******

Surprisingly, the actual ritual itself was quite simple. All Lord Himmel had to do was steer the horse along the borders—which were marked by magical lines drawn into the ground—and chant an incantation. The lines glowed where the mare had treaded, and I felt like the earth would open up and swallow us any moment. That didn't happen.

No monsters encountered so far, which was surprising, as far as Lord Himmel's warnings went. I hoped that it was because luck was on our side.

I couldn't imagine any other possibility.

"Something's not right," Lord Himmel remarked from in front of me. He yanked on the horse's reins. The rest of the travelling party halted too. I broke my focus on the wastelands. His voice was hoarse, and his back was rigid. I observed the sorcerers. They all looked as haggard as I felt.

Yet at Lord Himmel's words their postures grew more alert, the spark in their eyes sharper. They flicked their attention between their lord, me, and the wastelands beyond.

Storm clouds were beginning to roll in, tucking the afternoon sun away from sight. The already desolate landscape looked more hostile than ever, its forests dark and ominous and its meadows barren and deprived of any signs of life. Not even the haunting caws of scavenging crows could be heard. The thick scent of death and corruption cloyed the air; I half-expected a pack of lycanthropes to pour out from the trees.

Lord Himmel growled in exasperation at the wind, which brought the undeniable promise of rain. "We'll have to move faster now," he said. "How far is the next village?"

"Less than two leagues away, Lord Himmel," said Kaiser. He kept on rubbing his wrist. It had several strings of ribbons tied around it. I would have laughed at the silky, feminine material if not for the fact that I'd seen him draw water out of thin air with it. But the ribbons definitely didn't fit with the rest of his figure: stocky, muscular, soldierly.

"Excellent. Kaiser, make sure your sorcerers flank all my sides."

Kaiser nodded in acknowledgment of his words. He gave a few quick commands to the other sorcerers, who all responded by urging their steeds to hasten their speed. Their light-footed clops engulfed me, giving an illusion of safety for the time being.

Lord Himmel craned his neck around to look at me. "Klaudia, I want you to keep me awake by all means necessary. I will have to perform the ritual faster now, so it will drain a lot more of my energy. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Markus," I said.

He flashed me an appreciative smile; I returned the gesture. Then he returned his attention towards the front, picking up the chant from where he had left it off. It still rang as undiscernible words in my ears, and the syllables rolled off Lord Himmel's tongue too quickly for me to catch anything. The trail continued to blaze behind us. I closed my eyes, concentrating. Elise had taught me how to sense magic through my Core; now I sensed his immense power literally pouring out of him and onto the ground, taking root within the earth and giving it some semblance of life.

We went at this pace for more than an hour. Lord Himmel wasn't exaggerating when he said that he would lose energy. He was barely keeping his seat, and I had to constantly pinch him or offer a waterskin to his dry, cracked lips. My arms were wrapped tightly around his waist so that I could control the reins if necessary. He emanated more heat than usual, and gradually, his temperature climbed so high I felt like I was being scalded. When I asked if he needed a break, he only shook his head and kept chanting. In the end, I resorted to humming an odd little melody, one that cooled his skin and returned energy to him.

"Olsterhein up ahead, milord!" Kaiser bellowed, gesturing vaguely in the air. If I could, I would have crumpled onto the ground in relief. I finally would have a chance to rest my extremely sore rump, and we could finally get away from the wastelands.

Screams suddenly pierced the air, from the direction of the village.

We all were shocked into dumbness for a few moments, unable to react. "Hurry!" yelled Lord Himmel. The sorcerers snapped out of their stupor, pushing the horses into a full gallop. The steed I was mounted on automatically followed its comrades. I had barely managed to endure a gentle trot; now I bit my tongue, muffling a cry from the constant jars up my hip.

Apparently Kaiser had excellent eyes, for it was a few more seconds before I spotted Olsterhein and its thatched rooftops cresting over the hill. As we neared it, I could spot something like a great black hurricane swarming the village. I sang a low tune, allowing my vision to pierce through the veil. Then a higher one that enhanced my eyesight.

I almost wished that I didn't cast both spells.

The village was breathing chaos. All around, people were shrieking, running wherever their feet would carry them, away from something. Bodies littered the ground, tripping the survivors up and looking like they belonged to another world: even from far, I could see that their eyes were open and black. Very black. Like a deep vortex of darkness that threatened to swallow you whole. Their skin was also unusually pale, even for corpses.

Then I spotted the monsters the villagers were attempting to run away from. They were vaguely humanoid, and they moved like shadows. They seemed to be composed of darkness, distilling fear itself and wielding it as a weapon. The shadows hunted the people relentlessly. I saw a child who couldn't be older than eight, cowering behind sacks of grain. The shadows lunged for him, and he fell down dead, all signs of life bleached from his body. I fought the urge to break down into sobbing heaps. No matter what torture Elise had made me go through, it couldn't have prepared me for the sight of this.

"Wights!" shouted Lord Himmel, pulling his horse to a sudden stop. The sorcerers reacted accordingly, not proceeding any further.

But they didn't move to help. We just watched the storm swallow Olsterhein up, doing nothing. The people's screeches persisted to claw at me; I watched in mute horror. Then I hissed into Lord Himmel's ear, "What are you doing? There are people dying down there! Do you not see them?"

"Did Elise not teach you anything?" he hissed back. "There are wights down there. We cannot save the village. All we can do is to wait till the storm has passed, and set fire to Olsterhein."

I knew what wights were. That didn't make it any easier for me to stand by and take no action. There were children in there, and one or two handicaps. Like me. Never had I felt so helpless, even during the times I had endured the abuse from the people of Hamelin. I was a Magus—one of the most powerful sorcerers in the land, yet I couldn't even save a village? What was the point of me having magic?

Someone miraculously stumbled through the veil, heading towards us. With my magically enhanced vision, I picked out that it was a man, his clothes tattered and face streaked with tears. He looked like he had soiled himself several times during the whole ordeal. "Help!" he cried when he finally saw us. His eyes were shining with hope. "Please, help me!"

Lord Himmel held a hand out towards him. I thought that he was going to wave some sorcerers to help the man. Instead, he starting humming under his breath.

The man exploded into fire.

The flames gobbled him up mercilessly, no matter how he screamed and rolled on the ground. Lord Himmel hummed some more. I realised that he was feeding the fire, stoking it up until it was a beacon in the midst of the darkness. The man's screams eventually died off, and he gave one final twitch and lay still. The fire continued to burn. Sparks flew everywhere.

Bile was rising up my throat, threatening to spill all over Lord Himmel's riding cloak. This—this was wrong! A man had stumbled out of hell itself, begging us for help, and Lord Himmel just—killed him. Burned him alive, to boot. The man's charred face stared at me, mouth agape with agony. I stared back.

I couldn't tolerate this. I leaped off the horse.

The impact made my bad leg feel as though it were being crushed, but I gritted my teeth and pressed on. I made for the village. There had to be something—anything that I could do.

"Klaudia! Come back!" I ignored Lord Himmel's command, limping towards what remained of Olsterhein. The wights were winning the fight, no doubt about it. However, that didn't mean that I couldn't try to save those who survived.

"Klaudia!"

Every fibre of my muscles screamed for me to turn back, to not throw myself into the maelstrom. The idea was suffocating my mind, but the thought was alien enough that I could push it away. Strangely enough, the sorcerers didn't bother to try and stop me. Perhaps they were glad to be rid of a foolish mistress.

And so be it.

"Klaudia!"

The notion of turning back entered my mind again, but it didn't echo as loudly as before. I clawed my way forwards, taking out my Medium and keeping a tight grip on it. I was scrabbling on my knees, and I didn't care. I would do anything it take to get—

Olsterhein burst into flames.

The wights burned. Unfortunately, so did the last of the villagers and all their worldly possessions. "No," I whispered. I kneeled before the village; my limbs were trembling. "No. No no no!" I pounded my fists against the earth, as if it could return the lives of the fallen. Angry tears welled up in my eyes for the people I had never known, and would never know. A vicious howl whipped my hair around, and fat raindrops started to pelt my skin. The storm we were trying to escape had caught up to us. But even through my blurred vision—from both the rain and my tears—I could see that the flames weren't relenting.

What kind of power was this, to set fire upon anything that was remotely corrupted?

My grieving was cut short when someone yanked me by the elbow. I kicked and screamed, only for the person to pull me into an embrace. I couldn't move; his grip was frighteningly strong. Lord Himmel. He stroked my hair, not unlike the way he had stroked his mare's coat earlier. It was soothing. I relented, melting into him and sobbing into his clothes. We let ourselves be soaked to the bones.

"There was nothing we could have done, Klaudia," he said gently. "The wights would have already taken the minds of the villagers before you could get there, if they hadn't done it already. And they would have taken you too."

I knew it. I already knew it when I had swung down from the saddle. Yet it didn't make their deaths any easier. "I could have done something. I'm a Magus. I could have done something."

"You can't save everyone, Klaudia." Lord Himmel—Markus pulled away from me, taking my face in his hands and wiping the tears and rain away with his thumbs. "You have to understand that."

I took in a deep, shuddering breath, trying to calm myself down. "I do understand. It doesn't mean that I have to accept it though."

He smiled sadly. "You still have innocence in you," he said. "Don't ever lose it."

I didn't answer. He stood up, reaching a hand out to help me up. I took it. Despite the weather, his skin was still burning. Like the fire that was still condemning Olsterhein to its fate. Burning with a mere flick of Markus' fingers. So this was his true power—fire was literally on the tip of his tongue. I reminded myself to never cross him.

And I wondered where he had gained the energy to perform such a powerful spell.

Just as we remounted the horse, Markus shouted, "Everyone, create a shield over us. The nearest village is only an hour's ride away. We can make it there in time and rest for the night!"

Kaiser took it as his cue to take over. Evidently they had done this several times before—the sorcerers immediately worked with each other, creating an invisible barrier over us against the storm. Their magic interweaved with each other's, lending a power none of them could achieve individually. However, I sensed that even with this combined magic, the barrier wouldn't last very long.

And so we hurried along, with Markus chanting the ritual's incantations. When I looked back, I noticed that the glowing lines didn't circle around Olsterhein, and that it was still flaming amidst the storm.

******