The commander of the Monster Hunters was a man named Tooms. The trio of Mages, accompanied by Kiran, found him in organizing the defense of Dangole. He glanced over at them with a neutral expression before nodding to Kiran.

“So what’s your plan?” Sigrid asked, stepping up to Tooms, arms crossed. “Do you want to fold us into the existing defenses somewhere?”

“No, not yet.” Tooms said. “We have a bunker under the mayor's house. We’re moving all those too young, too old, or too sick to join the defense. I want you three to help with that.”

“You don’t want us to fight?” Erin asked, confused.

“Of course you’ll fight.” Tooms said, “My Hunters are positioned around the walls, but we don’t have enough trained fighters to cover everywhere. We’ve organized the townspeople into squads, each led by one of my people. I want you three to move to wherever you are most needed to hold the wall, but first we need to clear the streets of non-combatants.”

“Understood.” Sigrid said with a nod before turning back to Erin and Liam. “Let’s go.” They departed the guard station near the town gate and made their way towards the town center down the main road. The tension of those inside the walls was palpable. Erin could practically feel the fear of those around them. Merchants and crafters, men and women who’d never held a weapon, who had been pressed into defending Dangole. Many turned their gazes toward Erin and her friends, wooden spears clutched in their hands, their expressions a mix of hope and terror. Some were crying, and a few even shouted at them as they passed. Words of encouragement, pleas for help, even blame for bringing the monsters down on them.

Erin wanted to yell back that the qek would’ve come anyway, but the words stuck in her throat. Not because she believed this was their fault, but because so many were expecting them to be saviors. She pushed it aside as they caught up with a stout-looking woman, herding a group of children towards the center of town.

When asked if she knew where they could find people who needed to be moved into the shelter, she had no end of work for them. The woman's name was Mafelda and in her direction the trio organized themselves and began running throughout the small town, collecting elderly people from their homes, carrying those too sick to walk and helping mothers wrangle their children towards the bunker. Hours had passed before the first calls of alarm went up from the walls. Erin was standing near the front door to the mayor's home, trying to convince an elderly man that there was no time for them to return to his home on the far side of town to retrieve a handkerchief for him.

“I’m sure someone down below will be able to lend you one.” Erin said, exasperated but trying not to let it show.

“My wife made me that one.” He said stubbornly, his lips pursed and Erin rubbed the heel of her palm against her forehead, trying to think of another way to come at convincing him, when the situation resolved itself.

“Monsters spotted!” someone shouted in the distance. “Monsters approaching the walls!” Erin turned, trying to identify the speaker from where she stood, but could not make them out. She turned back to the old man to find his face had gone pale, his haughty stubbornness fled.

“Sir, I need you to go below. Please,” she implored, and he looked at her with wide eyes.

“You’re going to kill them, right?” he mumbled. “You’re going to protect us.” Erin absorbed the words, her expression hardly shifting as she felt the weight of his desperation settle on her.

“I’m going to do everything I can. We all are.” She answered, her voice low. She held out a hand to wave him forward into the house, and Mafelda appeared in the doorway to take hold of the man's arm, gently guiding him away. The woman gave Erin a nod, which Erin returned before turning away and running back down the street towards the town's gate. She found Tooms inside the guardhouse with Sigrid and Kiran, the three of them standing around a table, upon which sat a rough map of Dangole. Bits of wood had been placed around the map to show the various groups of villagers being led by Monster Hunters.

“Never seen anything like it.” Kiran was saying as Erin walked in. The three of them looked up at her as she joined them at the table.

“Did you see Liam?” Sigrid asked.

“Not since about an hour ago,” Erin answered. “The call is going out that they’re here. I’m sure he’ll turn up.”

As if summoned, Liam stepped through the doorway.

“Headed up to the wall to have a look,” he told them as he came to stand next to Erin. “That’s a lot of critters down there.”

“What were they doing?” Tooms asked him.

“They stopped just out of bow range. Couple of your people was taking shots, testing them I think.”

“Idiots,” Kiran growled, “wasting arrows.”

“So what’s the plan?” Sigrid asked.

“They’re concentrated on the north side for now,” Tooms said, tapping on the map. “But with the numbers my scouts reported, they likely have enough to surround us, which means we have to try and hold the entire wall at once. We don’t have enough Hunters to do it. Even with villagers it might not be enough.”

“How does that happen?” Erin asked. “Why wouldn’t you have enough people to man your own wall?”

“We never expected to find ourselves in a siege,” Kiran answered. “No monsters out here fight like this. No monsters anywhere fight like this that I’ve ever heard. Enough qek to surround the village working together? If I’d heard it a week ago, I would’ve laughed.”

“We told you about them when we first arrived,” Sigrid pointed out.

“And I probably laughed,” Kiran answered. “Very quietly, behind your back.” Sigrid turned a disapproving frown on him, and Kiran held up his hands, palms out. “We still treated it as a serious matter, even so. Sent out scouting parties and confirmed what you said.”

“And due to that fact,” Tooms cut in, “we’ve been able to prepare a bit. We reinforced the gate, got to work making arrows. I would’ve liked some time to prepare siege-works, but the ground is frozen and I don’t have an army. The plan is like I said,” he turned his attention to Sigrid. “You three will move along the wall and use your magic to reinforce anywhere that’s getting hit hard.”

“We can only cast so many spells.” Liam said, his arms crossed over his chest as he looked down at the map.

“Well then, grab a spear and stab the ones that try and climb over. I’ve seen you all training with my men. I’m sure you’ve got it figured out what end to hit them with.”

“Alright,” Sigrid said, “We’re going to go take up our positions.” She turned and headed for the door, with Liam behind her. Erin was about to follow when Kiran touched her arm. She turned back to look into his face and saw worry there.

“I… look, just…” He trailed off, and Erin raised an eyebrow.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, turning back to face him properly. Kiran heaved a breath and took a step back.

“Just be careful, okay?” He said, and Erin glanced at Tooms, who was studying the map, ignoring them.

“Yeah, you too.” Erin turned back, heading out the door.

“What’s the problem?” Sigrid asked as Erin joined them.

“You mean besides the swarm of monsters?” Erin asked her, deflecting her question. Sigrid frowned, but didn’t push, resuming her course toward the wall, and Erin thought she could detect a stiffness in the women's movements.

She’s nervous.

[It’s a battle.]

I know, but I guess I just expected her to be used to it or something.

If Lisa had any further insight, she kept it to herself. Erin’s anxiety had grown so intense she was verging on panic, but she hadn’t expected Sigrid to share her fears.

“Alright. We’re going to split up and take positions on the north side. Dangole only has one gate, and I expect that to be where they focus their efforts.” Sigrid said, without breaking stride.

“Why’s that?” Liam asked as he, and Erin hurried to keep up with her pace.

“Call it a hunch. I’ve never fought in this kind of battle before, but siege tactics are pretty well documented. They don’t have siege equipment, so their options are limited. DIg under the wall, climb over it without ladders or towers, or break down the front gate.”

Sigrid broke off her explanation as she reached a set of narrow wooden stairs that lead to the top of the wall. She took them 2 at a time and Erin followed just behind.

Erin felt her heart skip a beat as she looked out over the wall to see a mass of the smaller breed of qek standing just out of bowshot. They didn’t have the coordination of an army, no neat rows or organized groups. Just hundreds upon hundreds of waist high, spotted-fur monsters standing in loose clumps, watching the people, who watched them in turn.

“They mean to crush us through their numbers.” Sigrid said, breaking the silence that had settled on them upon at seeing the force of monsters arrayed before the town.

“Wish I could say I didn’t think it was going to work.” Liam muttered quietly, and Erin elbowed him in the ribs as a few of the nervous villagers on the wall glanced back at him, eyes wide. “Ow, I’m kidding.” He said, hand over the spot where Erin had caught him, while waving at the villagers with his other hand. “Just surprised to see so many. It’s no trouble. You got- we- all of us, together. We got this.” He babbled, clearly nervous, as more villagers turned toward him.

“Better shut up unless you plan to give a speech.” Sigrid told him.

“Did you have to hit me so hard?” he asked, still rubbing at his ribs with a pained expression.

“No,” Erin said, feeling guilty. “I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry, just jumpy, I guess.”

“Well, if you hit them as hard as you hit me, then this should be a piece of cake.”

“Erin,” Sigrid cut in, “I want you to move to the other side of the gate. Liam, keep heading down the wall.” Erin wanted to protest them splitting up, but she’d grown to trust Sigrid's judgment in the weeks since they’d met. So Erin took the steps back down to the street, while Liam continued further down the platform.

“If it goes sideways,” Sigrid yelled out as they were moving away, “regroup at the Mayor's house.”

Erin hurried off to find the nearest steps up the wall on the far side of the gate. She climbed to the top and took up a position behind some of the townspeople.

Her eyes drifted over the mob of qek. The monsters were constantly jostling each other for position, shuffling this way and that, and for the first time Erin noticed the absence of the large white qek. She was certain that the fact she couldn’t see any from the wall was a bad sign, but before she had time to dwell on what it might mean, she heard her name being called from further down the line.

“Erin!” She turned to see Cheddar waving at her, and she smiled as some of the tension left her body. Being stuck up here on the wall without Sigrid or Liam was rough, and seeing a familiar face was a relief. She made her way over to Cheddar, who was one of the few First Tiers who could meet her eye. They clasped forearms, and he jerked his head at the line of villagers, awkwardly clutching spears.

“Can you believe they put me in charge of some folks?” He said with a laugh.

“They put all the Monster Hunters in charge of a group.” She pointed out.

“Oh, I know,” he said, shaking his head. “Like being able to spear a monster means you know how to tell other people how to win a fight.”

“Ahh,” she said, feigning realization. “I see what you’re saying. It is pretty unbelievable that anyone would think you know how to win a fight.” Cheddar nodded along for a few seconds, before he turned to look at her, his eyes narrowed suspiciously. She could tell he was working on how to turn the joke back on her, but before he could form his reply, someone screamed.

“They’re coming!” Erin and Cheddar both looked as the first line of qek went down on all fours and loped towards the wall in an even line. Behind them followed another, and then another. In moments, the space before the wall had filled with the bodies of monsters, ripping their way across the space with an inhuman speed.

“Oh, damn.” She heard Cheddar mutter in a tone of disbelief before he ran to his place and yelled out. “That’s them in range! Put ‘em down hard!” Several villagers who were holding bows turned to look at him, while others prepared to draw, only to hesitate as those around them didn’t move at all.

[Tell them to draw!]

Lisa said suddenly. Not hesitating, Erin stepped up to the wall and leveled her arm as runes jumped up onto her skin.

“Draw!” she bellowed, tier 2 lungs overpowering the thunder of the qek’s approach. This time, all of those with bows moved together, pulling their arrows back. Erin didn’t bother picking a single target, instead just turning her fireball towards the mass of bodies.

[Fire!]

“Fire!” Erin repeated the word. At the same moment, she released her fireball. The magic flame streaked towards the onrushing qek, leaving a brilliant orange wake and a barrage of arrows hot on its tail. Some of the qek tumbled, dead or soon to be, as the wounded were crushed beneath their surging fellows. Erin called up another fireball and loosed it into the qek as they swarmed against the base of the wall. The Battle of Dangole had begun.