A ragged wave of missiles launched into the air: glowing Fire Bolts, reflective Ice Bolts, and a mish-mash of other abilities.

I took a step back and elbowed Colin, who was watching the wave with a wide-eyed expression. At my jostle, he jumped, and turned to me with an expression of such disgust you’d think I’d peed on his shoe.

“Did you contact Alexandra and Tamara?”

His disgust petered away into blankness, and after a moment I received his reply.

Message: I am sorry. I was distracted. I have done so now.

“Alright, good. Try to send messages to the attackers without scales. Tell them we are in the process of rescuing their loved ones right now.”

Message: I do not know them and I cannot yet see them clearly enough.

“Well, if you get a good enough look, do it. Try to stay down, though. I don't want you getting hit.”

I hoped Colin could get through to them. Ava had been shepherded away from the fighting, with the other kids. A shame, in some ways, but it was dark; no one would be able to see her. Illuminating her would make her a massive target, which seemed unlikely to end well for Ava or her father. If we'd had all the hostages, it would have been a different story, but just one? Displaying Ava might get us a strategic advantage, but it would be likely to get her father murdered in front of her eyes... a poor reward for a girl who had risked so much.

No. It was for the best that she’d been taken to safety.

The enemy forces hadn’t returned fire yet. In fact, they’d scattered at our continual barrage of attacks. Our people would tire themselves out quickly at this rate, but I didn’t want us to try to plink away at them over time. We wanted a short fight. If this lasted too long, that would be to the Dragons’ advantage. We had too many fragile people we wanted to keep alive; their only vulnerable members were a liability to them, not an asset.

I was feeling pretty good about my plan after the first minute or two. Their troops had scattered, and while they had shot back at us, their return fire was sparse and generally horribly off-target. One of the Dragons had stomped out our tiny campfires, so it was harder to see them, but other than that, everything was going excellently. The berm was doing a great job of protecting us, leaving only brief windows in which people could be targeted as they peeked over the edge. One woman had been hit by a Fire Bolt, but our frontline healers already had her back in fighting form, with only damaged armor to show she’d been hit.

Like infantry throughout history, the Dragons’ captives seemed incredibly reluctant to advance through a rain of missiles, and the Dragons were occupied for a few minutes trying to drag them together and force them into a wall of human shields. It was hard to make out what was happening so far away. Occasional bursts of illumination from Fire Bolts made me think they’d been successful in getting their forces together, but were having trouble convincing them to advance.

Hah, I thought wryly. Certain death ahead or certain death behind isn’t much of a choice, especially when they have a lot of reasons to hate the Dragons and not much to hate us.

Then, suddenly, the equation changed.

A figure dashed out from behind a nearby house and across the road in front of us, barely perceptible. I heard screams and felt my shield reverberate. I dropped down behind the berm, peering at the front of my shield. A quill, color impossible to make out in the darkness, was lodged deep in its front.

“Get DOWN!” I yelled. By the number of screams, I hadn’t been the only one hit. “Ranged! Focus your fire about fifty feet out. They’ve sent someone close to counterattack!”

We had no way to see the guy or mark him as a target. Area fire was the best we could do. I couldn’t fire Paralyze blindly, so I dropped down to give the enemy one less potential victim. I doubted the quills were targeted precisely.

As I waited, watching our people, I saw a figure on our side sink to the ground with an anguished grunt. Further screams erupted as another person followed them down, then another.

The stealther, I thought. Hard to see even in daytime, he was near-invisible in the darkness.

“Telekinetics! Mud on the screams, NOW!” I roared, and charged forward, straining my Life Sense for any feeling that ought not be there. With so many people, some rushing in with me, some rushing away, it was impossible. Maybe if I’d had time to sit down and train with my ability, I could have found the Camouflaged stealther, but as it was, it reminded me of those cash tornado boxes they used on game shows sometimes: too many targets moving too quickly to truly grasp any of them, let alone the one you sought.

I felt liquid spatter across my back, and some intelligent individual realized the issue and purchased a pattern on the spot, a Small Light Source popping into being in our midst and blanketing the area in near-daylight brightness.

“There!” someone shouted, and I looked up to see them pointing at a floating splatter of mud dashing away, too quick to catch.

We’d driven him off. Stopped his assault. But at what cost? I could see two of the people he had attacked being carried back toward the Shop, so they might survive, but the first target remained on the ground, still and silent. Several others were hurrying back as well, limping along or clutching arms or torsos, injured from what seemed to be a spray of needles from our attacker out front. As I assessed the situation, an Ice Bolt shattered against the head of one of our defenders. They were wearing a helmet, but even so, they dropped to one knee.

Our artillery wave at the enemy hadn’t completely stopped, but it had greatly weakened. Too many of our people had already exhausted themselves, and injuries and fear had distracted others from firing. The Dragons’ gambit had weakened our defense enough that their forces considered them the scarier option again. Their group had started moving closer.

“RETREAT!” I yelled. What we’d done here - if we’d accomplished anything - had just about reached its limits. I grabbed the arm of the Telekinetic who’d moved the flaming boards out earlier and pointed at the Small Light Source. “Try to keep that in the group that’s following us. I want to be able to see them.”

I began to back away slowly, joining a line of other melee as the rest of our group hurried on ahead.

The Telekinetic had thrown the light in amidst them, and for an instant I’d seen the frozen, sick expressions on the faces of their forced fighters. Then a Dragon - Chris, I thought - had stepped forward and batted the light away, his enhanced strength easily overcoming the Telekinetic’s hold on the lamp. It had soared far into the distance, dropping out of sight as it fell behind a house.

Message: My mother is dragging me back to the Shop. I used Mental Speech on several of our attackers without scales, but none reacted. They did not even jump in surprise. I do not believe they could hear me.

“That’s fine,” I said. “I would have sent you back anyway. Keep-”

I stopped, awkwardly, remembering Colin could only speak to me from far away, not listen. Fortunately, those nearby didn’t seem to have been bothered by my insane self-chatter. Maybe they didn’t notice, or perhaps they thought I was speaking to the Colonel. Maybe they were just too terrified to care.

The Dragons were advancing faster than we were retreating. We were only a few hundred yards from the Shop, but the street curved slightly. Most of the defenders couldn’t see us here. The realization made me alter my speed subconsciously, and I stepped back too quickly, treading on the foot of a woman behind me. We both stumbled, and our stumble let our pursuers make up a little extra ground. They were perhaps fifty feet away now, and I knew I was close enough to make myself heard by their captive forces. I couldn’t help myself.

“Hey!” I shouted. “I know you don’t want to fight for them! You don’t have to! We have a team rescuing your loved ones right now. Most of the Dragons are here! We’re gonna get them free!”

The Colonel had described only startlement at his Announcement. Colin had said he hadn’t seen any reaction at all to Mental Speech. But my words registered, at least a bit. I saw a man lower the bat he carried to shout back.

“What… what was that? What did you say?”

“WE’RE RESCUING YOUR LOVED ONES. STOP FIGHTING US!”

I’d continued to edge backward as I spoke. Some of our rooftop defenders could already see the Dragons, but we were out of view of the rest. If I could just get a little farther, we’d have tons of covering fire for our retreat…

I’d made a mistake, though. The Dragons had been using their reluctant troops as human shields. They’d limited themselves to the pace of their less powerful counterparts.

But they didn’t have to.

Chris charged forward, covering the fifty feet between us just as I finished speaking, his sledgehammer rising in an underhand arc to slam into me. “Shut UP!” he roared.

I activated Parry, the ability jerking me down into a crouch as I tried to block the blow, praying the reinforcement the ability provided would be enough.

His strength was too intense.

I felt pain in my arm and I was sent soaring, tumbling through the air, my shield broken in two.