Ten minutes after the horn sounded Mother, and I sprinted toward the city's south gate. I wear my usual gear while Mother is geared up similarly to Amy, but without the shield, and she has a long sword instead of a mace. The streets are empty, so we ran the three miles in less than two minutes. All the shops and houses passed in a blur.

"Reporting for Duty my name is Aleana Dryfis, and this is Nalle Eversong." Mother saluted the man at the table beside the gate.

"Classes?" said the harried officer.

"Spellsword and elementalist."

Nodding, the man said, "elementalist's are on the walls under commander Freeden. Spell swords are on the front line with General Marcus you can't miss him he is wearing all gold." Then a young man behind passed us tabards with the city symbol.

After Hugging each other and I listened to Mother's impromptu lecture on following orders from anyone with epaulets on their shoulders.

Eventually, the officer coughed, and we separated after another quick hug. Me running up the stairs to report to Father and Mother sprinting out the gate. She was holding back A lot when we ran over here because she vanished from my sight the moment she moved. Startling, the young man behind the officer, who didn't even blink, just began sorting papers and marking off our names.

When I reached the top, I didn't see Father, but I saw Amy nearby. Looking around again, I spot a tall man with a gold epaulet on one shoulder. Walking over, I salute and say, "Nalle Eversong reporting in, sir."

"Well, it's about time recruit did you sleep in as usual?" A familiar voice sneered.

"No sir, I ran over the moment the horn blew for the reserves to enter the battlefield."

"Oh, and what about the past week I heard your also a ranked citizen of Khuzdul?" Turning to face me. I see a man who once; I called my big brother, Fredrick.

Two years ago, I would have cringed at his condescending tone, but not anymore. "No sir, I was in a coma until yesterday afternoon." I say with a straight face, not backing down one bit.

This time I saw a slight tick in his facial expression. But gone too fast to be sure if it was guilt or probably frustration that I didn't stay in a coma permanently. "Wait with your sister and await further orders."

"Yes sir," I salute again the way Mother showed me. Judging by several chuckles, I may have flubbed it.

Skipping to Amy, I wrap an arm around her waist. "So, why are the tanks on the walls?" I nod toward Fredrick. "Especially that one."

Grimacing, Amy answers, "well me, I got orders this morning to report to this location. As for Fredrick, he is only level 17, but he is an officer, so they gave him this section of wall to oversee."

Blegh, I stick out my tongue toward Fredrick, behind Amy, of course. I wouldn't want to give him a reason to make me suffer any more than I have to, being so close to him. "Where are Stacy and Charlotte stationed?"

"Stacy is with the rest of the healers they got a little tent city inside the walls. Charlotte is with the snipers on top of the gate." Amy said, pointing above me.

Turning to look, I see Charlotte grinning and waving down at me, so I wave back, giving her a grin of my own. "Please tell me Stacy knows im okay."

"Yep, I told them both as soon as my shift ended last night." Amy replies, putting a reassuring arm around my shoulder.

"Okay, I have to ask, how is Fredrick keeping so many adventures in line when anyone here could squish him like a tiny bug?" I whisper.

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"You see that crossbow on his back it is a gift from Uncle Fenis. It can drop a second ascension tank with a single bolt." Replied Amy, just as quiet as me. "I saw him do it when one decided that taking commands from a bug was beneath him."

"He killed him?" I say, turning pale.

"Goodness no, If an officer killed a volunteer for something like that, he would lose his commission and probably hung from the wall." Said the soldier to my right. Well, I assume he is a soldier. He doesn't stand like the adventurers.

"No, he didn't die, but Fredrick took his dominant arm away. Didn't even blink, only sneered at the man before ordering someone to clean the filth." replied Amy with a shudder.

I looked between the two, with my mouth hanging open. I don't think joining the army was good for him at all. I mean, sure, he could be a jerk, but murderous, not Fredrick.

"Well, I don't know what the captain was like before he took command of our squad, but he is always mumbling on about a fraud in the Elven royal family. When he proves it, he will enjoy watching her burn to cinders as he laughs in her face and takes her sister as a prize. I think he has a screw or two loose. Last I checked, elves don't take slaves."

Amy and I look at each other, confused before I voice what's bothering us. "What royal sisters I can't think of any I mean yeah, there are female royals, but I can't think of any with sisters."

"Me neither," said Amy.

"Like I said, he is crazy." The man replied.

Suddenly a loud whistling followed by an explosion rocked the wall, and I remembered why I am here. Turning to look out over the flat plain outside the wall, I see craters and shattered homes dotting the expanse. Wait plain, "Wasn't there woods outside the walls of Khuzdul?"

"Wow, that took awhile, but yeah, on the first day the enemy caught the woods on fire. Darnath ordered the woods felled all the way back to the first crossroad half a mile away." Said Amy, and she punched my arm. It hurt, so I scowled at her while rubbing the spot.

Returning to the scene beyond the wall, I see a line of Catapults at the edge of the woods. Suddenly one flings a flaming rock toward the wall. It seems so slow, so I point a finger and shoot an ice shard at it that turns to thirty, then three hundred. When they intersect each other, there is a blast. After the smoke cleared, all we see is debris raining onto the ground below.

Several people, okay, many, many people, turned to gape at me in awe. "Hey mage, don't waste mana, the walls can hold up to that," yelled Fredrick.

"Sir, that spell only takes 1000 mana I will regenerate that in just over 2 seconds. Permission to keep firing at the flaming rocks."

Amy groaned beside me. "Your kinda pushing it don't push him too far."

Fredrick's Face turned red "are you questioning my orders recruit?"

"I'm not a recruit, I'm a volunteer, here to protect my city that includes the wall's... Sir."

An excited soldier shouted. "Sir, look at the field the other elementalist's are casting similar spells now."

"Always causing problems wherever you go, fine waste mana on useless rocks." With that, Fredrick turned away.

"You'll think useless rock when one falls on your head. Oh no wait your level 17 you will turn into a pile of ground elf." Shouted an enraged Amy who couldn't hold back anymore. "I Can't believe I looked up to you for so many years."

"Stop it Amy, he isn't worth your time," I say.

Fredrick spun around at my comment, hand twitching toward his crossbow. I am uncertain when it happened, but at some point, most of the adventures and a few soldiers had gotten between Fredrick, and I most eyed Fredrick strangely. When Fredrick saw this, he sneered and turned back to the battlefield. As soon as he did, the soldier standing next to him waved at another, sending him away.

Things stayed that way for a couple of hours. Long enough, I got bored. But I was still dropping the missiles heading our way.

Suddenly a line of people stepped from the cover of the woods, and I got a look at them at last. Most were human, as far as I could tell from here. Charlotte can probably see them, but she sits on the wall above my head, legs dangling down the side. However, I could also see massive furry people. Judging by the humans, I would say their roughly ten feet tall and built like a cart. Honestly, I think they look a little like bears walking on two feet but less fat. The other race I see are super small, standing at no more the four feet, and that's the tallest ones. "Are those cat people?" I say in surprise.

"Yup," Amy says, but she still sounds bored, "and the others are bears just as they look."

"Oh, have you seen them up close?" I ask in surprise.

"Well, ya, I am a tank, usually im down there, not sitting on the wall. What is amazing is they speak our common tongue how the heck does that work?"

"Hey that's new." One soldier is pointing back toward the invaders. I turn around and see a man sitting on a golden throne being pulled by ropes tied to a couple of bear people. The man himself looks like a typical human noble, except the crown and scepter mark him as a king. Well, in Human and Elf cultures, it would. I'm not sure about all, but I know Kobolds have a pipe they use to smoke weird plants.

"Is he talking to his scepter?" A scout asks with a perplexed look on his face.

The supposed King stood upon his throne and pointed toward our stretch of the wall. "I wonder wh....." Snick