The streets gradually began to fill with fleeing civilians as Amara and the others left the harbor behind. People rushed about madly, carrying things, pets, sometimes children, darting between what little cover the buildings could provide whenever the carrion birds flew overhead. For a little while Amara and Evander attempted to stop people from going in the direction of the harbor, but the panic which had taken hold of those who had survived thus far seemed to have imposed a new mentality.

  Every family for themselves.

  “I wonder what father would say if he could see all this,” Jezebel eventually said. “Everything fell apart so quickly without him.”

  Amara and Evander shared a look of concern as they continued onwards. Jezebel’s feelings about Shabboleth seemed to change from moment to moment between grief and hatred.

  She won’t betray us though, Amara thought. If only because she wants to get out of here.

  After a short while their path took them into one of the poorer districts, which seemed to have been mostly left alone by the carrion birds. Far more people filled the streets than before, presumably survivors from the harbor and other neighborhoods which had come under worse attack. Amara and Evander soon had to push their way through a growing crowd in order to continue onwards, until a trio of carrion birds suddenly appeared overhead.

  Shouts and screams of terror immediately erupted from the crowd at the sight of the creatures, and people scattered in all directions, some sprinting down alleyways and others trying to enter the closest buildings through the doors and windows. The carrion birds dove on fleeing targets seemingly at random, and Amara watched as one of them pursued a well dressed middle-aged man into a building. The man managed to dive into the front door just in time to avoid a thrust from the creature’s trident, frustrating its efforts.

  The carrion bird immediately turned about to gesture to its comrades, and they soon abandoned their own pursuits. The two newcomers both held glass lanterns in their free hands, and they immediately threw them into the building’s windows, shattering the glass thoroughly enough to send tiny shards of it in all directions.

  Amara stepped forward towards the carrion birds, past a trickle of fleeing people, and gathered up the fires the creatures had just started. She threw the flames back out the window, and surprise managed to register in their catlike faces just before they were engulfed. Amara felt the flames devouring their feathers, their fur, the flesh beneath, and how they briefly struggled to put themselves out before the inevitable overtook them.

  Their bright forms soon fell and crumpled onto the street’s cobble, and within the space of only a few seconds a trio of tridents and piles of smoking, blackened ash was all that remained of them. Amara then put out what was left of the flames, and Evander walked over to the remains.

  He picked up one of the tridents, handling it gingerly for how hot it clearly still was, and after bouncing it up and down in his hand to feel the weight, soon placed it into the empty ketch slung across his back.

  “That’ll work,” he said, and quickly moved to gather up the other two tridents.

  “Thank you for saving that man,” Jezebel said behind Amara.

  She turned around. “I didn’t do it for him. I wanted Evan to get those tridents.”

  Jezebel responded with a short, dubious hum, and Amara turned away from her, suddenly feeling embarrassed. She pressed on, and Evander rushed over to join them after acquiring the third and final trident.

  The streets remained mostly empty as they traveled deeper into the city, and before long the neighborhoods they passed through began to seem familiar. Evander said nothing, but he quietly quickened his pace and Amara allowed him to take the lead.

  They turned onto a new street, and she instantly recognized it as the one which their inn had been on. Many of the buildings along the street had fires raging across them, and it was pure luck that the inn hadn’t joined them just yet. Amara halted for a moment to extinguish all the flames she could see.

  “Can’t you put out all the fires in the city, Mara?” Evander abruptly asked.

  Jezebel openly stared at Amara, clearly waiting to hear her answer.

  “...I wouldn’t even if we had enough time,” Amara said. “All the fires and the birds are obviously keeping the guards distracted.”

  “You don’t feel obligated to help?” Jezebel asked.

  Amara frowned at her. “I’m already helping someone. And it’s not our fault that this place completely fell apart as soon as their leader died.”

  Jezebel blinked several times, and her gaze briefly flicked to the cobble at her feet, but she said nothing else.

  “Should we stop to get our things?” Evander asked. “Wouldn’t take that long.”

  Amara nodded to him. “Okay. We’re going to need our rucksacks if we miss the portal. And Jezebel can switch outfits.”

  Jezebel’s gaze lifted to stare at Amara once more.

  “No offense,” Amara continued. “But you could use a change of clothes. You can have some of mine.”

  After taking a long look at her clothing, Jezebel raised an eyebrow at Amara before suddenly turning a stare onto Evander. After a moment of confusion Amara realized he’d been ogling her, and he attempted to play it off by turning about to walk towards the inn. She rolled her eyes before following him inside, and Jezebel followed her.

  The cranky old woman who’d owned the inn was nowhere to be seen once they stepped inside. Evander didn’t bother with waiting in the lobby, and immediately mounted the stairs which led up to their rooms.

  “You stayed the night, here?” Jezebel asked Amara as they followed him up the stairs.

  “Yeah, just the one.”

  “The guards didn’t question you at all?”

  “Nope. But we were doing our best to stay away from them.” She paused. “And I guess it helped that we had a Seraphim guiding us through the city.”

  “Oh.”

  “Why? Wishing they’d caught us?”

  “No. I’m just curious.”

  After reaching their floor, Evander immediately entered his room, and Amara led Jezebel into hers. Everything remained exactly where she’d left it, which came as a small comfort considering everything that had happened and all the chaos outside.

  She approached her rucksack and opened it, removing all her clean blouses and slacks in order to hastily array them across the bed.

  “I think we’re roughly the same size, so just take your pick. Sorry that isn’t as fancy as you’re used to.”

  “It’s fine. Thank you.”

  Amara watched her search through the clothing for a moment before realizing what was to come next.

  “Um. I’ll turn around over here to give you some privacy.”

  Jezebel said nothing, and after Amara walked a few paces away and turned about, she heard her begin to disrobe.

  “I’m sorry about Shabboleth,” Amara said.

  She heard Jezebel pause. “...You’re sorry?”

  “It wasn’t personal at all. That…wasn’t how I wanted things to go. Or expected them to go. And I know it was complicated between you. So I thought I should just….”

  An awkward silence fell over her, and she soon heard Jezebel resume her activity.

  “I haven’t thanked you yet, either,” Amara said. “We only survived because of you.”

  “You’re welcome,” Jezebel said with obvious discomfort. “I’m ready.”

  Amara turned back around, and was immediately impressed. Her clothing had fit Jezebel quite well, almost perfectly, though the boring brown and beige stood in rather stark contrast with Jezebel’s natural aura of nobility.

  “That suits you,” Amara said. “Even if you do look a little like a water lily dropped into a farmer’s bucket.”

  “I’ll try my best not to outshine you in your own clothing,” Jezebel snapped.

  Amara scoffed, then gave her an amused smirk before returning to the bed to gather up the remaining clothing. She quickly stuffed it all into her rucksack, including Jezebel's old clothing, and tied it shut before shouldering the straps with a tired grunt.

  “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “After you,” Jezebel said, clearly anxious to get going.

  They stepped out of the room, and found Evander waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs. He shot an awkward glance at Jezebel before his gaze settled onto Amara.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  Amara frowned as she walked past him out the front door. Once they'd all entered the street she turned to him.

  “Which direction, dumbass?”

  Evander frowned while taking a look up and down the street, and Jezebel soon lifted an arm.

  “The gate is that way,” she said, pointing down the opposite end of the street. “It’s only twenty minutes or so away from here.”

  Evander looked a bit surprised, but soon gave Amara a shrug.

  “She would know, right? Mattias led us on a weird route when we first got here.”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “She’s already more useful—”

  An alarming rumbling suddenly sounded from the building across the street from the inn. Within the space of time it took Amara to turn and face it, the entire front end of the building collapsed, and she realized in the same moment that she happened to be standing far too close to the danger in order to dive out of the way.

  Terror exploded within her as a wave of dust and red-brown bricks engulfed her from head to toe. The dust instantly filled her nose, and she felt bricks strike all across her body, but it didn’t hurt at all, somehow. Nevertheless, the sheer force of it managed to throw her off her feet, and she landed backwards onto her rucksack as the wave consumed her.

  Once the avalanche of bricks finally stopped, Amara let out a harrowed gasp of shock. She was completely buried, and the bricks pressing down on her from all angles felt heavy—but there was still no pain. She could tell that a tremendous load of bricks had landed atop her chest, and immediately wondered at how she was still able to breathe more or less normally.

  After taking a moment to register what had just happened, she attempted to move, but found herself to be almost totally immobilized. Panic began to swarm through her, until she heard the bricks above her begin to move.

  Evander’s faint voice reached her through the pile, steadily becoming louder along with the sound of bricks being flung aside.

  “—ra? Mara?!?”

  “Down here!” she called out.

  His digging became more urgent, and before long he had removed the remaining bricks which had come to rest atop Amara’s face. A beautiful blue sky appeared above her, and Evander soon interrupted it with the most intensely worried look on his face she’d ever seen. Jezebel appeared beside him, peering down at Amara with a thoroughly unroyal look of shock.

  “Are you okay?!” Evander shouted.

  “...I’m fine! Just get this damn shit off of me!”

  He and Jezebel both moved out of her line of sight, and Amara felt them rushing to remove the remaining bricks which had left her immobilized. Once enough of them had been removed to allow her some movement she lifted herself out from beneath the remaining pile, and soon regained her feet, brushing a thick layer of dust off herself.

  “You’re just—I can’t even—” Evander stammered beside her.

  “Wow!” was all Jezebel managed to say.

  “I’m fine,” Amara repeated. “It didn’t hurt at all. I just couldn’t move.”

  Evander rushed over to help brush her off, as did Jezebel. Once most of the dust had come off, Amara took a look up at the building. From the top to the bottom, the entire front end of it had come down like it’d been sliced vertically. She could see how fire had scorched the building’s interior, and marveled at how surprisingly homey the rooms inside seemed despite all the damage. Burned rugs and various pieces of furniture stood in place, somehow unaffected by the sudden collapse.

  It had been one of the many buildings on fire which Amara had put out earlier, and it simply hadn’t occurred to her that the flames might have actually weakened the structure.

  “Are you guys okay?” she asked.

  “We just barely managed to jump out of the way,” Evander said. “It was sheer dumb luck we didn’t get buried, too.”

  “Are you really okay?” Jezebel asked.

  Amara looked down once more to search herself for injuries, prompting Evander and Jezebel to search her as well. After a few seconds Amara lifted her gaze from herself, and shrugged.

  “...Yeah? I don’t think there’s a scratch on me. My clothing is obviously a little worse for wear, though.”

  Evander shook his head with disbelief. “...You really are invincible now, Mara. That’s amazing.”

  Amara nodded to him, then let out a gasp after remembering the elixir had been in her pocket. She scrambled into it, and was immediately relieved to see the bottle had somehow survived. Both of the golden angels at the top had been sheared off, and the glass was scuffed and scratched in quite a few places, but the topper remained in place and no cracks were evident. The level of clear liquid within had remained exactly where it’d been before.

  “Good,” Amara sighed.

  “Thank your lucky stars that my father had enough foresight to use reinforced glass,” Jezebel said.

  “Thanks, lucky stars,” Evander said without a hint of irony.

  Amara placed the elixir back into her pocket, and dusted herself off a bit more before gesturing impatiently down the street.

  “Well, let’s go, then! Before any other crazy thing can happen to stop us.”

  She marched off without waiting for Evander and Jezebel, and they rushed to catch up. The street ahead of them looked empty for a long ways, and Amara suddenly found herself paying far more attention to the buildings around them.

  Squads of soldiers carrying long spears and crossbows began to rush through the street as the front gate neared, all hustling in one direction or another. The soldiers completely ignored Amara and Evander, which didn’t come as much of a surprise, but they also ignored Jezebel, which did. After passing within a few feet of a squad rushing down the opposite end of the street, Amara managed to get a better look at their faces through the gaps in their helmets, and it started to make sense. The soldiers all looked stressed, with hunted looks in their eyes, and each of them seemed to be keeping one eye on the sky as they jogged along.

  They’ve got way bigger problems than us right now, Amara thought. Good.

  The top arch of the gate soon came into view past the building tops, and Amara halted for a moment to get a good look at it. The gate’s arch was on fire in a few places, and at least a dozen of the carrion birds floated in the sky high above it, conducting sporadic dive runs on the guards standing at the top. Each of the soldiers held crossbows, and they fired at the creatures as well as they could, but they were swift and attacking from all directions.

  Upon seeing it, Jezebel broke into a run towards the gate, and Amara and Evander soon joined her. After sprinting through another empty intersection, the rest of the gate came into view.

  A large formation of spear-wielding guards stood across the length of the gateway behind them, actively fending off a tremendous swarm of carrion birds hovering in the air closeby. A long pile of bloodied bodies stood before the formation, composed of both the corpses of carrion birds and more than a few of the guards.

  Amara watched as one of the carrion birds suddenly dove on the formation, only to be subsequently impaled on the end of several spear points. The soldiers who’d caught it then worked together to remove the corpse and drop it onto the pile before them as their nearby comrades attempted to keep them covered.

  Jezebel paused just long enough to study the situation before running off again, this time directly towards the guards.

  “Dont—!!!” Evander immediately cried out.

  Scowling, Amara shook her head as she stepped forward. Like before, a few of the carrion birds in the swarm carried glass lanterns, and she focused on the flames within one of the closest ones she could sense. The lantern exploded into a fireball, totally engulfing the creature carrying it, and Amara focused on reaching out to grab the other creatures in the air nearby.

  The carrion birds reacted with panic at the sudden maelstrom which had exploded in their midst, and they began to scatter in all directions. One of them happened to spot Jezebel as she ran, and immediately angled to dive on her.

  Amara tried to send her closest flames towards it, but Evander pre-empted her by shooting it out of the sky with one of the tridents he’d collected. The creature crashed onto the cobblestone directly in Jezebel’s path, who managed to sidestep it without breaking stride.

  “Nice shot!” Amara instantly said.

  Evander gave her a grin. “...Thanks.”

  Amara then took off after Jezebel, and Evander joined her. The carrion birds quickly regrouped in the air much higher above the gate, and seemed to have taken a much more guarded stance.

  Jezebel skidded to a stop a few feet in front of the formation.

  “Where is Captain-General Yi? Take me to him immediately!”

  “Get out of here, civilian!” one of the soldiers towards the back of the formation shouted at her.

  “I am Princess Jezebel, you fools!” Jezebel shouted back. “Now hurry and do as you’re bid!”

  Realization rippled across the formation, and several of the troops closest to her lowered their spears, trading surprised looks with one another. A call began to ring out from the troops.

  “Weimer!” “Commander Weimer!”

  By the time Amara and Evander ran up to stand beside Jezebel, a younger dark-skinned man wearing armor quite similar to the set Hippolytus had worn began to push his way through the formation.

  “Your highness!?” he said. “My god, you’re alive! Is the king—”

  “Take us inside, Commander,” Jezebel demanded. “Now!”

  Weimer was taken aback for a moment, but soon gave her a firm nod.

  “Give us a path, you scoundrels!” he called out. “And keep your weapons pointed up at that damn swarm! God help you if you allow the princess to come to harm.”

  The formation swiftly shifted about, opening a slender path for Jezebel and the rest even as they raised their spears high into the air. Jezebel immediately marched through the new path, followed closely by Weimer. Amara shared a look with Evander before following after them, and the formation closed ranks behind them as soon as they passed through.

  Jezebel marched directly towards a metallic door cut into the gate’s arch, guarded by two crossbow-wielding soldiers. They instantly moved to attention after spotting her, and she stepped past them without so much as sparing them a glance.

  They entered into a large room with a low ceiling, illuminated by burning lanterns dotting the walls. Soldiers rushed about the room, carrying spears or bundles of crossbow bolts to and fro. A large table displaying what appeared to be a map sat directly in the center of the room, and a small group of soldiers stood before it, wearing the special armor with green tassels Amara had seen before. They seemed oblivious to Jezebel’s presence, staring down at the map while discussing something quietly. She marched directly towards them, forcing a few busy soldiers to wait for her to pass.

  “Captain-General,” she called out.

  The men at the table turned about in unison, and shock entered the expressions of all but the light skinned, shorter man standing in the middle. The right side of his face was heavily scarred, and his right eye was missing, the socket empty and overgrown with skin.

  “Your highness,” he scowled. “I’m surprised to see you’re still alive.”

  “Report,” Jezebel said as she came to a stop before him.

  Yi turned to the map, gesturing to it, and the men standing beside him cleared away to allow Jezebel to look.

  “These things appeared in the sky roughly an hour or so ago. Our troops have been fending them off as best we can, but I’ll be blunt, highness—the situation is grim. We’ve observed that they’re mostly focused on the castle. The forces they’ve deployed into the city are clearly meant to fix us into position. Casualties are high among the troops.” He paused. “And even higher among the populace.”

  “What of the rest of the city?” Jezebel asked.

  “Nothing has come from the castle since the reports that his highness fell into the bay with the Sullied One. That was a few hours ago. Few of the runners I’ve sent out since have returned alive.”

  “All of the ships in the harbor have been destroyed,” Jezebel said.

  Yi gave her a mildly disappointed frown. “...I see. Well, we expected as much.”

  “Is there any indication of what the creatures want?”

  “We don’t know,” he said. “They haven’t attempted communication as far as we can tell. And they aren’t taking prisoners.”

  Jezebel’s attention left his face, and settled onto the map. She studied it in silence for a long while before casting a glance at Amara.

  “You must open the gate for us,” Jezebel eventually said.

  “...Yes, highness. And what of the city?”

  “Defend it as you will.”

  Yi and the other men standing beside him immediately understood the implication behind her words, and anger instantly spread across most of their faces. For his part, Yi’s expression remained neutral, and he calmly turned to the man standing closest to him.

  “Send word—the gate must open immediately. Her highness wishes to leave.”

  “Yes sir,” the soldier replied. He shot a glance loaded with resentment at Jezebel before moving off to obey.

  Jezebel turned about to leave, and Amara and Evander joined her. But before they could take more than a few steps, Yi called out behind them.

  “It would be unwise to come back,” he said. “Your highness.”

  After pausing for a moment to absorb his words in silence, Jezebel resumed her path towards the door, and a great metallic moan erupted from outside.

  A cloud of dust flew into the air as the gate’s massive door slowly began to open. Some of the soldiers in the formation nearby looked back at the gate and at Jezebel before returning their attention to the swarm of carrion birds hovering overhead.

  Amara considered saying something to Jezebel, but she soon put the idea to rest as they walked beneath the gate’s massive arch. The road traveling down the spit of land leading to the shoreline was utterly empty, and the sound of crashing waves soon drowned out the embattled ambience of the dying city behind them.