I had seds before Captain Wen got within striking range. Or at least, I thought so. That sword was deceptively long. I gnced around trying to t in my mind the battlefield, so I wouldn’t have to take my eyes off her during the fight.

  Dark sword in the ash — that had to be Edge. Rachel’s arm. The piles of guards and skeletons — hazards. The edge of the roof, closer to the left than right.

  Shit, she was close. That had to be good enough.

  She swung at me, big overhand. I raised and angled my shield.

  g!

  The energy of the sword, even a gng blow, was enough to send me back — just a half step — but enough that I was off banbsp; I threw myself forward, another swing, this time I was ready for it, sliding my shield down the long bde. If I could feel it, then I k wasn’t headed for my head. I was just close enough to get a gng blow on her pauldron.

  I hit!

  Sparks flew toward her ued fabsp; She flinched. Yes! Even the Knight of the Word could flinbsp; I used that moment to spin past her. Stepped over a body, and kicked the Edge of Nothing into the air and over the lip of the roof.

  I spun around, and was forced to parry her sword point. Then it swung back around and I parried it again. I paired again, then raised my shield — then parried, then the shield. Each blow taking everything I had to keep the point e from doing serious damage to me.

  She was fast, and had perfederstanding of her sword’s reabsp; I was always just too far away to ter-attack.

  My eyes flicked to Rachel. She had her hand oump where her arm had been. She wasn’t unscious. Damn she was tough. But I couldn’t get to her.

  The sound of fighti that Bernie was down at street level still. If she could get back up here, maybe we’d have the sed we o get Rachel’s arm ba.

  We o run. But we couldn’t.

  I wasn’t ready for her kibsp; She kicked my shield, throwing it wide. Her sword edge went right for my arm, catg the bottom of the shield, and throwing it off the side of the roof.

  “Fuck.”

  “You’re damn right,” she said.

  Then that sword came swinging around, and I had nothing for it. I threw my body babsp; The swordpoint scraped ay breastpte, gouging it. It didn’t tear through, but it creased it. I was also tossed back, my feet wheeling to get under me.

  I didn’t fall. But that was o. I don’t think I could take another.

  “I ’t reach you!” I yelled to Rachel.

  Arike from Wen. I let it sail past. My riposte scraped past her gau, sending multicolored sparks up. She shuffled back half a step, a her sword swing back at me.

  “If you get your arm ba its socket I heal you!” I said, using both hands to parry her attack.

  I saw Rachel grab her detached arm, and pce it ba her shoulder. Was she holding it correctly? It looked good enough to me.

  “Rachel, I need you!”

  Redeemer had been increasing my heals for every secutive healing spell I cast. I’d cast a lot of healing spells tonight. I could hear the muscles knit back together from here.

  “Rachel, I believe in you!”

  She stood. I rushed forward. Captaiurned and sliced down on Rachel — the same cut she’d used before. Rachel caught the greatsword with her good hand. I sainkie fly through the air.

  Now was my bsp; I stabbed toward the back of Wen’s head.

  Her hand shot back, and she caught my bde.

  Rachel had Captain Wen’s sword, and Wen had my sword. I yanked on my on but it wouldn’t budge. One handed, Wen yanked on hers. We were at an impasse.

  I could see that Captain Wen hadn’t pletely stopped my blow. She was missing an ear.

  The sound of feet, runni, came from my right.

  Bere leapt over the lip of the roof, the Edge of Nothing cocked back for a deadly blow.

  Captain We go of the swords she was holding and, juked to the side as Bernie’s bde came down, then punched her out of the air, sending her sprawling across the ash and smming into the edge of the roof.

  Bere writhed in pain. Rachel tossed her enemy’s sword end over end, and caught it by the handle. I sliced for Wen’s nebsp; She threw her head back, just missing it, then stepped baother step to dodge Rachel’s attack as well.

  We went on the aggressive, and Captain Wen was forced to bat the blows aside with her vambraces, retreating further and further as she did. Eventually she was at the edge of the roof.

  I stepped back, Rachel followed my lead. Captain Wen wasn’t out of the fight yet, but we were both exhausted. I was sug air, and Rachel was wing from the immense pain.

  “Do you yield?” I asked.

  Bere stopped right o me, and leveled Edge at her.

  “Should we give her a ce?” she asked.

  It was a good question. The ces of her having information worth knowing was high, but her actually folding to interrogation was low. She’d also killed a lot of good people.

  I should probably just kill her.

  Captain Wen’s eyebrows raised in surprise exactly as I decided she should die. Apparently, I had a bad poker face.

  She pulled a scroll from her belt, a over the side of the roof. I rushed to stop her.

  I looked over the side, and was just able to see her lower body as she passed through a dark portal. The portal closed, and with it went any ce we had of killing her.

  I heard a body strike the ground behind me. I turo see Bere cradling Rachel.

  “Water!” Bernie yelled.

  I searched the corpses on the roof. As I did, several of the guards, about three, groaned and moved enough to let me know they were living. Eventually one pointed me to a waterskin on his belt.

  I gave him a sip, then swiftly moved to Rachel. She was still scious, barely, and she took the water okay enough, but I khat she was going to o be carried.

  I tore my other pant leg into strips while I studied her shoulder. It was a mess. The skin hadn’t fully healed around it, and muscle and tendon were open to the air. It bled freely, but not enough that I was worried she'd exsanguinate before we could find a healer. She’d done a good enough job getting it into pce, but it was far from perfebsp; She’d probably need surgery to get it fully funal.

  “Found it!” Bere said, holding up her pinky.

  I cursed.

  “I don’t have any slots left.”

  Rachel’s eyes opened just enough to look at the pinky.

  “I have,” she started to say. “I have one more left in my amulet.”

  “A sed bsp; Why didn’t you use it?”

  “I fot?”

  “Okay, wait till I get it tied on.”

  Bere produced some needle and thread, and while I know it wasn’t as good as a surgeon would have done, she got the pinky ba while I ed the shoulder with Rachel’s dwarven hoobsp; I ed the shoulder and got it in a makeshift sling.

  “Alright,” I said, “use the amulet.”

  Rachel’s back arched in pain. The muscles knit together. She screamed. The up, her eyes sharper, more alive. We had her back.

  “Thank you for saving me,” she said.

  “I had no other choice,” I said.

  Her ‘good hand,’ the o in a sling, patted my shoulder. Bere kissed her on the bloody cheek. I’m sure we all looked like hell, but Rachel was worse than I’d ever seen a living person be.

  We had to get out of here.

  The three living guards worked on solidating supplies and lining up the bodies in the ash. I helped the best I could. We got some more arrows, and a crossbow for Rachel. She said she could work it one handed but I was skeptical. We agreed that she should only use it as a st resort.

  Rachel gave me her belt. As soon as I put it on over my mail, I could feel my legs, my chest, my shoulders all swell with explosive energy. I spped the edge of the roof a debris flying. My hand hurt. It didn’t make me invincible, just strong.

  I sheathed my sword, Redeemer, and picked up Captain Wen’s bde.

  It was an absolutely enormous cymore, well over six feet long. The pommel shone silver, but the crossguard was bck iron, along with thin bck wire around the grip. The bde was a beautiful pale silver, with juttiions, parrying hooks, right above the guard. For such a massive bde, darn near eight pounds probably, it looked rather slender and elegant.

  I tried it out, and it was well banced. I wasn’t sure I liked it, but it robably more useful for me now that I was out of spells.

  A loud artled me.

  e balls of fire plumed into the sky all at once, a dozen of them, each explosion half the size of a city blobsp; The fire was full of some kind of jelly that stuck to the buildings and burned bright.

  Sabotage.

  Man, fuck this city.

  I pulled out my ste, and messaged the Saviors of the Wroup chat.

  Breznik: Caleb. We have to leave. City is overrun. Rachel is down. Alive, but down. I’m out of spells. Mark o teleport us out.

  Caleb didn’t reply right away. I helped one of the guards make a stretcher for Rachel using a cloak and some spears. My ste buzzed.

  Caleb: I will not leave my people. You are right. The city has fallen, but they need me to escort them to safety.

  Ailmer: Meet me at the clocktower. I leave at the end of the hour. With or without you.

  I could see the clocktower from here. It was only seven ht blocks.

  We loaded Rachel oretcher, and the two guards carefully carried her doweps. We followed them, and soon we were all ireets.

  I motioo the guards that we should take a break. We hid uhe eaves from the ash, and drank the rest of our water. A couple of us took turns taking a leak against the side of the building.

  Rude, I know, but I didn’t want any of us headed into an alley on our own. I searched for my shield but wasn’t able to find it. After some time, we were ready again.

  Bere looked at me expetly. She made her hand into a ‘duck’ and mimed it speaking. Right. I should say something to these guys.

  “We’re not out of the woods yet, ya’ll.”

  They looked to each other, as if surprised that I was addressing them.

  “What’re your names?” I asked.

  “Duarte,” said a man with pierg blue eyes and a strange, gaunt face.

  “Martim,” said the sean. He was heavyset, but with impressive arms.

  “Ivone,” said the st one, a woman surprisingly. She was stocky, but taller than Bernie, with brostered to her fader her helmet.

  “I am gd to meet you,” I said. “Without you, I would have to leave my greatest friend behind. I know you must have family here.”

  They all nodded. Martim and Ivoeared up. Duarte just stared ahead.

  “If you o stay here, I would uand. But I ask that you help me get my friend to safety first.”

  They all nodded, ea turn.

  “Good,” I said. “They would like us to die. But tonight. We will disappoint them. Everyone ready? Good. Let’s go.”

  We swiftly moved dowreet. Martin and Ivoo me, and Bernie and Duarte behind. I gripped my sword, and hoped that it would be enough.

  We met anbsp; There was also no help either.

  Before I could think much of it, before I could wonder where everyone had gone, I heard a voibsp; I raised my hand.

  We stopped. It had e from an alley.

  “Yeah, I don’t know where the dude went,” came a woman’s voibsp; “It’s probably fine. He didn’t know where they were. And I don’t think these ‘so called heroes’ are actually iy.”

  Bere nocked an arrow. I popped in my monocle, and raised my new sword.

  ing from the alley was a woman in half pte, walking beside a short man in a dark cloak. The woman had dark brown roots, and blonde hair in twin tails oher side of her head. The man seemed pale under his cloak.

  The woman read as Helena — level 14, with 146 hp. The man read as Hank — level 11, with 79 hp.

  Helena was obviously the bigger threat, but if Bere was anything to go by, just because the other one had lower levels and less hit points didn’t make them any less deadly. I also noticed that they just had their first names. That was weird.

  Whoever they were, it didn’t look like we were going to get out of this without a fight.

  I really didn’t want to fight.

  Asterids