Arthur booted Serra’s corpse off the end of his sword and lost his balance, staggering back and falling to one knee. The camp had been destroyed in their struggle, and he ached all throughout his body. His vision blurred, and the world tilted crazily. Arthur threw out an arm to catch himself as he fell sideways, before giving it up and letting himself fall onto his back on the ground. Just as he was starting to fade, he heard movement nearby, and he tried to surge back to his feet. His fingers gave the barest twitch around the hilt of his sword, but otherwise, his body rejected the order. He forced his eyes open and tilted his head as best he could manage, half expecting to see one of those white, qek monstrosities looming over him. Instead, Kiran hobbled toward him, using his spear as a crutch.

Relief swept through Arthur as the Monster Hunter surveyed the scene, his eyes ending their sweep on Serra’s dead body.

“I guess you’re a Mage Slayer now, too.” Kiran croaked, and then coughed. He came to sit at Arthur’s side, at the heart of the carnage. Arthur wanted to chuckle, but all that came out was an amused sort of grunt.

“How do you suppose they’re doing against the demons?” Kiran asked. His face turned in the direction of the conflict they couldn’t see taking place beyond the wall. Arthur grunted again, something non-committal but reassuring, he hoped.

“Yeah,” Kiran agreed.

Arthur could feel his body aching less by degrees. A pain he was starting to recognize as some sort of soul strain caused by channeling magic through his weapon, and he was wondering if that was his soul repairing itself, or if it was just healing the scars he was inflicting on it. He set the thought aside for now and waited. With almost miraculous speed, he felt the pain fade, though his regular body pains remained as bruises and scrapes, but at length he could sit up and roll his shoulders.

“We should probably get back.” He told Kiran, and the Monster Hunter heaved a sigh.

“It’ll be over by the time we get there.”

“It will not be over until we are dead, friend.” Arthur said as he forced himself onto his feet and sheathing his sword.

“I am referring to the inevitably of that fate, your highness.” but Kiran stood, still leaning on his spear, and together they hobbled towards Dangole’s main road.

“I need to go.” Liam said as the pair of them watched the remaining demon, battling the Mage who’d come to save them.

“What!?” Erin asked, turning in his direction. “Go where!?”

“With Arthur. I promised I would, and it needs to be now.” Erin understood at once. Academy City had found them. Once this Commander person had finished the demon… if he finished the demon, they’d be taking Erin and Liam back to the city, unless Liam made himself scarce before that happened. She wanted to object; Erin didn’t think she could bear to lose all her friends on the same day. She stepped forward and seized the big man in a hug, and Liam hugged her back only a little awkwardly. Erin let him go and stepped away.

“I’ll come find you when I can,” she told him. “And we’ll go get Sigrid.” Liam gave her half a smile.

“If she don’t come find us first. She might get away from them on her own.” Erin just nodded and said nothing. Liam glanced at the ongoing fight, then back to her, and nodded.

“See you, Erin.” and he turned and stomped his way toward the village gate. A lump formed in Erin’s throat as she watched him go, and she turned away, trying to clamp down on the sense of loss that threatened to overwhelm her. A shadow flitted across her from above, and she looked up just in time to see Hax beating his wings as he came to settle on her shoulder. His scales had taken on a platinum sheen and with his wings mantled, he looked glorious. She could feel his concern and support through the connection they shared. His long tail looped down her arm in an unobtrusive way, and she found she was comforted.

It wasn’t long before the demon fell dead, though the Mage fighting it looked the worse for wear. He was bleeding heavily from a wound in his side, where an attack head pierced his armor, and heat radiated off him so that Erin could see it shimmering in the air. Still, he held himself upright as he looted the demon’s corpse.

Erin turned her head away as the blinding light of monster disintegration took effect, and when it had faded enough for her to face forward again, he was standing right in front of her. He was tall and powerful, probably in his mid-forties, with dark hair and an impeccably trimmed mustache. Magic runes spun over his skin at blinding speed, and his eyes glowed with a yellow inner light.

[That must be Gold State.] Lisa chimed in. [Something to look forward to if you live that long.] Even as she was speaking, the light faded from his eyes, leaving them a shade of icy blue.

“Where’d you friend go?” He asked her, his voice pure gravel.

“Which one?” She shot back, her tone verging on bitter. “The kidnapped one?”

“The man.”

“To join the evacuation.” Erin lied smoothly, not looking away.

“And the woman with dark hair?”

“Kidnapped, like I said, by that Mage who helped you kill the demons.” He glanced over his shoulder at the remaining corpse.

“Who was that?” he asked, still looking away, the words soft enough that Erin wasn’t sure he was asking her or just wondering to himself, but she answered anyway.

“If I had to guess, he’s the leader of this group of mages who are running around telling people in the villages they can turn them into mages.” The man fixed his gaze on her, frowning thoughtfully, and then he nodded.

“I’m Commander Burke.” He informed her. “proper introductions will have to wait until later.” His eyes lingering on the baby dragon perched on her shoulder. “I expect we’ll have a lot to talk about.”

“We should probably stop the evacuation.” Erin told him, glancing over her shoulder again to look at the crowd of villagers moving up the road under the direction of the Monster Hunters, and what looked like more mages.

“Ah, yes.” The commander said, apparently in agreement as he marched past her toward the crowd, many of whom were now stopping to watch his approach. Not sure what to do, Erin fell in step behind him. His gait was uneven, and she could tell he was favoring his injured side, but his back was ramrod straight, and she sensed he would not be receptive to advice regarding resting.

[Rest? He doesn’t look like he’s ever taken it easy in his life.]

Lucky for us.

Her thoughts dwelled on how ineffectual they’d been in facing the demon. Not herself exactly, or even Liam. They weren’t warriors; they were a farmer and a college kid who grew up in the suburbs respectively, both ways in over their heads.

Sigrid though, she’d always seemed to have a handle on things. Sigrid who had saved her time and time again. Sigrid who had not rested after the battle but came to sit at Erin’s bedside. Foolishly, Erin had believed the woman could handle anything. That her indomitable spirit, training and relentlessly practical outlook would see them through everything. It hadn’t. Sigrid had been as helpless as the rest of them in the face of the powers they’d encountered today, and now she was gone. Snatched away to who knew what fate.

The first bubbles of rage began to boil up from somewhere deep inside of Erin at the injustice of it. It wasn’t fair. This life, this new world, it had taken everything from her to come here. Her friends, her family, her future. Gone, so she could shiver in the snow and find out what it meant to kill. To lay awake at night and hear the sounds of living things scream as they burned to death in her memory. One glowing coal of anger heaped upon another inside until her fists clenched.

“We have to get her back.” She said aloud, and Burke glanced back at her, his eyebrows raised.

“Your friend?” Erin stopped moving, her face turned down.

“We can’t leave her with them.”

“He teleported away.” Burke said, turning to face her. “There’s no way for us to track him.”

Erin felt fury wash through her and her jaw clenched against speaking the first words that came to mind. A moment passed where she set aside her anger and wrestled with the problem in her mind.

“He had some people here in the village.” She told him, nodding towards Dangole. “They were camped out near the village square. Maybe there’s someone you can find, or something. Some sort of clue where they came from.”

The Commander studied her with those cold blue eyes for a moment before nodding.

“Alright, show me where.” He gestured, and Erin, taken aback by his readiness to assist, was frozen for the moment it took to collect herself and start moving toward the village gate.

[Perhaps you shouldn’t be directing him to exactly where he’s going to find Liam, if you mean to let him slip away with Arthur.]

We can’t afford delays. Every second might count.

[I certainly hope Liam is thinking along the same lines as you are. If Burke spots him, I can’t imagine he’ll agree to letting him travel to Strath in the prince’s company.]

Arthur limped up the street with Kiran at his side and had only just come in sight of the gate when Liam found them.

“We need to go,” the towering blonde mage told him, and Arthur glanced at Kiran before looking back.

“What’s happened?”

“Mages from Academy City are here. Their leader is fighting the Demon at the moment, but he near finishing the thing off when I left Erin.

“One man?” Arthur asked, his eyebrows jumping up into his hairline.

“If you can call him that.” Liam said, shaking his head. “We need to round up your people and go, before he-” From where they stood, they all felt the demon die. The waves of magic soaking the air, dying out like a wind, suddenly stilled. Only the Mages magical pressure remained, and it was already lessening, like an out-of-control horse slowly being reigned in.

Arthur turned to Kiran and held out his hand.

“Thank you for helping me. I’d be dead otherwise.” The Monster hunter glanced down at his extended arm, and then reached out and they clasped forearms together.

“You’re welcome.” he said, and they shared a nod.

“Well, Erin would be touched to see you getting along,” Liam chimed in, “but we don’t have time for it. Let’s go.” Kiran and Arthur released their grip simultaneously and Arthur stepped away.

“She’s going to Academy City?” He asked, and Liam nodded. “Look out for her.” He told Kiran.

“Is that a royal command?” He asked with something approaching a grin.

“Yes.” Arthur said as he turned away. His muscles had loosened up with the walk, and he was feeling more like himself with every passing moment.

With Liam by his side, they turned off the main road and headed down the side street. It didn’t take long to find some members of his retinue. Drawn to the site of his battle with Serra by the flashes of light that his sword produced.

“I hope you have a plan for getting south.” Liam said as they made their escape through a breach in the wall, yet to be repaired from the battle.

“An airship coming to pick us up.” Arthur said, “Do we have the beacon?”

“Yes, your highness. Would you like me to trigger it?”

“Not yet. We need to get away from here first. He wasn’t particularly worried about the aura the magical artifact gave off. It would be beneath the senses of all but the most attentive mages, but the arrival of an airship with a core would not be.

“Airship?” Liam asked, and Arthur glanced at him.

“It’s amazing the things you don’t know. Not just you, but Erin and Sigrid, too. I never had much opportunity to speak with newborns before. I expect most of us non-magical folk do, thanks to Academy City.” Liam shrugged at this.

“I don’t know about any of that, but I would like to know about airships.”

“Well, my contact is something of an enthusiast on the subject. I’m sure she’d be happy to tell you all about it. I know little more than the name implies. A ship that travels through the air.”

“So we’ll be going back to your Kingdom? Strath?” Liam asked.

“That is the plan.” Arthur told him with a nod. The group had slipped from the village, and had just arrived at the treeline. “We’ll move away from the village and the road for a few hours.”

Arthur saw Liam throw a glance over his shoulder, and he didn’t miss the sad expression that crossed his usually cheerful features, but the tall Mage said nothing as he turned back and joined the group as they headed out.