Captain Helena was a square-shouldered knight with the look of someone who had been running on insufficient sleep and excessive urgency for three days straight.
She was managing the outer defense line with the precise, harried authority of a person who was genuinely competent and had simply been given a situation that exceeded what competence alone could solve.
When she saw Lucian's party coming up the road, the relief on her face was so visible that it crossed straight through hope and came out the other side looking almost painful.
"Three SSS warriors," she said. "Thank the gods."
"Four actually," Octavia said in a nice way.
Helena looked at the four of them, then at her defenses, and did some quick math. "Your party beat mythic-class beings?"
"One so far," Lucian said. "A Harvester in the village area north of here."
"So... what's going on right now?"
