Bursts of fire shot from the rune's outlets, tearing across the rain-soaked balcony surface and hitting each demon squarely in the face. The fire burned white hot and caused blisters to erupt over their scaly skins and raindrops to sizzle into water vapour before they even made contact. Dent followed up with his runed gun, piercing their skin with ease once the thick armour was compromised. Seiren sketched and sketched, her arm aching and fingers becoming slippery and numb from the downpour and trembling from the constant snapping. One rune could only hit one demon -- if it even hit, that was. They moved fast and she had to wait till they were within striking distance before she could activate the runes. If only she could sketch faster. A blue flame could down them in one hit. But there were too many, and some of them had found their way onto the ground beneath them.

She snapped her fingers again. The orange rune glowed and expelled fire forward, skimming by the demon closest to them and scorching its shoulder. It snarled, its thick blue tongue lashing out, but didn't get deterred.

Her heart pounding and each breath freezing her lungs, Seiren fumbled with the chalk for another rune. She couldn't feel her fingers. The chalk, although runed to be waterproof against the rain from dissolving it, slipped from her soaked hand. She swore and fished for another one.

A screech caught her attention. Dent fired his last shot and reached behind to reload. The bullet struck the demon in the shoulder. Its tongue lashed out. Seiren's mind was a tornado of thoughts, half-formed and incoherent. Her body locked up from the cold and shock. The roar of rainfall mixed with the drumming in her ears.

Use Burst!

Seiren tore Madeleine off her neck -- her numb hands seared with pain as they strained against the freezing metal -- and stuffed her in a pocket. Her mind emptied. She clapped her hands and threw the magical energy from her mind.

She imagined the roar of flames and a blast of heat. But all that came out was a puff of smoke, promptly killed by the rain. Water trickled between her fingers. Dent fired again, knocking the demon between the eyes. Its head snapped back but it didn't die. Seiren leapt back, rubbing her hands together, conjuring more energy in a mind she desperately stilled. There was too much panic and distractions.

Her foot slipped with a squelch. The wood groaned beneath. The creature lurched towards them. Her balance pitched forward.

Suddenly there was no ground beneath her right foot.

The ground beneath her other foot lurched. The wooden support beneath her part of the balcony gave way with several cracks. She yelled, throwing her arms out for something, anything. Her elbow knocked against something hard but she couldn't get a hold. Everything slid from her grasp. Blood roared in her ears.

Dent saw her fall out of the corner of his eye. He turned, almost in slow motion, a shout on his lips. But Seiren heard nothing. The wind howled, rushing from all directions. The edge of the balcony became smaller as the distance between them increased.

Her back hit the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut, expecting agony and then darkness, but to her surprise the surface gave way. There was a squelch like the squeezing of fresh sea produce. Seiren's eyes popped open, a gasp at her throat. She stared up into the disapproving blue-green eyes of Maura Woodbead. The rising sun shed light behind her, bathing her head in a halo. Her black hair remained sleek and smooth and her lips remained downturned.

"If you have time to lounge in battlefield, Nithercott, I suggest you get back onto your feet and set these little bastards alight," she said, her nostrils flaring.

"Th-thank you," said Seiren, breathless. Maura only scoffed and marched ahead again, setting off blast after blast of white-hot flames from her runes. From afar, she looked almost like Portendorfer, efficient and deadly.

"If you're injured, get your ass off the battlefield," Maura hollered over the screeches of monsters, explosions of magic, and screams of men. She threw her arm to the right. Flames erupted from her fingertips, fuelled by rune magic, and struck a demon leaping towards a fallen soldier. The flash of yellow illuminated the courtyard and the bodies of humans and demons. She blasted another demon leaping from the walls, catching it smack in the middle of its mouth, turning its thick blue tongue into a crisp before it could eat the soldier crouching in front of it. "You -- move this guy, now!"

She might resemble Portendorfer in her power, but her precision meant Seiren felt none of the danger or fear Portendorfer emanated. With hands that sketched in a blur, Maura ignited the whole of the battlements in white-hot flames, surrounding Acrise in a fiery inferno and blocking further attempts to scale the walls. The demons that had managed to remain unscathed so far all raced towards her, hunger in their crimson eyes. In the light of day, their sheer mass was unnerving.

Seiren sketched the runes on her paper, firing another flurry of flames to back up Maura. The white fire snaked forward, striking one in the face. It screeched. But without Dent or other soldiers to shoot them down, Seiren might as well hurl pebbles at it. Stripped of its protective armour, the creature crawled with frenzy at Maura, intent on ripping her to pieces. Seiren tried to sketch a red rune, but her hands continued to freeze over.

On cue, blue hot flames tore over Seiren's head like a tornado of fury, vaporising the downpour. They struck the demons before Maura all in one go. Their eyes bulged. Their throats swelled. The fluid expanded beneath their skin and they exploded, the innards sizzling and blackening. The injured soldiers caught in his inferno were consumed by the flash magic. Their agonised screams made Seiren nauseous and her blood run cold. Portendorfer strode forward, hands in his rainbow-lined black cloak pockets, humming out loud. He cracked his neck left and right and shrugged his shoulders, unperturbed by the damage his magic dealt.

Seiren's arm shot out and caught his forearm before he could clap again.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

"Saving Acrise, my sweet. What does it look like?" His teeth remained gleaming and white against his dark skin. His crisp hat and cloak were untarnished. He pulled his arm away but she kept a steady clamp on his bony wrist.

"You're killing the soldiers -- our soldiers!"

"Aren't you a compassionate little one?" His grin stretched. "But that's part of the fun, isn't it? Why engage in battle if you aren't prepared to be killed?"

"But--"

He tugged again, with strength surprising for a man who seemed to be all fat and no muscle. Two more claps and the ground was incinerated. All the soldiers that couldn't get away were turned to coal. Seiren could only watch, horror-struck.

A shout came from above. Dent! Seiren had forgotten about him. The soldier stumbled backwards, his gun no longer in his hand. A gash ran from his shoulder down to his chest. The injured but still active reptilian demon snapped at him, missing by an inch each time. Dent had backed up to the hole on the balcony where Seiren had fallen.

"Dent!" Seiren shouted, finishing the rune. Before she could activate it, Portendorfer had whipped around, a gleeful look in his eyes, and clapped his hand. "No!"

The torrent of blue flames, so hot Seiren's eyeballs almost sizzled, swarmed up at Dent. Seiren grasped at her burst magic, hoping to throw up a wall of water like Rowan had done against the sky demons. She slammed her palms together, sending spears of pain across the frozen, numb skin, and threw her hands in the air with desperation.

There was a pause of half a second before a torrent of water exploded from the nearby water drainage system, with power far exceeding Seiren's ability, and soared upwards, forming a wall around Dent. The fire hit the demon, burning it into a crisp, and then collided with the water, sending out a blast of steam that blinded and knocked back Seiren. The water continued to pour into the wall until the flames vanished.

"This is why you'll never have any fun, Baby Woodbead," said Portendorfer in a rueful tone. "You love your precious little underlings so much."

"My precious comrades keep me safe," snarled Rowan, marching through the dissipating steam. His black hair stuck up in all directions and he was drenched, but Seiren was glad to see he was well. Tylene followed behind, her gun drawn. He dropped his hand; the wall of water crashed onto the ground. Seiren hadn't noticed the rain had stopped. "You all right, Seiren?"

Seiren jumped. Rowan had never addressed her by her name before. Her mind went dumb.

"Uh..."

She must look quite the state for Rowan to express concern.

"I trust those sky demons are taken care of?" said Portendorfer slyly.

"You slaughtered most of them and you knew it," said Rowan in a short voice. "Temples and Dankworth have the rest under control."

"Oh?" Portendorfer's bushy black eyebrows rose. "Is it such a good idea to entrust such an important job to someone so inexperienced? You of all people know the result of lack of experience..."

Rowan looked as if he wanted to punch Portendorfer. A flush crept up the back of his neck and his jaw set so tight Seiren could almost hear his teeth grinding.

"If you have time for pleasantries, you might want to hold up the damn wall," snapped Maura, appearing behind Portendorfer.

"Your runes are quite extraordinary, though, Woodbead, are they not?"

"These runes won't last forever, Portendorfer, and you know we have bigger problems right now aside from the freaks at the bottom of the wall."

"If you're so experienced, Portendorfer, you should help Maura up there," said Seiren, her heart skipping a beat at her boldness. She clenched her hands into fists, not faltering under Portendorfer's brown-eyed inquisitive gaze. She held her breath. It was an impudent remark, one that could easily earn herself a black strike on her records if he reported her, but as she expected he merely grinned and doffed his hat again.

"Using my words against me, huh? I like your fire, Nithercott." He gave Rowan a disinterested glance before striding, hands in his pockets again, towards the stone steps leading up to the battlements. With trembling hands, Seiren refastened Madeleine around her neck.

"Good to know you're not going to be a deadweight, Nithercott," said Maura, sniffing, and marched away.

"Are you all right?" Seiren said, frowning at Rowan. He looked exhausted, drenched in rain and sweat and eyes devoid of energy. The sky demons must have given them a pummelling on the south side. Tylene clapped Dent's shoulder as he emerged from one of the doorways on ground level, the gash more evident in daylight running across his chest. He was quickly chivvied away by one of the medics.

Rowan shook his head, not meeting her eyes.

"We still have work to do," he said in a hoarse voice.

Several hours later, when Seiren entered the debriefing room with Rowan, after being summoned once the chaos outside had settled, Brigadier General Morvin Grader was already leaning over the desk, his overwhelming presence filling every corner of the room. He looked as if hell had descended and destroyed civilisation itself. The scar across his face seemed to blacken along with his expression, his eyes bulged with disbelief.

"What do you mean our anti-climbing runes failed, Mage Woodbead?" he said in a dangerous voice.

Maura crossed her arms at the other end of the table, one leg hooked elegantly behind the other. She seemed unaffected by his fury.

"It means what it means, Brigadier General." Her tone was even, smooth, despite her body being a third the size of the soldier. "The runes have held strong since their development by Mage Harred--" Seiren's heart skipped a beat at the mention of her mother. "--so I don't quite know why it happened, either, but it's obvious the runes this time didn't work on the demons. Otherwise there was no way in hell they could have just climbed."

"They have developed magic that can overwhelm Mage Harred's runes?"

"Unlikely. Hannans aren't exactly renowned for their progressive thinking or overcoming odds. And they certainly aren't able to use something as refined as rune magic."

The images of the Hannans, smaller than ants, far below huddling together and the glow of light before the demon started climbing flashed before Seiren's eyes. They played in slow motion, frame by frame. The huddle, the gestures, the glow of violet light that swarmed the demon and then faded. She frowned.

"Then what are you suggesting?"

"I'm only saying what I saw. I have no suggestions for solutions. That is for you soldiers to decide. We are only here to support."

"There was something new." Seiren spoke before she could stop herself. She was so engrossed in replaying the pictures she'd forgotten she was in a room of people. Eight pairs of eyes turned upon her. A small flush crept up to her ears. "I don't know if it was magic--" Maura snorted. "--but they did something to their demons before they climbed. I don't know what it was, but they had something I've never seen Hannans use before. It's got nothing to do with their summoning."

"Well, whatever it is, we need to get to the root of it," said Grader with a growl. "Our casualty numbers are heavy. Two mages are down along with a third of my men. The civilians are being evacuated as we speak but it will take several days before Acrise can be safe as a battleground."

"Oh?" Portendorfer sounded elated at the word 'battleground'. Seiren's stomach twisted in a knot.

The rest of the mages appeared uneasy. Seiren could see why: mages in battle would theoretically spell disaster as they were equipped with such immense power. They could easily turn a losing battle on its head; equally, they could be the downfall if the power of one person became uncontrolled. History had documented uses of mages in war all too well and taught harsh lessons. King Pollin had continued his predecessors' decree that mages were never to actively engage in war.

Until now, whispered Madeleine. What do you think? That violet light -- I think it's runes.

It can't be. But Seiren knew her sister was right. The glow was too familiar for it to be anything else. Hannans doing rune magic? That's crazy.

Maybe someone trained them.

One of us? No way.

Or maybe they discovered magic themselves. They had their summoning -- we can't do that. Why can't they learn magic, too?

Because... because that would mean we have no ways of fighting against them.

"My fires will not burn indefinitely," Maura was saying. "I hope you have enough men stationed up there to alert us to future breaches... although I notice they conveniently failed to do that last night."

Grader puffed out his chest with indignity. "I assure you, Mage Woodbead, I will have severe words with my men. Such a mistake will never happen again."

"You should hope not, for your sake," Maura said, her gaze icy. "Or there wouldn't be a next time. For you, for your men, or for any of us. Because of these mistakes."

"Surely we need something more definitive than just staffing more soldiers along the wall," said the young mage with the heart-shaped face Seiren had seen at the previous debriefing. He had his right arm bandaged up, possibly from a burn.

"I'll send men down to the bottom with enough cover at the top. Maybe we can salvage some of those dead bodies before they all rot away."

"I'll take Nithercott and have a look at the runes in our walls, then," said Maura briskly. "And see if we can reinforce them with more runes if that's what's been overcome."

A small gasp behind Seiren caught her attention as they filed out. She spun. Rowan, his face pale as a sheet, clutched the wall, head bent forward. The door clicked shut, leaving them alone in the room.

"Rowan?"

He didn't reply. Sweat dripped off the tip of his chin. He burst into hacking coughs. Perhaps it was the downpour. Maybe he was coming down with something.

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