*** Nephern ***

Dark shapes darted through the sky above us.

Mili said she only saw the glowing people during the attack, but clearly there was something else out here too. We were a little over halfway back to Anghelen when we heard them for the first time. It was a piercing screech unlike anything I’d heard before. The way it echoed, it sounded like it was right behind us. We stood there armed and ready to strike, waiting for them to come, but it soon became clear that whatever made the sound was still far off.

It didn’t seem natural.

Then we heard more of them. It was still tough to tell exactly how far off they were, but as they went on and I got used to it, I started make out a subtle difference. They were definitely getting louder.

That told us all we needed to know. We started running. Sterthen led the group, carrying Kene in one arm and his shield in the other while I held my spear in one hand, constantly sweeping the skyline behind us for any sign of them closing in on us. Mili was also running alongside us, carrying the boy she had brought on her back.

I made sure to keep an eye on her too.

She was slowing us down. We weren’t able to run at full speed anyway because we had Kene with us, but she practically brought our pace to a halt. I was taking up the rear, so Sterthen was setting the pace. Normally, he could have easily left her in the dust, even with Kene, but for some reason he was holding pace right next to her.

I eyed the dent in the chest of his armor. Other than his pace, he didn’t seem that injured. He wasn’t favoring one side over the other as he ran and as Kene clung to him, he didn’t wince as she readjusted and hit the wound. Maybe it was taking more of a toll on him than I could tell, but that didn’t feel right. This was definitely his old instincts acting up again.

At this rate, would I have to intervene? So long as helping Mili didn’t put Kene in danger, it should be fine to stay with her, but where will I have to draw a line?

I really tried my best to force those thoughts out of my mind as soon as they popped up. Worrying about that now would only cause more problems, especially with whatever made those sounds hot on our tail. And sure enough, before too long, I didn’t have any room for idle thoughts. I glanced back and caught a brief glimpse of movement through the leaves.

“Behind us!”

Without hesitating, I pivoted and felt the warmth of the spear in my hand as it began to glow a brilliant gold. I thrust my arm outward as though I was throwing it, but I never let go. The bolt of golden light shot forward instead, disappearing into the leaves before it let out a bright flash. There was a brief screech, much like we had heard before, but it quickly sputtered out as we heard branches cracking from the same spot.

The corpse of the flying thing crashed down through the trees and hit the ground with a meaty thud. It was a… bird? It clearly had two wings and mottled feathers dappling its body, but it wasn’t like any bird I’d ever seen before. Between the patches of feathers, there were also patches of mismatched fur and bare skin.

It had three separate limbs that were all unique sprouting from its torso. One was a normal clawed talon, like you’d expect of a bird. One had an extra joint and ended in a single foot-long spike. The last was just a normal hand. They were all flailing about frantically in its death throes. It had a large, scorched hole in its chest where my spear struck. Its trunk was sporadically rising and falling, like it was gasping for breath, and it was faintly wheezing. Gradually, its movements slowed, and it finally went still.

“What the fuck…”

I muttered under my breath. I panicked for a second as I looked at Kene. She was staring wide eyed with tears welling up at the sight of the creature on the ground. A million thoughts shot through my mind as I wondered how to handle this. I had seen my own fair share of horrors in this world, and that monstrosity was enough to make my stomach churn. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what she was thinking.

But I didn’t have time to dwell on that.

I turned my eyes back to the sky. I could clearly see more dark shapes moving high up in the sky, but I quickly realized they didn’t seem to be moving down toward us. They were all flying in the same direction we were running. Toward town.

“Are they… ignoring us,” I wondered out loud.

That definitely seemed like a possibility. Even after the sound and light created by my attack, there weren’t obvious signs that they cared. I looked down at the creature on the ground and realized it hadn’t even attacked us. I’d moved pre-emptively. There was no doubt in my mind that these things were allied with the man that was chasing Mili. The timing was just too perfect. But if they weren’t treating us as a threat, would it be better to avoid going into town all together? If we had to fight, Fort Heferal would be the safest place for us to defend ourselves, but if they weren’t interested in attacking us, we could head north instead and avoid fighting all together.

“New plan-“ I opened my mouth to speak, about to give the order to abandon the town, when I heard more branches breaking.

A pair of creatures broke through the trees on either side of the path, diving at us. Without saying a word to each other, I pivoted toward the one closest to me and Sterthen brought his shield up toward the other. I could see the flash of light of his shield on the edges of my vision. At this distance, I didn’t need any fancy tricks. I leveled my spear at its chest and thrust upward, using its own momentum to impale it.

It cried out and tried to pull itself backwards off of my spear with its wings, but it wasn’t able to get the traction it needed. I slammed it down into the ground with all my strength and pulled the spear out of its torso with a quick spray of blood. It hit its head on the way down and was now only twitching faintly. I turned to lend my spear to Sterthen, but the creature he was dealing with was also already dead. It had been slammed backward into the nearest tree, cracking it in half. It was smoking slightly, but completely still.

These creatures had wings like the last one and their skin had similar mismatched patches, but otherwise they were completely different. The one I killed had no head. Just a massive eye and mouth at the front of its bean shaped body, and a single massive arm below that. Sterthen’s, on the other hand, didn’t have a discernable face. Just 7 limbs that seemed to be from different creatures sprouting out from all over its body.

Well, there went that plan. It seemed like they took too long before they recognized our presence, but I guess this means we are still a threat to them after all. The longer we stayed out here, the more likely they’d all collapse on us. It was a blessing that they weren’t prioritizing us, but we’d still need to go into town. We stood at alert, but no more came immediately.

We’d have to move.

“Full speed ahead,” I commanded Sterthen, letting the old instincts kick in. “Take point. I’ll watch the rear.”

“What should I do,” Mili asked timidly, and I felt a flare of irritation well up. She’d stay in the middle. Why did that need to be explained? Back in the Capitol, everyone knew their role, especially in situations as obvious as this. I only had to interact with city guards outside of the inner cities a few times, but through those interactions I recognized that the farther out you went, the more common people like her were. People who you had to explain everything to.

Mili shrunk away from me as I glared down at her and opened my mouth to speak.

“You stay between us Mili,” Sterthen said, cutting me off before I had the chance to snap at her.

He interjected to protect group morale. I knew why he cut me off, and normally I wouldn’t have cared. He only did it when he had a genuinely good reason for keeping the peace, but in that moment, it only stoked my irritation more. I looked at him uncertainly, wondering how much of this was his odd fixation on Mili, but he just smiled slightly back at me, trying to reassure me.

It didn’t work, but we didn’t have time to stand around.

We could still hear the flapping overhead as we ran, but the majority of the creatures continued to just ignore us. Were those last two a fluke? I started to wonder again as the time without an attack wore on. I called for us to stop for a moment so Mili and Kene could catch their breath. As I stood there watching them clearly ignoring us, the idea that we should just leave crept slowly into my mind.

And sure enough, as soon as I started to open my mouth to suggest it, another couple of creatures dove in and we were forced to kill them and keep moving. That kept happening. We stopped about 5 times during the trip, and each time, just as it seemed like they wouldn’t attack us, they proved me wrong. After the second time, it became obvious that we couldn’t leave, no matter how infrequent their attacks were. I gave up on that idea quickly enough, but the pacing of their attacks was bothering me.

The creatures weren’t particularly tough to kill, and there were never enough attacking us to actually pose a real threat. Still, every 5 minutes or so, 1 to 3 creatures would attack. We dealt with them all incredibly quickly. If they were actually putting a concerted effort into getting rid of us, all of the creatures that were passing us in the sky could strike at once instead of trickling in.

But they never did.

Are they just stupid? Based on their movements, they obviously weren’t intelligent creatures. They moved on instinct like animals, but even animals knew how to hunt in packs and make use of their numbers. Was there something commanding them? That would explain their odd behavior, but then it begs the question: What was their goal?

Why keep sending a handful at a time to just die? If we made it back to town, we’d be able to hole up in the fort and it’d be almost impossible to deal with us. Even if they didn’t realize that at first, it should be clear by now. This was their best chance to deal with us.

There was no clear answer.

*** Sterthen ***

I heard wood snapping up ahead of us.

Not like the branches breaking before. There was a rhythmic pounding, occasionally interrupted by the shrieks of those creatures. We were just on the edge of town and looking forward through the trees I could faintly see a familiar house. Guisen’s house. The shadow of a winged creature was tearing away at the front door with two massive beastlike arms.

It was nearly through and I saw a few others circling above.

“Neph, up ahead,” I shouted out, signalling for her to attack without a second thought. In the blink of an eye, a lance of light shot past me and flashed as it burst against the creature’s back, leaving a smoldering black hole in its place. The creature crumpled to the ground as the three circling overhead dove down at us. We’d gotten used to them at this point.

I blasted the first back with a flash of light from my shield, Neph’s spear shot out over my shoulder and caught the next one, then I held the last one back long enough for Neph to recover and finish it off. In an instant, all three were down.

I wasn’t able to fight at full strength while holding Kene, but all I had to do was focus on defense and set Neph up for the kill, a familiar routine.

“Are you okay honey,” I asked down to Kene as we took a moment to breath. She was tightly clutching me, burying her face in my chest with her eyes closed.

Moving as little as possible, she mumbled “uh-huh” and gestured that she was okay. She was trembling. It broke my heart to know that she was having to go through this, but she was keeping it together like a champion. I was honestly impressed with her.

“You’re doing such a good job. We’re almost to the fort, I just need you to hold on a little bit longer.”

Another quite mumble and gesture. That was the best I could hope for right now.

As we stepped fully out of the trees, the entire city came into view. The limbs of the Sun Tree peeking out over the top of Fort Heferal were giving off a bright light, illuminating the tops of the buildings. Black shapes were swarming above them, diving in and out of view down into the streets of Anghelen below. There were screams in the distance.

“We need get to the fort as soon as possible. We can rally with the guard there and help mount a defense,” Nephern said decisively, then shot a stern glance at me. An intense fire was burning behind her eyes. “Until we get there, we’re going to move quickly and only fight if we have to. Is that clear?”

I had done it again without even noticing.

As I looked at the creatures laying still on the ground, I realized why she was upset. They were preoccupied attacking the house when we saw them. We could have easily just rushed past, and if their previous behavior were any indication, they probably wouldn’t have bothered us. It all turned out okay, but in a situation like this, there was always the chance of something going wrong. I moved on instinct without thinking of the risk it posed.

The weight of Kene in my arms suddenly got heavier.

I held her tight. “Understood.”

We started to move forward again when we saw the door to Guisen’s house swing open, then fall off its hinges, completely broken to pieces. We turned to it immediately, ready for anything that might come out. Standing in the darkness, only faintly illuminated by the distant Sun Tree, was Guisen’s hollow face peeking out at us.

He took a moment to recognize us standing there, and as he did his face flushed again. He stood there frozen.

It hurt a little bit that even in these circumstances he still had that reaction, but I suppose I couldn’t blame him. Even after seven years here, the villagers practically all treated us the same way they did when we first arrived. That attitude wouldn’t change in an instant. I quickly shot him a smile and wave, then glanced back to Neph. She nodded, signaling to start moving again, and I started up.

“Wait!” Guisen called out to us. “A-are you all going to the fort?”

I looked back to Nephern to see how she wanted to handle it. Her sneer clearly said that she knew where this was going and wanted no part in it, but after thinking for a monet she signaled for me to handle it.

“Yes, we are.”

“Can we come with you?”

“We are in a hurry-“

“That’s fine. We won’t slow you down,” he said, cutting me off.

I looked back to Nephern. She sighed and responded. “We will be moving quickly, and we aren’t here to guard you. If you slow us down, we’ll leave you behind. We’ll deal with anything we have to, but we won’t put ourselves at risk for you. If that’s fine with you, then hurry up and get out here.”

His face seemed shocked, but he quicky nodded.

“Let me get her, then I’ll be ready to go,” he said, disappearing back into the house.

We stood there awkwardly as we waited, cautiously watching the skies. The tension of wanting to keep going but having to stand still was gnawing at the back of my mind. It was like standing in the center of a howling vortex. We were safe for a moment, but now more than ever it was clear that peace wouldn’t last. More of the creatures were passing overhead and flying deeper into town. It felt eerie having them just ignore us like this.

Kene was silently shaking in my arms. Neph was tapping the butt of her spear on the ground.

Every second we stood there was slowly draining on us. In addition to everything else, we were back within range of the Sun Tree’s drone. It was worse than it was when we were last in town. Not quite as bad as it was when the scream rang out, but other than that it was the worst it had ever been.

We needed the positioning of Fort Heferal and the safety that came with numbers, but at this rate coming into town might have been a mistake. Even after just this long, I could feel the drone draining my energy. The flying creatures we were dealing with now were nowhere near as strong as the glowing man I had to fight, but if this went on for too long and the exhaustion started to pile up, even they would start to be threatening.

The silence grew deafening as those realizations started to settle in.

Mili broke that silence.

“Th-thank you Nephern Ma’am,” she said, trying to stand confidently in front of her, but the tension was obvious in her face and voice as she stuttered. I checked Neph’s reaction just to see if I needed to intervene. She was obviously wary of Mili’s presence and the drone probably wasn’t helping her mood. Surprisingly, I saw that the flame burning in her mind actually seemed to settle down a little bit as she looked down at Mili.

“You didn’t need to help me get this far, but I appreciate that you did. I know you’re worried about your daughter, so if you need to, just say the word and I’ll stop holding you back. I’ll make my way to the fort on my own if I have to, so you don’t need to keep worrying about me.”

Neph’s glare slowly softened. I’d known her for so long, I knew what was going through her mind. She was trying very hard to keep up her stern gaze, but the longer she looked down at Mili, the harder it was getting. Neph wasn’t a cold person. Given how serious she could be, it was easy to see why so many people thought she was when they first met her, but anyone who spent enough time around her would eventually see through it. And something about Mili had finally started to break through her harsh exterior. After a moment, she let out a heavy sigh and her stern tone started to falter.

“You don’t need to leave,” she said, the commanding nature of her voice still carrying through even as she was trying to be gentle. “Don’t misunderstand. If I have to cut you loose to protect Kene, I will without a second thought. But ideally, I want to avoid a situation like that. Just keep up and we’ll get there soon.”

“Of course. I’ll do my best,” Mili said, brimming with confidence. Neph gave a nod of confirmation, but quickly set her eyes back up to the sky, the silence quickly starting to settle back in.

“I’m ready,” Guisen said shortly after, emerging from the darkened interior of the house. He was carrying an old, unconscious woman on his back. As soon as he exited, the tension in Neph’s stance broke and she sprang into action, moving forward into town without even turning back to acknowledge him. She was in such a hurry to move that she didn’t even question the woman on his back.

I didn’t voice my questions either, but seeing her made me realize just how little I knew about him. I didn’t know anyone in town that well, but I had passed Guisen’s house every time I came into town and had probably seen him more than anyone else in Anghelen, but I had still never seen the woman before.

I didn’t let it occupy my focus too much, but my mind idly wondered about who she could be as we walked.

--- --- ---

From there, it took us less than an hour to make it to the fort. It was the most horrific hour of my life.

During my time with the Capitol Guard, I was dispatched to the front lines of the war in the south. I was originally meant to become a commander in the Imperial Army, and when Guiferang was taken by the Karnathem in a surprise attack, my first assignment with the army was to help lead the reconquest. For a long time, I thought it was the worst thing I would ever experience.

Guiferang became a battlefield as we fought to force out the intruders. As battle raged through the streets, it was absolute chaos. Our force was much larger than theirs, and we were driven by an intense hatred as we saw what they had done, so we ended up completely overwhelming them.

As a commander, it was obvious to see that we were winning, but only in the sense that they were losing more than us. As a soldier on the ground, I could only see the death. There was no safety. I did my best to protect the men under my command, but for every choice I made to save someone, I was leaving another to die.

The western edge of Anghelen where we entered wasn’t a battlefield. It was the site of a slaughter.

As we tore through the streets, it became obvious how dire the situation was. The village was a farming community. There were a handful of hunters that worked out in the forest, but even they had never seen real combat. The creatures sieged them in their homes and anyone who fled into the streets were struck down. In Guiferang, at least those who died stood a fighting chance. We moved quickly and quietly, tracing the most direct path to the center of town that avoided confronting the creatures.

If we encountered a small enough group of them that we could strike them down before they had a chance to fight back, we did so and kept moving, but that rarely happened. More often than not, we used the chaos to sneak through unbothered.

I was having to force myself to focus on the concrete details of what we were seeing to not let the real horror set in.

We turned a corner. We saw a flock of creatures, currently distracted. We turned back around and found a new path. I did my best to ignore the source of their distraction: scattered, half-eaten limbs with no torso to match.

We saw another swarm in the distance. They broke through the front of a small house. We darted past the house while they were inside. I blocked out the sound of the screams inside, going silent just as we passed by.

Every time I saw a person in danger, I felt the pull in the back of my mind to go and help them, but the feeling of Kene clinging to my chest and burying her face in my shoulder kept me grounded. Neph started taking the lead once we were in town, which saved Kene from having to see some of the worst of it, but it still felt cruel to let her witness this.

We trudged through one alleyway behind the tailor’s shop in town. I never learned the names of the family who owned it, but when we came into town with Kene, we’d usually stop by and look at the clothes on display. There were a couple of large crates of fabric in the alley, probably bought from the caravan just a couple of days ago. As Neph passed them, I saw her head jerk down to look at something behind the crates. She signaled back to me to be aware that something was there. I saw the dark puddle slowly leaking out from behind it, and immediately knew what it was.

I gently held Kene’s head to my chest and angled myself so that she wouldn’t have to see.

Guisen didn’t see her signal and as he stepped past, he saw what was there and froze. Mili bumped into him from behind, trying to move as quickly as possible, which did enough to knock him out of his stupor. He clenched his eyes shut and turned his head away.

“Don’t close your eyes,” Neph hissed quietly back to him. “You don’t have that luxury right now.”

He swiftly stood upright, opening his eyes and nodding to her, but he kept his eyes trained directly forward.

Hearing that happen, Mili followed his old line of sight. She faltered for a moment, but quickly recovered and kept marching forward. This probably wasn’t her first time seeing something like that, being a dark trader, but it was still a surprising amount of poise for someone as young as her.

I didn’t bother looking.

--- --- ---

As Fort Heferal came into view, we also started to hear the sounds of actual combat. It seemed like the village guards were doing all they could just to stop the fort from falling. There were a large number of them standing on the walls with bows drawn, taking down any creatures that tried to make it over to attack the people inside. Another handful were down in the streets directly around the fort, holding off the creatures that tried to break in through the entrances and moving out to protect anyone who had fled there, but never going beyond a hundred feet of the walls.

They were in full crisis mode. Hopefully, that would work to our advantage.

We’d come here because it was our only option, but that didn’t mean that we’d be welcome inside. Hell, if Guinang saw us, he might order his guards to treat us as a threat as well. We needed to prove our usefulness as soon as possible to earn ourselves entry and sanctuary.

We were stood in an alley only a few hundred feet from the fort. Neph was peeking around the corner, looking out into the street to see if it was safe. We were all braced, ready to run as soon as she gave the word, but it never came. Slowly, her shoulders drooped and she stepped away from the corner.

“There are too many. We don’t have a clear shot to the front gate. We’ll have to try somewhere else,” she said, turning back around and doubling back on our group. I caught her by the arm just as she was starting to pass by me.

“Are there guards,” I asked.

“Yeah. There are a handful, but they’re pinned down. We’ll basically be fighting on our own,” she answered, eyeing me suspiciously. I knew what she was thinking, but my head was clear right now.

I handed her Kene for a moment and stepped up to the corner to get a look for myself. There were about five guards with long spears standing in the street, each holding off a creature. They were only really able to parry and dodge as the flying creatures dove down on them over and over again. Neither side was clearly winning, but the problem was the other few dozen creatures ransacking the other buildings on the street. They seemed to be more interested in finishing off the people in the houses than grouping up to fight the guards, but as soon they were done the guards would be doomed.

We could probably handle this number, even with me having to protect Kene. It was definitely a risk, and I understood Neph’s hesitation, but while we might find somewhere with less of those creatures, this was ideal for getting us into the fort. If we could get those guards on our side, we’d have a way in.

“We should fight here,” I said, trying to put enough confidence into my voice to make it clear that this was me making a choice, not being drawn in.

Neph scowled and sighed. “Then… What did I say earlier?”

“I know,” I said and explained my reasoning to her. She still seemed to have her doubts, but she could at least see that I wasn’t rushing into this.

“Fine. We’ll move on my word. You two,” she said, pointing at Guisen and Mili. “Stick close behind Serthen. We’re going to move quickly.”

The two nervously nodded and started to steel themselves.

“Neph,” I said, putting in one final note before we started. “If you can, kill one of the creatures occupying the guards first. That’ll have the strongest impact.”

“Alright, I’ll try,” she said, stepping up to the corner. Our bodies all tensed as she looked out, waiting for the perfect chance. A moment passed in silence; our breath caught in our chests.

“Now!” She shouted.

We sprang into action.

I held Kene close, closely watching Neph’s back and ready to move if any of the creatures found an opening in her stance.

Her spear lit up, the light shooting out down the road. Following its path, I saw one of the creatures had managed to force its way past a guard’s weapon and was going for the kill. Just as its claws were about to sink into the guard’s throat, it squealed and was thrown back, impacting the fort wall and slumping to the ground. The remaining creatures that were occupying the guards’ attention turned to see where the light had come from. Two of them attempted to fly toward us but that gave their opponents the chance to strike, and their spears found purchase, dropping them.

The guards turned to help out their comrades with the two remaining creatures. I realized that group of creatures were no longer a threat and turned my attention back to the ones along the street.

Through some kind of divine fortune, they were much slower to notice our presence. The nearest group was tearing through a house, with only two visible from the street. Those two saw the first spear of light and started racing toward us, screeching out to alert their friends inside. Neph caught the first with another spear of light and impaled the second with her real spear as it came into range. They both dropped before the rest of their group emerged from the house. She shot off another spear of light as they approached, using the real thing to finish off the ones that made it to us.

We charged down the street, bolts of light flying off and bluish black blood spraying across the cobblestone streets. I was poised, ready to catch any of them that made it past Neph, but they never did. The creatures came at us staggered so we didn’t have to deal with them all at once and Neph was able to swiftly dispatch them all on her own.

It was the best possible situation.

Not only did we make it safely to the fort, but as we approached, we also saw the guards standing there awestruck. To me, our success was clearly the result of unbelievable luck that only turned out so well because the creatures slowly came at us and fought alone. To the guards though, it must have looked like we were a blessing straight from the Original Light, singlehandedly cutting through a horde of the creatures that were giving them so much trouble.

We kept up our sprinting pace until we ground to a stop directly in front of the guard standing at the front of the group.

“Name and designation,” Neph quickly barked at him, knocking him out of his daze with a commanding voice that immediately made it clear who was in charge. His back straightened and he hoisted the spear he had let droop perfectly upright.

“Lieutenant Betheren, Ma’am.”

This far away from the Capitol, the guards were mostly managed on a city-by-city basis. Some used the same designations as the Capitol Guard but ranked them differently. Some used entirely different titles. Lieutenant was normally a title used for mid-ranking officers in the Imperial Army, but I’d never heard of a guard holding the title. If it caught Neph off guard, she didn’t show it.

“Lieutenant, where are civilians being evacuated to?”

Betheren’s eyes drifted off behind us to look at the others who were just catching up with us, winded from the long-distance sprint.

“We were told to direct people to the front gate. There should be someone there who can tell you where to go inside.”

“What is the current situation inside the fort?”

“We’ve been ordered to hold the fort. We’re supposed to protect anyone that makes it here. Commander Belar specifically said to not do anything more than that, but some guards have disregarded their orders and moved into the city to retrieve people.”

Irritation flicked across Neph’s face, but she quickly suppressed it.

“We need to get these people inside, then meet with Commander Belar.”

Betheren’s face drained. “S-sun Lord Guinang specifically told us not to allow you-“

He was cut off by a screech from behind us as another creature threw itself out of an alley toward us. As soon as I sensed its presence, I turned toward it and brought my shield up in front of Kene, but it wasn’t aiming for me. It was diving toward Guisen, who hadn’t even realized it was there yet.

Just before it reached him, Neph’s spear split it in two, splattering him and Mili in that acrid blue-black blood. She hadn’t even turned around, keeping her eyes fixed on Betheren.

“Then take us to meet the Sun Lord.”

Betheren gulped and quietly nodded.

“Uh, follow me then,” he stuttered as he started to walk toward the front gate of the fort, but he stopped briefly and turned back toward the other guards.

“Hold your positions men. I’ll return as soon as possible.”

They had all been similarly transfixed on Nephern, standing at attention as she spoke. As soon as they heard his voice, they shook their heads, coming back to themselves and nodded to him in acknowledgement.

“Right. Follow me,” Betheren said, speaking to us again.

We all set off after him, relieved to finally be somewhere safe, even if the night had only just begun.