DAY FIVE—FIVE DAYS BEFORE EXECUTION

FIFTEEN MINUTES BEFORE THE INVASION

I watched the invasion timer tick down from the north gate, where Ezzie said the brunt of the attack would come.

14 minutes, 57 seconds

14 minutes, 56 seconds

The walls were still unfinished, with no length running for more than twenty feet without a gap. None of the catapults had been finished either, nor any of the guard towers. The place was pretty much exactly as it had been when I’d arrived.

And as I sat there, a steady stream of people were filtering out of the town, most of them leaving through the south gate.

Ezzie said.

I shrugged.

Ezzie said.

I said.

Ezzie said.

I said.

“Cowards!” someone yelled, over by the south gate. “Yeah you heard me! Go on then, run with your tails tucked between your legs!”

Ezzie said.

I slipped off the gatehouse and headed down the street.

I found Faye standing just beyond the south gate, heckling every single soul that passed her by. She spotted me and cocked an eyebrow, as if to say: you too?

I leaned up against the back of the side of the gatehouse, so I’d be out of the way of the people pouring through it with their packs piled high. “Not going anywhere,” I said, leaving out the fact that I couldn’t actually go anywhere.

“Well that makes two of us,” Faye say. “What a start.” She turned back the crowd. “I hope none of you are planning on coming back. Mark my words: you are dead to this place.”

The clock continued to tick down as the crowd thinned, a long line of people disappearing over one of the hills that ringed the city.

7 minutes, 43 seconds

7 minutes, 42 seconds

The last family passed by, all three of them with their heads bent low to avoid Faye’s gaze. She gritted her teeth but let them go, then slumped back against the wall and slid down into a seated position. “We’re dead.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Pretty much.”

Ezzie said, lying again. Obviously.

I said.

“You see that fountain back in the town square?” Faye said.

“Yeah.”

“That’s where Mick and I got married. Right in front of it, with the whole town looking on. Everyone brought daisies in from the fields and hung them all over the buildings, covered the streets, everything. It was beautiful. You see the building behind it?”

“Yup.”

“My son’s schoolhouse. I used to walk him back and forth twice a day, every day, because he never wanted to stay there for lunch. His little hand in mine. I was so afraid of the day he’d decide that he was too grown up to be ferried back and forth.”

She sighed, her shoulders slumping. “I don’t have anything else. I don’t know anyone in Hillcrest that would take me in, and even if I did, I wouldn’t want to leave.” She waved a hand at the town. “If I lose this, I’ll have lost them for good. I can’t face that, and I don’t care what it means.”

“I understand,” I said.

“Every other person I’ve talked to has urged me to leave,” Faye said. “I’m glad you haven’t. But why are you staying?”

I said to Ezzie.

“A hot meal goes a long way,” I said, shrugging.

Faye laughed at that, though the sound was more than a little bitter. “Honestly though.”

“I don’t have much else either,” I said. “And you were the first person to be kind to me in a very, very long time. I’d have died without you, too.”

Ezzie said.

Faye nodded and climbed to her feet. She offered me a hand up, and I took it. “Let’s head back to the north gate,” she said. “I’ve been hearing rumors that that’s the direction they’ll approach from.”

Ezzie said.

“Do you know anything else about what’s coming?” I said.

“Not a clue,” Faye said, “other than what the rider said. The ice and all that.”

I nodded. “You wanna take the elevated ground and I’ll stick around the entryway and try to hold down the fort below? Figure you could heal unimpeded from up there, and I could try to keep whatever comes our way off of you for as long as possible.”

“Works for me,” Faye said, as she climbed the steps to the top of the gatehouse. I stayed at the base of the stairwell, where I still had a decent view of the hills through the tunnel that led outward.

Then something in the air…changed. The temperature had dropped significantly—that much was obvious—but the air was humming with potentiality, as if a storm was coming.

“You feel that?” Faye said.

Ezzie said.

“Yea,” I said. “Chilly.”

The timer ticked down to zero, and a blue prompt overlaid the center of my vision:

Regional Quest Update: The Creeping Ice

Spawning wave 1/10

“Something’s headed our way,” Faye said. “Many somethings from the look of it.”

Ezzie said.

I said.

“I see something,” Faye said.

“What are they?”

“They look almost like dogs, but bigger. Way, way bigger. And it looks like there are five of them.”

Ezzie said.

“Can you give me a moment to round them up?” I said.

Faye inclined her head. “Won’t be a problem.” She made a quick gesture with her hands, and a faint golden sheen overlaid my skin. A new icon popped up in the top-right corner of my vision:

{Iron Will}

Armor increased by 10. Constitution increased by 5. Stamina regeneration increased by 20%.

Duration: 60 minutes.

“Thanks, that’ll help,” I said.

Ezzie said.

I grunted and stepped directly beneath the gatehouse. By now I could see the dragons loping across the hills, leaving a thin trail of frozen grass in their wakes.

The largest of the group was tall enough to look me in the eyes, with ice-blue fur and an elongated snout. Its tail lashed back and forth as it sped towards me, the cap of which held a wicked, three-pointed spike. I inspected the lead creature:

Draconic Warhound (Level 8 Dragonkin) (Veteran)

HP: 400/400

The Warhound’s four smaller companions all shared the same type:

Draconic Bloodhound (Level 8 Dragonkin)

HP: 200/200

The Bloodhounds were smaller, but they still stood at about chest-height, and judging from the sculpted look of them, each creature was probably well over two hundred pounds.

Ezzie said.

I said.

Just as Ezzie had predicted, the Warhound opened its huge mouth as it closed in, a sphere of blue light illuminating the back of its throat. The orb shot forward at incredible speed, increasing in size as it flew like a snowball rolling down a hill.

The orb blasted straight through the tunnel, so I raised my shield and activated frost reflect. A thin layer of ice spider-webbed across the surface of my shield, and the rest of my armor went cold, its coppery surface dusting over with snowflakes.

By the time the orb reached me, it was nearly as large as I was, so I shifted my weight to my back foot and braced for the impact to come.

But there was no impact; the orb simply shot back down the tunnel, doubling in size over and over again, reaching the size of a small house just before it exploded against the Warhound’s chest.

The explosion was dead-silent, but a shockwave of frost rippled out nonetheless, blowing all the grass flat before freezing it in place, encasing each blade in an inch-thick coating of ice.

I said, just before the Warhound’s four companions burst out of the icy cloud, all of them entirely unscathed, ice crystals sparkling in the air around them.

Ezzie said,

The Warhound emerged then, trotting about with its speed suppressed, looking as if it were running through water.

I raised my hammer above my head. “Witchflame Burst, Lecherous Strike.” My weapon burst into pale green flame, the tips of which flickered with purple light. I raised my shield. “Magnetic Block.”

The four lesser dragonkin approached in a tight group and I held my ground, waiting for them to try to pass through the gatehouse’s narrow entryway so I could block them in without leaving Faye’s line of sight. The dragonkin in the lead leapt for me, its huge claws extended outward.

My shield moved of its own accord, nearly wrenching my arm out of its socket as the shield changed positions to better meet the dragonkin’s attack. The force of the block was amplified somehow, and it sent the Bloodhound flying back into its companions.

I smashed my hammer into the cobbles, fracturing the stones within a three-foot radius. A wave of fire ripped forward, engulfing the Bloodhounds, huge numbers popping above their heads: two hundred, two-twenty, two-fifteen.

Ezzie said.

I looked up from the dead dragons to find the Warhound barreling through the entryway even as its companions dissolved into blue pixels. I brought my shield up to meet the Warhound’s charge and the contact drove the breath from my lungs and sent me skidding backward over the frost-slick cobbles.

I swung my hammer sideways as the creature continued to drive me backward and was rewarded with a sickening crunch as the hammer sank into soft fur and shattered the bones beneath. I kept the blows coming, not slowing the creature’s advance in the slightest.

Ezzie said.

The Warhound slipped the shield and bit low and from the left, well beyond the reach of my hammer. It closed its long jaws around my ankle, its hooked teeth punching through my copper shin guards.

I didn’t even time to scream before the creature jerked back, ripping my leg out from under me and sending me crashing down onto the street hard on my back.

Ezzie said.

I activated both Lecherous Strike and Witchflame burst, smashing the hammer down at my side just as the Warhound leapt for me. The colorful flames roared out, and when they cleared the cobbles were steaming, a few bits of scorched hair drifting on the wind.

Ezzie said.

I looked down at my leg and the many small holes that pocked my greaves. The holes were…glowing? Oh right, Faye.

She stood atop the gatehouse, one hand over her heart, the other extended towards me. She nodded and knelt.

Ezzie said.

I said.

Ezzie said.

I thought of just how key the Witchflame Burst combo had been.

I said, gripping my hammer a little tighter.

Ezzie said.