“I told you to run.”  Cronos said between gritted teeth, blocking an overhand swing from one of the monsters with crossed blades that cut its arm to the bone.  “Now I have to get us BOTH out of here.”

“I’m not leaving you behind.”  She snarled as a set of razor sharp claws slashed through her upper arm before she could dodge it.

“Sometimes you need to learn to take orders from others.”  He said, a strange tone in his voice.  “Sorry you had to learn it this way.”

An explosion erupted from beneath her feet, catapulting her through the air and onto flat third story roof of a building.  Looking down, she saw that her brother had been transfixed by four of the creature’s clawed hands.  The bloodied tips had punched all the way through his body, sixteen points of stained ivory spelling out a death sentence.

Something broke inside her and Callindra slumped to her knees, crying like she hadn’t since she was a child.  With a crash, Vilhylm, Kain and Holt broke through another alley with the small contingent of guards at their back.  They were too late.  It was all her fault.

–

Her brother was dead.

After the ill-fated battle where she had been lured into the ambush where Cronos had died saving her life, the city had burned.  All the Taken inside had died in the ensuing inferno, as had any surviving humans.  Vilhylm had managed to get her and their brother’s corpse out before the fire destroyed everything.  Callindra was grateful that they would have something to bury.

She and Vilhylm stood before the grave they had made for their brother.  Between them they had formed something out of stone that would seal forever.  They both knew that Cronos wouldn’t want to take any chances of coming back as a Taken.

The people of the town they’d saved had softened, seeing what they had sacrificed to defend complete strangers.  Hearing the reports from the soldiers about how many Taken they had slain and about how many more townsfolk would have died had they not fought.  Their understanding only made Callindra feel worse.

“It wasn’t worth it.”  She told Vilhylm bitterly.

“It was not your choice.”  He said, putting a hand on her shoulder.  “You may have decided to help those people, but he is the one who chose to save you.  We made you our leader for many reasons, one being your sense of duty and honor.”

“I shouldn’t have gone that last time.  I should have listened when he told me to wait.”  She squeezed her eyes shut, but the tears leaked out anyway.  “He should not have died protecting me.”

“Tryst died for us too.”  Vilhylm said softly.  “A person’s life is theirs to spend.”

Holt came up behind them.  “Kain and I have something to add for the memorial, if it is acceptable to you.”

Kain stood behind them, fiddling with his robe nervously.  “I thought that since evil is supposed to have more difficulty crossing running water, and that this seems to be near a small underground spring I could purify it.  Holt found the spring and I think I can do the rest.”

He stood behind Cronos’s coffin and held his holy symbol in both hands.  Speaking in his native Orcish, the words of prayer and reverence seemed strange, but as he prayed they could feel the presence of the Divine.  Kain put his hand on the stone wall behind the coffin and a brilliant white flame began to burn.  The stone cracked and water flowed out over the sealed coffin and down the hillside.

“He shall never be corrupted by the forces of evil.”  Kain said, weary satisfaction in his voice.

“Thank you two.”  Callindra said, wiping tears from her cheeks.  “This means the world to us.”

The water of the small stream flowed down and into the river below, its purity obvious as the waters mingled.  Something began to throb, sounding for all the world like the slow beating of a heart.  It should have sounded ominous, but as the pure, clean water began to filter into the muddy river, Kain assured them this was something good.

“The earth is attempting to cleanse itself.” He said with a smile, “I know it isn’t much, but everything starts off small.”

Ahead of them, the town of Woodfordshire was burning.  Callindra could hear the screams of people and the clash of steel on steel and bone over the roar of the flames and a flame of rage had begun to burn within her breast.  She had seen enough of people being slaughtered.

“We are going to get in there, save as may of those people as we can and put an end to the Spawn of the Abyss that are causing this destruction.”  She pointed to a small beach on the river bank.  “Land there, we don’t want to risk the boat.”

With grim determination, they checked their weapons and armor once on shore.  Callindra hadn’t seen them this focused in a long time if ever.  They’d seen what the results of a town being overrun by Taken was a few days earlier.  None of them were soon to forget or forgive the destruction of so many, even though the townsfolk hadn’t all been friendly.

“Let’s make this fast and hard.  Hit anything Taken that’s in the way but focus on anything that is attacking humans.  I’m leading, Holt and Kain you flank, Reed you’re behind me as lookout.  Cronos, rear guard and damage control is on you, I’m counting on you to keep us from getting swarmed or pinned down by anything big.”

She looked at them all to see their nods of confirmation before calling on the Winds and Weave to speed her sword arm.  They moved through the outskirts of the town at a swift trot, keeping their eyes moving.

“Ware high.”  Reed said in a tense voice.  Two arrows flashed from Holt’s bow almost before Reed finished speaking, punching through the skulls of two Taken humans standing on rooftops.

They rounded a corner and saw a mob of Taken humans, animals and monsters attacking a group of warriors who were guarding the entrance to an alley.  Callindra broke into a run and slammed into the rear of the Taken, cutting two of them down with a slash to the left and right.  She was dimly aware of her companions attacking behind her but her focus was on the monsters ahead.

With a shout of anger, she swung Shadowsliver in a broad sweeping arc and released a raw blast of wind focused into tiny whirling blades that exploded into their midst.  Her spell severed limbs and carved great holes in flesh and she kept running, dodging a sword thrust.  The anger she felt at these THINGS for the atrocities they had committed against the living had reached a critical breaking point.

Three monsters that might have once been bears converged on her, reaching with wickedly curved claws.  She ducked one, parried a blow from another with a strike that split the creature’s paw to the wrist.  The third one caught her across the stomach, ripping through the tough leather of her armor and scoring the flesh beneath.

She snarled in fury, spinning to disembowel the one that hit her.  Her follow up strike took it up under the jaw as it slumped forward and punched through the top of its skull.  Callindra danced sideways, whipping Shadowsliver out of the falling monster.  The motion caused it to land in the path of the second, giving her time to dispatch the first with a slash that nearly removed its head from its body.

A rumble of thunder from above made everyone but her momentarily stop and look up.  She raised Shadowsliver over her head and a bolt of lightning lanced down into his twin tips.  She pointed five splayed fingers at the enemies on her right and scintillating bolts flashed out at her enemies, burning them to charred and smoldering flesh.

Callindra turned to the remaining foes, electricity crackling over her skin and making her hair stand on end.  They would pay for this.  She would send them back to the Abyss.  Lowering her blade, she prepared to unleash her fury on them but a ringing slap to her face made her blink in surprise.

She realized Vilhylm was shouting at her.  Looking around, she saw dead chopped and burned Taken all around them.  Her brother had narrowly stopped her from blasting the soldiers they’d been trying to protect into oblivion.  The Weave still seethed through her, demanding release.  With a curse she grounded Shadowsliver, the heat of the discharge turning the sand under her feet to glass for a pace in every direction.

“I might be able to manage something.”  Cronos said, frowning slightly.  “It’s not my specialty, but I could possibly reverse one of my spells and create cold instead of fire.”

“If you could freeze the surface of the river, we could just run to the boat.”  Reed said excitedly, “How long would it last?”

“I have no idea.”  Cronos said uncertainly, “I’ve never tried it before.”

“If it works though, it would also incapacitate the creatures in the water, keeping them from raising any kind of alarm until we are long gone with our river boat.”  Callindra said, smiling at the thought. “I think it’s a good idea.”

“Give me a minute to focus.”  Cronos said, clearly uncomfortable with such an important task being his direct responsibility.

“Take all the time you need.”  She said, giving him a quick, fierce hug.  “I know you can do it.”

They sat in the darkness, listening to Cronos chanting a barely audible mantra.  After a quarter candlemark, he stood slowly and stretched.  “I think I am ready.”  He said, leading the way toward the river.  When they arrived, he incanted a spell in a low voice and a tiny ball of blue light began to gather in his palm.

After it had swelled to the size of an apple, he exhaled sharply and tossed it into the water.  At first nothing seemed to happen, but then the water in a rough sphere twenty paces wide became ice with a shockingly loud report of cracking ice.

“Run!”  Callindra said, even though the others were already on the move.  They slipped and slid over the surface of the smooth surface that was already melting in the summer’s heat.

To her intense surprise and relief, they reached the side of the dock and clambered up a ladder without falling and without anything trying to stop them.  Once they had gained the dock, a howl of hunger and rage went up from the shore and dozens of Taken immediately began running down the dock with reckless speed towards them.

Arrows began whistling over her shoulder to hammer into their foes, sometimes hitting hard enough to pierce through two, but it wasn’t enough to stop the rush.  Callindra whirled Shadowsliver and prepared herself for a last stand, but Reed darted forward and hurled something down hard on the dock in front of them.

With a roar, a sheet of flame hot enough to hurt her face erupted, rapidly consuming the worm eaten planks of the dock.  He grabbed her arm and tugged hard.  “Quit staring and RUN!”

“How did you do that?”  She asked, grinning at him as they leaped into the ship.

“Alchemist’s fire.”  He said with a mournful look on his face.  “It was the only vial of it I managed to pilfer.  Better to lose it than die I suppose.”

Behind them the Taken had run into the fire and fallen through the weakened planking.  Some tried to leap over the gap and a few even succeeded but they had already deployed the oars and boat was making its way into the current and downstream.  It was a narrow escape, and that thought sobered her as the euphoria of the night wore off.

“God’s balls.” She swore, “I left almost all my gear back in the inn.”

As soon as she got back into the room, she shut and bolted the door.  Her brothers in arms were all waiting for her, fully dressed and girded for battle.  She wasn’t sure she wanted all of them to be involved; but she also didn’t think she could get any of them to stay behind.

“Reed snuck into the women’s bath to chide me for my slothful ways.”  She said by way of greeting.  “The rascal said he’d be waiting behind in the alley for when we finally got our wits about us.  He seemed to think the law would burn this inn to the ground if that’s what it took to put me in my place.”

“We all got not so subtle warnings about curfew and how strict the town guard is from the serving girls.” Cronos said with a bemused look on his face.  “They all seem quite taken with your brash and bold self sister.”

“I’m sure your scarred and roguish face is appealing as well brother mine.”  She said, allowing a smile to turn up one corner of her mouth.  “But now we need to move quickly so that we can get him out and safe before they even suspect he’s gone.”

They tied ropes to the bed posts and dropped them down to the side street.  No watch patrols seemed to be making rounds inside the city, but they had been tipped off about their existence and so progressed carefully.

Reed was waiting for them in the shadows of a doorway and gave them a stern look when they arrived.  “You tryin to bring the entire guard down on us?”  He said in a low voice.  “I heard catfights what made less noise.”

“Lead on.”  Callindra said in the same low tone, knowing whispers tended to carry further but only remembering because he had done it first.  “I thought you wanted us to hurry.”

He glared at her, but slipped off down the dark street, moving from shadow to shadow with barely a sound.  She had to admit that at very least Reed made far less noise than her brothers did.  The little urchin wasn’t quieter than she was though.  Not much.

After a few tense minutes, they stopped at Reed’s raised hand.  He came back to them with obvious frustration on his face. As he did, Callindra noticed a lot of light coming from an alley ahead and got a sinking feeling in her stomach.

“The building they use for a jail’s in the middle of the square ahead.” He said grimly, “They got torches lit everywhere an a couple dozen guards.  We ain’t getting in.”

“Maybe you aren’t.”  Callindra said calmly, “But I am.  Once I have him free I’ll signal for a diversion, then we can escape.”

Before they could stop her, she slid a hand down Shadowsliver’s blade and drew upon the power of the Weave.  Stepping lightly off the cobblestones she began to run into the air.  It was a difficult working and she was sweating by the time she had gained enough altitude to be out of sight of the guards down in the torchlit square.

She landed on the roof silently and released the spell.  As she had hoped, this wasn’t really a proper jail, just a house made of stone.  The windows weren’t barred, and she was easily able to wedge one of them open and slip inside.  A strange sweet smell met her as she gently slid the window closed behind her.  She didn’t know what it was, but for some reason it made her skin crawl.

After looking around briefly, she opened the door and snuck down a hallway and a set of stairs.  The sound of the guards marching outside the building was almost loud enough to drown out the conversation happening just on the other side of the door.

“Just gut him and throw him in the pit.  I don’t care what that fatass mayor says.  This one is too damn much trouble.”  A sweet and beguiling voice said.  “His friends aren’t coming for him.  We won’t trap them so easily.”

“I will crush that little wench into paste.”  A low voice rumbled.  “Putting on airs, carrying a sword.  BONDING a weapon.  She will die.”

A year ago, these words would have sent Callindra through the door in a fury.  Her losses and experience had taught her to bank the fires of her rage however, and she waited patiently instead.  The exertion of flying to the top of this place had drained her, but she needed an edge if she was going to survive and escape with Holt.  Closing her eyes, she touched Shadowsliver’s hilt and incanted a spell.