We truly did. I’d make sure they got paid consulting fees for this, even if I had to pay them myself. Not that they wouldn’t have come anyway to help, but still I wanted to reward them for their help somehow. “Vee, call Director Salvatore, maybe we can get consultation fees for those three.”
She perked up, nodding in support of this, and immediately called back toward Foxboro.
Bannen heaved out a breath of relief. “Thank all deities, gods, spirits, and pink hippos. I feel so much better with those three coming.”
The problem I hadn’t known what to do about reared its head when Dag shifted at my feet, turning to put both of his hands on my knees, his face turned up so he could catch my eyes. “Rena, are the giants really big? Vee said that she’s short for her family.”
Sards, what was I to do with Dag? I couldn’t just send him to safety, we were conserving every drop of magical power we could, in anticipation for tonight. I could put him on the train, but who would I trust him with? I didn’t know anyone in this town outside of my own team. Would he be safe enough with us? Could we safeguard him properly in the fight that was likely to come? “Yes, they’re huge. Vee barely comes up to their collarbones.”
“Oh. If they’re that big, then the monsters can’t hurt them, right?”
I wished fervently I could deny it, but…well, if wishes were horses. Shaking my head, I explained gently, “The monsters are very clever, very hard to fight. The giants avoid their mountain for a reason. Having three giants fight with us only evens the odds more in our favor. Dag, listen, it might get very dangerous soon. I don’t want you in danger but I don’t think we’ll be able to send you to a safe place, either.”
“Stay next to me,” Emily encouraged him, surprising both of us. With a warm smile, she put a hand on his shoulders. “Dag, your eyes will be very helpful for me. If someone’s hurt, you can see better than I can how they’re hurt, or if there’s anything stuck in a wound. Can you stay near me, help me heal people? You can watch my back too while I’m healing, make sure nothing sneaks up on us.”
It was my turn to breathe out in relief, almost dizzy with it. The safest place in any fight was in the back lines, with the healers, as they were in the least vulnerable spot. Emily would likely have her hands full tonight, but as we’d discovered, giving Dag something to focus on and do kept him away from trouble. Assuming he agreed.
Dag’s eyes narrowed, those clear greys seeing the world more accurately than most of the adults around him. “I can do that?”
“We discovered it with Rena,” Emily explained to him, reacting as if she were speaking to an adult. “When we first fought Toh’sellor, Rena was able to see if any trace of its energy had infected people. She directed the healers on what to do, as she could see the problem better than we could.”
“Oh.” Dag considered that, then shrugged. “Sure, I can help.”
“Thanks, Dag. That’s a load off my mind. It’s a bit much, just one healer for this situation.”
Also unfortunately true. I caught Dax’s eye and the marmoset gave me a nod, silently promising to keep track of the boy too. Hopefully between them, they could keep Dag focused and away from the front lines.
I glanced up at the sky through the multiple branches above us, the leaves obscuring most of it, but I could still see the sun. We had maybe seven hours until sunset but not more, not this early into summer. Seven hours to somehow get everyone under cover, barriers up, and defenses set before the setting sun stole whatever safety the light had given us.
It was not enough time.
Chaos reigned at Mountain Point. We could see it as we crested over the last rise in the road. Rena sat tense and still next to me, watching. I could see the worry crease in her face, aging her. I shared the worry. I remembered the math well enough from the first battle with Toh’sellor, of how many mages it took to erect a barrier around an area, and how many people could be crammed inside of it. The math was definitely not in our favor here. I saw hundreds of people running along the streets, often with children or something precious wrapped in their hands, ducking in and out of buildings. Most of them seemed to be heading for a central point, though, a building closer to the northern edge of town.
Maksohm was supposed to commandeer a place to put people for tonight, but we didn’t know where. Vee apparently realized the problem at the same time I did, as she used the TMC in her ear to call him. I could only hear her side of the conversation, but I didn’t like the way her hand tightened on Seton, or the way her jaw set in lines of determination. “We’re on our way. Yes. He’s already on his way here, I don’t know how to reach him while he’s en-route. We’ll just have to do the best we can.”
“I never like those words,” Rena muttered to me, her tone barely above a whisper. “It usually prefaces trouble.”
I couldn’t disagree there. Granted, our best was fairly good, but this place had a lot of innocents to protect. I didn’t think we had enough manpower to safeguard all of them.
Turning to us, Vee directed, “Town Hall and the church next to it have been commandeered for our use. Maksohm says both buildings barely hold everyone. He got everyone onto the train that he could, heading for Gargan, but it could only seat three hundred people. There weren’t that many passenger cars. He also estimates, at max, that we can get four more trains’ worth of people out before sunset, which would be an additional fifteen hundred people or so.”
Not sure if I wanted to ask, I trotted the question out anyway, “And that leaves how many for us to defend?”
“Roughly twenty-two hundred.”
Wincing, I informed everyone in a somewhat rhetorical manner, “That’s a lot more people than I’d hoped she’d say.”
“It now makes more sense why Maksohm had to split them up into two buildings.” Rena frowned, and I recognized that calculating look on her face as she did some sort of math in her head, along with the grim way her mouth scrunched up.
I didn’t need to ask what she’d just calculated: how long three mages could maintain shields over two buildings. With a half-wince of anticipation on my face, I asked, “How long?”
“Three hours, max,” she answered, expression bleak. “That’s before they go into a Mind Down.”
Thunderation, I didn’t like that number. That left a lot of darkness to face. Chi caught my eye and I could tell he was not happy about this, not one bit. I couldn’t even suggest portaling to anyone because taking this many people out of the area in one night was impossible. Not even feasible. Salvatore was arranging backup for us but even they couldn’t get here in the next seven hours, not this quickly. We’d barely managed portal hopping while chasing Toh’sellor, but that had been on a different emergency level than this.
The streets of the town looked mostly abandoned by the time we actually put wheels to pavement. Many a task had been left, doors open, vendor’s stalls still sitting along the side without anything closed up, their wares out in the open without protection. I could smell more than one pot boiling over, the strange blend of half-burned food mixing into the air. My eyes went from one window to another, automatically double-checking that no one was still inside a business or a house, that they’d pulled out already. Nothing moved, nothing suggested the buildings were occupied, but I couldn’t help but check anyway.
With the town barely boasting thirty-eight streets, it didn’t take us long to reach the main square. Here, the crowd was so dense that it quickly proved impossible to stay in the wagon. Mack parked it off to the side and we all hopped out. People looked askance at us at first, then they registered the blue uniforms that Vee and Chi wore and quickly came toward us, asking all sorts of questions. With Rena and I out of uniform—we hadn’t thought to wear them this morning—they didn’t question us. I found myself glad for that, as most of the questions they asked, I didn’t know how to answer.
People who had carts or horses got on them and ran for Gargan, assured that they’d find refuge with their giant neighbors. Vee directed traf
fic out of town, I could hear her even from here, very faintly. I estimated another three hundred headed out that way but that left us with over nineteen hundred people still left to somehow cram into two buildings and protect tonight. I had to say, I wasn’t looking forward to it.
It quickly became bedlam, voices rising in fear and anxiety, words shouted over another’s, straining to be heard. Vee grew more frustrated as she couldn’t even decipher what was being asked; Chi didn’t even try, just forced his way forward.
As we forced our way through the crowd, I heard more than one voice raised as someone shouted something along the lines of I told you so! Why’d you do something so stupid and poke the sleeping monster! Which, really, I couldn’t blame them. In their shoes, I’d be yelling recriminations too.
We found Maksohm at the foot of the Town Hall stairs, looking beyond harried, his hair standing up on end as if he’d yanked his hands through it repeatedly. On spying us, he requested, “Bannen, you’re loud, shout directions for me. I need anyone who lives south of Main Street to go into the church, everyone north to come into Town Hall.”
“Got it.” Turning, I went over a few steps so I didn’t burst his ear drums, and then cupped both hands around my mouth to bellow, “EVERYONE WHO LIVES SOUTH OF MAIN STREET, TO THE CHURCH! EVERYONE NORTH OF IT, GO INTO TOWN HALL! I REPEAT, ANYONE WHO LIVES SOUTH OF MAIN STREET, INTO THE CHURCH! ANYONE WHO LIVES NORTH OF IT, INTO TOWN HALL!”
“Bless your lungpower,” Maksohm praised me, patting me once on the shoulder in thanks. “I’m about to lose my voice. Wait a few minutes and then do that again.”
“Where do we stand?” Rena asked him, her weight shifted forward as if she prepared herself to spring any direction he pointed her to.
“I’ve got about half inside at this point,” he answered her steadily, still using arms to direct people in like a train conductor. “The mayor and his people are at the church directing there. People are not at all happy, but grateful for the protection and are moving as fast as they can, it’s just a lot to cram into two buildings at once. I think we’ll have everyone under cover by the time darkness hits, but it’ll be a near thing. Chi, I need you and Rena to find a good vantage point for you two to work from. Somewhere high, good lines of sight.”
As they were our effective long-range fighters, that order made complete sense to me. Rena cast me a look, made sure I heard this, and I gave her a reassuring nod. “Go, we’ll handle matters down here.”
The familiar bond pitched a fit, rattling anxiously about her going out of sight. I thumped it, trying to make it behave. We had hours of daylight left, she wasn’t in any danger in this crowd, and Chi had her back. Rena was fine.
Me, I might be trampled to death by anxious and frightened people, but my wife was just dandy.
The bond kept rattling, growing more and more anxious, and I thumped it harder. My heart pounded, a loud rhythm that drowned out all other noise, and my breath started shortening to the point I felt like I was choking.
Stop it. Stop it, you stupid bond.
A strong hand caught my arm, and Maksohm stepped quickly into my view, dark eyes anxiously scanning my face. “Bannen?”
“Get her back,” I rasped out, nearly choking on the words.
“Okay, breathe,” he instructed. “Deep breath in, hold it for three seconds, breath out. Do it again. Ground yourself.”
I knew how to do this, mainly because Rena did it, and I followed his instructions desperately, as I couldn’t afford to have an anxiety attack right here. I found three things in my line of sight, three scents, touched three things with my fingers, tasted three things in the air, using all senses until I felt the panic receding. I felt a little foolish for it, because who panicked just because their wife walked out of sight?
He stayed planted until I stopped vibrating like an eel out of water, his grip never lessening on me. “Alright? What set you off?”
“Rena walking off,” I admitted on a calmer exhale. “Stupid bond. I’m alright, Maksohm. Go back to organizing this mess.”
Those sharp eyes of his weighed me, evaluating, then apparently reached the conclusion I told the truth. I had no doubt he’d keep an eye on me, but he agreed. “Alright. Still need Rena?”
I shook my head. The panic was receding. I no longer felt like clinging to my wife’s shadow.
“Then help me sort people out.”
“Sure.” I felt grateful for something to do, something to turn my mind to. Sards, I really had to get this bond-anxiety sorted somehow. I couldn’t afford to react like this during a battle. As much as I hated to admit it, maybe my teammates had a point about the therapy. Assuming that they could find me a good therapist, and not another Clara, at least.
It wasn’t something I could do about now, at any rate. I took a couple more steadying breaths and resumed yelling instructions at the top of my lungs.
Dag stared up at me curiously, his hand tangled at the bottom of my shirt. “You okay?”
“Yeah, little man, I’m alright.” Eight-year-olds probably didn’t understand anxiety attacks and I didn’t want to explain it. I gave him a half-truth instead. “You know how I’m Rena’s familiar? Sometimes the familiar bond pitches a fit if she’s out of my sight. Like now, when there’s danger coming. I just have to thump it and make it behave, is all.”
“Oh.” He tried to look wise but I could tell the explanation only partially made sense to him. Shrugging, he chose to accept it and inquired, “Can I help you yell at people?”
“That is entirely the nicest offer I’ve gotten today,” I informed him, charmed. “Here, hop up on my shoulders so they can see you, and yell your lungs out.”
With absolute confidence that I wouldn’t drop him, Dag climbed up onto my shoulders, hands gently on top of my head, situated comfortably. When I stood to my full height again, I could hear and feel him draw in a deep breath before he yelled with commendable lungpower, “EVERYONE WHO LIVES SOUTH OF MAIN STREET, TO THE CHURCH! EVERYONE NORTH OF IT, GO INTO THE TOWN HALL!”
Nothing, absolutely nothing in the wide world, was louder than a screaming child. I think my eardrum just burst.
“Dag,” Maksohm observed at my side, “your new job is to yell at people. You were equally as loud as Bannen, and he’s the biggest loudmouth I know.”
“Hey,” I protested, not sure if I should be insulted or complimented.
Dag, at least, took that as a compliment and said cheerfully, “Okay. Tell me when to yell again.”
“I certainly will.” Maksohm had the gall to wink at me before he shifted to the other side of the door to continue to herd people through.
For the next six hours, that’s all we did, stand there and yell and herd people into the right buildings. I could hear them shuffle about inside, moving to allow for the influx at the door with a minimum of cursing, so I took that to mean things were settling as well as could be expected. Some people were smart enough to bring food in with them, and they either shared or called to others to grab food before coming inside. Which was a good thought, as we’d be stuck inside until morning. A few people left again, grabbing food or some other essential item before returning, which messed up our lines. I could see Maksohm’s eye twitch whenever he spotted a familiar face.
The sun set slowly, so slowly over the tops of the buildings, turning the sky into a wash of purples and oranges and reds, the air growing steadily comfortable as night descended. As slowly as that process seemed to take, it also felt like it passed in the blink of an eye.
Dag yelled at Maksohm’s signals, and I slowly lost whatever hearing I preserved for my old man years. With my ears still ringing, I watched the last of the townspeople enter the double doors, then set Dag back down on his feet. We had perhaps another hour of daylight left to spare, which meant I needed to find my wife and figure out where she and Chi had set up shop.
“Vaughn!” Vee nearly squealed in delight before bounding right off the church steps and racing for the giant trio who had suddenly appeared f
rom a side street.
“Whoa,” Dag whispered at my side, his eyes going round with wonder. “They’re huge.”
“Those three,” I informed him dryly, amused despite the tenseness of the situation, “are full grown giants. Vee’s only part giant, remember? Come on, let’s meet them properly. Vaughn, Wade, Hugo!”
“Bannen,” Wade greeted, striding forward, his hand outstretched and clasping my forearm in a tight enough grip to threaten bone. Worry creased at the corners of his dark brown eyes, but I noticed more that he’d taken the longest part of his brown hair and braided it along the side, similar to my own in style. He noticed my look and his grin winked out at me. “Looks stylish, right?”
“Absolutely,” I agreed with a pointed look down at Dag. I resisted the urge to say ‘see, braids are cool’ because I’m older and wiser than him.
Dag stared up at the giant doubtfully. “Braids are for girls, though?”
“Are not,” I argued immediately. Okay, not much older or wiser. Wade chuckled, more at me than Dag, and I stoutly ignored it. Move along, mouth, don’t linger here. “Dag, this is Wade, one of Vee’s cousins. Wade, this is an apprentice mage, Dag. His eyes are as good as Rena’s, so if he sees something strange, he’ll report it to you. Please heed him.”
“Like our little Rena?” Hugo came around to clasp a hand on my shoulder in greeting, then bent at the waist to extend his hand to Dag, who somberly took it, despite being dwarfed by the giant. I swear, Dag was the size of Hugo’s forearm. Even for a giant, Hugo was on the large size, as he liked to body-build. Blue eyes turning dark in the waning light, Hugo looked Dag over carefully. “Then you sing out, little mage. We’ll hear you. Bannen, where is our Rena?”
I still found it endlessly amusing the giants adored my wife so much. Just because she was destructive, too. They approved of anyone who packed as much destructive force as Rena did. “Up somewhere, she went in search of a good vantage point.”
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