By the time Niko and Skye returned with the cart, another group was ready to go. They ran another lap, trying to ignore the ever present crackling of the barrier in the distance. He hoped that something would change, even if he knew that change could go either way. Yet, minutes crawled into hours, and Niko began to wonder if the Massacre Hornets bred like hornets from his world, too. There had to be thousands of them at least, but Niko wasn’t sure about what the state of the frontlines was like. Their orders had become more insistent, that much Niko could tell just from how quickly they were moving from street to street. His feet actually were beginning to hurt from the hard stone and the extra weight, but he bore the pain without complaint.

When they were finally tasked with one of the last districts, Niko couldn’t help but feel incredibly satisfied with their progress. Hundreds of people had needed help moving, and while there had been a scant few looters, they seemed few and far between. It seemed that there were enough guards acting as a nominal force that they could still do some policing. In spite of Ronald saying to ignore them, he reported activity whenever anyone in the group detected it. Niko truly had no idea what they were thinking, surely anyone caught looting during a crisis was going to receive an incredibly hefty punishment.

Niko and the group pulled into a familiar district, and Skye’s face rapidly distorted into something approaching rage. The others weren’t surprised, but they did stay out of her way as everyone dismounted and began the same process they had many times before. Niko stayed in the center of the street, calling out loud ‘Caw-ing’ noises in case anyone was nearby and outside that might curiously check. The cart he pulled had ‘Rescue Wagon’clumsily painted in red by some children that had been with them several districts ago, something that Niko still found adorable.

This street had far fewer people it seemed, or at least they were good enough at being quiet and undetectable that Skye and Dachna didn’t pick them up as they went door to door. Only two families had come out of the woodwork, one at Niko’s sounds, and the other from Dachna’s side of the street.

And then, finally, they came to a certain shop.

“Stella, if you’re in there, so help me Great Mother, I’m going to strangle you.” Skye uttered with clenched teeth as the rest of the Wyldwalkers fell into step behind her. Niko personally didn’t think Stella would be that irresponsible that she’d stay at her shop.

Which was why Niko couldn’t help but let out a low drawl of confusion and dismay when the door burst open as Skye was halfway to the building, “Skye! You wanna help hold down the fort?”

Stella was fully bedecked in hardened leather cuirass and adjoining pieces that were decorated with fangs, claws, and what Niko suspected were his own feathers. To her credit, her ensemble of armor was densely packed with essence, and for the first time Niko doubted he’d be able to tear into the armor even with a fully powered strike. She held a staff in her hands, both ends capped with a hardened crystal and steel ring. Whether or not she was a mage of some variety, Niko didn’t know, but the sight of her had clearly drawn most of the group up short.

Except Skye, who continued stiffly marching towards her cousin, “Stella Adol Nietche.”

Whether it was the tone, the posture, or simply survival instinct, Stella seemed to realize she’d just erred, “Oh dear.”

Then she tried to quickly back up and close the door.

“Really!? Really, Stella!?” Skye snapped forward while shouting, planting her shoulder hard into the door before it could close and knocking Stella and the door aside, “Closing the door!? Really!?”

“Uh, uh, i-it was a knee jerk response! I would have opened it ba–” Niko didn’t see what happened, but he did hear a jarring impact and a yelp.

“Your Mother would tan your hide for being so bloody foolish! It’s an evacuation order, Stella, what in the Great Mother’s graces are you thinking?” An extremely irate Skye shouted as she dragged Stella out of the building by the ear, while Stella herself was now holding her helmet in her hands. It did not escape Niko’s notice that Stella now nursed a very red cheek.

“S-Skye, I can walk on my ow–ouch!” She stopped struggling as Skye pulled harder.

“I’ll pull yer’ damn ear off if you try and get away. Get in the cart.” Skye’s tone brooked no argument as she continued, “Why in the world were you still in your shop!?”

“It’s my life, Skye!” Stella complained, but the declaration fell on deaf ears, especially as the rest of the people in attendance decided it best to keep any commentary to themselves. “And everything I own is in that shop! It’s well reinforced, I’d be well armored and armed, and–”

“You’d be as a lemming for a hawk, Stella, the hornets aren’t interested in your things, they’re interested in your meat.” Skye loosened up her grip on Stella’s ear, allowing her to come up to standing without being dragged, “Unless you’ve got sigaldry that’s better than being defended by a tier five, you should have already been in that shelter. So, is it better?”

Niko was intensely amused as Skye poked at Stella, and even more so when the other woman pouted. “Well… no, of course not. That’d be prohibitively expensive.”

“So, it’s good enough to keep out some looters,” Skye continued, “But not the actual thing that you’re being evacuated for.”

Stella griped as she was led to the back of the cart, but she didn’t need further encouragement to climb in, “Well when you put it like that, yeah, I guess it’s… somewhat misguided.”

“Somewhat misguided, she says,” Skye snorted and shook her head, “Your grandmother is going to love hearing about this.”

For a half second, Stella’s mouth worked numbly, before she seemed to recognize how to speak again, “You, that, uhh, can you maybe not?” She asked desperately, only for Skye to hop into the front seat of the cart, totally ignoring her.

“I’ll knock your prices down by three percent?” She asked hopefully, only to recoil as Skye leveled a flat and utterly unimpressed glare her way, along with the dumbfounded looks from the other Wyldwalkers.

“W-what!? It’s a discount!” Stella defended herself weakly as Niko turned his head away from her, facing Skye.

“That’s the last one,” Said Niko, not at all addressing the obsessed crafter that was now in the cart, “Ready?”

“All aboard!” Skye called out by way of answering. Ronald, Dachna, and Mithel all piled into the back of the wagon, interspersing themselves among the people to cover multiple angles.

“Good to go,” Ronald called out, “Take us straight back to the Guildhouse, Niko.”

“Got it,” The Phorus squawked in response before taking the cart away at speed. He urged the cart just a little bit faster as he listened in on the conversations going on in the back. The most interesting one, of course, being why Stella had wanted to stay at the shop.

Unfortunately, it was just about what he’d feared. She was aware of the danger, but had insisted on trying to finish ‘one more project,’ which had turned into several projects. By the time they’d come across her, she had managed to convince herself that her defenses were probably good enough that the hornets would skip over her.

Given how contrite she looked now, Niko guessed that she was realizing that was an exceedingly bad idea. If the walls were any indication, the hornets were not ones to be dissuaded by difficulty.

“Hush,” Ronald spoke out of nowhere, silencing the atmosphere as he seemed to listen to an unheard voice. Niko snuck some glances over his shoulder, seeing the man pale further and further. He took a few seconds to collect himself, looking over the group, leaving Niko more and more positive that he’d just received some very bad news.

Niko had half of his focus on the road when he noticed Ronald get up and carefully make his way over to the front of the cart and squeeze into the seat next to Skye, “Niko, I need you to go as fast as you can the guildhouse. Stop for nothing, no matter what it is.”

For everything he’d ever heard, there was a ring of finality to Ronald’s words. Wonderingly, Niko searched Ronald’s face, seeing only a stoic visage gazing back at him.

“What’s happened?” Skye asked quietly.

Ronald hand signed her back, and her lips firmed into a thin line. “Are you going to tell everyone else?”

“Only Dachna and Mithel.” Ronald answered, leaving Niko further and further mystified.

Skye nodded, before Niko felt her concentrating on the mental bridge between the two of them. “Ronald has been informed that the walls are being abandoned. There are no longer any hornets below tier three present at the sites, and they seem to be using the essence of their fallen to fuel their higher tier members. They’re outlasting us, so the Guildmaster is making the call to pull back to the Guildhouse and the Manor.”

Niko nodded grimly, “And I’m guessing this isn’t an orderly retreat.”

Skye shook her head, “No, probably not. The priority is extracting everyone on the frontlines, but everyone else is going to have to manage on their own.”

As they spoke, Niko gradually began picking up his speed, urging more and more of his essence to funnel into his leg patterns. He did his best to exercise the stealth portion of his legs, as well, but that was beyond secondary. “How long until the wall goes?”

“Without anyone keeping the hornets off of it? I guess it depends on what’s trying to get through, but I wouldn’t be surprised if holes start popping up any minute now.” Skye cynically predicted.

They didn’t speak any more after that, and Niko made sure to keep his eyes on the road in front of him. Partly because he was wary of a traffic accident, but also because he wasn’t sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him. The shadows of alleyways were looking remarkably alike to winged assailants already, or worse, hapless families huddling between buildings. He knew that, logically, they’d cleared through these areas, but he was also aware that anyone still left out near the walls was a goner. The hornets might skip over them at first in favor of a larger concentration of victims, but Niko very much doubted that would remain the case.

If there was one thing social insects were good at, it was stripping resources clean. Nothing could be wasted when one's family numbered in the tens of thousands and beyond.

Only a minute later did Skye take her bow out and nock an arrow, quietly giving Niko a heads up about what she was hearing. He listened closely, flying through the streets faster and faster, no longer risking pausing at intersections. Every shred of speed they could gather might be the difference between being buried under a swarm or not.

“We’re going really fast.” Niko heard Stella say, “What’s going on?”

Ronald only hesitated for a second, before deciding it was time to pull off the bandaid, “The wall is coming down. We need to get to the Guild as soon as possible.”

The fearful murmurings came as Niko had expected, but no one spoke out after that. No one needed to be told what it would mean for them to be caught out in the open.

“Niko, slow down and turn at the next intersection, then take the alley,” Dachna called out, “It’ll take us straight to the guild from there. It’ll be a tight fit, but safer.”

Taking a quick confirming glance to Skye, Niko clucked in affirmation before slowing the cart enough to not tip it over. The people in the back clamored in shock, but Niko couldn’t let that slow him. He was beginning to hear what Skye was, the incessant buzzing of wings as they closed in over the city.

“Left there,” Dachna called out, “And then it’s mostly a straight shot, you might have to adjust a bit, but it’ll take us straight through!”

“Got it! Hold on everybody!” Niko gave a shrill cry, hearing the distant sounds of timber being broken and glass shattering. Other noises followed, screams drowned out by the drone of wings, but Niko knew that he wasn’t going to be able to help them.

He turned the next corner tightly, and everyone hunkered down and cried out at the rough treatment as the cart nearly clipped the corner of a building going through. ‘Faster, faster, and for the love of all that is clucking good, do not crash.’ Niko half prayed to himself and Alterra, putting one foot in front of the other in a blur of motion. His talons dug into stone and debris, the occasional bit of trash being crushed and trampled under foot and wheel.

More and more noise invaded the city streets, and as Niko pulled his burden through one alleyway and into another, he caught a glimpse of white and red. “Spotted some!”

“Left or right!?” Skye called out, twisting with her arrow nocked, aiming upwards at the alleyway’s entrance.

“Left!” Niko called, just as he heard buzzing out in front of them.

A surge of essence sent his feathers on edge as Skye activated her pattern and let a pair of arrows fly. Just as they flew out into the space in front of the alley, a hornet slipped around the corner, stinger low and prepared for attack. It never got the chance, both arrows punching fletching deep into its head and abdomen. The hornet fell into Niko’s path, and he didn’t dare slow down.

He felt the crunch of exoskeleton beneath his taloned feet, followed by one of the wheels doing the same. “Anyone who can fight, now is the time!” Ronald shouted, “Protect yourselves and each other!”

Ronald’s words seemed to be the opening overture, because Niko could feel the cobblestone vibrate with the attention of a nearing swarm. Against his better wisdom, he took a glance upwards and backwards as they breached through another alleyway, now hearing the sounds of other carts on the main roads distantly.

Some of the hornets flew higher overhead, while others flew low, but Niko couldn’t help but halfway marvel at how unearthly the sight was. The bone white of the hornets contrasted the red patterns, making them stand out against the blue sky. Smoke in the distance further accentuated their profile, and if Niko wasn’t keenly aware of how dangerous the situation they were in, he might have found the sight almost pretty.

Instead, the hundreds of bodies streaking through the air with the intent of stripping the city clean of all life only evoked a sense of dread.

“Oh, pluck me!” Niko shouted out with panicked exhilaration as he realized dozens of the hornets seemed to be aiming more in his direction than either of the main roads. He pulled the cart through to the next alleyway, not slowing down in the slightest. The cart behind him ground against the stone wall of one building, but Niko refused to let it pull him off course. Essence burned through his worked channels, leaving Niko glad that he’d been allowed to take it more or less easy in terms of essence.

The close sound of buzzing warned Niko that more hornets were coming in, but he heard Dachna shout and the now-familiar sensation of his essence fill the air as he flung an object high up into the air. The explosion following told Niko what Dachna was doing, and Niko only hoped that his essence had recuperated enough that he could keep doing that.

Unfortunately, that was not the case, as Dachna then shouted, “I’ve got maybe five more of those in me!”

“Save them for when we’re getting overwhelmed!” Ronald called back, before a white shining barrier appeared over the back of the cart.

Another explosion of fire sounded, and Mithel shouted, “I have plenty more of those!”

Niko would have called her a pyromaniac at any other time, but as he breached through yet another alleyway exit, he reflexively powered his Sharp pattern and struck forward. A hornet came around the corner, flexing a stinger and instead being caught in the midsection by Niko’s beak. He tore through part of it, throwing it aside with an unsteady shake before barely correcting enough for the next alleyway.

“I think they’re trying to catch Niko at the exits!” Skye shouted as she fired rapidly overhead, hitting hornets and sending them crashing away. Niko had no doubt that most of them were surviving those arrows; Skye didn’t have time to aim each shot for perfect placement, and even with that, nothing short of a brain shot might put them down. Niko could very clearly feel that these were all tier three, and while they could flee them, getting bogged down amidst them would almost certainly be a death sentence.

They cleared another alleyway, this time with Skye firing several arrows ahead of them, piercing through a trio of hornets who then fell back from the force of the blows. They still tried to approach, reminding Niko that the instinct for self preservation was sometimes not a default setting for some of the creatures in this world. Mithel and Dachna struck out, while Ronald alternated between batting them away with his empowered glaive and deflecting attacks from above with his shield.

“Street!” Niko screeched out aloud in warning, Skye already firing more arrows.

When eight hornets appeared at the sound of his approach, Niko immediately knew that Skye’s arrows weren’t going to be enough. He grit his beak hard even as three arrow sank deeply into different insects, sending them just far enough away that Niko didn’t count them as an imminent threat.

The three of the remaining five came in high, but just before they made contact a blazing wall of white erupted into existence, blocking their path. Niko hoped that Ronald’s barrier would withstand the impact, but the other two hornets were coming in low to either side. With a wide sweep of his beak, Niko slapped the first to the side, but he only battered the second. It crashed part ways into him and into the cart, sharp legs scraping against Niko’s feathers as he desperately tried to jostle it to fall under the cart, all while continuing to run.

The hornet beat its wings rapidly, and Niko ducked his head back to avoid the sharp mandibles as it attacked. Niko briefly devoted his essence into his lungs, drawing out a piercing shriek right at its face. An instant later, it flinched, and Niko felt its stinger graze his side instead of outright piercing him.

Niko knew that his sound blast must have harmed it, but he couldn’t spare the essence for a second blast. Luckily, he didn’t need to, as Skye let loose with a ‘twang’ of her bow, putting two arrows into the hornets head. Tumbling beneath the cart, the hornet’s demise gave Niko full ability to power forward once more.

“John!” He heard someone cry out behind them, but Niko couldn’t look back. The alleyway across was thin and narrow, and Niko cringed as they made the approach.

‘This is going to be a really tight fit,’ Niko thought to himself, but instead of slowing down, only pushed forwards faster. Slow or fast, crashing now would result in them being overrun, as every second that passed, he could hear more and more buzzing fill the air.

Pulling so fast that the street went by in a blur of motion, Niko held his breath as he aimed them into the alley. Immediately something hitched, hard, and he nearly felt his shoulders dislocate as the cart struggled against the entrance. Defiant, Niko shrieked with essence flooding every part of his body, his claws digging deep into stone as he pulled hard.

For one feather-raising moment, he could hear screams and shouts, the snap of something wet and crunchy behind him, and a reversal of gravity as he pulled the cart free and into the air.

But then the cart hit the ground behind him, the pulling pressure returned to normal, and the noise of the cart continued on, albeit with a lot more rickitiness than before.

“Thank you! Oh, Gods, thank you!” Someone cried out behind him, and Niko spared a glance back, seeing a man sprawled on the bed of the cart, with Ronald and Dachna holding on to them, along with the upper half of a hornet and the now ichor covered people on one side of the cart.

“The pluck happened back there?” Niko bemoaned that he’d missed it, but realizing the cart was shaking a little too much back and forth dimmed his curiosity.

“The man on the floor was almost taken by the hornets, but Ronald and Dachna held them while Mithel blew off the other hornets. One was still holding onto him when you pasted it into the wall.” Skye informed him, before adding mirthfully, “One more street, please don’t almost rip the cart in half again.”

“Duly noted,” Niko snorted at her, but was glad that they had, somehow, not lost someone. The end of the alleyway was coming up quickly, but instead of the sound of buzzing, Niko could hear the constant draw of bowstring and the roar of elemental magic. Niko saw a makeshift alleyway door and barricade ahead, and belted out a long, machine gun retort to announce their approach. He couldn’t very well slow down.

The earthen structure rumbled and shifted, opening like granite jaws. A familiar face greeted Niko, as well as a very familiar voice, “You damn crazy bird! I just finished this wall!”

“Russel you beautiful badger thing!” Niko cawed as he and the cart careened through the entrance, one of the wheels now aggressively trying to dislocate itself from the rest of the cart. Niko tried to halt his forward momentum, but even as he did, the tell-tale crack of the wheel finished the job for him. The cart hit the ground on one side, still sliding, but the already slowing Niko was able to control the crash. Several shouts of surprise and the alarm of the people in the back of his cart filled the closed-in alley, an interlinking net of granite overhead helped substantially with keeping the hornets further at bay.

“Peck, peck, peck! Stop!” Niko cursed, doing his best to grind the cart to a halt.

Just as they slid into a wider open area, Sasha and Thokk both clamped onto the front of the cart, just before they could slam into several other assorted covered wagons. Only when the momentum had fully stopped, did Niko take a long deep breath and let himself fall straight down to his stomach.

“That was awful.” Niko groaned, “Let’s not do that again.”

“Agreed,” Skye said, breathing quickly and looking about as panicked and stressed as he felt. “Is everyone okay back there!?”

“Alive,” Ronald called out, “All accounted for.”

“Aside from my arsecheeks, pretty sure I just lost those.” Dachna added in, to the sound of Mithel sighing.

Niko turned his attention to Sasha and Thokk, “Thanks for that. Things got a little close there.”

“A little?” Sasha asked, while looking him up and down, “Are you well?”

“Uhh…” Niko paused, about to answer that he was fine reflexively when he looked down at himself. Several cuts from the hornets that had tried to grab him or sting him laced his body, along with a tremendous amount of yellow and greenish ichor. His feet hurt fiercely and, upon closer inspection, he realized that there was an entire layer on the bottoms of them that were raw and bleeding.

“You know, all in all, this is not actually the worst I’ve ever been.” Niko answered, “Skye, can you ask Mithel for some medical stuff? My feet aren’t looking great.”

Skye winced, before putting a hand on his side apologetically, ignoring the gore there, “Yeah, I’ll get you sorted.”

Thokk rumbled, and after realizing he was laughing, not growling, Niko heard why, “I like this one. You’re one resilient bird.”

Niko trilled in response, “Well, thanks. I prefer ‘pretty bird’, but that’s good, too.”

Sasha only gave a long, suffering sigh in response, “If you’re well enough for jokes, then I’ve nothing to worry about. Things are going to be getting very rough soon. I believe the Guild is going to make a push for the waterways shortly.”

Niko took one look at the gridwork of interlocking granite and other materials that covered the tops of buildings and between them before nodding. “Yeah, that’s probably for the best. I don’t imagine this is sustainable.”

“It is separated into areas,” Thokk said, “I believe the outer areas are being evacuated into the waterways as they get cleared, but it’s not going fast enough. The farther they go, the more tunnels they must clear and keep secure. They are powerful, but not omnipotent.”

“Right.” Niko said, uncertain what else he could say to that as Mithel hurried over with her pack, “Then, I guess we’re either going to be asked to help clear the waterways or defend up here. I’m not sure which is the harder deal, at this point.”

The three stayed silent at that, only to hear Russel in the distance cursing loudly as another crashing sound happened deeper into the alleyways they’d just left behind.

“I’m thinking we get out of this alleyway, thoughts?” Mithel called out next to the wreck of the cart that they’d rode in on.

Niko nodded mutely as Skye took off the bridle that had kept him connected. It’d be a damn shame if they were to get run down by a cart after all of that, after all.