We finally break free of the dark forest. The trees thin, and I can see the gates of Phiur rising in the distance. Green vegetation gives way to yellow scrub grass. Farther on, the scrub grass gives way to tall, sandy brick walls. Rising cliffs surround the walls, and it’s difficult to tell where one ends and one begins. The walls are at least the height of Gallaed’s, and the cliffs disappear into the clouds above.
The sight of it brings me mixed feelings.
For now, my exhaustion wins out. The mental and physical effort of putting one foot in front of the other is almost too much to maintain, but seeing Phiur fills me with determination. We made it out of the Zora Cover. The end is in sight, and at that end, I know there’s a hot meal and a warm bed.
“I’m going to eat two whole quails,” Hax is saying, for anyone who is listening. For now, we’re a captive audience and have no choice. “And a bowl of stew. And a bread roll with every bite. And mashed potatoes–”
“Gods, Hax, shut up,” Blaize snaps. “I can’t handle anymore of your prattling on.”
Hax glares at her over the hand he’s just stuffed in his mouth to illustrate the point of how hungry he is.
“Come on, guys. We’re almost there. Just hold it together for a little bit longer. I know you’re tired.” Jilli is leaning on Gnuf as they walk. “I’m tired too, but twelve hours in a soft bed is the best medicine for all of us, and it's only a few more steps away.”
Her words are encouraging, but it’s definitely farther than a few steps.
Mieklo is asleep in my hair, his long tail curled around the back of my neck. I focus on his contentment, and it distracts me enough. Thankfully, my body still has enough energy to move me forward without my conscious help.
“State your business.” The guards are above us. All I can see is two sets of eyes peering out of the visors of their helms. They look down at us through a single arrowslit.
Blaize comes forward, and Jilli steps out of her way. “We’re escorting a friend to the library.”
“Lieutenant, err, Miss Blaize!” one of the guards exclaims in recognition. Wait. How does he know Blaize? “Welcome home. Let me get the gate for you.”
Home?
The tall stone gate opens, and the guard meets us there. He and Blaize clasp arms. He’s an older man with gray peppering his beard.
“Anthen, what’s going on? Why’s the gate closed? It should be open during the day.”
“Apologies, Miss Blaize, but captain’s orders. Word came about Roln falling and Northend being attacked. He wants us on high alert. No one’s ever seen the erebus in such numbers and so bold.”
Blaize nods. Her posture is different, stiffer.
“Nothing will come through those gates,” Anthen says. It brooks no argument, and he says it to the rest of us as much as Blaize. “Do you want me to send word to Captain Dmaris that you’re here?”
“We need to rest first. My friends and I have had a rough tenday."
"Erebus? he asks.
"No, we've been lucky in that regard. We just missed them in Northend and haven't encountered any on the road. The monsters in the wild seem more aggressive than usual, though. Maybe it's related, but I don't know."
"Well, I can get your room in the barracks tidied up, or…?"
"We'll need a bit more space than that. Two rooms at the Jolly Lute will do just fine," Blaize says. "And a stable for the ummuth. He needs a bath."
"And some," Hax grumbles.
“You need a bath too,” Blaize adds over her shoulder to him.
The elementalist frowns, and Anthen cracks the slightest smile.
It’s gone again before he says, “I’ll have it arranged.”
“We’ll be in their greatroom, getting a meal.” With that, Blaize leads us away.
“Wait, so you’re a soldier?” I ask when we’re out of earshot.
“I was a lieutenant for the city guard before I started adventuring,” Blaize answers. She sees the number of questions remaining on my face. “Fifty years as a city guard was enough for me. I was tired of watching my friends retire and training young, know-nothing kids. I’ve never been a very patient teacher.” She chuckles. “But apparently I made an impression on Anthen. I’m surprised he remembers me. He was just a baby-face when I left.”
“You left with Jilli?”
“No, this was before I met Jilli. I wanted to see more than the walls of this city and the mountains around it.”
“So are your parents here in Phiur?” I ask.
“No, they’re way up in the mountains. They like their privacy.”
My disappointment must be clear on my face, because Blaize continues. “They’ll never let me hear the end of it if I come through Phiur and I don’t visit them. You could come with me.”
I don’t think my smile can get any bigger. “Really? That’d be great.”
“Yeah, we don’t have to take you to the library right away.”
The reminder tempers my mood.
“There’s no rush,” she assures me, squeezing my shoulder. “I think we might stay here in Phiur for a bit.” She looks back at Jilli, and the barbarian woman gives her a warm smile. “We could use the rest.”
Dinner is spicy banji meat in sauce over couscous, and it’s a quiet affair. We’re all too tired to do much more than get the food from the bowls to our mouths. I’m getting used to eating with a flatbread instead of utensils. I’m hungry, but I’m more tired than anything. It’s getting upstairs to a bed that I look forward to.
I lay down as Mieklo skitters onto the pillow. He perches on the corner and alternates between watching me and looking out the window. The skyline looks like sandy, stacked blocks, all the buildings square and staggered in height. The rosy sky covers the buildings in splashes of evening light.
Then the room is bright and the sky is pale blue. I fell asleep, and it’s already the next day.
The room is empty, but I can hear muffled voices through the door. I listen with my ear against the wood, but I still can’t make out any of the words.
The door swings open, and I stumble, landing on the floor. The fall stings my palms.
“Good morning,” Blaize says. She helps me back to my feet.
A man stands with her in the hallway. He wears the armor of the city guard.
“This is Captain Dmaris–”
She’s interrupted by agitated xichu noises. Mieklo runs out of our room and up my arm. He’s chittering away, shaking with anxiety.
“What is it?”
He runs back down my leg, back into our room. My eyes follow him.
A great black cloud obscures the blue sky out the window. It’s no storm cloud. It’s thick smoke, and when I run to the window, I see fire. It’s coming from one of the buildings.
“What’s happening?” I ask.
“I don’t know, but I intend to find out,” Captain Dmaris says.
Blaize grabs his arm before he can leave. “I’m coming too.”
He starts to argue, but cuts himself off and nods. “Your help is appreciated.”
Blaize knocks on the door to our second room, where she and Jilli slept, but she’s down the stairs before it opens. Captain Dmaris follows.
Jilli looks through the cracked door at me, being the only one still standing there. She’s bleary eyed. She’d still been sleeping. “Lo?” she asks as she rubs away the sleep.
“Something’s going on. There’s a fire.” I point to the window. The view is totally blackened by smoke now, and I think I can smell it, though it might be my imagination. “Blaize is going to help the city guard.”
The sleepiness falls away from Jilli’s face. She fetches her sword, and closes the door behind her. “Let’s go. Where are Rent and Hax?”
I shrug. “The greatroom maybe.”
They are, and within minutes, we’re all gathered and heading for the door. Hax insists upon taking the coffee he’s only half finished. He warms his hands with it and keeps the steam coming off it close to his face.
Rent pulls me aside first. “Lo, you should stay here. We don’t know what’s going on yet. It may not be safe.”
“We stay together,” I say as I belt on the broadsword.
I can tell he wants to argue, but Rent concedes. “Come on then. Stay close. Don’t fall behind. Don’t wander off. Keep your sword ready, in case you need it.”
I nod and secretly smile at his concern when he turns to leave.
Jogging through the streets is chaotic. People are running away from the burning building we are running toward. I bump into them, apologizing repeatedly, and it’s obvious we’re the only ones going toward the fire.
Captain Dmaris and Blaize lead. They speak, but I can’t hear their words over the riot of voices. Then suddenly, the people are all gone, and we’re left alone in the street before the burning building.
A chunk of its flat roof has crumpled inward. A giant, jagged rock, more reddish than the building’s yellow bricks, fills the hole, flames licking along its sides.
It looks like a chunk of the mountain fell off and crushed the building. But how? I look up at the cliffs, but we’re in the middle of Phiur, nowhere near the cliffs.
Captain Dmaris seems to know the answer. “Hurry, we have to get to the gate.”
We run back through the crowds of confused people. It’s farther to the gate. Every other step I take, I bump into people, trying to keep up with the others. Soon I’m only following Jilli’s large form, towering above the rest, but I’m still falling behind. More people push past, and it seems everyone is getting ahead of me. Soon I’ll lose Jilli too.
Then Rent’s at my elbow. He shields me, and we press harder through the crowd. We catch up to the others as we break free of the clustered people at the gate. A dozen or more city guard hold the crowd back from the wall.
Their relief is palpable when they see Captain Dmaris.
“Sir,” one of the guards say as they approach us, “it’s erebus.”
We climb a tower to the wall. I look back into the city, and I see the guards continue to hold the people back. I look outside the city, and my breath catches.
It’s an army of demons.
It’s a vast sea of red and black, roiling and ready to crash over the city wall. The erebus closest to the wall have swords and axes, but the ones behind them have wings. There are less of the flying demons, and though they carry no weapons, I assume they wield magic and are more powerful than the ones carrying weapons. Standing near where the city wall meets the mountains are three huge, greenish demons that tower above the rest. They have four thick legs and two massive arms. Their faces are thick and jowly with tusks coming out of the corners of their mouths and horns coming out of their head.
One holds a giant chunk of the cliffs, preparing to throw it.
I notice the erebus don’t come right up to the wall. They’re content to stay back a ways, for now. They’re waiting for something.
The city wall is crowded with guards with bows, and I see that Blaize has taken up one as well. She hollers commands.
“Nock! Raise! Fire!”
A volley of arrows arch up into the air, then fall into the crowd of demons. Many miss or bounce off of armor, but some strike true. The demons growl but hardly seemed deterred. They rattle their weapons, yanking out or snapping off the tiny arrows.
Captain Dmaris is farther down the line. He yells similar commands and another group of arrows fly.
Before our line of archers fire again, one of the massive demons throws its rock.
“Moraxus, incoming!” Blaize shouts.
Everyone ducks below the battlement, but the rock sails high over our heads. It crushes a building, and I swear I can hear the screams.
I tighten my grip on the broadsword, feeling useless and helpless, my back pressed against the crenellations. As the city guards rise up and ready their bows again, a shout comes up from farther down, near Captain Dmaris.
“Naberius, incoming!”
“Gods! They’re climbing the walls!”
I look down to see giant dog-like creatures scaling the wall. Their skin is fiery red, and they look like all of the flesh has been flayed from their skulls, leaving just white bone, long, sharp teeth, and two jagged horns curling back behind their heads. There’s about a dozen of them, and they climb straight up to where Captain Dmaris commands.
Blaize and the other archers turn their bows on the naberius. A storm of arrows fly at the demon dogs, and many find their mark, but the naberius hardly notice the projectiles protruding from their skin. A quick second volley is more effective.
One of the demon dogs loses their grip and falls. It’s a long drop, and when the naberius hits the ground, it doesn’t move again.
At least they can die.
The pack of naberius come over the battlement. They rip apart the line of guards who stand up to them. Captain Dmaris orders bows away and swords out. He tries to keep order, but several young guards just buckle under their terror. They’re the first the naberius devour.
Jilli and Blaize charge in with their weapons, and Rent and Hax both start to cast spells. Rent’s hands begin to glow, and Hax’s grow frosty, freezing the air around him.
A pair of ice daggers whizz through the air and bury themselves in the shoulder of one naberius. It snarls and turns on him, but Jilli takes off its head with a heavy downward blow.
They can die, but not fast enough.
Blaize keeps her knives moving before her. They slash and stab, but they’re defensive as well. They catch the jaws of one naberius as it goes for her face. She grunts as it presses into her, pushes her back. I’m surprised she can stand against the demon dog’s weight.
I remember the broadsword in my hand. I hold it out before me in both hands and run forward. I’m surprised by the resistance as the blade cuts into naberius flesh, but my momentum propels me forward.
The demon dog howls and turns on me.
My blade is stuck in its ribs, but I can’t bring myself to let it go.
A mouthful of sharp teeth come at me. I can only think to press the sword harder into it.
Blaize’s knife comes across and slashes the naberius’ throat. I gasp and sputter as hot, black demon blood sprays across me.
The elf pulls my sword from the naberius’ chest, using her foot to give her more leverage. She flips it around and hands it to me, hilt first. “Remember to keep hold of your weapon.” Then she’s off to slay another.
The naberius decimate the city guard’s numbers, but we win the skirmish. A fatigued cheer goes up as the last one falls.
Rent’s healing those he can. Many are beyond the help of the goddess.
“Moraxus, incoming!”
The shout brings everyone’s attention back to the horde of demons still outside the gate.
One of the massive green demons throws a rock. All we can do is watch, wondering where it will land, but the rock isn’t aimed over the wall. The rock comes straight at the wall. Guards scatter, running in either direction from the targeted spot on the wall. Blaize grabs me by the shoulders and hurries me farther away.
The rock punches through the battlement atop the wall, and it disintegrates into sand. The whole wall shudders, and I fear it will drop out from under us. I have to grip the battlement to stay on my feet.
Following its initial impact, the rock crumbles the wall beneath it, all the weight of it and the wall tumbling to the ground.
The wall stops swaying, but the damage is done.
The city wall of Phiur has been breached, and demons flood through the break.
~ * ~
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