Emily walked along the road away from Sanctuary, three scouts from the kingdom army rode around the corner, they saw the young girl and slowed their mounts, and glanced to both sides of the road for any potential ambush.

When they discovered that she was alone they moved their horses to with ten feet of her.

“What are you doing out here?” The center scout asked.

Emily looked at the men, seeming to notice them for the first time, “You don’t belong here, leave my home.”

The three laughed at Emily and looked at each other in disbelief.

The center scout climbed down from his horse, “This brat could be taught some manners.”

He walked to Emily pulling out a leather thong, the other scouts laughed and called out encouragement, they were eager to see this young girl punished.

With malice intent he stood before Emily, ensuring she could see the leather thong in his hand.

Emily ignored him, looking off into the distance, this angered him.

“Where is Sanctuary?” He asked.

“It is where I live.” She said absently, but you will not live to see it.”

The soft tone of her voice caused the scout to pause for a second, then anger exploded within him. The brat would pay. He brought the thong above her and swung with all his might.

Emily looked up at the scout, her face a mask of primal rage, the irises of her eyes turned dark as a strong wind came from behind her.

The thong struck her across the face and the scout howled in pain, he dropped the thong and held the side of his face, where blood seeped through his fingers. He was confused and shocked, he had hit her, why was he injured, and she was unharmed?

Emily stepped to the scout, placing a hand on his breastplate, he threw his head back and screamed in agony, a second before flame burst from his mouth and eye sockets. His hands clawed the air as he burned from within.

She released him, and he fell into a burning heap, behind him Emily saw two soldiers frozen in horror, she raised her hands toward them, they gave a shout as their mounts suddenly stopped moving.

The sound of crackling could be heard beneath them; they watched in terror as their horses began turning to glass from the ground up.

Before they could react their feet and legs soon turned to glass, they screamed in both pain and sheer horror, within a second both horses and riders were glass statues.

Emily walked back to Sanctuary singing a song not heard in over five hundred years.

. . .

People hurried through Sanctuary, but Ramulas noticed that none of them were panicking, there was a feeling of excitement and anticipation in the air.

He stood on the balcony overlooking the courtyard with Pip, Rygar, Iguchi and Oriel.

As the people went to their positions Iguchi turned to Ramulas, “Lord of Sanctuary. How do you feel knowing that the enemy is close?”

“I feel sick.” Ramulas said wishing the butterflies would leave his stomach.

“That is good.” Iguchi said drawing an incredulous look from Ramulas, “There are two types of men before battle, those who are afraid, and those who are liars. Do not worry, you will win this fight.”

“He’s right me Lord.” Rygar said, “I still get a little jumpy after two hunerd years o fightin.”

“I must go to my angels.” Iguchi said as he left.

“The women and children.” Ramulas said.

“They are being gathered by Jacqueline and Jenna as we speak, they will all come into the castle.”

Ramulas and Pip walked out into the courtyard and saw companies forming along the wall, the passageway was open, and they could see out to the clearing.

Oriel had explained the workings of the maze to them, the passage would stay open for the people of Sanctuary until they returned to the courtyard. But when the enemy entered, it would close and become part of the maze, the passage was to be open to allow the Khilli warriors to enter Sanctuary.

Ramulas and Pip walked up to the top of the wall, where they saw Owain standing near a pot hanging above a brazier, it was one of twenty pots filled with iron ore from the tunnel.

Rygar said it would take an hour for the ore to melt, he explained that when even the smallest drop of liquid metal touched your armor, it stuck like mud and would burn.

“Hello Owain.” Ramulas said, “How goes your preparations?”

The blind man smiled, “My archers are ready, and we have plenty of supplies.” He said waving to the barrels of water, food and arrows which lined the wall.

Owain walked along the walk, which was wide enough for four men to walk abreast. Ramulas and Pip saw young boys standing near the supplies, these boys would act as runners, bringing food, water, and arrows to the archers.

The ledge of the wall was three-feet high, and acted as a partial cover from those below, the blind man walked ahead as he clicked his tongue, he had told Ramulas how this helped him see his surroundings. However, it was still impressive to see him navigate around objects and people.

An archer stood every few meters with a bow resting against two quivers full of arrows, each gave a slight nod as their Lord passed.

“And ye have the same below.” Rygar said pointing into the courtyard.

Ramulas and Pip followed his finger and saw several areas where barrels of water, food, and supplies. Everything seemed to be falling into place the only thing to do was wait for the Kingdom army to arrive.

. . .

Iguchi waved his hand slightly, then pointed at Michael, Miles and Benji, the trio stepped forward materializing out of the forest, the fallen angels had run silently through the forest until they came to the enemy.

As the trio came forward Iguchi saw the rest of the angels waiting patiently, with their camouflage they were almost invisible against the trees.

The king’s army marched twenty feet from Iguchi, he led the three to the roadside near some trees, then with painstakingly slowness the four of them moved to the roadside, as Iguchi had already explained, people only see what they wish to see.

They stood within arm’s reach of the passing soldiers, line after line of weary men marched by eyes looking forward, only thinking about placing one foot in front of the other.

Then a wagon came down the road pulled by two horses; the driver stared blankly ahead.

Iguchi looked at the three fallen angels and nodded.

As the wagon passed, the fallen angels exploded into action.

Benji leapt onto the bench next to the driver, sliding his sword between the man’s ribs, and puncturing his heart, Michael flipped in the air behind the horses and cut the leather traces, he landed and slapped both horses on the rump with a shout. The horses bolted, running over shocked soldiers before them.

Miles charged into the line of soldiers following the wagon, he led with his shield hitting the closest, and knocking him into the next, the move was so unexpected and force so great, that five soldiers ended up entangled on the dirt. He slashed his sword at the startled soldiers in the next row, before running back into the trees.

He glanced back to see Michael and Benji following.

As soon as the three fallen angels ran into the forest Iguchi delivered a side kick to the wheel of the wagon, snapping it in two, the sound of wood splintering echoed as the wagon fell to one side.

As soon as Iguchi disappeared into the trees the Kingdom soldiers screamed and gave chase.

Orders were shouted as solders gave chase, only a score of soldiers had seen what had happened. These were the ones who followed Iguchi and the angels.

Once Iguchi, Benji, Miles and Michael reached the other angels, they turned and waited, to the soldiers the fallen angels were almost invisible, one soldier stood in the middle of the camouflaged angels and could not see anything.

“Where did they go?” He asked his companions who stopped behind him.

The soldiers searched the trees feeling confused, one moment they were chasing men through the forest, the next they had vanished.

A loud voice could be heard as the sergeant made his way to them, “You motherless curs.” He said, “Who gave the order to leave the caravan?”

“The wagon was attacked.” A soldier said.

The sergeant spun and pointed a finger at the soldier, “I don’t give a damn, you were to wait for orders…”

The rest of the words were caught in his throat, all the kingdom soldiers faced him, and none of them saw the fallen angels materialize out of the forest.

The group were oblivious to the danger which surrounded them.

The soldiers began to scream in shock and pain as swords cut their arms and legs, they were given no chance to fight back, each of them had a hamstring cut, or their sword arm slashed.

The sergeant stood in shock as his men were cut down in the blink of an eye by ghosts, he turned to run back to call for help, when Iguchi’s sword took his head from his shoulders.

Iguchi heard people running towards his position, and saw several Khilli enter their small grove, these were not to be harmed, he led the fallen angels into the trees.

The Khilli arrived a moment later to find the wounded soldiers and the dead sergeant, no trace of the attackers could be found.

. . .

Zachary heard a commotion behind him, he turned in his saddle in curiosity, then men began shouting before it became frantic, several horses raced toward him kicking up clouds of dust.

One of the men yelled, “We’re under attack!”

Zachary was pulled from behind, and landed hard on the path, before he could abuse whoever dare touch him, he saw Lucas standing above him with his sword drawn. The rest of the royal guard followed their captains lead, forming a human wall around their king, they investigated the trees for any enemy.

Zachary sat up when he heard screams cut through the air, men and horses raced toward the scream, Lucas gently pushed the King back into a lying position on the ground.

“Stay low my King, you will be safer there.”

Zachary bit back a retort knowing the captain of the royal guard was only concerned about his safety, however, it was extremely hard for him to lie on the ground with people running around.

After a few moments Lucas helped Zachary to his feet, the screaming had died down, and news of the attack had reached them, two men killed; a wagon damaged over a score of men injured.

The royal guard escorted Zachary back to where the damaged wagon, the soldiers made way as their King approached.

The wagon lay on its side and several men in front and behind the wagon lay injured, Zachary was led into the forest where a score of soldiers had their wounds tended to, once their wounds were seen to, they would be sent to wait in Turtha.

Lucas questioned everyone of what had transpired, when he had finished Lucas told Zachary explaining that four men in camouflage attacked the wagon, killed the driver, then a group followed these men into an ambush.

The Khilli followed but could find no traces of the attackers.

The soldiers were all on edge over the brazen attack, constantly scanning the trees, Lucas ordered the wagon pulled to the side of the road, and for the soldiers to continue towards Sanctuary, by the time Zachary arrived at the front of the men, Lucas expressed his concerns over missing scouts.

A few minutes later a soldier raced down the road as if he had seen a ghost, Lucas rode over to him and spoke with the soldier, during which Zachary noticed a grim expression on the captain’s face.

The soldier was sent to the rear and Lucas went to a nearby wagon retrieving a hammer, “My king, please come with me, there is something down the road I wish to show you.”

As they rode Zachary wondered why Lucas needed a hammer.

Within a few minutes the pair rounded a corner to see two life-sized statues of soldiers riding horses, the most amazing thing to Zachary was that they appeared to be made of glass.

Who made these he wondered, and why were they placed here in the middle of the road? He could not fathom how much skill it took to make the statues so life like.

He saw the burnt corpse near the statues, and the reality hit him, they were his soldiers, “How is this possible?”

“My guess would be magic my king.” Lucas answered.

“Shigar.” Zachary spat in disgust.

The captain of the royal guard swung the hammer, hitting the first soldier’s hip, both horse and soldier shattered, and large glass fragments littered the ground.

“Lucas, what are you doing?” Zachary asked in shock.

“The men do not need to see this; I will have the mess cleaned before they march past here.”

. . .

Ramulas walked through Sanctuary with Pip. This would be the last inspection before he took to the wall.

“The people are ready.” Pip said.

Ramulas was about to ask how she knew this, then he saw her eyes glowing a fierce emerald color, he knew that she was able to see into the people’s hearts, but knowing the people were ready did nothing to alleviate his nerves.

Then Pip grabbed Ramulas by the arm,” The Dryads are coming out of the trees.”

He looked down the passage to see several coming out of the trees, Pip followed him into the clearing to meet the Dryads.

Eady smiled as she walked up to the pair, “The King and his army are very close.”

“How close?” Ramulas asked.

“They will be here within minutes; we must not be seen by the king’s men.”

Eady and the other Dryads melted back into the trees, Ramulas and Pip walked into the passage and closed the heavy gate and pulled the iron bar across. Ramulas fought to hold the contents of his stomach down, he wanted to recheck everything, but knew he was out of time.

At the top of the wall, they were met by Owain who stood next to the Dragon’s scale, Ramulas watched in awe as black shapes swum within.

“Greetings Lord.” Owain said waving to the scale, “The scale can only be used once. You told me that you will need this for when the legion comes, but it is here if you become desperate, then we will show your King the Dragon.”

“We will be fine.”

Ramulas said.

As he walked along the wall Ramulas was confident that he would not need to use the scale, then he saw Pip staring out over the forest with her glowing eyes.

“What do you see?”

“They are almost here.”

Ramulas did not need to ask who ‘they’ were, he turned and waved his arms above his head. Rygar and Lodi returned the wave; the people of Sanctuary would be ready.

Pip looked out into the trees, and saw Dryads disappear into the trees, wildlife moved away from the mass of men marching through the forest, then she saw a company of knights coming through the trees.

They were followed by more of the king’s army. Iguchi and the fallen angels flanked the knights as they came into the clearing, looking past the knights, she could see a very long line of soldiers moving her way.