The Wyldwalkers and agglomerate guild teams made quick time back to the city, but not everyone was in high spirits at the rescue. Several teams hadn’t made it, and Niko was startled to realize that almost a quarter of the Strike team was missing.

“We lost a lot of people,” Niko said quietly, mostly to himself, while trying to pick out familiar faces amidst the horde. In a way, he was glad not to have met too many people as of yet, as every face he recognized put his heart at ease, but for every one that he couldn’t find, a kernel of unrest sat heavy in his gut.

“That’s how it goes, sometimes,” Skye answered, softly, in spite of what might be considered uncaring words, “We got lucky. Not everyone else can say the same.”

Niko nodded wordlessly at that, but mentally he couldn’t help but insist that they wouldn’t rely on luck going forward. They’d definitely lucked out with their probably-illegal bombs, but next time Niko wanted to be sure their preparations were intentional. More than anyone else, they were more likely to need big red button options, what with the pilgrimage and all.

‘Plus, it’s not like going after the gods will be easy,’ he reminded himself of a distant objective that of late had seemed only to become even more distant and elusive. How was he going to accomplish that if a bunch of overgrown bugs were giving him so much trouble? ‘Maybe I’m thinking too inside the box,’ Niko thought to himself, ‘Well, I’ll try to figure something out. I’m sure there’s something in my repertoire that I can use.’

“Strike team! Disperse past the wall and into the secondary sortie area.” A loud voice called out atop the gate, “Some aspects of the plan have changed, report to your attendant to find out more!”

Niko listened to the voice, only to realize the order was echoed several times elsewhere. He turned his gaze questioningly towards Ronald, as with the rest of the Wyldwalkers as he did as advised. “Wyldwalkers reporting, we’re told that the plans have shifted?”

Niko watched as Ronald’s expression became pensive, and then alarmed, “Do you need us down in the waterways?”

Immediately the rest of the group exchanged worried glances. There was a confirmed hole into the underground below, but they hadn’t run into anything especially dangerous, unless something new had moved in.

“But securing th–” Ronald began frustratedly, before stopping mid sentence. Niko watched as his face flushed red angrily and his jaw clenched, but Ronald only spat out, “Understood, Wyldwalkers out.”

The group moved forwards automatically, the air of tenseness and energy pushing them onwards. “There’s apparently a large presence of Dawr Goblins in the waterways now, and they’re aggressively defending their territory and attacking everyone who tries to come down.”

“Why don’t they send one of the high tiers down there?” Mithel frowned, “That should clear them out, right? It’s probably not–”

“It’s the full tribe, Mithel. We have the high tiers down there trying to clear them out, but it’s going to take time, if they can even fully do it.” Ronald cut her off, frustration clear in his voice, “We can’t use the sewers and waterways as an evacuation point. The Guildmaster has given the order to use the Guildhall and neighboring buildings, but the change in plan has everyone scrambling.”

“What do we need to do?” Skye asked directly, “Help guard the building?”

Ronald shook his head, “No, we need to make sure people are leaving their homes to go to the guildhouse.” He paused, seemingly listening to orders while his eyebrows furrowed even tighter on his face, “Or the Baron’s estate, both are rated for withstanding sieges, and both will be fully staffed with high tiers for defense. The preference is for the Guildhouse, but we might not have that much time.”

“Where do we start, then? Do we start here?” Dachna asked, awkwardly looking around at the nearby buildings as though he might see a gawking family of civilians conveniently waiting to be directed to leave their homes.

“No, we start on the other side of the city.” Ronald began, before his eyes stopped on something in the distance, “We’ll need to get there pretty quickly.”

The others followed his line of sight, and Niko fluffed up in dismay, “You are not having me pull that.”

Skye didn’t need to translate for Ronald to cringe, “Look, it’s an emergency. There’s going to be plenty of people who are going to have trouble moving around on their own, and we need to get there as soon as possible.”

As though to punctuate Ronald’s statement, the cacophony and movement on the streets was suddenly joined by an electrostatic ‘crack’ and a split-second smell of ozone in the air followed. Niko’s head snapped towards the wall on instinct, and his bare sight revealed an azure, almost invisible barrier that suddenly encompassed the city in a large sphere. The base of the barrier sat primarily upon the walls themselves, but, Niko noted, seemed thinner the closer to the wall it got. Sigaldry blazed all across the stonework as essence funneled into the barrier from deeper within the city.

And then several pin-pricks of light flared across the dome high overhead, dozens of them blipping into and out of existence with a tell-tale ‘pop’. More and more happened high overhead, and Niko had to pull his gaze away from the sight.

To Ronald, he said, “Fine, but you really owe me for this one.”

In spite of ongoing evacuation efforts, the main streets had been kept clear for emergency traffic, not unlike what Niko himself was currently functioning as. A heavy cart meant for goods and crates followed him closely, braced against his back with heavy wooden beams that were intended for something the size of a pair of donkeys. Niko wasn’t quite that large, but luckily Skye knew enough about carts to loosen up the brackets so that they wouldn’t hold the cart at too high an angle. Still, he had difficulty being happy about that fact, and the leather bands chafed at his feathers. If nothing else, no one had dared try to put a bit in his mouth. Though, he was fairly certain that his companions were aware that he would have taken a finger for the effort.

“Take a left up there, Niko! Right past the fruit stand,” Skye shouted, “You’re doing great!”

“It’s a hard job to cluck up, Skye!” Niko retorted bitterly.

“C’mon, don’t be like that!” She called out apologetically, “I’ll buy you your favorite steak haunch and potatoes!”

Niko didn’t respond, still grouchy that his previous stance on not being a pack animal had effectively just been voided with no room for him to work up any mental gymnastics to avoid it.

“And I’ll ask Crowe to make you a Starlight Sepulcher?” Skye added, like a question, and Niko had to take a moment to consider that.

“Promise?” He asked, even as he sighed internally. Niko looked back just long enough to see Skye beaming at him.

“Yes! I’ll get you as many as you want!” She called out, and Niko couldn’t help but feel conflicted. Was he being cheap? That really depended on who you asked, considering how good those drinks were. He was admittedly a little food obsessed, but what else would he want?

Then it occurred to him that he did have a few things he wanted, “I want a better bed roll! Really fluffy!”

“Sure!” Skye answered with no hesitation, “I’ll put it on Ronald’s tab.”

“Put what on my tab?” The man asked hesitantly.

“One of those high-class beast-beds that can be packed up.” Skye informed him, “Those gold-grade ones that the store only keeps one of.”

Niko looked back, interested to see what Ronald’s expression was going to be. Niko laughed as Ronald’s face looked like he’d just swallowed a sour lemon indeed, “Yeah, okay… That’s fine.”

“And Dachna has to buy me something shiny!” Niko called out as he rounded the corner.

“What? Why me? Is this because I was riding you? B-but I thought that went well!” Dachna then amended that statement, “Y’know, aside from almost dying.”

“You called me Drumstick.” The Phorus spat back flatly.

Skye snorted laughter as she translated, and Mithel added with amusement, “It’s like a swear jar, but instead of money, you have to put valuable gems into it.”

“How valuable are we talking?” Dachna asked while swallowing hard, and Niko cackled a laugh.

All the while, they were doing a marvelous job of ignoring the ever increasing sound of electrical discharges high over the city. Niko noted that the higher up they went, the brighter the flash, yet the lower to the ground they were, the longer the electrostatic discharge went on for. He’d been worried that the shorter flashes were bad, but as they’d encountered only charcoaled hornet husks that had fallen throughout the city from on high, Niko guessed it was the inverse. Closer to the ground the electricity of the barrier was weaker, hence the longer flashes. That made more sense as to why the wall was manned at all, then.

But it also concerned him greatly, considering all of the sigaldry that was on said wall. Surely, it was reinforced as much as possible, but he didn’t know how much that actually was. For all he knew, a scratch would bring the whole thing down.

“Here, Niko, stop us here,” Ronald called out, “We’ll go in two groups down both sides of the street. Do what you can to get people to leave, but we have a lot of ground to cover. There’s only so much we can do for someone who won’t leave.”

“What about looters?” Skye asked, and the others paused, as though the thought hadn’t even occurred to them. To be fair, it hadn’t even really occurred to Niko, and he felt almost vaguely bad for Skye that she had thought of them.

“Ignore them,” Ronald said with a grim expression, “If they get in the way, do what you need to do, but they’re not our concern.”

Niko turned his attention to Skye, noting the way she nodded slowly. On a hunch, he began honing his sense of hearing in on the surroundings as much as he could. He imagined that he might hear the crash of a door, perhaps the sound of someone breaking and entering to find what valuables might lay inside, but Niko was already aware that he couldn’t hear nearly as much as Skye could.

Niko stayed with the cart, walking slowly along the street alongside his team. On either side, they went door to door, Mithel and Dachna on one side, with Ronald and Skye on the other. The first several homes and storefronts were empty of people, but finally after the fourth house, Ronald was greeted by someone at the door with a crossbow aimed at his chest. Niko felt his pulse increase at that, but the man quickly aimed elsewhere when he realized they were guild teams.

Niko could tell almost immediately that the man wasn’t willing to leave his home. At least, until Skye pointed at the barrier around the city, and then gestured to the workings that lined the man's doors. She simply said, “Niko can break this door with one kick. What good will it do against hundreds of hornets whose only objective is you?”

That, oddly enough, got the man moving. Niko listened in as Mithel and Dachna spoke to a family on the other side, and then got a loud, “Niko! Come here with the cart, please!”

Curious, Niko did just that, only to see a family with an elderly grandmother, two adults, a teenanger, and three younger children, one of whom was a baby. “Transport for the grandmother and children, please?”

Niko nodded, giving a light coo at them before realizing he recognized the baby. ‘Hey, didn’t I sing to this one?’

At that remembrance, he noticed that the parents were indeed the same ones from the first day he’d been allowed to freely walk around the city. Their eyes lit up in recognition, too, and Niko was more than a little amused to see the baby point at him and say something along the lines of ‘pretty bird’ in baby talk.

Or close enough, he figured. “Alright, hop on in,” Niko cawed at them a little more firmly, “We’re on the clock.”

The grandmother was helped into the cart, while the baby was placed in her arms. The others would walk alongside the cart for the time being. On the other side of the road, Niko heard shouting, before Ronald and Skye walked away from another building where another family was having a very verbal dispute over what they should do. He hoped they picked going with them, because Niko was positive that he could tear into any unreinforced building with minimal effort. If he could do it, the hornets would manage to as well, leaving any prospective holdouts besieged on all sides.

In ten minutes, they’d cleared through the entire street, and had only collected a few families. Volunteers moved into back alleys, ensuring that their neighbors were moving, but it seemed that the vast majority of people had already evacuated. Only those with especially strong connections to their homes, or that were hard of mobility, or both, seemed to remain.

Niko was sad to see that for every four families they convinced of the danger, another seemed content to remain and try their luck. He supposed it was like any natural disaster or even manmade disaster, since back on Earth people were like that, too. In spite of how much he disagreed with them… He wished them the best of luck.

“Alright, Niko, we’re going to cart as many people as possible to the guild.” Skye said to him as she hopped into the driver’s seat, albeit without any reins. “There’s enough room to take most everyone without making them walk… though, it’s a tight fit.”

She said the last part under her breath, but Niko couldn’t help but agree. The cart was full of people now, the front of which was mostly the elderly and children, but the overall number of people present was lower than expected. Niko was glad for that, and with a lurch started to pull the cart, noting that it was a lot heavier than it was before, figuratively and literally.

He picked up speed gradually, slowing at the intersections to ensure that he wasn’t going to ram full-speed into another cart, but still much faster than most people could run. The sound of his stamping feet against stone and the rolling cart wheels filled the street, and Niko couldn’t make out much of the worried murmurings from the people he carried. The shield over the city was crackling near constantly, but almost no high-altitude zaps happened anymore. Now, the walls themselves were the focus, and even from as far away as they were, Niko could hear the crack of what sounded like mortars exploding.

The only other activity in the city was the ever growing number of refugee carts that moved through the streets. They became more prevalent the closer to the Guildhouse the group moved, and Niko was beginning to fear that there were too many people to manage.

As they closed, a rider on horseback met them, “Pull off to the side there! We’re taking them in on foot and stretchers from here.”

Niko moved as directed, slowing behind a line of carts that were pulled by horses, and even other beasts that were large enough to do so.

It was there that Niko saw Sasha and Thokk, as well as the Aelphis’ second team, operating out of the local area. Thokk was pulling a much larger, lumbering cart full of construction materials, while Sasha was helping to pull several stretchers at a time for those either too injured or unable to move under their own power. Russell and the Aelphis team were doing the same, though with much more intensity than Niko expected from them.

“Sasha, Thokk, Russel!” Niko called out to them, “I lost track of you all, glad you got back.”

The trio paused at their names, before realizing that Niko was nearby. Thokk only gave him a brief nod before moving back to work. Sasha called back, “I as well. We were asked to assist here. Is your team on this evacuation job I’ve heard about?”

“Yep, it’s slow going, though. Russel, how is Aelphis doing?” Niko turned his attention to the Silver Grier, who shook his head in response.

“Our team is fine, but we want to be on the wall. Team One is up there, but we’ll do what we can do here.” He paused for a second, seemingly considering saying something, before just saying, “McNabby took a stab to the chest and a bite to the neck. They’re not sure if he’ll make it.”

Niko’s good cheer flickered as the cart was unloaded behind him. He was at a loss of what to say, several empty platitudes coming to mind that had been uttered to him ad nauseum long ago when he’d been diagnosed with cancer.

Instead of any of those, Niko simply said what was in his heart, “I’m sorry to hear that. I hope he survives, he’s a good man.”

Russell looked up at that, taking a moment to take a breath, “Yeah. Yeah he is… Thanks, Niko. I gotta get back to it.”

“Me too,” Niko glanced back at the cart, nearly emptied now by the guild members and volunteers, “Good luck, Russell.”

“You too, stay safe out there. These things are nasty.” Russel waved a hand towards a nearby construction, stone moving to form easy notches for barricades and external walls to slot down into as foundations.

Niko’s footsteps dragged the cart away from the line, joining the outgoing traffic that quickly cleared away through the city. Skye spoke up only after they’d cleared some distance, “I heard what happened. That’s a shame.”

“Yeah,” Niko nodded, “It really is.”

They let the silence between them linger as they traveled through the city streets once more, “Well, I’m pretty sure my parents would say something about focusing on what we can actually do right now…”

“Is that the wisdom you’re sharing now, too?” Niko teased.

Skye huffed good humoredly, “Yes, that is the wisdom I’m sharing. You can thank me at any time.”

Niko was chuckling at that as Skye followed up with, “It is good advice, though. We focus on the things that we can do anything about first, and then worry about the stuff we can’t after.”

“That sounds stressful,” Niko cawed, “Can we just not worry about the stuff we can’t do anything about?”

“Sure, if you wanna be a treebeard,” said Skye with blase.

“Treebeard?” Niko hadn’t heard that term before.

“Someone who’s trying to be a tree.” Skye began, “It’s not a compliment. Trees are very simple, they deal with what’s in front of them, around them, and then they just… be trees. It might be a cultural thing.”

Niko considered that for a few seconds before nodding, “No, I think I get the idea. Treebeard, huh? That’s new, I’ll have to remember that one.”

“Just don’t call any elves that, please, it’s fairly insulting.” Skye then put on a considering face before saying, “Actually, maybe do that. Might be pretty entertaining to watch.”

Niko shook his head with bemusement before picking up speed. There was a kind of calm in the air now, but he knew it was deceptive. They needed to get as much done as possible now before the wall fell.

Because judging by the fact that he was beginning to get used to the electrical sound, the hornets were adamant on breaking down the wall. ‘Hopefully we can clear the Waterways in time…’ Niko thought to himself, ‘Because I don’t think that defending above ground is at all a good idea…