When Arek awoke, he was lying in something soft. He blinked, the haze of sleep already sloughing off him. He slowly sat up, licking his dry lips to bring some moisture back into them.

He was outside, sitting on a large pile of assorted tablecloths and clothing. A room had been made out of large wooden crates around him, although there was no roof. Arek carefully rose to his feet, inspecting his body for wounds. There was nothing.

“Arek!” Ming yelled. The orc turned as the small mage darted out from behind a crate and skidded to a stop before him.

“Is Malissa okay?” Arek asked.

Ming nodded. “Yeah. Belmont healed her right after you passed out. She’s with Belmont right now.”

“I see,” Arek said, his shoulders relaxing as the tension left them. He looked up into the sky. Pillars of smoke rose from the edges of the city and formed dark clouds in the air over them. “How long have I been unconscious?”

“A day,” Ming said. “Belmont said he spent more energy healing your muscles than he did healing the wounds the wyvern caused you. Are you feeling okay?”

“As good as I could expect for the situation,” Arek said. He rolled his stiff shoulders and forced back a yawn. “How are things looking with the horde?”

“Belmont can probably say more than I can,” Ming said. “But they could be worse. We’re holding on.”

Ming led Arek out of the room. He recognized the town square immediately, but there had been some significant changes. The barricades had been stacked higher with the corpses of wyrms.

Wounded guards laid in the center of the square. Belmont walked amongst them, healing magic pouring out of his staff. The man had dark bags under his eyes. He had his arm slung over Malissa, who was practically dragging him.

Belmont paused as he saw Arek and Ming approaching. A small smile crossed his weary face.

“Arek! I’m glad to see you’re awake,” the healer said.

“And I’m glad to be awake,” Arek said. “That was a good job you did with the healing. I can’t even tell I was leaking my guts out. How’s Malissa doing?”

“Better than the rest of you, if I had to guess,” Malissa said, giving Arek a small grin. “I heard that you and Ming saved me after I nearly got buried by wyrms.”

“We had some help,” Arek said, a frown flickering across his face. “Speaking of which….”

“He left,” Ming said, guessing Arek’s question. “He waited until Malissa got healed and then walked back into the horde.”

“Probably for the best,” Arek said.

“I agree,” Belmont said. “We don’t want to deal with another Blessed One in the camp right now. Our hands are already full.”

“How bad are things?”

“We’ve managed to keep the wyrms from pushing deeper into the city. Captain Riggs set up an outpost a few blocks away from us. We’ve been using dead wyrms as barricades to slow the horde down, and it seems to be working,” Belmont said. “It’s become a war of attrition. The city is ransacked and from our best guesses, almost half the guards have died. The fighting has turned into skirmishes as the wyrms slowly push forward, but they haven’t been able to break our defenses so far.”

“I see,” Arek said grimly. “So… what’s the plan?”

“We wait,” Belmont replied with a grim smile. “We hold the lines and wait.”

The next few days were a blur. A blood filled, painful blur. Arek lost count of the number of wyrms that he killed. Their posts were slowly forced back until they held the lines only a short distance away from the protective shield that housed the citizens of Red Mount.

No matter how many of the beasts they slew, there were more to take their place. By the time that the fourth day started to draw to a close, exhaustion ran rampant in the camps. Arek had earned some new scars that Belmont lacked the magic to fully heal, and he wasn’t alone.

Ming sported a thin line across the side of her face from where a wyvern had nearly ripped her open with a claw and a long ropey line ran across Malissa’s stomach from a particularly brutal stab wound.

The only thing that kept the guards and the Happy Sunflowers going were the citizens behind them. It started with Rovin standing on the other side of the wall, his hands pressed together. Then the other councilmembers joined him, and a large portion of the city’s populace followed shortly after.

No sound could pass through the shimmering blue shield, but Arek could see the hope in their faces. When his body was exhausted and his muscles burnt out, they were what kept him going.

When the fourth day finally drew to a close and the fifth started, the shield behind them flickered. A small hole appeared within it and Rovin stepped out from within it.

“There are only a few days until the B rank team arrives!” he exclaimed. “You’ve done it! Quickly – get behind the shield. There’s no need for further loss. It will hold until the B-rankers get here. The other council members are gathering the remaining groups of guards.”

Arek could barely comprehend the man’s words. He numbly followed along with everyone else as they staggered into the shield, covered in sweat and blood. The people of Red Mount watched them, hopeful expressions on their faces. If the shield held and the B-ranked team arrived, they would be saved. The nightmare was nearly over.

The shield closed behind the exhausted defenders once they’d all gotten within its boundaries. Arek flopped to the floor ground, using his travel pack as a pillow as he finally gave in to the exhaustion.