"The Holy Guard is standing by," Sigrun's pegasus landed lightly on the battlements behind Sanaki. "We're ready when you are."

Jill glanced over as she climbed into Peridot's saddle. Her green dragon shuffled her wings, readying herself for battle even as Jill did. Jill patted the dragon's neck encouragingly, and glanced at Haar. He, too, settled into his saddle, weapons in easy reach. The difference between them was, Jill felt strung as tight as a bowstring, whereas her husband looked like he was considering a quick nap. His dragon, Jet, turned to give him the warning eye. Jill covered her mouth as Haar's dragon deliberately shrugged his shoulders and shuffled his wings to keep Haar from getting too comfortable.

"All right!" she heard him hiss. "I get it. Cut that out!"

Jet settled, and Jill swore she heard a quiet dragon chuckle.

"All right," Soren announced. The small strategist looked even tinier than usual in Ike's protective shadow — but that wasn't surprising, Jill thought, considering that Soren had been wounded just yesterday. Ike had been very much against his staying here at all. However, in terms of stubbornness, Soren could outlast anyone. Besides, long-range magic was going to be one of their primary weapons today.

Jill let out a long, tense breath. Their goal today, the few of them who remained at Fort Kain, was simply to slow down the army. Take out as many of them as possible. Force them to regroup. Then, let the army swarm the fort — hampered by the rubble and by the many nasty traps Volke had been working on — and escape into the skies before the enemy knew they had left. The fastest members of the Holy Guard were standing by to take some of those who couldn't fly; Jill, Haar, Tibarn, and Naesala could also carry a passenger. Sigrun stood ready to sweep Sanaki out of danger the moment it presented itself.

"Tanith, go," Soren ordered. "They should be well clear by now. Rejoin the army and flood the valley behind you."

Tanith nodded sharply. "Good luck," she bade them, wheeling her pegasus. In a flurry of white wings, she took to the sky.

"They're in range," Micaiah stated.

Soren nodded. "Go ahead."

"Cover your eyes," the Queen warned, opening her tome. Jill made sure that Peridot's wings covered her face — then she hid her own face in her hands. A moment later, searing light shone through Jill's fingers and eyelids, and she wrenched her head away from Micaiah.

By the shouts and screams coming from below, the Ketaran army wasn't doing nearly so well.

…

Ranulf paused and turned back to watch the valley flooding. Despite the proximity to the desert here, the mountains of Daein were full of hidden rivers and pools. When the allied armies of Tellius had first joined at Fort Kain, Soren had assigned some of the beast tribe to build a dam and a canal, to redirect a massive amount of water across the path leading to the fort. Ranulf had known that they would have to use it eventually. He had hoped, though, that the fort would have held up a little better. It was Daein, after all. Until Micaiah's reign, this country had always been famous for its warmongering, and its defenses were probably the best in Tellius.

Ranulf sighed. Focus on the present, he told himself, and leapt down from his rocky vantage point. He jogged along the line, from the back where the injured traveled more slowly, to the front where the kings and generals convened. Tanith had arrived since Ranulf had last checked in with Skrimir. After the Judgment War and General Zelgius' death, Sanaki had appointed Tanith, once the deputy commander of the Holy Guard, as the new General of the Begnion Central Army. Ranulf smiled slightly. Fiercely loyal to the Empress and with a no-nonsense, no-exceptions attitude, Tanith had proved to be a very good and intimidating General.

"Is everything going smoothly?" she asked Ranulf, as he was the last to have checked in with everyone.

He nodded. "All seems to be in place. The path is underwater now. We're still several hours from the rendezvous, but we should be there by nightfall with time to spare."

Suddenly an abnormal sound reached him. He lifted his head, twitching his ears to better capture the sound.

"Attack! We're under attack!"

"An ambush!" Ranulf howled, and sprang away down the path, sprinting toward the fight as soon as his paws touched the ground.

…

Jill's dragon released the chunk of rock just as Jill herself threw another javelin. The spear struck a solider on a horse, and the rock crushed a couple more. Peridot wheeled back toward the fort, covered by the rain of spells Soren, Micaiah, Sanaki, Tormod, and Bastian cast on the enemy.

There was no way to hold them back, really. Just slow them down, which was what Jill, Haar, and their dragons were doing with the rocks. Inside the crumbling, narrow corridors of the fort — conveniently open to the elements since the Alliance team had knocked the roofs in last night — there was no escape from the chunks of stone. In addition to the spells, Shinon poured arrows into the mess; Tibarn and Naesala dove in and out of combat relentlessly. Jill and Haar continued to hurl javelins and small axes. Ike and Lucia each held a magical sword and attacked from the upper ledges. Sothe and Volke appeared to be competing to see how many concealed knives one man could possess and throw. Routinely the fort would shake as another section caved in or exploded. The very few injuries that the enemy was able to reply were quickly healed by Elincia.

For such a small force, they had done admirable damage to the enemy forces. But against an army, there was only one ending to this battle.

"It's time!" Soren yelled as his third Blizzard tome fell apart. "Let's go!"

Jill urged Peridot higher into the sky, well out of range of the enemy. She and Haar circled the Holy Guard as they rose up, carrying their passengers.

"Now!" Micaiah cried — and as one, the sages each cast a spell.

Fort Kain collapsed once and for all under the onslaught of Blizzard, Bolting, Purge, and two Meteors. Jill turned away from the cloud of stone dust and the cries of the soldiers trapped inside.

I didn't want this, she thought as if to them. You didn't have to come here. You didn't have to die.

…

"Go, go, go!" Ranulf shouted over his shoulder, batting down a lance with his front paws. He, the trueblade Mia, and General Geoffrey fought shoulder to shoulder on the narrow, winding trail. They were the first line between the wounded and the ambushers. The sky was full of birds and flying knights diving into the fray. Ranulf had lost track of Skrimir, but still heard him roaring away somewhere.

A sword bit into his shoulder and he hissed, lashing out. Blood stained his fur, but before the wound could take too heavy a toll, he felt a warm touch on his flank. He glanced behind him to see a beorc healer — the pale one from the Greil Mercenaries, Rhys — with his staff glowing blue. The pain in the cat's shoulder eased and he sprang back into battle.

It seemed that they fought for days. Reyson told him later that it was about eighty minutes. The Ketaran attack had been well timed, but the Alliance fighters were not so dispirited as the enemy might have hoped, and they had not for a second let their guard down. Being already in battle positions, they had swiftly beaten off the attack — a few of the Ketaran survivors fled back into the woods, but most of the foreigners were dead.

Ranulf reverted back from his cat form. "Lethe," he called. She bounded over, unhurt. "Take a small team and hunt down the survivors," Ranulf ordered wearily. "We can't let them get back to the main army. It's best if they don't know the outcome of today."

Lethe nodded her understanding and whisked off. Ranulf sighed and glanced down at his bloodied clothes. He wrinkled his nose in distaste. Sometimes he cursed his acute sense of smell — like now, when he would be able to smell blood and death in his fur for days, no matter how many times he washed.

"Ike's team is returning." Ranulf glanced up as Tanith landed next to him. "We need to get going again to make up for this lost time. Help me gather the wounded… and the dead, will you?"

"Sure thing, General Tanith," Ranulf managed a smile. He'd learned a long time ago that it was important to keep up at least the appearance of a good nature on the battlefield. If nothing else, it kept a few spirits up. But mostly, it was because if he could try to fool others he could try to fool himself. Sometimes it was all that kept him going, but sometimes it was just too much.

…

…

Author's Note:

A million and three thanks to Kiiroi Senko for a supply of battle strategies. You officially rock and if the good guys didn't already have an awesome strategist I'd name one after you.