Mai screamed, even as she saw red eyes glimmer behind the armored man’s helmet. On this night, of all nights, she knew meeting an armored man on an otherwise empty road was not a chance occurrence.

The man reached at her, but slowly, giving Mai a chance to dodge. She ran around him, and down the sloped street as he turned to chase her.

A few moments later, Mai stopped, as she almost ran headlong into a second man on the street. This man was unarmored, and was short, slim, and pale. “Hello, my dear,” he said. “My name is Eton, and I shall be your executioner on this fine eve.”

He laughed as Mai dashed around him, and further down the street. As she looked back, he seemed to throw something at her, and, on instinct, she veered away, crashing through the glass window of an empty store in an attempt to evade.

And it seemed she had done what she had done not a second too soon. Behind her, the street exploded, raining debris.

Mai was thrust down to the ground by the force of the explosion, and when she got up, she realized she was not in good shape. There was quite a bit of blood on her clothing, and she felt faint.

Around her, the room, it seemed, had once been home to a bookselling practice. Now, books littered the ground, and bookshelves had fallen. Terrified, Mai looked around through the darkness of the unlit shop for a back door, and found one. She rushed through it, just in time to hear another explosion. Oddly, this one didn’t seem in her direction.

If she survived this, Mai reflected, Eton would haunt her dreams for a long time to come.

She headed right, further down the hill. As she ran, she reached a crossroads, where Eton waited for her, calmly. He showed no signs of exertion.

What is this? Mai wondered. Am I sleeping? Is this a nightmare? Mai hoped she was, and she hoped that she would be waking up very, very soon.

As Mai stood there, horror-stricken, Eton showed her a vial in each hand, vials Mai just knew were filled with more explosives.

“No, these are not for you, dear,” he said. “I have things to do here, other than you.” Eton then tossed the vials in opposite directions, one to the left, and one to the right, as he started at Mai with his dark brown eyes.

The townhouses to either side of them exploded into flames a moment later. The screams of their dying inhabitants, awaking from their dreams only to burn, haunted Mai, and her eyes glazed over.

Then, from behind Eton, Broken came around the corner. He seemed unhurt. Mai didn’t think she had revealed him to Eton, when the pale man turned. “Another shortly to be down,” he whispered.

Even though Eton’s back was to Mai, somehow she knew that if she tried to strike him, her blow would not hit its mark.

Eton threw another vial at Broken, and Mai screamed, expecting him to explode into flames like the buildings around her had. She expected her one-time savior to turn to ash before her very eyes.

Broken did neither of those things. He stayed, unchanging, even as the vial disappeared from Mai’s vision. There was no explosion, no fire. It was as if Broken was a bastion of reality in a world that had gone insane.

Mai drew upon her courage, and started running for Broken, away from Eton. She saw that his face was clenched into an odd shape. She saw that the monster she was running away from was confused.

When Mai stopped as she reached Broken’s side, she realized what had happened. He fingered the vial in his right hand. He had caught the horrible thing before it could break, and destroy him.

Broken wore his black armor, and he slowly put the vial into a pouch at his waist. Then, with his right hand, he drew Aurasing.

But when Mai turned back to see what Eton was doing, he was gone. His handiwork, the fires, raged around them, spreading to new buildings. They were testament to the fact that the madman had been real.

Mai looked and Broken, needing some reassurance that in his company she was safe. What she saw in his face frightened her. When Broken had fought the thugs in the alley, he had almost seemed amused that the thugs had thought they could defeat him. Now his face was etched with a frown, and he looked to be in utter concentration.

Seeing that Broken was worried was, to Mai, more frightening than Eton had ever been. She had never seen him this way before.

“What do we do?” she asked him, her eyes watching the buildings burn.

Broken looked at her, and their eyes met. “To the Penitent Sage,” he said. “We need our things.”

“What’s going on?” she asked him.

Broken didn’t respond. In silence, they began to run for the inn.

Around them, people began to head out of their homes for the street, looking around with eyes bleary from sleep, asking each other what was going on, why there was a fire. The people of the Holy Citadel seemed fearful.

Mai couldn’t blame them.

As Mai and Broken reached the street upon which the Penitent Sage had been built, Mai breathed a sigh of relief. The inn still stood.

In the distance, however, fires burned, in all directions. Eton must have set more. Mai was reminded of the Imperial Palace in the Occluded City, and how it had burned around her. It was as if the past was being relived.

All were out on the streets, so when Mai and Broken entered the Penitent Sage, the common room was empty. Mai was beginning to head up the stairs to get what had been left in their room, when the door to the inn was smashed through.

Mai heard screaming on the streets, but she couldn’t understand it. The massive man wearing metal armor was coming after her and Broken, not the passerby.

Without taking his eyes off the armored giant, Broken spoke to Mai, “Retrieve what needs to be gotten, now!”

Mai raced up the stairs, as she heard the armored man charging at Broken. During the giant’s run, Mai heard chairs and tables splinter and break. But she heard nothing from Broken.

Mai reached the second level of the building, found the room, and fumbled for the key to unlock it. As soon as she did so, Mai’s trembling hands dropped the key, but she didn’t bother to retrieve it.

Only one small bag was in the room, for the rest had been on Swift, and were at Ishad’s camp. Mai swung the bag over her shoulder, and headed out of the room and down the stairs.

She didn’t know if, when she reached the common room, she would find Broken or the giant victorious.

When Mai reached the common room, what she found was Broken, and only him. There was a massive cut on his chest across the front of his leather, reaching through to the skin, as if a giant claw had slashed him.

Broken was leaning over a destroyed table, and breathing heavily. The giant was nowhere to be seen at first, though when Mai looked through one of the broken windows, she saw in the dim light that the giant was in the middle of the street, encircled by a group of Asurik and regular soldiers.

As Mai watched another moment, the giant picked up on of the soldiers, lifted the screaming man high over his head, and then threw the guard against the ground. Mai winced.

Looking back at Broken, she saw that he had staggered up, and he no longer needed support from the table on its side. But yes, he staggered. Mai couldn’t believe it.

Broken, still holding Aurasing to that moment, sheathed the sword.

“Are you all right, Princess?” he asked her, looking unsteady on his feet.

“I’m fine,” said Mai. “But you need to see a doctor. What happened?”

“I drove the thing away, and then the soldiers showed up,” said Broken, nodding out the window.

As Mai watched, another guard standing too close to the giant was picked up. This one was thrown a good thirty feet, right into the side of a burning building. The soldier slammed against it, and collapsed to the ground, out of sight.

“You need to see a doctor!” said Mai, more strongly now, as the terror of seeing Broken weakened began to sink in.

“A doctor couldn’t do anything for me that I can’t do myself,” said Broken. His body curled slightly, and his eyes closed.

A moment later, Broken stood to his full height, eyes open and fully aware. His stance no longer seemed unsteady, and he seemed to have regained strength. The cut on his chest seemed to close a bit, and looked less real.

“Let’s head to the back door,” the revitalized Broken said, and he and Mai both turned.

As they headed for the way out, Mai heard from behind her a shrill scream. She didn’t look back. Mai had no desire to know what was happening to the next of the giant’s victims. Nevertheless, there was a crash, and Mai saw a body hurdle through the window of the Penitent Sage, where it collapsed against the bar, and lay still.

Mai didn’t understand how the giant could continue to stand against the dozens of soldiers trying to bring him down.

It was a mystery she wished had never existed.

***

The Asurik pulled Ishad through the streets, even as buildings flamed and people screamed. They were dedicated. Too dedicated, Ishad thought.

“You have to let me go,” he shouted, even as he struggled against the grip of two of the eight Asurik. “The people need your help!” It wasn’t just because he wanted to save himself from the punishment that would await him. Ishad truly believed that the Asurik should be helping save lives, instead of so stubbornly carrying out what they believed to be justice.

Suddenly, the two Asurik holding Ishad let him go, and he thought for a moment that he was free to leave. Then the leader of the group of Asurik, a female with red hair, slammed him, and used her staff to hold him by his neck against the nearest building wall. Her face contorted with rage.

“You are a disgrace,” she said. “Ishad, you, a monk, have broken your vows. You lost your Symbol, you returned to the Holy Citadel when you had been exiled, and you attacked two guards of this city. “In case you forgot, Ishad, the exile was upon pain of death.”

Ishad gagged against the staff, as the Asurik holding him swept an arm against the backdrop of the city. “The sentence would normally have been carried out by starvation,” she said. “But now, due to the circumstances, it seems we have no time for that.”

She released him, and Ishad, exhausted and utterly unable to resist, fell to the ground, grasping his throat.

“I, using my power as an Asurik Guardian, unmonk you,” she said. “And now, you can die as a normal man.” She twirled her staff, in preparation to deliver a powerful crushing blow to Ishad’s head, when one of her subordinates interrupted her.

“Guardian Talil,” said one of the other Asurik, “look!”

Talil did, and Ishad, on instinct, look in the direction that was pointed as well. For a moment, he thought he was delusional.

A powerfully built, gargantuan man in black spiked metal armor came lumbering down the sloped road, heading straight at Ishad and the group of Asurik.

Talil, suddenly ignoring Ishad, cried for the man to halt, and when he did not, barked an order to her Asurik. The warrior monks cast aside their staffs, with a sudden clattering, and all drew swords from hidden sheathes within their brown robes. The Asurik began to form a semicircle around the giant man, but he ignored them, pushing past the holy warriors with such strength the two who tried to stop him were sent sprawling to the ground.

As Ishad finally managed to get up, the armored giant slammed a huge fist into the ground, where he had been lying a moment ago. When the giant withdrew, Ishad saw that his hand had created a crater in the gravel.

But also when the giant withdrew, he did so with Talil perched on his back. The giant stood carrying her weight with no effort, but Talil, using her position to best advantage, curled around the giant’s chest, and plunged her sword into the hollow between the man’s helm and chest plate.

Talil’s sword sunk to its hilt, and she jumped off with a cry of triumph. Already, the Asurik began to turn from the giant back to Ishad, who had only begun to edge away. They thought the armored man was defeated.

But the horrible thing was, the giant was not.

The thing slumped for a second, as if about to fall, then, with its left hand, reached for Talil’s sword hilt, and pulled the blade out. The sword had no blood on it.

As the Asurik were momentarily frozen, the creature tossed the sword aside, and turned its head back to Ishad. The Asurik who stood in its way was pulled across the giant’s knee, and had his back broken.

Then the giant lumbered on.

Ishad jerked himself out of his trance, and began to run, away from the thing that was pursuing him.

Ishad glanced over his shoulder, and saw that the Asurik had once more circled around the beast, delaying its campaign against Ishad.

The young former monk kept running, glad that this time, at least, the Asurik penchant for revenge was working for him, and not against him. In the warrior monks’ haste to bring down the thing that had killed one of their own, they failed to realize that the unholy creature was only after Ishad.

Why, however, Ishad did not know.

With the beast and the Asurik occupying each other, Ishad found himself free to run through the streets, run through the fiery hell that the once peaceful Holy Citadel had become.

He was looking for Mai, and Broken. He hoped to find both.

***

Mai and Broken might have found each other in the wreaked city, but they found little else to help them. To the back of the Penitent Sage, there was a door, and through that door was a stairwell that led to the street above, but from there, no clear path through the smoke could be found.

Broken hopped from the street, to the low roof of the Penitent Sage, which was easily accessible due to the oddities of the city’s slope.

Mai followed him, but on the roof of the inn, nothing could be seen through the darkness of the night, and the smoke of the flames.

At least, nothing to her. Broken saw something, then he lead Mai off the roof, and together they started running again.

The smoke was growing in quantity, and it seemed Eton was setting fire after fire. Mai, barely able to see a few feet in front of her, was grateful when Broken grasped her hand.

Then she remembered what had happened to Ishad. It had been horrible that she had forgotten his plight for a moment, but during the course of everything, she had.

“Ishad is in this city!” Mai shouted to Broken. “He came to warn you about the snakes…we were in the plaza. Asurik took him!” Mai knew the story was coming out disjointed, and was probably very confusing to Broken, but she had to say something. “You have to save him,” she cried. “He came to save you!”

“This story will be told to me in full later,” said Broken. It was not a question. “But for now, I will find him.”

He pulled her all the faster through the streets, until finally, at an intersection, there was little enough smoke to allow Mai to see again.

And through the suddenly cleared haze, Ishad was there, and headed to them. He seemed to have had been running, and looked to be in almost as bad shape as Mai or Broken.

Broken gave Ishad a careful look, and then released Mai’s hand. “You can see enough to follow me now,” he said to her. “You two, come along, if you wish to live through this.”

And so the group, now all together, continued to move to the distant city gates, guided by Broken. Mai exhaled that at least she could see the city wall, down the slope, in the distance.

Past much horror they ran, but it seemed as if the nightmare was beginning to end. Bucket brigades of commoners had been formed, led by city guards shouting instructions, and constantly being resupplied by carts, drawn by surprisingly calm horses, and filled with buckets of water.

Mai didn’t know how many spellweavers the Holy Citadel had to call upon, but it seemed as if they were out in force, and helping to the best of their ability. Twice, Mai thought she saw buckets shooting water onto flames, and once, she even saw a fire they passed by begin to shrivel and die, with seemingly no outside help. Neither Eton nor his armored helper were anywhere to be seen.

However, it seemed as if the area near the Holy Citadel’s gates had suffered the worst of the madman’s attack. The smoke was worse here, and Asurik, normal guards, and commoners alike still ran about in confusion.

When Mai, Broken and Ishad reached the main gate, it was shut, and its bars cut them off from the outside. There seemed to be no soldier around who they could ask to have the gate opened.

Broken stopped for a moment, as if sizing the situation. He then led the way to a small open door beside the great locked gate. The door seemed to head into a bulging part of the city wall, into the seemingly deserted gatehouse.

The three headed inside. Beyond the door, was a dark, deserted corridor. All the lanterns had been blown out, and the only light trickled in from the fires behind them. Broken gestured to a stairwell, nearly unnoticeable under the conditions, and the three headed up it.

As Mai climbed the stairs, all light fell away. It was dark here, far darker than the way the city had been under the smoke. It was as if she was blind. Mai only took the steps at Broken’s constant urging.

Mai had no idea how Broken knew where to go, but he did. After ascending what seemed to be two flights, Broken started moving out of the stairwell, to a destination it seemed only he knew. There was slightly more visibility on this floor, as a single lantern flame struggled to stay lit.

Mai hoped that what Broken was looking for was in the room with the lit lantern hanging on the wall, and indeed it was.

“Look here,” said Broken.

As Mai’s eyes squinted, she saw that in the center of the room was a great lever, in position so it was practically on the ground, and the size of herself, Broken, and Ishad put together. It was attached to a half-wheel, tilted so that the wheel was vertical. Wrapped around the wheel were chains, with links so large a head could fit through them.

Suddenly, Mai realized what the wheel and the lever were for. This device is for opening the main gate! Realizing the room’s importance, Mai wondered why it would have been left unguarded at a time like this. The answers that came to mind did not reassure her.

Broken grasped the lever. “Help me,” he said, and together, Mai, Broken, and Ishad heaved at the heavy device, trying to turn it around the wheel.

Chains rattled, and started to move, as the lever was pulled a foot up from the ground, then a second foot. Gravity would still be against the three for a while longer. Much more there was to pull, and much less to push.

Straining, Mai wondered how many guards it usually took to move the heavy lever. That got her thinking again, about where the guards had all gone.

And then she began to have her answer. The one living lantern flame in the windowless room flared, until it was as bright as a fireplace, and did not stop growing in intensity. As the lantern rocked back and forth on its chain, propelled by a mysterious wind Mai did not feel, it illuminated the entire room.

The gate room was large, but every angle of it was purged of shadows in the lantern’s fiery light. The lantern was now straining against the chain that held it to the wall, pulling in every which way, as if it was possessed.

Mai looked at the other lanterns lining the walls. They were calm, unlit, and still. Most, however, looked like they had been put out in a rush, and the candles within were half-burned out of wax.

Broken, through all, continued to pull at the lever. Now it stood vertical.

All hopes of finishing the task, however, were put to rest when Eton walked in.

“Welcome,” he said. “Welcome to your end. It took great pains to set this up for you. Many of the guards did not want to leave their posts. They were too loyal to flee, even when frightened out of their minds. And so I had to kill them, and move the bodies elsewhere.”

The possessed lantern seemed to strain to reach him.

“Now, all three of you will die,” said Eton. He took out a black vial, drank the contents in a single gulp, then carefully put the vial away. “Better,” he said. “Much better.”

As Mai and Ishad stood horrorstruck, Broken drew Aurasing. “I drew this once and you fled,” he said. “Amuse me a second time by doing so again.”

“I left you, because at that time, there were more important things to be accomplished,” said Eton. “The fires, for instance. Think not for a second that your little sword scared me away.”

“You lie, Terrasanu,” said Broken.

“Ah,” said Eton. “So maybe I do. But I have planned this. You cannot defeat me, warrior, even with a holy blade.”

With a sudden, savage stroke, Broken used Aurasing to sever the chains holding the possessed lantern to the wall. It fell to the ground, flickered, lay still. Its light diminished until it was at the level it had been when Mai, Broken, and Ishad had entered the room: it was barely alive.

“Interesting,” said Eton, through the new darkness, “that a holy sword would bring an end to the light.”

Mai heard a rushing sound, and suddenly, she could see that Eton was right in front of her, even though he had been a distance away a second ago.

“He’s right here!” she shouted.

An outstretched Aurasing interposed itself between Mai’s face, and that of Eton. Mai took a step backwards, as Broken took her place.

“Ive heri Terrasanu arav,” he spoke in a steady voice, holding his sword out between himself and Eton.

“No you don’t,” said Eton. “Not after everything I have accomplished here!” The lantern flickered brightly, trying to return to its days of glory.

“Avasedia, delmar,” said Broken. He held Aurasing out in front of him like a staff, with one hand grasping the hilt, and the other hand pressed flat against the blade.

Eton laughed now, as the flame grew brighter, and the lantern started floating in midair.

Then, from behind him, came a white-robed priest holding a massive Symbol. His aged face grimaced as he held it up.

Eton, however, seemed much more frightened. Even though his lantern was back at full strength, he glanced nervously from Broken back to the newcomer.

The lantern clattered to the ground, powerless and flickering once more, and then there was another rushing sound.

And then Mai had a very strong feeling, that Eton was gone.

All the lanterns started to burn again, suddenly, restoring a normal level of light to the room. Mai’s eyes were drawn to the white-robed priest, and he smiled, and placed the Symbol he carried around his neck.

“I give my thanks,” said Broken, quietly sheathing his sword. “But who are you?”

“I am High Priest Ralad,” said the man. His hair was half-black, half-gray. “I believe, however, that the more pertinent question is, who are you three? I will know if you lie.”

“Travelers,” said Broken.

“Ah,” said Ralad. “The quintessential answer. Your statement, I know, is technically true, and yet it tells me nothing. What did you come to be doing in this building, fighting that creature?”

“We wanted to leave,” said Broken, “but the gate was down, and the door to the gatehouse was open.”

“Well,” said Ralad, “it will be better for everyone if the gate is opened. I might as well help you in your task.” He grasped hold of the lever, and pulled it. Broken assisted, and in about a minute, they had worked the lever into the open position.

“I am in a quandary as to what to do here,” said the High Priest, once the deed was done. “You all seem to have, at least inadvertently, done a great service to the Vedil in a time of need. But one among you is a monk who should not be here.” Ralad looked at Ishad carefully. “He was barred from this place for a year and a day, upon pain of death, and it is not yet time for him to come back. Did you, one who speaks for this group, know of this?”

Broken said nothing for the briefest of moments, one that seemed far too long for Mai. Ishad came back to this place, knowing that if he was found he would be killed? Mai thought. Her respect for Ishad increased, as well as her fear for what was to become of him.

However, it was Ishad who broke through the silence. “I am no longer a monk,” he said. “The exile no longer applies. I was captured, just before the madness began, and Guardian Talil unmonked me in the streets. She intended to kill me right there, but then an armored man beset us, and I escaped. Guardian Talil with verify this, with reluctance. As the moment after I was unmonked has passed, I can no longer be harmed.”

Ralad nodded. He moved his robes, so that the Symbol he wore around his neck became hidden. “Interesting,” he said. “And I see this is true. Tell me, Ishad, who are those you travel with? One does not speak, and the other does so in riddles.”

“He need not say anything,” spoke Broken. “I will tell you what you must know, though I warn you, if you mean any harm, I will deal with you.”

“A bold statement, coming from one who my mere presence saved,” said Ralad. “But do tell.” He seemed amused. “I can promise you, upon my word as a Priest of the God-Kings, that neither you nor the lady will be harmed by anything of my doing.”

“She is the exile princess Maiako as Arathou del Tachen,” said Broken. “And I am her protector.”

I am getting very tired of Broken speaking my secret to any and all who care to ask, Mai thought.

“An interesting statement to learn to be true,” said Ralad, unphased. “Given the situation, and the fact that you, Princess, should by all rights die and end the evil of the Arathou Dynasty, I am left in a bit of a quandary.” He paused. “But I am noble, and I have said what I have said, which I cannot take back. Come along, you three. I shall provide you with lodging in the very tower that hosts the Vedil Lords. The Holy Citadel is compromised at the moment, but not the tower. I am one of the lords, and so my will is law. Come. Once safely inside the tower, we will have much to talk about.”

And so the odd group of four headed from the gatehouse.

From one lion’s den to another, Mai reflected.