All mistakes can be attributed to failures in planning. So too are successes attributable to successes in planning. Shame then that we as a people do one, and not the other.

  -Silas Norgard

  The birthing crystal glittered with pneuma in the temporary underground shelter. Chkiriziki breathed in the life-giving fire that permeated reality as she analyzed the monolith for what felt like the thousandth time. Her antennae jittered spastically over its surface, making sure that its constant relocations hadn't somehow damaged the future of her race.

  "Calm thyself sister Chkiriziki."

  The words filtered through the air, tasting of reproach on her taste buds. Chkiriziki turned to the gathering of queens, idly wondering what it would be like to know who had spoken. The upright-walkers knew. She was sure of it. In the way they angled their bodies and heads toward specific individuals. It was curious to her.

  "I am calm," Chkiriziki secreted in a prim manner. She laid her long body on the tilled earth of the cavern, shivering her small wings in enjoyment of the cool feeling on her bloated egg sac. It was nice to be underground again. From the taste in the air, the other queens felt likewise.

  "Let us eat."

  Zkitchitzi stood. She must have said that. Fascinating. To attribute words to a source and not the collective. Exhausting really. How do the upright-walkers live with themselves?

  The pheromones drifted out, and Chkiriziki joined her sisters in pinging her hive. Her auric pulse traveled through the great web of connections informing her drones of her need. Within seconds, one of her brood walked into their chamber and paused before her. It rolled over onto its back, presenting its soft underside to her.

  Chkiriziki bit its head off.

  "We must speak of the upright-walkers."

  "Their pricks and pokes grow tiresome."

  "Agreed."

  Chkiriziki chewed thoughtfully, then spoke. "Perhaps we leave their territory for good."

  "Surely they will tire of nibbling on our broods," another said.

  "I grow tired of running."

  "Same."

  "Agreed."

  The scents dulled as the collective pondered and ate.

  "Then we fight?" the collective asked.

  "To gain their respect."

  Chkiriziki tasted cautious approval ripple through the gathering.

  "Ahh, so they shall cede territory to us."

  "Clever."

  "They can have their surface world."

  "It is true."

  "I am content away from the sun's rays."

  As she finished her meal, Chkiriziki idly wondered if the upright-walkers mentally concatenated the sentences they spoke to each other. Or perhaps they had a different mode of communication entirely. None of her drones had ever tasted the creatures speak after all. Their auras were surprisingly expressive however. Hmm...

  It was these thoughts that filled Chkiriziki's mind as she mobilized her brood. There was an almost festive flavor to the organization and she joked softly with her sister queen, Ikchikirizshki. She didn't share her thoughts, but found it fun that it was far easier to identify the source of words when it was just the two of them.

  Finding the upright-walkers wasn't hard. They made no effort to hide their travel, especially with the massive arcane quakes they frequently blasted into the earth. The battle started fairly innocuously, and Chkiriziki had fun directing her brood to flank the upright-walker's formation.

  She suffered heavy losses to a focused barrage of suppressing fire, and Chkiriziki couldn't help but be impressed with the upright-walker's organization and firepower. It would be interesting if she could somehow coopt their tactics into her own future engagements.

  They'd attacked with a much larger force this time however, and it almost looked like the upright-walkers would get overwhelmed. Then a burly one—one of the twin-tailed-blue-scaled ones—created an opening with a frightening display of force.

  It was fascinating, but Chkiriziki's attention was abruptly pulled from the battle by a nearby disturbance.

  A group of upright-walkers—led by the powerful metal-clad-twin-tail—burst into their tunnel system!

  The queens collectively stood, a panic filling the air.

  The metal-clad-twin-tail erupted in flame. Two drones were annihilated near instantly as it barreled toward the brood chamber.

  "What are they doing?"

  "Retreat!"

  "Grab the birthing crystal!"

  Chkiriziki barely registered the order as sister Ikchikirizshki dragged her away from the coming danger.

  She caught a brief glimpse of the metal-clad-twin-tail. With her own two eyes.

  The detail scraped against her senses like exposed nerve. The raging aura. How smoothly the creature twisted the strands of mana into attack spells—

  A lance of fire shot over Chkiriziki's carapace. She flinched back.

  Her small wings burned. Fear filled her.

  She twisted and ran, her brood throwing themselves into the attackers’ path, slowing them with their bodies.

  Sister Ikchikirizshki abruptly flagged.

  Chkiriziki had barely a second to notice the cavernous, cauterized hole piercing her egg sac. Then Sister Ikchikirizshki's brood went berserk. Mindlessly throwing themselves against the upright-walkers.

  Carry her, Chkiriziki's will rippled out. Her brood heeded her call.

  Fire and detonations echoed through the tunnels and before long the inevitable collapse separated them from the upright-walkers. They continued running, but Chkiriziki couldn't help but caress the body her brood was pulling along.

  Sister Ikchikirizshki was dead.

  Very gently, Chkiriziki touched sister Ikchikirizshki's egg sac with her antennae. Grief filled her, though she carefully contained her emotions. It would destabilize the collective.

  "Unacceptable!"

  "Egregious!"

  "How could they!"

  The scents washed over Chkiriziki like a tide. The anger in the words barely registered through her shock. How could they, indeed. Did they not realize what an awful thing they had just done?

  "We kill them. Kill them all!"

  "We can't. They are too powerful."

  "Not against our combined hives, they are not!"

  "Perhaps they are..."

  "We cannot know," the collective spoke firmly. Their words fading fast as their hasty retreat carried the pheromones away.

  "They are so alien."

  "What do we know of them?"

  "Sister Zkitchitzi's scouts identified three separate forms they adopt."

  "So they are sexually trimorphic."

  "Perhaps."

  "What does that tell us?"

  "The purple ones are the rarest."

  "The larva?"

  "Or their queens."

  "Zkitchitzi's scouts found most to live within a great walled hive to the south."

  A curious susurration emanated through the gathering. Everyone was quiet for a bit, thinking it through.

  "We are getting off topic."

  "Then, how do we proceed?"

  "Do we fight or do we run?"

  "You suggest we run?"

  "Sister Ikchikirizshki is dead!"

  "We negotiate." Chkiriziki declared softly. Bringing a silence to their semi frantic retreat. By now, most of the queens had collapsed in exhaustion on a moving carpet of their drones. The powerful workers calmly aiding their queens to safety. They had surfaced again, and everyone was having a little trouble seeing due to the bright light. Luckily, nighttime would fall soon.

  "Perhaps they don't realize what they've done?"

  "Impossible."

  "That was an intentional attack."

  "Send a group."

  "Inform them of our will to parlay."

  "Sister Chkiriziki shall head the initiative." Chkiriziki said, offering herself as lead. "She has an idea of how to communicate effectively with them. The upright-walkers do not project their thoughts to the world, but perhaps we might speak with them another way."

  "Perhaps they are simply refusing to speak with our drones?"

  "We will not risk another queen!"

  "Peace," Chkiriziki called out. "Sister Chkiriziki believes that they speak through their auras."

  A surprised bitter flavor entered the air and settled on Chkiriziki's tastebuds. The collective had not thought of this. Clearly. But after some more arguing it was agreed that this method of communication might work.

  Chkiriziki had already begun before a full agreement could be reached. Her drones ranged far through mountains, searching for the scouts the upright-walkers always deployed. She found them in short order.

  Her aura pulsed and throbbed as she took active control of her drones. First, she tried the basic approach. She yelled at the scouts as loud as her drone's secretory glands could work, then tried to sniff out a response. All she got was a basic, dull sense of indifference. Even the trees were louder. Her drone was killed shortly after due to how close she had to get in order to smell for a response.

  That was expected though, so she moved on to step two. She had her drones carry her closer to the next scout, but this time she flexed her will as hard to cause a change in her drone's auric matrix.

  The twin-tailed-upright-walker definitely noticed that. In fact, the shift in mana drew their attention with immense speed. Chkiriziki was initially ecstatic, until a moment later a lance of force destroyed her drone's brain. She flinched at the sudden cut in the connection, automatically switching to watching the events unfold through the eyes of three other drones in the area.

  Not to be deterred, she tried three more times.

  And three more times, her drones were terminated.

  "Sister Chkiriziki has failed." Chkiriziki returned to the collective shortly after. "The upright-walkers do not listen no matter what I have tried."

  "They are a violent race."

  "Cruel."

  "But why?"

  "Perhaps they do not like our appearance?"

  "We are not upright-walkers after all."

  "That is no reason to send their drones after us as they are."

  "Zkitchitzi has returned with more information."

  "The upright-walkers appear to be a monoculture."

  "So?"

  "Are we not also a monoculture?"

  "A small brood was located where they slay the species birthed from a birthing crystal to the last."

  "How barbaric."

  "Indeed."

  "What do we do?"

  "Run?"

  Just then, another arcane pulse of mana blasted over the landscape. Everyone tensed as the ripples tickled their auras. The mana seemed drawn to the birthing crystal, resonating strangely as the ripples seeped into the land.

  "They have found us once again..."

  "Running is fruitless."

  "Surely, if we run far enough—"

  "They have killed a queen."

  "No more running!"

  "We fight!"

  "How?"

  "Their hive is protected by the great curtain walls."

  "We send a group to weaken their heart."

  "They will have to listen to us then."

  "You suggest we attack their queens?"

  "Yes!"

  "Kill them, as they have killed us."

  "What if we hold them hostage."

  "The purple ones?"

  "Those are the queens, are they not?"

  "We don't know that," Chkiriziki spoke up. Everyone grew silent as she gently stood and walked into the center of the gathering. "What if we are wrong? We do not understand these creatures. Of that we are confident. The purple ones might not be their queens."

  "What does the collective suggest?"

  "We go to their hive with senses unclouded. Two queens shall go, and they will be cautious with the purple ones, however, we shall watch carefully. It is those that they protect the most that we shall capture and punish. Everything else can die."

  "Wise words."

  "What do we think of this plan."

  "It is a good plan."

  "Sister Zkitchitzi approves."

  "Then we do it."

  "Yes."

  "Yes."

  "Yes."

  "Yes."

  "Sister Chkiriziki shall go," Chkiriziki volunteered herself again. She had a score to settle with the upright walkers. Or that was what she told herself. Still, somehow, she couldn't completely suppress the vague curiosity at the odd creatures. It wasn't because of that. She had a score to settle. She was angry. Yes. "Sister Chkiriziki will dig beneath the walls and swim up the river."

  "Sister Zkitchitzi shall accompany sister Chkiriziki."

  "The rest shall distract the metal-clad-twin-tail."

  "How many drones do we have."

  "Enough."

  "We lay another clutch."

  "Then begin."

  Just like that, the collective fragmented. Two queens marched north. Toward danger. Toward the killing warband of upright-walkers. They took the birthing crystal with them. To keep safe, because surely the other mission was more dangerous. Perhaps even a suicide mission.

  There were so few of them after all.

  Only four.

  Poor sister Ikchikirizshki.

  Chkiriziki and sister Zkitchitzi took a quieter path. They hid their forces, marching through valleys and during the night. Several more pulses of mana washed out, but as they separated further from the others it became clear that the upright-walkers were tracking the birthing crystal.

  A worrying thought, but one that would have to be shared later. The great walls of the upright-walker's hive loomed ahead. Their drones hid from those few upright-walkers travelling the dusty roads.

  Chkiriziki watched the hive walls, wondering what it would be like to live within such grand protections. Once again the curiosity reared up, but she squashed it. She had a battle to orchestrate.

  With a lumbering sigh, Chkiriziki rose from her relaxed sprawl for the final time. Her egg sac hung heavy from her abdomen. She would be ready to spawn soon. Her sister queen approached—much more spry—and tapped her egg sac thoughtfully.

  "Stay in the rear. I shall break their defenses."

  Chkiriziki got a small thrill in knowing it was sister Zkitchitzi who said it. She sent a small burst of pheromones to indicate acknowledgement. Then their minds fragmented as they controlled the hundreds of drones digging inexorably through the water-softened clay of the river toward the enemy hive.

  It had frozen again last night, but only just. The repeated cycles of warming during the day and cooling at night had left the streets glittering with thousands of pointy icicles that dripped steadily onto the slushy streets of Chikarun.

  "We can totally weaponize the dance!" Akira declared as she gleefully punched a pair of conjoined icy spears hanging off of a storefront. They shattered against the cobbles, only to be immediately forgotten.

  "Ahuh," I said idly. We were walking through town. The we in this situation being Akira, myself and the twins while Arthlas and Rikara escorted us with dour expressions. Akira wanted to commission new target dummies for magic practice, though why she couldn't send a servant was beyond me. Luckily, Chikarun was small, only taking less than an hour to walk from end to end.

  "You're not listening!" Akira accused, stopping dead in front of me and poking me in the chest. I flinched away to protect my sensitive shoulder and used my tail to rebalance.

  "Am too," I replied calmly. "You think a second mage can leverage the constant spinning of the dance of the dragon's descent to launch a constant stream of projectiles. It's actually very clever. Very energy efficient. It also won't work without some changes. The membrane would pop."

  "Oh," Akira deflated. I pushed by her. She hurried to catch up. "Sorry."

  "It's fine," I waved her off. Truth was, I wasn't really paying much attention. "Why do you call it that anyway. Seems a little, I don't know..."

  "It's 'cause you look like a dragon!" Akira exclaimed, all of her exuberance returning in a rush. "Have you looked at the bubble? It's super duper bright!"

  "You do realize that it's all uncompressed, unattuned mana right?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

  "You are negative a thousand fun!" Akira pouted. With her lips. Seeing the human expression on her monstrous face still made me smile. "I'm going to talk to Kemi and Yuna now!"

  I shrugged, allowing myself to trail behind the girls as Akira immediately started bossing around the twins. I had a more important mission. Namely, extracting some personal information from a certain babysitter of mine.

  "So..." I started, eyeing my babysitters. They glanced back. Rikara's aura twitched nervously. "Arthlas... what do you do for fun?"

  "Fun?" Arthlas drawled lazily. I think he was on to me. Too bad. He was getting a personalized gift whether he wanted one or not.

  "Yeah, fun. Like when you are not working. Do you have any hobbies? Or a girlfriend? Wait, are you married?"

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  "I am not married, no," Arthlas said, sending me a long suffering look. "As for fun. I enjoy fighting. And doing my job."

  So a weapon. I could work with that.

  "What's your favorite—"

  I was interrupted by the town bell ringing.

  Dong Dong Dong

  I frowned. Everyone on the street paused, including our group. Akira however had a different reaction.

  "Monsters?!" Akira perked up like she smelled cake. "Where? Where!"

  "At the wall," Rikara replied with a frown.

  "Let's go!" Akira declared, immediately setting off. Apparently the target dummies weren't that important after all.

  "Hold on, mistress Akira!" Arthlas formed a gossamer thin wall of mana in front of Akira. She bounced off of it with a huff then turned on him.

  "What are you waiting for! We'll miss it!" Akira's eyes lit up with realization. "Oh! I get it. I order you to come with me! Let's go!"

  Arthlas shook his head firmly. "This is a matter of safety, mistress Akira,"

  "Please!" Akira ran over, hugging Arthlas at the waist. "Please! Please! Please! I'll only look! I swear!"

  Arthlas gave her a disbelieving look.

  Akira shrank down pitifully. "One lightning bolt?"

  Arthlas turned to Rikara and his aura flashed in a quick 'what do you think' pattern.

  "It's a low level alert," Rikara said slowly. Her frown hadn't gone away. "Might not even be in range of the walls."

  Akira's gaze returned to Arthlas, her eyes gigantic and glittering.

  "Oka—"

  "You're the best!" Akira jumped up. "Come on Silas! Let's kill the monsters!"

  I dutifully allowed Akira to drag me down the street to the wide open pomerium beneath the twenty foot tall walls. The rest of our group followed close behind, though even the adults had to jog a little to keep up.

  "Hey on the walls!" Akira shouted, her youthful voice echoing to grab the attention of a pair of guards on the wall.

  "Yes, young miss?" the older one asked, looking down at us. I recognized him. He was Old Jimmdlas.

  "How many monsters are there?" Akira called up eagerly.

  "Only a small pack." Jimmdlas glanced at our two babysitters. "Four dark shapes skirting the city. Nothing to worry about miss."

  "Can I see?" Akira asked, prompting his aura to flicker in surprise. It was then that he noticed me standing in Akira's shadow and I saw the recognition in his aura.

  I waved up at him.

  "Ahh... right. Mistress Akira. We'll bring a ladder right away."

  Akira bounced up and down in excitement as I let my gaze wander around the manicured space between the walls and the rest of Chikarun. It wasn't that I was uninterested in monsters, it was just that. Well. They were kind of scary, if I was being honest. I didn't really get Akira's fascination with seeking them out. We had walls for a reason, no?

  The winter weather had done some fascinating things with the large stones of the walls. The intricate dormant strands of the wall's reinforcement were beautiful beneath the ice. Hundreds of small icicles dribbled down the smooth structure, with a few even hanging off into open air where the battlements extended. They were trembling slightly, dripping a steady tinkling rain of water onto the slushy snow beneath.

  Hold on.

  I crouched down, placing a palm against the cobbles, then added my more sensitive dorsal braid.

  Vibrations.

  "Master Silas?" Arthlas asked me.

  "Is it me..." I asked, slowly. "Or is the ground shaking?"

  Everyone paused at that so I slowly stood up.

  "What kind of monster did Sakra say she was hunting?"

  Everyone blinked except for Rikara, whose expression blanched.

  "Burrowers!" She roared and lunged for the wall.

  Her mana enkindled the defenses. It shot to either side, strengthening the foundations as a rumbling disturbance sounded. Tiny tremors travelled through my toes as an unearthly clicking was heard in the distance.

  The sound escalated into a horrible screeching of tortured stone and suddenly all of our gazes were drawn to a spot three hundred meters to our left where Rikara's mana hadn't quite reached.

  A plume of dust erupted from the base of the wall where the river exited the city. A large black shape appeared from the cloud, its body glistening wetly and covered in swollen muscular striations. It was huge, the size of a pony, but jet black with a dozen millipede like legs and vicious serrated mandibles sticking out of its face.

  Even from the distance, I could see the strangely dull mana of whatever spell it used to rip open the wall coursing over its mandibles.

  "Breach!"

  The call went out, and all across the walls, guards dumped mana into the crenellations. It shot through the dormant enchantment at blistering speeds, igniting the magic with a blindingly bright metaphysical glow.

  Icicles shattered, and sprayed outward as the wall violently shed its wintry coating. The large white stones glittered with the same intimidating luster as forged steel.

  The mana reached the site of the breach. The horrible screeching of the rapidly crumbling stone morphed instantly into a metallic—and deeply unpleasant—scraping. Mana flashed, and I was suddenly blinded as two opposing spells clashed for control over the integrity of the heavy stones.

  Guards raced down the wall toward the monsters, though there were only a dozen of them streaming in from every direction. Sakra had taken much of the active forces, but even if she hadn't, most of the guards were in the barracks, not actively manning the walls.

  That would be remedied soon as someone started hammering on the town bell like their lives depended on it.

  Still, the timely reinforcement of the walls had slowed the expansion of the breach.

  "Stay here!" Rikara cursed, sprinting down the wall toward the damage.

  A strange sort of calm fell over me. That very same quiet tension that always seemed to rise up when I identified real danger. Just like when I'd walked into my garage all those years ago, all thoughts emptied as I suddenly catalogued observations as fast as I could make them.

  The yawm twins were scared, huddling together and shifting nervously from foot to foot. They looked on the verge of bolting. Akira was shouting. At Arthlas, who had grabbed her to prevent her from running directly into danger.

  "We can help," I said with a calm I didn't quite feel. I turned and met Arthlas' beleaguered expression, trying to convey my meaning with my aura alone. "From a distance, but we have mana. And they need help."

  Arthlas gave one look at the breach, then growled something under his breath.

  "Fine!" He released Akira. "But you stay behind me. No matter what."

  "Don't worry," I nodded and grabbed Akira's tail. I ignored her affronted look. "I'll keep an eye on her."

  With that we were off, running after Rikara's rapidly retreating form. It granted us a perfect view of what was happening. Events that didn't at all inspire me with confidence.

  More and more of the insectoid monsters swarmed through the narrow breach. The crawled up the wet embankments of the river, sloughing off water and moving with a freaky level of coordination. The only sounds they made were the steady clicking of their feet and mandibles on stone.

  A slightly tangy, bitter scent filled the air.

  A few guards remained on the walls, raining death and fire on the invading monsters. The rest jumped down, forming a concave around the breach and holding back the monsters with layered walls of translucent force.

  The bugs crashed into the hastily formed defenses and bled as guards lashed out with blades coated in flame or force. Still no sound escaped the beasts, despite a half dozen of their number falling in the first moment.

  Akira stepped forward and I yanked her back.

  "Don't even think about it," I yelled over the noise of fighting and Akira's indignant squeal. "You can shoot lightning bolts at them from over here where it is nice and safe. Come on!"

  I pulled the three girls up against the side of the wall. We hid behind a buttress. Akira immediately jumped out and started channeling her favorite spell. A familiar matrix formed before her outstretched fingers, and violently vibrating as she poured way too much power into it.

  I plugged my ears and gestured for the twins to do the same. They managed just before Akira unleashed.

  Thunder peeled, and I was momentarily blinded as one of the five hundred pound bug monsters staggered drunkenly as fractal embers smoldered over its carapace. It made it two steps before a guard lunged forward and ended its life.

  I pulled the twins closer, and set my hand on the wall. Locating the superstructure's mana ingress port was a piece of cake. What I didn't expect was the sudden, sharp yank as the already active spell siphoned out my mana.

  I gasped, my braid twinging as I forcefully restricted the flow of mana to the wall. It guzzled it up gluttonously, completely unphased by the two dozen simultaneous mana streams flooding the enchantment's pathways.

  "Are you two alright?" I asked the twins. My attention locked on the battle in case things went south quickly.

  "Mhmm!" Kemi squeaked. She shuffled up behind me like she was trying to hide. A comical sight given our difference in size. "Why do they look so weird?"

  "What do you mean?" I asked tightly.

  "It's like a house with the lights on but nobody's home," Yuna murmured.

  Huh?

  Before I could figure out what the hell that was supposed to mean, a chunky looking bug pushed through the breach. It was larger than the others, and absolutely brimming with a strange, distant type of mana. It swirled in a violent vortex somewhere behind its eyes and even from a distance I could almost taste how unstable it was.

  It rushed forward. Four bugs met its charge. They grabbed it just as it jumped, and helped launch the creature into the air.

  Shields lifted. People reacted, but no one could have predicted how the creature simply exploded. Thousands of shards of sharpened chitin and hot viscera blew out in every direction, cracking shields and forcing the guard to duck or step back.

  Me and girls weren't safe from the blast either. Luckily, Arthlas, Rikara and two other guards went out of their way to summon a broad shield to protect all of us from the shrapnel. For a little bit of added safety, I grabbed Akira—and the curious Yuna—and dragged the both behind the buttress.

  For a brief second, the battlefield was silent. As if everyone was simply processing what had just happened.

  Then, as one, the bugs all turned toward my group and... unleashed a ruddy orange cloud of musty gas.

  Did they just... fart at us?

  The bugs charged through their own cloud of pungent mist, and the moment ended. This time however, every single bug hammered one side of the defenses. Toward us.

  What did we do?

  Rikara appeared out of nowhere, grabbing Akira before she could finish casting whatever spell she was channeling. Arthlas similarly cursed and grabbed me. I was suddenly reminded that I was a five year old kid as he hefted me onto his hip and turned away from the fighting.

  "Kemi! Yuna!" I screamed into his ear. He cursed again, turning back just long enough to grab Kemi's hand.

  We ran. Or, my bodyguards ran. I looked back. My shoulder aching with every one of Arthlas' pounding strides.

  More bugs pushed through the breach. A steady stream that replaced the dead as quickly as they fell. What made it worse, was that the hole was getting bigger. Somehow the bugs had damaged the reinforcing enchantment and were making slow progress on the magically hardened stone. Through the widening gap, I saw a huge slug like shape. Another monster, with small vestigial wings and an engorged abdomen. It throbbed with compressed mana and wielded the heavy strands with the frightening ease.

  We weren't going to be able to hold the breach. Not before the rest of the guard arrived.

  The defenders realized this too. A trumpet sounded out, followed quickly by the gut-thumping clang of the evacuation bell. The sound echoed through the city, cutting through the clamor of conflict like well honed blade. The tense atmosphere in the city crystalized. People froze in the streets or poked their heads out of doors. A hushed susurration rose over the winding streets. Curious whispers by those too far from the fighting to know the extent of the danger.

  Then Rikara started yelling obscenities at anyone too dumb or stunned to move!

  That got them moving. A crowd formed, rushing into the streets as the vanguard of retreating guards urged people to hurry. Of course, some people attempted to bring with them some personal effects, though it was only a small number. It seemed that once the guard started yelling, people got it into their heads pretty quick that their lives were in danger.

  Behind us, the guard formed a solid line of soldiers. Two soldiers deep and glittering with enhancement magic. They retreated in tight, disciplined order; sending a barrage of magic at the rampaging bugs, before ducking behind the rearguard only for the cycle to repeat.

  "Let! Me! Down!" Akira yelled, kicking at Rikara and dragging my attention away from the fighting behind us.

  "Please! Akira!" Rikara struggled to hold on to Akira with both her hands and her aura. "Now is not the time! Please behave!"

  "I can help!" Akira's aura flared and she almost broke free of Rikara's grip. "I'm nine! I'm not a kid!"

  Rikara was forced to set Akira down. Though she didn't let go of her wrist or her aura.

  "Akira!" I barked, grabbing both their attention. I too wanted to help, but I didn't want to get in the way. Or put anyone in needless danger. I scanned the street and my gaze snapped to a small group of three kids in the crowd. Plus, I was still technically restricted from using magic in public. Not that I knew how much that still applied given the current situation.

  "Arthlas? How about we group up with the kids over there and we can knock on houses and help people run?" I said, framing it like a question.

  "Yes!" Rikara responded, latching on to the idea. "Akira. How about you help organize the other kids your age? But you have to promise to stay next to me. Okay?"

  Akira sent me a suspicious look, but she promised.

  A moment later, I found myself holding Granny Popi's hand—ostensibly helping her walk—while Akira rushed around to boss the kids around. She sent them to knock on doors, help find and load people onto carts, or even just yell at people to get a move on. We found two more kids as we marched. They were quickly drafted into Akira's impromptu militia.

  The setup kept Akira and me close to the center, next to our bodyguards, which was the point.

  A grinding sound cut through the clamor of the crowd. People turned, heads swiveling as timbers and plaster crunched from a nearby storefront. A second later, a black shape erupted through the building. The facade held for a second, before crumbling backwards as the formican's spelled mandibles shredded the supports.

  It instantly lunged into the crowd, bouncing off two hastily summoned shields to pounce on a thirteen year old alten kid. The boy screamed bloody murder as the jaws closed around his waist. The crowd hesitated. Then the able bodied surged forward to threaten the lone beast.

  The formican backed up, holding the boy high like some sort of blood sacrifice as it stumbled back into the destroyed house. Two guards escorting the retreating civilians lunged forward, blades burning with fire.

  The bug spit out a gust of hazy smoke that smelled of rot, but when the attack failed to slow the guards, it squeezed its jaws shut.

  The two bisected halves of the boy fell to the ground with a wet thump.

  A second later, the guards killed the formican without remorse.

  "They're after the kids!"

  The cry went up, and immediately, every person under the age of sixteen was unceremoniously shoved onto a set of carts in the center of the crowd. It put a stop to Akira's plan to help, but she didn't seem to notice. Her pale gaze lingering on the abandoned body of the kid, quickly left behind.

  There were a two dozen kids in our group. A good number for sure, but it wasn't nearly the number of kids there should have been. Even considering how much of the city we had traversed so far.

  "Where are the other kids?" I asked no one in particular, then I repeated the question to a girl sitting behind me. Frier, if I remembered her name right.

  "Oh, hi boss man," Frier said. "I didn't see you there."

  "Where is Jerry? Do you know?"

  "Dunno," she shrugged, distractedly looking around like she was trying to find an escape route. "Probably around."

  "What do you mean 'around'?" I asked. "Where are they?"

  "Dunno," Frier shrugged again. "Probably just waitin' it out."

  Waiting it... what?

  "Don't they hear the bell?" I blinked at her. "Their lives are in danger! They need to retreat to the castle!"

  "Well, duh!" Frier scowled at me. "What are you yelling at me for? I'm here, ain't I?"

  I opened my mouth, then closed it, struggling to process that there were people who were ignoring the 'you are about to die' bell.

  My mind instantly started thinking up ways I could convince the kids, but then immediately faltered. Convincing them to come wasn't the problem. The problem was finding them. The kids didn't have a set meeting spot. They gathered semi-randomly all over the city.

  And with the bell tolling nonstop, they had probably hid themselves making it even more difficult.

  Suddenly, I stopped as a realization hit me like a truck.

  A pit of ice formed in my gut.

  It was all my fault.

  Not the bugs. Or the invasion. Or the poor kid who had died. None of this was my fault, but the kids. Their distrust in authority. Their scattered nature. How they didn't have a proper home where they could be protected. Taught. Nurtured. Cared for.

  That was my fault.

  I swallowed thickly as my own recriminations settled over me like a lead-lined blanket. I should have cared for the street kids. Properly. In a way that didn't leave them scattered all over the city during this crisis. It hadn't mattered until now... except. It should have. The signs were there. I was just too blinded by my own superiority to see it.

  I was 'helping' them when I intervened in their lives. Yeah right. I wasn't helping them. Good intentions be damned, I was satisfying my own curiosity. My boredom. Getting them to be my little information network... Why? Because I missed the newspaper?

  It was the same mistake I'd made in Momo's office.

  But somehow worse. The idea twisted like a knife in my gut. I'd started the child-initiative before I'd snuck into Momo's office. I'd paid for doing that, but clearly it wasn't the first time I'd displayed... faulty judgement. Yeah. Faulty judgement. Let's go with that.

  If I analyzed my past actions, how many of them would be... compromised like this?

  How had I not realized this sooner?

  Why had it taken a literal invasion for me to notice?

  I rocked in my seat.

  "Silas! Silas! What's wrong?"

  I looked up at Rikara with a blank expression. I bit my tongue, letting the sharp pain give me focus. I'd made a mistake. Again. I acknowledged that, but right now was: Not. The. Time. People were in danger, and yes, I might have put them there. But I could get them out.

  I took a moment to examine whether I even should try to fix this. Or was I just digging my grave deeper.

  I didn't know.

  But I had to do something.

  "We have to save the kids," I said slowly. Then stronger. "They're not listening to the bell. We have to go get them."

  To my surprise, Rikara didn't respond. She simply cursed and grabbed me, pulling me onto her hip like I was a kid.

  Oh.

  Right.

  "Silas." Rikara said firmly. Her will clamped down on mine, suppressing every aspect of my magic with impunity. "You are not to worry about anyone but yourself right now. Do you understand?"

  A slow sadness filled me.

  It settled into my chest, melting into resolve as I felt at the chains that bound me.

  And I snapped them.

  Rikara gasped, falling to a knee. My will brushed hers aside like errant spiderwebs. I rushed into her core, crushing down and annihilating any resistance with the ease of a child knocking over a tower of blocks. She hadn't really been expecting me to fight back, but still. It was almost pathetically easy.

  Rikara's eyes bulged as I suppressed her. The tendons in her neck stood proud as I held the position. She couldn't speak. She could barely breathe. Her eyes and myliria locked on me as she struggled to comprehend what I'd done.

  Then, with a sad sigh, I released her.

  "Please, Rikara." I asked softly. "They need help. We are the strongest mages here. If we don't help them, they could die. Please."

  Silence greeted me, and I idly noted that people were staring. It wasn't every day that a child put an adult five times their size in a proverbial headlock.

  Akira jumped off of the cart and stepped up beside me. She placed her hand on my shoulder in a silent sign of comradery. I shot her a grateful smile, then focused back on the still stunned Rikara.

  "How powerful are you?" Rikara whispered.

  Did it matter if I didn't know when or how to apply my power?

  I'm not ordering you, Rikara." I said, suppressing my bitter thoughts. "I'm asking. Please let me help the kids. And if not directly, do it yourself. But I'm strong. Use me. I'm begging you."

  Rikara expression was a mess of conflicting emotions. The crowd around us was silent, but I didn't spare them any attention. Arthlas stepped forward, helping Rikara shakily to her feet.

  "It's our job to protect you," Arthlas said.

  "I know," I whispered.

  "But we are also sworn knights of house Norgard," Arthlas continued. He gave me a meaningful look. "Lordling Silas ka Norgard."

  I smiled weakly. I didn't know if he was nudging me to take control of the situation or something else. Not that it mattered. I used to think that power alone justified action, but clearly my judgement couldn't be trusted.

  To my immense relief, Arthlas seemed to understand.

  "Everyone!" Arthlas turned to the crowd. "Lordling Silas brings up an excellent point! We must help evacuate the civilians not directly in the line of the monster horde! I need five groups. You, you and you. Collect every able bodied fighter we have. I want any weapons and exo-boots we have..."

  Arthlas quickly and efficiently formed teams to run parallel to our main retreat path. They were rag tag groups of random civilians, but the people of Chikarun were hardy folk. Most weren't fighters, but each one could throw a fireball if pressed.

  "Arthlas," I asked, pulling on his shirttails to get his attention. "What about me? What can I do?"

  "These kids," Arthlas kneeled to look me in the eye. "Where would they be?"

  "Frier would know," I said, pointing her out. "Or would know who else can help."

  Arthlas nodded, and continued his work. I quietly retreated back to the cart and sat next to Akira. The fighting was getting louder behind us—and a few injured had joined our procession. But with the majority of the guard reaching the defense, they were managing to maintain the cordon.

  Our group continued up toward the castle. A few other stray bugs managed to squeeze by the guards, but they were summarily executed before they achieved anything of note.

  I was a bundle of nerves the entire way. Every time a new group of people joined up with us, and I didn't see any familiar street kids, my gut clenched a little tighter. It was obvious that even with Frier's help, Arthlas was having trouble finding the scattered street kids.

  What they needed was a proper method of attracting their attention. Something better than just running around banging on doors and yelling. A megaphone would work. Or maybe... no. A megaphone would work.

  I marshalled my will, then froze.

  "Rikara?" I called.

  "Yes, Silas?"

  "Can I do magic? I think I can make something that will help."

  Rikara's expression twinged with amusement. "You already showed everyone, Silas." She shook her head. "Go ahead, but maybe still keep it discrete, okay?"

  "Okay," I nodded, then turned inward.

  I pulled out threads of mana as I visualized what I wanted to create. The mana instantly grabbed Akira's attention, though I barely noticed her interest. I wove a cone of mana and solidified it with a quick snap of my will. I spoke into it, and while it sorta worked—in the same way speaking into a traffic cone worked—I wanted something more.

  I pulled another thread, weaving it into a dense membrane that I affixed to the speaker's aperture. I lightly bound it to the air, then attached it to a second—much larger—membrane that closed off the far end of the cone of mana. I connected the pair with lever arms that magnified the faint vibrations a voice induced in the smaller membrane into the larger.

  The mechanism came easily to me. The threads of mana moving to my will with transparent ease. For a moment, I forgot the situation, simply enjoying falling into the interesting task with my whole being.

  The result was a cone of mana, invisible to anyone but an alten. To remedy this, I affixed the entire mana construct to a stick with some rudimentary stabilizing matrices. It wouldn't last long. Without proper materials or arcane isolation, the entire thing would break down in half an hour at best.

  But we didn't need it for longer.

  "What are you making Silas?" Rikara asked softly from the side.

  I jumped, abruptly noticing how both she and Akira were clustered around me. I threw off my surprise, and eagerly showed them both what I made. I demonstrated, causing a stir when my voice echoed over the buildings. Rikara reverently accepted the enchanted megaphone, turning it over and examining it with her metaphysical senses.

  "I think this could help reach people who aren't directly on the main streets," I finished my explanation.

  "It would," Rikara replied. Her tone was almost... awed? I tilted my head, she was acting funny. "Can you make more of them? At least two more would be of immense help."

  I nodded firmly, and she jumped off the cart to give my creation to Arthlas.

  I immediately focused up, drawing up more mana. It went by faster this time because I already knew what kind of structure I needed. But also because Akira—the quick study that she was—was more than eager to help with the fiddly bits.

  I handed one more megaphone to Rikara and was just starting on the third, when I found the cart I was in being pulled into the castle proper.

  I had barely a second to register the change in setting before Mom appeared and yanked me from the cart. She hugged me. Hard. I returned the hug, pressing my face into her collarbone with a fervor that surprised me.

  There was a comfort there. A warm safety that seeped into my bones and reminded me of simpler times. An escape. Not from the fighting. I could handle the fighting and conflict. Those were direct. Something I could channel my will against and inevitably come out victorious. It was the death. The feeling that I had made a mistake months or years ago and only now the consequences were coming back to bite me.

  I felt something crack inside me. Maybe my confidence. I didn't think too hard about it, simply holding my mom like a lifejacket in a storm.

  "I'm okay mom," I whispered, wrapping my dorsal braid around her arm. It still hurt. A remnant of the earlier excitement.

  "I was so worried," Mom said. She touched my cheek. "Come on. You too Akira. All of you. Let's get you kids to safety."

  "Wait!" I said. "I want to make sure everyone else makes it."

  Mom hesitated.

  "Let's watch from the balcony," Akira offered.

  Turns out that was a sufficiently safe option. We all ran into the castle and moments later popped out onto the balcony overlooking the main courtyard. The view offered us a pristine view of the proceedings. Milo stood front and center, at some point having taken over the organization. His voice calmly boomed over the crowd directing the constant stream of civilians to the underground bunker.

  People jostled. A river fed by steady tributaries coming from the various portions of the city. Dozens of carts, carrying the elderly or the young. Pushed or pulled by able bodied adults working in tandem before heading back to help others.

  It was chaos, but somehow just orderly enough to work.

  The guard returned, bleeding and carrying injured. The gates slammed shut behind them, a hollow boom the resonated in my soul.

  "Prepare the parasite wards!" Milo shouted.

  A pair of guards ran into the basement. A pulse of mana flowed out. It sank into the stones of the castle, resonating like a piano wire as wards embedded so deep into the foundation I could barely sense them burned to life.

  Another pulse of mana flowed into the castle, this time angling toward the basement. A bloom of light. Enormous. Blinding. I flinched, but was unable to look away. It was a level of power I had never seen before.

  "The ward draws power from our people," Mom caressed my head. Both me and Akira leaned against her hip, looking down at the light show with awe. "You don't have to worry any longer. Nothing is able to get through the walls now."

  And it was true. The colossal well of energy seeped out on channels of mana like rivers of molten steel. It suffused the walls, imbuing the passive strengthening enchantments with more power than I'd ever seen. The enchantments were sophisticated, but even if they weren't it wouldn't matter. Not with thirty-thousand souls powering it.

  A hush fell over the castle.

  A few lone groups still approached the gates and were quickly brought in through a side access door. They were quickly ushered into the castle, somehow not disturbing the calm that had settled.

  Even the bugs seemed to feel it. Their dark shapes stalked through the abandoned city. As if they understood that the calm was only temporary. Soon—once the civilians were assured to be safe—the guard would sally forth, to reclaim the lost land and met merciless justice on the invaders.

  In that silence, my thoughts turned inwards. Reflecting. Not just on what was, but on what had been. It led me to an inescapable conclusion.

  "Hey," I sidled up to Kemi and Yuna. The yawm twins glanced at me, eyes curious.

  "Hi," Kemi replied softly.

  "I wanted to say..." I hesitated. "Sorry, I guess."

  "What for?" Yuna asked.

  What for, indeed. I didn't know. Not exactly, but I felt like I needed to apologize anyway. I was suddenly doubting everything I'd done with them. For them. To them. Should I have interfered during their father's trial? Should I have tried to teach them magic?

  Did I push them too fast or would I have found an easier, less painful way if I had spent the extra time researching?

  I didn't know, but the apology felt right. Even if it didn't feel like nearly enough.

  "I don't think any of this is your fault," Kemi said after my silence grew too long. "The bug monsters just attacked out of nowhere. You didn't bring them here."

  "Yeah," Yuna nodded firmly. Her eyes sparkling with conviction.

  "Thanks," I smiled weakly. I couldn't explain the real reason for the sour feeling in my gut. I didn't have the words. Not now. Maybe after I slept on it I would be able to organize my thoughts. Though somehow I doubted it.

  I felt as if I had suddenly discovered myself. Seen myself. And been disgusted by what I saw.

  It wasn't a nice feeling, especially since I didn't really understand how I'd gotten here.

  Or how to go back.

  "Stop being a dummy," Akira rapped the top of my head with her knuckles. "Let's go ask Milo who made it."

  We descended down to the courtyard and waited patiently—or impatiently in Akira's case—for Milo to finish speaking with the guard captain. When he did, we asked him our question. To my surprise, Milo calmly whipped out a long list of people he'd confirmed had made it. It was incomplete—in his own words—but still. The man was honestly a wizard.

  We examined the list, pouring over the names and smiling in relief whenever we came across a name we recognized. We'd honestly lost very few people in the invasion. A good half of the guard were injured in some way, and four had died, but it spoke to their excellent training that they had reacted so well to the attack in the first place.

  The list of civilians was more sparse, but my focus went directly to the list of street kids. Milo had spent extra time here given the interest the monsters had displayed in them. I scanned the list. Then scanned it again. It was too short. There were too many missing entries.

  I couldn't find Jerry's name. Or Horus. Or a dozen other kids I'd pulled into my information network.

  Oh dear.

  I woodenly went over to Milo and asked him to double check the list. He did. No change.

  Oh dear.

  Notably. Every single kid that was supposed to be in the city's orphanage had made it to the castle safe and sound. Perhaps a little scared, but there wasn't a scratch on them. Each and every one was safely sequestered in the castle basement.

  Reap what you sow.

  The bitter thought seeped into my mind like a poison from a fetid swamp. It seeped into the corners of my mind, finding purchase and coating my brain in brackish, acidic ooze that sizzled and tingled and hurt.

  I closed my eyes.

  Images of Jerry's decapitated, bloated head played across my mind. His eyes glassy and lifeless and accusing. You did this they said as insectoid mandibles chewed on his cooling flesh.

  Oh dear.