It was a clear, crisp morning, welcome after a few weeks of daily rain. The frost had lifted by the time the team assembled on the training ground, and the earth squelched underfoot.

Grey had informed them that training for today would include holding a defensive line, creating a magical barrier between themselves and a creature intent on breaching that line. They were joined by two very new recruits who shivered and blew on their hands; either they hadn’t dressed for the weather, or hadn’t received enough warm clothing.

Harry had taken the lead as Jacob’s hangover was impairing his ability to focus. The plan was straightforward enough; Harry would set up the defensive wall and the others then reinforce it by sending their own energies into his body to strengthen it. Before long they had a barrier erected, and the keeper released the creature.

It surged towards them, causing one of the inexperienced men to shy away and lose his focus. Harry sighed in frustration but the rest maintained the shield without him. This was the advantage of this method; if he’d been responsible for an entire section of the wall, it would have collapsed at his retreat. In that case the beast would have been able to find a way through to attack from the rear. As it was, the defence was intact and as the creature approached the barrier it slowed, probing for a weakness and finding none. It ranged along the invisible wall, seeking a route through. Harry shifted the projection to maintain it a few feet away from the men, pivoting it as necessary to keep it between them.

“Looking good lads, let’s see if we can push it back, influence its direction a little,” Harry called out. “And you, Yellow, was it?” he called to the man behind, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Get back in the line whenever it’s convenient, would you?”

The newly renamed Yellow swallowed hard and nodded, before setting his shoulders square and striding towards the group of three men. He had not been keeping a check on where the barricade was being moved to and approached in such a way he was no longer behind its protection. Harry, his attention locked on the beast in front, didn’t notice.

The creature did.

The instant the man stepped far enough to one side of the group to join on the left flank, it charged him.

Too late, Harry realised what had happened - with a Herculean effort he diverted the shield to his left, but could not extend the protection far or fast enough.

The beast closed the distance in seconds.

Jacob watched in open-mouthed horror as the events unfolded in slow motion: the creature’s clawed feet churning up the soft earth; mud flying behind it as it accelerated towards its prey; its drool-flecked jaw opening wide, long and sharp teeth glinting in the morning sunlight; its head lowering and shoulders rising as it prepared to pounce; the man stumbling backwards before tripping and crashing to the ground; and then the beast was in the air, hurtling teeth-first towards the helpless man. At the sound of a blood-curdling scream as the jaws locked tight on his leg, time snapped back to normal.

Harry dropped the shield and with the other young man sprinted off to help. “Why the hell didn’t you stop it?” Harry yelled at the creature’s keeper over his shoulder, not waiting for a reply. He aimed his staff at the beast to unleash a magical blast, focusing the borrowed energy from the others to maximise the damage he could cause.

Nothing happened.

He shook the staff in irritation and disbelief, before trying again, still running. A few feeble sparks of lightning crackled from the end of it. “Come on,” he muttered under his breath before turning to ask Jacob to launch his own attack. But Jacob wasn’t beside him, wasn’t running into the fray. He stood rooted to the spot staring in horror at the grisly scene before them. “Hey!” Harry shouted, “come and help!” but if Jacob heard him, then he gave no outward sign. “Shit,” Harry said as he neared the creature. A misfiring staff, a stunned partner and a raw recruit against… what was this thing called again? Not important.

Now just a few paces away he raised his staff again and brought it down on the monster’s head with a loud crack. “Stop the damn thing, will you?” he bellowed at the keeper again, and this time the beast froze in place before settling on the bloodied grass. Harry used his staff to pry the creature’s locked jaws off the poor wretch’s leg. His leg was almost severed, Harry saw, thinking he might have been better off if the creature had finished the job. He searched his memory for a spell to help control the bleeding, but his adrenaline-soaked brain refused to offer anything useful. In the trenches he would have had a first-aid kit or a medical bag nearby, but there was nothing to hand.

Upon hearing the screams a nearby group had abandoned their own drills and come running, and they were better prepared. One man recited an incantation to close the severed arteries and halt the blood loss while another laid hands on the injured man to share his pain. His screams however did not diminish.

“I’m sorry,” the keeper wailed, “I triggered the collar as soon as it bolted, but it just didn’t work! I think the shield blocked it, maybe? Or it could have been faulty, I mean we check them every night but….”

“Quiet, Green,” Mr Black barked as he strode through the crowd that had gathered. “What the hell happened here?”

Harry took a deep breath and started to explain. Black interrupted him.

“How the hell did it get through your wall, man?” he asked, face shoved close to Harry’s own.

“It didn’t,” Harry refused to back down, locked eye-to-eye with the shorter man. “The new guy wheeled around behind us and lured it out beyond the barrier. With only three of us the barrier was shorter than usual, so it flanked us.” Or only two of us, he considered with a glance at Jacob.

“I don’t want excuses, man,” Black snapped. “Shoddy work like this in the field will risk more lives than your own.”

As if you’d understand that, Harry thought. The arrival of an out-of-breath Mr Grey interrupted his desire to tell Mr Black exactly what he thought of him.

“Are you all right?” he asked Harry. Black scoffed.

“Yes, fine,” Harry said, “but my damn staff failed again. We have to trust our equipment if we’re going to…”

“Oh not this again,” Black threw his hands up in despair. “You can’t blame your tools every time you make a mistake, take some damn responsibility.”

Grey interjected to defuse the situation. “Let’s focus on this young man for now, shall we? And we can work out what went wrong later.”

Black was not keen to give up his search for someone to blame, but realised that Grey had a point. “Very well, report to me once he’s dealt with. All of your team,” he added, pointing at Jacob still a few yards away. He brushed aside further entreaties from Mr Green without a word and stalked away.

A second man had joined to reduce the injured man’s agony, but the screams continued. Someone produced a hip-flask and held it to his lips, while Grey pretended not to notice the illicit alcohol.

On seeing that the injured man was now in better hands, Harry turned his attention to Jacob and hurried over to him. “What happened to you?” he asked. To his surprise he saw a tear run down Jacob’s face, and his mood softened. “Are you OK?”

Jacob nodded, his lips clamped together. Whether to stifle a cry or to keep from vomiting, Harry wasn’t sure. He placed his arm around his friend and led him from the scene.

After Harry got Jacob back to the barracks and presented him with a steaming mug of tea, he was returning to his usual self.

“You froze up there,” Harry said. “Was it the blood again?”

Jacob shook his head. “The scream. Reminded me of Charles.” He shuddered.

“Right,” Harry said.

They sat in silence in front of the fireplace, warming themselves for a few minutes before Jacob spoke again.

“I’m sorry,” he said. Then after another pause, “It wasn’t your fault.”

Tell that to Black, Harry thought. “They send us these new recruits, no idea what they’re going up against and expect us to hold their hands, brush their hair and wipe their arses for them.” This raised a small smile on Jacob’s face for a second, before his frown returned. “I doubt this lot had even seen the fae before.”

“Not judging by their reaction,” Jacob agreed. “I know we need more men out there but they’re no use to us if they panic at the first sight of the enemy.”

Harry looked at his companion and swallowed the words he wanted to say. It wouldn’t do to berate Jacob for his reaction, at least it hadn’t made matters worse. That boy had already lost his leg by the moment Harry moved.

He put the thought from his mind and sipped his tea. “What should we tell Grey?” he asked. “I mean it needs to be the truth, but he’s never been one to listen to reason.”

Jacob nodded. “It was a catalogue of errors. That man weakening the wall, losing track of its location, exposing himself to the beast. Then the collar not working, your staff misfiring, any of those we could have dealt with. But all together?” He shook his head. “Not that they’ll understand.”

So you were aware of what was going on, Harry thought. “Will you be all right here alone? I want to go check on that poor boy.”

Jacob nodded and pulled up a dog-eared paperback from a nearby table. As Harry left, Jacob stared into the flames in the fireplace, the book open but unread.