The evacuation had started almost two hours ago, it took time to move ten thousand people through a relatively small world-gate. The way magic worked on the other world was still amazing to her, a word-gate would be impossible to hold open more than ten minutes from their side, but Iris had assured them she could hold it open indefinitely.

  The support folks had gone first with all the spare equipment, armor, clothes, and weapons, followed by all the warriors not on duty, and most of the clerics and paladins. The only ones left in the city were the soldiers on the walls and the four volunteers Caroline had asked for, of which she was one.

  Susan was on the west side of the tower, James on the north, and Rhianna on the south.

  The most dangerous part of the evacuation of course was to retreat from the walls. The four of them would block the horde and give the soldiers a good fifteen minutes head start as they all abandoned the wall at the first horn blast and raced for the center of the city and the world-gate. Once the horn was sounded a second time, that would be their queue to depart the tower. Fortunately, the courtyard was extremely close to the city’s central tower.

  Especially if she jumped off of it, and used magic to lower herself to the ground, which was the plan. To avoid the stairs and maze of hallways from the tower entrance to the courtyard doors, which would add at least another minute to the trip. Fifteen minutes of constant casting would have her close to her magical limit, but the spell to regulate a fall only took a whisper of magic.

  If things went to plan, then she wouldn’t have to cast anything but that one spell when it was her turn to run. But they feared if the vampires thought they were leaving, they might go into a frenzy and break out all the stops.

  She took a deep breath as the horn sounded. The men and women on the walls took axes or sledgehammers to several barrels that had been seeded along the wall, and then grabbed the ropes and rappelled off the walls to the city streets. The last one off in several places dropped a torch on the now oil slicked ramparts. With a whoosh and rising of black smoke a fierce fire at least ten feet in height covered the walls. It should last more than ten minutes, stopping the undead from attempting to gain the wall as they retreated through the streets.

  They had more than one plan to cover the retreat, and it was just prudent to do so.

  James said, “So far so good.”

  Rhianna replied sharply, “Damnit, you had to say it, didn’t you? You’ll jinx us.”

  Her and Susan laughed.

  James scoffed, “There’s no such thing as a jinx…” and his voice trailed off in disbelief as the first zombie sailed over the wall and high flames to land in the street. It immediately got up and took off fast in pursuit, only to be followed by three more in different spots.

  Near as she could tell, the vampires were using their great strength and speed to toss their company over the wall one zombie at a time. No doubt they’d jump over when all their charges had gone over first. Which of course would make room for the next company and vampire, it’d be a constant never-ending stream, four or five companies along each wall at a time, and vampires were a pain to kill.

  The best defense would be to firebomb the vampires doing it, and let the retreating soldiers easily handle the few zombies that made it over. But that wouldn’t work because of the ten-foot-high flames and thick black smoke. She couldn’t see them anymore. She could sense their death magic, but it was a sea of death magic. It wasn’t like the vampires stood out that way. It would take a lot more magic to pick them off one by one as they came over. But they had to do something.

  She cursed, “Damnit, the plan’s no good, we’ll run out of magic and get less than half of them, and likely lose half the walls in the bargain as we ourselves get cut off from the world gate. Forget killing them, use earth and air to slow them down and buy the soldiers the time they need.”

  The outer streets led to an inner-city wall with four gates, the soldiers would have to converge on those four entrances, so would the undead.

  Rhianna said, “Except for the vampires, immolate those.”

  She replied, “Agreed. Elemental fire only since it’s a single target. It’ll be cheaper in magic than a firebomb spell, which is meant for taking out whole companies.”

  She started to weave simple earth spells laced with air, and each one she fired off caused the street to explode upward into a wall. The air spell would stop the zombies from climbing or even vaulting the wall, as soon as they got close enough they’d be blown back. It would slow them down, on the bad side there’d eventually be a buildup of a lot of zombies on every street she blocked.

  They didn’t need to kill them though, they were gambling on the idea they could delay them long enough for the soldiers to get through the gate and clear the way for their retreat. They’d be the last four living beings in the city, on this world actually. A dubious honor, if there ever was one.

  There were just too many streets to block them all, but the number of avenues to one of the four gates dwindled the closer to the center of the city. The few zombies that were getting through should be easy enough for the retreating warriors to cut down. Point being, as the soldiers got closer to those gates, it would mean less work to block them all.

  As for her escape, she’d lived under siege since she’d been born thirty-five years ago. There was no way she was dying on the eve of their victory. Screw that.

  She switched to the elemental fire weave, and it fired it off as the first vampire leapt over into the city, at least over the east wall. It raced out and struck the vampire. A human would just see the vampire fall like its strings were cut, but for a sorcerer that could see magic, she observed as the elemental fire slammed into the powerful undead, and it burned through the death magic. Consumed it, stealing the fuel that energized it. The body was untouched however, which meant it started to twitch and moan a moment later, as it became a zombie. Just one more dead body on the field.

  Fortunately, the lich couldn’t raise vampires from a distance, only the weak and mindlessly violent undead.

  The second benefit of taking down the vampire was the zombies under its charge became a lot less effective. Instead of a force sweeping down on their fleeing soldiers, those twenty-four or so started to move in random directions and had no unit cohesion.

  She took out vampires two, three, and four in quick succession, and then got back to blocking streets farther into the city. Just behind their fleeing warriors. It wasn’t part of the plan, but the warriors adjusted quickly to her off the cuff change in tactics. They were more moving in a fighting retreat than an all-out run. Which, would make their retreat longer, but there was nothing to be done about that.

  On the good side, her tactics seemed to be working. By the time the warriors made it through the gates, she still had at least half of her spirit magic left. She made a far more sturdy and powerful wall at the gate, determined to keep them from the inner city, and a glance told her the others had done the same. All four gates, for all intents and purposes, no longer existed. They’d been filled in completely.

  Of course, no one was manning those walls, so nothing was stopping the zombies from scaling them.

  “Pure air.”

  That was enough of an order for them to catch her meaning. She weaved the air spell that would repel climbers, the same one she’d combined with the earth magic earlier for the walls. The zombies that were currently climbing her wall were forcibly blown off and sent flying. Only to get up again, race for the wall, and it happened again as they started to climb.

  James said optimistically, “I think we’re really going to…”

  He was interrupted as they all shouted, “Shut up!”

  Last thing they needed was to be jinxed by him saying they were going to make it.

  He snorted, but he didn’t say anything further.

  They just had to hold the wall for five more minutes. That was the estimate, all the soldiers on duty on the walls would take about five minutes to get through the bottleneck of the gate and clear the way for their retreat. Of course, it could happen sooner or later, which was why they’d wait for the horn.

  The inner wall was a lot smaller than the outer, not nearly as wide, but it was still much bigger than the walls they’d been erecting to block streets. Their spells were spread out to cover a lot more ground, and the zombies were building up. Which all added up together meant that their spells were only lasting about ten seconds before they were exhausted.

  So, she was basically casting the same spell over and over again. It took three seconds to weave, and she was weaving it every ten seconds. It wasn’t much magic, but it was a constant drain, and she mentally urged the soldiers to hurry the heck up. She thought she had enough, but it was going to be damned close, even with her magically conservative approach to fixing the original plan.

  She considered the idea of thinning out the zombies trying to scramble up the walls with a firebomb, but decided she’d lose more magic than it would gain her in the long run. There were just too many zombies coming in, and the immolated ones would be quickly replaced. Best to just let the wall size itself limit the number of zombies the spell dealt with at once, and let it ride.

  She sighed, begrudging the need as she took out the next four vampires with elemental fire. That’d hurt, but they couldn’t afford to let the vampires start tossing zombies over this last defense.

  She had maybe four more spells in her, when she was starting to think they weren’t going to make it.

  The horn blasted, destroying that fear in a burst of hope. She cast the spell one more time to give the full ten second head start, then ran for the western side of the tower where the others were already leaping off.

  She jumped as she weaved the simple air spell, and she controlled her fall, slowing down quickly as she neared the ground, but she still needed to duck and roll to absorb the momentum. The spell could’ve allowed her to float down sedately, but time was kind of at a premium in that moment. Her heart pounded as she leapt up and raced for the world gate.

  She laughed in relief with a tinge of hysterics, as she realized she’d be last. A truly dubious honor, to be the last living thing on the planet, for a split second at least. Save perhaps the oceans.

  She could hardly believe it, as she ran through. The first breath of fresh air not poisoned by miasmic death and staleness had tears pricking her eyes.

  She’d made it.

  Thank the goddess.

  Not all the soldiers had, but thanks to her quick thinking and efforts most of them had.

  Chapter Three

  “You look like a mess,” Iris noted, as she dropped the gate.

  She smiled, as Evelyn just laughed and hugged her tight.

  “It’s good to see you,” then lower, “Watch your back. Caroline has been telling tales and feeling out loyalties. I don’t know everything she’s been saying, since I made my loyalty clear early on in the conversation. I don’t know how many she managed to subvert with her lies either.”

  She sighed, she’d expected as much, just not so soon. She’d also been furious at Caroline when she’d been told only four volunteers had stayed behind. It would’ve been much safer to put three on each wall, not just one. But she kept that to herself. Caroline had given her last order, and the council had no authority here, so the point was now moot.

  If there was going to be a fight, she wouldn’t start one, or add to the kindling. No, she’d just finish it. Plus, her friend was safe.

  Evelyn looked up in awe as she stepped back, “That’s really you?”

  She giggled, “Yep. Not for long though, you’ll be independent soon enough, and I’m going to switch over to the alternate way as well. You’ll be shortly spoiled, with endless and fast spirit regeneration.”

  It was a bit obvious to say, given Evelyn had been briefed and had been studying the spell weaves involved for four months. But it was clear by Evelyn’s reactions it would take time for the other sorcerers to become accustomed to their new reality and new world before they felt it in their gut. So it bared repeating.

  The field was clearing fast. She’d been running a portal as well as the world gate for a constant procession, so they wouldn’t have a ten-mile hike to their new home. The old council had already gone through it to the fortified city, and were getting their people settled and fed.

  When it was just the two of them, she weaved a quick nature spell to repair the crops on the trampled field, which had Evelyn gasping again in amazement. Evelyn had been told she’d have access to life and nature, had even probably studied the spells, but it was another thing to actually see it happen.

  Evelyn was in her mid-thirties, light brown hair, hazel eyes, cute face, and an hourglass body slightly more generous in curves than her lithe athletic one. She’d been a close friend for a long time, and despite the apparent reverse age disparities she thought of Evelyn like a younger sister, and Evelyn saw her as the older if somewhat more mischievous sister.

  She said, “Let’s go and get you settled, then we’ll get started. We only have three days to get it right. After a quick tour and a meal, you should be regenerated and ready to go.”

  Evelyn nodded in agreement, and they stepped through the portal.

  The walls of the fortified city came into view, and they were forty feet in height. They also radiated magic, the covens had enchanted them heavily.

  Through the gates, there were lines of barracks for the ten thousand human soldiers and two hundred thousand shifter warriors, slightly roomier accommodations for the covens and mage conclaves who would each have separate rooms. There were also a lot of warehouses, smithies, and mess halls scattered around.

  The city was built for defense from the ground up, and the buildings all had fortified roofs with crenelations if the wall fell. A good place to launch an offensive to retake that section of the wall, or as a fortified position for a retreat that bled the enemy severely.

  Central to the city was the large tower which the sorcerers would live, eat, sleep, and fight from the top of. It was quite a bit larger than the one she’d created on pack land, with ten levels and wide enough to have four spacious rooms on every level. The top six levels made up twenty-four bedrooms, with one bathroom on each floor for the four sorcerers to share. There were twenty-five sorcerers, but among those there were four couples, so they’d actually have three spare bedrooms for the young ones to share. Children, that wouldn’t be a part of the battle.

  The bottom four levels were the kitchens, living areas, library, and one large meeting room that would accommodate them all. It was over a hundred and twenty feet high, three times higher than the walls, which would give them a good view of the field of battle in all directions.

  Unless there was a huge emergency, she planned to stay there the next few days, until her people were all independent and things were stable. Likely until it was time to leave for the offensive.

  If all went to plan, the city would be used for a mere three to seven days, depending on when the lich opened a world gate and started to send his people through.

  After a tour and picking out a room for her, they moved to the kitchens for a bite to eat, and the others were already there.

  Caroline said, “There you are. We need to talk.”

  Iris raised an eyebrow, as she sat down next to Evelyn and started to fill her plate.

  “We have a busy schedule, what about?”

  Caroline said, “Well, when it was determined you would be ruler, it was at Riothaen’s demand, before things got… complicated.”

  She nodded in agreement, “And now I’m ruling the whole territory.”

  Caroline smirked, as if she’d walked right into the woman’s argument.

  “Exactly. You have nine races to oversee and a territory to run. All the other magical races have rulers distinct to them, who report to Anna. A delightful woman, I met her earlier. I fear you can’t possibly give the attention and oversight that our people need and deserve, with such disparate responsibilities on your plate.

  “You’re a territory ruler, not a race ruler. I was thinking what you needed was another… call it another level of management. A sorcerer in charge, who reports to Anna and through her to you. One who could spend all their time working for the betterment of our race and to look out for them, while you’re away in your aerie all the time.”

  The worst part of that argument was it made total sense, sort of. It would be a step to consider later, when there were a lot more of them. Worse, she couldn’t assign anyone else but Caroline if she agreed to it. It would cause too many waves to do otherwise. Despite being ambitiously power hungry and a bit too much of a micromanager, she’d done a decent job for the most part, and had truly taken care of them.

  In short, she had no substantive justification to replace Caroline with someone else as a race ruler, it wasn’t a crime to be ambitious. That said, the sorceress’s argument wasn’t free of flaws either. It wasn’t like there were thousands of them and it’d be a full-time job to keep them honest.

  “If we had a larger population, I’d be forced to agree. I will be at the aerie, or law enforcement, during the workday hours. I imagine all twenty-four of you will also be at jobs of some kind. Once the war is over, you’ll need to earn coin to live. Healers, law enforcement, or anything else you want to do.

  “We will of course support each other as a family with those earnings, one or two of you will need to stay with the little ones and introduce them to magic, for instance.

  “I’ll also be here at night, at our joint home or tower, wherever that turns out to be. I’ll be here to answer questions, while I pursue my own studies. If there’s a real problem, I can be contacted by phone at any time, no matter where I am. Not to mention the communication weave which we all know. I really don’t think they’ll need a ruler looking over their shoulder while they’re at work. They’re accomplished adults of power and intelligence.