The Haverdash passed underneath Andal and Jeva to rush the barricade. Since the clumps that made the gas had been destroyed their initial strategy had been totally undone, and now they had to attack a wall full of defenders. Arrows were loosed from both sides, but the humans couldn't see the Haverdash through the gas that lingered below the wall, and the Haverdash couldn't see clearly out of it. The arrows coming out of the gas were flying wildly in silly directions, but no doubt if Andal could see from the Haverdash perspective the arrows being loosed at them would probably be landing in bizarre places.

An arrow struck the bottom of the circle of light Andal and Jeva were standing on. They searched in the direction it came from and saw that the Haverdash were climbing on top of the buildings to get above the gas.

Andal asked, "You can cover us, right?"

"Yea of course," Jeva answered. She clasped her hands together and closed her eyes. Small lights like stars in a night sky sprinkled into existence around them, moving with them, and when an arrow came too close it was diverted by the lights to fly off in a pointless direction.

They crossed from circle to circle until they got back to the barricade wall where those nearby cheered. One of the defenders slapped Andal on the back, "Good work kiddos! Now it's a fair fight!"

An arrow split through the lights and stabbed through the defender's hand into Andal's back, and both let out a cry of pain.

Jeva initially freaked out, "Andal! I am so sorry, I don't know how that got through my spell!"

He didn't respond, and was solely focused on continuing to breathe.

Jeva realized then that she knew what to do. She yanked the arrow out, prompting another cry from Andal and the defender, then held Andal's hands against the two wounds.

A wave of warmth flowed through the defender, centralizing around his hand. In seconds his bones, ligaments, and muscle had all grown back how it had been, and all that was left was a slight, lingering pain. Andal's wound was also healed, though the lingering pain for him was deeper.

Jeva apologized again, "I am so sorry, I don't know how that arrow got through!"

Andal leaned on his hands and knees to recover mentally from what had just happened, "It's okay, it went through my armor too. You didn't do anything wrong."

"But I learned that spell precisely to deflect arrows!"

"There are always exceptions with the Haverdash, they're all hallucinating different things. We just have to learn to deal with those exceptions," He smiled weakly, "Which we did."

The Haverdash placed a ladder on the barricade where they were, so Jeva turned and launched a fireball down it. The Haverdash climbing it was fatally burned, and the ladder splintered.

Andal looked around at the defenders and shouted to them, “Do not let them on the walls! Keep loosing arrows, don’t save them! Hack at the ladders! Watch out for the bottles they throw, that liquid will kill you or drive you mad! If someone gets splashed, get them off the wall and get someone else in their place! Use our numbers!” He pointed to a group on the ground level below him, “You, did you get that?”

“Yes we did!” they responded.

“Could you deliver that message down the line?”

“Yes sir!” They responded, then scattered.

Jeva broke another ladder further down the wall with another fireball, then asked Andal, "Should we get over to a gate to stop those battering rams?"

Andal grabbed her arm and pulled himself to his feet, mentally getting over getting shot. "Good idea. I can protect us while you burn them up. Do we know where they are? How many gates are there?"

Jeva pointed at a penthouse sticking up from the fog, which had receded to be less than nine feet high. "We know where one is."

His head swiveled to look at it, "Well how about that. Let's go."

They didn't have much room to run across the barricade with the defenders there, but where it got too crowded Andal would make a circle of light for them to step on just off the wall-walk.

They made it to the gate just as the battering ram reached it. Andal made a circle several feet below the barricade that they jumped to, and from there onto the penthouse. Jeva's spell was still around them deflecting arrows, and would be for some time, but as an added precaution Andal added a shell of light to be armor around both of them.

The Haverdash responded instantly when they landed, not only loosing arrows at them, but climbing into the penthouse with swords and spears. Andal fought them with his sword and shield, swords of light, and shields of light, keeping them back while Jeva placed glowing-red imprints of her hand on the wood.

She stood up after placing the tenth imprint, "Ready, Andal!"

He placed a hand on her shoulder so that he could exclude her from his next spell, and made a strong burst of wind that flung the Haverdash off and away from the penthouse. One ran through his wind unaffected, so Andal made two shields in line with its shoulders that stopped it from blocking with its sword or shield when he ran his sword through its chin.

He made a circle of light four feet above the penthouse, but Jeva didn’t want to wait for them to jump on it. “We’ve got two seconds!” She told him. She grabbed him and made a pocket of air below them that burst and flung them up onto the circle, grunting as she pulled to keep them from flying in different directions.

Just as they landed on the circle of light the battering ram burst into flames. As they clamored back into the wall the ram broke apart and burned away, taking the several Haverdash under it who didn't know when to quit with it.

"One down!" Jeva proclaimed through heavy breathing.

Andal put his hands on his hips to help catch his breath, "We're doing well! You ready to go after number two?"

"No? But let's go anyway."

They took off a little slower than they had the first time, still somewhat at loss of breath. The defenders around them seemed to be letting up, so Andal tried to motivate them, "Keep giving everything that you've got! Leave no opening!"

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As they passed by a lady with a lowered spear, she told them, "There's nobody to fight, they're gone."

Jeva looked over the side and stopped, then Andal came over and looked as well. The fog had decreased to where it was only a few feet above ground level, but they couldn't see any Haverdash. He asked the people around him, "Well where did they go?"

Someone next to them told them, "They gradually stopped trying to get on the wall, and when the fog dissipated there was nobody there!"

Jeva quipped "They all hallucinated themselves away I guess."

Andal was looking around with an utterly baffled expression, "Did they circle around to the other side?"

"Nah, we would have heard the sound of them moving. Ask me where I think they are."

Andal looked at the defender with a raised eyebrow, but humored him. "Where do you think they are?"

"Right there." He pointed just beyond the wall. "In our houses."

Andal stared at a nearby house and watched its windows for movement. The city grew eerily silent as the defenders looked around in confusion. Then they heard a widespread sound of scraping, and a clod of dirt was dumped outside.

The realization spread that the Haverdash were digging under the wall, and uncertainty grew as the defenders wondered what they should do. They could head out to fight the Haverdash in the closed in spaces they were hiding themselves in, but nobody thought they would have good chances against the Haverdash without the benefit of a wall.

The best option would be to harass the Haverdash, but going into those houses would be suicidal. A decision was reached by those in command, and the defenders accepted it sorrowfully that they should start a fire in the outer city and burn the Haverdash out of the houses.

They started a bonfire and dropped burning logs onto the remaining bettering ram, then organized into groups that would attempt to start the fire. The Haverdash would obviously try to prevent a fire from spreading, so archers and slingers were stationed to provide supporting barrages. They moved as quickly as they could, not knowing how long before the Haverdash undercut the wall.

Jeva felt like she would be perfect for this job, being able to create fire so easily, and Andal wanted to go to protect the group, but Natal approached them while the groups were being organized and pulled them aside, "I'm going to tell you something that you can't tell anyone else. The Haverdash are going to get inside the walls. I have to tell you something that I want you to keep quiet. The Haverdash are going to get through those walls.”

Andal was going to interrupt to promote optimism and hope, but Natal held a hand up to him and continued talking unhesitantly, “There were tunnels running throughout Vilnaris from decades past, when the citizens threw out a tyrannical governor, and they were only completely filled in a few years ago. The Haverdash can empty them easily, and then they just have to widen the existing tunnels.”

Jeva asked, “Why bring this up to us?”

“Because the Haverdash moved with great unity, secretly, into our homes and started digging. It’s too much of a coincidence, and it’s too organized. I know not everything about the Haverdash can be explained, so here’s my theory: the commander leading this attack perceived the old tunnels under Vilnaris and somehow ordered his army into the houses to redig them. I want you to ride out of the city, right past those digging Haverdash, and kill their commander. If you’re willing, of course.”

“Wow,” Jeva held back a laugh, “You’re bolder than Andal is!”

“We’ll do it.” Andal said.

Jeva shrugged, “Never mind.”

Andal asked Natal, “Do we know where their commander is though?”

“I think we do. There are tents set up past the city line, and the smoke of a campfire has been rising from it since the battle began. If he can command his troops remotely, I would assume he’s there. You should be able to ride through the streets and get out of the city, the Haverdash don’t have horses of their own. If you’re being chased, veer away from the tents and do not engage.”

Andal nodded, “We’ll go get the horse ready right now.”

“I told them to get your horse ready before I came to talk to you, everything should be ready.”

Jeva shook her head, “Unless Andal has told you that horse's name, which he hasn’t told me, that horse hasn’t cooperated with whoever you told to get him ready.”

Natal looked to Andal, “Alright, what’s his name?”

“Only Templars are allowed to know his name, it’s a Templar horse. Sorry. We’ll get him ready right now.”

*

The gates to the main road were opened, and Andal and Jeva rode out at full speed. The Haverdash took notice of them as they passed by the houses, but were far more interested in if that meant the gate was still open. In seeing that it wasn’t they would return to their digging, not caring about two random people who looked like deserters. The goal was never to kill the inhabitants, but to conquer the city, so escapees were not a problem.

They rode out of the city and closed in on the tents, identifying the largest one as where they should make a surprise attack. As they drew close they saw a table through the open flap, but the inside was mostly obscured by a gas that filled the tent. Andal shot two swords of light through to the back of the tent, slicing the fabric open, and he told Jeva hurriedly, "Blow the gas out!"

Jeva made a gust of wind, which she could control the direction of and give range to much better than Andal could with his wind, and pushed all the gas in the tent out of the slit in the back. Around the table were three Haverdash, their hair pushed back by the wind, one of which was clearly distinguished by his clothing and gray hair.

They didn't slow the horse, choosing instead to duck and ride straight into the tent. The commander was focused on them immediately, but the others were caught off guard. Jeva loosed two fireballs at the two Haverdash who looked like accessories while they were still unprepared, and Andal shot two swords of light behind them so that if the Haverdash sidestepped the fireballs in a way that brought them closer to Andal and Jeva they would be hit by the swords.

One was too confused by the sudden events, and was hit by the fireball. The other was able to dodge the fireball and was hit by the sword. The commander watched them intently, taking in the sudden attack quickly.

The horse went around the left of the table, and Andal and Jeva jumped off as it passed out the slit in the back of the tent. Andal made another sword of light to shoot at the commander and ran with it, slashing horizontally with his physical blade.

The commander grabbed the sword of light out of the air and parried Andal's physical sword with it, causing him to leap back and yell in surprise. The commander held up a hand telling them to stop, and in spite of their better inclination they waited to see what the Haverdash was going to do.

The sword of light morphed in his hand, lengthening and darkening, and taking the form of a whip with crescent shaped blades lining it. The Haverdash commander sneered, then spoke; "You're awfully brave, for a pair so young. You should have taken your chance to escape when you fled the city, how unfortunate that you would come to me."

Andal looked uneasily at the whip, "We didn't flee, we've come to cut the head off the snake!"

The end of the whip shook and rattler, "I will answer to 'snake'. May I know the names of my bold assassins?"

"Jeva." she answered abruptly.

"Andal, a Templar of Nishir!"

Jeva looked at Andal enviously, then added, "Wizard of Nishir."

The Haverdash showed his teeth in a bitter smile, "Ah, you have a title as well. How nice of Nishir. I am General Skadis. Unfortunately, I will be more than enough for estranged heroes for a long defeated god."

Several other Haverdash ran into the tent, those who had been in the other, smaller tents. Skadis shouted at them, "Stop where you are! These two are mine. Join the attack on the city, victory is almost ours." He added with a flourish of his hand, "These assassins rode all this way to kill me, and I would hate for them to be overrun before they could try."

The Haverdash were surprised, and perhaps hesitant at first, but they'd felt slighted by not being part of the attack in the first place. They rushed off to the city, trusting Skadis to win.

Andal was relieved to see them go, but annoyed all the same, "Your arrogance just got you killed, Skadis!"

"You should be honored; I want to kill you myself. You're not supposed to be here, you see, and I imagine I can earn favor this way." Skadis snapped the whip, and the tent went dark.

Andal and Jeva stood back to back, and Andal cast a spell of light that filled the tent. Skadis had moved in front of Jeva, and had a dagger drawn in his off-hand. Andal raised a shell of light around them just in time to stop Skadis from stabbing Jeva, then she grabbed the arm that tried to run her through and made a fireball that completely incinerated it with its point-blank impact.

The darkness filled the tent again, overpowering Andal's light. He lit up the tent again, but this time shadows had lifted up and were shifting around to obscure their vision. The whip snuck between the standing shadows and rapped Andal across his chest, slicing him through the shell of light and mail armor as if they weren't there.

Andal gasped in pain, wanting to heal himself but not having access to his chest unless he took the time to take his armor off. Instead he tried to spot Skadis as quickly as he could, his eyes darting between each opening that emerged between the shifting shadows.

Jeva shot a fireball off to his right, blowing a hole in the side of the tent. "I just missed him!"

Andal scanned the direction Jeva had shot, and so he saw the whip as it was coming. He grabbed its end just before it sliced open his face, yanking it to pull the line taught. One of the crescent blades was in his palm, and when he pulled it buried itself in his hand. He winced at the pain, but he had the presence of mind to send two swords of light streaking in the direction the whip was leading.

Skadis pulled back, yanking the crescent blades through and out of Andal's knuckles. Andal fell to his knees with a wail of pain. Skadis rushed out of the shadows; he had a deep gash in his abdomen where one of the swords had hit. He grabbed Andal by the head with his remaining arm, and the shadows flowed into Skadis and through his hand. Andal was filled with overwhelming stress, and started hyperventilating. Jeva struck Skadis with a fireball that blasted him backward, then Andal lost consciousness.