It was so loud. When Rose imagined battle she never anticipated how the screams of the dying would echo through the streets. She could hear the crunch of breaking bones and the pitiful whimpers of fallen enemies from her vantage point on the bakery roof. The Somali soldiers weren’t having much success breaching the barricade. One after another, they fell from the wall. Some crying and smearing blood as they crawled away, others laying ominously still.

Still they marched on.

Rose stared down at the growing pile of dead. Their comrades clambered over them, hedless of where they put their feet.

She vaguely wondered what their mothers would be thinking to see their child’s body treated so by men they called friends. She was strangely disconnected from the thought.

She knew that she should be horrified but all she could feel was a peculiar detachment atrocities occurring down below.

“Rose!” The commanding bark came from somewhere behind her. She did react. “What do you think you’re doing? Attack!”

She slowly became aware that she was standing frozen with an arm poised to attack. Had she thrown a magical attack when the order was given? She couldn’t remember. She remembered flames singeing the hair on her arms as Jacinto fired into the mass of enemies. She remembered their screams of terror and the stink of charred flesh.

Human flesh.

Had she done that?

Bile rose in her throat. She turned and fled down the stairs. The screaming followed her. She pressed her hands against her ears but she could still hear it. The noise burrowed into her mind and throbbed behind her eyes like a headache.

She emerged from the bakery into the sunlight where the stench of death was even stronger. It shouldn’t smell like that. She tried to remember the warm smell of baking bread and sweet cakes. As a child, she would walk down to the bakery and buy hotcakes. Her mother had forbidden it so she would eat it on her way back home. The honey used to stick to her fingers and hair but her father always pretended not to noticed as she ran past him reading by the fire.

The memory was fleeting, overpowered by the stench and shrieking. There was no sticky fingers or steaming softness burning her fingers, only blood and carnage and madness.

“Rose!” The voice was unfamiliar but the figure was not. No one else she had met in Genticus had that distinct crook in their nose. Aalto pulled Rose up from where she had slumped against the bakery wall. He dragged her towards an alleyway and pressed her against a wall there. The only thing holding her up was the rough stone and her back and the comforting bulk of Aalto.

Aalto pried her hands away from her ears and bent so her could look her directly in the eyes.

“Stay here, Rose,” he said in a soft voice, as if soothing a wild animal. “Everything is going to be fine. Just stay here. I’ll come get you when the fighting is over.”

Rose looked up at him through her tears. She’d never heard him talk before. The thought hit her sideways and she giggled, slightly hysterically.

Aalto’s stare didn’t waver.

Rose could count on Aalto. He had never left her side. He would come for her. She just had to wait.

“Barricade Three is holding.”

“Good,” said Conan, steepling his fingers. “Hue is doing an excellent job. How are the sea mines?”

“Our last information is a almost a half hour old.” Kaia pulled out a sheet of paper. “At last check, they had five casualties but their defense is holding. I'm requesting for an update now.”

“Okay, once that is done, inform Navihm that he can move out.”

“Yes, Impraefectus.”

“Okay, boys,” Navihm said to his soldiers. “We are moving out.”

Jenan, Navihm’s second in command, called the march and Navihm’s four Unum jogged south amongst the streets lining the east bank of the river. The front lines of invaders were now fully engaged with the Genti soldiers manning the barricades set up at various points of the city while the mages in the sea mines slowed any ships still remaining. The invaders were now strung out across the city, fighting in small groups against defenders who had the tactical advantage. Navihm was to put a final nail in the coffin by leading a flanking attack to clean out any pockets of invaders still roaming the streets and split the forces in the ships and on land.

Up until now, the Genti’s had been on the defensive, it was time for them to attack.

Jenan called a halt.

“Prefectus, there is thirty enemies approaching,” Jenan informed Navihm. They had set a scout to avoid any surprises.

“Here is a good place to make a stand,” Navihm said to Jenan. It raised his voice so the rest of his troops could hear. “We wait here. Hostiles approaching. On my count!.”

His troops snapped to attention, forming neat ranks immediately. Navihm sent magical feelers into the earth, keeping careful track of the incoming enemy. He positioned his troops around a sharp bend in the street, the Somal troops would be upon them before they even saw the waiting Gentis.

Navihm held up his hand, signaling for his troops to be ready. Just as he sensed the enemy coming around the bend, he chopped his arm down. The Genti soldiers released a barrage of throwing spears and axes into the oncoming ranks of the enemy, breaking up their advance. Navihm lead the charge, crashing into the first soldiers just seconds after their deadly rain of weapons had landed.

Unprepared and taken by surprise, the fight didn't last long. Navihm moved his troops towards the next nearest gathering of Somal soldiers, senseing them using his earth and empathy magic.

“Navihm has made it halfway down the East bank.” Kaia quickly shuffled the chips around the map, removing some chips representing the enemy and updating Navihm’s position. “They are now engaged with a group around fifty strong who are just making it to shore now.”

Conan studied the map and talked with one of his advisors. Kaia couldn't hear what they were saying over the commotion of the war council talking. She was distracted from the scene by a flutter of movement by her elbow. It was a raven. She took the message from the bird’s proffered leg.

Conan saw the colour drain from Kaia’s face as she read the latest message. He rose from his seat, leaving his sentence unfinished.

“We’ve lost Hart’s mine.” Kaia’s voice trembled. “An enemy ship sunk it.”

Navihm looked over across the water just as a ship crashed through the sea mine, ramming right through it with its prow.

Hart was in that mine.

The sounds of battle seemed to quiet around him. All Navihm could hear was ringing in his ears. He watched as the building slid off its supports and sunk into the ocean. His sword and dagger fell from numb fingers. Navihm slowly became aware that he was screaming for his cousin.

He watched the ship sail away from the ruined mine and towards the shore. Without thinking, he grabbed a hold of the water with his magic.

Jenan watched as his commander fell to his knees. As he hit the ground a great concussion of energy rippled out from him, sending Jenan and the other soldiers stumbling back a pace. Great waves of water rushed up and over the sides of the enemy ship.

All the fighting stopped and they watched the waves swell as Navihm rose his arms. His fingers curled and he tore at the air in front of him. In response, the water swirled even more fiercely, ripping the ship apart, right down the center.

The hull was pulled apart, the wooden boards peeling away from each other to let water rush into the ruined ship. With a sharp crack, the keel snapped, the twisting too much for the huge support beam.

The sounds of shrieking and groaning of wood died with the last of Navihm’s screams.

Okay, so I dont have a bonus for you for this chapter. I cant think of one, though i'm sure there is a lot that I haven't included. I'm thinking of doing a long one after the last chapter to give you an idea about where everyone ends up.

Instead of a bonus, I will give you a little insite into my characters and why I wrote them the way I did.

Navihm is based on boyfriend (though I didn't know it when I started writing this). He is responsible and dutiful to a fault, a fast learner, speaks multiple languages (which always fascinated me) and has an incredible dedication to his family, just like Navihm.

Kaia is the person I always wanted to be; strong, feminine, powerful and loyal. What I love about her is that she conforms to the traditional ideals of femininity, (shes beautiful -inside and out-, motherly, dedicated to her family, always there to support Navihm and obedient to her family and Navihm), but she does this without conforming to the typical negative ideas behind being meek or submissive or obedient.

Though I have always wanted to be like Kaia, I think I see myself more in Rose. When you think about it, a lot of the ways Rose reacts to situations are not uncommon. She is uncomfortable with speaking with a language barrier, I also sometimes find myself a little uneasy speaking to my boyfriend's family, whose first language is not english. I dont think it's an unusual reaction to find it exhausting and a little tiresome dealing with this situation. We all are a little lazy and a little selfish and sometimes react to situations in a way that we know isn't perfect. We are all a little immature and scared and uncomfortable and sometimes we run when we are supposed to fight.

I think because so many characters in this book are so noble and loyal and good, it's easy to criticise Rose. But be honest with yourself, is Rose really that much different than you? We all have room to grow.

That being said, I have a vague sort of idea that I'm going to write something else about Rose. I know a lot of you have been asking about her character arc and have been looking for some kind of redemption for her, but I dont think she is quite there yet, maybe thats because I dont think that I'm quite there either. I'm still a little too much Rose and not enough Kaia. Let me know if you have any ideas.

So this was quite a personal thing to talk about to strangers on the internet but there you go.

Stay tuned, for the final chapter!