Most of the townspeople spent the day after the attack putting things back in their place. Some work in silence while others spent their time endlessly about the night before. They gathered the dead for burial, assessed the damages, and began the grim process of cleaning the blood stains from the streets.

  Overall the damage to the city itself was surprisingly minimal. It felt somehow wrong to Asher that the city look so unaffected the morning after its people were slaughtered in the streets. The stone and brick construction of most of the building had prevented the fires from getting too out of hand, and the invaders had just been foot soldiers, they had no way to destroy buildings. Thinking about it Asher realised that even the death toll, if looked at on the scale of the city, was probably quite small. Once again he couldn't help but feel that looking at it that way was wrong, people had died gruesome, unnecessary deaths. The number of casualties being relatively few was a hollow consolation.

  Reports were being read aloud in the town square, the square itself was actually a sectioned off part of the market’s territory. According to reports provided by the King’s guard, goblins had appeared inside the tower and, after dashing across the gardens, launched an attack directly on the interior of the King’s Round. The King had survived, escorted away by his guard, but he had not yet returned to his palace as it was being searched to ensure no goblins remained.

  The king's guard had been completely unprepared for an attack, any human based attack would come from outside the city, the castle would be the last line of defence, and worse still, the inner walls of the castle had up until last night been next to completely undefended. The gardens and castle should have been the safest place in the city.

  The most frequent variety of gossip that Asher heard as he stood in the market, absorbing what information he could, was the topic of a potential encore tonight. For as far back as Astradel’s written histories went, there was not a single record of an attack coming from inside the Tower. The few guards that are stationed at the tower are more a symbolic gesture, to honor the Tower as important to the city.

  Now the city found itself reeling from a surprise attack that they thought was impossible, and everyone was now asking themselves the saMe question. “Will this happen again” The scariest part for most people seemed to be that it was, as of now, a mystery. They had no way of knowing if this had been a one off or if it would become the new norm.

  Asher on the other hand, was not concerned with the likelihood of another attack at this moment, after all he wasn't planning on still being here. He was instead trying to catch any news about the Tower lock down.

  “The king has no idea what to do with all this.” A gruff looking city guard had said as Asher was walking by. He slowly pulled to a stop, attempting to look natural as he leaned back against a nearby wall.

  “Can’t blame him though can ya? If this all goes on again we’ll be livin in a world of monsters before long.” His companion, a leaner man with a higher voice replied.

  “Fat lot of good the plan is, a wall is all well and good but plans for a wall in the future don't keep us alive tonight.” The first replied. “And why aren't they stationing soldiers in the gardens? Seems a waste.”

  The leaner man replied “The top brass reckon it’ll work better if we defend from the King’s round instead of trying to fight a standing battle in the garden. From the Round we can have our archers rain hell down on them when they try to come for us.” He spat as he spoke, he seemed to be brimming with hatred for the goblins.

  Asher moved on, he couldn’t make himself too obvious by listening to the same people all day.

  That evening Asher found himself taking a leisurely walk around the King’s Round. The castle, of course, was on lock down and the pathways into the garden’s were locked or guarded. Fortunately for Asher, there were too many pathways or entrances for the guard to keep up. The king’s decision had been to concentrate his forces in one section of the castle, locking the rest down. Asher guessed that they chose this tactic because the goblins had not brought any siege equipment capable of getting through strong fortifications; the beasts would need to go through the guards to get out.

  All Asher needed to do was break through this gate and he would be on a path that would take him directly to the Tower. He had brought with him a back of the bare essentials, and his small hand axe hanging from a loop in his belt. Normally nobody would spare a second thought for the young farmer to be carrying around an axe, he just hoped that walking around alone at night didn’t draw any unwanted attention.

  Asher pulled the hand axe out of its loop, he knew this would destroy the axe, It couldn’t be used to bash a metal lock open and retain its edge, but he deemed the sacrifice necessary. Just as he was about to raise his arm to swing, he jumped as he felt something landing on his shoulder. He turned, in a panic, to find someone standing behind him, a shadow obscuring their face.

  “And here I was thinking you were being brave. You spooked like a kitten.” Hazel's familiar voice came from the shadowed figure. She took a step forward and with that he was able to make out her face. He could see the details of her long wavy, brown hair and the freckles that decorated her face.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “What are you doing here?” Asher hissed, doing his best to keep his voice down. His heart was still racing and he was struggling to slow its beat.

  “I knew I couldn’t trust you to stay home. If you are set on doing this then I am going with you.” Hazel replied, she stepped in even closer as she spoke, lowering her voice to a whisper.

  “This is too dangerous, you can’t come.” Asher said, straightening his back to stand at his full height.

  “If it’s so dangerous then surely it would be even more risky for you to go alone.” She replied, not giving an inch.

  “I’m willing to risk my life for this Haze, but not yours. He’s my brother and I’m the one who failed him.” Asher turned away and began examining the lock once more.

  “Look Ash, I understand that you think you need to do this alone. I understand you think that you're the only one who failed Ben. But I failed him too, I was there when he was first taken and I couldn’t do anything to stop it.” Her voice, even through the whisper, was gentle. “I even understand that you want to keep me safe, but my life is my own to risk, not yours Ash.

  Asher turned back around and met her gaze. He could see determination and strength of will in her eyes. She was committed to joining him and she wouldn’t tolerate arguments. Thinking on it now, Asher didn’t think he had ever won an argument against this woman.

  He nodded his ascent to Hazel and she grinned in reply.

  “So what’s the plan?” She asked, suddenly cheery.

  Asher looked from her to the axe in his right hand. “Well, I was going to hit the lock with this until it broke, and then make a run for the Tower before the guards can respond to the sound.”

  Hazel stared at Asher, as if waiting for him to continue.

  Asher began to thumb the blade of his axe, checking its edge.

  “Are you joking?” She asked.

  “Well, no. I didn't think I needed a complicated plan, I just needed to get to the tower.

  “I am beginning to think that this would have been a very short journey if I weren't here.” She sighed and unslung the pack from her back, crouching to grab something. She pulled out a thick blanket and stood back up, handing it to Asher.

  “What am I supposed to do with this?” He asked, baffled by Hazel’s actions.

  In reply she just pointed up to the top of the gate. The gate sat set into the tunnel but it did not reach all the way to the top of the pathway, instead the top was lined with razor sharp spikes to prevent attempts at climbing over. After a moment it clicked into place in his mind.

  “Blankets on the spikes?” Asher asked.

  “Blankets on the spikes.” Hazel confirmed, speaking as if Asher were a child.

  Asher did as he was instructed, first helping Hazel climb over the gate and then following afterwards himself. By the time Asher managed to clamber over the gate he found Hazel on the other side wheezing in restrained laughter, for his part his face must have been red from both the strain and the embarrassment.

  Now that they were both on the other side, Hazel had removed something else that had been strapped to her pack. A small round shield of simple wood and leather design.

  “Where in the world did you get that?” Asher was stunned by the sight of Hazel holding something built for war.

  Hazel suppressed a self satisfied grin as she spoke “Family heirloom, at some point a few generations back my family were armourer’s. All their weaponry and armour was handed into the King when they settled into the city life. They kept this as a symbol of our past.”

  “That’s amazing.” Asher replied as he studied the shield. “It’s so strange to see someone who isn't a soldier or guard with anything like this.”

  “Calm down Ash, it's just a shield.” she replied.

  “Right, sorry you’re right. I think I’m finding reasons to be distracted from what we are doing here. We should go.” He nodded down the tunnel indicating their destination.

  The tunnel itself was dark but they could see a hint of light coming from the other end, the gardens likely had torches set out to allow the guards to spot their targets should they return tonight.

  They walked in silence down the path. Not only were they trying to be stealthy but they were also just too nervous to talk. The path was dark but just enough ambient light remained that they could keep their footing. It wasn't long before they reached the other end, the tunnel itself was really just a cut out under the structure of the King’s Round.

  Reaching the other end, they stopped short enough to remain hidden in the shadows of the tunnel. Once they left this cover they would be out in the open and vulnerable to the guard’s arrows.

  “Do you have something to fix this part of the plan?”Asher asked Hazel, hopefully.

  She eyed him, annoyed. “You know I was hoping you would have had all this planned out after your day of not so subtle recon.”

  ‘Well, maybe your shield will be able to stop a couple of arrows. If you’re lucky.” Asher joked.

  Hazel rolled her eyes, she checked her grip on the straps of the shield anyway.

  “Let’s just do this before your lack of planning convinces me to go home.” Hazel said. She shifted uncomfortably on her feet, waiting for Asher’s mark.

  Asher took a few moments, eyes closed, to slow his breathing. While they were closed he felt as though he were standing on a cliff's edge, as if when he opened his eyes he would be looking out at the empty sky. The feeling nauseated him and he felt for a moment as though he might lose his dinner. He braced himself on the brick wall as the feeling washed over him, the cool rough surface giving him something to focus on, to distract from his fears.

  This was the only way, if risking his life meant a chance to save Ben’s then there was no other choice. This had to be done. Asher took two more slow deliberate breaths and after that he opened his eyes, determination having replaced the terror.

  “Okay, let's go.” Asher said and with that, he began running.