Darwyn’s small enough Shay can carry her in cradled in the crook of one arm while she’s holding Ashsong’s sword low and wary in her other hand, not convinced we’re safe even though the young guard clearly looked human. The halfling’s in a hell of a lot o’ pain, wincing with every jog even though the half-orc’s definitely moving careful to make the ride smooth as possible for her, but ‘least she ain’t passing out instead. It’s a better sign, at least. But that wound … I seen ones like it before, and she’s in a bad way.

I lead the way through the doorway, crouching low with my own sword gripped tight in both hands, cuz I ain’t taking any more chances than my friend, even if I did recognise the girl. I just saw those nightmares ooze outta a near dead kid just outside this room, and it was only Krakka’s quick thinking made sure we didn’t all suffer the same fate as every other poor bastard we found so far in this place. Suddenly meeting a healthy live one in here don’t put me much at ease. I’m paranoid as hell right now, but that don’t mean I don’t have cause.

Leaning my shoulder to the door, I give it a gentle push to open it out the rest o’ the way, then step into the room beyond. It’s darker in here than it was outside, but I realise now that having Lady Naru’s fancy lights right now might actually have made us walk right on by without noticing candles burning under the door as we passed. Yes might’ve picked up on the new scents in time, but given the pervading stink of death in here that even I can’t miss I wouldn’t wanna place money on the outcome o’ that bet.

There’s a few individual candles burning round the room, but by and large it’s barely enough to pick much of anything out right now. Most of the illumination now we’re bringing in with us, my own sword in particular lighting things up a whole lot more, so as I step inside I just start to pick up on exactly what’s going on here. And where I actually am.

When I was a kid, growing up in our apartments over the training barracks in Tabaphic, I had my own room, and it was nice enough, I guess, but I was never really the homiest person if I’m honest. I spent so much o’ my time out in the world or training under da an’ the other sergeants, my room was really little more’n just the place my bed was. Even in my adolescence, when the moodiness started to kick in and I found it harder to get up in the morning, I still mostly thought of it more as a room than mine. Truth be told, don’t reckon I really got the whole idea of girls actually having their own personal bedroom as a haven, their safe little space apart from the rest of the world, until I became more’n just friends with Janna. First time she took me into her room it was genuinely like stepping into another world.

I catch something o’ that here but it’s a hell of a lot more extravagant. Then again, we’re dealing with rich girls here, never mind they’re the Hellcat’s daughters. It’s very … rich, and a whole bunch o’ fancy too, a good deal more o’ the kinda overblown foofaraw as da would’ve called it, the kind I try not to roll my eyes at when I do deal with rich folks, particularly the women. The bed alone … fucking hell, that thing is huge, it’s big as whole bedrooms I seen other people inhabit before, actually, and there’s just so much space. There’s bloody big posts supporting a canopy over the top of it, with big, thick velvet curtains hanging round it, while the mattress is almost alarmingly high off the floor, not enough to cause a nosebleed but enough to hurt if you fell out at night. And the bedclothes … it’s all satin, I swear, smooth and soft and … bloody hell, there’s fucking lace too. And it’s just some of the lace I see decorating this place, actually.

That being said, there are enough touches scattered about to tell me this girl ain’t entirely devoid of her mother’s martial character, even if I hadn’t already gotten a suggestion last time I met her. Instead o’ toys or whatever else I might expect a small child like Mara to prize, I see weapons hanging on racks or set on the vanity table in the back of the room alongside much more feminine accoutrements, which instantly mark this as Pela’s room. Certainly there’s no way I’d ever expect to find Thura standing a room like this for herself.

“Who’s there?” A very familiar voice breathes with fragile hope from just past the bed, and I see now that someone else is peeking up from behind a fancily decorated post. It’s the tone of her voice that shakes me, I never would’ve expected it – Lady Thura Vezrim, the Hellcat of Kumehn Valley, is scared out her mind right now. “Who …”

As her words peter out she squints in the relative gloom, although I suspect it might be more to do with the glowing blade I’m now moving to hold out to my side to redirect the light some. Then I notice her looking me over, some strange, oddly wistful kind of recognition in her eyes as she takes me in, and I’m bloody slow remembering I’m wearing da’s armour, right down to my own specially commissioned new helm.

Kesla, you fucking moron. You look just like a Rundao Regular right now. Poor woman prob’ly reckons she’s seeing a ghost.

“What … are you … who is that?”

“Shit!” I hiss under my breath, and before I even realise what I’m doing I stab Hefdred down so it pierces a good six inches into the floor like the boards are made of soft cheese, sticking up so I can let go. Only now realising I just jammed my sword through the carpet of her daughter’s bedroom, I’m already dragging my helmet off as I spit out a rather muddled: “Oh fuck … I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to –" while turning her way again.

But her eyes just widen as she must recognise me, ‘spite of my greased hair and the black strip painted across my eyes, and there’s the slightest touch of a smile that reaches her lips now. Fragile hope, kindled a little more brightly in her now. “Oh, wait … Mistress Shoon? Kesla! You’re here! But … oh, I’m a fool … of course, Sulin said you were coming for us …”

Her voice is breaking a little now, and I realise she’s crying, has clearly been crying for a while now, looks like, given how ruddy her cheeks have gotten, and the redness of her eyes. For a moment I’m reminded of when she started to weep when we met her in her office, remembering her men, in the Valley, but even so … no, this is just wrong, it’s so strange, the Hellcat crying like some small, scared child. I can’t fathom it at all.

Hooking my helmet onto my belt, I straighten up a bit as I yank my sword free again and take a few more steps into the room, looking round now. “Yeah, well … I mean ‘course we came. Are you okay? What’s –”

“Help me … oh gods please help me, Kesla …” Her breath’s hitching badly now as her voice cracks entirely, finally just dropping to her knees outta my sight, and I’m spurred on to follow her quicker now seeing it. Even though I’m almost scared of what I might find …

Thura ain’t so much ducked back down as simply collapsed onto her side behind the bed, and as I come round I finally see why. Okay, Mara’s all right, and Pela too, at least, the elder daughter hugging the younger tightly to her, while their younger brother Thadeon sits by with a deeply haunted look on his face, not really seeming to see anything right now. There’s a lot of blood on him, I see, but it’s clear it’s not his, most likely it came from some poor bastard who died protecting him whenever it was he was clearly traumatized.

Most likely it’s his brother’s, I realise now. Thura’s eldest child, Deriel Vezrim, virtually a man already but still so fucking young all the same, too young for this … Thura’s not really tending to him, mostly she’s just slumped at his side while she just holds onto his one remaining arm, gripping tight enough for her fingers to dig right in as she’s really starting to lose her fight to stop herself from just shattering right here. The young guard, stood by waiting now, whose name I now realise I never caught, is watching me like she’s almost pleading with her eyes for me to help him, but even as I look down at the boy I realise any care that could be offered likely won’t do any good by this point. His eyes are glassy, pupils wide, empty now as they just stare up at the ceiling, unblinking.

Gods … he was laid right open. Poor kid, clearly he barely had time to throw on a simple pair of britches over his nightshirt and grab his sword, so he was entirely unarmoured when … whatever happened to him. Then again, given what we’ve already seen, it’s not hard to work out. I suspect he did exactly what the son of Thura Vezrim would have done when his little brother was threatened, bearing the brunt of the horrible attack instead. I just hope he was dead before he even knew it had happened …

“Oh fuck …” I barely manage to breath it, both my arms going limp as I just slump into myself standing over ‘em all now, the weight of sudden, unbearable sorrow settling on me like hot lead.

“What is it?” Shay’s at my side now, I realise, her own blade bringing a little more illumination, and this just lights the whole awful scene up brighter. “Are they … shit. Oh my … oh fuck no … oh, Kesla, I’m so …” Her voice falters at that, but I still sort of feel her reaching up to grip my shoulder the best she can, the effect still largely lost with my pauldron.

Finally Thura just gives up trying to compose herself and just starts openly bawling, finally shattering as her grief just takes over. She’s realised as well as I have her son’s gone, maybe just while she was begging me for help, and her heart is breaking sure as her composure now.

When I try to take a breath I find it hitching a little too, my throat suddenly very thick, and I turn to look back towards the door, finding the others flooding in behind us now. Art’s already on his knees next to Darwyn, working to get her out of her now damaged armour as Yeslee’s settling on her other side, fishing through her modest field kit for anything she might use to patch her up. Krakka, meanwhile is almost entirely doubled over on his knees, hugging Bloodmoon while his glassy eyes really don’t seem much more focused than Deriel’s now. Fuck … even before I step forward to ask after him I know my plea’s gonna be pointless. “Fuck … is he … Krakka, are you with me? We need you right now –”

“It’s no good, Kesla.” Lady Naru’s dropping to one knee beside him now, hanging onto her staff while her free hand settles on his shoulder, but she looks up at me, solemn and contrite. “He’s burned himself out. We would be lucky to have him back on his feet by morning, certainly not anytime sooner. There’s nothing he can do.”

“No, I can …” He blinks as he tries to straighten up, but barely even manages to raise his hand off his hammer, his head still hanging while he completely fails to gain any more focus. “I can … you need … fuck …” Lady Naru doesn’t even need to try and hold him down, he’s so weak. Fuck … damn it, Krakka, why’d you have to be so effective getting us out of that mess? Now we’re stuck …

Taking a very clumsy step back, I don’t so much turn back as simply stumble round in a clumsy swing, and I guess it’s a miracle I’m still managing to hold onto my sword at all as I just sway along automatically now. I’m … fuck, the fact I can’t help Thura when she needs me the most, that’s … even though we’re here now I feel like a failure seeing this. I barely even realise I’m doing it as I push past Shay and stab Hefdred back into the floor before dropping to my own knees, very noisily I sort of realise but there’s nothing I can do now. Pela flinches at the metallic clanking and hugs her sister a little tighter, but there’s no reproach in her wet eyes as she watches me look over her brother and mother.

Finally I reach out, leaning forward as much as I can with careful gentleness to touch Thura’s shoulder, warily hesitant as I try hard not to spook her. Even so, when my heavy, gauntleted hand settles she stiffen instantly, a little sob escaping her as she jumps, and I freeze too, instantly regretting my action but knowing I gotta keep going all the same. So I lean in a little more and take another shaky breath, very carefully choosing my words now as I speak: “Thura? I … I’m sorry … we can’t … there’s nothing we can do … for Deriel, I mean … Krakka’s outta power …”

Slowly she raises her head, still sobbing, and I can tell she’s trying to get herself under control again, but it’s not working any better than before. When she finally looks up at me her face is enough to break my heart all over again, I’ve never seen grief quite like it before. There’s anger in there too, hot and fierce, but mostly it’s just pure, broken, jet black sorrow. I remember her telling me about how she lost her husband, the way he went, it was so ugly and unfair, and it’s clear to me now that she knows as well as I do that this is even worse, how her son’s gone before he even had a chance to really live.

“Kesla … what the fuck is going on … what are they … they took him … my boy … Deri … they took my boy … MY BOY …” The rest of her words disintegrate into a formless howl of pure anguish and she just falls into my arms as I lunge forward to catch her, pulling her close and hugging her as tight to me as I dare given how heavily armoured I am. I want to comfort her so badly but I’m painfully mindful that I’m covered virtually head to foot in hard, unyielding tempered steel …

In the end it don’t matter, she clings to me sure as if she’s drowning and I’m a pylon at the end of a dock. So I give up trying to be gentle and just crush her tight as I think I can get away with, and just hold her while she vents and rages and screams. And the whole time I’m unable to take my eyes off Deriel’s lifeless body as the guard crouches beside him and gently closes his eyes and lays his arms over his chest, finally reaching over to drag one of the quilts off the bed to snap it out the best she can to cover him. She’s crying hard too, I realise. Looks like this family means as much to her as it does to me. But at least she actually got to know them.

I’m crying myself now, I can’t help it, but at least I manage to hold onto myself enough that it’s just hot tears and a little hitch in my breathing, no sobs. I gotta be the strong one right now, even though I’m hating it.

“I’m sorry.” I whisper to her, my voice low and soothing as I can keep it with the hitching of my own breath, and rock her gently. “I’m so sorry, Thura. I’m so, so very sorry. There’s … fuck … there’s no words, I … I’m sorry …”

There’s no telling how long we stay like this. I suspect it probably ain’t more’n a matter o’ minutes, but it seems to be hours to me. She quiets by increments, not so much calming as just wearing herself out, the grief exhausting her as her wailing gives way to sobbing to shuddering and sniffing and low, keening moans. Finally she just slumps in my arms, becoming soft and limp and helpless while she just breathes into my shoulder, still hitching and shuddering all the way, but largely spent now. I tighten my grip a little more, keeping the crush gentle but hesitant, and take a breath of my own. It’s more than a little relieving that it comes in smooth this time …

So when I look up, turning my head enough I can take in what’s going on across the room again, I see the others still fussing over Darwyn, who’s been largely stripped of her leather now, a lot of bandages wrapping her shoulder, arm and much of her chest. She looks very unhappy, and I don’t blame her at all for that, even while I was tending to Thura I couldn’t miss the cries and whimpers behind me. She’s looking clearer than before, at least, but even paler too, wan and weak now. Art’s got her swaddled in his arms now as he sits behind her, while Yes finally rocks back in her heels, looking up with a particularly deep frown. She looks right at me now, almost on cue, and while it’s subtle her expression says everything it has to.

“That bad, huh?”

“If we don’t get her to a healer soon she’s going to die.” She shoots a cautious look to Art, whose own eyes perceptibly widen at that, then Darwyn hisses as he hugs her a little tighter without really meaning to. “We have to go. Now.”

Thura must have caught that, I feel her shift in my arms now. It’s still weak, and clumsy, but she’s with it enough all the same. I relax my grip a little as I subtly shift my position, making a little room for her to push herself up if she chooses, but for a few moments at least she don’t move again. “Um … Thura? I’m sorry, but … um … we need you to be with us now …”

“Oh …” It’s less of a moan than a grunt really, and when she starts to push against me now it’s with more strength, so I just let her, shifting back myself to let her now. Finally she reaches up and starts working her fingers up across the front of my armour, clumsily questing for the top of my cuirass. After a moment I just reach up and take hold of her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze, and now she looks up.

She’s … fuck, her face is a ruin, it’s flushed red and angry but streaked through the dirt where her tears have run, eyes raw and bleary and fighting for focus now, while her lip’s still wobbling even though her own breath is evening out a little more. Mostly she just looks haunted now, and I’m scared she ain’t even there enough to answer me.

“I …” Honestly, I ain’t got the first clue what to say now, my words have just completely dried up. Then she reaches up with her hand and grabs hold of my pauldron, dragging herself a little closer, and now I might be the only thing holding her up. “Thura, I …”

“What …” she croaks now, and her voice … fuck, she’s screamed herself hoarse. “What’s happening … how did … who did this …”

“Vandryss.” Lady Naru surprises me, seemingly to sweep in out of nowhere now with her little globe of light still hovering above her as she crouches at my side with her usual unfathomable graceful ease. She looks solemn but … still so composed all the same, even while her tone is as gentle as I’m trying to keep mine. “We believe it must be Vandryss. They’re making their move, it seems.”

“But …” Thura blinks up at her now, still struggling to focus, I see. “But why … how did she even know …”

Lady Naru’s eyes flicker to mine now, and there’s that worry again, deep down. She licks her lips before answering, seeming to be working hard to choose her words very carefully. “Darion … they must have broken him. He … he’s been compromised.”

It’s a long beat before Thura can answer, her brow furrowing deep as she looks back to me, then to Naru again, then down, just searching randomly now. Finally she mutters something low under her breath I can’t make out, before finally looking up at her friend again. “But … but how? He would never … I know him, he … no, it’s not possible –"

“They have Gael.” The words are out before I can help it, and I look down now, unable to face her. “His … Darion’s child. Our friend. They took ‘em when … it was a mess, and mistakes were made and …” Fuck. Honestly, I don’t know how I can make it sound any better than the shitshow it already is, now it’s made things so much worse.

Thura slips free from my armour with that first hand, and I have to look up as she drags me somewhat to the side as she reaches out for Lady Naru now, vaguely grasping like she still can’t quite make her out. “Oh … Sulin, I’m … I’m sorry …”

Naru takes hold of the proffered hand in both of hers, and I can see her face breaking a little now, her composure slipping. When she looks down she breathes a heavy sigh, her voice seeming thicker as she breathes: “We’ll get them back. I swear it. I will … I won’t rest until … until …”

“Got to go.” For a long beat I can’t identify the voice that rasps that loud little croak from the far side of the room, I’m so focused here now. Then I look up, and I see Brung’s moved into the room too, coming towards us, but being real cautious about it now. As he clears the bed and comes into view of the family I see how uncomfortable he is now, real reluctance in him, and he’s looking down as he steps very deliberately. “Something … can’t explain.”

First I actually realise others have seen him is the sharp intake of breath and the sudden flurry of movement as the guard starts fumbling for the sword hung at her hip. I reach out my hand quick as I can to check her, hissing a warning, but even so she’s already cleared a foot of steel before Lady Naru finally pipes in: “Uhra, it’s all right. He’s with us. Brung’s a friend.”

The young woman checks herself at that, at least, but even so she don’t relent yet, looking the goblin over for a long beat before finally letting her sword settle back in its scabbard. She stands ready too, still fiercely tense as she watches the little merc close. “Okay … if you insist, my lady, but …”

The children are looking him over with wide eyes too, I see, but then they likely never seen a real live goblin before in their lives. I wonder now what kinds of stories they actually been brought up on regarding ‘em, if they been filled with the same kind o’ cold, bone-deep prejudice as most o’ the big society types I met. Somehow … I dunno, I can’t imagine it, not with Thura. Not after how I’ve gotten to know her.

That said, this is all clearly too much for them right now, one more startling development on top of so much bad that’s already been piled on them this night … so I finally let go of Thura, who releases her own hold as I start to push back up onto my haunches, instead grabbing hold of Lady Naru, who wraps her up in her own close embrace. I’m already turning to the new arrival as I don’t bother standing up, instead just shifting my feet so I can face him while staying in my crouch. Keeping very much on his level now. “What is it?”

“Can’t explain.” He cocks his head towards the door, his eyes never leaving mine. “Easier to show. Quick.”

Frowning, I look back at Naru and Thura, who are still locked in their awkward hug, the sorcerer rocking the former warrior gently while she just stares at nothing in particular, more haunted than ever now. “Just wait. I’ll be back.”

Not waiting for a reply, I push myself up, already starting to move before I’ve straightened, and I’m even more careless yanking Hefdred free than I was planting it in the first place. Brung’s words are already gnawing at me, I really don’t have time for a mystery right now.

He leads me to the door, and Yeslee’s already stepping up as I pass, plucking her bow off the floor and falling into step with me without hesitation while giving me a particularly cool, sidelong look down. Sensing my own mood, I’m sure. I don’t say anything, just letting her make up her own mind about what we’re about now.

Shay’s already waiting for us, holding her own glowing sword off to the side and, now I’m actually paying attention, very much inside the room, so that, especially with the door barely open more’n a crack, it don’t really shine much light out into the corridor. She’s looking out into the darkness without, and even as I approach I can almost feel the tension coming off her. Something’s really rubbing her the wrong way.

I’ll admit, for a beat I’m struck enough by Shay’s sword to be a tad distracted. Given the blade’s strangely crystalline-seeming structure, the glow of the god-light in it seems to manifest in a different way to our steel. It almost seems to shift and ripple, subtly pulsing in lazy waves from hilt to point, while the blade itself seems almost hollow beneath it. It’s uncanny and quite beautiful, but in a slightly unnerving kind of way.

Brung stops a little short, and I pause with him, leaning somewhat now so I can get a little closer to his level again. “What’s up?” I breath in the lowest whisper I can manage.

“Out there.” He cocks a clawed thumb towards the door, and his expression remains as unchanged as ever. “Just look.”

Frowning deeper still, I ponder for a moment before sheathing Hefdred and stepping up to Shay’s side. I notice her tense a little more as I arrive, but only for a beat, as she must register that it’s me cuz she simply takes a step back and turns towards me. She looks somewhat shook, I notice, and that just worried me too. “You need to see this.”

Opening my mouth, I almost asks her what she means, but after Brung dodged the question twice I wonder if Shay might gimme the runaround too, so instead I just step up to lean into the crack between the door and frame. Then I realise that all I can see out there is varying levels of shadow, and I genuinely have to fight the urge to curse under my breath as I step back again and start fishing in the pouch on my belt. Finding my goggles. Unwrapping ‘em, I toss the cloth to Shay with greater irritation than I’d like to show and, while she jumps to catch it slip the gear onto my head, uncomfortably mindful now that I’m getting grease on the strap from my hair. Nuts …

Even so, when I finally take a breath and step to the crack again, suddenly I can actually see into the hallway again … and it’s enough to make me forget about anything else. Fuck … yeah, she was right, this is serious …

I mean sure, it takes me a moment or two to even make sense o’ what I’m actually looking at, to begin with it just looks like … well, something just shifting and growing out there, slowly seeming to increase in size and form as it staggers around out there in the gloom. More than one something, in fact, once I start to look. At least three definite shapes out there … no, four, or maybe five, another one seems to make itself known as I start to make some kinda sense o’ what I’m seeing. But not really. It’s still bloody strange and pretty disturbing looking at this.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

Pieces of the bodies out here … they’re forming new bodies. But not the same bodies, no, the corpses themselves ain’t coming back to life, or whatever it is undead things do, Krakka’s got a fancy word for it, I remember … reanimating, that’s it. No, this is something else … honestly, it’s more like something else is just taking whatever’s immediately to hand and reforming in whatever way’s most convenient in order to create something that’s simply functional. Gods know, the first thing, which seems to be the most fully put-together and is already starting to slowly lurch towards us from some way down the corridor, don’t appear immediately recognisable as any specific form of … well, I sure hesitate to call any o’ this shit life. For one thing, it’s got too many limbs, with too many … I guess they’re joints, in the loosest sense. And no immediately discernible head, ‘least not that I can immediately pick out. ‘Course it’s still forming, but …

“Fuck me …” I growl with deep unease as I pull back, slipping the goggles off careful as I can so I don’t slather the lenses in grease too. Finally I flick ‘em to Shay, who again has to scramble some to catch ‘em, and take a few big steps back away from the door, my head still reeling bad from what I seen out there.

Frowning herself at my reaction, Yes steps up where I was and has a look for herself, and pulls back almost immediately, her eyes unusually wide now. She don’t swear like I did, but still lets out a deep, uncomfortable sharp hiss that says more than enough for her own opinion. When she looks my way she bares her teeth, looking about as wild as I ever seen her. “That … that is … just wrong.”

“You ever seen anything like that before?” I almost don’t ask, but reckon I have to.

She watches me for a long beat before growling: “Fuck no.”

“Great.” I mutter, turning back to Shay, who’s bundled my goggles up again, now holding ‘em out to me to collect. She don’t look any calmer now than before, I see. Reckon she’s thinking the same thing I am, that we are in deep shit right now.

Turning back to the room at large, I find Lady Naru’s on her feet again, still stood by the bed with her staff clutched close to her in both hands in such a way she looks strikingly like Gael in this moment. Her expression seems mostly expectant, but … maybe she’s just picking up on our bad vibes.

Stuffing the bundle back into the pouch, I step up to the cluster on the floor again, looking down at Darwyn as Art cranes up at me, looking like he’s picked up on my mood too. “How is she?”

“Bad.” He’s stroking her hair, keeping it out her face as he half-cradles her. She’s looking up at me too, but her eyes are heavily lidded, and she’s clearly having trouble focusing, her face the palest I ever seen it. “I … I can’t … we gotta do something –”

“Yeah, I know. We will.” I look down at Krakka now, finding the cleric’s finally sitting up without slumping, although he’s still cradling his hammer tighter than a child. He looks pretty miserable, but ‘least it seems like he can actually see me now. “Can you move?”

“I don’t know.” His croak is particularly raw, and it don’t make me feel any better than the look he’s giving me now. “Honestly, I’m really feeling my age right now.”

“Shit.” I mutter now, more to myself really, but it still prompts a little tightening frown from him too. Instead of replying to it I simply take a breath and turn away to move back towards the bed, unhooking my helmet from my belt again as I go. I can’t help squaring my shoulders as I walk, sucking in a deeper, heavier breath now as I try to prepare myself for what I know I gotta do now.

Lady Naru steps into my path as I approach and I give her a sharp look as I look her over. “Kesla –”

“I need you to get ‘em out. Right now. D’you reckon you can port ‘em all outta here at once, or is that gonna be too much? Cuz if not I need you to get Thura and her family back to the temple right now and then come straight back for Darwyn an’ Art. And I guess Krakka too, state he’s in right now he’s no good to anyone.”

For a long moment she don’t say anything, she just looks at me, and again I get that subtle sense that she’s grown so very tired, her veneer slipping now so it’s easier to pick up on, or maybe it’s just anxiety in the situation. Finally she leans into her staff again, letting a heavy sigh go as she looks down, licking her beautiful lips. “I … can’t.”

“What … what d’you mean? You have to, there’s no time, something’s –”

“I’m sorry, Kesla, but I can’t. I don’t know what it is, exactly, but …” Shaking her head, she looks back up, and gives me a more sheepish look now. “I suspect it might be something like the effect that Driver 8 seemed to be experiencing down below. There’s something here that … I can’t really explain it, but it’s blocking me. My senses, or at least my focus. I can still see, and hear, and feel, but I don’t have a sense of place like I normally have. I need two points of focus to achieve an effective portal spell. Firstly, I need a strong sense of where I’m going, either a specific location in my own mind or someone else’s, or at least a strong enough idea that I can take a blind jump on faith and hopefully luck out of ending up inside a wall. But I also need a sense of where I am, a solid fix in time and space. And here, now … I just can’t find one. I know where I am, I’ve been here enough times, but … somehow, that familiarity has been stripped from me.” She sighs again as she must catch the scepticism in my look, and it’s a weary thing. “I know, it must sound … ludicrous, but it’s simple fact.”

For another beat I hold my tongue, searching her face for any hint that she might at least suspect she’s wrong about this, but … no, she’s the expert here, she’d know what she’s talking about. “Fuck.” I turn away, clenching my empty fist while tightening my grip on the helm in my right, and it’s all I can do not to spit right here in Pela’s bedroom. “We just can’t catch a bloody break …”

“What is it that’s –”

Turning back, I just run right over her now. “It don’t matter, we can’t stay here. It ain’t safe. I need you to get ‘em out anyway. Any way you can. You with me?”

Her frown deepens as her eyes narrow. “What are you going to do?”

“Whatever I have to.” I look down at the helmet in my hand now, the one I commissioned special from Janna, made to measure but intentionally styled close as I could get to the one my da would’ve worn back in his day. “Yeah. Whatever it takes to give you time to get out. I just need you to promise me you’ll get all of ‘em out.”

Naru looks ready to argue, but she stops herself short, finally letting another weary sigh go as she must realise I ain’t backing down. Guess she’s gotten to know me enough since we met … gods, however long ago it was now. Feels like an age, the way things have gone lately. In the end she simply nods, frowning again, and there’s a little bit of a growl to her voice as she breathes: “All right. I promise. But you have to make sure you get out as well. You have to help me find Gael, remember?”

That makes me smile, I can’t help it, and I reach up with my free hand to touch her cheek before I’ve quite realised I’m doing it. She don’t shy away from my touch, and her own more subtle smile is brief and sad but … well, it’s warm enough at least.

Nodding, I step round her now and duck down behind the bed, dropping to my knees gentle as I can at Thura’s side. She’s slumped over her son now, head on his arm, and while she don’t seem to be sobbing she still looks pretty thoroughly out of it now. I look round at the others now, seeing her elder daughter still quietly weeping while the younger’s got her head buried in her sister’s side, but Thadeon’s just watching me with quiet intensity. Seems he must’ve cried himself out now, mostly he just looks angry.

Finally I turn to the guard, who I realise is watching me with more of a cold, calculating wariness now. She’s gripping the sword at her hip now, and while I don’t feel any actual threat from her right now, I still choose my tone real careful as I speak to her. “What’s your name, if I may?”

This just makes her blink, she clearly weren’t expecting it, and for a long beat I wonder if maybe she just won’t answer anyway, and I wouldn’t blame her, she don’t know me, not really. She’s seen me twice now, and the last time barely. But finally she lets a little sigh out and licks her lips, her eyes flickering up to, I imagine, Lady Naru for a moment before returning to mine. “Uhra. Uhra Sedrun. I’m … well shit … honestly, I’m scared I might be it for our security force, now.”

“Well I’m sure you’re capable enough to serve just fine.” When I say it, her brows prick right up high, but I don’t back-peddle. Time’s too short. “I need you to help me out here. Help us all out. It’s about to get proper scary up here, and you have to get her Ladyship and her children outta here fast. There some other way down outta here, besides the stairs? Any way at all?”

“I don’t …” Uhra looks down again, frowning more thoughtful now. “The east wing was burning before, an’ with all that shit going on I doubt anybody’s had a mind to fight it, if they even are still alive … so may be half the house is on fire by now. The garden balcony probably ain’t much good now …” Her frown deepens, and she pauses for a long moment, then looks up, to Lady Naru again, I’m sure. “The library? I forgot all about the Black Helix, nobody uses it anymore. Not since … um …” She turns awkward now, her eyes going to Thura.

“Since Terth … passed. Of course.” When I look up, Naru’s stood right over me, thoughtful now, but still wistful, likely from being reminded of the death of another person she cared deeply for. “It’s probably the surest way out. I can lead the way if you think we can get past those –”

“Oh, don’t worry about them.” I let a deep sigh out as I look back down. “They’ll be plenty busy, I can promise you that.” Leaning forward, I finally reach out and lay my hand, as gently as I can, on the grieving mother’s shoulder. “Thura? I’m so sorry, but I need you with me now.”

For a long beat she don’t stir, and I think maybe she really is just broken now, that the death of her eldest child has taken the last lick of strength she had, whatever she had left over after so many years without her husband. But finally she raises her head again, slow and faltering, seeming shaky but still responding, and while she looks every bit as broken as before, there’s … focus enough, at least. “What … what’s happening?” Her voice is still little better than a rasp, but she’s all cried out now, looks like. “Are you –”

“It’s time to go. I’m sorry, I know you don’t want to … I get it, I’d wanna just stay here and die, I felt the same when …” Fuck … I have to stop myself there, look down and take a deep breath, fighting the slight hitch in it as I feel my own past trauma starting to stir inside me, the old wounds pricking again. It really ain’t the time. “We’re in deep shit, Thura. You need to get your family out now. I’m sorry about Dery, but there ain’t nothing you can do for him now. You gotta look out for the rest o’ your kids now. So you gotta get up, and you gotta run. You might have to fight too. Probably have to fight.” I look her right in the eye now, deep and close as I can. “Can you?”

Blinking, Thura watches me for a long beat, then looks down at her son’s body again. Then at her daughters, and her remaining son. For a moment it seems like she might be fit to burst into tears again … then she sets her jaw, bearing her teeth a little, and with the subtlest frown her face hardens. Oh … that is a fierce look, it’s enough to give me chills, just looking at it. I wonder if that’s her war face? The deepest part o’ me gets the slightest thrill to see it, I swear.

Then she reaches over, behind her, and picks something up from the floor on her hidden side. It’s her sword, that beautiful bastard sword I remember from her office. The same blade she made such a name for herself with. “Lead on.”

Nodding with the subtlest smile, I roll back onto my heels and push myself up, flipping my helmet over as I do so to flare the cowl out. As I straighten up I slip the whole thing back into place over my head, taking a moment to adjust it until it’s perfectly comfortable in place, and turn back to Lady Naru. “I’m gonna need some light out there.”

That makes her frown. “But we already have light. This follows me, so of course it should be enough for you to –”

“I’m not gonna be with you, though. Somebody’s gotta keep those things distracted, cover your escape. I’m the best fighter here, ‘least after Thura, and she’s gonna be busy getting her family out. Which you’re gonna help her with.”

“What? But –”

“No arguments, Sulin.” Her brows rise at the sudden familiarity, but I don’t regret the slip. To be honest, reckon I’ve gotten used to her enough now it fits. “You’re leading ‘em out, and I’m trusting you with my friends as well as yours. You got me?”

I say that just as I’m sure she was gonna try and argue again, and for a moment she just stands there, watching me with her mouth open, before finally closing it with a particularly frustrated little frown. “Damn it … all right. But you remember your promise to me. I need you as much as you need me right now.”

Watching her for a beat, I finally just extend my hand, and after a loaded beat she reaches out and give it a healthy grip. Then she nods, lets go, and turns back to her friend.

Now I look at Uhra. “You up to this?”

“Of course … yes. I am.” She lays her hand on her sword as she steps to Thura’s side and gives me a stern look. “It’s my job. But I mean … I would anyway. They’re … y’know …”

“Yeah.” I nod in response. “I get it. Good.”

When I turn round this time I’m already starting to step away, but I’m stopped short when I find Shay’s stood less than three feet behind me, giving me a particularly dark look. “Don’t even think about telling me to abandon you too. If you’re staying, I’m staying.”

I almost argue with her, but I stop myself as I realise I don’t want to. To be honest, I know I could use the help. So I just nod as I sigh: “Yeah, all right.” Stepping forward, I give her shoulder a soft little slap. “I’ll be glad to have you.”

She just frowns at that, and clearly I surprised her since she must’ve been preparing to argue her case. Instead she gives a clipped nod and steps back out my way, and as she moves I see Krakka behind her, pushing himself to his feet. Still unsteady on ‘em, but smoother than before.

“Don’t start, you’re going with the others.”

Narrowing his eyes, he gives me a particularly stern look as he grabs hold of Bloodmoon’s shaft and gives it a hard yank that largely fails to pick it up off the floor, instead just pulling him over to lean at an angle. “Come off it, I’m … I’m getting better now. My Lady is … I think I have something in me again. Another few minutes of prayer and I might –”

“There’s no time, Krakka. Besides, if there is anything in your tank right now, they’re gonna need it more’n we are out there.” I let my hand settle on Hedred’s hilt now. “You already helped us, it’s up to us to give the rest o’ you a chance to get out. Then we’ll be right behind you.”

He watches me for a long, loaded moment, and I genuinely can’t tell if I’m winning him over or he might try to argue again. Then he lets a grunting, raspy sigh go and nods, or maybe it’s more like he just drops his head in clear exhaustion. “Shit … all right. But you’d better follow, as soon as you can. Otherwise I’m coming back in the moment the others are out.”

“Fair enough.” I step up to him now and grab hold of his shoulder by the pauldron, giving it a gentle but firm tug to drag him to his full height so he can finally pick his hammer up again. He blinks up at me in somewhat flustered surprise as I let go, but I’m already moving on.

Art looks up as I reach him, already picking Darwyn up in his arms as he gets one foot under him and straightens his back. Ready to lift. The halfling looks deeply uncomfortable, but I also get the sense that her clear pain is at least giving her focus as she blinks up at me, managing to focus now even if her eyes are still heavily lidded.

“Okay, I need you to –”

“Yeah, I got it already.” Art growls under his breath as he pushes himself upright, giving me a pretty scathing glare. “I can read a room. I’ll be ready.”

“Fine. Well just go fast, and stay close to Krakka.” I reach out now and give his shoulder a little squeeze too. “And be careful.”

“You too. No stupid risks. Don’t do any more’n you got to to cover us, then haul your arse out. I mean it, I’m with Krakka. I’m gonna be pissed at you if you die in here. Gael needs you.”

Giving his mane a little ruffle before he can stop me, I drop him a nod. He don’t bat me away this time, just steps back, giving me a sharp look, but he’s smiling a little all the same. Finally I tip Darwyn a quick wink and she manages a tired half-smile of her own in response, and I turn for the door now.

Yeslee’s already stepping towards me, her bow still nocked as she keeps half-turned towards the door. Ready in case anything happens even as she regards me. “It’s getting ugly out there. We have minutes, and not many of those.”

“Yeah, I’m on it.”

“Do you want me to back you up, or …” She don’t finish, instead just frowning, looking round at the rest o’ the room, and I pick up on her reluctance immediately. It’s almost enough to make me take her up on the offer, but I can’t.

“No, you’re my best hope for ‘em all getting out good an’ fast. Brung too.” I look at the goblin now, who’s already turned away from this place at the door to look at me now as he catches his name. “You’re cool with that, right wee man?”

“Yes.” He turns away without another word, going straight back to his sharp-eyed vigil through the crack.

Cocking a brow, I turn back to Yes. “Guess that’s good. You okay with that?”

She quirks her own brow just a little even though I know there’s no way she could’ve actually caught my gesture with the helmet, then just shrugs. “If you think it’s best. You’re probably right. I’ll do my part.” She turns to Shay now, giving her a look over. “Watch over this one. I’m starting to like her.”

When I turn to the half-orc I see her own brows have shot right up, her eyes wide as she looks at the Fir Bolg with clear surprise, but there’s a little bit of a shy smile touching her mouth too. Then I spot Lady Naru making her way over, weaving something between her hands while Thadeon follows her with her staff grasped in his little hands, and I realise she’s making another one of those light globes. I step back towards her now as she arrives, already holding out her hands as it takes form between ‘em. “Great, just in time –”

”Here.” She thrusts it right at me without ceremony. “Hold your hands out. Quickly, please.”

Catching the slightly flustered urgency in her tone, I do as I’m told, and as I bring my hands together in front of me she essentially tosses the globe into ‘em. I scramble a touch to make sure I don’t drop it, but it don’t actually fall, as if it seems to sense my own intent, and simply floats above my palms. “Um … right, sure, what do I –”

“Blow on it.” She has a subtle smile of her own now as she gently plucks her staff from Thadeon’s grasp. “Gently.”

Frowning, I closely raise my hands, and the globe rises with ‘em. “Um … okay?” Leaning forward and feeling entirely ridiculous, I breathe a gentle puff of air onto the little ball of brilliant light, and I swear it brightens just a little when I do it. Then it starts to rise, and as I take a surprised step back it follows me. Oh … wow, that’s actually really cool.

“That’s it.” The sorcerer beams at me, already taking a step back. “You’re all set.”

“Great.” I take a deep breath, suddenly realising I’m actually committing to this plan now, and take another step back, opening room around me now as I reach for the back of’ my belt and unhook the other little something I picked up from Stormshield’s workshop in Bavat.

Taking a moment to strap it into place on my left wrist, I check the fit over for a couple o’ beats until I’m comfortable with it before giving the handle the little twisting squeeze that the Silver Order’s master weaponsmith explained to me. It feels a little rudimentary, I remember at the time I wondered if it might not be a little foolish since I’m just as likely to repeat the gesture without thinking about it in the middle of a battle, but he assured me it wouldn’t be a problem. The way he made it, the enchantment he wove into the mechanism means that it's designed to pick up on my intent when I do it, so once I twist it’ll activate and then lock until I intentionally close it up again. Even so, I don’t really believe it’s actually gonna work until I actually do it … and it activates just as it did back in the Academy.

Essentially it’s a shield, but it’s the fanciest one I ever seen. Not so much in its actual design, although I’ll admit it’s pretty sweet looking in a largely functional kind of way, built for practicality more’n style. Or maybe that’s just why I like it. It starts out as just a tightly folded block of thick, dark dwarven steel plate less’n a foot square, but with that simple motion the whole thing seems to uncurl, almost like a flower opening to the sun. Albeit a good deal louder, with a lot o’ clicking and metallic shunting, until it’s fully unfurled.

Now I got a subtly curved shield with a tilting diamond shape strapped to my arm, three feet tall and two and half across at its widest. Once again I’m a little surprised that it’s nowhere near as heavy as I expected it to be, but then Hurrig promised me that was very much taken into consideration when he made it in the first place. Even so, I find myself shifting my stance immediately to compensate for its simple bulk, years of deep-ingrained drilling and muscle memory taking over almost entirely without conscious thought. It’s been a few years since I actually used a shield, but it feels like I never stopped …

“Bloody hell …” Shay breathes beside me, which perks my attention a little, and I look up to find her eying my shield with surprise. “So that’s what it does?”

“Beats having to lug a regular one round all the time.” I mutter as I test its heft for a few moments, just getting a read on how it effects my balance. To be honest, it might’ve been better if I’d got a little practice in with it first, I’m usually pretty wary about jumping straight into a fight with an untried piece o’ kit, and like I said it’s been a little while since I actually fought with a shield. But this time round circumstances ain’t really been too conducive to opportunity. So I’m going with what I got.

“It’s very impressive.” Yes offers up, and while her face is completely straight and her tone entirely even, I can’t help feeling like she’s taking the piss a little bit. So I give her a sharp little glare that she likely misses thanks to the helmet anyway.

“Whatever.” I finally growl under my breath, reaching over now to draw my sword. If I’m gonna do this, might as well do it properly. Then, as the blade flares bright when I slide it free, I turn to Thura, who Lady Naru’s now helped to her feet, supporting her friend even as she holds her sword low at her side, preparing herself for … well, whatever. “You ready?”

“Enough.” Her reply’s honest, I’ll give her that, but then she’s still too worn out from just pure grief to really convince as a warrior right now. “Someone … can someone come back for Dery? I don’t want him to … burn ...”

“We’ll do what we can.” Shay surprises me, but she’s looking down at her sword when she says it, testing the edge of the strange crystalline blade as it glow in her hands. Like she’s preparing herself for what’s to come.

“Yeah.” I agree with a clipped nod. “We get done up here, I’ll bring ‘im down myself. We don’t manage it, it’ll be cuz we’re dead.”

Naru cocks a brow at that, while Yes narrows her eyes a little, but it’s Krakka who reacts most to my words, his own eyes widening considerably while he seems to be searching for an admonishment. But then Thura simply says: “Thank you.” her voice cracking a little, and it seems to smooth the mood somewhat.

I turn to give Yes one last look, and for the life o’ me I can’t think of anything to say in the moment, but she just nods at me, seeming to read me even with the helmet, and that’s enough for me. So I turn round without another word and start for the door, just trusting Shay to pick up on it as I go.

Brung’s already dragging the door open wide now, springing aside as I approach so he don’t trip me up, and he gives me a little nod of his own as I pass him by. I start to charge now, squaring up my shoulders as I tighten my form, bending my back so I can draw myself into a ready guard soon as I’ve cleared the door. Adjusting my grip on my father’s sword as I rush out into the corridor, taking a cautious breath and holding it in anticipation of what I’m about.

In the end I only look round with my eyes, and I keep the glance short and focused, taking in only what I need to right now. The first one of … whatever the fuck these things are, it’s almost right on top of us already, I reach it in three big, quick strides, and there’s ‘least half a dozen more behind it now, or maybe that’s just all I can make out in what seems to be an ugly growing jumble of … unpleasantness.

Soon as I’m close the smell hits me, stronger than before by a wide margin. It’s a truly nasty stink, not necessarily rotten meat, but it’s gone bad all the same, more like it’s been badly burned, but greasy too, a really fatty odour that catches in the back o’ my sinuses. But worse is the sound, these things seem to creak and crackle as they move, wet and sinewy as only raw meat can be, and it’s enough to give me chills on its own.

Their movements, now I can really see it, are jerky and somewhat … off, really. Now I’m really looking they don’t really seem like they’re actually alive, it’s just a trick o’ their animation, they remind me more of puppets, but they got something really wrong with ‘em, like the joints or strings or whatever it is making ‘em move don’t work right. Maybe there is something of the undead in ‘em, but … no, this is something else, something truly strange and unfathomably wrong.

At least my own instant revulsion helps to spur me to action, even if it’s just to get this thing outta my way quick as I can. So I swing the moment I’ve closed the distance, turning in a low cut to arc up to cleave it in half through what could generously be called its waist and up through its lower chest. Eldritch horror or not, this thing’s just meat, I don’t see it putting up much of a fight against my white hot blade.

Except that it reacts to my attack while I make it, and while my blade does cut a substantial gouge up through something resembling a ribcage, it still manages to dodge a full, cleaving stroke. And I suddenly realise it’s got a whole lot more limbs that it has any right to as it snaps something like a mix between a leg and a heavily segmented whip round towards my face as I reel aside, attempting to recover from my aborted cut. Intent on battering my down, or maybe worse. I saw what those shadow things did to Darwyn, I don’t wanna see what these things could do with whatever they got.

So I bring my shield up quick, planting my feet best I can as I turn my shoulder as much into the coming blow as I can … and it still hits me like a battering ram. The shield holds up magnificently, bearing the brunt of the strike, but I still fold under the force of it, and it knocks me hard into the wall before I bounce off again. Suddenly unbalanced …

Then Shay’s there, her sword flaring spectacularly as she spins it in a blazing flourish which sheers the offending appendage clean away with a hissing hot sizzle before following through with three cuts to the body which are so fast I have trouble tracking ‘em. Certainly this thing don’t have a chance to dodge this time, and as I start to topple now it’s already coming apart as it starts to sag. Then I’m falling and I got more immediate concerns.

Growing acutely aware that, comparatively light as it is, the shield’s definitely thrown off my balance from what I’m used to, I just throw that arm out to the side as I hurl myself forward into a hard roll, judging the coming tumble well as I can for the weight of my armour. ‘Least I manage to hold onto my sword as I just barely make it without throwing myself onto my face on the recovery, but I’m still clumsy regaining my feet. In the end I just chuck myself at the wall again, this time intentionally bouncing off it so I can come up ready on the other side. Just as another one comes at me with startling speed, jerky as the first and, now that I’m starting to get a read on ‘em, damn unpredictable.

When this one tries to take a swipe at me with one of its nasty feelers I don’t try to dodge this time, instead swinging my shield up in a wide, forceful arc fully intended to swat it away while I charge in to meet it. I hear the dull, wet, heavy thwack of meat and snapping, cracking bone but the check works, and I’m already turning my shoulder into its centre of mass, gritting my teeth as I hold my breath, trying hard not to breathe when I’m this close to the fucking thing. It's like barging into a chunk of solid oak, it’s got no right to be this bloody solid, but it ain’t rooted like a tree, so I still manage to knock it off balance. So I plant my feet and this time when I cut up my attack works without a hitch.

Thorin, it’s a beautiful stroke, actually. I don’t just shear clean through its main trunk in a near perfect forty-five degree angle, but I sever three more o’ those nasty dishevelled limbs in the process, all the pieces tumbling aside around me as I manage to step right through it without quite meaning too. Already planting my feet now as I see more of ‘em coming up fast beyond.

“Are they clear?” I call out without turning, reluctant to take my eyes off the threats as they present themselves. “Tell me they’re clear!”

“They’re gone!” Shay’s already coming in close on my left, bent low at the ready as she takes up a wary stance with her sword cocked high in both hands. “It’s just us! What do you want to do?”

Chancing the quickest sidelong glance at her, I shift my footing and adjust my grip on Hefdred, moving my shield now to cover me again as I prepare for the next attack. “Just hold the line. We can’t break yet, we gotta stand. You good?”

“Good enough.” she breathes, tightening up just a little more. “You?”

I almost grin at that. Honestly, now the fight’s on I almost feel good again. “Oh yeah. Don’t mind me.”