The Arch-Sentinel had departed with his entourage at dawn, singing the praises of Anders and Ilse. A promotion or at least reassignment seemed within reach for Anders. All he had to do now was keep his head down, carry on with his work and await his ascent to greatness. He undertook the mind numbingly dull task of standing lookout on the castle’s battlements with a sense of optimism, a rarity in such a cold, inhospitable place. Burgophlian patrols had once again been sighted nearby, so vigilantly guarding the fortress night and day took on even greater importance than usual. Yergasi and Ilse stood watch with him, as was routine, whilst he braces himself against the flurrying snowstorm that had engulfed the fortress. His lips had turned a worrying shade of purple and his legs felt number each second inside his steel toed boots. Whilst stamping his feet on the crunchy snow to keep the blood circulating, Anders was driven to distraction by an almost imperceptible rhythmic humming, like the buzzing of a fly. He’d brushed it off at first as nothing more than the sound of blood pulsing through his ear, but it had gotten undeniably louder over time and he could brush it off no longer.

“D’you hear…” Yergasi stammered before trailing off.

Anders shushed him, his ears straining to hear what he hoped she wasn’t hearing. Ilse stood motionless, her brow furrowed and eyes wide with concentration. The humming abruptly increased in volume, Anders could now be certain of what he was hearing. What he heard, he knew heralded something rare and universally feared throughout the land; the dreaded blue fire.

“Don’t worry, we’ve trained for this” Anders said, more to reassure himself than the others.

He gawped as a section of the sky became distorted. Yergasi gasped involuntarily at the strangeness of it. The sight was deeply unsettling for any eye to behold. Something as fundamental as the sky changing its shape and physical dimensions would make anyone wonder if they were hallucinating. After a few tense seconds the warped patch of black sky began to ripple and swirl like an ethereal whirlpool, increasing its hallucinogenic quality. The three of them stared at it disbelievingly. The humming increased dramatically in volume. Anders’ ears rang with a constant, tinny vibration. The whirlpool in the sky undulated and rotated like a stormy sea, making Anders feel queasy just looking at it. He saw a small light appear in its centre. Each Sentinel was trapped in a state of shocked silence. The orb of light grew gradually in size and brightness until it occupied most of the whirlpool and dwarfed even the moon. Abruptly the whirlpool’s unnerving manifestation culminated in a loud boom and a blinding explosion of blue light, as bright as the full intensity of the sun. Anders shielded his eyes, seeing a patchwork of colour burned into his retinas. A huge raging conflagration made up of blue flame erupted from within the whirlpool and plummeted like a meteor towards the ground. Anders watched as the whirlpool faded into nothingness and the immense ball of blue flame continued to descend.

“Come on, quick! Snap out of it!” shouted Ilse tugging on Anders’ arm and bringing him out of a daze.

Regaining his senses he followed Ilse and Clemons towards the battlements’ edge. There was no time to take the stairs. Once he’d found a foothold on a jutting brick, he began clambering down the sheer wall. Ilse and Yergasi did the same. Halfway down the rock Anders’ foot slipped on a loose stone and he felt himself start to fall. His stomach lurched and his heart skipped a beat as he fell. Digging his hands into the wall and holding on for dear life meant he was only just able to cling on, find a new foothold and continue the descent.

“Try not to die just yet” joked Yergasi nervously, looking at Anders with concern.

“Hurry up! You’re falling behind!” Ilse shouted as she landed on the frozen earth and took off sprinting

Towering black lumps of rock loomed all around the three Sentinels. A sea of dense mist and a vortex of snow shrouded the landscape, severely limiting their ability to see. The wind howled angrily all around them. Peeking though a gap in the chaotic snowstorm, Anders saw blue ball of fire in the sky continuing its inexorable descent. .

Anders clutched at a throbbing stitch in his side feeling his blood encrusted fingers sting from clinging on to the rock earlier.

Icy patches of vegetation crunched underfoot. After a while of constant running through the fog Anders’ lungs felt like they would burst, Yergasi trailed far behind him and even Ilse was slowing somewhat. They each gasped constantly, sharply inhaling deep lungfuls of cold air .

The sound of their boots hitting the ground and crunching on the patches of snow rang in Anders’ ears. Abruptly the cacophony was joined by a new noise. Hushed voices could be heard nearby. A bead of nervous sweat dribbled down Anders’ brow. He strained his ears and scanned around the misty tundra, trying to find the source of the new noise. As he looked at an outcropping of rock looming nearby he thought he saw a head duck out of sight when he glanced in its direction.

“Did you see that?” Anders shouted over the wind

“See what?” Ilse asked

”I think I saw…” Anders hesitated “never mind, probably nothing”

“Just concentrate on running Anders” Yergasi said wearily

Not long after, Anders saw another shape moving near a craggy cluster of rocks, it disappeared as he focused on it. The foggy darkness made it difficult to make anything out, it was like trying to see through a curtain. The misty landscape started to take on a frightening quality. Suddenly, a head peeked around the side of a lump of rock, Anders stared disbelievingly as if trying to banish it, but it remained still. He could just about make out a gaunt face through the flurry. It had bulging and hungry eyes that stared uncomfortably deeply into his own. It was joined by more heads peeking out over the tops of the shards of rock looming around the trio. Anders looked around realising that they were suddenly surrounded by human shapes, half obscured by smoggy darkness. Menacing faces could be glimpsed. They were being watched.

“I’m definitely seeing something” Anders said nervously, never taking his eyes off the human figures continuing to appear all around them.

“Me too” said Ilse grimly

The human forms slowly converged on the three of them, stood atop the black shards of rock. They stopped just short of the rock’s edges. Some of them in the formation held flaming torches and the orange light cut through the snowy mist and illuminated their hideous faces. They were caked with dirt and strewn with lurid purple scars. Anders could hear the figures’ arrayed on the rocks panting like dogs, as hyperventilating from excitement.

“Meat!” one of the nearest men at the edge of a rock shouted in a deep voice.

He bared his sharpened, jagged teeth, drew a rusty dagger from its sheath and pointed it at the three Sentinels. Breathing rapid exhausted breaths, Anders’ and Ilse ran faster through the snowstorm, their feet pounding on the icy ground. Each toothlike rocky outcropping near them was now clearly lined with countless snarling men and women. They were dressed in animal furs and their hair was matted and unkempt. They all clutched sharp glinting weapons in their pale bony hands. Anders saw innumerable wild and menacing eyes staring deeply into his own.

“Fucking ferals” he whispered, still running in the direction of the blue flames, unsure now of how to deal with two deadly problems at once. Ferals never normally hunted this far south, they were extraordinarily unlucky to encounter them here and now. A detachment of fur-clad torchbearers dismounted from a rock just ahead of Anders, Yergasi and Ilse. Next they moved across the frosty ground to block their path forward. The three Sentinels stopped in their tracks, looking around wildly for an escape route like rabbits cornered by a wolf. As Anders searched he saw more of them clamber down from the rocks and block off any possible exits. Anders and Ilse exchanged a fearful, almost romantically motivated look between themselves, realising they were completely encircled. The ball of blue fire continued its inexorable descent towards the ground

Stay close to me” Ilse whispered

An ear grating chorus of sharpened teeth chattering in excitement could be heard coming from the mouths of the half human men and women encircling them. The crowd gathered around them were threateningly pointing and gesticulating with their flaming torches and weapons. The largest and meanest looking of the pack held a hefty axe in his hand, he opened his dark drooling mouth to speak.

“Small men caught in trap!” he gloated loudly whilst fingering his bone necklace, his eyes bulging out unsettlingly far from their sockets.

The encircling crowd cackled maniacally at his taunt showing their mouths of dagger-like teeth. Anders winced.

“Look at their juicy fat flesh, we feast on it!” roared the chieftain.

“Feast! Feast! Feast!” chanted the encircling ferals hungrily

Anders, Yergasi and Ilse stood back to back, as far away from the ferals as they could get and with their swords drawn.

“We are Imperial Sentinels, bear us any harm and you will face the wrath of the mighty Sentinelate” said Yergasi authoritatively

“Bah, be silent meat! We want to feast!” the chieftain replied dismissively, the crowd of ferals roared rapturously in agreement

“Uhh… Money! We have money. We can give you money if you let us walk away!” Anders said stumbling over his words

The chanting stopped jarringly and the chieftain paused as if considering Anders’ offer. After a few seconds of tense silence he guffawed loudly and the others joined his in hearty laughter like a pack of hyenas.

“Stupid puny man. Cannot eat silver” shouted one of the cackling torchbearers.

Once the chieftain’s laughing fit ended his expression became fierce once again.

“Bring head to me, eat rest” instructed the chieftain as he pounded his broad chest. He then prowled closer and closer towards his prey, swinging his axe menacingly. The others enthusiastically joined him in the hunt.

“Feast! Feast! Feast!” the crowd continued to chant.