The alarm bell rang loud. One penetrating note after another, over and over again, excitement in the rhythm and cadence.

A woman screamed in the distance, and an inhuman voice bellowed something incoherent. A familiar voice.

The huld.

Hina shot up, dreams forgotten. "They're here!" she yelled. "They're here!"

The bell rang once more and then fell silent, but the screaming continued. A scraping sound escalated to a booming roar as something collapsed outside—something nearby.

The others were up and scrambling to get their things together.

"We've got to go, right now." Hina swept her things into her bag and swung it over her shoulder. Bean hopped up her arm and onto her other shoulder, holding on tight. He squawked. "Everyone ready?"

Olivia stuffed a pillow into her satchel and snapped it closed. "Yes." Her voice was tight.

"Yeah," Kai said, sounding half-asleep.

"Okay." Hina pushed open the door. "Follow me."

Throne-light streamed into the shadows of the courtyard—enough to see outlines and some of the details between. A woman-shaped shadow ran past, towards the front gate. The direction that most of the noise was coming from. Where they’d entered yesterday. A sturdy wooden gate that was big enough for two carts side-by-side.

But there must be smaller gates. They wouldn't use the big one for everything.

Could they find one of the smaller gates in the dark? Before the huld found them?

Hina turned in a slow circle. The wall stood close behind the building they'd slept in—stars peeked out from over its curved line. And the staircase up to the room above theirs ended pretty close to the wall.

If they could get up onto the walkway on top of the wall, they'd be able to see where the gates were. Maybe they could even climb down the outside of the wall, if it wasn't too steep.

She ran up the stairs. The others followed, soles slapping against the flagstones.

At the top, a railing guarded the edge of the landing and a rough wooden door led to the room on the right. Hina stepped up on the rail, and quickly hopped across the short gap up onto the walkway on top of the wall before she could think too hard about the distance to the ground below.

"You first," Kai said from behind her.

Olivia didn’t reply.

Around the bend of the wall to the left, a building was burning. In the shadows cast by its flickering light, a huge furred figure moved. Tall—much too tall. One of the bigger huld.

The yelling and the screaming and the bellowing continued.

Humphrey—the practitioner—where was he in all of this chaos? Fighting? Hina peered out following the line of the wall. In the distance, she could see the gate and some of the courtyard before it, the greatest concentration of light and movement.

A handful of people holding weapons and farm tools were in the courtyard facing huge figures. Some screamed and ran. Some were torn apart by claws and teeth.

The farmers didn't stand a chance.

One of the person-sized figures was glowing, wrapped in flickering red light. Hina felt a pull in her ambit—felt the hints of a working of great power on the wind. Her throat burned and her skin tightened.

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The figure of the practitioner erupted into flames, a ball of fire expanding to engulf the courtyard in a roaring blaze. Flames leapt up into the sky, and for half a moment the night was brightly lit. Huge furred silhouettes stood out against the farm buildings, and people ran away in every direction. So many people.

Hina looked away from the burning brightness for a moment, and when she looked back, all that remained was a handful of glowing embers. The courtyard was burned out, empty. Nothing moved in the dim light.

She shook herself out of her daze. They needed to get out of here, and they needed to get out of here now. The screaming hadn't stopped.

Hina looked down at the others. "Come on, what are you waiting for?"

Olivia stood behind the railing, looking down at the ground below with wide eyes. Looking down through the meter-wide gap between the wall and the railing. She shook her head.

"It's not far, I'll catch you if you slip," Hina said. "Hurry up!" Bean whistled encouragingly.

Kai was standing behind Olivia, ready to move but not ready to leave the girl behind.

Hesitantly, Olivia climbed up onto the railing, Kai steadying her with a hand.

She stepped forward over the gap, arms outstretched.

Hina grabbed her hand and pulled her the rest of the way onto the wall.

Kai hopped across after her.

"Look for a way down," Hina whispered, and received hurried nods in reply.

Leaving the others, Hina walked along the wall. She stayed near the edge, peering over it.

The farm-wall wasn't like the wall of Grambe, old and crumbling and good for climbing. It was new—constructed from small closely-fitted stones. But it was much shorter too, not quite twice Hina's height.

Low enough that they would probably be okay if they let themselves down by holding on to the top edge of the wall with their arms, and then dropped the rest of the way.

That would be a little over a meter to fall. Not safe, but less dangerous than facing one of the huld for sure. She hoped Olivia would be able to manage it. They didn't have any other options.

The trick was finding the right spot. Falling that far onto uneven ground could mean a broken ankle or worse—a major inconvenience on any day. But right now it would be a death sentence.

Half way along the wall, where the screaming from near the front gate was furthest from them, Hina gave up on finding a good place to jump. Escape was more important. Here would have to do. She beckoned the others to her.

"Anything?" Hina asked, when they were close enough. Kai shook his head. Olivia didn't look at her.

"Then we'll have to jump down here."

Kai nodded.

Olivia was staring down at the ground below. She looked up, eyes wide.

"We're climbing down here," Hina said again. She took Olivia's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Watch Kai. He'll let himself down and then drop, then you do the same. It's not far. I'll come last. Okay?"

"Al—alright."

Kai lowered himself down, stilled for a moment, and then dropped to land with a thud. He stumbled backwards, but caught himself after a few steps.

"Kai?"

"I'm good. Olivia, I’m ready, I'll catch you!"

"Okay, Olivia, now you." Hina tried to sound encouraging. "You can do it."

Olivia took a deep breath, staring down at the ground. She hesitated for a moment, then turned around and lowered herself over the edge as far as she could, then dropped.

"Eep," she squeaked, and then: "Sorry, sorry."

Hina shook her head and then followed, the points of her toes scraping against the rough stones as she climbed down and then let go. The impact sent shooting pain up her legs, but she managed to keep her balance. Bean murmured grumpily from next to her ear.

As she turned away from the base of the wall, a large figure moved in the shadow cast by the crops. A towering shape, half again as tall as Hina. It stepped forward into Throne's harsh light to reveal a distorted, almost human face with a broad turnip nose and long cruel tusks. It had one arm held out with claws extended as it paced forward. Its other arm was half gone, ending in the blackened stump of an elbow.

The stench of bile cut through the smoke in the air.

The thing's wide mouth stretched open into a grotesque grin. It raised its mouth to the sky and roared.

"Run!" Hina yelled. "To the hedge! It can't follow us in there!"

Olivia and Kai were already running. Hina tried to follow her own advice, swerving to the left while keeping one eye on the huld. Bean clutched her shoulder, the points of his talons digging into her skin through the coarse fabric of her dress.

For a moment, she thought she'd made it. The huld stood still for a heartbeat, and then it moved, rushing forward with frightening speed.

It was faster than Hina.

It took two long strides and then it was on her, its huge hand snapping closed. Long fingers wrapped around her wrist and jagged claws cut into her skin. Blood trickled down her arm.

Bean shrieked and the weight of him disappeared from her shoulder as Hina was pulled upwards. Red-hot pain spiked from the bones of her wrist, and she screamed.

The huld dangled her by the forearm, held her high, appraising. Hina kicked at it, but her feet caught nothing. The movement sent her swinging back and forth in its grip. Useless.

The thing's inhuman grin widened, black beady eyes staring down at her. Its lips parted to reveal row upon row of sharp teeth that glistened wetly in the moonlight.

It lifted Hina towards its mouth.