“Ice!” Theo cried from somewhere above them. Florian turned his head to see Theo dropping his hand as a general commanding an army might, and eleven shadows behind him let their spells loose at once.

Spears made of ice sailed through the air, the moonlight glinting off their surfaces the only indication that they were there. And then suddenly the earth beneath his feet shook as the massive creatures fell to the ground. One rose shakily, roaring with rage as it sprinted at the wall. Another, smaller wave of spears impacted the monster, slamming into its eyes and destroying its head. It fell for a final time, landing among what Florian could barely make out as maybe four massive corpses.

The Hellwolves, fairly stupid in their unending aggression, continued their attack. The spears had stopped, the wizards exhausted in their spells. Even Theo, who Florian suspected had been responsible for almost the entirety of that second barrage, had gone quiet. But the Warriors had been killing Hellwolves for years, and even the untrained guards had managed to fall into step.

Florian stabbed into the mouth of one of the demons, killing the golden-scaled creature as it tried to leap over the carcasses of its brethren. Instead, it just added to the growing battlements that made the fight by the gate simpler by the minute. Wiping sweat from his forehead with a free hand, Florian was happy to see that most of the people around him still stood; few of them had died to the breach despite the volume of wolves.

Then the moment for thought was over, and another wolf came snapping its jaws at him. Florian stabbed at the monster, but the wooden shaft of his spear quivered as it encountered hard teeth. With a crunch that froze his heart, the spear snapped in two. He began to cast a spell, ignoring the headache that threatened to overcome him completely, but he knew that the split second he had would not be enough.

An orb of water splashed against the creatures mouth, extinguishing whatever heat kept the monster going. It collapsed inches from Florian. Breathing a sigh of relief, Florian shouted a word of thanks.

To his surprise, it was not Kayla who replied. “No problem!” Joseph called. Florian turned immediately, finding that the young boy stood a few yards away from him and the frontline of battle. Joseph was smiling, but there was strain there. A combination of witnessing this hellscape and using magic, then.

The battle continued, and though Florian’s body felt like it was about to fall apart from the constant physical and mental exertion, he managed to make it until dawn broke. When the rays of the sun illuminated the sky, the Hellwolves began to scamper away from Leeds, leaving the weary men and women on the wall to fall to the ground in relief and exhaustion.

Of the Warriors, only Hornbeck managed to remain standing. Theo and his group of twelve, including Kayla now, similarly appeared to be fine. Florian did notice Kayla wincing regularly, a tell that he no doubt had when the magic-induced headaches were particularly bad. He hadn’t been willing to push himself quite that far; she was dancing on a tightrope of falling into unconsciousness, something she might never wake up from. Just like Wesley.

“Good work, proud defenders of Leeds!” Theo called, his voice loud and majestic. “Your efforts have spared the lives of every innocent within these walls, and the sacrifices of your fallen brothers and sisters have paved the way for our future security. As you have seen, we are not so weak any longer!

“Our magic will protect us, and should we face another attack like this one, we will have nothing to fear! Leeds Castle will become a bastion for all that seek security, and I will make sure that each and every one of you that chooses to fight for Leeds is rewarded handsomely. The next group of wizards will be made from among you, Warriors!”

Anna snorted from right next to him. “Rewarded handsomely, sure…” She looked around them, finding that another dozen or so had fallen by their side at the gate. There were precious few of the Warriors remaining, and even counting the former guards among their number, Leeds could not continue defending itself from attacks like the previous night’s.

Speech concluded, Theo walked away regally, surrounded by his group. Florian was left alone without supervision, but he was interested in nothing more than rest. Hornbeck was a little more prudent than he was, though. The commander, drenched in ichor and wielding a very, very bent sword in his single hand, looked at him with a grim expression.

“What’s wrong?” Florian asked, sitting against the wall.

“You should leave, son.”

“Yeah,” Florian scrunched his nose. He was surrounded by the stench of death, both from his allies and the Hellwolves. “It does smell terrible over here.”

Hornbeck shook his head. “I mean that you need to leave Leeds. Surely you’ve seen the tight ship that Theo runs now. I’ve been trying to talk to you since yesterday, but you’ve been kept under lock and key since the moment you stepped into Leeds. It’s obvious that Theodosius is planning something, and whatever it is, it doesn’t look like you’re a part of them any longer.”

Florian raised his eyebrows in surprise. “I agree that Theo’s an ass, but I don’t think he’s going to get rid of me just because I’m not willing to suck up to him in every waking moment.”

“He watched us last night, Florian. Both Anna and I used the magic you taught us.”

“Oh.” Now that he thought about it, the two dozen other wizards-in-training hadn’t even appeared throughout the fight. It was clear that Theo had intended a show of force with his magic, so not bringing essentially a force multiplier of two didn’t make any sense unless Theo was worried that he’d face resistance from them.

But that didn’t erase all that Florian had done for the man. He was owed his leg back, and he was damned if he wasn’t going to go and receive his reward from the wizard. “Still, without the two of you, the defense would have failed. He’ll see this as a good thing, and even if he’s angry, worst case is that he renegotiates our deal, again.”

“Please, Florian. Trust me on this. I’ve seen people like him, and he’s a different breed of person from Jones and his people. Theodosius is much, much more dangerous.”

Hornbeck didn’t dare say more. Kayla approached quickly, smiling in the way that she did. “Disciple Cale, it’s time to return to the annex to rest up. We’ll need all our strength for tomorrow night.”