Ell gasped and Jak took another step backwards.

She was an old, old woman. In a lot of ways she looked like a villager, but she was dressed in strange rags, and wore a floppy black hat on her head.

She had a thick leather belt around her waist, and glass vials hung from it. They tinkled against each other as she moved. Mat had read all about witches, and their potions. They had terrible poisons, and other things. They hated everyone.

Pru was frozen with fear, her eyes were wide and shocked. Jak looked like he had realized that nobody was going to run. So instead he growled at Rab.

“What's going on? What are you trying to do?”

Rab held up his hand.

“Relax, everything's probably fine,” he said.

“Probably?” said Mat.

“Let's find out,” said Nem. “This is Rezab. She's a witch, you can probably tell.”

“How do things look, Rezab?” Rab said.

Mat realized they weren't worried about the witch at all. The horrible creature – half villager, half mob – stared at each of them, one at a time. Her eyes glittered in the darkness. She didn't look friendly. Not at all. Her eyes met Mat's, and he felt a chill go through his whole body.

When she came Bren, she went right up to him and stared hard. Pru moved away from the two of them, looking panicked. Bren didn't even seem to notice her. He was looking over at the lights on the island.

The witch made a weird noise. It sounded like she was sniffing him.

“You,” she to Bren in a gravely voice. “I've heard about you.”

Bren didn’t say anything.

Then she turned away from them and started walking back into the swamp.

“Just villagers,” they heard her say. Then she started laughing again.

“What was that?” Ell said. She sounded horrified and she was staring at Rab and Nem like she didn't trust them any more.

Nem waved it all away with one hand.

“We can explain later. She was just letting us know if you were really villagers, or... something else.”

Pru still looked terrified.

“What does that mean? What something else?”

Nem didn't get a chance to answer.

“Ashmen!” Jak yelled.

There were three of them. Everyone's attention had been on the witch, and none of them had noticed the mobs shuffling towards them.

Rab pulled out his sword, and Rem grabbed her bow. There wasn't enough time, though. The first Ashman was already reaching towards Pru.

“Run!” Ell shouted at her.

But Pru wasn't going to leave Bren behind. She started dragging the old man along with her.

They weren't going to make it.

That was when something flew out of the darkness and smashed against the nearest Ashman. There was a loud hiss and the mob groaned, then flashed and disappeared. A screechy voice yelled some words that Mat couldn't understand. He looked and saw the witch standing in the swamp with her arms up in the air.

The last two Ashmen stopped where they were, their arms swinging. Then the witch turned and walked into the swamp, and disappeared.

They all hurried along the little path of land that led out to the island. Mat thought the near-miss with the Ashmen had spooked even Rab and Nem, so there was no more delay. Rab walked along behind Pru and Bren, looking backwards now and then to make sure they weren't being followed.

“I’ve never seen her do that,” he said.

“Do what?” said Mat.

“Help out like that. Help anyone.”

He shook his head and kept walking. When they reached the island the villagers were waiting for them. They didn't exactly look happy. They stared at the newcomers like they were hoping for good news, or maybe the faces of people they knew.

“We found five more,” Rab said loudly, and the villagers watched him.

They were all looking at Rab like he was the head of their council.

Since he and Nem are the only ones who can protect them now, I guess he kind of is, Mat thought.

Rab and Nem introduced them to everyone. There were more people than in Mat and Jak's old village – way more. There was Zem, a tall Tanner who looked like he was as old as Bren, but he was sharp-eyed and lively. Mat shook hands with Lil, a nervous Baker who kept glancing over at the mainland like she expected to see mobs streaming out to attack them. She looked like she was relieved that Rab and Nem were back on the island again. After that Mat and Jak exchanged nods with Kru, a blacksmith who gave them a serious looking over before he shook their hands.

Then they were all introduced to the cluster of old folks and children who sat together in a circle near the trees at the center of the island. There was Urn and Olo and Rin and Sam and Iri and Bru and Den, and a couple of others, and Mat had no idea who was who when they were done. Pru moved off to sit with them right away, and brought Bren along with her.

I guess I'm just going to have to talk to them all one by one until I actually learn their names, Mat thought. But it was good to see Pru settling in with them so fast. She looked less worried when she had people to help.

But then there were even more people – a shepherd named Bil who smiled nervously, a fisherman named Rog who just sighed and nodded, a toolsmith named Mor who grinned and shook Mat's hand until he had to pull it away, a blacksmith named Mit who came from the same village as Bil, apparently.

Mat was just about dizzy as they kept getting introduced to more and more people. But he noticed that Rab was talking about Ell and Jak – and even Mat for some reason – as if they could help everyone. That was obvious enough in Ell's case, but it made him nervous. What good could he possibly be?

“They all survived out there on their own for a long time,” Nem said to the villagers. “We're going to start changing things now! The new village begins tomorrow!”

Not that anyone had any idea what she was talking about until he gathered them all together and told them about Ell.

“Nem and I can defend us all from the mobs, but Ell here is special,” Rab said.

Ell looked like she approved of that. She smiled around at the group, who were all watching her carefully.

“She can build,” Nem said. “Houses, gardens. The same way we can use these.”

She wiggled her bow.

“That means the real village can finally start! The new village. Safe from mobs. Safe from anything else that wants to attack us.”

They got Ell to show them how she could make a torch, and she showed them all the silvery, glittering axe that she carried. Jak still frowned, but everyone else looked stunned.

“That's... amazing,” Kru the blacksmith said. “How did you manage to learn to do that?”

Ell glanced over towards Pru and Bren, but she just said, “It's a long story. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.”

A wave of talking and laughing swept across the villagers. It was like everyone suddenly had a huge weight taken away from them. They almost sounded like a normal bunch of villagers again.

“When will you make a house?” shouted someone.

Ell smirked at him.

“Can it wait until tomorrow? It's been kind of a long day.”

Rab nodded.

“I think one more night isn't going to be a problem,” he said. “Why don't we all just relax for once?”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Nobody seemed to mind that at all. It was nearly a party – everyone spent a long time just eating and chatting. They all left Jak and Mat and Ell and Pru and even Rab and Nem mostly alone, which was fine by them. It was good to finally sit down and not worry so much. By the time people started drifting off to sleep even Mat had eaten three more carrots.

Filthy disgusting carrots, he thought. He was probably never going to eat another carrot again after this.

But then Mat realized that he was wide awake. His body was tired, but his mind kept racing, so eventually he got up to go for a walk. He found Pru down by the water as well.

“I can't sleep,” she said.

“Join the club. I think I've spent too many nights watching out for mobs.”

“So this is our new village?” she said.

He shrugged.

“Looks like it. If Ell can do what she says, and Rab and Nem can protect us, then why not?”

They walked along together until they reached the path back out to the mainland, where they found Lil, the Baker standing by the water.

“You not tired either?” said Mat.

“Look,” she said, pointing. “Up on the mountains. The moon.”

The moon was peeking over the mountaintops now. It was a big yellow-white circle, like always. But in front of it they could see the outlines of three figures watching the village.

“Walkers?” Pru said.

Mat looked harder, squinting.

“Maybe two of them. The other one... I'm not sure. Could be a villager. Or someone. Not a mob, anyway.”

Lil laughed. It sounded like panic.

“I knew they would come back. That's what I've been saying. They're not going to leave us alone.”

Pru shook her head angrily.

“Why would they want to...”

She stopped like she didn't want to finish the sentence.

“Maybe they've been waiting,” the girl said. “Waiting for us all to be in one place.”

Mat didn't like to think about that, but there was no denying that they were being watched.

“We should tell... who?” Pru said. “Rab and Nem? Ell? Jak?”

“All of them,” Mat said.

Lil didn't say anything, she just kept staring up at the figures outlined against the moon, standing with her arms crossed tightly like she was cold.

“They know we're here,” she said again. “They're going to come for us.”

Mat didn't like the tone of her voice.

“Then maybe we should be waiting for them,” he said angrily.

Rab and Nem had shown them they didn't have to just give up. Ell being with them meant they could actually make things. They didn't have to run and run.

Pru nodded.

“When they come, we have to get the children and the old ones on the other side, out by the water,” she said.

Mat felt like she was already in charge of taking care of everyone who needed help.

They left the girl there, staring at the mountains. Mat told her to come and let them know if anything else happened. When they left she looked more confident, like having a job made her a little less scared.

Then they ran back to find the others. Rab, Nem, Jak, and Ell all looked grim when Mat and Pru woke them up. Jak just shook his head and glared towards the mountains.

“I can't do anything!” he said to Rab and Nem. “You two can fight, Ell can build things. I'm useless here.”

Rab sighed.

“You have authority. People listen to you,” he said. “We need you to keep them calm, and ready to do what we need.”

Jak kept frowning. It was obvious he wanted to do more than just that.

“We need to build a wall,” Nem said to Ell. “Stone, wood, whatever. We need to block the path out across the water.”

“Maybe they were just watching us to make sure we were staying away,” Ell said. “We don't actually know what they wanted.”

“And if you're wrong?” Mat said. “If they bring more Bonewalkers, or Ashmen, or whatever, then what are we going to do? We're stuck out here in the water.”

“These two can fight,” Ell said, pointing at Rab and Nem. “We saw them do it.”

“Not against dozens of them,” Nem said. “We tried that before and we only just barely made it. If there's too many, we can't stop them.”

Ell frowned, fuming.

“So everyone just sits outside? Gets shot at with arrows? If we build a house then we can get behind some doors like normal. After that I'll build whatever else we need. A wall even.”

Nem was glaring at Ell. The two of them looked ready to jump at each other.

“We only get one chance to do this right,” Nem said. “If they can't get out here then they can't do anything. If there's no wall then they can just keep coming until we lose.”

Ell rolled her eyes.

“How many of them do you think there's going to be? You took care of like eight of them back there.”

“There can be a lot more,” Rab said. “Trust us. We've seen it. And they might have worse things than Bonewalkers.”

Ell shook her head, but Pru put a hand on her shoulder.

“Please, Ell,” she said. “We can't keep anyone safe if we can't keep them away from us.”

Ell looked around for support, but it was obvious what they all wanted.

“Ugh,” she said. “Fine, I'll get it over with.”

“We need to build a house too,” Mat said. “It's not like we don't want one.”

Ell just ignored him.

“Let's go,” said Nem. “We need to find the best spot.”

She and Rab led Ell away, grumbling.

“She's going to argue with everything if it's not the way she wants it,” Mat said when they were gone.

“She's the only one who can build things,” Pru said. “She kept us safe this long.”

Jak and Mat went around the island waking everyone up and getting them together in one place. Soon they were all sitting in groups around the torches, looking out towards the mainland. Everyone kept as close as they could to the light, and their faces were lit up in the dark. Little circles of faces, looking lost in thought.

Probably remembering their villages, Mat thought. They had jobs and things to do there. Now what were they? What was he? A villager with no village. It was just... nothing.

It wasn't like they could do anything. They were just trapped here on the island. He understood how they felt, but he kept a smile on his face and tried to look confident.

“Ell is already building the wall,” Jak said. “We'll keep them out if they come, don't worry.”

Mat hoped that was true. He wondered how long they had until the sun came up. At least then they'd probably be safe for another day. Maybe.

The wall was solid wood, four blocks high, and went right out into the water.

“I think it might work,” Rab said.

Ell nodded, staring at what she had made. Mat thought he could see some pride in her eyes.

Nem pointed out into the water.

“It goes right up to neck level,” she said. “One more step and you're underwater.”

“Nobody's getting around it,” Ell said.

Rab and Nem looked at each other for a second, but then nodded.

“It's a good wall,” Rab said. “I think we're as safe as we're going to get.”

“You've been all the way around the island?” Jak said. “There's nowhere else to get across to us?”

“All the way,” Nem said. “But we're going to need a door or something in the morning.”

“That I can do,” Ell said confidently. “It's actually a bit like a house, since there's no other way out here.”

Mat had to admit it was true. But it still wasn't the same as having a real roof over your head.

“Are you going to start working on the first house tomorrow?” he asked her.

Ell shook her head.

“I'm not tired. Now that this is done, I'm going to start working on it. Right away.”

Nem pointed at the big grassy patch where most of the villagers were sitting.

“What about there?” she said.

Ell just stared at her coldly.

“I'll decide where,” she said.

“Not too long now,” Mat said. “The sun will be up. Maybe we'll be...”

“Something moved,” Jak said. “I'm sure I saw something.”

The night was still very dark, and even the moonlight didn't help much when they stared out across the water. The mountains were only dark shapes, with the stars above sparkling their little bits of light.

“I don't see...” said Mat.

“There!” Rab said, pointing.

There were shapes moving. They could all see it now. Gray Walkers. More of them. A lot more than the ones that had chased them before.

Dozens of them. Heading down the hill, straight towards them.

Other things moved with them as well. Dark and stumbling things that didn't move as smoothly as Bonewalker archers. Something seemed off with them - they didn't move like Ashmen either.

“Great,” said Nem, taking her bow off her shoulder. “That's just great.”

“So many,” Ell said. It was the first time Mat had ever heard her sound uncertain.

“Will the Witch help us?” said Jak. “She got rid of the other ones.”

Rab shook his head.

“I really don't know. I wouldn't count on it.”

“You could try,” Ell said sharply.

Nem snorted and walked over to the other edge of the wall.

“Rezab!” Nem yelled out into the dark, across to the swamp. “Could use a little help here!”

They listened, hoping for something, but there was no answer.

“Witches,” Rab muttered.

“What do we do?” said Mat.

“We've got the wall,” said Rab. “We hope that's enough. Nem and I will take care of anything that gets around it.”

“Can't we do anything?” said Jak.

“Just stand by us. We'll let you know if we need anything.”

“Ell should go be with the villagers,” Jak said.

“Excuse me?” said Ell. “I can...”

“I mean go keep them organized,” said Jak. “Keep them calm.”

Ell glared at him for a second, but then nodded and headed off.

“What's that?” said Jak. He pointed up at the top of the mountains. Something was glowing orange.

“Oh no,” said Nem.

“What?” said Jak. “What is it?”

Two bright orange lights came swirling over the peaks and headed downwards. As they reached the crowd of mobs, their glow revealed a mass of Ashmen, and Gray Walkers, and some kind of lumpy shambling creatures all swarming across the little strip of land that led out to the island.

They hovered over the mob army. Waiting.

“Firethralls,” said Rab. His voice was flat. “Two of them this time.”

“Fire,” Nem said, and shuddered. “The wall isn't going to last.”