“Why would you even consider I’d work against my father?” Said Sabrina. A downpour of dust fell to shower them, the combat outside had grown fiercer it seemed. Knowing that Sabrina was now inside, Pyro initiated an attack on the church. Whether to save her, simply use her as a distraction or both.

“Because he’s using you,” Snapped Thana, “like he uses us all. Why do you think he left your mother in Wetbrook? Why do you think he’s using you against me?” Thana gave her a look of complete endearment.

“We are all just pieces in a game Sabrina. He does not love you, no more than he loved your mother.” Sabrina began to feel her blood pound in the temple at the mention of her mother. A hot flush overcame her.

“And you?” Sabrina spat. “Do you not play the same game? Telling me to make that serum, telling me I’m either with you or against you?”

The words lingered in the air, echoing slightly off the stone walls of the church. Outside the tall doors of the sanctuary a bolt hissed, men screamed, and more thunderclaps rang out. Thana went to step forward but was obstructed by the wall of light that beamed across the floor like a glowing spear.

“I’m sorry Sabrina,” Thana said. “You are right. I only feared he would turn you against me like he did your mother. I asked you to make the serum for your own protection, so you’d have power over him if he ever…wanted you to do something you didn’t want to.”

Sabrina saw her aunt's face twist as if in pain—bearing her elongated canines. Another explosion from outside caused the stone walls to crumble around them. Thana darted her sights to the ceiling in alarm, then Sabrina realized why. If Pyro somehow mustered enough blasting powder to bring down a wall, it might expose Thana to the bright sunlight outside. Thana glanced at the wooden trap door behind her, it no doubt led into the sewers somehow.

“I never left your mother's side until she gave birth to you,” Thana added hurriedly. “Your father convinced her that you would be safe here under my protection. But I knew he just wanted me away from your mother. I never meant for any of this to happen, Sabrina. Your mother was supposed to be here but…”

“But you messed up,” Sabrina said. She felt hot tears forming and tried to bite them back. She felt stupid, feeling this much grief for someone she never met. It was like missing somehow who never existed but at the same time, the phantom in her mind made it all the more real. Her mother was strong, fierce, like a big sister in that realm of imagination, a piece of her that would have completed her in ways her aunt and father cannot.

“The man who killed your mother is here.” A voice said flatly, and when Sabrina looked up, it was still Thana, her voice deadened. “I can deliver him to you once your father is chased out of the city. I offer you vengeance Sabrina, and once the deed is done, I’ll leave you to whatever life you wish to live, with, or without my guidance.”

The sound of wood exploding inwards washed over the tumult of fighting, then the noise grew deafening as the WC undoubtedly charged inside the church. It was time for Sabrina to decide, but before she could speak, Thana was already backing up and lifting the trap door to the cellar below.

“If vengeance is what you want,” Thana decreed. “then find yourself in the throne room when the city falls. There, they will be a man named Saurus. He’s the man that killed your mother if his bearded friend tells it true. Only two men survived the siege at Wetbrook.”

Thana said the last part as if it was to be admired, then disappeared below. Sabrina might have followed her aunt, whether to interrogate her further, aid her, or kill her, she did not know, when another bell suddenly rang. This one however was undoubtedly the city bell, the bell that only swung when the city was under siege.

The combat on the other side of the sanctuary doors behind her had turned into a multitude of yells and pleas for mercy. Sabrina guessed the church followers were aware of an attack on the city and hoped to play their part in the rebellion. ‘Thana should have been born a spider as well, producing this many webs across the city.’ She thought.

Sabrina leaped, sticking to the tower in which she climbed in from and scaled upwards. The light was blinding to look at, so she forced herself to look downwards as she climbed. Her naked hands and feet make a mockery of the smooth stone wall and before she knew it, she was out of the tower that housed the church bell.

The city of Leeside stretched out before her like a maze of brick and tile. The city bell rang on and on, much louder than the previous one. Sabrina saw smoke rise from the north.

‘The city gates?’

Dashing to the nearest rooftop, she made her way northward. Jumping from building to building like some jungle monkey. She saw WC men in the street below feuding with some locals, telling them to return to their homes. When a local man refused, a WC drove the tip of his spear into the man’s guts. Blood poured out from the local man’s belly and his wife took up a scream, then the mob formed and was on them.

It didn't matter who had the weapons or the authority once the commonfolk realised: they outnumbered their captures ten to one. Sabrina saw city folk and WC alike, rushing through the streets. She even stopped to watch one WC run into an alley to remove his armour and blend into the mob.

‘The first turn cloak’ Sabrina considered.

At the main gates, fire and blood were all she could smell. The courtyard had become a graveyard, with Royal Guard and rebels were laying arm in arm. More were still fighting, the smart ones staying way clear from the Royal Guards melee range. Arrows and bolts were mostly ricocheting off the thick Royal Guard armour, rocks, and smaller stones, simply ‘bonged’ as it collided with the steel suits, but all around the people fought.

‘The city was falling.’ Sabrina knew. For every Royal Guard or WC killed, the balance of power tilted a little and more common folk took to the rebellion.

“This city is yours!” She heard a booming voice call out from atop the wall. Looking up, she saw a bearded man wearing what looked to be a bear cloak.

“Lay claim to it!”

Then to Sabrina’s dismay, she heard what sounded like a howling of wolves erupt from the ramparts.

To add to the chorus of howling there came a cry she had never heard before. Long and high-pitched. It could have been a horn until she saw the main gate begin to buckle from some hard impact.

‘They have a ram?’ thought Sabrina, but as the main gate was slowly being opened from the gatehouse above, something on the outside was charging to come in. It was not until the gate stood a foot open, she realised. An enormous Elk was using its equally enormous antlers to pry open the main gate. Behind it, she could see a small army of men and woman, waiting to charge inside, each one holding clubs, spades, frying pans, and other cooking utensils.

It was then she knew, the city was indeed ruined. Sabrina turned to retreat towards the throne room, where her father was undoubtedly wroth.