Knock. Knock. Knock.

Blearily I open my eyes. The candles burned low, nearly out, and the plan of assault, or at least the paper it’s scrawled on, stuck to my face.

A warrior of the White that I don’t recognize pushes her way into the room. She’s short, and her hair reminds me of a bush. More so because I’d swear a twig is sticking out of it. She must be on the night shift.

Too bad for her. I have a rule. I don’t talk to people I don’t know. It was a lesson well drilled.

As my eyes flutter and close, I see that she’s not alone. Crane is with her.

That’s nice.

I bury my face into my arms with a yawn.

My eyes pop wide open. The time has come!

Scrambling to my feet, I address the scout.

“Crane, how far out are they?”

“They’ll be arriving before sunup, highness.”

“Wait, sun up?”

She nods. “Fast things, I’ve no clue how any of the ambassador’s caravan managed to get away.

Right. Rabbits on earth ran at a top speed of what? Forty, maybe forty-five, miles per hour.

“Thank you. Rest here.” Turning my attention back to the Night Shift girl, I continue. “Have the drummers take up stick. All able hands outside the gates.”

She bows her head and disappears from the doorway.

Crane, however, seems to have taken my offer of rest seriously and is currently snoring just leaning against the wall.

Taking her arm, I guide her over and lower her into the furs of my bed.

“And I just realized I never sent you any relief,” I grumble and slam my palm into my head.

“Stupid Faust. Stupid.”

She flails about as she turns, and I face her wide-eyed, expecting her to be awake and staring at me like I’m a complete crazy person. She doesn’t.

—— –

An hour and a half later, every warrior stands outside the gates, weapons in hand. Racing across the frosty sands was the rabbit’s course. I couldn’t see them, but the cloud of dust they kick up; that’s another story.

On the upside, everyone seems to be in good spirits.

“Haven’t seen a pack of those little beasts in years! I’ve missed the tanginess of their meat!”

An older red crowed as she raised a battle axe. The blades look rather massive in comparison to the shaft.

How is it not broken? It looks like it was blocked; the thing should have busted in two.

“You mean a horde, right? A group of vampiric hares is called a horde.” The white beside her corrected.

Any other time I might have stood there and watched as the red blew her top and went off on the white but pressing needs dictates otherwise.

The smell of burnt and heated metal wafted by.

“Didn’t think Ama would actually let you show up,” I said without looking up.

Crick loosed a bark of laughter, “like I’d let such a thing stop me. But, if this is the cost of the blade for my sister, I’ll gladly pay it.”

For his sister, huh? “I didn’t realize the sword was for your sister.”

“Does it matter?”

I shake my head. “Not in the slightest. Though can you paralyze them instead of killing them?”

I see even you aren’t so truly lacking in motivation. To what do you hurry too?

I nearly leaped out of my skin when his voice reverberated through my head.

When he spoke, I tripped, and if it weren’t for Aster grabbing me, I’d have a mouthful of sand.

“I can use a lower charge, but it’d be hit and miss.”

Where the hell have you been?

Simple answer to a simpletons question. He said, wherever you sent me.

Of course, of course, you’re useless! I don’t know why I saddled Vandel with you. I should have gone the cliche route and given him Righteousness!

He didn’t respond. I honestly don’t think I cared.

“Prince Vandal?”

Shaking my head to clear it, I looked at Crick. He’d said something. What was it? Doesn’t matter.

“Just do what you can.”

He nods but doesn’t look convinced. “If you’re sure, I’ll see to my preparations then.”

“So you know what to do?”

He snorts, “it’s kind of obvious, Highness. It’s the same tactic most ask of battery-men when they’ve access to them.”

I guess that’s true.

I listen to the crunching of the sand as he goes.

I just stared into the distance for a time—my heart pounding in my chest. Tingles keep jetting up my spine.

For the first time since coming to this world, I’ve no idea how it’s going to play out.

Initially, they all die. Would my plans make a difference? Would they be enough?

“Highness, you’ve been fairly quiet.” Aster prodded.

What was there to say? We were walking through the streets, and I was the object of everyone’s attention. They were armed and fell into file behind us, but I can’t help but feel as if I’m leading them to slaughter.

I started to respond, but apparently, it wasn’t fast enough for Aster as she pocked me in the side. I clenched my teeth as a fresh wave of agony passes through me, and she suddenly had wide eyes. Obviously, she just realized where she’d poked.

“Aster, I believe you need to pay more attention to the fact that we are leading a war party,” Samira said, too quiet for the men to hear. “His well-being can affect morale.”

We turned a corner, and the gate was in sight. “Aster, get a group together and gather as many cages as possible. Linens to while you’re at it.”

She started to fall back before returning to my side. “Linens?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Well, you’re not going to be able to carry enough of the bloody sand in your hands.”

She paused, midstep, her face taking on a green tinge.

“Must you torment her?”

I brush her question off with a snort. No answer would please her, and I’d get nothing from losing, so I don’t. Instead, I began working the plan out in my head.

Attack one, one of the scouts will wait for the horde to approach and hurl a primed pouch into the ones in the front. Then bolt. With any luck, they’ll turn off terrified.

Sadly I don’t expect it to work. The smell of the blood was already drawing them toward us. It would split the group for a moment, which is where the real first trap would be waiting.

Set about three hundred hards from the wall, it’s the first real line of defense.

Step one set up the field with the pouches. Set them on the ground in a grid-like pattern every two and a half feet.

Step two, place the bloody sand in piles from the center to the back in a straight line. Six feet apart would be fine.

When activated, the trap would send loose blasts. The most powerful could be compared to a claymore, with those on the weaker end of the spectrum being slightly weaker than the average hand grenade.

“Vandel.”

Each blast came with the secondary gift of a boiling liquid that burns everything it touches. The ones that got away from the explosions would be scalded.

“Vandel.”

It wouldn’t get them all by any means, but it’s a start.

“Vandel!” I jump as Aster bumps into me.

Wait, she’s back already? A glance at the sky says it all. At least thirty minutes had passed since I’d begun plotting. “Sorry, I was figuring out the best way to go about this.”

“Oh?”

So, I explained, half expecting to have to force her to listen, but neither she nor Samira lost any interest in what I was saying.

“But what about after that?”

“Then there’s the wire.”

Pointing out into the darkness, I jab my finger at Crick. He’s running lengths of coiled metal across the sand.

The ones that continue after the bombs would either be scorched and in pain, luck, or dead.

“Finally, we send in the manifestations as our vanguard.”

A smile broke out across my face as I realized the absurdity of what I had just said. In hours, our vanguard will plunge into a battle with a bunch of rabbits.

“Should you be smiling?”

“Probably not,” I responded. Of course, there would be casualties, no getting around it either unless a god acts and drops a meteor on them. But the issue with that is that the meteors I put in the slush file destroy all the tribes.

My mother pissed me off that day.

Samira’s not pleased, but she understands that she will not get what she wants. “And who will be the honored soul that braves the horde alone?”

I raised my hand. “That’d be me.”

For good measure, I focus on Desperation and give the tether a slight tug.

[Howl]

“WOOOOOoooooo.”

“Reeeeeeee!” The tuviat squeals, having apparently decided it wants in on the action.

“See, we’ll do it.” Then, pointing at the weasel creature, I continue. “You are staying here, though.”

It squeals and snaps at the air before digging into the sand and burying itself.

Neither Samira nor Aster said a word. In fact, Samira turned and walked away. First Natalia, then Endurance, and now these two. I’m on a roll today.

“You’re an idiot.” Aster walked up to me and shoved a finger into my face. “Understand something, Highness. I don’t care how much you try and ignore Endurance, but you’d best be relying on him today.”

How I wish that were an option. Instead of telling her that, I nod.

She frowns deeper and pokes my wounded side. “I’m not joking.”

“No, that’s Bindi’s Humor. Though don’t suggest that she’s a barrel of laughs.”

Huffing, she stomps off.

“Do you think pushing her away will do you the slightest bit of good?” Samira asked as she returned, carrying folded material and leather straps in her arms.

“It’ll make it easier if I don’t come back.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ve been watching over you or your siblings for years, Highness. It’s a rare thing for one in the two of your situations to care so much. Even Natalia, who holds a torch grand enough to light the city for your father, doesn’t worry as much as she does.”

Taking the cloth from her, I’m surprised to find a hide cloak, a great tool to keep the desert winds off a body. I all but shove it on over my head. But I didn’t have a chance to fasten it.

Samira took that into her own hands, pulling it and adjusting the clasp. It’s a twisting golden piece in the same broken peace sign like the one on the flag. Tracing it with my fingers, I relished the coolness of it.

“I spoke with Ryver, and unfortunately, it would take several weeks to fashion a proper harness for your friend. So he suggested using multiple lashes to rig a temporary harness. Like so,”

She turned and stepped closer to Desperation before slinging the leather rope about his neck as if she’d been dealing with him all her life. She looped, twisted, knotted, and pulled until the two forward bodies held the brunt of the pressure before merging just in front of the lower body.

It wasn’t pretty by any means, and long-term use would lead to chafing on a massive scale, but it would do the job.

There’s only one question left. What is Desperation pulling with that harness?

“What am I riding on?”

She smiled and pointed two the side where one of Rue’s underlings stood off to the side, a Maeasilm carapace held above his head.

Great, they brought me something on the side of a sled without the courtesy of being rounded, closer to a shallow bin, or maybe an oblong cake tin. It’s hard to tell in the fading light.

“You expect me to use that?” I pointed at the carapace.

“I do. It was originally thought to be used as a shield but as of yet, shaping it has been a problem.”

If that’s the case, they should also have set it up wrong with the grasping bands set up like a T. Actually, it was meant as a side story piece that would have allowed Tolwren to go sand cruising with the aid of a powerful kite.

Now, it looks like it will be my primary mode of transportation for any trip outside the city.

Taking the carapace, I only need to look at the interior to know it is exactly that, minus the kite.

In other words, it’s pretty perfect. I almost want to curse just because it’s that perfect.

“Thanks.”

“I have watched you grow over the last years, Highness. You’ve become a learned young man who is quite capable with the spear even if you prefer your swords. You have stood—”

I clap her on the shoulder, stopping her. “I appreciate it, but I’m not going out that way. Maybe afterward when I’m stepping out of this,” I raised the carapace. “I can see myself kicking the bucket like that.”

She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. So instead, she takes the shell and begins lashing the harness straps to it.

She doesn’t believe I’m coming back. Considering its suicide for just about anyone attempting it except me and maybe Ama. But, yeah, he’d probably pull it off better if she could wrap her brain about anything other than her overly fabulous self. She couldn’t, along with three others, share the overwhelming sin of Pride. They were never meant to be anything but overconfident pains in the ass.

Considering I’d made sure of that, should I apologize?

Yeah, no. With any luck, the setting didn’t make it in.

Desperation barked, and I nodded. “I know it’s time.”

I stepped into the shell, my forward foot pointing forward and my back foot pointing straight ahead. Then, taking a deep breath, I accepted the ropes Samira offered me. Each was tied about one of Desperations heads so that it could pull and not strangle. She does think of just about everything, doesn’t she?

I’d need to give her a day off when this is over. Hell, when this is over, I could do with a day or two to just sleep. Sleep sounds heavenly, actually.

“Let’s go!”

I jerk backward as they leap forward. Then, after a moment of straining, I manage to straighten.

Damn, Desperation took off like a bat out of hell.

“Easy!” I yell, “you’ve got to pace yourself, or you won’t be able to make the trip back!”

A wave of sand kicks up, striking me in the face. I might have chalked it up to an accident if the head on the right wasn’t looking back at me. Apparently, it trusts the other heads’ vision enough.

“I’m just—”

Desperation puts on another burst of speed.

Having learned my lesson, I clamped shut my mouth and hung on for the ride.

***

Reaching the crest of a large dune, we find them. A giant cluster bomb of fatal fluffballs intent on draining one’s fluid, and they looked like an ocean of white and red.

“Well, we’ve reached the point of no return,” I announce.

In front of me, Desperation chuffs. “WOOF!”

He then turned to look at me as if to say, “now, if, on the off chance they didn’t know we’re here, they do now.”

We took off down the slope, the wind in my hair, my heart beating like a rhythmic drum in my ear, and my shoulders weighed down with my payload.

All at once, they bounded right into a false start that left every one of them not in the front line tumbling over one another.

Perfect. Taking the first of the pouches, I give it a hard shake and slam it into the hilt of my sword.

Three, two, one. I lob it up into the air and grab the next one as the first pouch goes off in a snap of noise and a host of squeaky screams. The next one left my hands before the first screams died away.

The first line has nearly reached me.

“Endurance, you bastard, if I die, you die too, can’t endure anything if you’re dead!”

A true statement and one I’m well aware of.

My eyes ache as his energy bursts forth, and Endurance forms midleap. He out and away a moment later.

Desperation growls.

Good dog.

Next bomb away, but it’s barely over the crowd of fluffy bunnies before it detonates. The vampiric hare’s blood is all but boing on the parts of my arms outside the cloak, and I wipe a chunk of flesh and fur from where it stuck just below my mouth.

“Nows where you go faster!” I yell and heave the following two pouches into their number. A few hundred of them, the ones in the far back, the fearful sort, had already run off. The ones that remained were the ones hungry, starving enough to risk it all.

They didn’t speed up, but they did turn, and man, can they corner! The sand spraying off contained all the power of a sandblaster.

Thump. Thump. Thump. They came in tens, in the twenties, hares flattened and airborne alike, and even the occasional one that managed to land inside the carapace with me. Those I dealt with by passing the reins to one hand so I could use my sword with the other.

“Home,” I called, but they already knew.

Pain lanced through my skull, and I peered over my shoulder for any sign of Endurance and only found what I expected.

Not the hardened light warrior but the horde. Just the horde.

As we once more reach the top of the dune, I throw two blast pouches as far out into the horde as I can and drop four more into the sands we’re passing through.

Boom! A rush of hot air swept across my back, and the sands beneath us started to flow back the way we’d come. Shit, it wasn’t supposed to be this far forward!

My fear turns out to be wasted as Desperation redoubles his pace and frees himself from the shifting sands.

I’m free half a heartbeat later, and we’re blitzing across the sands at a speed that puts his original to shame.

Twenty-five minutes later, the walls were in sight, as was the army but Desperations flagging.

“Didn’t I tell you to take it easy earlier?” I snap and look over my shoulder. They’re still a decent distance between them and us, but the numbers are higher than what I was expecting. They’re had to be twelve hundred left!

I pull up to the line of warriors, but most are looking at the army at my back.

“Sorry I didn’t get more,” I said as I moved to step from the sand cruiser.

Aster reaches me first and wraps her arms around me.

I was about to tell her that it was hardly the time for things like that. Instead, I stopped as she grunted, and the solidness of the ground disappeared beneath my feet.

“You said you were more likely to die stepping out of that than on your mission, so I felt it only fair since you came back from the mission.”

Aster says as she sets me onto the ground.

A bark of laughter escapes me. “Appreciated.”

“This does look adorable, but if you would turn back to the topic at hand? Oh, and welcome home, Highness.”

“Glad to be back? I mean, I wish I were somewhere not about to be eaten to death by rabbits.”

I try to sound light and unworried, but that’s a lie. Kinda. I mean, if I die, it might be the end, or I might just get shoved into one of my other works.

Looking at the hares, I take a deep breath. And then another.

We’re not ready, but that doesn’t matter. They’re here. Thousands of electric blue eyes glowed brightly in the night’s low light.

“We are all going to die.” A purple a few feet down the line muttered.

I can’t disagree. It looks like we’re going to die. “Yeah, I can live with that. How about you?” I called back.

She laughed.

Turning my attention back to Desperation. “Are you ready?”

He stood though he seemed unsteady and barked. Once, twice, three times.

“Attack!”

My eyes go wide as I look down the line and find the King.