Morgan walked out of the council meeting with a burgeoning headache. He couldn’t believe that one guy could cause so much dissension. Every single topic had to be explained three times, and every single time, Reggie acted like he still didn’t understand or agree with what was going on. He didn’t like the way roads were being planned. He didn’t like the way the militia was being operated. He didn’t like the planned expansion of buildings. Each debate ended with someone frustrated and motioning to table discussion, someone else seconding it, and Reggie acting pissed off. He was grateful that Issa had decided to go and spar with some of the hunters from her town because he would have been embarrassed to have her at this meeting.

The strangest part had been when Reggie started talking about how they needed someone on the council to take a leadership role, a president of sorts. His voice had gotten very strange, kind of echoing around the chamber, and Morgan had looked at him with his Azure Sight, noticing big swirls of Energy pulsing up out of Reggie’s Core and out like tendrils toward the council members. “What the fuck are you doing?” He’d asked, causing Reggie to break his speech pattern and stare at Morgan with wide eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re casting some sort of spell.”

“No, it’s just a speech amplification ability - it lets me come across more clearly.”

“Don’t use it around me,” Morgan had said with finality, and the other council members had agreed - no Energy abilities or spells during meetings.

Now, it was early evening on election day; the council members had gone their separate ways to take care of various tasks, and Morgan was free for the night. Nobody expected another attack from the Urghat - they’d been quiet all afternoon - no drums, no horns, and little movement out among their tents. The consensus among the Ardeni Hunters was that they were licking their wounds and trying to brainstorm a new way to attack. Morgan stretched in the cool spring night, taking a deep breath of the fresh air. The battle hadn’t really been a battle, and he hoped the Urghat would get the hint and just leave. There were a lot of things he wanted to do in this new world, and sitting through a prolonged siege wasn’t one of them. He turned toward his tower, which he was finally starting to think of as a home, and hoped he’d find Issa there waiting for him.

****

Reggie stepped out of the tavern with a frown. These assholes didn’t want to give him the time of day. Every time he tried to explain that they were being dumbasses, someone argued with him, and one ass kisser after another would agree with the dipshit resisting him. It was like they had a little fucking club, and they’d all agreed ahead of time to make sure he didn’t fit in. Still, he’d won the election, and sooner or later, they’d have to start listening to him.

When he thought about the election, he, of course, started thinking about Thun. Talk about an asshole! Thun had been bugging him for weeks to get the damn election going, and he’d finally put enough pressure on these assholes to make it happen. He walked over to one of the benches the old council had put up around the Colony Stone hill and sat down. He reached into his fur-lined vest and pulled out the little leather book, no larger than the palm of his hand that Thun had given him. He opened it to the last message that had appeared there just after the election had finalized, “At midnight, make sure there is a breach in the western wall.”

Reggie groaned and once again scoured his brain for a way to get out of this damn contract. The problem was, each time he really thought about not doing what Thun wanted, he started to feel a queasy sensation in the center of his gut, and his fingers and toes began to go white and numb. It was the damnedest thing. Even now, he felt a little roiling in his belly, and his fingers were starting to go cool. He knew if he kept thinking about how to disobey Thun, the feeling would spread. Once, he’d really tried to push it, and he’d found himself rolling on the ground like his guts were going to come up, and his arms and legs were so numb and weak that he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to stand up. He’d given in, swearing aloud to follow Thun’s orders, and the sickness had slowly faded.

Reggie walked up to the Colony Stone and put his hand on it. He navigated the menus to the leadership tab and accessed the building menu. The walls were listed, and he could see where he could highlight portions of the wall and select things like “upgrade” or “remove.” When he tried to click on those buttons, a message popped up saying he’d need “council consensus,” whatever the fuck that meant. “Goddamnit.” He played around, selecting all the parts of the wall, trying to find a loophole, and finally struck gold. When he highlighted just the gate, there were the usual yellow-highlighted buttons for upgrading or removing the gate, but another one was highlighted in green: “Open.” He pulled out his little book and scribbled Thun a message.

****

Ironhide grunted, “They’re moving into woods on the west side. They’re up to something.” He’d been out scouting, unable to sleep in the aftermath of the thunderous destruction of the Urghat charge earlier in the day. It had shaken him, and he was sure the other Urghat felt the same. If it weren’t for Spineripper and the Underclaws enforcing their will, he was confident the Urghat horde would have dispersed after that thrashing. “You should sneak closer, see what you can find out.” He nudged Heartseeker with his foot, urging the Scout to crawl out of her blankets.

“Why? The humans seem able to defend themselves. Besides, if I get too close, the Ur-clan will kill me, and so will the humans, unless our Underclaw is there to hold them back.”

“Bah, you can move in the shadows better than any of them. Just go see what’s happening.” He nudged her again, and she swatted at his foot, but she got up. She looked around the camp, snorting at the sleeping forms of the twins and nodding at the others sitting around the coals of their earlier fire. Then she pulled her black hood up over her rust-colored fur and slipped into the shadows between the trees.

****

Heartseeker inched through the underbrush, crawling on her belly. The woods were swarming with Urghat. How could the humans not smell them? She’d worked her way to the edge of the woods and was slinking along the treeline toward the western gate of the human town. All the way, she passed by Urghat that were hunkered down or moving closer; her improved stealth was making fools of them. When she got to the area of the treeline that was adjacent to the human’s gate, she began to hear the guttural chanting that she knew to be the Ur-clan Shamans. They were working some kind of spell.

She looked through the low scrub she was hiding under toward the gate and saw that the humans had several guards directly above the gate and more patrolling nearby. Heartseeker frowned, wondering what the Shamans could be up to. Then she felt a cold, slightly nauseating wave of Energy flow over her, and she watched, wide-eyed, as the guards above the gate slumped down without a word. Almost like they’d been knocked unconscious by an invisible force. Just then, the gates, with an audible creak, parted and opened.

Suddenly the trees and brush around her erupted with movement, and the shadowy forms of hundreds of Urghat began to stream across the open field between the trees and the wall, slinking quietly toward the open gate. Heartseeker knew it wasn’t smart, at least not when it came to her own safety, but she pulled her bow from her storage pack and fitted it with an arrow. She channeled her Fireshot skill and launched a flaming, crackling arrow high into the air over the gate, where it burst into a small shower of embers. Then she turned and ran into the forest like a Yovashi was on her heels. She’d done what she could; hopefully, Bronwyn’s people saw her warning.

****

Olivia was sitting near the Colony Stone, contemplating her next day. According to Issa, the first of Belintide was in three days. Did she want to arrive early or right on the deadline? If she wanted to be early, she was running out of days. If she left tomorrow, should she just go without any goodbyes? She liked goodbyes, unlike a lot of people, but she didn’t want to make others uncomfortable. Bronwyn was not good at goodbyes. Morgan would probably be fine, and the other council members would just bug her to get back as soon as possible. “What is that?” she wondered aloud as a streak of fire shot up near the western gate, bursting into a shower of sparks, kind of like a firework.

Only when the bell started clanging did she put two and two together. The Urghat! They were doing something at the west gate. She heard shouts and saw militia sprinting from their temporary encampment at the base of the hill toward the gate. Olivia stood up and moved to the slope’s edge, straining her eyes to see what was going on. The militia was charging toward the gate, but they only had spears; she knew the black powder troops would be running toward the alarm bell, but it would take them several minutes. Meanwhile, down the straight mile of road, she could see forms streaming through the gate, and then she heard a roar that shook her bones. It was reminiscent of the Urghat roars she’d heard earlier, but its volume and ferocity were more like what she’d imagine would come from a cave bear’s mouth. The Urghat were through the gate.

Olivia turned and ran northward toward Morgan’s tower. She ran toward his tower across the grass in a diagonal pattern, trying to make the shortest trip possible. It was dark, clouds obscuring the moons, and she was glad the meadow between the artisan buildings and Morgan’s tower was relatively flat with little to trip on. She was running so hard that her breath was coming in short gasps by the time she was halfway there. The cool night air stung her eyes, causing tears to stream out the corners. As she reached the last downward slope toward the tower, she began to pick up speed thanks to gravity, but something suddenly caught against her foot, and she fell, tumbling head over heels in the grass.

Bruised and winded, she struggled to her hands and knees when a rough voice came from behind her, “Where do you think you’re going, bitch?” Olivia whirled around, still on the ground, scooting backward on her butt, trying to see who had spoken. A large shadow was stalking toward her. Olivia summoned a fiery sphere into her hand, and the shadow shrank back in surprise, and she saw that it was Reggie.

“You mother fucker, why’d you trip me?”

“Because I don’t need you stirring up trouble.” Reggie had recovered from his surprise at the bright fiery orb and started stalking toward her again. Olivia didn’t like the flat look in his eyes or the way his hands clenched and unclenched. She didn’t bother speaking again; she just channeled Energy into her Stunning Ice Shards spell and pointed at Reggie.

“Suspendisse glacies!” Four crackling icy shards shot out toward Reggie, striking him dead center of mass. The shards punched through his clothes, sinking into his flesh about an inch, and his body convulsed; he flopped on the ground like he’d been hit by a 50,000-volt taser. Olivia didn’t waste time, jumping to her feet and limp-running to the tower. She grabbed the handle, felt it unlock, and stepped inside.

****

“Morgan! Morgan, please awaken,” Tiladia’s chiming voice broke through Morgan’s dream, and he startled awake. Issa was stirring beside him as well.

“Hmm, what is it?” He sat up and saw that Tiladia was moving around agitatedly, her lights blinking in a frenetic pattern.

“Morgan, Olivia has come with dire news - she says that your colony is under attack, invaders have breached the walls. They need your help!” She practically bounced as she spoke, her cloud of mist and lights flashing and spinning in short circles. Morgan felt a surge of adrenaline and jumped out of bed. He summoned his clothes and armor from his ring and began dressing.

“Issa, please help me with my armor; we have to get out there!” She was sitting up, already pulling on her pants and boots on the other side of the bed.

“I will. One minute, let me get dressed.” She continued pulling on her clothes, and Morgan looked at Tiladia.

“Go make sure Bronwyn knows. Thanks for the message, Tiladia.” He watched as she flew to the door and seemed to sink through the wood. He’d never seen her traverse a door before, and it was startling to see how she did it. He had his clothes and scale cuirass on by the time Issa came around the bed to help him strap on his greaves and vambraces. He slammed his helmet onto his head, tightened the strap under his chin, and jogged out of his room and down the stairs, Issa hot on his heels.

They found Olivia sitting on one of the foyer benches, wrapping a bandage around one of her knees. “Bronwyn already ran out; please go help her. I’ll come do what I can. Also, watch out for Reggie - he attacked me on my way to warn you.”

“What the fuck? Reggie, the new council member?”

“Yep. Please hurry!” Morgan nodded, and he and Issa stepped out. Even on the steps of his tower, they could hear the sounds of conflict: screams, roars, clashing metal, and the percussion of black powder guns splitting the air.

“Wait,” Issa said, reaching a hand to rest on his shoulder. He felt warmth suffuse his body, but different from her Haste spell. “This will allow you to move much faster than normal, but not nearly as fast as Haste. Still, it will last for as long as I channel it. Go! I’ll be close behind.” Morgan didn’t need to be told twice; his legs felt like they had static electricity running through them, and it almost felt like a release when he started sprinting toward the sounds of combat.

When he crested the low rise where the meadow leveled out toward the center of the colony grounds, he saw true chaos, as wild as any battlefield he’d ever seen back during the conflicts. Clouds of smoke filled the air, illuminated by dozens of different types of lights - fires, torches, lanterns, and floating orbs that colonists had summoned, some blue, some white, some yellow or red. Amid the fog-like smoke, pitched battles were being waged, and the results of those battles were everywhere; corpses and parts of corpses littered the cobblestone street. He saw musket-wielding militia members shoot and run to reload. He saw huge Urghat with metal armor barrel into them, hewing away at their poorly armored bodies with massive, crude weapons. Above it all were the screams and roars. He almost faltered, for lack of direction, trying to decide where he could help the most.

Morgan’s decision was made for him as a pack of Urghat broke from around the bathhouse toward him, snarling and charging his way. Morgan had a brief moment of panic when he realized his hands were empty, but then he took a deep breath and centered himself, summoning his sword from his ring. He charged into the group of four burly beast-men and unleashed an Azure Burst. Their bodies engulfed in crackling blue flames, they fell away from him. Morgan followed up with quick slashes to the ones that still writhed, quickly dispatching them. He was looking for his next target when a roar, much louder than any of the others, sounded from near the Colony Stone.

Morgan ran toward the sound, and he came upon another pitched battle, stunned to see a semi-circle of Urghat watching the fight. Bronwyn was holding her own against two very large Urghat, both wearing heavy armor and wielding massive, jagged axes. Also watching, standing on the slope of the Colony Stone’s hill, was an even larger Urghat. While Morgan looked at him, he roared again, stomping his feet and waving a huge, curved sword in the air. He wore thick, plated armor, painted red and black, and his fur-covered head was topped with a red-gold crown.

Morgan started toward him and was about fifty feet away when two musket-wielding militia appeared at the top of the hill. They both fired point-blank into the back of the huge Urghat, and he didn’t even flinch. He turned, took two strides, and then bisected the men with his gargantuan saber. Morgan felt bile rise in his throat as the top halves of the men fell away and their entrails spilled out down the hillside. He choked it down and felt his disgust quickly give way to rage. “Hey, asshole. Try that on me!”

The Urghat turned toward him, and Morgan saw that the irises of his huge eyes were red and seemed to glow from within. His lips curved in a grin over his single, long, lower tusk. When he spoke, his voice was deep and thick with saliva, rolling out of him like a stone dragging through a rocky riverbed, “You challenge Spineripper? Come, fool. I’ll dispatch you then share a meal of Blodwyn with my son and Underclaw.” He whipped his saber through the air, sending a spray of blood toward Morgan, and then he charged like a bull down the hill, and Morgan could feel the earth move with each of his strides.