Padral reached out one hand to each of the other two mages and the formed a small circle, all holding hands. It looked like they were about to play a children’s game. I hoped what they were going to do would be more deadly than that. “We need you to attack them to give us time to cast.”

I nodded. “Just try to make it worth it.” He nodded back and I raised my borrowed sword aloft. “Let’s go, men! Attack!” I turned the other way and ran around the corner, screaming at the top of my lungs. I wish I had shouted out something inspiring, but I didn’t. I didn’t yell any words at all. I just gave voice to my anger and frustration, and, of course, my hatred of drants. I was hating them very much as I ran.

Even though the fighting was on the opposite side of the open area we were running out into, putting us at the back of it, we didn’t surprise anybody. There were too many drants filling the area, with more pushing in through the gateway. Plenty of them were facing us as we came into view and a very large number of them started heading our way immediately. I guess they were excited to die.

Okay, they were probably happy about the opportunity to kill us and then snack on us for lunch. Either way, they came right at us. I realized I was a little too far out in front so I stopped and let everyone catch up to me. We formed a ragged line and took a few breaths while we waited for the first drants to reach us. Just like up on the wall I noticed Venzik on my left and my father on my right. They didn’t look quite as fresh as they had then but neither did I. Everything I was wearing was cut up and covered in blood. If I lived through the day, I knew I would have to throw them all away. Heroing is really hard on clothes.

I had no idea what Padral’s idea of ‘long’ was but I had some definite opinions on what it should be. The drants reached us and the one in front of me came in carrying his giant two-handed sword above his head and looking to smash it down into mine. I dropped into a squat and swung my own blade sideways into his knee. I didn’t sever his leg but he wouldn’t be walking again today. I wrenched the sword free and moved it to block his giant weapon. I don’t know if I would have made it in time, but it didn’t matter because Venzik got to it first, slicing through both of the drants wrists before it could finish its attack. I quickly stood back up. Well, as quickly as I could. My legs and back were really feeling it just then. I nodded a thanks to him and got back to work.

We were slowly being pushed back by the drants. The coming up from behind were pushing the ones in front and they had nowhere to go but through us. I hacked at the head of the drant in front of me with my sword and stabbed it in the belly with a dagger I had pulled from its sheath at my waist. He blocked the sword, but my dagger slid right in, all the way up to the hilt. I yanked it free and this time nothing stopped my sword from slicing into the side of his head.

I shoved the dying drant back into his comrades right behind him, expecting them to shove him right back at me. I thought it might give me a chance to breathe. Instead, he knocked them over. All of them. Even some of the ones still coming in the gate. I looked at Venzik, who shrugged.

“Are they dead?” my father asked, moving close enough to the drant on the ground in front of him to poke it with the tip of his sword.

“No, they merely sleep.” Venzik said as he knelt by one and slid his dagger deep into its throat. “But we need to ensure that they are all dead before the rest show up.”

“Dirk! Over here!” Somebody was yelling at me from near the corner of the building where we had launched our attack. I looked over and saw one of my guards waving to get my attention. I happily left the killing of the sleeping drants to find out what they wanted. I figured it out soon enough. All three mages were lying on the ground. “Did you see what happened?” I asked as I drew nearer.

“Yes, sir. The mages started chanting, then glowing, and then they stopped but they were still handing hands. The Loberth started vomiting blood all over the other two and they fell down at the same time all of the drants did.”

I reached the mages and knelt down beside Loberth. He was on his back and there was blood coming from his eyes, nose, ears and mouth. There was blood everywhere. I took a closer look at Padral then Stegen. Their faces had no blood on them, so I had to guess all of the blood was Loberth’s. I put some fingers on his neck to feel for a pulse but there wasn’t one. I stood back up and moved to Padral. He still lived, as did Stegen when I checked him. This reminded me of the battle with the Kathaldi mages when we were on the Mage Runner. “Just guard them for now. I’ll try to send somebody to join you.” I headed back toward the gate. I wanted to know who from our group had survived but that had to wait because I needed to know what was going on with as much of Tarn as I could find out about. Venzik and Thilos were trying to get a line of archers setup to guard against more drants coming in through the gate. Men were back up on the walls, looking for more drants and yelling when they saw some. There were dead drants everywhere and people were still killing some that were sleeping, including Imprid. She didn’t notice me as she went about her unpleasant task.

I headed over to Thilos and Venzik at a brisk walk. “What do we know about how many drants are left?” I asked when I was near enough. Venzik looked to Thilos, offering him the chance to tell me the bad news. The warder smiled, but it was mostly a grimace. The day had left its mark on him

“The men on the walls have only seen maybe two dozen left. We have no idea how many are left around the rest of the town, though, or if any are still alive inside the walls. Nobody has shown up to tell us anything.”

“Can we ask Captain Gurrl to send some men around the town to gather information?” I asked.

Venzik shook his head slightly. “Unfortunately, we cannot ask Captain Gurrl anything. Not anymore.”

Stupid drants! “So, who’s in charge now?”

Thilos shrugged. Venzik grinned just the tiniest bit. “I suppose you are, my lord.”

“Great! Then would you,” I motioned towards Thilos, “send a combination of our men and locals to enough places around the walls and in the city?” He nodded and moved off to get right to it. I looked at Venzik. “And you, if your done smirking for a while, could you continue to organize the defense of the gate?” He started to turn away but I wasn’t quite finished. “I also need you to send a couple of people to get all of the mages to the Buxom Lass. I would also really like to know about casualties from our group. See what you can find out.”

He turned back to face me. “Certainly, sir. This is what I know so far about that. Thilos told me that Kralnik’s guard captain, Pashnik, died on the walls, as did Warder Ferron and our guard Mibun. On our side of the wall we only lost guard Burdor. Kralnik’s guard Urdnik died in the fight out here before the mages’ spell was cast.”

I didn’t know what to say so I just nodded. Venzik turned away and got to work but I just stood there for a few moments. Seven dead already? Over a quarter of our company gone and we had only made it a day’s ride from Ansdron. Not a good start. Not at all.