Chapter 49: The City Lord's Mansion
The sun had set, but the war outside hadn't.
The attacks still echoed in the distance, a steady rhythm of chaos that never slowed. The clash of steel on hide, the boom of spells detonating, the guttural cries of magic beasts dying… or killing. Somewhere out there, the wall was still holding. Barely.
The city streets stayed empty. Even the wind seemed to avoid Edelmere tonight. No drunks, no merchants, no beggars, just abandoned stalls, overturned carts, and the occasional flicker of torchlight on a barricade.
I stayed close to Freya as she led the way. Her pace was brisk, her armor still stained from earlier, but she didn't say a word. Neither did I. Silence had its uses.
A few minutes later, we reached the guild quarters near the center of the city. This place had more soldiers and adventurers standing watch, grim-faced, gripping their weapons like they expected something to break through at any second. They'd be the last wall before the beasts reached the evacuees.
We stepped inside the guild hall, and the air hit me like a brick wall, thick with blood, sweat, and that acrid sting of healing salves. The chaos was overwhelming. Injured lay across cots and benches, some still bleeding while healers and assistants worked frantically. The occasional scream cut through the noise as bones were set or wounds were cauterized with glowing iron.
In the center of it all, Kail and the Iron Fangs minus Kaku were locked in a swirl of movement, taking in frantic reports from all over the city, barking orders, and sending squads where the fighting was at its worst. Armor clanged, boots pounded against the wooden floor, and every face I saw had that same haunted, determined look.
Freya broke away without a word, heading toward the reception desks where two women were buried in paperwork and arguments. Gwen wasn't there. I lingered in the shadow of a corner, letting my back hit the wall. My eyes flicked to the empty space where she should have been.
Five potions left. That was it. I counted them in my head like a man counting his last coins.
The invasion had started at exactly 62 hours on my countdown. Now? 56 hours, 25 minutes, and 21 seconds… 20… 19. Over five hours into this nightmare. The system had told me the attack would last thirty hours straight. That meant roughly twenty-four hours left.
"Fuck you, system," I muttered under my breath.
Just then, Freya's boots stopped in front of me.
"Come on," she said, her voice sharp.
"Where?"
"We have to go find my father."
My gut tensed. "Erik? What happened to Erik?"
"Nothing," she replied without slowing. "He's just having a meeting with the city lord in the center of town."
In the dead of night, the streets were bathed in torchlight. Two of the three moons hung heavy in the sky, silver and pale against the black. We moved through the city together, our footsteps the only sound in streets that had once been crowded. Ahead, past the barricades and guard lines, the tallest building in the district loomed, the City Lord's mansion. That's where some of the civilians had been evacuated to.
And apparently, where we were headed next.
The City Lord's mansion loomed closer with every step, a fortress of stone and shadow, its high walls crowned with torchlight. But even here, deep in the city, there was no mistaking the sounds from the outer districts.
A deep, distant boom cracked the air, followed by a rolling echo that rattled in my chest. Somewhere far away, another section of wall was under siege. Screams followed, faint but distinct, carried on the night air. The wind was starting to smell like ash again.
I kept walking, eyes scanning the rooftops and alleys. This was the kind of silence in a horror movie where you knew something was going to happen, you just didn't know when.
Another explosion, closer this time flared somewhere on our left, bathing the street in a brief flash of orange before plunging it back into shadow. A few guards outside the barricade tensed, one of them gripping his spear so hard his knuckles went white.
Freya didn't flinch. Her armor clinked with each step, her posture rigid, gaze locked forward like the noise didn't even exist. I wasn't sure if she was focused or just stubborn.
We passed a cluster of wounded soldiers slumped against a wall, their armor scorched and their eyes hollow. One had his arm in a bloody sling, the other sat there with a vacant stare, muttering something over and over that I couldn't make out. No one stopped us.
The main gates to the mansion were open but heavily guarded, two lines of soldiers on either side, eyes sharp, weapons ready. You could tell they were exhausted just from the way they stood, but none of them dared let their guard down.
I stopped just outside the threshold, letting my gaze drift back toward the city. The sky above the walls flickered with light, bursts of fire, streaks of lightning, flashes of unnatural green that made my skin crawl. Even from here, I could still hear the metallic clang of weapons and the guttural roars of creatures that didn't belong in this world.
The countdown ticked in my vision like a silent metronome.
56 hours, 20 minutes, 09 seconds… 08… 07.
We were halfway to the mansion steps when another explosion, louder than the rest, tore through the air. The shockwave hit the street like a physical shove, rattling shutters and sending a few loose tiles skittering down a roof.
Somewhere in the distance, a horn blew, a long, low note that made the soldiers on the gate exchange uneasy glances.
Freya stopped just for a second, tilting her head as if listening. Then she started moving again without a word.
I followed, but my stomach tightened. Whatever that horn meant, it wasn't good news.
We stepped past the gate and into the courtyard, the air suddenly quieter,not safe quiet, just the kind of stillness that sat heavy in your ears after a blast. The mansion stood tall in the torchlight, its windows glowing faintly from within. Even here, under its shadow, I could still hear the muffled chaos from the rest of the city.
The front doors swung open before we reached them. A guard in polished breastplate stepped out, his helmet tucked under one arm. His eyes swept over me for half a second longer than was polite before focusing on Freya.
"They're waiting inside," he said, his voice low, almost grim.
Freya didn't waste words. She brushed past him, and I followed, the guard shutting the door behind us.
Inside, the mansion's grand hall had been turned into a war room. The long dining table was buried under maps of the city, ink markings, scattered notes, and a few grim-looking ledgers. Candles burned in clusters, their wax pooling onto the wood.
The City Lord, grey-haired, broad-shouldered, and wearing the kind of embroidered coat that screamed important, stood at the far end, leaning over the table with both hands braced on it. Around him were captains of the guard, a few armored knights, and Erik, towering, gangly Erik, trying to look like he belonged there.
If Erik saw me, he didn't let it show. He was deep in conversation with a man in a red cloak, their heads bowed together like they were plotting a murder.
The smell of ink, sweat, and candle wax hung in the air. Every voice here was low but urgent, overlapping in a mess of strategies and casualty reports. One of the maps had several areas of the city marked in red.
"Another breach?" one of the captains asked sharply.
"Two," someone else corrected, sliding a token across the map to mark it. "North wall and west district. Reinforcements are already moving."
Freya strode forward, her boots heavy on the polished floor. She didn't announce herself, didn't wait to be acknowledged, she just walked up to Erik and put a hand on his shoulder.
He turned, his expression softening slightly. "You're late."
"I was busy not dying," she said flatly.
I hung back a few paces, keeping to the edges of the hall. My eyes flicked between the maps, the faces, and the doorways leading deeper into the mansion. The walls were thick here, the kind that could take a battering, but the thought didn't make me feel any safer.
The countdown kept glowing in my vision.
56 hours, 12 minutes, 18 seconds… 17… 16.
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