Emily glanced around at the wandering fangs. They had been searching for familiar faces for the past twenty minutes, and, frankly, she was surprised no guards had shown up yet.

  It turned out waking people from their stupor was simple: a sharp smack to the face worked wonders. Ashe later discovered that any sudden shock could do the trick, but Emily preferred her method.

  Nearby, Kael leaned against another cage, his gaze fixed on Umbra.

  Alex was still coordinating their escape along with Ashe and Selia but he had hung back near the man as though waiting for him to attack.

  Emily moved over to him and when no one was around, spoke to him.

  “So… you got a crush on him, or what?”

  Kael’s eyes narrowed at Emily.

  “Good to see you again, Emily. Is it strange that I missed the snark?”

  Emily nodded sagely.

  “Yup, definitely something wrong with you. But we’re here now. We’ll get out of here and then get away from this fucked up city.”

  Kael snorted.

  “I appreciated the thought, but what's the plan from here? How do we get out of here without being caught.”

  Emily shrugged.

  “We fight. As far as I’m aware we have less than twenty minutes until the attack commences.”

  Kael snorted but Emily could see a hungry light in his eyes.

  He wanted to hurt these people for what they had done, and Emily didn’t blame him.

  Luckily she had just the thing to help him out.

  Emily reached around and unfastened her pack. Taking out a short spear and two swords.

  “It’s not your normal weapon, but it’ll have to do,” she said as she handed it to him.

  Kael’s eyes widened and he took the handle of the spear with a firm grip.

  Straight away a vapor rose from his skin to coat the weapon.

  Emily was surprised that their captor had not bound their skills, but they didn't need to based on what she had seen.

  In their scattered state, they were no danger to anyone. Emily guessed that whatever they did to them, made them more agreeable as long as they didn’t hurt their victims. It was certainly one way to do things.

  But now they had a very angry bunch of people in their camp.

  Kael glanced over to the corner of the tent.

  “I have to ask for the safety of my men but is he going to be a problem?”

  Emily didn’t need to glance over at Umbra to know he was watching her.

  “If we’re lucky, no, but my money is on him being a ‘problem’.”

  Kael's expression hardened and he rubbed his hand over his face.

  Emily stared at the man.

  “They really did a number on you guys didn’t they?”

  Kael lowered his gaze to look down at his hand.

  “Something like that… The sermons were the best part.”

  Emily squinted at the man.

  “What do you mean?”

  Kael finally focused completely on Emily

  “Exactly as it sounds. When they caught us they began shining this black light on us for hours at a time. They called it the light of their god, but it was just another spell. It breaks down the skin bone and muscle of a person but they follow it up by healing the damage. The problem is you feel bit of pain. The only time they stop is when they’re preaching the words of the pillars”

  Emily pressed her lips together. She wasn’t sure how to respond, but as it turned ot she didn’t need to. Kael shook himself and glanced at his men.

  "I suppose we'd better get moving before anything else," he said, struggling to his feet.

  From the state of him, it was clear Kael had put up a fierce fight before his capture, sustaining dozens of wounds in the process. And with the literal torture he’d been through it was a wonder he could even stand at all.

  Stolen story; please report.

  Even now, a week later, his injuries were still healing. The fact that they lingered was a testament to just how severe they had been.

  After Kael left to go see his men Emily watched Alex arrive beside them.

  “Are they okay?” she asked not at all certain after what Kael had told her.

  The man nodded but then paused.

  “Most of them. There were some that we couldn’t wake. And some even tried to raise the alarm as soon as they realized who we were, but I silenced them. Gerade is not responding at all. ”

  Emily pursed her lips.

  “How far along the line are we.”

  Alex shook his head as though clearing his thoughts of this place.

  “We’re about halfway, we’ll be counting on you again.”

  Emily shot him a shit-eating grin.

  “Yea it seems you’re counting on me a lot”

  Alex’s brow twitched but he kept his voice level.

  “Just get into place, or would your highness like an escort,” he drawled.

  Emily began to head to the back of the tent.

  “Give me a countdown,” she said.

  At the same time, Emily moved to her location. From here, she could look directly down the line of tents.

  All around her the wandering fangs were moving about waking people up, and not just their own people, bystanders caught in the crossfire, or captured elsewhere. For those with the skills they would unlock the cage but a majority of the awoken men and women remained shackled and confined.

  Emily pulled about a liter of blood from her palms and began to shape it into a ward. Minutes passed as she waited for the signal and perfected the runes, shaping them into the necessary form.

  It was a ward Emily had first used to help Kael unlock his little jewelry box.

  The unlocking ward took shape in Emily’s hands and the moment Emily got the signal she activated the spell.

  A wave of power exploded out of her, but they were no longer trying to hide their presence. The cages around Emily clanged open as she began walking down the aisle.

  She didn’t even attempt to control the source streaming into it, causing the spell to fluctuate beyond the tents.

  The wandering fangs were well ahead of them and had been waking people up for a good twenty minutes. Those they managed to free helped wake others.

  The remaining ones they left to Emily.

  The spell worked flawlessly, unlatching cages and shackles alike Wherever her crimson light passed.

  The more people involved the more attention they would draw. And while they wanted to cause a scene, they didn’t want to gain the guard's ire just yet.

  The unfortunate souls that had been caught by the black core seemed to understand this and kept their mouths shut, but it was only a matter of time before disaster struck.

  Emily had barely made it a third of the way down the line, freeing dozens of captives when a sharp, trumpeting blast pierced the air behind her. The sound was deafening, reverberating through the space like a thunderclap. Emily didn’t have time to waste so she kept moving but all around her, the freed captives grew antsy.

  At this point, Emily wasn’t certain if they had been spotted or if the war had started earlier than intended because she didn’t see any guards rushing into the tents to capture everyone again.

  Emily had just gotten to the halfway mark when Alex showed up.

  “We need to go, they’re trying to surround us.”

  Emily’s face twitched but she didn’t ask how he knew, she just dropped the spell and began to reshape her blood.

  Another cloaking spell might be able to get them out of here, and seeing as how she still had plenty of source to play with, Emily poured it in freely.

  The ward took shape and had just begun lowering its haze over them when a powerful wind swept the spell away. The blood in Emily’s hands bubbled and dried up in seconds as another spell overwhelmed her. Unsure how to defend against it, the ward broke apart before Emily could stop it.

  The tents flapped in the wind briefly revealing the world beyond. Lines of black-robed soldiers stood at the exits, their polished armor reflecting the moonlight. Before the wind died down the material fell back into place.

  Emily’s face turned grim. Forget about the ward; she couldn’t see even a single gap in their defenses.

  Nothing silenced people faster than the anticipation of battle.

  So when a feminine voice echoed out across the area everyone heard it.

  “Escaping our god's love will not be so easy. Send out your leaders so that we may talk, we will observe the rules of war. If you do not, when we capture you again your punishment will be days without sermons.”

  The reaction of the people around them was like a ripple of palpable fear. Emily’s eyes widened as she saw the moment they became an enemy in the eyes of those around them. Their intention was to use these people to escape but instead, they found themselves having it turned on them. They had to watch those around them. With the whole of the Wandering Fangs and the Weeping, they were around forty strong, but Emily had freed easily twice that, and while they didn’t have weapons Emily didn’t like their odds.

  “Calm yourselves! If we falter here, you will find yourself right back in those cages,” Kael shouted. The strength in his voice rippled out into the crowd, strengthening their resolve.

  Murmurs rippled throughout the space and Emily glanced over at Alex.

  When she noticed him walking towards the opening.

  Emily moved faster than him and closed the distance before he could slip out of the tent.

  “What fuck do you think you’re doing!” she hissed.

  Alex’s face remained stoic.

  “They’re observing the rule of war. If what they said is true I have one chance to meet their commander. Nothing much will come of it but it will buy us time.”

  Emily could scarcely react to the stupidity of the idea.

  “And if your plan works and you buy the time, what do you plan to say then? ‘Please don’t attack me?’ If the armyies arrive do you really think they will observe these silly rules of war?”

  Alex pressed his lips together.

  “Look, you are going to have to trust me here. The rules of war are important. They would not lie about honoring them.”

  Emily wanted to yank him by the throat and out of this place but there was nowhere to go. It would have been a good plan, but the fact that he wanted to be the one to do it was a problem.

  “Send someone else,” Emily said firmly.

  “Who? Umbra? Ashe? You know that would turn out badly either way. No, I have to go, Kael will lead everyone else out in the chaos."

  Emily grabbed at the side of her head that had hair.

  “I never expected you to have a hero complex, godammit,” she growled to herself. Incapacitating him right now was not in the cards as she didn’t want to have to carry his weight around.

  “...Fine but I’m coming too,” Emily eeked out.

  Alex glanced towards the tent flap.

  “Now, who has the hero complex.”

  Emily didn’t dignify him with a response, she just turned to look at the crowd of people behind her and whistled.

  This got everyone’s attention. And she found Kael in the crowd.

  “Get ready, we’re going out there”

  The man's face flashed with concern and he started to move toward them but Emily shook her head.

  From the corner of her eye, Emily made out Umbra and his smile was euphoric. He too tried to follow them along with Cupcake but she held up her hand.

  “Stay.”

  Emily would never know whether it worked or not because Alex had slipped out through the opening. She was not about to lose him, so she pushed the tent flap aside and followed his retreating back.

  Blood points: 312