Valerie woke to a world of golden-white light. She might’ve thought she’d died and gone to heaven if the golden-white light weren’t so damn painfully bright. As it was, she tried to recall what was going on.

She’d been daydreaming at their old apartment, and then she’d had that disorienting hallucination and ended up in this medieval reenactment. But it didn’t seem like a reenactment; it was too real: the dead bodies, the terrified children, the blood. Damn it. This was impossible. The only explanation she could think of was that she’d somehow traveled back in time to the Middle Ages.

The light faded. After sitting up, for the third time in half an hour, Valerie slowly, dizzily, began to make out her surroundings, blinking until the spots in her vision receded. The blurry shapes of people stood in front of her. Men, from the timbre of their voices.

“Greater Heal?” spoke a deep voice that sounded like it was produced by a giant of a man. “Light, how many do you have left?”

“Don’t worry about it, Mirror.”

“You’re all out, aren’t you? She would have been fine with a Lesser.”

“Let it alone. By Aver’s light, if you followed me out here just to nag me … ”

The last words were spoken by a knight standing over Valerie, and his words trailed off when he noticed that she was listening. Pristine golden armor covered every inch of the knight’s body save his head. A golden helm was cradled in one arm. Literally a knight in shining armor. And his face! Heavens above, he could have been a movie star based on his jawline alone. And that long blonde hair —

Valerie sat up, wincing at the pain in her chest near her right shoulder and her left side. Fuck! She groped under her shirt, feeling for the wounds.

“Calm yourself. Your wounds have been healed. At least, you won’t bleed to death, and they shouldn’t reopen on the way to Castia.”

Where was she? Between the legs of the knights, she saw more knights, townspeople milling about and sitting, burning buildings, and grass. There was no hospital, no doctors or nurses, and no Red Cross tent. Who had administered medical care?

“Can I ask you something?” Valerie asked, feeling stupid but unable to think of another explanation for her situation. “What year is it?”

“Greater Heal. It was a –– what? We’re in the 43rd year after the Dimming. You fell –– ”

The Dimming? Valerie was no history buff. Judging by his tone, asking about it would make her look out of place, but ––

“The Dimming?” she ventured.

“Are you feeling all right? You must have been hit rather hard. When the sun turned red? The last time the gods were seen? Do you remember your name?”

She nodded stiffly. Time travel was ridiculous enough. Now she’d been saved by some sort of religious cult. The sincerity in his voice — this knight was some combination of overly religious and a little delusional. From the way he spoke, Valerie gathered that she’d best play along and figure out who these “gods” were as soon as possible. No telling what careless comment might set off a cult of fanatics. But she wanted to ask about her wounds. No matter how much she turned over recent events in her head, she couldn’t make sense of it. They’d needed more than a couple of quick stitches. Lacerated by claws, torn into by fangs, having lost what had felt like a lethal amount of blood, she ought to be dead or in the ICU.

She stood on shaky legs. Her shoulder and side hurt, but they were the aches of old wounds. Healed. Impossible.

Valerie got her first good look at her surroundings. They were at the edge of the village –– town? –– demarcated by a wooden fence. On the road, by a gap in the fence –– an entrance to the town –– milled hundreds of people. They were unarmored. Some were wounded, some held pitchforks or hoes, all looked frightened.

Facing toward the village center, twenty or so knights stood in formation, as if they expected to receive an enemy’s charge. Their armor all looked like normal not-gold-colored steel and didn’t cover their arms or shins. Many of the knights had dented armor or were missing a helm, although none looked bloodied like the townspeople.

Beyond the knights, the village blazed, orange flames and black smoke waving in the night air. Though the knights — or the civilians — had somehow managed to keep the nearby buildings from burning, the air was uncomfortably warm. What was more uncomfortable was the occasional roar or screech that echoed from flames.

“As I was saying,” the golden knight said, trying to get her attention, “you nearly made it here on your own. Bad luck, catching the attention of a Stalker a few blocks away. Not too bad, I suppose, since one of our returning squads saw you and brought you in. You and your daughter.”

My — Sophia?

The golden knight raised a golden gauntlet and pointed behind Valerie, who turned to see another knight who stood behind a young girl –– what was her name again? –– holding her by the shoulders. The knight released the girl, who ran forward to grab onto Valerie’s leg.

Valerie felt as if she’d been force-fed a triple serving of guilt. She’d forgotten the girl and hoped — ridiculous, on so many levels — to see Sophia.

“She’s doesn’t talk much,” the other knight said.

A correction flew from her mouth. “She’s not my daughter.”

Immediately, Valerie regretted her words, but, in response, the girl in question just gripped her tighter. The golden knight looked surprised and began to ask a question, but the other knight who’d been holding the girl interrupted.

“Paladin Light, we should evacuate.”

As far as Valerie could tell, awkwardly patting the girl on the head, she seemed unhurt, although her eyes were red. Brown, swollen eyes full of trust looked up at Valerie, and her heart constricted and looked away. Wherever this was, Valerie wasn’t supposed to be here. If something happened to Ruben while she was stuck here, Sophia would be an orphan. What would happen to her daughter? Foster care? Would this Jenny take care of her? Did Valerie want her to?

She nearly slapped herself. Of course she would want Sophia to be taken care of by someone that cared about her rather than being sent to foster care. How could her dislike for Jenny, the woman acting as the wife and mother Valerie had failed to be, outweigh Valerie’s love for her daughter? That alone showed why Valerie deserved to be replaced.

She met the two watery brown eyes staring up at her and flinched. Everything she should have wanted swam in those two glistening pools: trust, love, and need. Yet she looked away and pried the little girl off her leg, letting the girl hold her hand; instead, Valerie watched the knights. Right now, getting to safety was the most important matter.

“We have time for a few more sweeps,” the golden knight said. “When the next squad returns, I’ll go another round.”

“We’ve swept the entire village,” the knight who had held the Amelia — that was her name, Valerie remembered now — responded, “and the main body of the horde is minutes away. If we don’t leave now, they’ll catch us on the way to Castia. I’m afraid they’ll catch us even if we leave now.”

“There could still be people here. The weak I shall protect.”

There was a dangerous glint in the golden knight’s — Paladin Light’s — eyes.

A towering knight, a full head taller than Paladin Light, in armor that gleamed like a silver mirror and, like Paladin Light’s, unblemished by the fighting, stepped forward and placed a huge gauntleted hand on Paladin Light’s shoulder.

“Paladin Light,” the giant knight said in his deep voice, “we’ve done all we can. We leave. Now.”

For a few seconds, there were no screams or beastly roars, only the quiet roaring and crackling of the flames as the two knights in brilliant armor stared each other down.

Then the golden knight nodded, and his cheerful posture sagged briefly like a balloon deflating. He straightened his shoulders so quickly that Valerie could almost have thought the golden knight had been stretching or adjusting his armor. Almost.

“Come,” Paladin Light said to Valerie and Amelia, a smile again on his face.

As they approached the crowd of civilians, the mutterings grew quieter, save for a ring of people gathered around two arguing men. The older one held a stack of plates in one outstretched hand, trying to keep them away from the younger man, who was attempting to reach around and grab them.

“These are Dwarven porcelain! Your great-great-grandmother — ”

“And I’m the Stone Angel! Drop the damn — ”

“ — paid twenty gold — ”

With a feint and a lunge, the younger man succeeded in knocking the plates to the ground, and they shattered. The older man froze as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.

Not missing the opportunity, Paladin Light stepped forward, silencing the crowd.

“People of Perinvale, we head to Castia.”

By now, the arguing men had realized there was something else to pay attention to, although the older man wore a look of barely restrained fury.

“I know you are tired, but once we reach Castia, we’ll be safe. Anyone with a fighting Blessing, to the rear. Mirror Squad to the front. The rest of the Holy Knights, including our newest members, at the rear. If you have a weapon but no fighting Blessing, find someone with a fighting Blessing lacking a weapon and give it to them.”

Protests rose from the crowd.

“But my cousin isn’t here!”

“Has anyone seen my son? Brannac?”

“When’ll we come back? The Harvest Festival’s in four days!”

At a glance from Paladin Light, the towering silver knight stepped up and silenced the crowd with a wave of his gauntlet.

“No soldiers are coming to save you!” he boomed. “There is only we, the Order of Light, and we are too few to fight off a Twisted Horde. Even leaving now, the Twisted Horde may catch us before we reach Castia. These aren’t a few stray Twisted Stalkers hunting outside the forest! This is a Horde! If you stay behind, you will die. If you flee from the group, you will die. Perinvale is no more. We must reach Castia with all haste.”

The crowd erupted again into panicked arguments, but, at the knights’ direction, the mass began to stream out through the gate in the wooden fence. Paladin Light nodded to the towering knight, and the other knights moved to follow his orders. The stream of people parted as seven mounted knights rode ahead, the other knights forming up at the back, along with a few villagers armed with swords. Pulling along Amelia, Valerie followed Paladin Light to the rear of the procession, wondering where she should go.

In front of them, the mass of civilians, less organized, gradually separated into two groups. The group of elderly, children, and unarmed followed the seven knights out of the city first, the group of grimly resolute pitchfork and hoe-wielding peasants a few steps behind.

The front group was safest, but she didn’t belong there, given she wasn’t old enough to have grandkids. But there were some parents with children there. Maybe she could find one of Amelia’s relatives or neighbors. At least she could find out how far it was to this Castia.

Holding Amelia’s hand, she moved forward to join the second group of the civilians, but Paladin Light beckoned them. “Walk with me for a bit.”

What did he want to talk to her for? She didn’t belong back here. There was a child with her, and neither of them had a weapon.

Led by Paladin Light, who was on foot leading his horse — which she now realized had two thick curling horns like those of a ram — the rear guard consisted of a dozen or so mounted knights and a handful of well-armed villagers. Now that she was with them, they didn’t look so average. While none were armored, and while their clothes would have blended in with the mass in front of them, these villagers walked and spoke with an ease that said they were more used to danger than their more nervous brethren. A few were even laughing at a joke one had made.

“How did you come across . . . ”

Paladin Light gestured towards Amelia. Valerie thought for a moment, planning her words. It wouldn’t do to reveal how much she didn’t know, that she didn’t belong.

“Amelia,” Valerie answered. “I heard screams, and I went in, and there was a wolf. I stabbed it, and … the rest of her family … ”

The girl looked up when her name was called, but quickly looked away and tightened her grip on Valerie’s hand. Paladin Light seemed to put the rest together.

“Former adventurer?”

“Adventurer?” Valerie cursed herself as the word left her mouth. From the Paladin’s tone of voice and his subsequent curious expression, it seemed common knowledge. To Valerie’s relief, the Paladin didn’t pause.

“Have you any fighting Blessing? Soldier, Fighter, Brawler?”

Valerie remembered the voice in her head that was her but not her.

“I just got something called Fighter, I think.”

Paladin Light smiled, dazing Valerie for a moment. He’d smiled earlier, but now, close up, with all of his attention directed at her, and with the intimacy of a one-on-one conversation … no man had the right to have a smile like that. “Congratulations. Brave of you, killing a Twisted Stalker as a civilian. That’s quite a way to earn your Fighter Blessing.”

“Um … thanks.” Fumbling for a reply, Valerie desperately tried to recall what he’d said. It was as if the words had gone in and straight out of her ears.

The golden knight unbelted his second sword. “Take this.”

After a moment of confusion, Valerie swelled with pride, but then she shook her head.

“I can’t fight.”

“I think there are few in Perinvale that have killed a Twisted Stalker.”

“That was an accident. I don’t … ”

How could she explain this? I have anger management issues. That would go over well. My therapist forbade me from violent activities. Something told her that the golden knight had never heard of a therapist. She glanced down at Amelia.

“I can’t fight,” she said firmly.

The golden knight, clearly not getting the message, nodded sagely, as though he’d peered into Valerie’s soul and understood exactly what she felt. Or had he purposely misunderstood her?

“What Skills do you have?”

Trying to come up with a way to deflect the question, the gears in her mind spinning, Valerie found foreign knowledge bubbling up. Foreign because it made no sense to her, yet she knew it with more certainty than she knew how to speak, with the certainty with which she knew where her hands were. The knowledge felt so natural that she spoke before she could be confused by it.

“Power Strike — ”

“Good, that’ll be useful.”

The first one she remembered. That voice in her head that was her voice mentioned it after she fell down the stairs, right before she got that excruciating headache. The second one, though, when did she … what the hell were these anyway?

“ — and Noble Sacrifice?”

Despite her mentally professed ignorance, the more she thought about how she knew nothing about what was happening to her, the more certain she was that she knew exactly what Power Strike and Noble Sacrifice were.

If she wanted to hit something, she could use Power Strike to hit it much harder, although the effect would be better with a weapon. A sword would work, but a blunt, heavy weapon would be better.

Noble Sacrifice . . . Valerie shivered. Under no circumstances would she use that of her own volition.

“I’m sorry. What was that second Skill?”

A change in the golden knight’s tone caused Valerie to look over at him. His expression had morphed into something inscrutable.

“Um, Noble Sacrifice? What did you ask about my … Skills for?”

“You gained two Levels? What are your other Levels in? Blessings?”

More knowledge that she was sure she hadn’t had yesterday shoved its way to the front of her mind. “I have none.”

The golden knight’s eyes traveled up and down Valerie’s body, making her feel exposed. He was clearly noticing how out of place her clothes were. Eyes narrowing, a step away when he’d been stepping closer to her, a break in the conversation. The religious fanatic was realizing that she didn’t belong here, and soon he’d scream “Infidel!” and accuse her of attempting to infiltrate their ranks.

“You’re a Deathseeker.”

It was a statement, not a question. But a statement of what? Was he trying to say she was suicidal? She wasn’t — though she had plenty of reason to be — there had been those moments on the bridge, but she hadn’t really been considering it. Moments ticked by under the golden knight’s intense glare. If she answered wrong here, what would happen to her? What did he want?

It didn’t seem as though he’d believe her if she said no, so she dove headfirst into whatever conspiracy he’d cooked up in his mind. “Yes, I am.”

The golden knight nodded slowly and muttered to himself, the words lost amid the clanking of armor and thudding of feet on the ground.

Suddenly, the golden knight closed the distance between them to the point where he could be considered invading her personal space, uncomfortably close, and the golden knight’s eyes glinted as brightly as his armor. For some reason, Valerie was reminded of the used car dealer from whom she’d bought her Civic.

“Have you ever thought about becoming a Paladin?”

Um, what?