Bells rang out, a clamor from the north end of the village warning us of an impending attack.

Jaws and I were at the Smithy with the other Blacksmiths, who froze momentarily when the bells started ringing, and then went through the practiced routine of making the forge safe to leave unattended. There were monthly drills, a tradition started hundreds of years ago by a clever noble who had noticed that fires were all too common during or after an attack, especially among businesses such as Smithies, Bakers, and Potters (to name a few), which had an even higher frequency of burning down.

I didn’t know the routine well yet myself, as I had only experienced a single drill since turning five a few weeks ago (and therefore been given a lot more freedom to leave the house with dad). So I mostly stood out of the way, watching as solid metal covers were set in place over the fires and clamped into place. Any work that was still hot enough to burn was set into a long metal box in a corner of the large stone room, and then everyone started to take up weapons, but not armor this time. I had been taught that if the bells at all four corners of the village were ringing it meant ‘prepare for battle’, but if it was just one set of bells it was a signal that we still had time to flee if we were quick. The bells also signified the direction that the attack was coming from, but that was more for the Guards than for the villagers themselves.

We hurried through the streets, the atmosphere quite different than the last attack I had experienced. Everyone was moving quickly, and many were carrying weapons, but there was more chatter and even some laughter coming from here and there.

“I hope I get a chance to skewer of them beasts.” Boasted one of the apprentices. I rolled my eyes but didn’t say anything.

“More like get a chance to feed one.” Retorted Carver, her tail waiving behind her as she mimed exaggerated biting and chewing motions. She was my favorite among the apprentices, and I laughed along with the rest of the group

The other apprentice frowned at her and opened his mouth to reply, but then quickly snapped it shut again when he saw the look she was giving him. One of the blacksmiths slapped him on the back, “Still upset about the Tournament, are you? Always next year, if we get that far.” The older (and much larger) man said consolingly.

My father was silent, as usual, but in a way I had to admit that I agreed with the cocky apprentice – I had still never really tested out my powers, and I really wanted to see how they measured up against the soldiers of House Flameward. The formation that I used to absorb energy had only gotten more powerful with time, drawing in ever increasing flows of Qi (as I had decided to call it). I pulled up my character sheet quickly, just to review where I was at.

Name: Heller Age: 5 Primary Stats: Personal / Modified Secondary Stats: Personal / Modified Strength: 5 Health Points (HP): 6 Dexterity: 6 Current HP: 6 Fitness: 6 Fatigue Points (FP): 6 Current FP: 6 Will Power: 14 Total CP earned: 31 Perception: 12 CP Spent: 24 Remaining CP: 7

I had put another twelve points into my Lightning Bolt and Ion Shield, bringing the combo up to 20 points split between the two abilities. It hadn’t been easy, but I had eventually managed to manifest both powers at the same time, though they were both still limited by sharing the same power source. The trick was in charging the voltage up on the surface of the Ion Shield, not my hand, and I had shocked myself several times before I figured this out. The Ion Shield itself seemed to be immune to lightning, or at least able to funnel any electric charge around me instead of through me – I think it was acting like an invisible Tesla Cage. I hadn’t foreseen this when I created the ability, but considering that the Shield was created out of charged particles (which are conductive) it made sense after I thought about it.

So here I was with this awesome power I wanted to try out, and I had nothing I could use it on except immobile lumps of metal or stone. But then again, I was pretty terrified that things wouldn’t work as planned, and that if I ever needed to use my powers they would fail me or prove too weak to help. I stuck with the group, wanting to test myself but knowing it would probably be suicide to run off on my own just to see what I could do.

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We swung by the house to pick up Mother, who was waiting for us by the door wearing leather armor and carrying her normal sword-dagger combo. The door was latched open again, which reminded me that I had never asked about that from the last attack – I had completely forgotten about it what with everything else going on.

“Dad, why do we latch the doors open?” I asked as we made our way to join up with mom.

“The scent, Heller. Most beasts hunt by smell, and will destroy our homes if we trap the smell in.” He replied.

“Brilliant question, Heller!” Said Mother as she joined us. “It also helps confuse the beasts, mixing smells in the street so they can’t hunt any stragglers as easily.” She said, giving me one of her beautiful smiles. “It’s been tradition for so long, I don’t know where it started.”

I wasn’t sure if I agreed with the reasoning, but then again… I did seem to remember seeing a number of broken doors last time, I think... And now, looking up and down the street, every door I could see was open; most had a wide and flat stone keeping the door against the wall.

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We had to spend five days and four nights in the Fortress this time. I did some scouting in my Astral form (using the Soul-Rope, as I used to call it), and saw a very different scene than the previous time. There were a number of Guards and volunteers working together to clear the city (but Jaws was locked up with us – mothers orders), using the Fortress as a command post. There were scouts on the roof tending the bonfire and sending messages down to those organizing the fight: The men and women in full plate and chain armor who I had seen before. They were minor nobles, I found out, who lived in the Fortress full time and served as the rulers of North Stone Village. There were a few casualties, and more than a few injuries, but it was nothing compared to the first attack I had seen.

The beasts themselves were terrifying at first sight, but actually far less threatening than the shadow wolves. They looked like small six legged insect-bears: They had insect-like segmented bodies, were about the height of a three year old child standing up and twice as wide. However, they moved slowly and didn’t work together as effectively as the wolves had, so the Guard was able to beat them back without too much difficulty. But they had numbers, probably in the high thousands, maybe a lot more if they were spread throughout the countryside.

Then Merrik arrived, clearing out the entire swath of insect-bears in just a few short minutes.

Authors Note: Longer chapter than last time, but I wanted to re-post this note regarding my chapter lengths.

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My goal when I started writing this was 1000 word chapters, because I thought it was achievable for me as a new author. This one was about 1250 words, which is one of my longest ever posted. Shortest was just over 1000. So the difference either way isn't that huge.