Our pace was slow, but according to Markus, we should still make it in time. The walls were not that far away, so we could already hear the battle. The only thing that disrupted our path was the bombardment from the trebuchets. Stones flew through the air and crushed whatever houses they struck. Fortunately, we were moving far enough from the main line of fire.
Within fifteen minutes, we reached the square. Markus stopped.
"Go another five hundred meters that way," he said, pointing down one of the streets. "I'll be back in a moment."
With that, he ran off toward the heart of the fighting.
What is he planning? I wondered. I could not connect it to anything. Without him, even if we reached the place, we would still have no idea what to do next.
We covered the distance he had told us to. We found ourselves in the middle of a narrow street. There was nothing left to do but wait. Many of the wounded sank down against the stone walls and caught their breath. The Twelve Swords had people everywhere, and yet apparently no one knew about this tunnel.
The walls did not hold for long.
From far away came the rumble of collapsing stone, and the roar of battle began drawing closer. The defenses had been breached. The only thing still standing between us and the Empire were the last detachments fighting through the streets.
Then, in the distance, I noticed the door of a nearby inn open.
Someone had chosen to remain in the city.
I had only been here a short time, but I recognized the street.
An older Variet stepped out of the building with a battle axe in his hands.
Tes's father.
It hit me at once. I had thought he left the city long ago. His eyes were fixed on me and no one else. He was walking straight toward me.
I knew that expression.
He must have heard about Tes.
Fury burned in his eyes. His knuckles had gone white around the axe handle.
He stopped a few steps away.
"DAEN!"
There was so much hatred in his voice that even those who had not noticed him until then turned in horror. I placed a hand on the hilt of my sword.
"Shouldn't you have evacuated already?" I asked.
"YOU MURDERER, YOU PROMISED HER SOMETHING!" he screamed at me.
He had clearly decided what Tes's death meant.
"The cultists killed her, not me," I said.
"Don't you dare lie to me!" He drew a heavy breath. "You took her into some alley and killed her there!"
His voice broke, and tears spilled into his eyes.
"I'll avenge my daughter. You promised nothing would happen to her. How am I supposed to believe you after this?"
I drew my sword.
Lasin stepped between us at once.
"This fight is completely pointless. Put your weapons down!" she shouted. "Many of us were there when your daughter died, and Daen certainly did not kill her."
She paused and pointed sharply toward the distant sound of battle.
"The city is being crushed by Imperial troops, and you want to kill each other? If you want to vent your rage, go fight them!"
The Variet hesitated and lowered his axe slightly.
Lasin had almost talked him down.
But I could not let go of my sword.
My thoughts began to blur. All I could see was the Variet in front of me, armed and standing there.
"PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS!"
I heard the words.
My body did not obey.
In an instant, I forgot my own name and everything around me. Only one thing remained.
Enemy.
I have to kill him.
My breathing turned ragged. My head spun. The word in my mind grew louder and louder.
Enemy.
I took a fighting stance.
My enemy was slow. His weapon was lowered. He had no chance.
In a flash, I crossed the distance between us. Before he could raise the axe, I cut off his head.
Enemy eliminated.
And just like that, my mind cleared.
The people around me stood in shock, terrified.
Then I saw the flash of a sword, and someone slammed me into the ground with tremendous force. My head struck the stone street, and tiny bits of gravel dug into my face.
It hurt.
But my thoughts were elsewhere.
What did I just do?
The voice in my head was gone. The body beside me hit the ground. It had all happened too quickly.
"WHAT THE HELL GOT INTO YOU?!" someone shouted into my ear.
Jurian.
Only after a moment did I realize it was him. He had been keeping his distance from me until now.
I did not resist. There was no point.
"ANSWER ME!" he shouted again.
I did not understand what had happened. My head throbbed, and my thoughts were in chaos. I could feel the gravel pressing into my face, while my eyes remained fixed on the body beside me.
The body of the man whose head I had just cut off.
At that moment, I felt nothing.
No pain. No anger.
Just emptiness.
I tried to get my bearings. The sounds of battle and people screaming still echoed around us, but my eyes remained on Jurian. He had finally loosened his grip. His face was full of questions and worry.
"What... what got into you?" he asked again, this time more quietly.
I tried to draw breath into my lungs and calm myself. I had to answer him.
"I don't know," I whispered at last.
I had managed to frighten even Jurian, who until now had been calm in every situation and afraid of nothing.
He sat down beside me and set his sword aside.
"Daen, listen to me," he said, his voice steady even though I could hear the tension in it. "I don't know what happened, but now is not the time to deal with it. Just keep control of yourself. We have more important things to worry about."
I breathed slowly and tried to calm down. I knew he was right. We both understood that neither of us could afford to lose our heads now.
I slowly lifted my eyes to him and nodded.
"You're right," I said quietly.
"We need to be careful. It isn't over yet," Lasin said. She had been silent until then.
Her words helped me find some small piece of calm, even though my mind was still full of questions and fear.
The rest of the group kept their distance from me. Many of them were clearly afraid I would lose control again and slaughter them where they stood.
I could not even deny it.
I lifted my gaze from the ground and looked into the distance.
A group of people was running toward us.
At first, I could not make them out, but then I recognized Markus at the head of a dozen soldiers, the same men who had helped us earlier. The others noticed them too and prepared to move.
They were running at full speed, as if something were chasing them.
Then I saw the crowd behind them.
The Imperial forces had already crushed the last of the defenders.
"Everyone still capable of fighting, prepare yourselves!" Lasin called to the group.
There were around thirty of us in all.
Barely ten were fit to fight.
Markus sped up and closed the distance in moments. He did not waste time. He went straight to one of the bare walls and pressed a hand against one of the bricks.
Stone groaned.
A hidden doorway opened.
The entrance was narrow. Before everyone could get through, the enemy would be on us.
"Azi, go first and make sure it's safe!" Lasin ordered. "The rest of you, help the badly wounded and hurry! We'll hold them back!"
Breias and Finra headed into the tunnel as well. We had to buy them as much time as we could.
A moment later, the rest of Markus's soldiers arrived. They were clearly in excellent shape. Even after running here in light armor, they still had strength left.
"Everyone fall back into the tunnel," I said suddenly. "I'll hold them."
"Don't be ridiculous, you're injured!" Lasin turned to me.
She was keeping her distance now, but I could still see the worry in her.
"Listen to him," Jurian said.
The rest of the Twelve Swords obeyed without another word and ran into the tunnel. The soldiers looked to Markus in silence.
Markus nodded.
They followed.
Only Markus, Jurian, Lasin, and I remained.
Together, we could buy enough time.
Markus reached the tunnel entrance. At first, I thought he was going to retreat as well.
Instead, he raised a hand.
He began to summon magic.
Markus was truly powerful.
A wave of magic formed above the building, then crashed down into the structure beneath which the tunnel was hidden. The building collapsed, and with it, the entrance disappeared.
Hopefully they had gotten far enough in and would make it out alive.
The Imperial soldiers were almost on us now. In the middle of their ranks rode a cluster of high ranking officers on horseback. One of them was a woman with long white hair.
That was strange, but it no longer mattered.
If I was going to die today, I was taking as many of those Imperial bastards with me as I could.
I turned and looked each of them in the face.
"I'm not very good at speeches," I said after a moment.
"But wherever death takes us... I'm glad I met you."
And together, we threw ourselves against the endless ranks of the Empire.