Stathis rapped her knuckle against the wall, putting her weight behind the strike. The wooden boards rattled and shook, but held, the nails hammered into the stone with enough force to hold the wood in place.

‘Good work. That’s one more hole patched. Now, how’s the ditch coming along? And has anyone seen where the hell Parth has gone to this time?’ She reached her arm out just in time to stop a punch from Semari, feeling the shock of the impact through her armour, enough force to bruise her arm. ‘Don’t you punch it, you’ll break it! You’re probably a lot stronger than most things that are going to try and break through. Or at least I bloody hope so.’

‘Dunno, there’s a lot of weird shit out there. Undead and all sorts of other crap! Parth’s getting all sorts of twitchy, says, like, that nature’s broken and things. Saw part of a hill start to move before it settled down! If there’s, like, ley-lines or anything, they’re probably all buggered up. Don’t know if these walls will hold up to much.’ Semari spun around and slammed her foot into a stone part of the walls, hard enough to shake dust free from between the oversized blocks.

‘I’m hoping there won’t be anything bigger! It would be nice to have an actual castle to work with, but, well, this is what we’ve got. It should be able to hold off random attacks, but we’re in trouble if we get attacked by a disciplined group.’ She jumped and pulled herself up to the “battlements”, although they were little more than a raised walkway on the stone wall.

The grounds outside the wall had been cleared, and a work-song was being chanted in time with shovels and picks, hacking at the ground. The ditch wouldn’t deter any serious attackers – someone could probably make it to top and pull themselves over with a run-up, never mind someone like Semari, but it could buy time to organise some kind of defence. More stones had been piled on top, making it a little higher.

‘I guess most of the random crap out there isn’t really organised. Although they’re still powerful enough to rip through this place.’

‘Well, I’m hoping that Parth will let us know if there’s anything big out there. Or be able to deter them. If she ever bothered actually coming back to tell us anything! I know there’s probably elven ruins or something out there, but she could at least come back and let us know what’s going on. And that she’s not been sucked into another dimension or anything.’

‘Nah, I’m sure she’s fine. Although, yeah, like ancient ruins and stuff. This place is the backend of everywhere, so there’s bound to be some, like, ancient elven stuff out here. Probably not anyway to use a creepy portal though.’

‘Not from what Hakara says. Unless you want to risk getting sucked into something that sounds pretty bad. Maybe some of the elven stuff might be able to help stabilize things? Maybe? Or at least get some actual damn sunlight.’ Stathis glanced up at the sky – it was a bit less dark than before, but still the tint of deep evening, about to pitch over into night. It wasn’t any less unnerving, for all that it had been going on for almost a week now.

‘We should probably be worried about vampires, right? Like, eternal semi-night, they’re going to be pretty perky! And ghosts and other things that like the night.’

‘I’m hoping we’re too damn remote for there to be anything like that out here. We can deal with random undead, but nothing more.’ She raised her hand, signalling to the leader of the workmen, who was beating time on a drum. He nodded his head back. ‘These aren’t really dedicated soldiers we’ve got, we’re lucky most of them can hunt. Anything that gets inside the walls we’ll have to try and deal with ourselves though.’

‘You planning on settling down here? Bit tiny and shit.’

Stathis walked along the gantry, stamping her feet down, checking the wood was secure and wouldn’t give way. ‘Well, I hadn’t really thought that far ahead.’

Semari rolled her eyes. ‘Kinda got, like, a world-ending thing going on here. I’m sure they appreciate it, but shouldn’t you have bigger things to care about than a piss-tiny village? There’s, like, a lot more places that could probably do with some help. And, like, maybe something more permanent? The sky’s not getting any better. Shouldn’t you be doing something about that?’

‘If you’ve got any pointers! Can’t exactly fly up there and stab it.’

‘Sure about that? That seems to be how you solve most things. Could give it a go. Or, y’know, stab Janaxia. Always worth a try. Or at least pep her up a bit, she’s been weird and funky for a while now. Get her drunk or pump her full of magic or something, she’s all, like, grumpy and moaning. Hasn’t even been doing her hair or anything, and barely responds when I poke her, doesn’t even threaten to kill me or anything!’

‘Yeah, I think now there’s been a chance to rest, everything’s caught up with her. And she’s been through a lot, what with loosing Skotadi, fighting her mother and everything else. I can’t really force her to not feel like shit.’

‘You sure she’s not brooding? That’s what evil people do, before, like going super-evil. Or laying some kind of evil egg. Have you checked?’

‘No, I’ve not checked to see if she’s laid an evil egg! I don’t even know what that would mean! She just feels like shit because of, well, everything. I’m pretty sure she’s never really mourned Skotadi. I’m not sure she knows how. And it’s been pretty busy since then. And we’re still not sure if Poratia is actually dead. Or departed from this realm or whatever, so she might pop up again.’ There was a flicker of light, a spark of lighting snapping down from above, striking into a tall pillar in the town square, breaking into smaller lightning-trails that arced around the pillar before vanishing. ‘Sure that’s nothing to do with you?’

Semari raised her arms. ‘Hey, just ‘cos I did that thing with a lightning goddess one time doesn’t mean that anything sparky from above is my fault. I tried touching the thing when lightning came down, and all that did was hurt! Made me all tingly, and singed my clothing. Made everything go all blurry!’

‘Well, given that most people would get killed, that’s technically a success? Although maybe go easier on poking the weird magical stuff, at least until Hakara has had a chance to experiment first. She’s quite busy herself though, trying to figure out pretty much everything else.’

Their conversation was cut short by the blast of a horn, coming from somewhere out of sight. It come in a long blast, then two shorter notes. Semari had already jumped off the walls and was accelerating, jumping over anything in her way. Stathis jumped off the walls and whistled, heading for where Mavrosa was stabled. She emerged from the stables, black and majestic, running towards Stathis and slowing just enough to let herself be mounted, Stathis pulling herself up and sitting herself.

Mavrosa whickered and then ran, Stathis steering with her knees, hooves slamming down against the dried mud of the road. With the heavy pall of darkness, seeing where she was going was hard, obstacles looming into vision with worrying swiftness before vanishing behind Stathis. The crops in the fields around the town were withering – still alive, but scarcely worth harvesting, Mavrosa kicking up clods of dirt as she ran from the fields into the surrounding forest.

The sudden silence was oppressive, sight even more limited, the wildlife all too confused by the darkness to make their usual sounds. She heard the horn again, closer this time, Mavrosa already changing direction towards it.

Running through the woods at high speed was unnerving, Stathis hunching low on her steed’s back to try and save herself getting lashed in the face by branches and leaves, Mavrosa seemingly confident in her ability to find steady footing.

She heard Semari yell, before a tree cracked with a slow creaking sound as it started to fall, leaves and branches rustling as they snapped and broke. A bowstring thrummed, followed by a yell of pain. She drew her sword, letting her energy flow into it until the blade held a soft sunlight, doing something to counteract the omnipresent gloom.

Mavrosa charged forward, out of thick forest into a clearing, although it was small enough that she could see the far side. Semari was a blur of violence, using a tree branch as a club before throwing it, catching a man in the face. He staggered backwards, blood streaming from his nose. He wasn’t alone – there were several dozen of them, in motley and ragged clothing, carrying weapons. Semari kept moving, slapping a sword out of someone’s grasp before spinning around and kicking from the hip, catching them in the belly with enough force to properly them backwards. Parth had her swords out, metal catching the flow from Stathis’ blade as she sliced, catching one of the attackers across the arm, her other blade deflecting a strike.

An attacker swung for Parth, who turned into ghost-mist to evade the strike. As soon as she did so, her body started to waver, her clothing twisting as though caught in an intense wind, and Parth leaned over, tumbling backwards before fading back into reality.

Stathis charged, holding her sword up high, more light shining outwards, trying to figure out what was going on – there wasn’t a uniform amongst the attackers, nothing to mark them as being an organised force. They looked fairly normal as well, without any obvious signs of enchantment, although they were moving in small groups, in a way that suggested some training. She made Mavrosa rear up, having to lean forward and grip with her thighs to keep from falling off, holding her sword up high.

‘Everyone! Stop fighting!’

Her shout slowed the clamour of combat for a moment, before Semari took the chance to kick someone between the legs, their face going grey from the impact, and combat resumed.

Stathis smacked at one of them with the flat of her sword, not knowing who they were, as Mavrosa slammed her way forward, her bulk forcing them out of her way.

‘What’s going on?’

‘Dunno, was like this when I got here!’ Semari was weaving between attacks, too fast to hit before she countered, fist slamming forward and sending one of them flying backwards. ‘Seemed sensible to assume they’re, like, baddies, right? Parth?’

Parth was moving oddly, one of her arms dragging – when she turned towards Stathis, there was the stump of an arrow embedded into her shoulder, the shaft already snapped of, but the head embedded into skin. Parth’s skin was even more pale than usual, her yellow eyes narrowed in pain. ‘Serpent-headed minion of darkness! Beware poison!’

Stathis twisted forward, stretching out and laying a hand on Parth’s head. Warm sunlight flared, Parth’s eyes widening. ‘That should keep you going.’ She swung her sword, trying to keep the attackers back – although they had the numerical advantage, they didn’t seem too keen to push the attack. ‘We don’t have to fight! Who is your leader?’

An arrow shot out from above, Stathis feeling it slam into her armour, the cuirass denting from the impact but not breaking. Through the darkness, Stathis could see a figure, wearing light armour and holding a bow, their head covered in a baggy hood, moving strangely. Their head seemed to be wreathed in a writhing halo, thick hair shifting about despite the lack of wind. As they got closer, Stathis could see their hood was actually moving, scaled “strands” twisting, as a snake-head snapped out and bit at empty air.

The woman reached to her hip and pulled out an arrow, nocking it on her bow. One of her snake-tendrils snapped forward, dripping poison onto the arrowhead, smearing down the bright metal.

Stathis wished she’d equipped her shield, but it was strapped over her back, and this wasn’t really the best time to strap it to her arm.

‘We don’t have to fight. Everything’s going to shit at the moment, and this will be easier if we work together.’ She kept her sword down, but tensed up in case this turned violent.

The snake-hair hissed in unison before the medusa answered, the bowstring taut, but not yet firing. ‘These are my woods. Leave this place! That one should not have come.’ She nodded her head at Parth, the hood twisting strangely as her snakes mimicked the gesture and hissed.

‘Why not? Did she do something she shouldn’t have? There’s enough shit going on that fighting for no reason is stupid.’ Stathis twisted her empty hand to point at the dark sky. ‘There’s that, and all sorts of weird monsters and stuff. It’s not safe without help.’

As the woman opened her mouth to say something, the ground shook, making Mavrosa suddenly uncertain. An open patch of ground started to seethe, the soil forming itself upwards into a roughly humanoid form. More and more of the ground streamed into it, a pit starting to form, as a vague face appeared. It slammed a giant, poorly-formed fist down onto the ground, hard enough to make an impact crater, debris flying outwards. The medusa didn’t react fast enough to dodge, catching the blast and shaking her head, trying to clear her eyes, hood falling down.

Stathis charged, glad of something that was definitely a target, using the momentum of Mavrosa’s movement to boost her attack. Her sword bit into the body, formed of mud and soil, a few stones doing little to brake the force of her strike. Semari jumped forward, spinning herself around to put more force behind a punch, her fist breaking through mud, more loose soil exploding outwards.

It kicked an elephantine foot forward, catching the medusa with enough force to knock them over, stepping forward and soil enveloping their body. Stathis sliced with her sword, forcing more power through it, increasing brightness lighting up the gloomy clearing until she sliced right through the leg. The creature swayed and tottered, suddenly tensing up as two lengths of shining metal shoved through its chest. The assembly of grit and dirt collapsed in a loose explosion, covering up the medusa’s body entirely as whatever had empowered it faded away.

Stathis dismounted and sheathed her sword, shoving her hands down through the dirt, trying to find the medusa’s body. Fortunately, it was only loose, easy to pull apart until she found the warmth of their body, straining to haul them upwards, back to the surface.

They were injured, and only barely breathing, their snakes limp and passive on their head as Sathis pulled them up, getting her arms around them. The rest of the men still had their weapons out, looking at her with fear.

‘She’s injured!’ Stathis healed them, but they remained unconscious, thick soil clagged around their wounds. ‘We’re taking her back to the town to get healed, I have someone that can take care of her there. You have my word that no harm will come to her!’

The woman was, mercifully, quite light, although not as dainty as Janaxia, easy enough to haul onto the back of Mavrosa. The rest of them didn’t look happy, but no-one moved to stop her as she gestured at Parth and Semari.

‘If any of you wish to come to ensure we’re treating her properly, you may.’ The ground rumbled again, somewhere out of sight. ‘Although it sounds like there might be more of those things, so we shouldn’t stay here! Anyone who’s coming, come!’

Mavrosa was already starting to move, although slower now, letting Parth and Semari keep up. Only a few of the men flowed along, the rest disappearing back into the woods.