Another arrow.
Another blast.
Not enough to wound, but to guide the soldiers away from the houses.
The wave of soldiers quickened, weapons scraping against the cobblestones.
Close.
Closer.
The warriors around me gripped their weapons harder, the leather of their armors rustling as they tensed.
In the moonlight filtering through the lacy curtains, I saw determination blaze in their eyes. They’d seen unimaginable horrors in war, but this was the first time our land was invaded.
We’d make sure this was the last.
The first window broke a second later, three houses away.
The crack of splintering wood filled the air as the soldiers kicked down doors which had been cared for and painted year after year by the same civilians they now wanted to kill in their own beds.
But those civilians weren’t there.
The Northern soldiers would never get their weapons wet on my people’s blood as long as I had air in my lungs.
The door to the small house I’d laid in waiting shattered a moment later.
Instead of scared, cowering civilians, I and a handful of fully armed, enraged warriors greeted the soldiers. They froze in the threshold, hook weapons raised.
“You are not welcome here,” I said before kicking the largest one so hard, I propelled him outside the house and flat on his back in the street.
“Now!” My roar carried through the entire city.
Droves of warriors poured from inside the homes, their cries shaking the ground. They tackled the invaders to the ground and sliced through the rest.
We didn’t have the Borderline Bands’ vigor, but a different kind of calling beat through all of us.
Protecting our home against the invaders.
More arrows rained down upon them, this time sharp and silent. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted one of the soldiers following the arrows’ path. His dark gaze shined as he located Allie on the roof.
He spun the thick rope and the hook on its end, eyes narrowed on her.
I saw red.
With a flick of my wrist, one dagger cut through the rope just as he released the hook meant to impale her. The second stuck into his neck, halting him forever.
Allie sent a flutter of gratitude my way, before loosing her bow string again. And again.
My daggers hissed through the air to the same tune of Allie’s arrows slashing through the night sky.
Yet I sensed a growing dread wafting from her.
A few moments later, I understood.
Like in the war, our opponents kept coming and coming. Wave after wave, pouring from between the trees. Hundreds. Thousands.
For a breath, I was transported back onto that battlefield, rain on my face, the stench of bloodied mud in my nostrils, Geryll lying on the ground.
