Finn’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the distance between him and the walls of Malvas.

It wasn’t exactly far. He had managed to double-back through the forests and lose—or kill—the boar-riders that had pursued him. It had helped that all of the mayhem he’d caused the previous night had bumped him up another level, giving him a small increase of Mana and Health. It wasn’t a lot, but it should be enough to make the difference.

Finn was exhausted, and dawn’s early light had found him hunkered by the forest’s edge about as far from the battle as he could be and still make it to the walls.

How long had it been since he had last slept? He didn’t know. He thought it might be two days. He needed rest, not to mention a healing potion. He needed some way of recouping his spent attributes, otherwise he was going to die out there sooner or later.

The trolls had set up many more patrols around their armies with a constant rotation of boar-riders and scouts circling the perimeter. There was also a lot more activity near the smoking ruins of the airships. They’d destroyed six in total, and only one was still in the sky—the same one that had been in the air the night before, presumably too scared to land.

“They’ve only got one ship to attack with and one ship to resupply with,” Finn said, feeling a small vindictive surge of pleasure. That would really mess with Durzog’s plans. He had to find enough food and water for several thousand people soon, or risk losing his ability to besiege Malvas.

Already, there were teams of trolls and zephyrs heading back into the woods, and Finn wondered if they were going to be sent to any nearby settlements or small realms. He didn’t know, and he felt guilty about that. Yet at the same time, it bought Malvas breathing room. So far today, there had been no attacks against the walls.

Finn peered at the walls, trying to spy a way in. There was none, as far as he could see. The tunnels he had used before had collapsed…and he’d collapse before he got all the way back there, anyway.

Then there was the front gate, which was still burning because the Malvas defenders had continuing piling e furniture and other flammables into it.

There was an army to sneak through before he even got to that, too.

“Pretty soon, the trolls might decide there’s more food inside the city than out,” Finn thought aloud. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad, as it would force the trolls to try and storm the burning barricade, and they would lose a lot of warriors. However, they had a lot of warriors to lose…

Finn winced. He didn’t know how this battle was going to end. He couldn’t see an easy way forward. All he could hope was that the trolls would start to desert once they didn’t get their food or started to run out of equipment, armor, and weapons.

“But how long can Malvas last in a siege?” Finn muttered, forcing his weary legs to take him to the line of trees that led back to the low stone wall. He wished that he still had Tobias’s camouflage magic.

Maybe Malvas would fall to its own starvation before the trolls did, Finn thought glumly as he hurried forward, staying low.

No one shouted at him. There were no alarms or zephyr shrieks.

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They needed a breakthrough. Malvas had a port on its far side, but apparently, the seas were full of monsters. No boat had yet managed to leave and come back or successfully make port somewhere else.

They needed a miracle…

There was a sudden hiss through the air, and Finn dropped to the ground, expecting trollic arrows or zephyr crossbow bolts to hammer into the ground nearby.

They didn’t. But he did hear murmurs and distant shouts.

Finn pushed himself up, looking in the direction of the noise, and saw that there was something going on near the gate.

As he watched, another cloud of black-fletched arrows burst from the Malvas walls, looking like birds against the gray skies. There was a flare of blue about them, and they sparkled with blue Air energy.

“Rosa?” It couldn’t be her, though. She couldn’t have that much power left, could she?

The arrows flew further and faster than they would have normally, and even though Durzog had placed his front line out of range of any normal arrow, these projectiles started to fall amongst the waiting huddles of troll warriors.

There were distant shouts and roars, and Finn started to laugh. He didn’t know how they had gotten the Mana to do that, but it was funny. They would only reach the first two lines, which was a drop in the bucket compared to entire army, but it was a poke. An insult.

Then, there was a flicker of something bright—a flash of color in the opposite direction—near him! Finn spun on his heel to see that something had been thrown from the side of the wall. It was a rope, and at its end was a collection of brilliant red flags.

“It’s a sign,” Finn said, suddenly stumbling to his feet. He started toward it, hearing another scream of the magically enhanced arrows flying from the walls.

It was more than a sign; it was a distraction!

Finn started jogging toward the rope. He was sure he heard sounds from far behind him, and when he turned, he could see that three groups of the mutant boar-riders were racing across the churned-up meadow toward him.

Durzog had seen the sign too and recognized the arrows for what they were.

There were people on the top of the walls, and Finn thought he could make out Diane and Tobias.

The boar-riders were gaining on him fast, but Finn was closer to the rope. He forced his wheezing, pained body to run faster until he reached the base of the wall. He heard the trolls roaring behind him.

The rope was right there in front of him. He grabbed it, seeing that its end had been tied into loops he could slip over his waist or hands. He did so, and then he was abruptly being hauled into the air.

Finn was sure that his pursuers would start firing at him, but they didn’t. He was quickly hauled upward by what must have been a whole team of people, reaching the top with his sides aching and bruised, but at least he was safe. He was alive.

“You made it!” It was Diane, grabbing Finn as soon as he had reached the battlements and dragging him into the arms of Tobias, Sister Alharrow, and a dozen other Malvanites.

“It was Sister Alharrow’s idea. I gave some of Malvas’s Hearthstone Mana to Rosa, and she found a way to distract the army,” Diane said, looking as haggard as Finn felt. Then, her face fell. “But the Hearthstone is lighter now. We do not know how long it will defend us when Durzog really attacks.”

When he really attacks… Finn heard the words and felt his heart sink. Yes, because all of this has just been leading up to the main siege of the city. Finn turned to look back over the battlefield and saw the vast numbers arrayed against them.

How were they ever going to defeat them?

“But you bought us some time. It will take them days to sort out their supply route again, if they even can,” Sister Alharrow said.

Finn nodded. He was thankful that she didn’t say the obvious thing—that they knew where the Oldtree Shrine was and could make for it in that window of opportunity.

But that wasn’t really an option, not with an entire city hanging in the balance.

“We’re going to need allies. Or bigger guns. Or allies with bigger guns,” Finn murmured, frowning as he looked speculatively across the battlefield. “If only we knew where there was a ready-made army of highly trained and fighters,” he muttered to himself. Then he froze and blinked with a sudden realization. “Oh…”

It was a longshot, but it turned out that Finn knew exactly where an extremely powerful fighting force was stationed—if he could convince them to fight for him.