Would you sacrifice yourself for your fellow man’s good? Of course not, you got here by being selfish, so what’s to make you change now? Well, let me tell you, the humanity we once had is lost, and it’s pivotal to our race’s survival that we find it again before it’s too late. Does that mean you should crucify yourself tomorrow? Nope, it just means you shouldn’t be such a piece of shit.

Lucian Grimes - the Warlord - Addressing a crowd in Brightmoor.

____

“You’re suggesting we escape?” Silas asked as one of the soldiers guarding Amara lifted the trapdoor to reveal a tunnel. It descended gradually but seemingly without end, dim gemstones lighting the way until they squeezed to a point in the distance.

“There is no honour in giving ground to the vermin, less so in deserting our estate, but we cannot think of any other solution to this predicament we face,” the princess replied levelly.

“Princess, surely it would be easier to hold them off here,” Clio said, visibly flustered by the suggestion to turn tail. “This fort provides great vantage, plenty to drive the vermin back with.”

It was Silas who answered, recalling his experiences with the ratkin. “I heard that they sent smaller groups to attack here before, right?” Mia nodded. “Then they’ve already tested the waters. This is them coming for blood in an all-out attack, so you’d best believe they’ve thought up a way to enter the fort as well.”

“As you say,” Amara said, dipping her head slightly in agreement. “Were it another time, we would have ordered a last stand here, but that would only lead to a slaughter now. The Knowing Spirit would judge us severely if we allowed such a travesty to occur, so soon after the last one. Better the majority escape with a slight force protecting the flank.”

Hearing this, Silas guessed at why the princess had called him and Mia here, and he felt irritation sprout with his suspicions. “You want us to hold the rear, don’t you?”

The princess’s guards frowned at his tone, but the shaerd herself regarded him coolly. “That would be unseemly after what your kind has already done for us. Rather, we shall personally ensure that the vermin have no opportunity to give chase.”

Surprise spread through the guards and Clio vocalised their worries with haste. “Princess, please do not make such a case. Your line cannot be allowed to fall here; you must survive. Let me take your place instead.”

Amara’s face wrinkled into a subdued frown. “Are you suggesting we would fall, young Tiafel? We are one of the D’Aegor line: recall our accomplishments and answer whether this would be any more difficult than any of them?”

As tension crackled through the air, Silas wondered whether or not to interrupt. His feelings for both of the shaerds were difficult at best: Clio had given him a direction to follow in Valrun’s Keep, only for it to turn out to be wrong, before then turning out correct. Either way, it had taught him not to so gullible as to believe the first easy answer provided to him. Amara, in contrast, had treated him horribly for most of the time he had known her, although that had been while under the influence of a dreadful spell, one which he too had briefly fallen under. Since then, she had made a total 180 and treated him and the other humans courteously. For this reason, he didn’t know which of them he would rather have stay behind.

But before that, he felt the need to clear up some misunderstandings as although Clio understood the severity of the situation, he suspected that Amara thought too highly of her abilities or too little of the ratkin. However, just as he was about to intervene, Mia cut in front. “Whoever stays behind will almost certainly die,” she said in a grim tone.

Clio looked to Amara with more intensity, but the princess simply shook her head. “You do not know what we are capable of, human.”

“Perhaps,” Mia admitted, “But I do know how devastating the ratkin can be.” This time it was Silas who nodded with her, fully agreeing with her assessment. Given the rats outside, anyone who stayed behind to give the others enough time to escape would be barraged and stabbed from every direction. It was no secret that the shaerd were just as vulnerable to blades as humans, and even their impressive magic resistance could be broken with enough power as Nicon had proved, power which the ratkin sorcerers undoubtedly possessed.

While Amara considered her response, one of the guards beside her, a dark-skinned pink, suddenly lowered her head and spoke up. “Princess, Lady, if you would, allow me to captain the force that remains here. It would not do for our race to lose either of you, so better it be one of my station who takes this charge.”

Silas feared that they would refuse her proposal and waste more time, but instead Amara gave it a brief thought and nodded with finality. “In which case, so it be. Eudocia, we know that the Knowing Spirit will judge you gallantly for your service.”

“I could ask for no more,” the guard answered, appearing genuine too.

“Well, since that’s sorted, can we talk about this tunnel?” Silas asked after a moment. “Like where does it lead? How long is it? Could it collapse midway?”

Amara shook her head. “It leads three fields west of here, enough to clear the village proper. Afterwards, we shall head further west and if it is our right, we shall come upon others who can aid us in this predicament.”

Hearing her answer, Silas felt hope blossom in his heart as he realised the situation was better than he had feared, if only by a small measure. If the tunnel let them out west of Valrun’s Keep, then it would put them in the perfect position to trek south-west from there to Riverside. “If you don’t have a destination in mind, you’re more than welcome to follow us. We’re going south-west since there’s a village there that can help us out.”

“If you believe it a suitable destination, we shall accompany you there, at least,” Amara said, before clapping her hands together. “But it is best we start the evacuation now, lest the vermin storm us while we stand in discussion.”

With that said, they began readying for the journey. The news of the plan spread, and the humans and shaerds shifted from the courtyard to the throne room, while the guards who volunteered themselves continued to man the walls, shooting bolts and arrows to give a semblance of active defence. The farewells to them from their fellows were brief but heartfelt with even the humans respectfully acknowledging the sacrifice that was being made.

It wasn’t until a handful of minutes later that they filed into the tunnel, Amara personally leading the procession with Clio, while Silas kept to the mid-section with the other humans, including Mia, Ethan, Olivia, Brigette, and Rory. He also spotted the gnarled old woman and the young child nearby, the first humans he had come across when he had arrived at Valrun’s Keep two days before. The wide, cleanly-shaped steps lowered them deep into the earth, taking them roughly forty metres below the fort’s level to just under the village streets. Although time was very much of the essence, they trudged down the steps, aware of how even a single trip-up could cause a nasty tumble for the entire procession.

The heat from the earth was unbearable, especially for Silas as his sweat soaked into his armour. He felt claustrophobic down here as the tunnel was only two metres tall and two metres wide, and the heated walls seemed to squeeze down on him from every side, threatening to scorch him. Worse still, the constant din of innumerable shifting limbs to the sides of him was eclipsed by the tittering and cackling from above as the ratkin marauded through the streets. If the ratmen caught wind of their operation, they would all be done for as they barely had enough room to move down here, let alone fight, but a sorcerer would simply use that to their advantage to shred them down.

Fortunately, however, the worst-case scenario didn’t come to be, and half an hour later, the first sign they were nearing the end of the tunnel appeared with a flash of light in the distance. It didn’t come about gradually but rather abruptly, so Silas supposed it meant the front of the procession had opened the exit and left into an open, sunlit area. Although the heat had lessened since leaving the village’s boundary, he still grew invigorated at the thought of exiting this damned tunnel and relieved that Amara’s plan had worked. Reaching the end in a handful of minutes, he shaded his eyes against the light and looked about, immediately noticing that they were in a wooded area.

The ground was teeming with brambles and undergrowth, through which the shaerd guards had cleared paths to tread down, piling the foliage by the sides. Turning around, he saw the tunnel had been hidden into the side of a hill liberally littered with giant boulders. A particularly large one had been blocking the exit, but it had been rolled away, not by manpower, he figured given its sheer size, but by Amara’s runic skill. In the distance, he could see Valrun’s Keep as the fort towered over its surroundings. However, it was too far for him to see its details and whether the ratkin had overpowered the guards left behind.

Either way, it was best they didn’t dally here, so the procession was quick to regain its bearings and get moving once more. Although many were exhausted by the short journey here, particularly the wounded and elderly, their steps were hastened by the knowledge of the vermin looming behind them. Despite this, it was still a pitiable pace as Silas estimated it would be two days before they reached Riverside at this speed, more than enough time for the ratkin to give chase.

____

Duellist abilities

Level 1: Weakness Vision - through covering your eyes in mana, you can see vulnerable points in other people. Uses 1 mana per second. Perception increases detail displayed.

Level 5: Harrying Blows - applies mana on your weapon such that any blows that come into direct contact with an enemy shock the target and drains energy.

Level 10: Luminous Land - release a continuous wave of mana, giving you complete awareness of all happenings in your immediate surroundings. Mana cost per second increases massively with total area under scrutiny.

System