A/N: This is a fic I've already posted over on tumblr and AO3, but I'm posting it here as well so it gets more visibility. Please, let me know what you think by leaving comments or critiques. Anything is greatly appreciated.

"If these spell-slingers think they'll win, then they've got one heck of a wake up call coming!"

The captain's words carried across the field of battle, barely affected by the whipping of wind and flapping of gryphon wings. Whether it was a magical clarity or just his natural booming voice meant nothing to Fareeha. Below them sat the garrison, an impregnable fortress they called home, and a squad of mages beyond the gates. They hurled spells at both the walls and the riders, but the stone held fast, and the riders dodged nearly every blast. What a waste of energy, she thought. But I shall not give them quarter. They will pay for this aggression.

Her gryphon flew in lazy circles, waiting for the next command. They didn't have to wait long. "Concentrate on the soldiers. Archers! Take care of the mages the moment you have a clear shot!"

Fareeha's gryphon, Nassor, gave a sharp shriek of joy. He didn't speak the language, but he knew that tone. Nudging him into a dive, the cavalier readied her blade to strike at an armored man blocking the arrows from reaching the unarmored mages behind him. His helm prevented her from seeing if he saw her coming – it was just as likely that he was focusing on the other riders – and her halberd struck true, breaking his shield away from his arm.

She had little time to celebrate, as she turned away from the man, flying back up to prepare for another strike while keeping out of reach of his sword. It wasn't the sword she needed to worry about, though. Fire tore through her side, her metal armor doing nothing to stop the scalding heat. Fareeha grunted. It wasn't the worst injury she'd ever received, but it was enough to make her fall back. Her armor was worse than useless now that it burned her skin with every movement.

Landing inside the garrison walls, she rushed to where she knew their healers would be. The cavalier called for a cleric, and a winged woman rushed to her side. She took one look at Fareeha with her red, bleary eyes and spoke a few words in an ancient tongue. The cavalier sighed as the burn subsided, replaced by a gentle cold. However, the pain lingered.

"I'm sorry," the cleric panted, bracing herself against Nassor's neck. "I used up all of… of my more powerful spells."

Fareeha shook her head. "Anything you can do is appreciated, Angela. Now, I must return to the fray."

Angela nodded and let go of her gryphon, standing on her own feet, however unsteadily. The cavalier twisted the reins in her hands, ready to give her mount the command to take off.

Neither expected the explosion. It came from the walls opposite the attackers and shook the ground with such force that Nassor opened his wings just to stay upright. Angela did the same, though she fell to her knees anyway. Dust and rough flecks of fractured rock rained down on them, leaving shallow scratches on any skin not covered with steel plates. All around them, the other healers cursed and swore, grabbing their own weapons as the other recovering cavaliers dashed to see what had just happened.

Fareeha rubbed the dust out of her eyes and followed them, ordering Angela to stay behind. Nassor chirped angrily as he took to wing, only just clearing the roofs of the barracks before dropping again. Force missiles and fireballs whistled overhead, coming from a gaping hole in the wall.

"They're coming from the western wall!" the cavalier shouted, but her words fell on deaf ears. The few cavaliers who had rushed in directly from the infirmary had succumbed to the barrage of spells and fallen to the ground, pinned beneath their gryphons' bodies and unmoving. Ducking in and out of the sparse cover provided by the buildings' walls, Fareeha looked around for the captain. But he was nowhere to be seen. Shouts from the northeast walls took away the little hope she had, as they called for the second-in-command to give the orders. The captain's second was a good man but not quite as skilled in strategy as the captain himself was.

What now? Fareeha's thoughts ran wild, trying to piece together the best solution to salvage the situation. They're inside. They must be! But everyone was countering the attack outside the walls… It… It was just a distraction…

Lost in her own mind, the cavalier drifted too far out of cover. She yanked back on Nassor's reins when she saw the bolt of orange light heading for her, but it was too late. The fireball exploded to the side, searing both her and her gryphon. Fareeha heard his shrieks and, for all she knew, she was screaming as well. Her mind went white from the pain. It was pure muscle memory that kept them from falling to the ground, Nassor's wings straightening out and locking in place so they drifted down slowly. They still hit the dirt hard, but it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been.

The soft bristles of brown feathers and rough leather was replaced by cold earth on her side. It took a moment for the cavalier to realize that she had fallen from the saddle. It would've been wonderful if she could just stay there, with her burns pressed against the cool dirt, but the clarity following the banishment of pain allowed her to hear a voice calling her name. Groaning, Fareeha pushed herself up and forced herself to look at the woman running down the path. Her vision swam, but she had an idea of who it was.

"Pelor preserve us!" Angela cried, falling to her knees before the cavalier. She passed her hands over the burns, and Fareeha sighed as she felt that familiar, cooling sensation. The cleric turned to Nassor and did the same, glancing back with wide eyes and mouth slightly agape. "What happened? Everyone began falling and…"

Narrowing her eyes, Fareeha winced at the lingering pain in her cheek. There was little she could do now. Reinforcements would take too long to come, and without the captain, they might not be able to turn the tide. The decision didn't come easily; she wanted to stamp in defiance and would have done so had Angela not been there. She stood back to her full height and looked right into the cleric's watery eyes. "We're retreating," she stated.

"Wha-?"

Angela squeaked a bit as Fareeha grabbed her and dragged her onto Nassor's back. Her feet weren't even fully in the stirrups before she urged him to take off once more. The cleric yelled incoherent babblings, but the cavalier didn't slow down. Spells flew past them, close enough that they could hear the buzzing of electricity and the crackle of fire. They were not headed toward the fighting, which made many of the mages' attacks miss wildly. If Fareeha's luck could hold out just a little longer, then they could get away mostly unscathed.

Nassor had just barely cleared the southern wall when it happened. A bolt of pure force whistled through the air, twisting and turning to hit its target unerringly. Pain, burning and bright, ripped through her side as the bolt hit. Fareeha screamed, but the sound was lost to her as blackness consumed her vision. The last thing she heard was Angela asking – begging – her to hold on.

Just a little longer…