Bronwyn woke up with the System alert about voting in her face. She groaned, swiping it away, and rolled out of her bed. She went into the bathroom and washed her face, used the toilet, and then got dressed in a set of clean clothes, strapping on her spiked armor over them. After pulling on her boots, she went into the hallway and knocked on Olivia’s door. There wasn’t an answer, but a soft tinkling sound heralded the arrival of Morgan’s tower spirit, Tiladia.

“Olivia, Morgan, and Issa are downstairs. Morgan asked me to tell you that they only recently came down, don’t worry, and are waiting for you to head into town for breakfast and to vote,” Tiladia said as Bronwyn turned to face her amorphous form.

“Alright, thanks.” Bronwyn hustled down the hallway, stepped onto the staircase, and found herself on the first floor in just a few steps. Morgan, Issa, and Olivia stood near the front hall talking when she walked up. “Morning, all.”

“Hey, we were going to go vote and then get some breakfast. Sorry, my kitchens aren’t up and running yet.” Morgan chuckled as though he’d made a good joke.

“C’mon, Bron. Might be our last chance to get breakfast together. I have to use this teleportation token soon, or it’s going to burn a hole in my pocket.” Olivia reached out and jostled her shoulder with a wry grin.

“You’re trying to hide your nervousness with bravado! Think I don’t see that by now? Hah, of course, I’ll have breakfast with you.” Bronwyn reached out and put her arm over Olivia’s slight shoulders, tugging her into a side hug as they walked toward the door. Morgan looked at Issa, and she just grinned, displaying way too many sharp teeth, and they followed her and Olivia outside.

When they got to the Colony Stone, a line had formed leading all the way down the hill toward the tavern, and they decided to get in line before it got even longer. Luckily the voting process was quick and discreet - as many people as could squeeze around the stone to place a hand upon it could vote at once, and there was no way of knowing who they voted for. After about a twenty-minute wait, they all got their chance, and Bronwyn voted for all the current members of the temporary council, including herself and Olivia. When she finished, the interface informed her that eighteen percent of the populace had voted and that the poll would close when either one hundred percent had voted or at midnight, whichever came first.

When they walked down the hill to the tavern, they found all the tables full and a large crowd milling around outside, waiting to get in. “We need another tavern,” she said grumpily. Issa had the idea of having a picnic breakfast, and they walked a ways out behind the tavern, throwing down a few blankets. They sat and ate a surprisingly delicious fare entirely provided by Olivia and Issa. Apparently, the two of them had similar ideas about using their dimensional storage to its fullest. Bronwyn always felt weird about storing fresh food in her pouch, but it really did seem to preserve the freshness. She wondered if the space in there was a complete vacuum or something. In any case, they ate buttery pastries, sausages, and fruit, washing everything down with spicy mulled wine that Issa warmed on an ingenious little camp stove she produced from her pouch.

They were sitting around, enjoying the late spring morning when the alarm rang out. A loud, clanging bell began to ring from the north and was shortly followed by the more distant rumble of drums and the blaring of horns. “They’re fucking attacking!” Bronwyn jumped up and began to run toward the northern wall; Morgan and Issa were close behind.

“I’ll catch up!” Olivia called, but Bronwyn only had eyes and ears for the coming battle. She sprinted all out and was surprised to see Morgan and Issa keeping pace. She briefly wondered what level they were now but refocused on the distant wall and the frenetic movements of the people at the base. She could see that the militia was flooding up the four sets of stairs to the ramparts, so she angled herself toward the least crowded stair in the northwestern corner of the wall. As she drew close, she leaped up to the first landing, pulling herself over the railing, and hurried among the militia up the stairs and onto the ramparts.

She rushed toward the center of the wall while she looked out over the northern plains. The Urghat were charging. They were still half a kilometer out, but they were moving fast. Most of them were tearing over the ground on foot, but she could see a few hundred of those huge lizards in the back. Bronwyn passed several militia members with red flags on spears, and she knew they were the Fire Sergeants that Maria and Tanya had appointed to call shots. As she passed them, she heard them shouting to the hundred or so militia under their command things like, “Steady! Check your powder! Cannons, clear your caps!” Mixed among the musketeers were dozens of the blue-skinned Ardeni with a variety of different types of bows. She saw one with a short, bone-colored bow that was glowing a faint red, thrumming with Energy. Another had a huge multi-layered recurve bow. None of them seemed agitated, and Bronwyn was impressed by their nerve. She, herself, was already trembling with adrenaline.

Bronwyn wanted to be above the gate when the Urghat came. She wanted to see firsthand how they would try to break it and be there to help repel them if they did. By the time she made it to the center of the wall, over five hundred musketeers and Ardeni were lined up behind the ramparts, with as many spear-wielding militia members standing behind them. Bronwyn knew that the other half of the spear troops were being held in reserve near the colony's center in case the Urghat tried to breach from a different direction. As she contemplated the charging Urghat, seeing that they were only a couple of hundred yards out now, she heard the first fire order echo down the line, “Cannons! Fire!” She realized there were ranging flags planted out on the field and silently applauded the militia’s foresight. Huge booms thundered through the air, vibrating the wall, and massive clouds of smoke billowed out and up from the ten cannons.

“Reload! Scattershot!” The Fire Seargeans screamed. Meanwhile, plumes of ripped turf and soil erupted among the ranks of charging Urghat, sending dozens of the burly warriors tumbling through the air. The roar of the cannons and the shock of the impacts sent a ripple through the charging line, and they faltered slightly, but growling shouts echoed over the fields, and the charge resumed. “Steady! Muskets and Blunderbusses! Ready!” Bronwyn watched, fascinated, barely noticing that Morgan and Issa arrived to stand next to her. The Urghat were less than a hundred yards away now. “Muskets and cannons! Fire!” Once again, the cry echoed down the wall, caught up by the different Fire Sergeants, and the muskets and cannons responded, a ripping blasting avalanche of explosions that rolled out from the center of the wall. All the smoke momentarily blinded Bronwyn, but as it drifted away on the breeze, she saw the carnage. “Reload! Cannons! Scattershot! Blunderbusses, ready!” The Urghat line had faltered; dozens, maybe hundreds, of the beast-men were down. Some were writhing around, some were turning to crawl or limp backward, but horns blared, and the lizard riders charged forward, roaring exhortations that Bronwyn couldn’t make out, and the Urghat charge resumed.

“Steady! All guns ready!” The Fire Sergeants called the command down the line. The Urghat were less than fifty yards away, and suddenly they stopped, and as if by magic, which it probably was, ladders, shields, and a long wooden, log-shaped ram appeared among their number. “All guns, fire!” Again the thunder rippled out from the center of the wall; this time, the blunderbusses added their concussion and smoke, and the silence that followed the blast was surreal.

As the smoke cleared, a hesitant cheer rose up among the militia on the wall, and Morgan, his eyes strangely glowing blue, said, “Jesus Christ.” A moment later, Bronwyn could see the field and saw that most of the Urghat were running back the way they’d come, their ladders and ram dropped. As the cheer gained momentum and the militia began to celebrate, Bronwyn looked upon the carnage in the field. Hundreds of Urghat lay unmoving, and dozens more flailed and twitched or crawled around in agony. She couldn’t muster any pride or happiness about this victory, and that bothered her almost as much as the scene before her.

“They have felt your defenses, so their next plan may be different,” Issa said quietly. As she spoke, Bronwyn noticed that arrows were still flying from the wall, sinking into the writhing Urghat, ending their misery and snuffing out any hope that the Urghat might reclaim their wounded. A few zealous musket shots sounded out along the wall, followed by exhortations from the Fire Sergeants.

Bronwyn turned and walked away, down the stairs and back toward the town center. She doubted there’d be another attack that day if the Urghat didn’t disperse altogether. She didn’t know why, but she was in a foul mood. She reasoned that she should be happy; the Urghat had no noble intentions where the humans were concerned, and the militia had driven them back handily. Perhaps it was just the slaughter that bothered her; perhaps it was that she’d come to know a few Urghat fairly well and seen that they were people, not just monsters. The more she thought about it, the more she realized she was pissed that the Urghat leaders had sat back on their giant lizards and sent the regular Urghat into the meat grinder. In any case, she wanted to be alone, so she went back to Morgan’s tower and, after greeting Tiladia, went up to her room.

Bronwyn took off her armor, throwing it on top of the linen chest at the foot of her bed, and stripped off her clothes. She walked into the little bathroom and started the tap running for the tub. She felt guilty soaking in a warm bath while people nearby were being eaten by carrion birds, but she tried to put that out of her mind. She just wanted to soak and not think about problems for a little while. The warm water relaxed her muscles, and she used the soap that the girl had given her in the bathhouse all those days ago to wash her body and hair. She felt a little sad that she couldn’t remember her name. Didn’t she say she worked at the tavern? Bronwyn resolved to go there and reintroduce herself. She laughed at the thought of using regular soap in her hair, but it was different these days. It didn’t tangle as much, and it seemed to have a luster that wouldn’t quit. “Perks of upgrading your race, I guess.” As she spoke to herself, she idly wondered where Hops was. She hadn’t seen him since sometime yesterday when she’d gone out to check on her Urghat followers. Hopefully, he was safe in the woods and nowhere near the conflict.

She’d slept like shit the last few days, so she wasn’t surprised that she dozed off while soaking in the tub. When she woke, the water was tepid, almost cool, and she was contemplating getting out and finding Olivia when a System announcement appeared in her vision:

The election of the First Landing Council has been completed. Your new Council is listed below:

1

Arthur Ballard

2

Reggie Arnold Gandry-Thule

3

Maria Rios

4

Olivia Bennet

5

Bronwyn Tallow

6

Tanya Delgado

7

Alec Green

8

Anthony Kerns

9

Morgan Hall

Bronwyn was glad to see that most of the old council had been re-elected. However, there were two changes: she didn’t know the Reggie guy, and she knew that Alec was the bartender at the tavern. She liked Alec and figured he’d do a good job. All in all, it seemed like it could have been a lot worse.