Before I could react to the kobold Wizard’s question, the other forest troll burst out onto the road on the left, bum-rushing us. This one held a large, crude shield made of bark. It bellowed as it charged. I cast Firebolt after Firebolt at it, causing the shield to burst into flames after the fifth one hit it.

  With a sound akin to frustration, the troll dropped the ignited shield, right before the massive sharp edge of Twinkle Toe’s axe cut its middle open. The sergeant had jumped off his horse and charged the troll, letting out his own roar. His axe went through it in one swing, and the troll fell into two pieces. Twinkle Toes let out a wordless sound of triumph before he staggered to his knees, breathing hard.

  Jeb swore. “He used Ancestral Wrath!” he snarled. The massive, fur-covered Druid rushed to the kneeling man and picked him up in a fireman’s carry before returning to the horses.

  Misty shook her head. “Berserkers. Useful in a pinch but sacrificing all that stamina in one go…” she muttered.

  Smoke poured out of the troll halves, again forming into the smaller humanoid shapes. The murmuring became the sound of yelling, like it was coming from another room. I couldn’t quite understand what they were saying. If I listened a little closer, maybe. I focused on the voices, and the shadowy shapes drifted closer. Just a little nearer and it would all become clear to me. The surrounding sounds faded until all I could hear were the voices of the shadows.

  I felt a painful grip on my arm and heard a voice hissing in my ear.

  “Hells no, Finn. These sad remnants do not have the power you seek. Don’t listen to them. They want to use your body, to use your power. Listen to me! I am your friend. I won’t let them hurt you. Stay here and ignore them. Listen to me!” he yelled, his face inches from mine.

  It was Jerseil again, saving me. I blinked and glanced at him, away from the shadows. There was anger in his eyes, a possessiveness, though it was gone so fast I wasn’t sure that I had actually seen it. I grinned at my friend.

  “You keep saving me like this and I’m going to have to buy you dinner,” I joked.

  “I’ll hold you to that. Just… just don’t try to listen to them again,” he grimaced, anger fading as relief emanated from him.

  I looked at the shadowy figures, and it felt their intense gaze, though I no longer felt the need to listen to them. “Are those the spirits? Can we harm them?” I asked thoughtfully.

  Jerseil pursed his lips, clearly irritated by my question. “Yes, those are the spirits. And yes, we can attack them, but if your mind isn’t strong enough, the counterattack would knock you senseless. So you can’t, but everyone else here should be able to,” he replied.

  Very few things are more difficult than doing nothing when a situation calls for action. I felt powerless, and not for the first time. I wished I could do more! If only I were stronger, I could do more here. I couldn’t help my dad, but maybe here I can get stronger and not fall apart.

  If it weren’t for the memory of my dad, his strength and acceptance in the face of the insurmountable, I wouldn’t have been able to go back to school at all. I would probably have turned to drinking or other escapist activities to fill the void. Instead, I’d gotten up in the morning and kept moving forward. I’d been there for my little brother, Sean, and had done what I could around the house to reduce my mom’s stress.

  I wasn’t able to help my dad. But I could strive to make him proud.

  Still, I couldn’t shake the feelings of helplessness, watching these eighteen other people put their lives on the line to protect me. And I knew they were getting me through this area so that I could get the Earthborn home. We all had our tasks, things that we had to do. They couldn’t complete the Voice’s quest; I couldn’t make it through this area without dying—or worse, getting possessed.

  We dispersed or frightened away the spirits in short order and continued on our way down the stone road. There were different types of light spells active to keep the dark at bay, and I found myself wishing I had something that I could cast my light spell on that wasn’t me. Then I remembered I could enchant things. With a grin, I cast Light on GB’s saddle. Nothing happened, so I tried again. And again. The fourth time it worked, and I let out a whoop as the saddle shone bright, catching me some odd looks from some of the soldiers.

  Looking down, I noticed the stones looked yellow in the light. I laughed at the weirdness of it and how it reminded me of watching the Wizard of Oz. “Oh my God, the bricks! That’s so messed up.”

  “I don’t know what about it is not,” Jerseil replied. “What’s so funny about it?”

  “The road is yellow. And brick-like,” I said, and chuckled at the absurdity of it all. I started humming the opening bars of “Follow the Yellow Brick Road” from the Wizard of Oz movie, and Jeb started belting out the words to accompany me, to my delight and Jerseil’s consternation.

  Juan watched the forest, an arrow ready. He heard Finn’s laughter and then the laughter of soldiers around him at the slightly off-key Druid. It was a relief. There was no madness in Finn’s merriment, meaning no spirits had got to him. A very real worry in this place.

  The clopping of horseshoes on the stone reminded him of the last time he had come through here, scouting it to see if it was a useful path. That was years ago, back when he had still been an active participant in the world. He had already started thinking about becoming a mentor for new arrivals at that point.

  It had been simpler back then. Before everything had crashed down on him. Before he had lost Nalloth to the Empire’s agents. And his beloved Alliana, the queen of Nalloth. His rose. His heart.

  The pain hadn’t faded. But he had a job to do. His newest trainee needed him. So again, he pushed the pain down deep.

  A rustle sounded in the woods to the left. Leaves whispered through the trees. A scraping against stone. Juan knew that noise—he had feared it once. “Sylva’Athar! Ancient tree guardian spirits!” he shouted.

  Magic lights brightened, expanding the illumination farther into the forest. Several ancient, scarred trees came into view, moving on multiple root-like legs. Their several branch-arms tenderly eased aside the branches of trees as they passed by the trunks. Smoldering green eyes focused on the group.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Juan couldn’t harm them without taking out one of the Bows of Harmon, but he didn’t want to waste the finite enchantment charges of the legendary bows so far from an enchanter who could recharge them. I can deal with the Leaf Runners in their branches, he thought. “Fire and edged weapons! Burn and chop off their limbs!” he called out as he began to snipe at the small creatures riding their master’s branches.

  The twang of his bow was still thrilling music. Satisfaction filled him when the arboreal rodents fell to his arrows, dropping to the ground. Fire engulfed the mobile trees, and their psychic screams washed over him. He kept releasing arrows into the little squirrel-like humanoids, decimating them as they leapt atop nearby trees to fire seeds, hurl small rocks, and throw their darts at those attacking the Sylva’Athar.

  The 303rd soon ended the battle and quickly distributed the loot. It was nice to be surrounded by an efficient and solid group, used to working with each other. It was one thing he had missed when he had chosen his current path.

  Juan surveyed the surrounding forest, eyes and ears open to any further attack. They needed to keep moving. The sooner they got Finn over the bridge, the better. Juan knew from experience that the spirits would not cross the bridge. He didn’t know why, and had never taken the time to find out.

  It was unfortunate that they couldn’t camp safely within the ruins of this part—or any part—of the city. God knew they were all on edge and would eventually need rest.

  When the first weak sunbeams broke through the thinning canopy, they neared the ruins of the city center. Juan counted themselves lucky that the spirits hadn’t forced a mass attack against them. This was where it could get tricky. There were massive stone and wood golems that patrolled the various streets and pathways, day and night. As long as the golems were absent, it wouldn’t take long to get through the main ruins of the city center. Two, maybe three hours at tops.

  He didn’t dare send any scouts back to see if they were being followed, since this was not an easy place to traverse alone. Juan knew firsthand how hard it could be here all by yourself. The best way to go was forward as a group. He could not afford to put Finn, the first hope of a way home in decades, in unnecessary danger.

  After some thought, he gestured for Captain Clarke to join him. “Rebecca, can you have someone mine the road here? I need an alarm if the Steel Falcons get close,” he asked.

  “We can do that. Give us ten minutes,” she replied, saluting.

  “Good. Let’s do another set of explosives fifteen minutes away from here,” he ordered.

  “Of course, General, I was going to suggest the same thing,” Rebecca replied with a grin.

  “Damn it, Rebecca. Just call me Juan!” he snapped.

  She grinned at him and, with another salute, dropped back to talk with her demolitions specialist.

  Once the mines were in place, Juan and the remaining soldiers protecting Finn rode on to the city center. It looked just as he remembered it. Despite the ruined state of the ancient city, fallen rubble did not surround the once mighty stone buildings and ziggurats. The lack of even one misplaced stone still made him uneasy. Why aren’t the golems anywhere to be seen?

  Most of the buildings in the city center were of a yellowish stone, not native to this valley. There was a lack of sound outside of the clop-clop of horseshoes, which didn’t help his nerves. Juan looked over the buildings and the main intersection of the ancient city, seeking any sign of threat. If they had not split the 303rd into two units, he would have had Rebecca send out scouts. If only the split had not seemed so necessary.

  So much of this was not ideal. If only the Allied Council had listened. In the end, he had to do what he was good at: accomplishing more with less. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have decent backup, but this was not a place for lesser measures.

  “General? Why is there nothing here?” Rebecca asked quietly.

  “When I was here before, the spirits and the trolls fared poorly in so much light. The only thing we should have to worry about is the golems,” Juan said. “They walk the streets no matter the time of day. We’re lucky that the canopy opens up here and stays open all the way to the bridge,” Juan relayed.

  “Well, that is excellent news! We might complete our mission after all!” she said with a relieved smile. “I guess I’ll be buying—”

  Explosions rocked the silent streets to the north of us, startling some of the horses.

  Rebecca looked at Juan, eyes wide. “Fuck! We just set those half an hour ago.”

  “Then we ride!” Juan bellowed.

  Keeping Finn at the center of the galloping formation, they dashed through the ruins. They heard another explosion behind them as they passed out of the city center. It was usually reckless to race through the city, as the sound could draw the golems, but that ship had sailed with the booms of the explosives.

  Farther south, they saw a golem exit a side street and turn toward them. A sound like boulders grinding against each other, almost too low to hear, hit them. Juan reined his horse to stop, quickly followed by the rest.

  Juan watched the golem start toward them, slowly at first. He knew once it got going it would gain enough speed to keep up with the horses. “Rebecca. I need you to do something for me,” he said flatly.

  “Name it, Juan. You know I’d die for you. We all would,” the captain replied.

  He laughed, “No, Rebecca. I want you to live. I want you to give los cabrones behind us hell. Can you do that?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  “Good. To accomplish that, you should lead our new hombre there to the mercenaries. I know you can disappear, so ghost them. Harry the fuckers until they fear the night and the day. Whittle them down.”

  “Yes, General,” she replied. But then she frowned. “General… Juan. Don’t go dying on us—we need you. We can’t fight the kind of war needed to win against the Empire without you.”

  Juan watched her give quick orders to her soldiers. Finn, Harper, and Jerseil joined him.

  “What’s the plan, old man?” Harper asked.

  “We’re going to split off and go west, circling back to this road. The golem should follow the bigger group,” he said, gesturing to the golem.

  Jerseil chuckled. “Right into the Steel Falcons? That’s rich, General.”

  Finn was oddly quiet, watching the buildings. Watching the shadows.

  “We’re ready, General Venegas!” cried Rebecca. She and the entire unit saluted him smartly.

  “Right. Good hunting!” he called back, returning the salute. “Let’s go.” Juan turned his horse west, down a side street. They hastened toward the next intersection.

  Boom, Boom, Boom!

  The running golem passed the side street without looking or pausing, , which made Juan feel better about the plan. It was going to work. Harper went ahead to the end of the block and peaked around the corner. Juan watched as she pulled back and trotted back to them.

  “There’s another golem coming west down that boulevard. It didn’t see me, but we can’t go that way,” Harper said.

  “And we can’t fucking hide in one of these buildings,” muttered Finn. “They’re filled with those creepy spirits.”

  Juan shook his head. “Then we have no choice but to get back on the main road quietly and head to the bridge. The last thing we need is to get the attention of another golem,” he replied.

  When they got back on track, they were just able to spot the golem in the distance fighting what could only be the mercenaries.

  “Wait, aren’t those the guys chasing us?” Jerseil asked. “How the hells are they catching up so fast?”

  “They must not be stopping to deal with the wounded. So much for stealth. We have no choice but to ride hard to the bridge. Hurry!” Juan said before quickly spurring his mount onward.

  In the ruined buildings, the spirits noted the sound of their passing. Their allies and minions also noticed, but none of them left the safety of the darkness despite the number of souls and bodies they sensed.

  The sound of a loud, harsh crack echoed from behind them, causing Harper to look back. “They got the golem. They’ll be after us now, old man!”

  “We can beat them to the bridge.” Juan replied.

  “But how are they catching up so fast? There’s no way their horses can outrun ours, is there?” Jerseil asked.

  “Yes, but it’s not good for the horses," Juan replied. "In Nalloth, there is an herb that’s a strong stimulant for horses. Fortunately, it grows only there. But I didn’t think they would waste the horseflesh like this.”

  Juan’s jaw tightened. “We are going to have to fight. All of us.”