“Are you sure this is a good idea?” asked the combat wizard with a barely audible whisper.

  “Does this look anything close to a good idea to you?” whispered back Uther.

  “So, are we going to go back?”

  “Of course not.”

  The wizard shook his head, finally understanding where the prince’s reputation came from.

  Early today, a group of goblins discovered by accident a secret passage into the city. The original city had a few of those so they could be used in an escape plan or to harass a sieging force. During the Empire those passages were a state secret and would be guarded by a select group of soldiers that would collapse the tunnels in case of discovery. The location of most had been lost, but some were still known to the royal family.

  The goblins had been contained and there were reports that they were retreating, but once the existence of the secret passages was known to the enemy, they became an untenable liability.

  First Prince Allan, that was coordinating the defense, ordered that at least the known passages should be collapsed, since escape was not really an option. Uther was tasked in closing one of those.

  But Uther been Uther, he decided to look first where the passage would lead. The exit was in an old mausoleum in a small cemetery outside the city. It was well in the rear of the sieging force.

  The cemetery was next to an orc encampment. The orcs were loosely guarding the supplies, since a rear attack was not likely, and by supplies we mean people captured from the villages near the south frontier.

  There were around 10, mostly woman and children, with visible signs of starvation, locked in cages made of wood. There were only 3 orcs guarding them, but there could be others out of sight and other encampments were also close by.

  In the grand scheme of things, saving those people would not make much difference, the death toll already at several tens of thousands, but this macro vision was for strategic players like Prince Allan, Uther cared about what he could do here and now.

  “We will do it according to the plan” said Uther as he darted in the direction of the Orcs.

  “Supporting you and improvising is not a plan,” the wizard complained, aiming his crossbow with a resigned sigh.

  Uther moved swiftly, using tombstones and trees for cover, his light armor allowing him to navigate silently through the graveyard.

  He flanked the first guard and with a clean swing decapitated him from behind. The sound of the falling body alerted the other two.

  The farthest away was hit in the chest by a bolt without even realizing what was happening. The last guard was able to draw his sword and tried to cry for help but had the side of Uther's shield smashed into his teeth before receiving a trust of the sword below his jaw and into his brain.

  But, since it would be boring if everything went according to plan, one of the prisoners was startled by the sudden burst of violence and screamed. That drew attention from one of the nearby encampments.

  Uther sighed.

  “I’m here to save you all, but we need to be fast” he said while cutting the ropes that were keeping the cage shut. “Can you walk?”

  They replied affirmatively, except for a middle-aged woman with a dark purple leg that had a lateral bend above the ankle. She was feverish, the untreated fracture already beyond healing.

  “Please, just save my children.” She begged with a weak, broken voice.

  In a quick evaluation, Uther could see she would lose the leg, that was a given. The infection was also affecting her body, she would need urgent care, care that would probably not be available.

  Leaving her was an option, but the most human alternative was mercy killing. Even if he was able to save the woman, her prognostic was bleak. The gnolls from the other encampment were already closing in, just saving the ones that could walk would be a feat.

  Uther was aware of all that as he put away his shield and threw the woman over his shoulders, carrying her as he would a bag of flour. If he was going to do this, he would have no time to be gentle.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  The group of captives followed Uther as he tried to get as much distance from the approaching gnolls as he could, but they were struggling to keep even a moderate pace, their weeklong starvation taking its toll. Even with their best effort, the gnolls were almost catching them.

  “Cover!” Screamed a voice in front of them. Uther guided the prisoners to behind a mausoleum as he saw the magical circle in front of the combat mage.

  A small red pebble shot from the center of the magical circle. It traveled along a straight path in the direction of the nearest group of gnolls and exploded with a deafening boom, shattering tombstones and throwing the pursuers in the air.

  Well, if any encampment were not alerted before, they definitively were now.

  The explosion bought some time, but not near enough to get the survivors to the tunnel.

  “Here, take her. I will delay them” commanded Uther as he transferred the injured woman to the mage shoulder.

  “Are you sure this is ...”

  “No, this is not a good idea, ok? Just go!” Uther interrupted as he adjusted the shield back to his arm and turned to face the incoming gnolls.

  He gave two quick jumps, relaxed his shoulders and cracked his neck on both sides, waiting for the opponents to arrive. Uther was regarded as the second best swordman in the entire kingdom. Unknown to him, he was promoted to best swordman less than two hours ago.

  The first gnoll struck with blind rage, dishing a downward axe blow without even slowing down. Uther sidestepped just enough to dodge and replied with a cut in the lower abdomen, disemboweling the hasty adversary.

  It was followed by two others.

  One came with a spear that was deflected by the shield. That put the gnoll out of balance, which Uther exploited with a kick in the knee, making him fall in pain. The other was more cautious, using a sword and shield he tried to boggle down Uther so that the remaining pursuers could arrive, but the difference in skill was just too great, in a couple of blow exchanges he left a small gap in his guard that Uther used to strike at his arm, amputating it near the wrist.

  Uther turned and ran, dropping a couple of statues on the way to make the path more difficult for his enemies to follow him.

  He stopped fighting in moments that were favorable, dispatching the pursuers as quickly as possible and running away. If he miscalculated by even one second, the main body of the enemies would catch him, and no skill mastery could prevail against such numbers.

  Even using all his tricks, the pursuers were catching up. They were almost at arm's length when Uther reached the tunnel entrance.

  He just hoped the mage was proactive as he jumped the flight of stairs, dropping his weapons and covering his head with his arms.

  An explosion happened behind him, propelling Uther further into the tunnel. The impact on the ground was painful. He had a ringing in his ear as a rain of pebbles and dust covered him.

  After a few instants of disorientation, Uther opened his eyes and confirmed that he was indeed alive. He was full of bruises and scratches, but nothing major.

  The entrance had collapsed. This was only a temporary solution; the supporting pillars would need to be destroyed to seal the tunnel, but that would be enough to block his pursuers for now.

  “All the captives are here” said the wizard as he offered his hand to help Uther stand up. “Are you hurt?”

  “Nothing is broken, at least.” Uther got on his feet while hitting his clothes to remove the dirt. “Let's go back quickly, we need to collapse the rest of the tunnel before they can remove the rubble from the entrance.” And with a mischievous smile he added: “See, that was not so bad.”

  The mage just glared at him.

  The rest of the job took almost one hour, but the passage was sealed without any incidents. The rescued were sent to the hospital, but it was uncertain how much care could be spared to help them.

  Uther returned to the Market Gate where he was commanding the defense for the last 5 days. That was one of the most critical sections of the city perimeter that needed to be defended. If the monsters were able to take control of the gate and deploy the bridge, it would be impossible to stop them. Things had calmed down just recently, the reason for that was unclear.

  Two men were waiting for Uther, really out of place among the soldiers, dressing finely and carrying notebooks, quills and assorted pieces of paper instead of weapons. They were part of the bureaucrats mobilized to keep tabs on the limited and thinly stretched resources used in the defense. Uther could not remember their names for the life of him, but they had been his main source of information about the bigger picture of the battle.

  “Your Highness, we came to check how the defense of the gate is progressing. Prince Allan also asked if you were able to close the passage without unnecessary risks. For some reason he gave special emphasis to the unnecessary risks part.”

  “Yes, the passage is closed. No unnecessary risks were taken, absolutely none...” he trailed off and changed the subject. “How is my brother?”

  “Prince Allan is looking as you would expect. I don’t know if he slept more than 2 hours this week. He is an inspiration to us all, but the staff is afraid that he will die from exhaustion at any time.”

  “I can’t say I am surprised. I will talk to him now that things have slowed down. Mother and my sister should be safe in the castle. The only one I am a bit worried about is my personal servant. She was mobilized to help my medical team, but I managed to put her in a safer place, in the section near the library.”

  They looked at each other with badly concealed nervousness. That scared Uther more than anything in the siege so far.

  “What?” he asked, not entirely sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

  They hesitated for a moment, but one took a step forward and explained:

  “The butchery.” He paused for a second. “This is what they are calling that section near the library. More people died there than any other in the city.”

  Uther felt a shiver down his spine.

  “The medical team?”

  “The report said … they said the team was lost.”

  The next hour was a blur. If one enquired Uther about what he did that time he would have vague recollections about going through piles of corpses in a gruesome courtyard, running in streets littered with bodies of civilians and goblins, asking soldiers for information, walking among wounded and dying in an overcrowded improvised hospital, until he found amidst a group of shocked civilians a brunet with a lost expression.