I found myself facing a smallish drant, which isn’t saying too much because he was still bigger than I am, but I was happy to ease into the fight. You have to be grateful for whatever small luck you receive. Especially when your life is on the line.

My little drant opponent had a scimitar and a shield. I still had my sword and dagger. And, unfortunately, my sense of smell. The river usually smells unpleasant, with the marsh so close, and all of the garbage and waste that people throw into it, but adding in the odor of all these excited and wet with river water drants was quite off-putting. I wasn’t gagging, yet, but I made sure to breathe through my mouth as much as I could. The stupid drant was pretty good at using his shield to keep my sword from touching him but Venzik was distracting him by using his sword against our opponent’s scimitar. That left my dagger free and I used my old trick of throwing it at his face. Hoping he’d be distracted I dropped to one knee and thrust my sword under his shield and up into his gross drant belly, yanking it this way and that after I felt it sink in.

I realized he wasn’t wearing any armor, which made sense if they had snuck in by swimming or floating across the river. It’s hard to float in armor. Or chains, not that there is any reason drants would cover themselves in chains to cross the river, but I had seen a criminal killed that way once in Magrin. It’s just helpful advice. Don’t get covered in chains and then enter any body of water. You’re welcome.

The drants not wearing any armor was going to be a big help. It might be why our thin line of defenders hadn’t been broken already. Venzik had also made it past our drant’s guard, hacking into his face and head, so he fell and I started to move forward so we could start pushing these monsters back toward the river. Venzik grabbed me by the left arm and pulled me back, motioning for me to look around. Our line was too thin to do anything but hold. If I pushed forward I’d probably get surrounded and killed. I nodded and yelled thanks but it was so loud I doubt that he heard me. Then it was back to killing as more drants pressed in on us, stepping over and onto their fallen brethren.

For a few minutes everything became a blur of fighting. I stabbed, I parried, I threw more knives and daggers, a few of which did some damage but more often they merely distracted my opponents in the hopes that either I, or one of the other defenders, would be able to use it to their advantage. We were slowly getting pushed back. I risked a quick glance around me and saw that more troops had arrived to help. They were just beginning to push into the line to strengthen it. I sheathed my knife and stepped back, pulling Venzik with me. He was a bloody mess, and so was I. He looked like he had taken some wounds and I felt three, at least, on my own body.

Venzik said something to me and pointed back behind us. I couldn’t make out what he said so I yelled, “What?”

“Healers!” he shouted back. I looked where he was pointing and saw several priests of Cindrem tending to other injured defenders. “Let’s go!” he yelled, and I nodded. He led the way, limping. It looked like his right knee was injured. He also had a cut on his forehead that was bleeding, forcing him to wipe frequently to keep it out of his eyes. There were probably more injuries but I couldn’t tell which blood was his. A lot of it had to be from the drants we’d fought but I realized some of it was likely from other defenders, too. Every one of us was injured in some way and at least a dozen were dead. More troops kept arriving, which I hoped meant we would win this battle and keep the drants out of the city.

There were three priests with six attendants. Their helpers were passing out food and drink to the defenders after they were healed. It takes a lot out of your body and you are very hungry and thirsty immediately afterwards. Venzik and I joined the line of people waiting to be healed. We both tried to wave the other forward into line first but I won by ordering him to precede me. Being the boss is fun. There were two city watchmen and three soldiers in front of us so we had a moment to yell at each other over the din of the fighting while we waited.

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“Have you had enough yet, my lord?” Venzik yelled. “The soldiers seem to have everything under control now.”

“Not yet.” I yelled back. “I’m not leaving until the attack is over.”

“Or until you are killed.”

I laughed. “You better hope that doesn’t happen because then you’ll be out of a job.”

He didn’t think it was as funny as I did but I’m used to that. After my hilarious but unappreciated joke we just stood there. I passed the time counting my cuts and the places I knew would soon become bruises. I was also pretty sure some of my ribs were hurt because it was painful to breathe.

Soon enough Venzik was the next in line to be healed and I watched the old priest in front of him grab him by the head and start murmuring his prayer to Cindrem. Venzik’s entire body started to glow and then he staggered. Two attendants stepped forward and gave him a biscuit and some cheese to eat and a waterskin of something to drink. They gently pulled him to the side and then it was my turn. The old priest waved me forward, repeating the process I had just witnessed my guard captain go through. Even this close I couldn’t make out the words of the priest’s prayer but I saw the glow start and felt a comforting warmth spread through my body. Then it was gone and I staggered. I would have fallen if the attendants hadn’t gently taken my arms and pulled me to the side next to Venzik. I also got a biscuit and some cheese, which I wolfed down in but a few bites. The wineskin turned out to be full of ale and I drank as much as I could before handing it back.

“Let’s go!” I yelled to Venzik, who stood right beside me. “There’s still drants coming out of the river for us to kill!” I pulled my sword from its sheath and moved back towards the line of defenders, heading back to our place near the tower. When we got there, we waded right back in, as if we had never left. Although I felt tired from the healing I also wasn’t bruised, or bleeding, so it seemed about even when it came to my effectiveness as a fighter. Luckily for me, Venzik was more focused on protecting me than killing drants so I was able to do okay. I don’t know how long we fought but it seemed like days. I was nearing exhaustion and was thinking about falling back to rest for a bit when our mages finally showed up. I couldn’t see them, but I definitely saw their work. Drants started exploding and catching fire. The sounds of battle were gradually replaced with cheering from the line of defenders. I looked around and saw our comrades fighting with renewed vigor now that the tide was starting to turn in our favor. I took a few deep breaths and smiled grimly at Venzik, who looked like he was hoping I’d let others finish the fight. I still had some memories to distract myself from, so I waded right back in.

As I killed the gigantic drant that I had been slugging it out with, admittedly with Venzik’s help, as well as two soldiers, I saw that the fight was nearly over. No more drants were emerging from the river and no more arrows were being shot from the top of the guard tower. The remaining drants were surrounded by groups of defenders and were slowly being killed, although some of our men were still falling, the last victims of the assault.

A ragged cheer started when the last one fell, but it soon became a roar as more and more of the defenders raised their voices, and their weapons, in celebration. I joined in, happy to be alive, and ready for another visit to the healers.