street, the entrance into the sewer came into view. It was being attacked by the enemy and defended by Gedra, wielding two two-handed longswords against half a dozen opponents. Zahria said a prayer for her as she ran past, and darted down the entrance as quickly as she could.

Below the city,in blessed quiet after the battle she was in moments ago, Zahria took a moment to orient herself and listen. There was the faint murmur of hushed voices in the darkness. She searched, and when she found them, she saw that her sister was among them. Her heart was full of joy to see Rinoa safe, much as she knew her sister would resent being forced to hide.

Sounds of the fighting echoed down, while Zahria and the other children, the injured, the old and all those who could not fight, waited for it to be over.