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    Lana realized that it was a blessing possessing an army that consisted mostly of lumberjacks, farmers, and other men and women used to manual labor. They knew how to take care of themselves.


    With nothing else needing her attention, except for a brief visit from Amira, Lana devoted all her time and energy to practicing the new form of magic Heradion taught her. Before the sun reached its peak, she’d managed to create a dagger out of white light and even throw it at a tree before it collapsed, drifting away like motes of dust. It didn’t require nearly as much of her source as manipulating the wind did.


    Experimenting, she conjured a shield large enough to protect her entire body. It only spent a small fraction of what she used to call her inner tempest.


    Heradion spoke of how one could be weak in one type of flow, but strong in the other. She didn’t quite see it like that. From what Lana could tell, she only had the one source of power inside her. Both of her abilities ate from the same plate, but one didn’t need to gobble down the entire meal to produce anything worthwhile.


    Lana quickly grew to like this new power.


    A dull ache in her stomach reminded her that she’d need food and rest to start replenishing the source she’d used up while training. Rummaging through the wagon, she found nothing, so she searched the convoy for a cart carrying food. Her leg had already recovered enough to carry her weight, thanks to a salve one of the army’s healers had gifted her, along with quite a few stitches.


    She watched in horror as gateways shimmered open along the tree line, at least eight of them in a row with soldiers pouring out by the dozen. They struck in the middle of the convoy, attacking unsuspecting Loftians.


    Lana’s wagon was near enough that she could close the distance in a single jump. She threw her daggers indiscriminately, which resulted in striking the attackers, though not mortally.


    "Fight back!" she bellowed, landing in the middle of a large group of rhinn soldiers carrying spears. Their long weapons were ill suited to fighting a small opponent at close proximity and Lana took full advantage, striking at their legs, arms, and unprotected necks.


    A kick to her hip sent her tumbling to the ground, but she rolled, coming up to her feet, ready for more. The previous injury ached, but she could fight through it.


    Lana realized her mistake when she was quickly surrounded. She narrowly avoided being skewered by jumping over the striking spears and kicked a rhinn soldier in the head before landing in front of another. She thrusted a dagger into his gut. She reached for another dagger but found her belt empty. Had she spent so many already?


    She jumped again and landed on one of the rhinn soldier''s shoulders. Despite the unsure footing, Lana managed to jab her last blade into his neck, before leaping off when he crumpled to the ground.


    From that brief moment in the air, she’d seen the Loftians fighting to reach her, but more and more rhinn poured out of the openings. If they didn’t gain control on the situation soon, who knew how long they would last?


    Wade was such an asshole for leaving her in a situation like this.


    Struggling desperately to avoid being turned into a human pincushion, she leapt into the air with the intent of landing by the edge of the fighting rhinn.


    Before her feet reached the ground, a new gateway opened up in front of her.


    Lana gritted her teeth and forced out a gust of wind to shove her clear of the gateway. As the first gateway closed, another opened in her new path. She cursed, but it was too late. Lana tumbled through, quickly got to her feet, and saw that she’d only landed on the other side of the fight.


    Between her and the Loftians stood a gateway warrior. It wasn’t the same rhinn she’d faced before, and she hoped that the last one had been a particularly gifted warrior, or she was in trouble.


    "What do you want?" she asked, holding her last dagger out in front of her.


    The last gateway warrior was relaxed and almost arrogant, smiling as they fought. This one kept a stony expression. He didn’t answer her question before he attacked, but Lana figured that was answer enough.


    A small gateway opened to the warrior’s right, and he plunged his arm through it. Lana dodged and narrowly avoided being struck in the back. She threw her dagger on reflex and pain bloomed as it flew through the small gateway and scraped her shoulder. It bounced off the ground and spun into the underbrush, disappearing from sight.


    The gateway warrior panted hard. His face strained when he opened a gateway and stepped into it, emerging beside Lana. The rhinn kicked, but Lana sidestepped it and punched him in the groin. He spun, sweeping a kick into her gut that sent flying into the ground.


    Lana coughed, struggling for breath as her opponent eyed her. The stony expression had softened somewhat, and his lips curled. That bastard was laughing at her!


    When the rhinn stepped toward her, moving slowly, Lana conjured two daggers of light, one for each hand. She concealed both behind her back and threw the first one at the center of the warrior’s chest and then the second immediately after, following the same trajectory.


    She threw a third dagger she’d conjured right as she let the first one fly, tossing it to the empty space to the side of her opponent. Wind struck it, altering its flight path to come at the rhinn from a different angle. The first dagger predictably met with a gateway, and Lana dissolved her weapon before it could strike back at her. The second came close to striking true, but the warrior was quick enough to open a second gateway, rendering that attack ineffective as well. He didn’t spot the third dagger until it was too late.


    The first sound out of him was a gasp as Lana’s dagger slid into his belly before dissolving. She’d really done it. The fight wasn’t over, but there was no way she would let herself lose to an opponent with such a wound.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The rhinn’s mask of control slipped. His upper lip curled back in a sneer. His wide mouth made him look even more menacing. Still, Lana readied herself, conjuring another set of daggers.


    Instead of mounting another attack, the gateway warrior let out a growl of frustration. He pressed a hand against his wound as a gateway opened beside him. It wavered when he stepped through and disappeared. A moment later, the gateways by the other Loftians closed as well, leaving the rhinn soldiers stranded.


    Without more reinforcements, the lumberjacks and farmers easily cut the remaining rhinn to pieces. It irked her that the gateway warrior had escaped, but at least she now knew it was in her to defeat one.


    The sun was sinking low on the horizon by the time the convoy set into motion again. Lana was back in her wagon, bare to the waist except for a strip of cloth wrapped around her chest. Amira sat, needle and thread in her large hand.


    "Ready?" she asked.


    Lana winced as the wagon rocked wildly, then nodded. "Ready."


    Blood trickled down across her bare skin. It wouldn’t heal right on its own. What a nuisance. Tomford should have joined her instead of going off on his own. She found herself missing the tall lout, and not only for his healing abilities.


    Amira was surprisingly gentle, and the stitching was quickly done. It hurt plenty, but Lana gritted her teeth and bore it.


    "Thanks," Lana said, admiring the even stitching.


    Amira put the needle and thread away. "My parents used to force me to sew."


    "Didn’t start out as a lumberjack?"


    She shook her head, then lifted her right arm and flexed. "Wasn’t always built like this. Was a scrawny girl, like you."


    Lana mimicked Amira, showing off her own arm, laughing, "I’m plenty strong!"


    "Physical strength rivaling the gods themselves," Amira said, closing her thumb and index finger around Lana’s upper arm. “With a build meant for carrying mountains."


    "Har-de-har-har," Lana said, trying to pull away, but Amira held on, pulling Lana closer instead. Amira wrapped her strong arms around Lana, who found herself relaxing, melting into the embrace.


    She was about to drift off when she heard an embarrassed cough. Amira released her and Lana looked over the side of the cart to see Tre walking alongside it. His eyes first went to the stitched up wound in her shoulder, then to the wrapping around her chest. Tre’s face reddened, and he looked away. "Sorry," he said.


    "Where were you?" Lana asked, ignoring his awkwardness. "Could have used you during the fight." She noticed dark rings under his eyes and a nervous twitch in his shoulders. "Are you well, Tre?"


    "Oh, I’m fine," he answered, eyes on the ground. "It’s about the fighting."


    "What about it?"


    Amira looked on while she packed away her things but didn’t join in the conversation.


    "Wanted to say I was sorry. Was at the front and didn’t know until it was too late for me to get there in time."


    "It’s fine," Lana said, softening her voice.


    "But I’m the only pyro you’ve got!" Tre shouted, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles whitened. "What good am I if I don’t burn?"


    "Tre, I said it’s fine. There will be plenty of opportunities for you to fight and you couldn’t know they would attack the middle of the convoy, could you?"


    "Well, no," he said, straightening a little.


    "Good," Lana said. "Why don’t you fetch us some food and we’ll eat together? I’m starving, and you must be too.”


    Amira spoke up once Tre disappeared. "That boy should not be fighting."


    Lana sat back down, sighing. "You’re probably right, but we don’t have the luxury of sparing him."


    Amira didn’t look pleased with Lana’s answer but didn’t press any further. "Are we going to Vinden soon?"


    "I don’t know," Lana said. "Wade wants us to gather a bigger army before we try to take the capital."


    "All this waiting is making me antsy,” Amira said. “I have all this pent-up energy and nowhere to spend it. We need to fight."


    "Perhaps there are other ways to spend that restless energy," Lana said, her cheeks and neck reddening at her own audacity.


    Amira grinned. "Perhaps there might just be."


    Tre found them red-faced and in a much better mood, and he seemed relieved she’d donned her tunic again. They ate in comfortable silence as the convoy rolled through the woodlands without further incident.


    A scout found Lana a little later, informing her that the rhinn were abandoning captured villages in the vicinity.


    The enemy knew they were coming.


    Lana told Wade as much a few days later when he finally returned from his little sojourn. They’d passed two more villages and a tiny town since then, all of them empty of rhinn but full of Loftians wanting to join the cause and fight for their homeland.


    Wade pulled Lana and Tre aside, leading them to a clearing where they could talk in private while the convoy trundled along. It was slow traveling down the narrow roads especially when you brought along enough Loftians to fill a large city.


    Lana had grown used to the constant chatter and the rumblings of the wagons, boots against the ground, and equipment squeaking. Now, the silence of the clearing made her fidget and jump at every little rustle from the forest around them.


    "You’ve found them withdrawing from the nearby villages."


    "We have," Lana said.


    Tre made a fist and punched into the air. "All of them running away from us!"


    "They’re falling back to Vinden," Wade said. "To fortify their position."


    Lana pursed her lips. "Would be rude to make them wait."


    Wade sat down on the grass, running a hand through his hair. "Look, the good news is that I found the people from Orkan, including my family."


    "Aeromancers?" Lana asked.


    "Quite a few of them, actually. They’ll meet up with us on our way north-east."


    "Vinden is west," Lana said, narrowing her eyes.


    "We’re not going to Vinden."


    "Of course, we are!"


    "No," Wade said, shaking his head. "I got a good look at it from up above. They’re fortifying and bringing in pyromancers and a lot of troops. More than what we have."


    "We can deal with that," Lana argued.


    "Yeah!" Tre agreed.


    "Lana, we can’t. If there was a chance, I would gladly charge their positions and reclaim what’s ours, but I’m not throwing away the lives of all these people when it’s impossible.”


    "You’ve got your lightning," Lana said, conjuring a dagger out of thin air. "I’ve got this. We can open the gates from the inside!"


    "They’re moving in and out with gateways. The way into the city is completely barred. I’m sorry, but we can’t attack, not without more help."


    Anger grabbed Lana, holding tight like a vise. "So, you’re saying we quit? That we run? You’re the one who brought me back here to lead these people! My family is in there!"


    She didn’t know if it was her tone or the words themselves that made Wade finally lose his composure, but he stood, teeth bared. "You did not step up, you asshole. I’ve led these people when you couldn’t, you’ve said so yourself! Your family is safe in the city. You know they won''t harm civilians! We’re leaving, and that’s final. You can stay and fight if you want, but the rest of us won’t throw our lives away when there are others who need our help!"


    "Others?" Lana asked, taken aback by her friend’s anger. He’d never lost this temper at her like this before. Never. "What do you mean?"


    "Eldsprak," Wade said, simply, the anger melting away. "We’ll find the Eldians and join forces against our common foe."


    "Goslin."


    "The enemy can move their forces through those gateways. Unless we want to be overrun, we must stand together as Maydians. Do you understand?"


    Lana sighed, then nodded. "I understand. When will you tell the others?"


    Wade started walking back to the convoy. "I’ve already told them."