It was the sniffling that gave it away; not the big racking sobs, but the quiet crying of someone who desperately wanted to keep it quiet. With my ears, it wasn't hard to pinpoint the source, which was up and to the left. I pointed to the tree; I could just make out a little hand clinging to the bark.

I stopped and waited as Mrs. Castillo, who squared her shoulders and adjusted her ratty shawl and stepped forward. "I think I recognize that voice. Ida honey, is that you?"

Mrs. Castillo worked in social services back before the event and was someone all the kids recognized. She all but demanded to come with me when she heard I was going South-East. That was where most of the kids had run... and likely the direction where the necromancer had run.

The aforementioned Ida shifted a little, revealing a girl coated in dirt and a ragged dress. She was clinging to the tree like a Koala, and the one foot I could see was covered in mud and more than a little blood.

Smart of her, to climb the tree. With the crows gone, the only undead who could get to her that we'd seen were the squirrels, and they seemed to have no standing orders the way the others had; I had led our small party right by two, and all they had done was watch as we went by.

I still nuked them of course; at the very least they were eyes and ears we did not need reporting in.

"Mrs. Castie is that you?" The girl who was probably Ida asked, almost as if she couldn't believe it.

"Yes honey, it's me. Come down, it's safe now."

The girl wasted little time, sliding down so quickly I winced; she had to be leaving skin up there.

I turned away from the scene, giving them privacy while I scanned our surroundings; some of the zombies had proven... sneaky, after a fashion. One of the villagers had gotten bit by a skeleton missing its legs, inching its way through the dead undergrowth on arms alone and all but impossible to spot. He was being treated by Pastor Collins and was expected to make a full recovery, but it stressed the need for vigilance.

A shout from Karl rose above the other shouts with an ease that I envied. "Lady Muse! Check in!"

"Still here and all is well!" I fired back. I was tempted to enhance my reply with magic, but I didn't have any to spare.

If the necromancer were to circle around, I'd need everything I had left. It was unlikely, but I had to concede the option.

"Heading farther East!" I shouted again, and took a drink of water from my skin, watching Ida watch me. I held it out with a small piece of trail bread and almost lost a hand.

Watching her guzzle started another slow burn of anger in me. That and a little concern; there was no way we had water for everyone or even all the kids. But I wasn't sure the water around here was safe to drink.

"Not so fast, you'll choke."

Ida nodded and continued guzzling. Mrs. Castillo cut that short when she grabbed the little tyke by the hand. "Alright, come on. Let's go find the others; did you see which way they went, Ida?"

Ida took a moment before replying. "I saw where Bobby went."

"Alright, which way did Bobby go?" Mrs. Castillo asked, much more patiently than me.

Ida pointed a direction out that was a little more North than I was originally willing to go. Mrs. Castillo hoisted her up, mindful of her feet. "Alright then, let's go. Help me call to him so he knows it's us, okay?"

Ida nodded. I followed behind but Matt moved up, taking the lead as quietly and quickly as he could with his sword exchanged for a small smith's hammer.

Mrs. Castillo was pretty strong; she carried Ida without complaint, bellowing louder than I was capable all the while, calling Bobby's name. Ida yelled for all she was worth, and when the first skeleton (a deer) responded to our approach she flinched.

Matt made short work of it, however; without any mass, a skeleton ramming into a mailed man wasn't going to get very far; and the hammer put the abomination down.

Neither Mrs. Castillo or I paused; she was confident in us now (or didn't want to show fear in front of the kids) and had to make sure nothing was lurking to take advantage.

There wasn't, and a hundred yards down in a hollow stump a face peeked out. "Is it gone?"

"Yes, it's gone. You can come out now, it's safe. Well, safer." I couldn't lie to the kid, after all.

Mrs. Castillo shot me a look as she adopted her soothing tone again. "What the nice lady means to say is, it's perfectly safe to come out for now Bobby. Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

Of course he was; none of the villagers had much food or water the last three days. At least he was more careful to avoid spilling than Ida had been. His feet were in better shape too.

We were now at the edge of ready support; if we went any further, we would be out of sight and much more vulnerable. "Any other children go this way, Bobby?"

Bobby looked at me with wide eyes; I was pretty sure I hadn't grown a second head or something, but he was making me second guess. Were they all going to be this mistrustful? If so my headache was only beginning.

Mrs. Castillo snapped him out of it. "Bobby! Did anyone go this way?"

"Only Mr. Peterson! That's the only one I saw, I swear! Ida took the only good tree and I had to run longer, so I found the stump and crawled in, and that deer thing tried to get me!"

Heh; that was some voice of authority there. I'd have to take lessons or something.

"Alright, which way did Mr. Peterson go?"

"Straight last I saw. Right past the stump."

"Fine, let's go find Mr. Peterson." Mrs. Castillo sounded angry. Volcanic, actually. Obviously, Mrs. Castillo would have words with Mr. Peterson when they met.

Unless Mr. Peterson couldn't talk anymore. Then Matt would speak to him.

Mr. Peterson wasn't actually that far; barely few football fields away. He was almost grossly overweight and leaning against a tree, panting. There was nothing threatening near him, which seemed odd to me. Why hadn't the deer followed him?

"Mr. Peterson."

"Mrs... Castillo." Mr, Peterson panted back.

"Is there any reason you left a child alone against a nightmare and ran away?"

Mr. Peterson and I both winced. Well, at least now I know why she was mad. "Mrs. Castillo - no. We don't have time for that. Save it for later."

Mrs. Castillo pursed her lips and frowned. "Fine. But there will come a time, Dan Peterson."

The now fully named Dan Peterson stepped warily over to us. He still had his shoes and all his clothes, which was different from most of the villagers; for some reason, most of them were half naked or in rags.

"Is there anyone else past you? Did you see anyone else coming this way?"

"...No."

Why was the man still panting, over an hour since the fight? If he had sprinted, how was this as far as he'd gotten?

Those questions weren't really important... but I didn't trust this guy to notice who else was around when he was running.

"Alright. Mrs. Castillo, Mr. Peterson... could you escort the kids back to the main group? They need medical attention."

We didn't have a stable camp; we were on the move. I'd argued against it, but after an hour of waiting, we were leaving the scene of carnage behind, a mass pyre in our wake.

I thought it unlikely the dead could be defiled again, but the villagers had been insistent. My sole contribution was to burn the cottage down for good measure, with all that was inside; five minutes of simply looking in the place had convinced me it was the better option. Even the bookcases - some knowledge was best buried. Or burned, in this case. And we had already announced where we were to everything around due to the previous fires. The fire shouldn't spread, but I was keeping an eye on it just in case. Truthfully after a look inside the cottage, I was sure the entire forest was a lost cause anyway; the taint, the corruption, was quick and total.

I'd still put it out if the fire got out of control, but fire might be the only thing that could purify this place.

Pastor Collins rushed over to Ida the moment he caught sight of her. "And who is this little cutie, hm?"

Way to sound pedo-bear there, Pastor Collins. Your bedside manner needed some work.

It didn't work for Ida, either; she just buried her face in Mrs. Castillo's sizable assets and dug in.

She looked up as the healing magic took hold though, and watched s her feet knitted themselves back together.

Mr. Busby, a shoe salesman turned cobbler, was ready with a pair of sandals for each child woven from the local dead grass. They were a little large and probably wouldn't hold together for very long, but they would protect their feet while they lasted.

All the children who could or could be healed would have to walk; we couldn't spare enough adults to carry them. We couldn't even spare the energy to heal all the adults, not that most of them wanted healing while there were children in need.

Ida tested them out while Bobby slipped his own on; his feet were made of sterner stuff.

Mr. Busby continued weaving; something he could do while walking apparently. Mrs. Donelson walked up and grabbed his large bundle of usable grasses.

The others were also grabbing bundles or makeshift weapons. Mostly rotten branches or corroded metal bars. Who knew where they managed to find those. A few had some butcher knives. We had shared of course; I had kept mine except for a few daggers that really wouldn't do anything against what we were fighting, but then again my sword and main dagger wouldn't really either; both were too light to bash bones and I needed something to fall back on since my available magic was low.

We formed up with Randolf and Karl in the lead with Pastor Collins behind them, the villagers in behind them, Phil on the right and Thom on the left, and Ethan, Matt, and I bringing up the rear. The armed villagers, male and female both, were mostly placing themselves on the sides and I appreciated the trust. Or what I perceived as trust. I chose to take it as trust anyway.

The group was bigger by at least twenty people than when I left, and most of those were kids, which made me feel instantly better about the danger we were all in.

As if the entire group didn't make noise enough (the giants had been quieter) every few steps some people appointed to the purpose would bellow the all clear and position check for the benefit of those still missing.

"How far North did you go?" I asked Ethan, more for something to talk about than anything else.

Ethan had been one of a few to go straight North, past the cottage in the search for survivors. Since our destination was the opposite direction, there was only so far people could go in that direction; we were all supposed to stay in sight of each other, but I'd not been able to see Ethan's group - which had been Ethan, Thomas, and Phil. All ghosts in their own right - or short.

"About a mile," Ethan admitted readily.

That put the group a good ten minutes or more out of range of help if something went wrong.

"I know that look. I had the scouts with me, and I can take care of myself. No need to worry."

Fine. "Did you find anyone?"

"Four lost souls, fumbling around in the woods. No children though."

"How did you fool Karl?"

"Thomas did something with his voice; pitched it so it would carry, even through the woods."

That was handy. I could probably do the same with my illusions, come to think of it. But not here; it was all kinds of bad idea to fool the living people like that here, much as I'd like to continue the search. If I had the juice I'd use an air elemental to find the missing; it would scare them half to death (and only that far, hopefully) to be sure... but they wouldn't be alone and in danger. Still in danger of course, but not facing it alone.

The woods were empty. Suspiciously so, now that we knew what they were full of. There were even fewer signs of life going in, now that the birds were gone. Of course, I was happy about that. At first, some few people answered the shouts and joined the trek, but other than looking them over to make sure they were dead and faking it, I stayed aloof. The trickle stopped at six (one man, three women, and two children) after the first hour's walk.

Hours later and miles away from the carnage people were beginning to murmur to each other; to slow down. To relax.

I wanted to yell at them, to tell them to focus up, that things may not be over yet, but I didn't really have the heart to. People who had already been pushed past normal endurance just didn't have anything left; only the adrenaline and healing had been keeping them going this long. Karl was in front, pushing things.

"Karl," Just a hint of magic carried my voice to him; I wasn't about to yell over everyone else yelling.

Karl turned and saw what I was seeing. "Right. alright everyone, take five; we camp here."

Randolf all but threw his gear down and tore his helmet off to reveal his reddened face, but didn't say a word. the others were a little more sympathetic; well openly so at any rate, regardless of their true feelings.

I went up to Karl. "How are we set for food?"

"We're out after this," Karl replied. "and there's precious little to go around as is. Not to mention nothing to hunt in this place. The necromancer didn't bother feeding any of them. At least he didn't take the food and water they managed to grab before being rounded up."

"And am I right in assuming water is the same?"

"Yes; we're screwed on water."

"Well, I can help on water, at least. But I'd like to borrow the more able of the villagers if possible. Give them something constructive to do."

"Why?"

I knew he'd looked, but how had he not seen? "Look at them a moment."

Karl cast his gaze back over the crowd again, and I knew this time he took in the dejection. "Point taken. As long as it's actually useful."

"It will be - just trust me a little here."

I went over to Mrs. Castillo; she would get things done with the right suggestion; she was one of few with her head up.

"Mrs. Castillo, can I ask you for a favor?"

"What do you need, Lady Muse?"

I pitched my voice to be just loud enough. "I'd like you and some able hands to help me with a project; it would certainly make me sleep easier tonight, and probably will help you all too."

"Oh, and what's that?" Perfect; not only was Mrs. Castillo intrigued, but many other heads were raised.

"I want to collect brush and build a deadfall around camp. The dead, well they aren't agile. A small sort of wall of branches and the like will not only give us warning in the night, but it may well trip them up too. And if we really need to, we can fire it."

"That...doesn't sound like a bad idea. But what if something else fires it?"

A good point. "I guess we build it far enough away that we won't get burned?"

"That sounds like a lot of work." Mrs. Castillo replied. There were a few nods around us.

"I plan on trying to do it myself, but that's why I'm asking for help."

"I'll help," Mrs. Castillo replied immediately and levered herself up. "But why not stakes or something similar?"

"The wood isn't good for it," I took a branch in hand and snapped it to demonstrate, the sound brittle and loud.

"But it makes a great alarm; I see. We can also spread a few branches like that past the deadfall; that would make stealth much harder."

"A good idea." I really should have thought of it.

Mrs. Castillo and I started gathering sticks and branches; the kids started helping immediately, throwing twigs at each other. Soon enough most of the villagers had joined in, and a sizable wall of sorts began taking shape. One of the adults, a larger man, even shouldered a small tree and knocked it over, then had to get some help dragging it back. When the singing started, I did my best to join in.

I didn't know the words, of course, it was some working song about farming.

We finished as the sun started to set, and I started on my next task. "Karl."

"Lady Muse." His tone was light and he seemed set to banter, but I could hear the tension underneath.

"I can't do anything about the food issue, but if you'll see that all the water skins and containers that could be used for that purpose are gathered together, I can fix that one."

"Pastor Collins has been communing... and he says he can fix the food and water issue. I'd rather you worked on a fire that won't rage out of control the moment we set it."

"Alright." A little disappointing, but he could do it I guessed."How big a fire?"

"A bonfire, if you can manage."

"Consider it done."

There was no rock to pile up, so I simply used some magic to pull bedrock up from under the dirt; sure it was temporary (The only reason I'd do it; I didn't really like the idea of long-term landscaping) but it would work well enough. Some of the bigger logs pulled in were devoted to the purpose of fuel for it, which I wasn't thrilled about but I saw the need for.

The chill of dusk was more than a lowering of the temperature after all. We needed the light. The humans most of all; they did not have the low light vision Ethan or I did.

A simple flint and steel were all the magic I needed; I watched the fire grow from something small into something as tall as I was. The villagers shuffled closer, hungry hands reaching for the flames. I found myself on the outer circle with Ethan, facing away from the flames, preserving our eyesight.

I tapped him, pointed to myself, and then to the other side. He nodded and stood a bit more straight, facing outward and scanning his side.

When I got to my side, I followed suit.

The sound of Pastor Collins calling to his goddess hit my ears over the general noise. I turned a bit just in time to see a full bakery of bread shimmer into existence on a spread cloth. Several crude clay pitchers of what appeared to be fresh water joined them a moment later.

I had to admit that was better than I could have managed. Not only was it food, but it was more water than I could manage quickly.

The kids were pressed into service to deliver the bread, a loaf per person. Ida brought mine over, her own hanging out of her mouth and her hands full. She was still chewing like a champ.

"Thank you, Ida."

"Mrghgh!" she replied and ran off to the next person, one of her own who was fine tuning the branch wall on this side; making it more treacherous.

One bite and I had to control myself to avoid spitting it out; the bread was bland and had a slightly bitter tang. Pastor Collins could make more food clearly, but he couldn't make it taste decently. Of course, that wasn't stopping the villagers from all but inhaling their portion down; it was a good thing Pastor Collins hadn't made more, they were risking making themselves sick as it was.

The water made the rounds too, and it was much better; sweet and pure, almost tasting as if it had been filtered. I made sure to fill up my canteen while Ida tapped her foot with her hands on her hips.

"Thank you again, Ida."

I could understand her this time. "You're welcome!"

Pastor Collins collapsed on a log beside me with a grunt; he looked tired - which meant he probably shouldn't be carrying around logs as chairs.

"The conjuring take that much out of you?" I had to ask; I thought his goddess took on the cost.

"Being able to work miracles, to ask and have your God or Goddess answer, let alone provide at all, takes some getting used to. But in this case, yes. Minerva offers some of her energy and the knowledge, but I provide the lion's share."

That made some sense. "Well then take a load off."

"I plan on it... but first I wanted to ask; why aren't you closer to the fire?"

"You're ex-military; you really need to ask that?"

"You can actually see then?"

I nodded. "Ethan and I both, though I think my vision is better than his. We're keeping watch as best we can. Though soon, we will probably both need sleep. Heck, we all will; we hiked and fought and searched and hiked some more. I do not envy the people drawing the short straw."

"Maybe it won't be necessary."

I turned as much as I could without ruining my night vision to stare in Pastor Collin's face directly.

He gave his best wry grin in response. "Yeah, I don't believe it either. The evil hasn't left these woods."

I couldn't argue with that and resumed my scan. "I'm going to bed down more or less here. No tent, just shake my bedroll out and siesta."

Far away from the fire, where I might be cold, but with a bedroll, I'd be less cold than the villagers would be here. I'd also be in a better position to do things without the worry of friendly fire.

"Sounds like a plan; I'll join you."

I tapped him on the leg. "I'd appreciate the company, but no. Please take the other side, near Ethan if you can swing it."

Having both spell casters near each other while waiting for an attack was the height of folly; not only could the attack come to the side of us that had no caster support, but if the necromancer was still out there, one dropped spell would take both Collins and I out.

Honestly, it had me worried. Pastor Collins was ex-military; where had his military mindset gone? Was he continuing to change? Were we all? I reached for my journal and wrote everything down as best I could remember, sparing nothing.

I finished and looked up to find Ida and Billy both silently watching me. Like any child, they had questions. The good news was their first question put my fears to rest before they could fully wake.

"Can you really write in this darkness?"

Full night had draped it's blanket across the sky for some time, yet with the firelight behind me, this much was easy.

"Yes, Could you read any of it?"

Billy shook his head, but Ida felt the need to explain. "No, but it's not that I can't read or anything. It was just too dark."

"Of course," I told her. I'd been sensitive about my reading skill once upon a time too when Matt and I were in elementary.

Billy stepped up after seeing that Ida hadn't gotten her head bitten off. "So what were you writing? Was it a spell? Are you really an elf?"

Oh right, these people had been missing for some time. They probably didn't even know the fate of their homes, come to think of it. Well, I wasn't going to be the one to tell them.

"It was a recollection of the day's events and my own memories, not a spell. And yes I do seem to be an elf. At least one version of an elf. I take it you didn't have any elves in your village after the event?"

"No," Billy answered, his eyes gleaming reflected firelight. "We were just us. And then that guy... he...."

"No need to get into that," I stopped him as gently as I could. "I know what happened, or well enough."

Billy sniffled a little but went silent. Of course, that was more because the other kids were now approaching. The small mass exodus garnered the attention of more than a few adults, but none of them moved to save me.

"Are you really a mage?" One asked; she was a blonde girl, bigger and older than Ida.

"I am."

See Sarah, I told you! She was the one who did the magic!" A dark haired boy said, limping up.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Yes Giles, you did. You were right, she wasn't a warrior."

Wait, what was going on here? "You thought I was a warrior?"

"Well, you do have a fancy sword," Sarah answered. She had a point.

"But no armor." Another boy countered, glaring.

A boy so small he made Ida look big gave his opinion: "You're pretty."

"Um, thanks," Yes, this was rapidly descending into the awkward. "Alright kids, I know you all have questions and I don't mean to ignore you, but I think it's time to get some sleep."

"We don't want to sleep!" Giles complained.

"Yeah, can't you do some magic for us?" My smallest fan added.

"I didn't mean you all. I meant me; I've had a long day and I'm tired. I'll answer any question you have for me... in the morning."

I had to work to pull my bedroll out of my pack without giving away the nature of the bag; I had to wait until the kids were suitably distracted or one of them would sneak around and try it out and lose an arm or something.

Fortunately Mrs. Castillo provided a ready distraction. "Alright kids, you heard Lady Muse. Maybe you could ask Karl or Randolf about their exploits as warriors? I'm sure they have many good stories."

I laid my bedroll out. "At least one of them involves a dinosaur."

The exclamations were almost deafening. "A dinosaur!?!"

The little mass exodus was gone much faster than it arrived, all clamoring noisy for 'the dinosaur story'. I smirked as Karl got all but buried.

Ida had stayed, however. She ducked her head before asking: "Can I sleep with you?"

No idea why she wanted to do that. "That's not a good idea, Ida. If we get attacked out here, I'm a priority target, so being near me is dangerous. Besides, we don't have enough blankets for everyone, so you're going to need to stay close to the fire."

Ida had a pretty adorable pout, but she agreed readily enough. "Alright."

She also moved off closer to the fire... but plunked herself down as close to me as she felt she could get away with; right in a line between me and the fire. She was out of earshot, however.

Mrs. Castillo took advantage. "Is what you said just now true?"

"About me being a priority target? Yes, it is; the necromancer saw my face, and saw me cast magic to counter his."

"Then I owe you an apology. I thought you were keeping apart because we annoyed you."

I shrugged. "You don't owe me anything, but for the record right now I'm keeping watch. Which I won't be doing much longer; I need sleep badly."

I could admit a small bit of envy for the villagers; I didn't think I was weak or anything, but the stamina they had shown so far was astonishing. I could probably stay up longer myself, but I needed a recharge in the worst way.

"I understand," Mrs. Castillo said, and maybe she did. "I'll leave you to your rest then. Don't worry about a watch, your own party is quite skilled and on the job."

"I'm not really worried," I yawned out, laying down. "I just have better eyes than those guys."

I closed my better eyes as Mrs. Castillo got up to leave.

I opened them to an attack, signaled by the crunching of branches all around our camp. That was the first warning, but it was a good one. The second was Phil's shout of: "Up and at 'em!"

The fire was banked and I could see no sentries, only bodies in ragged clothes camped out on the uneven ground around the fire, just beginning to stir. I could not make out my companions at all, but for once I woke clear headed.

I rolled as the cracking got uncomfortably close, only to watch as what could only be the remains of a deer plow headfirst into the dirt next to my bedroll amidst the snapping of bones. My sword stroke took it's head off cleanly enough, and I turned toward the next victim, only to find there wasn't one.

The fire shrank some more as torches appeared. I had to squint at first, but those torches told the tale; small as the deadfall was, it was doing the job we built it for. All the dead, human and animal alike, were busy being trapped in the deadfall. They were still working towards us, but it was going to be easy to put them down permanently.

Well, all but the squirrels.

They weren't any more agile than their larger counterparts, but they were small and quick, able to dart in between the branches making up our obstacle and charge us almost completely without impediment - and there were hundreds of them. Possibly even thousands. Ida was the only person close enough to grab, (mainly because she had come closer to me when the attack started, rather than running away like a smart kid) so I did and held her close as the swarm closed in.

A quick spell and my control of air around me was focused and enhanced; I could now produce concentrated gusts of wind. Since the squirrels didn't weigh much, the small cyclone I placed around me swept the ones charging at me away before any of them could reach. Or you know, spit bugs on me or something.

Unfortunately, I couldn't do it for the entire camp. Pastor Collins was up and had his prayer or whatever it was already going, with the kids crowded around him. The rest of my companions and the villagers doing their best to respond were in trouble, however; my party was mostly unarmored for sleep, and the villagers didn't own any.

Should I fire the deadfall?

No, the squirrels were too fast, and there were still deer around; if even one managed to get through while burning they would stand a real chance of firing us in return. I hadn't really accounted for squirrels in numbers like this; how had the necromancer even managed this? Had he depopulated the entire forest by himself, and if so how? That would have taken far too long alone.

I didn't have enough juice to summon an elemental, even a weak one, and that wasn't what we needed here in any case. I couldn't pull another shield like I had this morning for the same reason.

Lightning was overkill, but it was my best bet; I knew how to fork it now, and I split it as much as possible.

It still exploded the crap out of all the squirrels hit, which was probably a good five dozen of them. Other than some wild hair, none of the villagers had been affected, and more to the point it had cleared them of vermin.

So I followed up with a mini-blizzard.

The cloud formed was no more than twenty feet across, and the range was barely enough to cover my side of camp, but the hail and sleet dropped destroyed anything that came in range utterly. Which was a good thing considering I was about out of energy again. I let Ida slide down as the wind dissipated; she had been clinging so tight my arm was numb. I joined her on the ground.

"Oof, you're heavy kiddo."

Ida didn't even acknowledge me; she was too busy staring at the snowstorm. I kept in range to grab her if she made a break for it - it wouldn't spare her any more than it would the squirrels who were still funneling into it with complete abandon.

Matt slammed down beside me. "You okay?"

"I was until you scared the shit out of me."

He batted a squirrel that had come from another direction to us into my storm. "Not like you to lay down on the job."

I pointed to the storm. "I'm tired. Let me catch my breath and I'll join you."

Matt nodded and turned to face a side. I levered up and took the other - just in time for the attack to be stymied completely as every visible squirrel in the camp just dropped and fell apart. I didn't see it, but I felt the surge of warmth and light flow that ended them flow through me and continue on to hit most of the larger undead.

Those left from that attack or purge or whatever it was, started shambling off in retreat as fast as possible. I didn't have the energy for a fireball, and if they scattered they could spread the fire and kill us, so even mundane fire probably wasn't the best idea... But that didn't stop mundane missiles from taking out as many as we can target. It won't stop little conjured bullets of air either from being effective either.

Thomas fired the first shot, but the rest of us weren't far behind. Even the villagers got in on the action, testing their throwing arms.

But none of us went into the woods to chase.

"Come on," Karl said. "Let's move."

Much as I wanted to, much as all of us did, no one objected.