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    Goslin struggled relentlessly, smashing his shield into the wall again and again in a desperate attempt to level it to the ground. He was making progress as the wall chipped away, but it was too little and too slow. Fire and arrows rained down upon his head, along with stone from the wall itself.


    Tomford’s shield soon melted, and the healer had to retreat or be burned alive again and again until his energy ran out. The healer was not invincible. Neither was Goslin, but no one else could perform this task. It fell to him. He didn’t know who’d stopped the priest of Wyndemir that almost succeeded in corrupting Tomford’s flesh, along with all the other soldiers, but he was grateful. For a moment, he’d feared everything was lost.


    Arrows flitted by, but he was too close to the wall to be struck. The pyromancers didn’t have that problem, and he found himself under a constant barrage of fire, only able to strike at the wall in-between blasts. With arms and shoulders that screamed at him for rest, Goslin kept up the attack without glancing back at his allies. He trusted they would succeed without him, especially now that all the enemy pyromancer attacks were concentrated on him.


    Covered in dust and grime from bits of the wall crumbling around him, Goslin cried out as he struck with the edge of the shield, driving it into the stone wall with all the force he could muster. At first, it didn’t do anything more than the hundred attacks preceding it, but then the ground shook beneath his feet. The weight of the wall, damaged by Goslin’s attacks, shifted enough that the ground beneath it no longer held. With a deafening crash, the section of the wall in front of Goslin came tumbling down.


    He was tugged back violently, and Tomford screamed, "Look out!"


    Large chunks of stone tumbled down where he’d stood a moment before. Someone up above screamed as they fell into the newly made gap in the wall.


    Goslin turned to face his friend. "We did it! Let’s go!"


    “We have an issue to deal with first.” Tomford said. His face and exposed arms were a mess of barely healed cuts and bruises. A look of utter exhaustion blanketed his features as he pointed to their army. Prone defenders littered the ground. At least twenty dead by Goslin’s count.


    Goslin coughed, wishing he had some water to clear his throat after standing in a literal shower of dust. Two large groups of soldiers stood facing each other in a nervous stand-off. The enemy rhinn and Goslin''s allies, neither stepping back nor attacking.


    "What’s going on?" he asked Tomford.


    "When the transformations ceased, the defenders didn’t feel inclined to fight on behalf of the priesthood anymore."


    Goslin set off running toward the two opposing groups. "They’ve seen the error of their ways!"


    He ran past a strange earthen outcropping that reminded him of Emeryn, but he found it empty and didn’t dwell on where it’d come from. More important matters stood before him. A whole army on the verge of changing sides. He could convince them, if only he found the right words.


    The distance between the wall and the troops was farther than he realized. Had Goslin really been that far ahead? As he ran, thoughts whirred through his mind, different speeches he’d heard or read about, great commanders of the past, and strategies for leadership he’d overheard his father imprinting on his brothers throughout Goslin’s adolescence.


    None of these options felt right in his gut. Instead, he ran up to the nearest enemy rhinn, grabbed his dark leather chest piece and yelled as loud as he could. "What are you waiting for? The wall has fallen! Attack!"


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    He turned and ran back for the wall, pulling the rhinn with him. The soldier followed willingly, and cheers erupted as both armies followed in his footsteps.


    Many fell before reaching the wall.


    More died climbing the rubble.


    Goslin’s shield protected both himself and those directly behind him, a crucial element when taking a wall manned by pyromancers and archers. Few deserved the thrust of his blade more than the red-robed traitors who’d sent so many Eldians to their grave. They all adopted a look of surprise when his darkened steel pierced their flesh, like they hadn’t even considered that this might be how they met their end.


    Without a moment’s respite or celebration, he ordered the troops to push along the parapet toward the main gate while holding back a seemingly endless horde of monsters trying to mount the wall from within the capital itself. He’d spotted them earlier, standing silently in a crush as if waiting for a command. Once given, they threw themselves against the rubble, climbing as they screamed for blood.


    Plenty of spears on the high ground meant Goslin’s soldiers could keep them at bay without too much difficulty. Soon, archers and allied pyromancers scrambled to the wall to provide their support, raining death upon those inside.


    "Gos," Tomford said, urgency in his voice.


    Goslin turned to see Tomford pointing over the parapet, to the southeast. A mass of monstrosities crept across the land like a wave that would inevitably break against the city wall, murdering everything in its way.


    "Where did they come from? Where are our scouts?" Goslin asked, a bolt of fear striking his heart. Not for himself, but for all of those struggling to get inside Fyrie at that very moment.


    He looked up but didn’t see the aeromancer, Wade, anywhere. "We need to get word to the others."


    "Send runners," Tomford said. "We have to make sure the gate falls before it''s too late."


    A rumble overpowered the sounds of battle and the entire wall trembled. Goslin watched in awe as the entire main gate of Fyrie, and much of the wall to either side of it, crumbled in the distance.


    Geomancers. Emeryn.


    A bright light flashed again and again in front of the Eldian forces as they advanced on the rubble in the distance. Myn, Goslin thought. She’d wanted to stay by Sarien’s side, but Landé wanted her strange, blinding power for the assault, and Goslin couldn’t blame the man. Taking a wall and pouring into the city would be much a smaller hurdle with the enemy blinded.


    "That’s not good," Tvalfager said. He’d just made the laborious climb over the rubble to stand at the top with Goslin and Tomford. Tre stood at his side. Both looked a little worse for wear with singed hair and blood staining their clothes.


    "Why?" Tre asked as he released a powerful volley of fire at the monsters below, burning wide swathes of beasts before they even started their climb. "I thought we wanted the gate to fall?"


    "Not with a new army of nightmare creatures attacking from the south. We’ll need the wall to protect ourselves," Tomford said.


    "Loft!" Goslin exclaimed.


    "Loft?" Tomford asked.


    "They have to be the rhinn from Loft. Since they can’t use gateways anymore, they’ve come on foot to reinforce Fyrie."


    "Lana’s home is free, then,” Tre said, continuing his relentless assault on the masses of monsters below.


    "We need to find the remaining priests," Goslin said, glancing back over his shoulder at the approaching army. "And we need to do it quickly."


    "That’s not good either,” Tomford said, pointing to a part of the approaching horde breaking off from the main force. It began heading in a slightly different direction.


    Goslin understood immediately. "The travelers."


    "Sarien," Tomford added.


    "Who do we have protecting them?" Goslin asked, spinning to watch the hill they would be hiding behind.


    "Heylien," Tomford said.


    "That’s it?"


    Tomford shrugged. "I’m not in charge of strategy."


    "The approaching force obviously knows they’re there," Goslin protested.


    "Do we turn back and reinforce?" one of the group commanders standing to the side asked, holding a hand to shield her eyes from the sun as she peered toward the hill. "Looks like another force is approaching the hill from the northwest.


    A deep crease formed between Goslin’s eyebrows as he peered anxiously out across the vast field. "I’d know that banner anywhere."


    "Whose is it?" Tomford asked.


    "My brother’s," Goslin replied. "Gatling has arrived."


    Darkness danced over the crest of the hill.


    Black flames.


    Sarien was readying himself for war.