I follow behind Kierra as she leaps off the goliath, scanning the snow. Unfortunately, there are no tracks for her to follow. After all, the reapers don’t run. They skate. Incredibly fast. There is no sight of them and no leads to follow.

Kierra is ready to run in a random direction in hopes of getting lucky but I stop her, turning her toward camp. Rather than chase fleeing enemies, I would rather make sure our army is okay. More specifically, that Alana is okay.

To convince the elf that is still hungry for blood, I remind her of all the enemies that slipped past us as we rushed the goliath. It’s the only direction we can be sure some of the reapers went. That’s enough to convince her and we race back to the camp. It’s a much shorter journey as the goliath didn’t stop its forward march until it tipped over.

Given the number of enemies, I expected the camp to be a battlefield. There’s certainly enough of a commotion amongst the tents. However, the raised voices are barking commands rather than screaming war cries. The spikes surrounding the camp are laden with reaper corpses but I can’t see any signs of combat. The usual two sentries and patrols of three have been replaced by groups of five or more, heads swiveling as they scan the darkness for threats.

More than one group spots us as we run toward the camp. The more anxious of the lot, usually the hunters, point their weapons at us or raise a hand in preparation of throwing a spell. Thankfully, for everyone’s sakes, my wife and I are quite recognizable. They relax, turning their attention back to the surroundings as we move deeper into the camp.

The fire has been rekindled and stoked high. All around it are the injured. The worst are lied out on blankets, their armors stripped and bloody bandages covering significant areas of their bodies. Those who didn’t make it have been wrapped up in sheets and placed to the side. Only three, which I suppose is a miracle given how many enemies there were.

The not-so-injured are standing by the patients with weapons drawn, ready to defend them while waiting for knights with pale yellow cloaks to tend to the wounded. I’m shocked to see Alana among their number, sans armor, standing between two rows of patients with her sword in hand, one leg heavily bandaged. I hurry over to her side, scowling as I look for an imp I’m going to boil for not doing her job.

“Lou! And…” She grimaces as she spots Kierra behind me, hobbling forward. I speed up, catching her by the shoulders. Her eyes flick over me, looking for wounds. Seeing I’m fine, she scowls rather than smiles. “Please tell me you killed that enormous shit.”

“Why are you injured?” I counter.

“Lou.”

“Yes, yes, the thing is dead. Kii!”

Alana recoils as the bloody elf steps forward. “I feel like if she touches me, I’ll die.”

“How cruel, little sun.” The seductive voice does not match my wife’s current horrific image. “I would never. And if the creature did have a bloodborn sickness, my magic would eradicate it.”

“I’m not confident.”

“Just let her heal you.”

“I’d rather she put her magic where it’s needed.” With her free hand, she gestures at the dozens of men and women laid out on the ground. “A lot of people didn’t have time to put on their armor and those stupid acolytes weren’t prepared. If I do become duchess, the first thing I’m doing is banning any of these idiots from ever returning.”

“What does that have to do with you standing here injured?” And where is Bell?

“Bell stabilized me before helping the others. Before you get angry about her going against your orders and yes, I’m aware she’s my bodyguard, I threatened to run after the reapers, putting myself in more danger, if she didn’t do what I said.”

“And why would you do that?” I hiss through grit teeth.

“Because these people are my responsibility.”

“I left Geo here to handle it.”

“She used a solid chunk of her mana diverting the literal army of reapers that descended on us. Once the fighting was done, I put her in reserve in case something is attracted by all these bodies.” She sighs. “Please, don’t nitpick over this. I’m fine. We’re all fine. And thanks to the two of you, we’re going to stay that way.”

She finally smiles. “Reapers are cowards at heart. Repelling their ambush scares them. Bringing down the goliath? That’ll terrify them. Even better, without the benefits it provides, that huge group will fracture.

“They’ll be frantic and desperate. Most of our work will be done for us once they start fighting over the meat from the titan. Thank the saints I don’t have to deal with another night of this. I need…” She trails off before calling out to a knight from the Moons. I shake my head as she hobbles over to him.

Kierra lets out a sigh. “I suppose that is all for tonight.”

“Alana would appreciate your help with the injured.”

“My love. I just fought through an army, no matter that they were pests, climbed through the trunk of a massive beast, and crawled through its insides until it died.” Ugh. Is that why she’s covered in that mess? “I am strong but that was a lot of tough muscle to rip through. Also far too much blood to drown in. It consumed enough mana that I am…feeling it.” She rolls her shoulders. “I would rather not put myself in a vulnerable position healing people who are not dying. They will be fine.”

When she puts it like that…I would rather she didn’t as well. I hope these people can sleep it off.

Alana finishes her conversation with the knight and he jogs off. She makes her way back to us, smiling broadly. “Can’t believe we brought down a goliath. You know even the Duelists struggle to bring them down? It’s impossible to conserve strength when hundreds or thousands of enemies are bearing down on you. Especially when we’re so outnumbered. If you weren’t here, this would have been a slog over days. Maybe weeks. There definitely would have been more casualties.”

“What happens now?”

“Now? We’ll spend a day or two here. We have to gather our kills, bury the dead, and carve into that goliath. There’re far too many resources to leave them. Hopefully, we can salvage everything before another titan arrives. After that? We keep going. I don’t think we’re anywhere close to our limits for this campaign.”

Really? The first enemy we ran into was almost too much. I’m ready to go home right now, forget the rest. “Be honest, Alana. What level of threat was what we just faced?”

“This close to the mountains? Practically impossible odds.”

“In all the north.”

She grimaces. “A little lower than average. But that’s only because the worse the north has to offer includes frost wyverns whose cold breath can freeze a knight solid, armor or not. Compared to a cloud of wyverns, a single goliath is nothing.”

“You really think we haven’t reached our limits for the campaign?” What are these limits she’s imagining? Or maybe the better question is, how many people need to die before she accepts those limits?

“I don’t. But…” She places a hand on my shoulder. “Are you alright?”

“Fine. You know nothing here can hurt me.”

The hand pulls incessantly until I’m close enough for Alana to pull me into a one-armed hug. “Sorry,” she whispers. “Was it scary?”

“I wasn’t scared!” I hiss. Really, I’m the daughter of a god. How could a few dogs and…whatever the goliath is scare me? “This place is just an incredible pain in the backside and I’ll be happy to put it behind me.”

“I’ll make you a deal. One more week of marching then we turn around. No matter what we find.”

One week. That’s not even a month. The campaign lasts for three, the armies turning around during the first week of spring at the earliest. “Isn’t that too early?”

“One week of marching. That doesn’t include time we get bogged down fighting and looting.”

“Ah.” Closer to what I expect.

“One week then we turn back. A few more days at home to process our kills and then we can leave Victory if you want.”

“That sounds amazing right now,” I grumble.

Her hand moves upward, tracing the back of my neck. “I want you to know I appreciate everything you’re doing. It’s never easy doing the dangerous jobs. I have to rely on you now but one day, I’ll be the one slaying goliaths while you wait at camp.”

“I think I like things as they are.” I shiver at the thought of her being frozen in place while a reaper tries to scoop out her eyes. “What I want right now is our bedrolls.” This body has incredible stamina but I’m mentally exhausted. Especially knowing there’s going to be more work tomorrow.