Why now?

That was all Fola could think of, cornered by Elro’s questioning.

He’d been stodgy since long before his age matched his temperament. Void, he’d probably been stodgy from the moment he was born. If one knew him, they’d know he didn’t have a deceitful bone in his body. If one knew him better, they’d know that it was his personality that was deceitful. Under that dull exterior, he was sharp and observant, and he’d caught her as surely as a rat in a trap.

It’d been foolish to think she could that she could manipulate him.

Maybe, if she hadn’t come on this investigation, they wouldn’t have discovered anything, and they would’ve left the mansion alone until after the Twisted issue was resolved.

Maybe Elro would be dead like that unlucky guard Fejries.

Why now?

This was the Holy Kingdom of Rhine, the chosen land of the God of Light Aver, not a brief-lived necromantic kingdom. The dead were supposed to stay dead.

She hadn’t been here for years. Hadn’t she done enough? Of all the times she could’ve picked to be a bleeding heart, why did it have to be now?

“Would you give up if I said you can’t protect it?” she said without much hope. It was protected by secrecy. “Telling you is the end.”

“Whatever it is, I promise we’ll find a way to make it right.”

Fola burst into laughter. “Sorry.” She couldn’t help it. He couldn’t keep that promise.

Make it right? He was fifteen years too late. If he’d been this observant fifteen years ago...no, even then, there was nothing he could’ve done.

She’d kept this secret from him for fifteen years. Why did she have to tell him now?

* * *

DELCASTIA, FIFTEEN YEARS AGO.

The rest of the mice chittered in the vast hall as they waited for someone to come with instructions, and so did Fola and Elro.

Vast, that is, to mice. To Big People, it was a room like any other in the Temple of Light in Delcastia. Unadorned and furnished with a simple wooden table and chairs. Once, it had been much that same at all the Temples of Light in Rhine. Now only three remained.

The Temple in Rhinia, the home of the Church of Light, with its walls and ceilings painted with the stories of Aver. It was said that when one stood under its vaulted ceiling and read the stories in its frescos, one could feel the presence of Aver. Enough to make its members certain that Aver was silent but not gone after the Dimming.

Fola had never been. One day she would, though — on the day their apprenticeships ended, as the ceremony for becoming Holy Knights was performed at the Temple — and she would determine whether there was truth to the sayings.

Right now they had more pressing concerns.

All two dozen or so apprentice mice had gathered on top of the table. A mouse who entered would know they were waiting for a human. High up to be seen, as Big People never noticed things on the ground. And less of a chance to be stepped on.

They’d been waiting for hours.

The complaint from Deeno elicited a chorus of complaints. He was a miserable bastard who never seemed to have anything to do other than complain. How had he survived training? Why between ice and sand did he want to become a Holy Knight? If he were a bit more likable, he might have gotten a pass on his complaints, as he did seem to be an unusually unlucky sod, but by Aver, if only he could say something positive every once in a while.

“They told us to gather here and wait for instruction, but it’s been ages.”

“They forgot about us. Again.”

“Ha, Deeno, just because your mother forgot about you doesn’t mean everyone else will.”

“Would it be all right if I left for some water?”

“Knowing your luck, right when you leave, they’ll come,” Kasso retorted.

Now there was a meathead. Fola didn’t think it was possible for a mouse to be less aware of its surroundings than a Big Person, but Kasso was living disproof.

Not that it mattered. Though they shared the same Blessings and experience, none of the apprentices could best Kasso in a fight, such were his talent with a sword and natural athleticism. He had so much potential, the instructors had implied, that he could one day become a Flying Knight, one of the few mice in the Order who specialized in combat rather than support and reconnaissance.

“Oi, that’s perfect. He should go!”

Several of the mice started egging Deeno on. Leaving wasn’t an insignificant act. Failure to rally when commanded could result in dismissal, although in this situation the Order should be understanding.

“You guys’ll cover for me, right? I’ll bring some back for you guys.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Deeno scampered down from the table and slipped through the semicircle hole cut in the bottom of the door.

“Seriously, though,” Kasso said with annoyance in his voice, “how long do we have to wait here?”

All the mice quieted. They expected a response from Elro.

While nominally they were all equal as Holy Knight apprentices, during their training, Elro had become their de facto leader. He was competent but not spectacular with his sword — in truth, the Big People hardly cared about a mouse’s skill with a sword — he wasn’t Twice-Blessed (if anything he Levelled slower than average), and he didn’t inspire courage as one imagined the great leaders in the history of the Church of Light had done when leading the Holy Knights into battle. The opposite, in fact. He was quiet, cautious, upright, methodical, and paid great attention to detail.

He often got on Fola’s nerves. But they were qualities that inspired — instead of courage — trust, both in his fellow mice and in the Big People in charge.

They were good qualities for a mouse.

“The Paladins and Holy Knights are rotating in shifts in the Twisted Forest,” Elro said, reliable as always. “A few hours’ wait is nothing in comparison.”

“I’d rather be fighting, too! They took the human apprentices with them. When this is over, the humans will be bragging about all the monsters they killed, and we’ll talk about how we sat here while Deeno went for water.”

“You know why. We’re not allowed until we have more Skills. And the human apprentices went to observe, not fight. We have a job to do, that’s why we were called here. Right now our job is to wait. From our point of view, it may seem useless, but it’s the opposite. In times of trouble, there’s nothing more useful than capable people who can be put to work at a moment’s notice.”

Kasso didn’t seem pleased by the answer, but he didn’t have a chance to continue arguing.

A tall blonde man strode into the room without knocking as though he owned the place. A year ago, he might as well have.

The mice stood at attention with speed not observed for even the current Paladin of Light.

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“Paladin — former Paladin Light, sir.” Elro addressed him for all of them.

“Deeno, you unlucky bastard, it actually worked…” someone whispered.

The Paladins of Light served twenty-year shifts with five years of overlap with the next group to train them. Fola wondered if it would be better to stagger the replacements so if a crisis arose early in the term of a new group of Paladins, they wouldn’t be caught with their pants down.

As was occurring now, a few months after the latest batch of Paladins had fully assumed their posts. The Order of Light had remedied the situation by calling the former Paladins out of their nascent retirement. It seemed that one could leave the job but the Blessing was lifelong.

“It’s just Sacro now. Not how I imagined my first year of retirement going. I ought to be lying on a sandy beach down south, sipping on beers.”

He sized up the group of mice, who tried to stand a little taller. Grima, the current Paladin of Light, had still been a Paladin-appoint when these mice had become apprentices. They’d seen him be disciplined for slacking off or sneaking food out of the mess hall.

Sacro, on the other hand, was a living legend. As the second Paladin of Light after the Dimming, he’d led the Order of Light through its most difficult times since its inception. More difficult, thye had to be, since the first paladin, Vare, had had a god to guide him.

Led by Sacro’s valiant, flashy swordsmanship reminiscent of heroic tales and his steady leadership that had gained the desperate faith of the growing number of countries bordering the Twisted Forest, the Order of Light had proven that the Twisted could be fought, and the expansion of the Forest could be slowed, even stopped. His deeds had led him to be known as “Guiding Light Sacro,” an epithet he rejected in public but allegedly secretly enjoyed.

Until the Adventurers’ Guild poked the dragons’ nest. One summer, one failed Expedition into the Twisted Forest, and everything had been undone.

“Listen closely. These words will be hard to accept, and we don’t have time to repeat them.

“The Arcesilaean mage reported his findings today. The rumors of Twisted inside the city are real. They haven’t found a way through the wall. That is, barring a few fliers, they are from inside the city. They’re mostly pets and other small animals who have turned.”

Small animals? That would mean — “Mice?” Fola didn’t care if she was speaking out of turn.

Sacro nodded. “Two mice were found turned.”

She respected that about him. A lot of humans would have looked away or couched their words with deflective phrases. Not Sacro.

“There’s more. Larger animals will start turning as well. Then humans. The process accelerates, the mage said, like a boulder down a hill. Starts slow, but before you realize it, it’s unstoppable.”

“But there’re no trees!” Fola couldn’t accept a report that made no sense. Hadn’t they considered if the mage made a miscalculation? The Twisted curse spread through living beings. The first sign was the emergence of Twisted creatures from the forest; the second was the unnatural growth of sickly-looking trees. The Order had spent the lives of both men and mice to divert the hordes away from the city and chop down every sapling within miles.

“We don’t know if this is new, or if it’s because this is the first time a city has been besieged for so long, but the mage said the Twisted curse isn’t spreading through contact with living things. It’s spreading through everything. The water, the ground, the air. And it’s been here for weeks already, maybe months.”

“How long do we have?” Elro always focused on what was important.

“Till sundown.”

Sundown was only a few hours away. Realizing that, the rest of the apprentices could no longer hold back their questions.

“Today?”

“What about my parents?”

“There are Holy Knights in the Twisted Forest!”

“Why are we standing here doing nothing?!”

“The Order has already returned to the city. Every Paladin, Knight, priest, cook, and prayer boy, down to the last hallway cleaner is helping prepare the evacuation. The bells will ring soon. That’s why they sent me here. You all have a vital part to play in the evacuation.

“The main evacuation group will move along the main road to Castia. They have been notified, and they are strengthening the walls there. A majority of the Order and the guards will go with them, as the large group will draw Twisted.

“Mice can keep up with Big People for short distances, but Castia is too far.

“We know. That’s where you come in. Mice will travel in small groups away from the road. You’re to each take a group. Find a farmstead to hide in at night when the Twisted are most active. Attempt to reach Castia if you can, if not, keep moving away from the Twisted Forest.”

“What will we eat? Drink?”

“We’ll be sitting ducks for the Twisted!”

“Send some Flying Knights with us!”

“Listen, we won’t force mice to go. If they wish to travel with the main group, they are free to. It is my recommendation that they travel separately. We’ve seen it many times. When enough Twisted are in an area, they tend to gather in a horde. If the horde finds a large target, like the main evacuation group, smaller creatures like mice have a good chance of going unnoticed. Accordingly, all Holy Knights with sufficient skill, including mice, will be traveling with the main group.

“Mice are free to choose how they’ll evacuate. However, you do not. We have a duty to the people of Delcastia, big and small, and I expect you to fulfill it.

“Until today you have been Holy Knight apprentices. Today, I name all of you Holy Knights in full. We don’t have time for individual oaths or ceremony. Truthfully, those are song and dance to appease the priests. What matters is what brought you to this point: your character, your strength, and your sense of duty. I’m honored to have had the chance to serve with all of you, and I know you all have those qualities in spades. So swear to me this: you will get as many mice alive to Castia as you can.”

They swore.

Though they’d had the Blessing for years, this was not how they’d imagined officially becoming Holy Knights. The elation they’d saved up for was nowhere to be found, displaced by the shock of the successive revelations. Instead, there was one part pride at achieving the title and one part dread knowing what early conferment meant about their odds of dying in the near future.

There weren’t given time to contemplate their future. Sacro assigned them, individually, the areas in which they’d gather mice.

Her friends had entered this room as a group of dumb teenagers. One by one they left with hundreds of lives in their hands.

In the end, Elro and Fola remained.

“You two have a special assignment.”

Despite the circumstances, Fola couldn’t avoid feeling elated. With Kasso and Elro in the group, it’d been hard to stand out. Apparently, to someone, she had.

“Ready to act, sir.” Elro’s expression hadn’t changed. For him, a special assignment was expected.

“Do you know what a manacarriage is?”

“Sir!” She wouldn’t be shown up by Elro on something so easy. “It’s a carriage that doesn’t need horses. It moves on its own!”

“Good, that will make this quicker. Lord Veck has generously offered us the use of two of his manacarriages. They’re located in different parts of town, and you’ll have to locate the drivers. Luckily, of the people he named, we’re pretty sure of the location of two.”

Generous, if one didn’t consider that the reason Lord Veck didn’t need the manacarriages for himself was that he’d relocated months ago, along with all the other rich folk, to another of his houses in a safer area.

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, right? Depending on its size, a manacarriage could be like a life raft to hundreds of mice.

“You won’t be taking mice.

“Is there an issue?”

“It’s just that...sir, two manacarriages could save a huge portion of Delcastia’s mice population. If we make multiple trips, we could save all of them.”

“At today’s meeting, someone proposed that we not alert the general populace. The Order and the guards could safely escort a large group of people to Castia. Why do you think that proposal wasn’t chosen?”

“Sir, I don’t know!”

“It’s not right. This way, it gives everyone a chance, small though it may be. The mice already have a better chance than most. It sounds terrifying, running across the open fields from monsters with only your smallness as a weapon, but I promise you, the mice have a good chance at surviving. Those orphans? They have no parents to carry them to Castia. They cannot run there on their own. The guards and the Order will be busy fighting. No one is willing to volunteer to carry them when everyone has their own daughters and sons, parents and grandparents to protect.

“It was an oversight of ours. We should have evacuated the especially vulnerable long ago. It’s a wonderful stroke of luck that we have a second chance to do right by them.”

Fola closed her eyes. She heard his words. She understood what he was saying. Void, she agreed with him. But this wonderful stroke of luck could be such for every mouse in Delcastia. If the situation was reversed, the mice would never abandon their orphans. It was the humans who should be risking their lives for their children, not mice — involuntarily.

“I know this is a difficult decision to accept. The Flying Knights initially had the same objections as you, but in the end, they agreed this was the right course of action.”

Surrounded by humans who wanted them to agree.

“Sir,” Elro said, “two manacarriages is not enough to save all the orphans in Delcastia.”

“I know,” Sacro said with a sigh. “It’s the best we can do. We asked Lord Veck how fast the manacarriages were. He said: ‘it depends on the driver.’ ”

All this sacrifice, and they’d still leave dozens behind.

Sacro handed them slips of paper with the addresses of the manacarriages and the drivers.

“One day, when you have children of your own, you’ll understand.”

She already understood. Light, why did the Paladins have to be so smarmily right all the time? Somehow, Sacro could be inspiringly noble and aggravatingly cheeky at the same time. Only with fellow members of the Order, of course.

“Sir,” Elro said flatly, “with all due respect, you have no children.”

Sacro winked. “You’re all my children. And Grima counts as a dozen.”

Later, when other mice asked Fola to recount her interactions with Paladin “Guiding Light” Sacro, she’d tell them about how she could never make sense of him at the end. Calm, composed, confident in the team he’d built, satisfied with the “children” he’d raised, in the city he’d spent his life defending, in the hour before its fall.