"Trouble!" Yelled a man Helnion did not recognize well.

"What is the problem?" Perrinu called to him in.

"There is a large group of men approaching this place."

Everyone in their right mind looked at each other with concern.

"Could you estimate how many there were?" Perrinu asked.

"No, the dust is as thick as always, but it appears to be many."

"Quickly gather everyone that can fight," The messenger was told before he left to do just that.

"Do you think it is the group that has Salis?" Perrinu asked the others.

"I would imagine so," Martu said. "They are the only other group I know of that could coordinate an attack like that."

Perrinu looked sad, "Why must things like this happen? I just want to help everyone here. Can they not see this?"

"Lady Perrinu, you know that most are not in the state of mind to think rationally."

"I know… I just wished…"

"Lady Perrinu," Martu said. "This might be the perfect opportunity to find and rescue Salis."

The other men nodded in agreement.

"You may be right," Perrinu said, still with sadness in her voice.

"We will need to find if they brought her with them or not." One man said.

"True," Martu nodded, "If they did not bring her with them then she is most likely not well guarded. Even if she is with them, it should be easier to get to her if we can attack before they get into the cover of the rocks."

"What if she has joined them?" One man said.

"Yes, what if she has?" Another added.

"Sadly, I can see her doing that," Martu sighed and shook his head.

"If she has," Perrinu looked angry, "I will personally beat her up."

Everyone looked at her in surprise.

Martu laughed, "If it comes to that I will help you."

"We better move out," Someone said.

As for what Helnion thought of the situation. She didn't care. While she wanted to be back together with Salis, she didn't care what happened as long as that happened.

If Salis was fighting with the other side, Helnion wanted to join them too. She would feel a little bad leaving Perrinu behind but she had not gotten nearly as close to her as she had with Salis since Perrinu spent most of her time helping the men disappear.

"Helnion," Perrinu called to her.

"Hm?" Helnion cocked her head to the side.

"You should stay here. It is not going to be safe."

Helnion did not reply to this. She wanted to see what would happen herself no matter what Perrinu said, and if Salis was there, she would join her as soon as she saw her.

Helnion made it to the growing group of men that were waiting for the attackers to come. She could not see the bad men very well because of the haze, but she could tell there were a lot of them. No one was fighting yet, and they were just looking at each other.

A man from the bad group stepped out, "Let us know when you are ready to fight. I know two of you have those nifty translator bands as do I so if you want to talk a little while we wait…"

"What have you done with Salis?" Perrinu called out. "We have no wish to fight and I can even help you if given the chance, but her safety and safe return is our greatest wish and we will not hesitate to take her back."

The man laughed, "Do not worry about the Terran. She has been quite cooperative, and we have had no need to do anything to harm her other than an unfortunate crack to the head, but if you want her back you WILL have to fight for her."

"Is there no other way?"

"None. We will be fighting no matter what you want."

Perrinu sat on a nearby rock and put her face in her hands.

"Ready!" Martu yelled.

This call made the men on both sides tense up.

Helnion was getting excited. She had never seen a battle before and did not know if she would ever have the chance to see another, so she boosted herself on top of the tallest rock she could see with her magic and sat down.

Up here, with the extra height and thinner haze, Helnion could see much farther. Despite this, the men were still far enough away that she could not make out many details.

"Berserkers forward!" Someone from the bad man group yelled.

As soon as this was said, a group of the bad men that separated from the rest charged forward. Helnion was amazed at their speed. They moved with inhuman speed and their passage threw huge amounts of the black sand into the air behind them, making the visibility even worse.

When this group of bad men reached her side, she saw that they tore through the not so bad men that were waiting. It was brutal, even being unable to see many of the more gruesome details she could tell it was a slaughter. There were so many of the not so bad men being struck down that the plumes of black sand they left made the scene almost invisible to her.

Now that she could not see what was going on with the fast bad men, she turned to the area closest to her. Here she saw that the battle had started too, but that it was not as one-sided. She saw men from both sides, some wielding rocks and some not, tearing into each other.

For a second she thought how gruesome this should have looked to her, but it did not bother her in the slightest. There wasn't even any blood. As soon as they struck one down, there was just more sand. Instead of bleeding only black sand came out. She had been here so long that it was normal to her now.

She found Martu. He was moving through the bad men so easily that he made it look like he wasn't even trying and this was just using his hands.

She saw him breaking necks as if they were chicken bones. His punches and kicks easily knocked his victim back and down so hard that they did not have enough time to recover before either he or someone else came and finished them off.

Martu was not the only one on her side that was moving through the enemy with ease. She saw that all the men in the planning group earlier were doing just as well. She also saw a few other men she did not recognize fighting well.

She hoped she would get to see them fight the bad men that were now concealed in the thick black haze on the far side of the battle.

Strangely, Martu nor any of the other strongmen were heading to the black haze where their help was needed. She thought she remembered what they were planning to do during a battle like this, but she had fallen half asleep during most meetings she had gone to.

"Lady Helnion!" Yelled a somewhat familiar man. "As much as I abhor the thought of making you fight, your magic skills are needed or our west line will surely fall."

Helnion knew how much of a help she could be in this battle. A simple boulder throw or a great burst of flame into the enemy would do a great deal of damage.

Helnion laid on her side and propped her head up. She did not want to leave her spot up here. If she participated she might miss something good on a different part of the battlefield.

"Lady Helnion, please!"

Perrinu walked up to the man. "Can you wait a little longer? I do not wish to see Helnion have to dirty her hands if we do not have to."

"Lady Perrinu!" The man said with shock and reverence. "Forgive me, my Lady."

Perrinu nodded.

"I know Leader Ferls said to not ask for Lady Perrinu or Lady Helnion's help, but there is a savage group of men with inhuman speed and strength on the west line which we cannot defend against and Lady Helnion is the only one available that has any ability that might stop them."

Perrinu looked grim, "Helnion." She looked up, "Would you please help?"

Helnion pushed out her lower lip and pouted. She had finally gotten into a comfortable position and now she had to leave her nice vantage point?

She stood up. With Perrinu and the man distracting her, she would not get to see much of the battle anyway.

"Thank you, Lady Helnion!" The man said, relieved. "The men we need you to attack are in that black cloud."

Helnion jumped from her rock and started to make her way to the ever-approaching cloud of dust.

"Be safe," Perrinu called to her.

It surprised Helnion how close the black cloud had gotten and she did not have to go far. She could now even make out shapes through the front part of the cloud as it engulfed the not so bad men fighting for her side. She even saw one or two get torn apart.

Since she did not want to get close, she decided that a long-range attack was good. Thankfully, there were plenty of rocks for her to throw and she had gotten good at moving them despite her magic power being weaker here than on Calorin.

Helnion wanted to get this over quickly, so she picked up a big rock first in hopes she could take out more than one of the bad men at once. She quickly found a nice large one and soon had it floating high into the air. She then flung it at the back cloud.

When the rock landed it sent a plume of dust higher into the air than anything else had by far. She could not tell if she had hit anyone but picked up another rock and then another. In less than a minute she had flung dozens of rocks and boulders. She still could not tell how much damage she had done but the black cloud, while having grown in size because of her attack, had stopped moving.

Nothing moved. The men on her side watched as the black cloud started to fade. The only sounds were of those coming from the battle far to her right and behind.

Someone yelled to her left. She saw movement and turned just in time to see several men, faces showing a thirst for blood, rushing towards her. She summoned as many rocks as quickly as she could and easily turned the men into piles of dust. Then out of the corner of her eye, she saw something else move and then heard more men shout.

The black cloud had moved far enough for her to see several more men. They were lifting rocks too big for any normal person without the use of magic and were throwing them at the men. Helnion picked most of the rocks out of the air and threw them back at the throwers.

Soon another black cloud had formed and she could no longer see anything inside, but no more rocks came flying out either so maybe they could not see either.

"Lady Helnion! Behind you!" She heard someone nearby shout.

Just as she turned around she saw one man come from where the earlier sneak attack had come. The man soon reached the rock she was standing on and jumped at her. Helnion tried to jump away but was not fast enough and the man grabbed her left ankle and with ease broke it.

Helnion screamed in pain. Through the pain she also felt as if a part of her was being absorbed by the hand that was crushing her ankle.

As soon as the man landed beside the boulder some men rushed forward to rescue her. This distracted the man holding her just long enough for her to raise her hand.

Flames shot from her raised hand. As it engulfed the man, Helnion saw his body resisting the fire, but even still, turn to dust he did. Unfortunately for Helnion, the man flung her as hard as he could towards the black cloud just before he turned to dust.

She landed hard, her breath getting knocked out of her and fear filling her even more as the realization that she could soon die came.

"Lady Helnion!" Several of the men shouted as they rushed to her.

But no sooner had they arrived when more of the crazed men of death came. Not only did they come from the cloud, but more came from the direction that the sneak attack had been.

Helnion tried to stand up but only managed to prop herself up on her good leg. She did not know what to do. Her magic power was mostly still there but she could not move and could only look at so many places at once.

Without realizing it, she had entered concentration mode. Despite becoming more aware of the pain in her leg and losing focus on the group of the crazed men of death coming from the area she had just been, she knew what to do.

Looking towards the group coming from the black cloud she began to summon. She did not know how long it had been since she had summoned because of how much concentration it took, but it had worked because she soon saw a bear and several wolves materialize in front of her. Until she unsummoned them this was all the magic, she could use, so she had to do her best with this.

The men of death stopped. She did not know if they were confused or what, but she took the opportunity to attack them. The bear and wolves did not run towards them but flashed from where they were to where the men of death were.

The men of death attacked the summoned animals. The animals did not dodge but let the attacks pass right through them, only magic and magical weapons being able to affect them.

The animals tore through the men of death, ripping out throats and biting pieces from their bodies. They stood no chance.

Helnion heard the men around her shout, not with triumph, but with fear and anger. The other group of men had come.

"You will not have the Lady!" Several of them shouted as they came to meet the attackers.

Helnion turned her attention to the men fighting behind her. The men of death were outnumbered and the men on her side were holding them off, even killing one with a lucky blow to the head from a rock.

Just as Helnion began to turn her attention back to her summons an arrow hit the man of death closest to her piercing its chest. A second soon followed and a third before the man turned to dust.

When Helnion turned to see what happened, she saw her. Salis had come to her rescue.