"I am so sorry! My sisters are so infuriating some times!

I even had to call Mother! Mother punished me for it too... She told my sister to clean up the mess she made in my library... She did it, with water. Had to kick her out or she would have done even more damage!"

-Bee May, the faery of knowledge

"You cannot choose your family."

The plan was simple, goad the horde, make them suffer and waste as much time as possible. As most villagers fled through the tunnels, the walls could not be fully manned.

The river was a weak point, if someone knew how to swim could just swim inside the village. That's why Todd and his scouts filled the river side with traps.

The wall was impossible to climb and with only hardwood near the village, the horde could not make rudimentary ladders.

They will try to break the door, with time it will happen, the horde will penetrate the village's defences and win this fight. That did not mean that the villagers would let the horde win easily, the elders of the village were stationed on top of the gate, they were equipped with bags filled with random powders made by Stria. Falling unconscious was the best fate it could befall to one of the unlucky invaders, rashes, nightmarish visions, extreme pain, bad burns, being sick and puking were some of the effects of those powders and, they were mixed togheter so there were some unespected effects too.

The scouts and the hunters were equipped with bows, their job was to find and kill the commanders, or any important looking member of the horde. Without orders the horde would be easy to deal with. Sidon, Alfonse and Little Wolf had the hardest job, they had to patrol the walls and throw the invaders back down, the villagers, the scouts and the hunters would buy them time but the three strongest fighters of the village had to do their part or the walls would be breached.

The horde was frenzied, when the messenger got killed and the fourth prince screamed, they charged the walls. Some tried to swim, some did not know how to swim but where thrown into the river by the charging men behind them and died of a painful and useless death. Other started to bang on the doors, trying to bring them down. The rest of the army rushed the wall and started to make human ladders, they would just throw bodies at the problem until it was solved. It was no military strategy, it was not even istinct, not even animals would throw their lives like that.

Their uncoordination made the villagers job tiring but easier. Robert thought they could even repel them if their stamina lasted long enough and, the villagers worked hard every day, even the older members of the village had great stamina. Then he felt a cold and burning sensation on his back and felt himself fall over the wall in the middle of the waiting crowd.

"Robert, No!"

Yelled Stria, she turned around and found a blade to the belly to greet her, Tumen the merchant and his two bodyguards snuck behind the villagers in the chaos of fighting and were betraying them, they were stabbing and throwing people over the wall.

The villagers were distraught, they were ready to die, they weren't ready for betrayal and the pain to see your friends, the people you lived your entire life die around you. Sidon and Alfonse tried to rally the villagers but the horde was on the wall now and it was harder to move around or get heard over the sounds of battle.

Little Wolf was in pain, his body was fine but his hearts, they hurt. His eyes shone bloody crimson light, his body was moving faster and faster, he was getting exhausted, he did not care, he wanted these invaders to go away, to bring the pain he was feeling away with them.

Todd was in the village, shouting orders to the scouts that were the last line of defence, when he saw the wall defense being overwhelmed he started blowing inside his horn, it was time to retreat. They would retreat through safe paths while evading the traps then they would enter the longhouses, go through the secret tunnels, collapse them after their passing. The collapse mechanism will start a fire too, making it impossible for the mob behind their back to follow them.

The villagers were retreating, some more fell to the frenzied mob that was now roaming the village. Little Wolf did not hear the horn, he only saw red, his mind and body was one, sweep left to right, duck, plant the spear and jump with it, stab while midair, land on a poor guy, do a sweep again to get some room, dodge the sword's stab, take a bite of the wrist holding the sword, take hold of the handless arm, throw him over head. He was bathed in blood, the frenzied mob started to flow around him, they were scared of him, they tried to go around him, he would not let them.

"Son, SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Yelled Sidon, he was holding the rear, hoping to save one more villager in the retreat.

The villagers were all in the tunnels, Little Wolf was not with them. So Sidon made Alfonse close the tunnel without him. Fianna would kill him if their son died. He would never forgive himself if Little Wolf were to die, if that was even possible. He rushed through the now on fire longhouse, climbed to the roof so he could see farther away, he had to figth off some of the invaders that thought that a roof was a good spot to find people. They were right, he found a circle of bodies with Little Wolf, his son on the middle, he was a bloody cyclone, every swing of his spear would make broken bodies fly. Sidon never saw his son fight like that, it was impressive but he knew his son. He did not need to use so much strenght to disable a man, he did not need to use that much strenght to kill them either. His son like to think of himself as a grown up but he was not ready to fight yet, he was lost, the figthing got to his head, his instincts and his strenght kept him alive but, the same istincts made him even more disorientated, he was adrift a bloody sea of bodies. Sidon had to do something, he fixed his First's Hunter spear on his back as he jogged away from his son, when he was far enough he started running, with a desperate leap he joined his boy.

Little Wolf felt a shadow cover him, he moved his spear to intercept it, he found his dad. Sidon had gripped with both hands his son's spear to stop it from impaling him, Little Wolf was strong enough to keep Sidon's heavy body in the air. Sidon let himself fall, the mob that was circling his son waiting for him to tire out was now closing in on them, he unleashed his spear, they fought back to back. The presence of Sidon awoke Little Wolf from his bloody stupor, the father-son duo started to carve a gory path in the hope to find a way to get away from the deadly situation they found themselves in. The exhaustion was starting to grip their limbs, it was harder and harder to keep the stream of attackers off. Sidon knew that if they did not make something happen and fast they would die here. They had to find something, anything, find a way to get to safety, wherever that was.

The earth started shaking, the mob stopped and started looking around confused, Sidon and Little Wolf were grateful for the little reprieve but dreaded what would happen after the pause was over.

The sun was coming down, the earth was shaking, a single powerful monstrous howl came from the forest. Every single being inside the forest felt its blood freeze.