‘Creator,’ Leesha whispered too quietly for the others to hear, ‘I know you aid those who aid themselves, but we could really use a miracle.’
She didn’t expect an answer, but it came a moment later, as the entire building seemed to rock from side to side. The crash was deafening, and ceiling beams fell into the floor amid a cloud of dust and rubble.
‘Arlen!’ Leesha cried, for his room was on the second floor. She ran to the steps, putting a cloth over her mouth and nearly choking on the dust in any event.
The second floor was partially collapsed. A boulder had apparently passed clear through, shearing off part of the roof and taking out several walls. Leesha tried not to think of the patients who had been in those rooms, picking her way over the wreckage to the small private room where Arlen lay unconscious.
Her worst fears were realized as she moved through the hole where the door had been. Part of the ceiling was open to the night sky, and the space where the bed had been was a mass of rubble from a collapsed wall.
Leesha backed away from the sight until she struck one of the remaining walls. She slid down to the floor, shaking.
‘It’s over,’ she whispered. ‘We’re all going to die.’
But then the rubble shifted and began to rise. A fresh cloud of dust filled the room as beams lifted out of the mass and stones fell away. Arlen Bales was in the centre, his wards glowing brightly as he worked his hands under the beams across his knotted shoulders, pressing them up over his head long enough for him to step free.
Leesha stared at him as he approached, looking like a seraph of the Creator Himself. She was normally the first to deny Arlen was Heaven-sent, but even she found herself believing as he reached a glowing hand out to her.
‘Deliverer,’ she whispered, taking his hand and letting him pull her to her feet. He caught her as she stumbled, and for a moment they held each other close.
Arlen laid a gentle hand on her face. ‘Just me, Leesha. Arlen Bales.’
Leesha reached out, touching his face in return. ‘Sometimes it’s hard to tell.’
‘What’s happened?’ Arlen asked. ‘Last I remember I was destroying the demon’s ammunition piles …’
‘That was two days ago,’ Leesha said. ‘New Rizon is gone. The demons are at the edge of the Corelings’ Graveyard. Renna is holding them back.’
Arlen pulled back at the name. ‘Renna’s out there alone?’
And just like that, he collapsed into smoke, Leesha left holding empty air.
Arlen materialized in the Corelings’ Graveyard an instant later, immediately spotting Renna on her elbows and knees. The remaining Wooden Soldiers stood in a half circle around her, their indestructible shields locked together to block her from sight and bombardment as she struggled to rise.
But Arlen could see she would not be able to rise again. Her aura was flickering. She was seconds from passing out.
He was at her side immediately, not bothering to draw wards as he laid a hand on her shoulder. He reached through her into the greatward, feeling its power. The link that connected the net of Hollow County was gone, but the central keyward of Cutter’s Hollow was the strongest by far, more power than they could use and live to tell the tale.
He Drew, pulling magic through Renna steadily until her aura was restored and the blackstem wards on her skin began to glow of their own accord.
‘Arlen,’ she breathed, rising to her feet and throwing her arms around him, kissing him deeply.
Arlen held her face in both hands, meeting her eyes. ‘Promised I’d die before I let demons take the Hollow, Ren. You mean it when you said the same?’
Renna nodded. ‘Every word.’
Arlen kissed her again. He pulled back, taking her hand in a firm grip. ‘Then Draw with me.’ The two of them pulled at the greatward, flooding themselves with power.
‘Shields open!’ Arlen shouted, and the Wooden Soldiers broke apart, giving them a clear view of the enemy. As one, they raised their hands to trace wards in the air.
Leesha wept as dawn came and the sounds of crashing boulders, exploding flamework, and screams of pain fell away. The last notes of the Song of Waning, which Rojer’s Jongleurs had been playing constantly to keep the enemy at bay, ended as cramped and bleeding fingers finally released their instruments. There was silence for a moment, and then ragged cheering throughout the Hollow.
They had survived.
Some of us, Leesha amended, looking at the shrouded bodies lying all over the Corelings’ Graveyard. The battle hadn’t ended when Arlen and Renna collapsed. Reinforcements had come from the other boroughs when it was clear the demons were making a full press for the centre of the Hollow and battle had been joined directly. Arlen and Renna had destroyed most of the larger demons by then, and denied ammunition to the rest. It became an open melee, tooth and talon against warded steel, with Gared and Thamos leading assault after assault.
There were so many wounded she had been forced to begin laying them out in the square, and then on the streets. There was death everywhere, but she had neither the time nor the help to move the bodies, and they were left where they lay. Thousands of dead and wounded mixed together. Even those on their feet looked half dead. No one had slept in days.
She looked sadly at the Holy House where they had made their last stand in the Battle of Cutter’s Hollow, its roof now caved by several boulder strikes. Perhaps it was well after all that Inquisitor Hayes was building his cathedral to replace it. New Rizon had been nearly levelled, as well as the now ironically named Sweet Succour, but the defences had held in the other boroughs.
Horns and flamework had signalled Thamos and his mounted soldiers through the night, sending them along the border as the demons probed for weak spots and tried to break the greatward. Rojer’s Jongleurs drove back the demons and confused them as the Cutters struck, and Coliv and the remaining Sharum were found wherever the fighting was thickest.
She went to her office in the hospit to check on Rojer. He lay propped up on her desk, his head wrapped in bandages as Amanvah and Sikvah took it in turns talking to him and asking questions, trying to keep him awake and alert. Amanvah had used the last of her hora to close the wound, but he had still taken a heavy blow to the head, and if he passed out, there was still a chance he might not awaken.
‘How is he?’ she asked.
‘He will recover,’ Amanvah said. ‘The dice tell me Everam still has need of him.’
Leesha nodded. ‘He needs us all.’
‘My people think the chin weak,’ Amanvah said, ‘but my father spoke of the Hollow tribe’s strength. In this, as in all things, he was right. Your people have honoured the Creator this Waning. You will rise stronger than ever.’
Leesha shook her head. ‘We can’t keep taking losses like this. We’ll need to deepen and strengthen our greatwards, and get people off the streets on Waning. Dig basements, tunnels, sewers …’
‘You must build an Undercity,’ Amanvah said.
‘Good start,’ a voice said behind her, ‘but it won’t be enough.’
Leesha turned, and her eyes widened. ‘Arlen!’ she cried, throwing her arms around him before she could help herself. He wrapped his arms around her, squeezing, and for the first time in days, she felt a touch of hope. ‘Thank the Creator you’re all right. We won’t survive another new moon without you.’