Whatever it was, I didn't have time for it.
"What should I do?" I asked.
"Help me alert the rest of the garrison and spread the evacuation order," he said. "We don't have time to waste on the stubborn fools—move on if they refuse." He paused. "Let's split up. Take this street."
I glanced down the narrow cluster of wooden shacks. "What if they don't listen to me?"
"Draw your giant, magical sword," Reese advised. "Hit them with it, if you need to." He squeezed my shoulder and yanked his reins. The white mare galloped down the muddy road.
Hitting obstinate men with my sword sounded like it would make me feel a little better, if nothing else. Wrapping my hand around Cierthine's hilt, I stared down the road.
A shadow detached itself from a porch and grabbed my elk's reins. Fear lanced through my heart until I saw their face: handsome, dark, with permanently wrinkled brows.
Liam.
"Shit!" I pressed a hand to my chest. "Where have you been?"
"Taking a rough count of the garrison." Liam grimaced. "It's not good. Actually, it's worse. This is where they send the fuck ups. The assignment you get as punishment."
"Why wouldn't Muirashi protect this place better?"
"Because it's a tiny hole where no one important lives." Liam's fingers strangled the reins. His voice fell to a whisper, "We can go—right now. There's no reason for us to die here."
His offer was tempting. I looked south, back at the wall of pure shadow, where faint movements could be glimpsed behind the curtain.
Who could say when they would attack? Minutes, hours . . .
Killian had stood his ground in the face of certain death. He'd given his life so that we could live.
What kind of woman would I be if I turned tail and ran when he had not?
"No," I said, voice quivering slightly. "We came here to help—and that's what we'll do."
Liam's eye and mouth twitched. His hands slowly uncurled from the reins. "We'd better hurry. There are plenty of people to shout at." With one last glance at the wall, he walked away.
Lifting my gaze, I scanned the rooftops and the occasional tree.
Once a crow with a missing talon appeared there, I'd know our time had come.
It had heralded only doom thus far.
Gwynford had fallen dark.The stars faded into the black ether, and the moons departed to make way for true night.
Nothing but darkness surrounded us now, save for the flames of a lone bonfire.
Evacuating a town took far too long. We'd all screamed until our throats were hoarse. Everyone knew death approached.
But they had kids. Grandparents. Pets. Precious items they couldn't part with. I'd wanted to throttle them and tell them to just leave it.
Would I have been any different, though? Had someone tried to drag me away without my father, bid me flee without Liam . . .
Hell, had someone told me to leave my little broken pocket watch behind, I would have spit in their face and gone back for it.
I couldn't blame anyone here for their reluctance to leave a home they might never see again.
Fidgeting with Cierthine's hilt, I turned toward the dark city, where the villagers still lingered, not yet ready to set out.
A faint, thin light pierced the darkness—Cleiv Solais, the radiant rapier. Reese sheathed it as he reached the bonfire. "I can't see a damn thing out here," he said lightheartedly. "Has anything changed?"
